Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I know it's late for the former and too early for the latter, but I only post a new chapter every two weeks, so it can't be helped. Anyway, let's go on with the show. Also, cliffhanger warning again... maybe...?
See you again in the afterword.
[X][X][X]
Whoosh...
Ryu felt a light breeze as he stepped out of the portal which Ainz had conjured for him and the rest of his team. He looked around, observing the spot he was at. All he could see was a natural grass field with some trees here and there, and some silhouettes of forests and mountains at far distances. The weather was fine, similar to when he had been still teaching Rose and Hikaru how to properly use the Flight Necklace.
Once everyone was here, the portal immediately disappeared. Ainz had told Ryu that the place he was assigned to investigate was a few kilometers south of this spot, so he decided to not waste any more time.
"Towards south from here, right? Everybody ready?"
Everyone else nodded with determined face, except Alice who didn't seem to show any response. She just stood there with somewhat empty expression. Ryu could notice that, therefore he began speaking to her.
"Liz, if we happen to encounter Elder again..."
Ryu's speech was stopped by his own hesitation. He didn't know whether saying what he was about to say would be a good idea or not.
But Alice being herself, clearly noticed the hesitation.
"You want me to stay out of the fight, don't you?"
"Uh, yeah. Especially that you now have little mana. Sorry that I didn't anticipate this"
Ryu lowered his head with his right hand put behind it and his eyes averted from Alice, which was his usual gesture whenever he felt either guilty or embarassed.
"Nobody would anticipate this sudden assignment"
Alice shrugged as she said that.
"Don't worry, Liz-san! I will protect you!"
Lily put her fisted hand on her own chest, showing her full confidence. Alice smiled a little seeing that. Ryu looked around once more, and with the help of his photon interface he could determine which way was south.
"South should be that way. Let's go"
After a slight nod of approval, everyone in the team began flying towards the direction pointed by Ryu. It didn't take long until he noticed from the distance ahead, the land had been utterly devastated. Compared to the plains he had been at, the ground over there was dark, either from burnt grass or exposed soil and rocks. It was still difficult to discern because of distance, but a number of trees seemed to have fallen down thanks to whatever had happened.
Ryu began to worry that Elder might have regained his full strength. If that was true, he would wreak even more havoc than before. Having encountered Elder multiple times before getting stuck on this planet, Ryu had learned that Elder's personality was not far different from Gettemhart, an ARKS operative Elder had taken over as his new host. Elder would seek conflict everywhere just for the sake of fighting a good battle, and him challenging Ainz was just a question of 'when' at this point.
"Hey, look over there!"
Before Ryu could think further, Rose suddenly shouted. Ryu immediately gave a hand signal for everyone to stop, and so everyone did just that. After everyone stopped, Ryu looked at the direction Rose had pointed, and he saw something he couldn't believe immediately.
It was a very scrawny black dragon with a pointy face, spikes protruding from the back of its arms, a pair of spiky wings totally made from what seemed like sharp bones, and bulging bright red torso which one could assume contained dangerous substances. The dragon was steadily crawling on the ground, its head turned left and right as if it was looking for something.
"Haze Draal?"
From its looks alone, Ryu immediately assumed that it was a Haze Draal, a rare subspecies of Chrome Dragon. Chrome Dragon was a species of dragon coming from unknown origins. All Ryu knew about it was that this species of dragon had the capability to rip space open and use it as a form of teleportation which allegedly could reach anywhere. Also, it ate Darkers and gained powerups from them. The presence of the arm spikes, wings, and bulging torso was a clear sign that it was currently at full power.
"Care for a brief explanation? It seems you know about that dragon already"
Ryu looked at Alice and nodded. Since now they were floating high, Ryu believed that it was safe to talk.
"That dragon can teleport anywhere like Darkers, which is needed because it is a Darker eater. Sounds good at first, but it is berserk and hostile against anything that moves, so if left alone it will severely damage the ecosystem. The species is named Chrome Dragon, but the one below us is a rare variant named Haze Draal. Although..."
"Although what?"
"I'm not sure about a few things. Mainly, the colors are off"
Indeed, the Haze Draal below had different colors than the Haze Draal Ryu remembered. The hands were purple instead of blood red, the bulging torso was bright red instead of blue, basically its whole body had a different color pattern than a regular Haze Draal.
"So you're basically saying that the dragon might be an even rarer variant?"
Before Ryu could answer the question, suddenly...
"Everyone careful! It knows we're here!"
Lily shouted to everyone else who looked down immediately. Indeed, the dragon now looked straight at them with its sinister face. It then immediately changed its body posture into the likeness of a human squatting, curled its arms together with its head to the front, and...
"GRAAAAAAU!"
It roared loudly with its arms wide open, as if it was challenging the group for a fight. The roar made a shockwave which blew everything around it away, and the group could feel the wind pressure going through them.
"Are we... going to fight it?"
Alice asked, looking visibly worried and scared.
