Ch.967Human Weapon and Just a Weapon

I had barely entered the Empire’s airspace when I encountered Imperial forces battling a dragon. This could only be described as terrible luck.

Dragons, once relegated to legends and old tales, had become reality starting with Amitamir. But still…

Dragon attacks couldn’t possibly be an everyday occurrence.

If dragons were popping up everywhere like bandits, the world would have collapsed long ago.

At the very least, the Empire and the Holy State would have certainly fallen.

They could handle at most one or two dragons at a time. If more attacked simultaneously, they’d lack the resources to respond and would be mercilessly slaughtered.

In other words, the number of resurrected dragons wasn’t particularly high yet.

I’d guess fewer than ten. If there were more, true chaos would have erupted by now.

Simply put, I’d encountered one of those few dragons immediately upon entering Imperial airspace. If this wasn’t bad luck, what was?

At the very least, it was most unwelcome to me.

“Imperial Knights! Can you hear me? The Sword of the Starry Sky, Haschal Median Aishan-Gioro, has come to your aid!”

Of course, I couldn’t just ignore this situation and move on.

“In the name of Goddess Astraea and Hestella!”

I charged toward the black dragon like a comet, shouting loud enough for my voice to echo beyond the clouds.

Golden light flickered across the longsword in my grip.

—-

“Geuoooooh! This power, I remember it. The accursed source of oppression, the cursed power of Elpinel!”

By the time I reached the dragon’s vicinity, Demian had already engaged the enraged black dragon in fierce combat.

“A criminal cursing his judge. Just looking at what you’re doing right after being freed, there are more than enough reasons for your kind to be suppressed.”

Each time his pure white wings flashed, his entire body vanished like a mirage, only to reappear dozens of meters away in the next moment, crushing the dragon’s scales with blades of holy light.

“You remain disgustingly arrogant! You monkeys who eat wild beasts, do you think you’re the standard of justice in this world?”

The black dragon roared fiercely, spreading a net of lightning and wielding massive thunderbolts like spears, but it couldn’t keep up with Demian’s spatial transfers and only tore through empty air.

“Well… we’re still more righteous than you.”

Avoiding the dragon’s tail with a transfer, Demian landed on it and drove Caliburn, now held in reverse grip, deep into the appendage.

– KWAAANG!

An explosion of holy light followed. Black scales shattered like glass as blood erupted like a fountain.

“Geaaaak! You insect, how dare you-!”

The dragon’s blood coalesced and hardened into dozens of sharp red blades that swept toward Demian.

– Flash!

But Demian had long since evaded with another spatial transfer.

…He’s certainly making good use of spatial transfer. Though it’s obvious he’s wasting an excessive amount of power.

I frowned at the sight.

Demian had been begging me daily for sparring matches to practice his newly awakened coordinate movement.

His requests had tapered off recently, so I thought he’d given up, but it seemed he was using the dragon as a practice dummy instead of me to perfect his coordinate movement.

That’s why he was repeatedly using the power-intensive coordinate movement that he hadn’t fully mastered yet.

Even if he exhausted himself before killing the dragon, he believed the Imperial forces and I would finish the job.

…He’s really doing everything possible to irritate me.

“Stop messing around and fight properly!”

I shouted with killing intent as I rushed past Demian.

My period had started yesterday, so I was already irritable, and seeing Demian practicing his new technique in the middle of this wasn’t helping.

If we weren’t in combat, I would have smacked the back of his head.

“I am fighting properly! I need to get used to this now so I can use it effectively in Alvheim!”

Demian shouted defensively as he blocked the dragon’s lightning with a holy barrier.

He had his reasons for fighting this way. He was trying to improve his skill in preparation for the battle with the elves.

Hah, he’s technically right. So why am I so annoyed?

‘Demian… talking back?’

[Ahaha, it seems he’s starting to find you less intimidating. But that’s only natural. I heard you’ve been desperately avoiding sparring with him—of course he’d start to look down on you.]

Hersella burst into laughter, mocking me.

She found it hilarious that I’d been behaving shamefully and was now being half-eaten by my subordinate.

‘If I lose, I’ll have to grant his wish.’

[That’s your karma, not my problem.]

Snickering laughter echoed throughout my mind.

These two are really getting on my nerves.

The most irritating part was that I couldn’t refute them because they weren’t wrong. My insides felt like they were boiling with magma.

“KYAAAAK!”

I roared, releasing the rage filling my chest, and brought Durandal down like lightning, filled with irritation.

“Spatial severance…! Not just the master of Caliburn, but its guardian as well!”

Recognizing the spatial power in my sword, the black dragon abandoned its attempt to withstand with a mana barrier and quickly flapped its wings to create distance.

