Chapter 14
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Ambush Operation (2)
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“Everyone, avoid that thing!”
Duke Gail shouted urgently at the sudden appearance of the demon.
But it was too late.
It was a monster that had ambushed and taken down Tedric, a Sword Expert of advanced rank, in a single blow. Ordinary knights and soldiers weren’t even allowed the chance to flee.
Slash!
“Argh!”
The demon’s shadow moved, slaughtering the nearby soldiers indiscriminately.
Clang!
“Ugh! Where did this monster come from?!”
Tedric swung his broken sword infused with mana to block the attacks aimed at the surrounding knights.
His own severe injuries made fighting back impossible, so all he could do was protect the other knights and soldiers while buying them time to escape.
“Hahaha! As expected of Sir Kario! That overwhelming power…… Gah?!”
“Shut up, you incompetent fool.”
Aldin Marquis, who had been laughing loudly at the sudden reversal, was struck by the demon called Kario and sent sprawling.
He wasn’t seriously hurt, but he was visibly trembling in shock from the sudden attack.
‘Damn it, I didn’t see anything like this coming?’
According to the Synopsis, only the princess had been mentioned.
There hadn’t been a word about any demons.
‘……No, of course not.’
Thinking about it, in the original story, the Talua Kingdom army encountered the princess before clashing with the Kainzel Kingdom army.
Or perhaps after she had already wiped out the Kainzel forces.
‘Of course there’s no mention of demons.’
By the time the Talua Kingdom and Kainzel Kingdom armies met, the story had already deviated from the original.
“S-Sir Banheart! It’s a demon!”
Michel was practically having a fit at the demon’s appearance. He blabbered on about being a descendant of the Saintess or whatever, but in the end, he was just a civilian. It was natural for him to panic at the sight of a non-human entity.
‘The situation’s not good.’
The advantageous position had been overturned in an instant by the arrival of the demon Kario.
Tedric, the strongest knight participating in this war, was gravely wounded and fully focused on evacuating the others.
In other words, there was currently no one to check the demon.
‘In that case…….’
The demon was slowly approaching their side. Probably intending to take out the commander, Duke Gail, first.
Naturally, the knights were retreating swiftly with Duke Gail, but Kario’s movements were faster.
‘Hey, what do you think of that?’
The situation wasn’t great, but I could calmly assess it. After all, the legendary Saintess’s relic was currently on my ring finger.
I mentally called out to Gransesia, who had been silent until now.
[Oh ho, a demon. It’s been a while.]
I’d worried she might not respond, but fortunately, Gransesia replied lightly.
‘First, tell me if you can deal with that thing or not.’
[You’re a strange one. Staying calm even in this situation.]
‘Hurry. If you don’t answer soon, my life’s in danger.’
[This guy…….]
If I died, the ring would be destroyed too.
In the end, Gransesia had no choice but to help me.
[Sigh. That’s not a particularly strong demon. Probably low-rank?]
‘How do we deal with it?’
[I’d just beat it to death, personally.]
‘What?’
I’d expected something like holy magic or demon weaknesses, but Gransesia’s response was way off the mark.
[I don’t know what you’re imagining, but I’m a monk by training.]
‘Monk?’
[Like a martial monk, maybe. Priests in the Altair Order who train in martial arts. We specialize in fists.]
‘No, aren’t you a Saintess?’
[That’s just a title the Order slapped on me after I got my divine body.]
‘So you can’t use holy magic? Nothing to support our allies?’
[Eliminating the enemy threatening your allies is the most perfect support there is.]
Gransesia’s final words carried a solemn weight.
Naturally, I was at a loss for words.
[Anyway, don’t worry. With the Eye of Simosa supporting you, you can handle a guy like that.]
‘You could’ve led with that.’
Kario was closing in on us faster now.
His glowing red eyes sent chills crawling down my spine.
“Block it!”
“We can’t let it reach His Grace the Duke!”
Countless soldiers and knights rushed to intercept Kario, but it was futile.
Every time Kario swung his hand, soldiers flew through the air like leaves and crashed down. Knights swinging blades infused with sword aura were felled like autumn leaves by shadow blades erupting from the ground.
Before Duke Gail and his escorts could flee far, the demon was already upon them.
“I’ll end this in one go.”
It was like a death sentence.
The moment I thought I heard Kario mutter those words, his figure vanished in an instant.
“What?!”
Duke Gail and his escort knights frantically searched for the suddenly vanished Kario.
But his presence had disappeared as if by magic.
I, too, scanned the surroundings calmly with tense eyes.
Where is it? Where did it go?
[Oh, right. Some demons from the shadow clan can travel through nearby shadows.]
Slash!
Whoa! Thanks for the heads-up, really quick!
The moment I heard Gransesia’s casual voice, Kario burst from Duke Gail’s shadow.
It happened so fast that neither Duke Gail nor his escorts could react.
The only thing that moved was my right hand, reacting to Gransesia’s words.
Tap!
The hand wearing the Eye of Simosa touched the demon’s body.
More precisely, it grazed his shoulder.
“Gaaah!”
It was just that, but the reaction was dramatic.
Kario, emerging from the shadow, writhed in agony, screaming in torment.
Seizing the opening, the escort knights swung their swords, inflicting wounds on him in an instant.
“Grgh! W-What trick did you pathetic insects use?!”
Unable to land a proper attack, Kario fled through the shadows to a distant spot.
He had minor cuts, nothing serious.
But the shoulder grazed by the Eye of Simosa was bubbling and melting away.
‘That’s some serious power.’
