NOVEL NEXT Chapter 120
“It’s a dragon!”
“Dragon! Dragon! A dragon has appeared!”
It was an undeniable fact that was clear even to the naked eye, yet the soldiers, having witnessed it firsthand, were plunged into panic, screaming wildly as if it were an unstoppable phenomenon.
Walter knew well what colossal fear humans felt in battle. It was when one found themselves in a situation beyond their control, where nothing could be done. In other words, when all one could do was flail about, and even that was impossible, humans lost all reason and succumbed to panic.
The Empire’s soldiers were brave. Even if commanded to charge at a ten-meter-tall armored giant, these soldiers would surely try to fight back with everything they had. After all, a giant grounded on the earth was a foe they could at least engage with; they could at least flail and try to dodge incoming attacks.
However, the white dragon soaring through the skies, enveloped in a protective barrier, was an entirely different matter. The infantry on the ground had no means or methods to fight such an enemy. If the enemy unleashed its breath upon them from that height, the soldiers, unable to adjust their formation, would simply burn to death.
The mere appearance of the dragon sent the ranks into disarray. Walter realized that he had no choice but to act. Wielding the holy sword, he shouted,
“Hold the line! Defend that side of the creek at all costs! Wave my banner so everyone knows I’m here!”
At Walter’s roar, the soldiers behind him frantically waved the hero’s white flag and beat their drums. Without further delay, Walter launched himself into the front lines, crossing the water barrier and leaping to the other side of the creek. As the blade of his holy sword swung, orcs fell like leaves, yet for every three orcs that dropped, four more appeared to fill the gaps.
What remained were the one hero charging fiercely toward the enemy. Meanwhile, Margaret glanced at the dragon’s presence and ordered the Eramenian troops to penetrate deeper into the orc formations and disperse.
Her reasoning was that if the Elf Corps mixed too deeply among the orcs, they would have to risk burning their own troops if they needed to unleash their breath there.
At the same time, Margaret continued to fight in close combat with the Gargoyle Queen, trying to avoid becoming a target for the dragon.
Eventually, Etrias, following Margaret’s intentions, abandoned his attack on her and shifted his focus eastward, toward the infantry where the Empire’s forces had gathered.
A dark magic circle emerged from Etrias’ front paw, and a black ray shot down directly into the Empire’s ranks.
With a terrifying roar, dozens of Imperial soldiers began to vaporize from that spot. Walter, startled, glanced back and clicked his tongue. Thanks to the legion’s quick response, the ranks held firm against the orc assault, but the fear of such a powerful aerial weapon they couldn’t touch left the soldiers at the front visibly stiffened.
Walter had to hurry. Etrias was no foolish dragon. He doubted that the same tactic used before to forcibly draw it down and contain it with wizards would work again. Ordinary battle wizards were far too fragile to make a meaningful impact in such a massive engagement, and he needed to find a way to capture the dragon without relying on the hidden strength of the mages at the back.
Realistically, the only thing that could inflict damage capable of breaching Etrias’ protective barrier was Margaret’s arrows. Summoning all his strength, Walter rushed to where Margaret and the Gargoyle Queen were battling, focusing his mana to strike the Gargoyle Queen from behind.
“Ka-aah!”
As the blade of the holy sword struck the back of the gargoyle’s head, diamond shards flew off. In that moment when the Gargoyle Queen turned around nervously, Margaret realized what she had to do through an exchanged glance with Walter and hurriedly broke away to pursue the dragon.
As Margaret drew her bow to target Etrias’ barrier, Bernard rushed over to assist Walter, joining the hero in the fray.
“Be careful, Bernard! If you get hit even once, it’s over for you!”
“I know better than you, hero!”
The hunter skillfully leapt over the Gargoyle Queen’s head. Though the Gargoyle Queen was not slow, the teamwork of those two men, who had a better-than-average synchronization, left the diamond gargoyle bewildered.
“Rose must have already run into that other troop over there, right?”
“Probably, given the time. Damn, I wish she’d hurry up and come here!”
“The succubus is no easy opponent. It’s going to be tough for Rose to make it back quickly. But if only that wizard could make it here immediately…”
There’s a saying that quality leads to mercy. While Walter struggled in combat with the Gargoyle Queen due to a lack of mana, wistfully lamenting Jenis’s absence, a gigantic blue ray suddenly appeared from the heavens, heading straight for Etrias.
The dragon, busy blasting Margaret’s arrow away with its magical barrier, couldn’t evade this unexpected surprise attack. As the blue ray struck directly, shattering the dragon’s protective barrier, Walter shouted with joy,
“Star’s Flash!”
“Is that Jeongjae?”
“No, it’s similar, but weaker than what he would cast. The Great Sage realized which battlefield was in more urgent need and flew back!”
As Jenis’s strike shattered Etrias’ barrier, Margaret’s arrows pierced through the dragon’s scales, embedding themselves deep into its flesh. As Etrias shivered in pain and flapped its wings, Jenis landed hurriedly on the ground and approached Walter.
