Ch.752The Elves’ Misjudgment

The purpose of the fairies was not to kill Nidhogg but to kill me, so it would be meaningless to step back now.

That explanation carried enough persuasive power to convince my companions.

They knew it too. Without the intervention of the Dragonborn, if we faced the fairy guardians alone, sacrifices would inevitably occur.

Therefore, we climbed back up the mountain range toward the hills. Into the black flame hell where the maddened earth dragon was rampaging.

—-

While rushing toward the battlefield, I gave brief instructions to my companions, advising them how to fight.

They’re all veterans who have been through various battles, so they’d probably manage well on their own… but you never know, right? This is our first battle against fairies.

A few words of advice couldn’t hurt.

“Demian, cut down the wind spirits that the guardian is riding. Your sword should be able to do it.”

“Got it.”

I instructed Demian, who possessed the freest flight ability, hero-class swordsman capabilities, and the True Silver Sword that could kill spirits, to bring down enemies in the air.

Spirits are beings belonging to the World Tree, so even if they’re cut down and vanish, they’ll revive after some time passes. But since that’s not a simple process, they won’t be able to resummon them during this battle.

“Millia, hide yourself and snipe whenever you see an opportunity, then immediately move to another location after shooting an arrow.”

“Yes! I’ll hide really hard!”

Using Millia as a sniper who creates openings for the enemy through surprise attacks and quick retreats was the best option. There was no point in engaging in a direct shooting match with fairy archers when we’d be overwhelmed by their numbers.

But staying hidden in one place would only result in high-level spirit fireballs and spirit arrows raining down on her position, so she had no choice but to shoot, flee, shoot, and flee again.

“Nigel, Jahan, Ophelia, Lena. Stay together, move as one, and cover… protect and support each other. Leave killing the enemy to me and Demian, and prioritize restraining them without getting hurt.”

“Yes!”

I grouped the remaining four people together.

Needless to say for Lena, but the other three hadn’t crossed the barrier either, so if they fought separately, they might lose their lives in an instant.

If the four of them stuck together and covered each other, they should be able to maintain a defensive battle even against a guardian.

“Ah, and Lena, is your face okay? You’re not badly hurt, are you?”

“No problem. It’s already healed.”

Perhaps purely happy about my concern, Lena pointed to her cheek, which still had a slight redness, and smiled brightly.

“Good, I’m glad. Still, be careful not to get hurt.”

I was worried she might have been seriously injured, but fortunately it seems it was just a slight burn on the skin. Seeing how quickly it healed.

“Um, Haschal. What about me? What should I do?”

The last remaining force, Asha, turned to me and asked.

“Did you bring your machine gun?”

“Yes! I built it into my shoulder armor!”

As Asha shrugged her shoulders and pressed a switch beside her shoulder blade, the metal cover protecting her shoulder opened with a click, revealing a rotating triple-barreled gun inside.

“Oh…”

I let out a quiet exclamation. A built-in shoulder Gatling gun. It was truly an impressive weapon overflowing with dwarf-like romanticism.

Since it was significantly smaller than a regular machine gun, its performance in terms of power, range, and ammunition capacity would be somewhat compromised, but…

Guns hurt even with light hits. Even in that form, it should have enough power to penetrate enemy armor and tear through flesh.

“Good. Use your jetpack to zip around the battlefield, and whenever the others are in danger, provide support by spraying bullets. Make those fairy bastards abandon their attacks and take cover.”

“Leave it to me!”

Asha flashed a triumphant smile and lowered her helmet cover over her face. Her eyes, hidden behind the semi-transparent visor, were shining with fighting spirit and excitement.

“Right. As I said before, everyone fight while protecting yourselves as much as possible. This doesn’t end with slaughtering the pointy-eared bastards.”

After using the chaotic battle to slaughter all the fairies, we would also have to take down all the Dragonborn.

Seeing how they attacked our companions without warning, it was clear that they had no intention of handling things peacefully either.

It seems they don’t care about the Empire’s protests as long as they can get their hands on the dragon remains.

So I have no choice but to kill them all, right?

Leopold had implied he wanted a peaceful resolution through a show of force rather than direct conflict… but he didn’t say to give up the remains and retreat to avoid conflict.

On the contrary, he ordered us to secure the remains no matter what.

Well, even if Leopold had ordered a peaceful resolution, my choice wouldn’t have changed.

I have no intention of sparing those who attacked us first when we were just minding our own business.

“Everyone, charge in!”

