Ch.930The Sword of Elpinel

A thunderous roar.

Dozens of dragon-slaying crossbows fired dragon-scale arrows in sequence toward the gaps in the spatial distortion mana field.

“Krrrrr…!”

Ismenios let out a low growl as he examined his technique to determine why gaps had formed in the distortion field.

An alien mana flow embedded like a wedge in the center of the mana field.

A magic with exactly the same structure as the spatial distortion technique he had deployed was wedged in five spike formations, repelling each other and neutralizing his mana field.

‘Did they copy my technique? Just by looking at it?’

There was no other explanation. Ismenios let out a hollow laugh as he glared at the rain of arrows flying through the gaps in his mana field.

“You’re a human born in the wrong era. I pity you. With that level of talent, had you been born thousands of years ago, you could have reached divinity!”

Generous praise. Ophelia’s mimicry of spatial magic was truly an astounding talent even by the standards of one who had lived for thousands of years.

In an era when humans who obtained divinity became demigods and strode across the earth, that talent alone would have been enough to transform her into a divine being.

Of course, this wasn’t the ancient times of thousands of years ago, and the woman who mimicked his magic wasn’t as powerful as the strong ones of that era.

“However, the amount of mana you can handle doesn’t match your talent!”

Therefore, while Ismenios expressed amazement at Ophelia’s talent, he didn’t consider her a threat to himself.

After all, Ismenios’s mana reserves, accumulated over nearly two thousand years, were ten times greater than Ophelia’s.

An absolute difference in mana that could never be overcome by clumsily absorbing a dead dragon’s core.

“It’s insufficient. Your power, your mana. Overwhelmingly so!”

Because of this mana difference, even though Ophelia deployed the same technique as Ismenios to confront him, she couldn’t completely neutralize his magic.

– Woooong…!

With her mana, the limit was creating small gaps like now.

Of course, the dragon-scale arrows penetrating through those gaps had now become a threat capable of harming Ismenios, but…

“The same goes for all of you!”

That merely meant attacks could potentially reach him, but that alone would never be enough to bring down a dragon.

“KRAAAH-!”

To demonstrate this personally, Ismenios roared loudly and rampaged, fully utilizing his overflowing mana.

– Kwaaaang!

Wing beats wrapped in lightning created a net of thunderbolts in the air to block the downpour of giant arrows, while the storm of blade winds unleashed by his swinging tail carved into the castle walls with a thunderous roar.

“Ugh?!”

“Aaargh!”

Knights staggered as the impact shook the entire wall. Then, hundreds of magic circles spread above their heads, pouring down cascades of boiling lava.

“Aaaaargh!”

A knight who was too slow to dodge was covered in lava and melted away with a terrible scream.

“Kuk…! Report casualties!”

“Eight dragon-slaying crossbows destroyed! Twelve men down!”

Unlike the knights who could quickly leap to avoid the lava, the dragon-slaying crossbows fixed to the wall had no way to escape the pouring lava.

– Kuuuung…!

Eight dragon-slaying crossbows covered in lava collapsed while emitting smoke.

The dragon bones and scales forming the bow were intact, but the tendons used for bowstrings and some metal parts had burned and melted.

“Goddess of order and justice, protect your servants!”

Priests of the Church of Astraea deployed divine barriers to block the dragon’s magic, but they weren’t very effective due to the massive difference in power.

“Pathetic. So utterly pathetic! As Kudsedra said, the knights of this era, except for a few exceptional ones, are truly no different from insects!”

Meanwhile, as the knights and priests on the wall desperately held out against the catastrophic attacks…

“—Where are you looking?”

The very “exceptional” being that Haschal had rigorously trained, spread his wings and soared toward the golden dragon, swinging his greatsword diagonally through the air.

“I’m the one you’re after, aren’t I?”

The owner of the holy sword Juwaizeu—no, Caliburn. Demian. A man who feared nothing in this world except Haschal and Millia.

– Hwaaaak!

The holy runes engraved on the sacred sword shone brilliantly, creating and showering dozens of spears of light. Toward the hole Ophelia had opened.

“KRRRR…! Elpinel’s white light…! A light that remains unpleasant no matter how many times I see it!”

Ismenios turned his head with a roar full of displeasure to glare at Demian.

The white holy light of Elpinel that denied all non-human races. A beam of light that was repulsive just to look at, but should never be underestimated.

Even if this generation’s wielder was a weak being who couldn’t match the monster from two thousand years ago or even the superhuman from eight hundred years ago.

“Turn to ash and perish!”

Therefore, he stopped his indiscriminate magical bombardment and concentrated his vast mana into his left foreleg, creating a sun-like sphere of crimson flame and firing it back.

– Kwarrrrrr—!

A thunderous collision. The small sun that clashed with the shower of light erased the pure white holy light like a mirage.

Fragments of shattered holy light scattered like sleet…

– Hwarrrk!

The flame sphere, somewhat reduced in size but still retaining its intense heat, fell like a catapult projectile toward the castle wall.

“Oh no…!”

Toward Ophelia standing on it.