"For all we know, it might have been the cause of whatever happened in this region. Fighting it is what we should do to prevent further damage"
Ryu's answer was spoken with a straight face, but in truth Ryu was quite worried. By all chances, the Haze Draal was probably powered up by this planet like what happened to Photon Arts and Photon Techs. In the past, a single mistake could prove fatal in any fight against a Haze Draal of Tier SH. How much more dangerous this Haze Draal could be on this planet now?
And therefore, he made a decision.
"Liz. Please stay out, and flee if-"
"No!"
Alice cut Ryu's speech off while shaking her head. It was very noticeable with her raised eyes that she was angry.
"Do not make me... go through that again...!"
Alice's tone of speech was choked up, and it was enough of a sign for everyone else to know that she was about to cry. It was also enough for Ryu to realize his mistake. Alice had lost all her former teammates in a gruesome way not so long ago, and Ryu had mistakenly asked her to relive that trauma by telling her to flee alone when things would go south.
However, before Ryu could say anything in response...
"Look out!"
Lily suddenly pushed Rose out of her position, and just a fraction of a second later she was engulfed by a pillar of light from below.
"Lily!"
The dragon below had shot a laser out of its mouth, reaching all the way up there. The laser soon dissipated, and everyone could see Lily still alive and relatively well. She had raised her shield in time to protect herself.
"Are you alright?"
"Whew, that did quite a bit on me"
Lily de-summoned her shield. Her right arm, which had held the shield, was pretty badly damaged.
Resta!
With the healing Photon Tech, Ryu healed Lily back.
"Lily, stay here and protect Liz! No time for more talking. Engage!"
Ryu, Hikaru, and Rose immediately dispersed, flying to different directions with the intention to attack the dragon from multiple sides. Ryu flew towards the left side of the dragon and began charging photon with his Weddle Park rod while still strafing around it.
Grants!
Knowing that this dragon species was commonly weak to Light element, Ryu casted one of his mainstay Light element photon techs right on the dragon's head. Multiple spears of light struck the dragon's head and disappeared after striking, but the dragon remained unfazed.
While doing this, Ryu also opened his photon interface to scan the dragon since the distance was now close enough.
Name: ?
Level: ?
Weakness: Light
Ryu had half-expected this outcome. The peculiar photons on this planet had probably mutated a wild Chrome Dragon into an entirely new subspecies, so this was not a Haze Draal as Ryu had assumed before.
"Ilgrants!"
From the other side, Rose had switched to Meru and casted a different light element photon tech. A barrage of light projectiles were shot out from her rod weapon and homed in to the dragon's head. Ilgrants had higher raw power than Grants, but the projectiles were relatively slow, so if the target was agile not all projectiles would make contact.
Thankfully, the dragon was a little distracted by Ryu's recent Grants, so all the Ilgrants projectiles hit its head directly. Soon after, a barrage of energy arrows was rained upon the dragon. It was a bow photon art launched by Hikaru, who was flying at some distance behind the dragon.
The dragon quickly turned its body to face Meru and lowered itself, which was a clear sign that it was about to charge at her. Ryu kept spamming Grants at its head, believing in Meru that she would dodge the charge.
The dragon quickly charged on all fours right towards Meru, then it suddenly jumped into a front flip and smashed its arms to the ground. Meru managed to dodge by flying sideways, but right as its arms smashed the ground, a bunch of giant icicles were shot out from the ground straight upwards, one of them right below Meru.
"I-Impenetrable Fortress!"
Clank!
"Aaah!"
Meru managed to activate a Martial Art just before impact to protect herself from taking massive damage, but the icicle still knocked her away.
[Flow Acceleration]
Using a Martial Art, Ryu flew straight to Meru at high speed and caught her hand, stopping her from tumbling uncontrollably.
"T-Thanks"
"Don't thank me now. This dragon is much more formidable than the Chrome Dragon I know"
As Ryu was speaking, he could notice that the dragon was now preoccupied by Hikaru, who had just activated her class skill which made her invulnerable for 20 seconds as long as she was wielding her katana, along with her Photon Blast which kept her photon energy full. This meant he had a short breathing room for now while Hikaru was spamming katana Photon Arts at the dragon.
"That dragon is not in my database, and I have never seen anything like it before. What about you?"
"I-I have never seen it either. Wait a minute, let me scan it..."
Meru then activated her photon interface. Ryu took a peek at her interface, hoping that her database had better information. After all, he had considered the possibility that Mel Rose came from a parallel universe where the ARKS Fleet was more advanced that the one Ryu came from.
"Ah..!"
Meru suddenly looked surprised, and Ryu quickly followed suit once he saw what Meru saw.
Name: Apostolo Dragon
Level: 85 (XH)
Weakness: Light
"Tier XH? Is that a tier above SH?"
"Y-Yes.."
Ryu had a lot of questions in his mind, but there was no time to ask because Hikaru had just finished her class skill with a big, damaging shockwave. She was no longer invulnerable, right in front of a highly dangerous enemy which still didn't look wounded much.
"Let's go!"
"Y-Yes..!"