“Did you rush here to help your master? No, seeing that you’re female, are you his mate? How devoted you monkeys are to your partners when it comes to breeding!”

“What are you saying, you crazy lizard-!”

Passion erupted into Karma flames.

“Mate? Master? What nonsensical bullshit—!”

I pursued it at a speed three times faster than before, swinging Durandal like a storm to shatter the incoming magical attacks.

“That cursed sword of Elpinel…! Then how about this-!”

A pressure spell that pulled my entire body toward the ground. A magical formation appeared above my head, pressing down on me with mountain-like weight.

Simultaneously, something like a black current enveloped me like fog, trying to penetrate my mind.

“How about what? Disgustingly crude-!”

I raised my left arm toward the magical formation above my head and shouted.

“Hagalaz!”

True Heaven Collapse Fist. A vacuum strike imbued with the power of destruction collided with the magical formation, grinding the pressure spell’s structure to dust.

The black current seeping into my mind also shattered when the stigmata on my chest radiated heat.

It was probably some mental magic like frenzy or brainwashing, but it hadn’t reached the level of authority and was easily neutralized by my mana resistance and stigmata.

“Now! Resume bombardment! Tear off its wings!”

Perhaps it couldn’t focus all its power on me since I wasn’t its only opponent.

While I, Demian, and the small airships flying around distracted the dragon by inflicting wounds on its scales…

The Imperial airship, which had retreated to a safe distance, had returned within firing range and was aiming its cannons at the black dragon.

“Resume bombardment!”

– KWANG! KWAANG!

Four shells were fired with a thunderous roar.

“Krrrrg…! Don’t interfere-!”

The dragon bared its teeth and growled, trying once again to block the shells with a net of lightning, but—

“That’s a request I can’t grant.”

Demian’s Gustav Holy Cannon—no, Heaven’s Wrath—detonated against the dragon’s back, dispersing its mana with holy light.

“If you’re a lizard, act like one and crawl on the ground-!”

My strike collided with the lightning net, exploding and collapsing half of the lightning strands.

And in the next moment.

– BUBUBUBUK-!

With its defensive magic completely neutralized, the four shells struck the black dragon’s body directly.

Two hit its left wing, and the other two hit its right wing.

As expected of the Empire’s elite. Despite the artillery division being less than a year old, their aim was as precise as an eagle’s eye.

“Kyaaaaaak! You monkeys dare-!”

One wing had its root completely torn off, while the other had a huge hole blown through its membrane.

The black dragon descended rapidly toward the ground with an enraged roar. Though its wings were still attached, preventing a complete crash, the outcome wouldn’t change.

“Imperial Knights-! Prepare for ground combat! We must end its life before it can regenerate its wings!”

After all, the humans gathered here specialized in ground combat, not aerial battles.

Even I, who could fly under my own power, was dozens of times more comfortable fighting on land than in the air.

It was also much more efficient since I didn’t need to waste Karma flames on flight.

I wasn’t sure about Demian, who had been jumping around like a human grasshopper even before he had wings.

In other words, the moment the dragon touched the ground, its fate was essentially sealed.

And that’s exactly what happened.

—-

Exactly fifteen minutes after the wing-damaged black dragon landed with a thunderous impact.

“Grrrrg…! How unjust… if only that cursed Heaven’s Wall hadn’t existed…!”

The frenzied, rampaging black dragon finally collapsed from exhaustion.

Its body was riddled with holes, and all the flesh beneath its scales had been completely shredded—a truly miserable state.

“Victory is ours-! Long live the Empire! Long live His Majesty the Radiant Emperor-!”

“Eternal blessings to the Tower Master!”

“Respect to the Sword of the Starry Sky, Her Majesty Queen Astika!”

I pulled my hand out of the dragon’s shredded innards and walked away slowly, raising the corner of my mouth in response to the knights’ cheers.

Though I’d expended some energy, it seemed we’d taken it down more easily than expected.

Honestly, I felt like joining the knights in wishing blessings upon Tower Master Floheta. Thanks to the overwork and tears of blood from her and the tower’s researchers, the Empire had gained the power to face dragons with just a handful of heroes.

“And thanks to ‘Now-Winged’ Lord Demian!”

Well, without Demian and me, at least thirty percent of them would probably have died.

“…Now-Winged? Is that supposed to be my title…?”

“Seems like it. Hahaha, it suits you. It really suits you.”

Demian looked perplexed at this strange title. His expression was so funny that I burst out laughing as I patted his shoulder.

– THWACK! THWACK!

“Ow, wait! Wait! My shoulder feels like it’s going to dislocate…!”

“Don’t exaggerate. It won’t dislocate. …Probably.”

Of course, I put in exactly as much force as the irritation that had built up earlier.