Almost simultaneously with the dragon’s breath finally fading away, leaving only a faint trace, we threw ourselves toward the hills covered in mud and steam.

======[ Tersilius ]======

‘I never expected things to get this complicated…!’

The fairy guardian, Tersilius, riding atop a high-level wind spirit, looked down at the battlefield and let out a groan.

A sense of defeat comparable to the Racial War period pounded in his chest.

He had thought that while it wouldn’t be simple, the situation could be resolved without much difficulty. But now, the battle situation had been completely distorted by unexpected variables.

—-

Everything had been going smoothly until they used a snow bear as a mount to confirm the target’s location and track their movement direction until they finally spotted them.

“The short-lived ones are gathered, but… the target isn’t visible.”

“Solo hunt? No, that can’t be it. If that were the case, he would have come alone from the beginning. Then… are they planning to lure the dragon to the hills where it’s easier to fight?”

“Judging by their direct route, it’s safe to assume they know Nidhogg’s location. If so… the target must be heading toward the peak of that hill.”

The fairy guardians who discovered Demian’s group gathered at the foot of the hill immediately grasped the entire situation just by seeing that Haschal wasn’t among them and that they were gathered in a wide hilly area.

They hadn’t lived hundreds of years in vain, excluding the time they spent in long slumber.

“What should we do? Wait for the target to appear and ambush? Or should we deal with these ones first?”

“It would be better to deal with them first. If the target is heading toward the peak of that hill, it will take considerable time to return. If we eliminate the two heroes before then, it will be much easier to kill the target.”

Tersilius had decided to launch a surprise attack on Demian’s group to eliminate them in advance.

It was a tactically sound decision, as it would be extremely risky for them to enter a battlefield where a dragon, the target, and two heroes were rampaging. They wanted to divide and conquer while the enemy forces were separated.

That’s why the other guardians, including Eirnesia, also agreed.

And so, the fairies approached Demian’s group stealthily, preparing their spirit arrows.

Until then, everything had been going very smoothly. Some fairies were even inwardly thanking Mother World Tree for bestowing such luck upon them.

However, their luck ended there.

“Demian! Enemy! Southwest direction, fairy spirit arrows are coming!”

Just as the fairies summoned spirits and nocked them to their bowstrings, the red-haired woman who had been leisurely smoking a mana herb jumped up and pointed to where they were hiding.

Ophelia’s eyes, the five-colored mana eyes that visualized the flow of mana, had detected the flow of mana streaming into the fairies’ bowstrings.

“They noticed us…?! How…!”

The fairies, who knew nothing about this, could only be bewildered.

That wasn’t the only unexpected variable.

Although their supposedly perfect surprise attack had been detected before they could even attempt it, that kind of variable was something they could overcome. After all, what did it matter if their surprise attack failed? The difference in power between the two sides was still overwhelming.

“Fire at will! Annihilate them!”

The fairies who had been lying prone on the snow stood up and released their bowstrings, showering Demian’s group with spirit arrows. Explosions of fire, ice, and lightning swept across the ground.

“Ugh…! We can’t hold out like this…!”

“Those cowardly pointy-eared bastards…!”

Demian’s group did their best to block the spirit arrows, but… it was clear to anyone that they were barely holding on, and would soon collapse.

“Good. Keep pushing!”

Tersilius raised the corners of his mouth, savoring the sweet taste of victory.

The second variable emerged right after that.

“Hahaha! The scaleless ones are gathered together!”

With a boisterous and fierce roar, a group of Dragonborn rushed toward the hills. It was an approach so fast that the fairies, who had assumed they would be wandering in the mountain range, couldn’t comprehend it.

How could the fairies have known?

Even without tools like a soul compass, the Dragonborn could vaguely sense a dragon’s location through the instinctive attraction dissolved in their blood.

It was just a vague feeling, so it took some time, but ultimately, the Dragonborn were able to reach the hill where Nidhogg was hiding—or more precisely, the hilly area below it.

What followed was an incredibly chaotic melee.

The Dragonborn, who charged in with their scales clashing, began to rampage, threatening to tear apart both humans and fairies alike, forcing the fairies to deal with them before the humans.

And then, as the fairies were engaged in this chaotic battle, the third variable dropped down on their heads.

The Sword of the Starry Sky, the last heir of House Median, plummeting relentlessly with a massive earth dragon on his tail.

It was a return ten times faster than they had predicted.

How could they have known that the target wouldn’t be running down the hill, but flying through the sky spewing flames?

It was a fatal misjudgment caused by lack of information.