Both Ryu and Meru flew towards the Apostolo Dragon to assist Hikaru, who cautiously backed away to keep her distance. Ryu was glad that now he and the others had the ability to fly. Otherwise this fight would have been much more dangerous.
The Apostolo Dragon curled its body and began floating. Ryu could recognize this move, and therefore he reminded himself to stay on the move. He hoped the others would do the same.
As expected, the dragon opened up from its curling and multiple large icicle bullets began forming in a circle formation around it. Soon enough, the icicles oriented themselves to aim straight at a random target and launched themselves in succession straight towards the target each of them was aiming at.
What Ryu didn't fully expect was that the dragon landed and began swiping around with its claws as this was happening. In the past, a Chrome Dragon would stay afloat and passive while the icicles were attacking. This made the Apostolo Dragon much more dangerous.
The dragon once again charged on all fours and did a front flip smash, this time towards Hikaru. She managed to evade the attack and the icicle from below, but one of the icicles from before grazed her and sent her tumbling down.
"Hikaru!"
Ryu shouted, and he wanted to go straight to Hikaru to help her. However, he noticed that a couple of the icicles still not launched yet were aimed upwards. Before his mind could process what his next action should be, the icicles were launched straight towards where Lily and Alice were at. Ryu looked upwards out of reflex, to see if Lily and Alice would be alright.
Thankfully, he could see both of them evading in time. However, all the distractions made him fail to realize that he had been floating still and an icicle was shot straight at him.
SMACK!
Ryu took a direct hit from the left. His photon armor had protected him from being straight up impaled, but he definitely felt the impact and all the pain coming along with it. His mind was disoriented from the shock that he failed to maintain his flight, and so he came crashing to the ground after being launched quite a distance away by the force of the icicle.
THUD!
Ryu fell flat on the ground. His consciousness was starting to fade away, and he couldn't feel his left arm. He wasn't even sure if the arm was still attached to his body. With what was left of his consciousness, he called his weapon into his right hand and immediately began charging photon.
Resta...!
With a glimmer of green light, Ryu was healed back and he now could move his left arm freely again. Whatever had happened to the arm, he didn't want to know at all. However, while his physical wounds had been healed, his stamina had been significantly tolled by the experience. Right now, he barely had enough stamina to get up into sitting position, let alone standing up.
[Lesser Rejuvenate Stamina]
Suddenly, Ryu felt his stamina replenishing, even though not by much. He immediately stood up and saw Alice and Lily standing next to him.
"Ryu-san! I'm glad you're alright!"
"That was really dangerous"
"Liz, thanks for whatever you did, but you really should stay away. This dragon is far more dangerous than we expected"
Alice didn't look pleased at all hearing Ryu's words. At the background, the Apostolo Dragon could be seen shooting numerous small dark-red energy projectiles from its mouth like a shotgun to random directions. It seemed Meru and Hikaru was still continuing their assault on the dragon.
"Why only me? Why not all of us book it together?"
"Well, because it's our-"
"Don't give me that crap about duty...!"
Once again, Alice cut Ryu's words off with choked up tone of speech, which startled Ryu and Lily.
"There must be another way... other than fighting that creature with just you three! We can retreat and ask for reinforcements from the guild... or even her father! Why do you have to risk your lives this far..!? Don't any of you have anybody out there... who will be sad if you're gone!? Heck, if you don't... I will be one..!"
Ryu was speechless hearing Alice's choked up speech, and he began questioning his own goals. As a member of ARKS, it was his duty to fight against the looming threat of Darkers, Dark Falz, and any other things foreign which could endanger the local life. The Apostolo Dragon belonged to the latter category, and so he had felt compelled to fight.
But was it really the right mindset?
Right now, it has been shown that the Apostolo Dragon was overwhelmingly strong for the group's capabilities. Even with the extra perks they had, continuing the fight would likely just result in a defeat. Unlike in the past, this time there would be no rescue squad or medics if things really went south. Failing to defeat the dragon would be much more likely to result in death.
Ryu had no idea about Mel Rose, but he and Hikaru had Yukasa and Yamino, and also the other members of IGNITE who might not take it well if they were gone. In addition, Alice had declared it herself that she would be one of those. Was it really right to battle this kind of enemy now?
Coming to a decision, Ryu nodded to Alice.
"...You're right. Let's book it together. I'll go and tell those two to retreat. Wait here"
Both Lily and Alice nodded, and Ryu immediately flew towards the battle to get Meru and Hikaru to retreat. However...
Vrrrrm!
The dragon cupped its hands together in front as if it was holding a large ball, and a black sphere formed there. Ryu knew about that move since a Chrome Dragon could do the same to pull Darkers into its grasp and then eat them alive. But the suction effect of that black sphere was supposed to only affect Darkers, and currently there were no Darkers around, so Ryu felt confused about the seemingly pointless move.
But soon, much to his horror, the answer to Ryu's confusion was answered.
