Isn't the Favoritism a Bit Excessive?
"Isn't the favoritism a bit excessive?"
"Brat."
"Don't call me that, old man."
He tossed the dragon heart he'd just stolen up and down like a ball as he asked Evan the question.
"Do you know what a dragon's natural enemy is?"
"Want to say it's yourself? You're old enough that you just want your disciple to pamper you and—"
Thwack!
"Ugh..."
"It's a lesson, so answer properly."
"...It'd be the ones called Dragon Slayers or whatever."
"Well, that's not entirely wrong. Dragons are, in truth, an absurdly overpowered race. Monsters that more than deserve to be called the apex of all species."
Born possessing vast magical power from the moment they hatch—the sovereigns of magic. Their bodies innately hold extreme resistance to magical power, and their scales boast high tolerance to heat and impact so they never harm themselves with their own breath. A race with lifespans stretching tens of thousands of years at minimum, granting them time to attain wisdom beyond the imagination of lesser beings—that is what a dragon is.
"So they're invincible?"
"Foolish brat. There is no such thing as invincible in this world. If dragons were truly invincible, the continent would lie under dragon rule rather than human hands."
"Then what is it? That weakness."
His master answered as though it were amusing.
"Arrogance."
I am the strongest!
What? A lizard whose head is still wet behind the ears?
Come at me!
Fine! There can be only one strongest in this world!
"Their arrogance made no distinction between kin."
Pure-blooded dragons wished only to be unique, and they never hesitated to bare fangs and claws at one another. In this way, dragons fought their own kind more fiercely than anyone else. Yet because their breath could not pierce one another's scales and their magic could not inflict meaningful damage on one another's bodies, they killed each other like any common beast—biting with teeth, tearing with claws.
Teeth that can crush any dragon's bones!
Claws that can pierce any dragon's scales!
"The dragons, arrogant beyond measure, foolishly created with their own hands 'weapons capable of taking a dragon's life'—something no other living thing would even dare imagine."
Dragon Slayer. The power completed for the sole purpose of killing dragons was called that, regardless of its form.
"They were arrogant, so they placed no restrictions on that power."
They knew of creatures who secretly gathered the corpses of defeated kin, yet never imagined those creatures could forge the dragon-slaying claws, teeth, and hearts into blades of their own.
"They were arrogant, so they prepared no countermeasures."
They did not view humans—who could be killed by a single breath, a single spell, or a single kick—as any real threat.
"They underestimated humans. More precisely, they underestimated human baseness and desire. Did they ever realize? That the desires harbored by beings so weak they could be erased with a mere gesture were on a level that could rival even dragons."
"Are you insulting them right now?"
"It's a compliment. If it were greed beyond their means it would be an insult, but since humans stand at the center of the continent right now, it's praise."
Humans joined hands with the weakest dragons. Cooperating with those pushed far down the power structure among their kind, they claimed the magic that had been the dragons' exclusive domain for thousands of years. Borrowing the dragons' own power, they forged the remains they had stolen into weapons suited for human hands.
"And so humans, alongside the weakest dragons, subjugated the strongest ones. Then they immediately betrayed the dragons."
"...No matter how I listen, it still sounds like an insult."
"Well, it's not as if the dragons' inner thoughts were any different."
His master laughed, saying it had simply been a contest of who was faster and more meticulous.
"Even the weakest dragons could not abandon their own weakness. Because they viewed humans as nothing more than insignificant creatures, they were stabbed in the back."
It was the end of a race that could not let go of its arrogance until the very last.
"So remember this well, brat. When facing dragons, you must make good use of that arrogance."
"What if a dragon that got thoroughly beaten fixes the weakness and comes back?"
"Puhaha! A dragon?"
Evan's master laughed heartily, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
"If it could be fixed simply because they wanted to fix it, it would never have been called a weakness in the first place."
"What if they somehow do fix it?"
"I'll take that bet. Dragon bastards couldn't fix that weakness even if they died and came back to life."
The master who had spoken those words to Evan cackled and added confidently.
"So brat, if you want to beat a dragon, strike at that weakness. It'll work like a charm."
"...It's not like I'm you, old man. Will I ever have to fight a dragon again in my life?"
I can't win that bet with the old man.
Evan adjusted his grip on the Holy Spear, staring at the zombie dragon's astonished face.
"I said I'd fight alone. I never said I'd fight bare-handed."
Evan leveled the Holy Spear as if to say stop talking nonsense.
