“What, you again!?”
I thought that was a pretty sharp retort, even for myself.
Well, it’s a normal, slightly angry reaction, I suppose.
“Don’t be so cold! Jiro Tanaka!! This is part of the job, isn’t it!”
That sentiment means nothing to this gentleman.
What is the most dangerous thing in the Dragon King’s Dungeon? It’s the Dragon King himself, thrashing about before me.
Unlike other dungeons, the Dragon King’s Dungeon is a breeding ground for a diverse variety of dragons, utilizing vast fields.
It’s a dungeon that leverages the mobility of species that can easily move freely and have high mobility.
Being easy to move means it’s also easy to be attacked, but the deployment, as if to say “attack is the best defense,” feels very draconic.
“For you, the last resort, to appear this many times is problematic, isn’t it!?”
“Hehehe, isn’t it great!! This is my dungeon, I can be anywhere I want, can’t I?”
However, what is the deal with that mobility turning into a dungeon where the boss, who should only appear at the very end, is encountered?
“Let’s enjoy it, shall we!!”
He glitters his gray scales with apparent delight and tries to gouge my limbs with his sharp claws.
“Senpai!”
Unlike last time, I’m not alone this time.
Kaidou blocks the approaching claws, giving us a slight opening to advance.
I fight on the front line, and Kaidou covers my blind spots.
That’s my style when I’m in a party.
“Ou!”
Raising the Demonic Sword, Shikou, I scratch the seemingly robust dragon’s body.
There’s no sentiment of colleagues or coworkers in this battle.
Once we enter the dungeon, we are enemies. Outside the dungeon, we are colleagues.
It’s not so much bizarre as it is a warped sense of compartmentalization.
In the future, I will also have to fight Instructor Kio and Instructor Fushio.
Now that we’ve become friends and understand each other, I’m sure I’ll hesitate to fight, but I’m confident that I won’t. Instead, I’ll be angry about holding back. I’m sure the Dragon King, whom I consider to be of the same kind, will not hold back at all.
“Kagutsuchi!”
Using my 装衣魔法, I wield the fire sword that I clearly wounded last time.
As expected of a demonic sword, it can withstand my magic power.
Seeing the sword dyed red, the Dragon King reacts immediately.
He flaps his wings, intending to blow me away as I jump, but…
“Do you think I’ll let you?”
His movements are not permitted by Minami, whose observational skills are unmatched in the party when it comes to researching enemy attack patterns.
“If it’s the leader, a restraining period of a few tenths of a second is enough.”
Minami chants “Bind,” and a rope made of magic power as thick as a tug-of-war rope, which she had prepared, restrains the Dragon King’s body for just a moment.
It wasn’t a complete stop, and Minami’s magic was easily torn apart, but even this slight restraint was enough for me.
I imbue my legs with magic power, kick the air, and swing the scarlet-dyed magic sword horizontally across its torso.
“■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!”
Instead of writhing in pain, the Dragon King roars in anger at what I’ve done. I take the full force of its roar and am blown away, caught in the opening after my attack.
“Jiro-san!”
“I’m fine! Kaidou?”
“I’ve just finished treating him!”
“I see! Please cover Minami and the others!”
“Yes!”
I twist my body in mid-air and land with my left hand and both legs touching the ground, sliding to a stop where Katsu is waiting.
For me, a frontliner, he’s like a refueling station. His role, with a newly purchased greatshield in hand, is to protect Minami and Kitamiya.
I tell Katsu, who runs over to treat me, that I’m alright, and start running again to close the distance I was blown back.
“Whoa!?”
“You scamp!!”
Ahead of me, a small shadow with golden hair tied in a ponytail rushes and closes in on the Dragon King.
However, it’s difficult to damage the Dragon King’s body with a dagger
“IMPACT!”
Boom! Boom! The sound of explosions echoes from her hands as if firing cannons, and each time the Dragon King’s massive body flinches.
This is pure magic, “Impact,” that only Amelia, with her ridiculously high magic power, can perform.
It’s a simplified version of my Pile Regret.
The magic consumption is considerably more egregious than normal magic, but in return, it can be fired quickly and has power.
However, without magic power like Amelia’s, such a feat is impossible.
“You!! Interfering with my work!!”
Then, to support Amelia, who is distracting and holding the Dragon King in mid-air, Kitamiya’s magic erupts, taking out her frustration on the Dragon King for interfering with the dungeon test.
