***Heroic Spirit’s Underground Mausoleum, 6th Layer***
“Roar…”
“Guaon—”
“Hoh, are you a summoner? And to be able to command so many of my kin… Your prior confidence, it seems it was not without good reason.”
Dragons are truly a race with a great variety of confirmed species. There are those whose scales indicate the attribute colors of their favored element, those that mimic nature such as rocks, and those that command three heads, exceeding the boundaries of mere biological entities. They vary greatly in their nature and scale. This white dragon, who calls himself the Light Dragon King, appears to be of the type that displays elemental colors. Logically, one would assume he excels in White Magic. However, there are also individuals like Dahak, who, despite being a Black Dragon, learns Green Magic while disregarding his attribute. It is not something that can be judged solely by appearance.
“Hey, you! How dare you speak to my brother in such a condescending tone, huh!”
There’s one individual who exhibits behavior unbecoming of a dragon. His dialogue is that of a mere underling. Dahak, it seems the subservient mentality has deeply taken root in his heart. Where has the Dahak I met gone? …Well, as long as it doesn’t hinder combat, anything is fine. He seems to be making an effort to impress Gordiana, even so. Though I don’t know what kind of effort it is.
“But, regrettably, you seem to lack dignity. With that, confronting the noble me is utterly impossible.”
“Don’t talk such big words. Then, that spit you’ve just spat out— Don’t you dare swallow it back!”
The massive bodies of the dragons take to the skies, and the gong of battle rings out. Hmm, in terms of size, it looks like Boga > Dahak = White Dragon > Mudoph > Rozaria. Size isn’t everything when it comes to strength, but besides Boga, there were no other dragons in the Dragon Rider Corps who could match Dahak. The breath attacks that are currently occurring before my eyes are quite powerful.
“You guys, put more spirit into it!”
“Grrr!”
“Guaaa!”
Dahak’s emerald green beam intersects with Mudoph’s multicolored breath, and as if to finish them off, Boga’s destructive roar is added. It is truly a spectacle of many colors. The fused breath attacks of the three Ancient Dragons approach the Light Dragon King—
“Gaaaaa—!”
It collides with the breath of light he unleashed. A tremendous impact scatters from the point of contact, and colorful fragments of light scatter and disappear. From a distance, it resembles a spectacular fireworks display, quite beautiful. Though the excessive noise is a bit much.
Still, he’s more capable than I expected. He’s holding his own against Dahak and the others, even in a breath-attack battle of three against one. The power seems to be on par with, or even greater than, the beam unleashed by the Divine Beast Diamante at the end. This might be something, it might really be something.
“Fuhahaha! Is that all! It’s far too powerless before my noble breath!”
“Guh!”
…That light, I sense it’s accompanied by some amazing kanji, but that’s not the priority right now. Slowly but surely, Dahak and the others are starting to lose ground. He even has the composure to talk fluently while breathing out. But that’s a minor detail. Something like this can be wiped out with Efil’s arrows. There’s no need to use ‘Blue Flame.’
—DOGOOON!
“What!?”
An arrow fired from diagonally below, accompanied by a massive explosion, cleanly shaves off the Light Dragon King’s beam. The Extreme Flame Arrow, without losing any momentum, is absorbed into the Light Dragon King’s astonished face.
“Nuu!”
Oh, he dodged…! For him to dodge Efil’s attack, launched from stealth, might be a first for an enemy. It’s something one could only evade with Melfina’s ridiculously high stats or Sera’s precognitive intuition. My expectations are rising again.
“What a fierce elven maiden you’ve been all this time…!”
“Obviously! How could you possibly win against Efil-neesan’s immense firepower! Her pure destructive power is unmatched!”
“Dahak, are you praising Efil or disparaging her?”
“Whoa! Brother, when did you get here!?”
Just watching would be boring. First, I’ll ride on Dahak’s back, who was flying. Efil seems to have jumped onto Mudoph’s back as well.
“Roar…”
For some reason, Boga let out a sad cry. Ah, it’s because only he wasn’t jumped on. However, Gerard, who usually gives me rides, isn’t here. With the numbers, someone’s going to be left out, so he’ll just have to endure it.
“So, how is it?”
“Of course, I’m looking at him with respect and admiration! I swear it on Puritia-chan!”
“I’d be troubled if you swore on Gordiana…”
“Master, please don’t worry about it. Rather than that—”
Efil switched from verbal conversation to telepathy.
“–He’s faster than I expected.”
“It felt less like he dodged with physical strength and more like he used some kind of ability.”
Efil’s Extreme Flame Arrow had indeed approached the Light Dragon King’s face. In such a situation, he moved his massive body in an instant, as if he had teleported. There were no preparatory movements, nor did he make any gesture of flapping his wings.
“…Could a Dragon King who commands light also possess comparable speed?”
“Even so, seeing as he doesn’t use it constantly, there must be some kind of restriction.”
“Well, either way, he’s not faster than Ange.”
In this case, the comparison subject is a bit too extreme.
“To approach mid-air from a jump off the ground… Are you two truly just a summoner and a servant?”
“What, you don’t know? These days, summoners dabble in swordsmanship and martial arts. Close combat is more than welcome. And it’s not unusual for a servant to launch a bombing attack, is it?”
“Eh, uh, um…? That’s… strange. Have I strayed into a world of conflict…?”
It’s hard to respond seriously to such a remark. In my household, it’s common sense for maids to handle combat, and it can’t be helped that flames used while cooking are a bit powerful. There’s nothing strange about it.
“Very well, I shall apologize for my rudeness thus far. Come now, even the noble me must put my full effort against an opponent like you.”
—KAAAN…
I felt the sound of a bell.
“My noble Halo.”
A fierce light appeared behind the Light Dragon King. A halo, which saints or Buddhas might emit, manifested as a tangible golden ring of light. The ring bore an unreadable crest and was observed to be slowly rotating clockwise. The source of the bell sound I heard just now was likely from the large bells attached to the four sides of the halo. With each rotation of the ring, it faintly chimed.
“How is it? This divine and noble form is precisely why I am called divine by the noble me. If you prostrate yourselves now, I shall overlook your past disrespect?”
“Self-proclaimed god, you’re overdosing on ‘noble’.”
“…You still won’t yield? Very well.”
I see an actual goddess every day. Regardless of whether it’s sacred or not, there’s no reason to hesitate now, even if he were to take on such a form.
“You guys, if you can win against that, you’ll (probably) officially become Dragon Kings. That lingering seed of doubt about lacking ability, let’s resolve it here.”
“Brother, you’re being quite blunt… Well, that’s true, but…”
“Roar, roar.”
“Guoguo.”
“Mm-hmm, I understand. But don’t get discouraged because of that. Whoever defeats him is first come, first served. If you dawdle, Efil and I will do it.”
“Yes. We will.”
“You guys, get motivated! I’m aiming to be the Mole King, so I’ll let you have this one!”
Wait, weren’t you aiming for the Dark Dragon King? And please use your brains, not just your motivation.
“Well, I’ll cover you for the initial phase. Wind God’s Leg. Roaring Dragon Armor.”
I cast Wind God’s Leg, which doubles agility, on Dahak, whom I was riding. For Boga, I bestowed the Roaring Dragon Armor, which envelops him in a tempest.
“I’ll be with Mudo-chan. Explosive Attack Fire.”
Meanwhile, Efil bestowed Explosive Attack Fire, which doubles the destructive power of the next attack, on Mudoph. It’s an S-class magic and a support spell that disregards fuel efficiency for a single use, but I don’t dislike it.
“Alright, here we go!”
Dahak declared and charged forward. …While still carrying me.