[Of course. The Eye of Simosa is a crystallized form of my holy power.]
Her voice brimmed with pride, but this time I couldn’t deny it. The power of the legendary Saintess was truly legendary.
“……Why is a demon fighting on the side of the Kainzel Kingdom?”
Duke Gail asked the panting Kario calmly.
“You arrogant fool. You think I’ll answer that?”
Kario panted as he slowly hunched over.
Despite the deep wound on his shoulder, his eyes burned fiercely.
“I was careless just now, but it won’t happen twice.”
His gaze turned to me.
It briefly flicked to Michel standing beside me, but only for a moment.
“To think someone here possesses an artifact of that caliber. I’ll kill you first.”
His shadow writhed, sprouting sharp spikes like thorns.
The black mana rising like heat haze prickled my skin even from a distance.
‘And this is just a low-rank demon.’
Demons were generally seen as upper-class beings, so I knew they were strong, but I hadn’t expected this level.
If a low-rank demon had this much power, how strong were mid-rank, or even high-rank ones?
‘So now what do we do about…… Huh?’
Suddenly, ‘that’ entered my field of vision.
Most hadn’t noticed, their eyes fixed on Kario, but I knew.
I’d been keeping ‘that’ in mind all along.
“I’ll repay the pain you inflicted on me a hundredfold right——.”
Kario, snarling like a beast, froze and glanced behind him.
Only then did the others shift their gazes from Kario to what lay behind him, and realization dawned.
Crunch, crunch.
The disaster approaching, stepping barefoot through the cold snow.
* * *
‘What is that?’
The first emotion Kario felt upon seeing it was bewilderment.
What was ‘that’ staggering toward him through the white snow?
A human?
No. It didn’t look human.
Short horns protruded from its temples, and glimpses of pure white scales showed on its exposed skin. No being with horns and scales could be human.
‘Then, a dragonkin?’
The race commonly called lizardmen.
They had scales and heads resembling dragons, along with formidable physical prowess.
But the approaching figure had the beautiful face of a human woman.
Thump. Thump.
The closer it came, the faster his heart raced.
It had been pounding with rage moments ago, but now it beat for an entirely different reason.
‘Am I…… afraid?’
Crunch, crunch. Thud.
It walked slowly toward Kario, then stopped abruptly.
It stared at Kario, who blocked its path.
“──.”
The lips of this human-or-monster-being parted slightly.
Kario didn’t know what that tiny movement meant, but his instincts screamed to evade.
‘But it’s too late.’
Clay realized what it signified the moment ‘that’ opened its mouth.
Among upper-class beings with powerful abilities, dragonkin stood at the pinnacle.
They possessed incredibly sturdy bodies and immense mana from birth, but those weren’t a dragonkin’s true strength.
Their greatest power was the ability to command the world’s laws through their language.
The world called it thus.
Dragon Word.
“Gurk!”
Boom!
Kario’s body, several meters away, was yanked toward the woman and sent flying.
Before he could react, her hand gripped his throat.
‘W-What in the……!’
For the first time in his life, Kario’s pupils shook.
‘I have to break free!’
He first tried slipping into the shadows to escape.
But for some reason, he couldn’t transform into shadow.
Realizing escape was impossible, Kario hurriedly gathered mana.
He concentrated the surging mana in his hand and swung at the slender wrist clutching his throat.
His long black nails, infused with mana, could rival a knight’s sword aura.
Clang!
But the nails failed to pierce the scales covering the woman’s wrist and bounced off.
It left a minor scratch, but nothing more. Shaking off her hand was impossible.
“Die! Die, die! You monster!”
Boom!
His shadow curved like a scorpion’s tail and struck at the woman’s head, but she didn’t flinch.
She merely parted her lips once more.
Halt!
The shadow plummeting like a stake froze mid-air.
This time, Kario clearly heard what the woman said.
‘Stop?’
Just that word halted his shadow completely, refusing to budge.
Kario knew of only one impossible ability like this.
The dragon’s power: Dragon Word.
And this human-or-whatever was wielding it.
‘Impossible.’
How could a non-dragon use Dragon Word?
The woman’s golden eyes met Kario’s red ones.
Only then did Kario realize the being before him lacked reason.
“Shatter.”
A murmur so soft only Kario’s ears caught it.
Those were the last words he ever heard.
Boom!
A thunderous roar echoed, like a massive hammer smashing solid rock, and Kario’s body exploded.
Yes, like fireworks.
The being that had held absolute dominance moments ago shattered into pieces and scattered.
The demon’s blue blood rained down like a storm, staining the pristine white snowfield.
A heavy silence fell.
Everyone was lost in the surreal scene that had just unfolded.
‘……Can Dragon Word make people explode?’
[No, she vibrated the space around the demon to strike it. Dragon mana is too much for a low-rank demon to withstand.]
Gransesia explained, sounding genuinely surprised this time—unlike when the demon appeared.
[So, you plan to fight that thing?]
Yeah, that had been the idea……
But seeing it in person, my legs were trembling.
The figure slowly lowering the right hand that had gripped Kario’s throat.
“Haha…….”
My body shuddered, and laughter escaped me.
Was it fear?
No. The reason I laughed, the reason my body trembled, was something else entirely.
‘Perfect.’
I had considered as many scenarios as possible regarding the Dragon Calamity’s abilities.
The power of Riya Asktalin, the princess, and the power of a dragon.
Depending on which dominated, the countermeasures would differ.
And what stood before us now was the latter.
A monster driven purely by draconic instincts.
It was the most ideal scenario I could have hoped for.