Ch.933The Strong Are Those Who Survive

======[ Haschal ]======

Ismenios, who had been wreaking havoc against almost all of Hestella’s forces except me. His death was so sudden it was almost comical.

A moment of carelessness followed by a coordinated attack—Ismenios lost his wings and plummeted.

It was quite the disgraceful display, but even that could have been salvaged somehow.

If he’d lost his wings, he could have simply fought on the ground. The injury inflicted by Sky’s Fury was merely a severe wound—equivalent to a lance piercing a human’s abdomen.

In other words, he still had a fighting chance immediately after his fall.

The wounds seared by Elpinel’s holy light could have been cauterized and sealed with magic well enough to keep moving.

Meanwhile, Demian’s group had sacrificed considerable combat power to bring him down.

Nigel, with one leg melted off, had been urgently evacuated to the rear. Joshua, who would have been blown to pieces if not for his hardened body and dragon-scale armor.

Ophelia, who had collapsed after depleting all her mana and mental strength, and Demian, who had withdrawn his wings and descended, likely having no more Karma left to maintain flight.

To be blunt, everyone except Demian and Millia could be considered out of commission.

This meant that if Ismenios had started rampaging again, we would have had to fight desperately with just two Heroes and four Masters.

Relying only on Demian, who had used about 70% of his strength, the relatively unharmed Millia, Jahan and Leonore who were on standby near the gate, and Frider and Adamante.

If that had happened, we would have had to accept much more severe casualties.

—-

“…That should have been the case, but you really are quite unlucky.”

Of course, such assumptions were now nothing more than meaningless speculation.

“How did you manage to fall right next to me? And with your defensive magic conveniently dropped, ready to be sliced up.”

His own carelessness and mistakes. Combined with the misfortune of landing near me, Ismenios had become nothing more than a slab of meat with a split brain before he could even attempt a final resistance.

“Don’t you find it funny too? At this point, it’s like the whole world cursed you to die.”

I raised my body temperature with the fire rune to evaporate the dragon blood and brain matter soaking me, while kicking at the twitching dragon head that was planted face-down on the ground.

Its body was still squirming as if unaware of its own death, the brain having been completely split in an instant.

Like those whose heads have been severed, it would probably have wet itself if it had excretory functions.

That was the only regrettable thing. A Gold Dragon’s golden water—truly a spectacle you couldn’t see even if you paid for it.

I almost wanted to preserve that ugly, ridiculous figure as a fountain statue to commemorate for generations to come.

‘Well anyway, that’s one down…’

“Haschal! There you are!”

Just as I was catching my breath, Demian flew down toward me, having used what little Karma he had left to hand Joshua over to the priests.

“Ah, you’re here. Good work. Thanks to you dropping him in just the right position, I caught him more easily than expected.”

I waved my left hand lightly, praising him.

The training I’d put him through had paid off. Though I ended up finishing the job, they had managed to bring down a dragon with just their forces, excluding me.

After this battle ends, everyone would grow stronger using their experience and Karma as a foundation. Eventually, they might be able to hunt dragons without my help.

“What happened to Kudsedra? Did you already defeat him?”

“Kudsedra? Ah, that red lizard? As for him…”

I shrugged lightly and raised my hand to point at the ground.

At a massive pit of bubbling lava about thirty meters away from Ismenios’s corpse.

“He’ll be coming out soon.”

The wingless fire dragon lurking inside.

“…What?”

Just as Demian turned his head toward where I was pointing with a confused expression,

「 Geuuoooaaah—! 」

A red four-winged dragon—or rather, a dragon whose wings had been torn out by the roots, leaving its back in tatters—emerged like an erupting volcano, wrapped in lava and shattering the ground.

Or should I call it a land dragon now, since it could no longer fly?

Flames burst from its tail as lava dripped down, reminiscent of an orange lizard that dies when its tail fire goes out.

Though a thousand times more vicious-looking.

—-

「 KRHAAAAAAK! KYAAAAAAAHK! GAAAAAAAAAAH! 」

Upon returning to the surface, Kudsedra howled fiercely and desperately, spewing hatred and fury like an active volcano.

Could this be the cry of a man who discovers his lover’s swollen belly after two years apart?

The roar carried such indescribable anger and pain that even I felt somewhat solemn.

“…What did you do to make him like that?”

Demian asked, covering his ears slightly and looking at me with a horrified expression. His eyes seemed to ask what atrocity I had committed to drive the dragon literally insane.

“Nothing particularly grand.”

I explained the bloody battle that had taken place below, brushing off meat chunks that remained in my hair, compressing it into two sentences.

“I just depleted his mana field with lava, tore off both wings with two Stellar Destruction strikes, and was trying to sever his spine when I got knocked away by his tail. That’s all.”

A perfect summary.

I did taunt him with provocations that would make even Hersella cringe, but that was too trivial to mention.

“……”

Demian nodded silently. Thanks to my perfect explanation, all his questions must have been answered. So perfectly that he didn’t need to ask anything more.

“He seems stronger when he’s angry. His tail strike hurt more than his breath. Be careful. One hit and you’re done.”

When his tail struck me directly, I barely dispersed the impact by unleashing the power of Murder Karma. If I hadn’t defended and taken a direct hit, several bones would have broken.

He must be some kind of martial artist among dragons. Perhaps while other dragons studied magic, he was pumping iron—his raw strength nearly matched Amitamir’s.

“…I’ll be careful.”

Demian narrowed his eyes sharply and rested his holy sword on his shoulder, acknowledging my warning.