Ryu suddenly felt that he was being pulled into the black sphere. Without a doubt, that black sphere now could pull things other than just Darkers. Out of reflex and survival instinct, Ryu turned around and flew straight away from the dragon as fast as he could because he didn't want to be eaten alive. Nobody would.
Not long after, Ryu felt that he was no longer pulled in. But he also realized something horrible. He quickly turned his head around to look at the dragon, hoping with all his heart that his worst thought was wrong.
But he was unfortunately right.
To his further horrors, the dragon now had Meru in its grasps. She struggled, trying to get out, but there was no way her physical strength would win against the large hands of the dragon. Ryu immediately blasted off straight to the dragon, but in his heart he knew that he would be too late because the dragon now opened its mouth wide and brought its hands closer. Meru seemed to freeze up as she was brought closer and closer to the dark space of the dragon's mouth.
"Release Briste Insignia!"
"Rose Schwert!"
Hikaru activated her Briste Insignia and immediately followed up with an unknown Photon Art which made her do a forward thrust with the katana straight at the dragon's mouth. The thrust hit the dragon's tongue, causing it to stagger back and cover its mouth with both hands in pain, releasing Meru in the process. She fell straight down, but Ryu arrived just in time to catch her into a princess-carry position in his arms. She had fainted, perhaps from the terror of almost being eaten alive.
"Hikaru! We're retreating!"
Ryu immediately flew away after shouting without waiting for Hikaru's response. All he knew was that he had to bring Meru away from the highly dangerous enemy as fast as he could.
Soon, Ryu arrived at the spot where Lily and Alice were waiting.
"Let's get away from here!"
"Wait, are you leaving your sister behind?"
"Huh? What?"
Ryu couldn't immediately process what Alice had asked, but he soon looked behind and saw that Hikaru was still over there fighting the Apostolo Dragon. For some reason, Hikaru had failed to comply with his prompt. Either she had not heard him, or it had been caused by her berserk state from activating Briste Insignia.
"Tch, that dummy! Take Meru for me!"
Without waiting for response, Ryu handed the unconscious Meru to Lily and flew back to the dragon. He knew that Hikaru would be in a somewhat berserk state when she released her Briste Insignia, but as far as he knew, she would still be capable of reasoning. She shouldn't have failed to comply.
From a distance, Ryu saw that Hikaru had been chaining the unknown Photon Arts she had gained access to, one after another. So far, Ryu had recorded several names which Hikaru sometimes shouted out whenever she did one of those unknown Photon Arts, such as Rose Schwert, Folter Zeit, and Wolkenkratzer. Whenever Ryu inquired about it, Hikaru always failed to remember that she shouted those names. In addition, there were multiple occasions where Hikaru shouted a name but the Photon Art was different. One example was that a Wolkenkratzer could be an explosive vertical dive or a ranged energy projectile attack.
Long story short, Hikaru's Briste Insignia had a lot of mysteries around it, and it was unlikely that those mysteries would be solved anytime soon.
While Ryu was thinking on this, Hikaru had already circled around to the dragon's rear and unleashed an attack which she had never shouted any form of name yet. It could have been some sort of ultimate attack, since its power was far greater than any of the mysterious Photon Arts. During its execution, Hikaru did a rather slow downward slash with one hand and a large energy blade would strike with the same motion. Likely because of the peculiar photon of this planet, the energy blade was significantly larger and longer than normal.
BOOM! CRASH!
The strike shattered the dragon's wings, causing it to stumble and collapse to the ground. Hikaru's previous assault also had broken its red bulging chest, causing it to rupture and spill whatever nasty substance within it to the ground, and then ceased to exist. Now that it no longer had wings and bulging chest, it should be less dangerous than before. However, not wanting to take any more risks, Ryu went straight to Hikaru while the dragon was still writhing in pain on the ground.
"Hikaru! We're booking it! Let's go!"
Ryu said that as he grabbed Hikaru's wrist, stopping her from continuing her assault. She seemed to be mildly surprised by the interruption, but after a quick breath she sheathed her katana, deactivating the weapon's effect. Without saying further words, she nodded and the two of them immediately began flying away from the dragon.
The dragon, realizing that its opponents were running away, immediately rose and chased both Ryu and Hikaru on all fours. It once again jumped into a front flip and slammed the ground with both hands, creating portals which shot icicles upwards. The then dragon repeated the same move again and again, all in quick succession. Everything happened so fast, neither Ryu nor Hikaru could evade the attacks completely.
Crash! Thud!
Both Ryu and Hikaru took quite violent hits, and crashed down onto the ground. Not giving them any chance to recover, the dragon slammed the ground right in front of it with one hand, then with the other, and finally with both hands. With each impact, an icicle-shooting portal was conjured underneath each of the two siblings and struck them with an equally greater force, effectively and painfully juggling them around. In the end, both of them were rendered unconscious with their faces flat on the ground as the dragon steadily walked to them with its mouth open and drooling.
[Shield Ram]
Smack!
Suddenly, the dragon was hit hard on the head with a blunt force from its side. Lily had just rammed its head at full flight speed with her shield.