“Tch…! So I was the target!”

Ophelia bit her lip.

A fireball that could clearly turn a person to ashes in an instant. She could block it, but to do so, she would have to withdraw the magic she was currently deploying.

The spatial distortion magic that was creating gaps in the dragon’s spatial distortion field.

‘What should I do? He probably won’t fall for the same magic twice.’

Ophelia stared at the approaching crimson small sun and hesitated briefly.

Once she withdrew the spatial distortion magic, there was no guarantee it would be effective if she tried to deploy it again.

When she first attempted it, Ismenios had unwittingly allowed spatial interference because he didn’t realize she had copied his spatial technique…

‘…But not anymore.’

Now he was aware of it. If she tried to interfere again, he would surely devise countermeasures to prevent it.

At least, Ophelia was convinced of this. She would have done the same in his situation.

Should she abandon the breakthrough she had barely created in order to ensure her own safety, or should she maintain it despite the risk?

“…Demian! Keep attacking, don’t mind me!”

Ophelia chose the latter.

If she had been standing there alone, she would have chosen the former without hesitation, but she wasn’t fighting alone right now.

She trusted the man standing beside her. Not so much as a comrade, but more like a warrior trusting their shield.

Her trust was rewarded.

“Very admirable!”

As if truly satisfied with Ophelia’s bold attitude, a middle-aged man stepped in front of her with a hearty laugh.

Landenburg’s First Sword, Joshua Blake, extended the snow-white shield in his left hand toward the approaching small sun.

And then, he revealed to the world.

【Giant Hunting】

His heroic tale that had evolved to a new level after hellish training more severe than the war with the Ka’har, breaking free from the constraints of being just a sword.

– Wooooong…!

The dragon-scale shield, which had been lightly vibrating with immense karma, suddenly expanded tenfold in size, becoming a massive white wall that cast a shadow.

Yes. The objects that Joshua could now enlarge weren’t limited to his longsword. He could now enlarge anything he touched to more than ten times its original size.

Of course, he could only maintain the enlargement for about ten seconds at most…

“Get behind my shield! You too!”

But that was more than enough time to block a single magical attack.

The fireball shot by Ismenios was blocked by the tenfold enlarged Amitamir scales, exploding with a roar mixed with sparks.

A thunderous explosion. Heat intense enough to melt even rock in an instant.

However, not even a single spark dared to penetrate behind the shield Joshua held up.

A magical attack powerful enough to instantly collapse the castle wall if hit directly dissipated like a mirage, unable to penetrate the enlarged shield.

“…Haschal has trained his subordinates well.”

Seeing a single shield block a small sun, Ophelia inwardly clicked her tongue in admiration.

“In public, address her as Her Majesty the Queen. You’re a subject before a friend!”

“Ah, well… Yes, yes. Her Majesty Queen Haschal.”

Joshua quietly corrected her manner of speech. Ophelia accepted the correction without argument.

The sight of an ordinary shield instantly transforming into something like a metal wall was truly impressive even to her. Enough to instill at least the appearance of courtesy.

—-

While Joshua was blocking the fireball with his shield using “Giant Hunting”…

“Haaaah!”

Following Ophelia’s instructions, Demian increased his flight speed and hurled himself toward Ismenios.

Firmly gripping his greatsword blazing with pure white holy light.

“Fast…!”

Ismenios groaned lowly.

The owner of the holy sword avoided hundreds of thunderbolts and streams of fire, changing direction as if inertia didn’t exist.

Though his raw power might not match previous owners, his evasive ability might even surpass theirs.

“Then how about this!”

He tried creating a net of light in the air to restrict movement and imbuing his magic with target-tracking techniques to make it unavoidable…

“This is nothing!”

Demian swung his holy sword to cut through the net of light and deployed the divine barrier contained in St. George’s necklace to block the magical bombardment as he charged forward relentlessly.

After the necklace’s uses were exhausted, he countered with divine barriers created by the holy sword’s power.

“Haaaah!”

Finally reaching Ismenios’s vicinity, Demian brought down his greatsword toward the creature’s head.

The raised blade shone brilliantly. Bright and radiant enough to burn away even the darkness of the night sky.

“GRRRRRR…!”

Ismenios growled in his throat and quickly beat his wings to pull his body away from the trajectory of light carved by Caliburn.

Even though Demian’s attack was clearly aimed at the mana field itself, not the gap Ophelia had created.

Ismenios knew. That he must not let that blade touch him.

Caliburn’s slash cannot be defended against.

What could be deflected by spatial distortion were only miracle attacks fired through Caliburn, like pure white spears or arrows of light.

The blade itself, blazing with holy light, would easily cut through his mana field and penetrate deep into his scales.

Because of the difference in… no, the difference in class.

“Cursed evil blade…!”

Caliburn, the god-slaying sword.

The crystallization of murderous intent forged by Elpinel in a fit of rage to kill gods.

The true nature of that white greatsword that humans called a holy sword was divinity itself merely taking the form of a sword, an unparalleled monstrosity that denied and destroyed all power.