The battle above must have been just as fierce—the plate armor made from melted dragon scales was twisted and torn to shreds.

Despite this, he showed no visible wounds. Was it thanks to the healing power of the holy sword? As expected of the strongest weapon in the original game, it had many uses.

My Durandal merely had indestructibility, mana disruption, feat amplification, and massive health regeneration.

What about spatial cutting ability, you ask?

Who cares about that? The activation conditions are so strict that I can count on one hand how many times it’s properly activated since cutting off the evil god’s arm.

Wait, has it ever activated at all? I don’t think so…?

Well, it doesn’t matter.

Since I discovered the knack for spatial cutting during my battle with Rotholandus and sublimated it into a feat technique, I no longer need to rely on the sword’s abilities.

Since it’s an ability I manifested with my own power rather than the sword’s, it consumes considerable Karma, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

It’s insignificant compared to the consumption of Defying Fate’s time stop or Heaven Slash.

Anyway.

「 KEUAAAAAAH! You insect, you DARE to take my wiiiiings—! Unforgivable, UNFORGIVABLE! I’ll chew and swallow you alive and savor your screams—! 」

Finally regaining something resembling language, Kudsedra shook his body violently to shed the lava and hurled abuse at me with a face as ferocious as a rabid dog.

Chew and swallow me alive? I’d like to see him try.

With only one dragon left, this was truly an absurd delusion.

“Not a wise thought.”

Demian seemed to share my sentiment, letting out a sneer along with a taunt. Seeing him immediately use provocation as soon as the opportunity arose made me somewhat proud of how well I’d taught him.

“You might get indigestion.”

…Wait a minute.

“What did you just say?”

I glared at Demian, briefly contemplating whether to smack the back of his head.

Where did this ill-mannered punk learn such a wide-area taunt?

Get indigestion from eating me?

Am I some kind of E. coli?

I’m genuinely speechless. So that’s how he sees me?

[ Indeed, as befitting the master of that holy sword or whatever, he has assessed you quite accurately! I’m impressed. He would have made a fine subordinate of mine! ]

Shut up.

“Ah, no. Haschal, that’s not what I meant…”

Realizing his blunder from my sharp glare, Demian tried to make excuses with a pale face, waving his hands frantically.

Too bad. There are no defense attorneys in Lord Haschal’s court.

“…We’ll deal with this later.”

I cut off his excuses firmly, resolving to increase his training intensity about fourfold.

There was no time to listen to excuses, nor leisure to punish him immediately. We still had one last dragon before us.

「 KRRRRRR…! So the master of Gram is still alive? Preposterous…! 」

Kudsedra recognized Demian and ground his crocodile-like teeth, raising his hostility even higher.

Only now recognizing him? His eyes must have been so clouded with rage that his field of vision had become extremely narrow.

He hadn’t even noticed what was lying behind Demian.

「 Ismenios-! You bastard, what are you doing…? 」

Ah, now he’s noticed.

Kudsedra, who had been calling out Ismenios’s name loudly as if furious at his colleague’s dereliction of duty, trailed off mid-sentence and widened his eyes in shock.

He must have finally properly recognized his comrade’s corpse behind Demian and me.

「 Is…men…ios…?! 」

The corpse of a wingless dragon, its golden scales soaked in blood, lying limp and convulsing.

With burst eyeballs protruding from under the eyelids and mashed brain matter oozing out between them, the figure was so wretched and hideous it was hard to believe it had once been a dragon.

“You should have come up sooner. This is your fault for taking too long.”

I stretched one arm to the side and pointed at the hunk of meat that had been his comrade, grinning wickedly as if showing off a trophy.

Now he would charge straight at me like an enraged bull, blinded by fury.

I would use the opening created by his rage to buy time until his mana field disappeared, then weaken him appropriately and hand him over to my companions.

That was the plan I had hastily reformulated.

My companions who hadn’t participated in the battle so far also needed to gain experience fighting dragons.

「 ………… 」

However, the situation that unfolded greatly deviated from my expectations.

Instead of charging at me with rage-filled eyes, Kudsedra closed his mouth and maintained a long silence, rolling his snake-like eyes wildly in all directions.

Perhaps the shock of Brosna and now Ismenios dying so pathetically was too great.

Or maybe his anger had surpassed its limit and made him cold and calculating instead.

A response difficult to interpret.

That’s why I was just about to conclude that I should attack first to provoke his anger when—

– Kuuuuuung!

With a heavy rumble that shook the earth, Kudsedra lowered his posture dramatically and crouched down, pressing his belly flat against the ground.

…What?

This was difficult to understand.

What’s with that posture? Is he kneeling to gain momentum?

Is he going to charge at us like that?

There seemed to be no other possibility. So that must be it.

“Get ready, Demian. Here he comes.”

I warned Demian quietly while slightly lowering my own posture, preparing to leap into the air or to the side to avoid his charge.

However, my prediction was wrong once again.

…Though to say “once again” might suggest my predictions were usually accurate, which they weren’t, but anyway, this time too, I was wrong.

「 KRRRRRR…. 」

Instead of charging at us, Kudsedra opened his mouth and spoke to me with a low growl, maintaining his lowered posture.

「 …Elder Sister, this Kudsedra kneels before you. Please show mercy. 」

…A statement close to pure shock.

“What the fuck?”

My mouth fell open and I even dropped Durandal to the ground. I was so surprised that my mind went blank for a moment.

“Elder Sister? Did he say Elder Sister?”

Truly, truly unimaginable begging for life.

I wouldn’t have been this shocked even if Lena had brought a middle-aged man claiming he was her lover.