“Absolute Garden!!”
Ice covers the ground with such force that it seems intended to freeze the entire canyon they are currently fighting in.
With that momentum, it heads towards the Dragon King’s body.
“You think I’ll lose!!”
“■■■■■■■■■!!”
The ice magic, imbued with all of Kitamiya’s magic power, clashes with the Dragon King’s breath, shattering and then freezing.
“I won’t lose!!”
“■■■■■■■■■!!”
“Nice!”
Seeing the Dragon King clearly stopped, I take it as an opportunity and rush forward with all my might.
“Nishishi, I love pranks!”
My comrades are the same.
With a full attack, the entire party goes to defeat the Dragon King.
The first to move is Minami.
Targeting the Dragon King’s feet, which are struggling to breathe out its breath while clashing with Kitamiya.
“Slide.”
She casts magic.
“!”
This changes the Dragon King’s left leg, which it stands on two legs with.
“I just set the coefficient of friction to zero near its left leg! Nishishi, it’s difficult, isn’t it?”
Unable to brace itself with one leg, the Dragon King slams its tail onto the ground for support. Then, it spreads its wings wide again, trying to take off, but…
“Do you think we’ll let you! Transformation!”
Kaidou places his hand on the transformation belt created by Amili-san and friends, and transforms himself into a hero.
Kaidou, now a silver warrior, leaps into the air with a cry and activates the gimmick, taking position above the Dragon King’s head.
“You’ll receive the hero’s signature finishing kick!!”
A weight-accelerated attack generated by explosive acceleration from a magic circle and golem technology.
Kaidou, now a silver meteor, approaches the Dragon King’s head.
“■■■■■■■■■!”
“You think such a thing will stop me!” the Dragon King seems to say as it deploys a barrier to receive Kaidou’s attack.
“Heroes aren’t so easily deterred as to be stopped by mere trivialities!!”
He accelerates the booster of the gimmick, trying to pierce through the barrier.
The clash between the barrier and Kaidou continues, making a grinding sound like a rock drill. Amelia, who was moving nimbly, didn’t miss the Dragon King’s predicament, now subjected to attacks from three directions: Kitamiya’s great magic, Minami’s interference, and Kaidou’s finishing kick.
“Chance! I’ll get serious now, okay!”
She unleashes the strongest magic given to her by a sage toward the Dragon King, which is unable to move.
It’s a triple magic, a mix of wind, fire, and holy magic.
Based on fire magic, wind magic refines the purity of the fire, and the mixed holy magic makes the flame color golden.
The golden flame, shining like the sun, is born in Amelia’s hands.
The name of that magic is…
“The Sun.”
The golden flame stored at her waist is unleashed as Amelia thrusts out her hand.
The flame, spiraling and rotating, seemed to instantly burn its gray scales, but it was blocked by a second barrier.
As expected of one of the generals.
Even after throwing all her strongest trump cards, her fortress cannot be breached.
Kitamiya is also running out of magic power to maintain her great magic, and Minami and Katsu are maintaining it through magic transfer.
Neither Kaidou nor Amelia can continue their attacks forever.
I glance at Shikou, wondering if it’s my turn to finish it.
Amaterasu requires a connection to the Ore Tree, so I can’t use it. Kagutsuchi can’t reach.
So, what should I do?
“There is a way.”
I decide that I don’t have time to worry and start preparing another magic.
Side Change
Another Side
While Jiro Tanaka and his party are fiercely battling the Dragon King, Lunaria, the Tree King, arrives at the scene employing a teleportation gate possessed by the Demon Lord’s Army, leading a unit urgently mobilized to respond to the emergency.
“!”
Himusumi, who covers his mouth, is not reprimanded.
Without changing his expression at the horrific sight, he gives instructions.
“You, construct a defensive line immediately. I will head to the person in charge.”
” ” ” “Yes!!” ” ” ”
The place they arrived at is the village square where Jiro and his party first received their training explanation.
It had lost all of its previous serene atmosphere, filled with nature.
Simple tents were set up here and there, and numerous injured people could be seen from them.
Himusumi thought it looked like a field hospital he had seen on screen.
“What are you doing? There’s no time to be dazed.”
Groans, cries of pain, doctors and housewives encouraging and treating them, and relatives mourning their dead family members.