[Battle Taunt]
"Your opponent is me, ugly lizard!"
Lily lightly glowed red as she shouted while banging her sword onto her shield, creating an echoing and jarring noise. The dragon turned its head to Lily, balefully hissing at her. Meanwhile, Alice quietly approached the unconscious Ryu and Hikaru with the [Camouflage] spell in effect.
[Minor Cure Wounds]
[Lightweight]
[Scroll: Floating Board]
[Scroll: Mage Hand]
While Lily was keeping the dragon busy, Alice casted a few spells, either from her own arsenal of magic spells or the scrolls which were among the items Ainz had supplied her with some time ago. After casting the weight-altering spell on the two, Alice had used a [Mage Hand] scroll, which conjured a semi-transparent large hand, to lift them up and put them on the magic platform created by the [Floating Board] spell scroll. After both of them were on the platform, Alice quickly-but-silently flew away, back to where she had left the unconscious Meru.
However, before she could get far...
Smack!
Alice heard a loud sound behind, followed by a silence which sent chills running down her spine. A really bad feeling surfaced in her mind, and she quickly turned her head to look. What she saw next was a dreadful sight.
The dragon had Lily pinned between its two hands, like how a person had crushed a mosquito by clapping. Alice couldn't believe that Lily could get caught this quickly and easily. Was the dragon simply too strong and fast for her?
Before Alice could think further, the dragon grasped Lily with its right hand, raised the hand high, and...
SMASH!
It slammed Lily to the ground with a force so great the ground basically exploded. The tremor resulting from the slam was clearly visible, and Alice somehow could feel it despite the fact that she was not touching the ground.
"No..."
The dragon, which was still at some distance away, looked straight at Alice right after the dust settled. She felt even more overwhelming chills running down her spine as fear gripped her heart. Her mind went into such disarray that she dropped down from her flight and fell onto her knees on the ground. Her eyes' pupils shrank, with tears running down her cheeks as the dragon slowly and steadily approached her with its sinister, sharp eyes still gazing upon her.
Soon, the dragon was right in front of her, its dominance clearly shown by its large size. Its mouth was still drooling, with a mix of what could be blood, as it lowered its head to level with her. In such a close distance, it was visible that the dragon actually had a pair of mandible-like smaller jaws that opened horizontally, which meant that when it opened its mouth wide, it opened four ways. At this point while seeing the horrors up close, Alice felt some warmth and dampness around her legs, but she didn't think about it at all because she was frozen stiff in the face of what she believed would be a certain death.
However, suddenly the dragon seemed to be mildly surprised, closing its mouth and raised its head. It then turned the head to look the other way, and became silent for a few seconds.
"GRAAUUUU!"
The dragon roared, once again sending chills down Alice's spine, then it dashed away and disappeared into a red portal it somehow created by ripping space open.
Alice, now being essentially alone, still froze up after all that had happened.
"Ha..."
"Haha..."
"Hahahahahaha...!"
Her laugh did not sound happy in the least. It was a relieved, yet frustrated mania that echoed through the plains as she was once again the only one left to remain unharmed.
[X][X][X]
"Everyone evacuate! This dragon is dangerous!"
I shouted to whoever could hear me. An Apostolo Dragon could handily defeat any unprepared ARKS operative and bring massive destruction to the environment while at it. I was far from unprepared, and although difficult I could defeat it all by myself. But right now I was at a place where there were other people, and they would get killed as collateral damage in the heat of battle if they didn't get away from the place.
The dragon for some reason didn't immediately attack. Instead, it looked exhausted and wounded. The spiked wings and red bulging chest weren't there, and just now I noticed that it was drooling blood. Whatever, or whoever it had faced before getting here, they sure had done quite a bit of damage on it.
I switched my weapon from katana to rifle because fighting it at close range was risky and I preferred to keep myself at range. I was about to begin attacking the dragon when suddenly something strange happened.
"Huh?"
The Apostolo Dragon suddenly went completely still. There was no longer any breathing, and even its drool somehow stopped in its tracks. The only explanation I could immediately think of was that it was frozen in time.
"Is this your doing, Luther?"
Luther indeed possessed time flow manipulation power back then when he had been still a full-blown Dark Falz Loser, and he possibly still had it now. Back then, despite having been able to resist against the power up to certain extent, many ARKS operatives had fallen because of it.
"Unless the circumstance threatens my very existence, I will never assist you directly. This is not such a case"
"Yeah... right..."
I still kept myself alert because there was no telling when this weird time stop effect would stop working on the dragon. This should normally be a perfect moment to attack, but I couldn't help being curious about what was happening.
"Please do not attack it for the moment, Guardian Angel"
While I was pondering, I heard a familiar voice telling me not to attack the dragon. It came from the Captain, who was holding some kind of ornate pendulum by its chain. The head of the pendulum was spinning in a horizontal rotation motion while glowing with a yellow light, despite the Captain not moving his hand at all.