“The diversion squad was indeed the Succubus Queen as expected. The situation was not urgent, so I left it to the royal siblings. It was a judgment I made as a disciple, but if there’s a problem…”
“No, you did great. Honestly, I was worrying about how to summon the Great Sage already!”
Walter responded while deflecting a blow from the Gargoyle Queen with his holy sword. Seeing the sword flickering, Jenis took her hand to her cross pendant and pulled out a white mana orb from it.
“I’m afraid your sword won’t hold up for long. Let me share my strength with you. It seems unlikely I would use the power of a unicorn in this battle.”
Jenis shot a beam of white mana from her hand toward the hero’s holy sword. Walter’s weapon seemed to regain its strength, glowing brightly with mana once more.
“Thank you! This is exactly the help I needed right now!”
“Then I will go take on the dragon. Honestly, I don’t think I’ll win.”
“Don’t overdo it, Great Sage! Dragons are not creatures you can afford to underestimate.”
Taking Bernard’s advice to heart, Jenis spread her wings and soared into the sky once more. Drawing her elven longsword from its sheath, she approached Etrias and shouted,
“So this is what a dragon looks like? It seems less impressive than I expected!”
“Are you really the new Great Sage? You seem smaller and younger than I thought.”
Etrias, recovering from the pain of being struck by Margaret’s arrow, elegantly countered. Instead of continuing the argument, Jenis leapt onto the dragon’s back and drove her blade into its spine.
With the power enhanced by the vampire’s strength and the elf’s sharpness that humanity’s technology could not replicate, the dragon’s skin was pierced deeply. After embedding the blade almost to the hilt, Jenis quickly evaded to the dragon’s tail as it continued to thrash about wildly.
The dragon seemed desperate to shake Jenis off, swinging its tail in a painful rage, but Jenis lowered her flight altitude swiftly, evading the physical attack.
With arrows embedded all over its body and the elven blade buried in its back, the white dragon was tormented by pain. Jenis now made her way toward the dragon’s well-known weak spot, aiming for its belly.
Watching the battle unfold in silence, Margaret shouted,
“Block it, you fool! Block it!”
Hearing Margaret’s almost scream-like shout, Jenis quickly conjured a defensive magic circle to envelop herself. At that moment, the dragon’s rear foot, aiming for Jenis, kicked her away, sending her flying back.
Like a grasshopper struck by a flick from the finger, Jenis spun wildly in the air and tumbled down, raising a cloud of dust among the orcs below.
Walter and Bernard were too preoccupied with the gargoyle to turn their heads, but Margaret swallowed hard, torn between whether to confront the dragon while taking the opportunity or check if Jenis was safe.
Fortunately, the dilemma did not last more than two seconds. The orcs, aiming for the spot where Jenis had fallen, rushed in, but amidst the swirling sandstorm, Jenis shook herself off and firmly planted her staff on the ground, sending the encroaching orcs flying.
“Looks like she’s tougher than she looks.”
Margaret muttered as she aimed another arrow skyward. Jenis, having expended too much mana with that shockwave, wasn’t using magic to knock down the orcs, rather she actively utilized the power of her beastly strength, swiping at the orcs with her elongated claws as she slowly approached Margaret.
Of course, her staff wasn’t just for show. From time to time, she didn’t forget to smash down the approaching orcs with the orb of her staff.
Margaret aimed to draw the dragon’s attention away from Jenis, trying to buy her some time to escape the encirclement, but ultimately, seeing Jenis staggering as she slowly approached, she clicked her tongue, lowering her bow’s angle to target the orcs near Jenis.
“Magic users are just… though they’ve gotten a bit more brutal, they’re really just kids who need to be looked after one by one.”
As she shot the arrow and charged forward, Margaret slung her bow over her back, pulling a longsword in one hand and a dagger in the other, rushing toward Jenis.
Fortunately, Etrias, suffering immense pain from the numerous arrows and the elven blade embedded in its back, wasn’t in a position to accurately aim its breath or magic while merely maintaining flight.
With elegant blade work, Margaret sliced through the orcs surrounding Jenis like slicing carrots, pulling Jenis’s hand to drag her out of the encirclement. Jenis bowed her head in exhaustion at Margaret.
“Thank you…”
“In the battlefield, you don’t thank someone for trivial matters. If you do that, you’ll end up spending half your day just offering gratitude, don’t you know that by now?”
Margaret responded gruffly, stabbing an approaching orc in the foot with her dagger. Jenis wiped off the demon’s blood splashed on her face with her sleeve, grinning.
“You do speak pretty roughly to your comrades. I think I’ve gotten the gist of it.”
“Don’t understand it in a weird way, and if you still have energy to joke around, just follow my orders. Right now, you don’t have the strength to engage that white dragon in the skies again.”
“Yes… It’s embarrassing, but… if I go back up there, I won’t make it back alive.”
“Then assist me. I’ve amassed many honorable records on this battlefield, but…”
Margaret gazed up at Etrias with a hateful glare. In the eyes of the elven lord swirled all kinds of hostile emotions—resolve, certainty, and anger.
“I’ve yet to taste the glory of being a dragon slayer. Today feels like it might just be possible.”