Lunaria chastises Himusumi, who was stunned by the vivid scene.
“Y-Yes.”
What he had imagined was that the villagers would be exhausted, consumed by despair, and many would beg for help. However, in reality, none of the villagers, who knew what needed to be done, had given up, resisted, lost something, grieved, or despaired.
Himusumi, unable to imagine what he could do in such a scene, silently proceeds with Kawasaki, following Lunaria.
“Lunaria-sama, we are truly grateful for this rescue.”
“It is natural to help our brethren. Chief, time is of the essence. I have dispatched the 300 soldiers I prepared to defend. An additional 1,200 will follow with relief supplies. Please provide swift information on the extent of the damage and the monsters.”
“Yes, understood.”
The chief, entrusted with the village’s defense, rejoiced at the appearance of Lunaria, the leader of the Dark Elves, and felt relieved knowing that more help was coming.
Instead, he wondered why humans were here when he saw Himusumi and Kawasaki, whom Lunaria had brought. However, he reasoned that if the Tree King Lunaria brought them, there must be a reason, and said nothing.
That sequence of events did not sit well with Himusumi.
He had come to this place to save them.
He was grateful to Lunaria, but why was there no word of thanks for him?
It was an unreasonable ideology from the Dark Elf side, and even Himusumi’s ideology, accepted as necessary due to the emergency, felt unreasonable.
“When did the monster attacks begin?”
“Yes, it started about three days ago. At that time, the village’s guardians alone could handle it, but the number of monsters increased from the next day. Now, it has become this disaster.”
Only Lunaria and Kawasaki, who silently followed, noticed this situation.
The chiefs of the village, facing a disaster that threatened their survival, paid no attention to Himusumi’s demeanor and answered Lunaria’s questions.
Lunaria herself also felt that this was not the time to address it, and with the current situation being an emergency, she had almost no time to worry about Himusumi.
Therefore, she decided that minimal follow-up was sufficient.
“There must be someone organizing the monsters. Have there been any sightings of such individuals?”
“No. Even though the guardians and spirits fought valiantly, no reports of such individuals have come up.”
If there were a mistake on Lunaria’s part, it would be giving this information to Himusumi.
Based on the monsters’ actions, it wasn’t a sudden attack due to a lack of food, but rather the appearance of an individual organizing the monsters and taking a step towards expanding their territory. Lunaria, seeking information, made this judgment. Contrary to her belief that being present here was a valuable experience, Himusumi’s misunderstanding intensified.
However, a simplistic thought process, that the individual should simply be defeated, was emerging in his mind.
“This is unnatural.”
Unaware of his thoughts, Lunaria wondered if the being that was coordinating the monsters was cautious and hiding its presence, or if there was another explanation, given that the leader could not be found.
“…Understood. For now, we will focus on defense. The soldiers will alternate between maintaining the front lines and searching for the individual coordinating the monsters. Chief, please focus on assessing the village’s situation and treating the injured. If medicine is insufficient, inform my subordinate. We will convene the guardians later and cooperate.”
“Understood.”
The discussion ended for the moment, and Lunaria returned to her command, while the chiefs hurriedly left the room.
As Himusumi followed Lunaria out of the room, he clenched his fists.
The difference in thinking between Lunaria and Himusumi.
Lunaria decided to focus on defense, and to resolve the situation steadily over time while minimizing damage.
Conversely, Himusumi felt dissatisfied with this decision.
Perhaps it was due to the tragic scene he witnessed in the plaza, but he became fixated on the idea that no further damage should be allowed.
Therefore, he thought Lunaria’s decision was too leisurely.
Knowing Lunaria’s overwhelming power, Himusumi harbored doubts about why she wasn’t acting.
In a way, this was a small spark that should not have been ignited.
Today’s Word:
Understanding your superior’s judgment is also a kind of ability.
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*The first volume of the novel is published by Hayakawa Bunko JA.
It was released on October 18, 2018.
An e-book version was also released on October 31st of the same year.
Volume two was released on December 19th.
Volume three was released on February 20, 2019.
The content has been revised and expanded from the content posted on Shosetsuka ni Narou, with the addition of previously unpublished interlude chapters.
Please also consider purchasing the new books!!
The manga adaptation is serialized in Kodansha’s “Young Magazine The Third.”
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