"This magic item is blocking the flow of time of this dragon, but the moment a strong enough energy touches it, the spell will break"
In other words, the Apostolo Dragon would move again the moment it was attacked. I fully understood what he had said, and so I approached him, who still had Zesshi standing right next to him. The Captain's face looked serious, with several beads of sweat running down. Zesshi on the other hand, looked astonished and perhaps itching to fight the dragon.
"I have already instructed my squad to evacuate the Cardinals and the Pontifex Maximus, and this should buy us all a couple minutes. In the meantime, Guardian Angel... Would you be willing to inform us about this... sinister dragon? Why did it come all the way here?"
I folded my arms while looking at the Apostolo Dragon, and then I let out a sigh.
"It must have sensed my Angel form, which means it is all my fault that this dragon is now here"
"No, Guardian Angel. It's not your fault. The blame is on us who have made your situation difficult, forcing you to reveal your true form"
The Captain responded, saying his line with his other hand put on his chest while looking straight at me. His facial expression looked genuine to me, making me somewhat feel bad for keeping their misunderstanding up. However, I decided to keep the facade going for now because it was unnecessary to reveal anything, concerning the current situation.
"Anyway, while you have said a couple minutes, do you have more precise estimation on how long we have until the effect breaks?"
"I would say... three minutes minimum"
"Not much, but enough. Alright, listen up. This is Apostolo Dragon. Cursed with eternal hunger, it eats everything and anything that moves. It can teleport at will like it just did, and it is highly attracted to powerful beings, especially my advanced form. Very dangerous, even for me"
The Captain's expression turned grim after hearing my words. It was understandable because in their eyes I was like some kind of god, and anybody would feel scared if their god said that a creature was very dangerous. But I never intended to sugarcoat anything because an Apostolo Dragon was really dangerous. Even with my full strength, a single mistake could prove fatal.
Nevertheless, I continued by asking a question.
"I need to know something. Are we in the middle of a civilization right now?"
"Ah, yes. We are in the heart of the capital city of this country; Slane Theocracy"
"Then I can't just draw it away from here... Alright, I will kill this thing right here. You two better get away"
Right after I said that, Zesshi raised her weapon and spoke to me.
"Let me help you, Guardian Angel!"
The Captain looked surprised seeing Zesshi's sudden decision, but he quickly followed suit by raising his weapon as well, with his free hand.
"I will assist you too. I have to take responsibility for this dragon being here to begin with"
I looked at the Captain, noticing that his facial expression showed determination. He was genuine in his intention, but while I remembered Margaretta acknowledging his capabilities, I still had my doubts because I had never seen what he could actually do in battle.
"I don't doubt Zesshi's strength, but are you confident in yours?"
"Rest assured, Guardian Angel. The two of us have been sparring partners for a long time, though perhaps our definition of long time is but a speck of dust compared to yours"
I could hear Luther laughing inside after hearing the Captain's words. Their misunderstanding about me felt very awkward, and I intended to clear everything up once this matter was over.
Soon, the spinning motion of the pendulum in the Captain's hand began to weaken. Anyone would understand that it meant the item's effect would end very soon, and a battle would soon begin.
"It's almost time, Guardian Angel"
"I see that. Are you two ready?"
While saying that, I raised my rifle as a sign that I was ready. In response, both Zesshi and the Captain nodded and raised their own. Just a couple seconds later, the pendulum completely stopped spinning and the Captain tucked it into his pocket.
"GRRAAAAUUUU!"
The Apostolo Dragon roared once more, and the battle began.
[X][X][X]
Afterword (?):
Ryu's team got royally wrecked, with Alice essentially having to relive her trauma. Meanwhile, the escaped and injured Apostolo Dragon arrived at the heart of Slane Theocracy where Guardian was currently at. How will the trio fare against it? Find out in the next chapter.
See you again next time.
...
Who am I kidding?
Why would I present basically the same cliffhanger after a 1 month wait? That would be a really jerk move, wouldn't it?
Therefore, I decide that it's time for...
*Drum roll...
Encore!
[X][X][X]
Slam! Smash! Crash!
The Apostolo Dragon smashed the ground with one hand, then the other, and then with both hands at once. With each smash, the ground was shaken by the force, and portals were conjured on the ground right below the three combatants' feet. Out of reflex and battle instinct, the Captain jumped away from the spot, and the other two did the same. Immediately, large icicles emerged from those portals and retracted back as quickly as they came out before disappearing along with the portals.
The Captain saw that Guardian Angel immediately began her attack by conjuring some kind of small crystal above her head, which immediately shot homing projectiles at the dragon's head. She immediately followed up by conjuring multiple smaller crystals near various body parts of the dragon, which also shot projectiles albeit much smaller than the previously conjured crystal. Not intending to stop, she readied her strange-looking weapon, aimed it at the dragon's head, and took a shot which staggered the dragon.