If the Dragon Slayer was the natural enemy of dragons, then divinity was the natural enemy of the undead. Since Evan was no warrior, it was far more convenient to throw the Holy Spear—which would pierce the enemy on its own—than to swing a dragon-slaying blade.
"Not even going to fight, just surrendering? The dragon's name will cry."
The zombified dragon roared and shot into the air. Evan could have stopped it, but he deliberately let the creature take to the sky.
"Locke."
This was not simply about subduing a dragon; it was also about raising the hero of the spear. Since the man could never betray him as long as Natalia and Natasha remained tied to Evan, it was wise to make him owe a debt.
"What do you think is the greatest advantage of the Holy Spear?"
"......You—how in the world did you...?"
Smack.
Lord Benefactor is asking. Answer.
After giving Natalia a look of thanks for her timely intervention, Evan answered Locke.
"It's not wrong to call it that. But that miracle has clear limits."
"That it's affected by the user's perception?"
"There's one more besides that."
With Iris's cooperation, Evan had discovered the Holy Spear's second weakness.
"That the miracle does not come with destruction."
The Holy Spear's miracle was absolute hit, not penetration. The moment it touched its target the miracle lost its effect, and whether the target was subsequently pierced depended not on the miracle but on physical force.
"It's a fatal weakness when fighting enemies with outstanding defense. For example, a dragon in perfect condition."
"......I didn't know."
"That makes sense."
The Holy Spear possessed indestructibility, or something close to it. When a spear like that flew faster than sound, it pierced almost anything.
"Well, that dragon is an undead, so it would be overjoyed just to touch the Holy Spear... but since I've taught you the weakness, I'll show you a solution."
He felt the surrounding temperature rising. From the sky beyond the reach of his sorcery, the dragon unleashed a breath with enough force to melt the entire area down to the ground.
Evan aimed the spearhead at the flames hot enough to sting his skin even from a distance.
Target: the dragon.
The Holy Spear trembled violently, as if it would fly from his hand at any moment. If he released it now, it would pierce through the breath and strike the zombie dragon's head, but that was not what Evan wanted.
"Hoo......"
Taking a deep breath, he sensed the surging divinity within the Holy Spear, like a vast sea. He concentrated the tidal flow of that power into a single point.
"Release."
⟨ RELEASE ⟩
The floodgates holding back the sea opened.
A pillar of light surged from the earth into the heavens.
"......"
"......"
[......]
Everyone fell silent.
Everyone except one.
"Wow. It's pretty!"
Clap, clap. Iris clapped her hands repeatedly, beaming as though she had seen something delightful.
Even Evan, the one responsible, stared at the scene he had just created with a dumbfounded expression.
I knew it would be strong, but.
It was a bit much. Just how much divinity was packed into a single spear?
Boom—!
The massive body of the dragon—its head completely evaporated—crashed down from the sky, kicking up dust and tremors.
"...Is it dead?"
He had deliberately aimed to miss the most vital spot, the heart, but it was a torrent of divinity that powerful. There was a chance the core that served as the root of his necromancy had been shattered by the aftershock alone.
Yet the faint black flames still flickering told him it was barely clinging to life.
"What was that just now...?"
When Locke asked, still unable to wipe the dazed look from his face, Evan answered simply.
"I took inspiration from what the Saintess usually does. I simply released every bit of divinity stored in the Holy Spear at once. That's all."
"I don't remember firing a beam like Evan-Evan though?"
"The principle is the same."
When Iris attempted to use divinity in the form of prayer, the curses interfered and horribly twisted its direction. Simple release of divinity, however, was different. Depending on her will, she could display monstrous strength capable of shoving someone away or sending Kaede flying.
She had even brought sunlight to Abaddon in small ways before.
Those were not 'prayers' but 'miracles' arbitrarily completed by vast amounts of divinity, much like holy relics. The result of pulling out divinity without restraint and pouring it forth exactly as Iris did was the pillar of light from earlier.
......I'm once again realizing just how extraordinary Iris is.
The fact that divinity released according to her will produced different miracles each time meant her own body contained a quantity of divinity comparable to that of the Holy Spear.
A being who received the Mother Goddess's favor—it was only natural the Holy Kingdom would call her that.
"The spear has used up all its divinity, so it will probably take quite some time to return to its original state—Iris?"
While Evan was speaking, Iris took the Holy Spear from him. She gripped it tightly with both hands and shouted.
Iris grabbed the Holy Spear with both hands and poured her divinity into it without restraint. Light exploded outward. When the flash faded, the spear had regained its original divinity.
"Hehe! Did I do well?"
Mother Goddess or whatever her name is...
The favoritism seems a bit excessive, doesn't it?