The Captain had heard myths about ancient relic weapons called 'guns' which could shoot small, yet lethal projectiles called 'bullets' out from their small mouth in quick succession, but today was the first time he actually saw one in use. Adding the weapon he saw, so far he had seen Guardian Angel having three different kinds of weapons; katana, scythe, and now a gun. He couldn't fathom how powerful this Messenger of Gods could be with such arsenal in her possession, and how grave the mistake he had committed which had resulted in this malicious dragon arriving right here in the heart of Slane Theocracy.
Deciding not to think further about it for the time being, the Captain dashed forward and circled around the dragon, intending to attack it from behind. He focused his mind into his spear, and began his attack.
[Focus Battle Aura]
[Fatal Edge]
The spear let out a red glow as the Captain used two Martial Arts in quick succession and struck the dragon's tail. The end part of the tail was shaped like a trident's head, and he assumed that it could be a dangerous weapon, so his intention was to cut the tail off and lessen the possible danger against Guardian Angel.
Clank!
However, the tail moved and blocked the strike with its solid trident-like end. The Captain had anticipated this, and was prepared to immediately move away in case the tail moved and counter attacked. He safely backed off a few meters, looking for another chance to attack.
Meanwhile, Zesshi jumped high into the air, attacking the dragon directly from above with a diving slash. She was covered in a bluish-aura, which was a sign that she had activated at least one body-strengthening Martial Art.
"Take this!"
Shhhhhk!
Zesshi slashed on the dragon's nape of its neck, and it seemed to be a clean hit. Generous amounts of blood spurted out from that spot, and the dragon staggered in pain. Zesshi gracefully landed on the dragon's back and immediately jumped away.
"Hyaaah!"
While still in the air, Zesshi did an uppercut slash with her scythe, sending a wheel-shaped energy projectile which zoomed straight at the dragon's back. It was almost exactly the same as the attack Guardian Angel had used against her during their match, and the Captain was not surprised seeing that. He had known for a long time that Zesshi had a Talent which allowed her to mimic any attack moves she saw, as long as the weapon was comparable. Whenever she saw a compatible attack move, she would need somewhere between 3 to 5 minutes for the new knowledge to set in and allow her to perform the move. That was another reason the Captain had used the Chrono Pendulum. In addition of buying time to gather information, the brief intermission had also allowed enough time for Zesshi to fully absorb the new knowledge.
Guardian Angel's choice of using a weapon compatible with Zesshi's Talent in their match had been a blessing, and the Captain couldn't help being impressed by Guardian Angel's foresight. He believed that she must have seen what Zesshi's Talent was through her divine eyes, and had chosen to grant a blessing by sparring with a matching weapon of her own, allowing Zesshi to wield a part of the divine power later on. He was now determined to make amends of his recent mistake by any means necessary once this battle was over.
While this was happening, Guardian Angel had been spraying a barrage of bullets at the dragon's head. It tried to cover its face with its hand, but Zesshi's attack staggered it and leaving its head wide open to attacks again. The Captain didn't want to be left out of the action, and therefore he charged forward to do another attack attempt.
[Triple Thrust]
With the Martial Art, the Captain did a single thrust with his spear at the dragon's tail, but the tail was somehow struck three times as the effect of the Martial Art. Not satisfied with just that, the Captain followed up with another attack.
[Focus Attack]
[Great Sweep]
The Captain did a wide horizontal slash with his spear aimed at the height where the dragon's tail was located. Normally the Martial Art would emit a horizontal shockwave which would slash any enemy in front of him at wide angle range and pretty good distance. However, the Martial Art he had casted just before prevented the shockwave from coming out and instead gathered all the energy at the tip of the spear, resulting in one massively damaging hit against the target.
Crack!
Thud!
The Captain's attack managed to sever the dragon's tail, resulting in the trident-like pointy end being separated from the rest of the body and crashing down to the ground. Blood spurted out from the cut off part, and the dragon staggered again.
"GRAAAUUUU!"
The dragon roared, and somehow it sprouted a huge pair of wings made from blades and spikes of gold color, contrasting its mostly black body. Those wings, spanning wider than the dragon's body length, emitted purple aura in a way that the aura was like the membranes of the wings.
Immediately, the dragon rose and hovered several meters above ground, curling itself in fetal position. While this was happening, numerous dark portals appeared all around it, shooting huge sharp icicles straight at the Captain, Zesshi, and Guardian Angel. Those portals also appeared at ground level, shooting icicles from below their feet like before.
"The wings! We have to break the wings!"
The Captain heard the words shouted by Guardian Angel while she was very busy evading the icicles, and he believed Zesshi heard those too. While still evading the icicles like Guardian Angel, the two's eyes crossed and they nodded to each other. Soon, after stepping on the ground, both of them jumped straight at the dragon's wings from behind and began glowing bright red. Guardian Angel also happened to be right next to them as this happened, having jumped from the ground as well from a different direction.
[Godkin's Blessing]
Zesshi and the Captain activated their ultimate Martial Art, which combined the effects of multiple self-enhancing Arts all into one. As a result, both of them were granted the highest order of strength, speed, and fortitude. This was a Martial Art exclusive to them alone, because anyone else trying to perform it would have their body destroyed by its sheer power.
"Hraaaaaah!"
"Shift-Nachtangriff!"
Crash! Boom!
They struck the wings with all their might, along with Guardian Angel shooting two large energy projectiles at the roots of those wings. The combined attack from the three rendered the wings shattered and dissolved from existence. The dragon became wingless in that instant, and immediately fell back down to the ground.
THUD!
The dragon's body hit the ground violently and became dazed, along with the ground vibrating from the impact. It couldn't rise, and the signs were clear that it was very exhausted, with short, gasping breaths and all. Guardian Angel quickly approached the dragon's head, switching her weapon from her gun to her katana, and immediately attacked.
"Folter Zeit!"
She shouted some foreign words, and immediately attacked the dragon at the head with a flurry of slashes, ending with an uppercut slash which separated the dragon's head from its body.
Splorch!
Thud!
The cut off neck spurted out a fountain of blood as the head fell down to the ground. The Captain and Zesshi couldn't help being astonished by the view of blood-soaked Guardian Angel, which didn't last long because she immediately glowed blue and became clean again within an instant.
Before they could think of anything further, the dragon's corpse disintegrated into particles of light which floated away like fireflies before disappearing from sight. In the end, there was nothing left of the dragon, as if it had never been here from the start. One exception was the dragon's blood stains all over the ruined courtyard, which would make anyone simply assume that some kind of massacre had just happened there.
Both Zesshi and the Captain approached Guardian Angel, who stood still with an exhausted expression. Her katana disappeared, probably tucked away to her magic inventory or whatever divine relic she used.
"Guardian Angel, is the dragon dead?"
"Yes... but I need to remind you that we could kill it this quickly because it was already badly injured when it came. I don't know who did that, but I know that I have to thank them if I meet them someday"
The Captain agreed with Guardian Angel's remark, but a feeling of dread began creeping up his mind and he couldn't help asking a question.
"Guardian Angel, what would have happened if the dragon was in its prime? Would we still have won the battle?"
Guardian Angel glanced at the Captain and Zesshi for a brief moment, and then she began speaking.
"I say that we still could, but the battle would have lasted much longer and the damage to the environment would have been much worse. Also, we probably wouldn't have come out of the battle unscathed like now"
The Captain just nodded, agreeing once again with Guardian Angel's remark.
"So... is this the end?"
"No. It never is..."
Guardian Angel sighed as she spoke her answer.
"Would you care to explain, if you are willing?"
"When this dragon species dies, its body will return to where it came from, and a new dragon will be born in its place. This has been our perpetual struggle for a long time"
The Captain couldn't help feeling overwhelmed by the revelation from Guardian Angel's words. Since she had just said "our", that meant there were other Angels out there who had been fighting against evil dragons in a war that likely had lasted for centuries or even millennia. Such a thing was happening, and he was right here having been totally oblivious about it.
Now that he knew all that, he immediately kneeled to Guardian Angel. She looked quite surprised with the sudden action.
"I am truly sorry for the grave mistake I have done. No amount of apology would ever make up for the unimaginable sin I have committed by shackling you in prison and talking to you in a rude manner. Please-"
"Oh jeez, that again?"
Guardian Angel put her hand on her forehead with her eyes rolled. She then looked at the still-kneeling Captain with her arms folded.
"Listen up. There is nothing on you to apologize for. You did what you had to do to protect the people here. In fact, I should be the one apologizing for my mistake of disturbing your people's peace and drawing the dangerous dragon here. But let's all quit being apologetic or else we won't go anywhere"
Guardian Angel let out a small sigh, and then she continued as the Captain stood up from his kneeling.
"I still have to accomplish my mission, so I need to go. But mark my words that I will return to make things right"
The Captain shook his head.
"Don't let us disturb your mission. I, and my squad... we will take care of things here. Therefore, please do your divine missions without concerning us in the slightest"
Guardian Angel slightly shrugged hearing the Captain's words.
"If you say so. But my promise still stands. Anyway, farewell"
"Be safe, Guardian Angel"
The Captain bowed as he said that. Meanwhile, Zesshi still stood around nonchalantly.
"Yeah, be safe, Guardian Angel. I still want to fight you again someday"
Guardian Angel just made a small nod with a mild smile before a red energy vortex engulfed her, transforming her into the majestic golden angel form. The wings let out an intense aura before she quickly flew off to the sky with a blast. After Guardian Angel disappeared from view, the Captain let out a sigh of relief and let himself fall flat to the ground on his back. Right now was the only chance for him to relax a little since Zesshi was the only other person around. He knew that soon there would be a big cleanup needed, and that would be quite an exhaustive task. As the Captain of Black Scripture, he couldn't afford to show weakness, so he just wanted to relax himself while he still had the chance.
[X][X][X]
(Real) Afterword:
The Apostolo Dragon is dead, but for Guardian it was not something worth celebrating. Now that she finally has a clue on the whereabouts of her mission objective, she went straight towards the direction, not having any clue about the change of situation regarding the objective. What will happen next?
See you again in 2020.
