# 029 End of the Raid
# 029 End of the Raid
"That woman is..."
The Heretic Inquisitor, who had been receiving a real-time visual feed of the lair's interior via Divine Power, felt a twinge of puzzlement at the woman who had appeared inside.
"She resembles that woman. Don't you think?"
"...Her hair and eye color are completely different."
Black hair, golden eyes.
Hudia knew exactly who the Heretic Inquisitor meant, but she couldn't quite bring herself to be certain.
Still, she decided to ask once.
Because if it were that woman, it was utterly impossible.
"Are you perhaps speaking of Sharia?"
"Yes. You thought so too, Sister?"
The Heretic Inquisitor's eyes sparkled, but Hudia couldn't relate at all.
"That... is Sharia? How?"
"Well, her chest is exactly the same. A chest size like that isn't exactly common."
"......."
The Heretic Inquisitor was right: the swordswoman's chest was a size rarely seen anywhere.
"It's not Sharia."
"Even with a chest size that similar?"
"Her build is certainly similar, but I believe it's a different person."
It was true that Sharia possessed a beautiful, large chest— maybe one in ten thousand— so lovely that any woman would envy it.
Hudia acknowledged that.
But that woman was not Sharia.
"Why is that?"
"Because Sharia isn't that strong."
Shhk!
The unidentified swordswoman began cutting down the mercenaries in an instant.
Her sword swings were fluid and dazzling; the mercenaries couldn't keep up with her movements.
"Sharia was a woman who took ten minutes to kill a single slime. In contrast, that woman is overwhelming Special Rank mercenaries in moments. While using strange... absurd techniques."
She even made her swords move freely at will.
"Sharia is not a fighter of that caliber."
"What if she hid her skill?"
"...Not at all."
Even with five Master-rank mercenaries present, they hadn't managed to land a single scratch on the one swordswoman.
"Isn't she someone who was always here?"
"Hmm.... No. I've never heard of anyone that powerful being here."
The Heretic Inquisitor pulled out a notebook and examined its records.
"The Goddess Church has been compiling data on this dragon's lair. Based on survivors' testimonies, shared vision with those who enter the dungeon, and various other methods— we've collected information from many angles."
Gathering information was the foundation of dungeon strategy.
A dragon's lair wasn't strictly a dungeon, but it was similar in that a successful conquest offered a shot at a fortune.
No dungeon was conquered in a single attempt.
So you gather intelligence on the enemies inside, then prepare a new strategy based on that.
The mercenary company entered the lair with no information, but the Heretic Inquisitor already possessed a rough body of intelligence on this lair-dungeon.
"We mobilized skilled adventurers to reconnoiter the lair several times, and that's continued for well over a hundred years. I took over that duty recently... and I've never heard of a swordswoman like that."
"In that case..."
"It's the emergence of a new 'Black Spade.'"
The Heretic Inquisitor spoke with a sneer in her voice.
"Either corrupted by the dragon's cock, or her body was surrendered to another soul."
"That— 'Black Spade' is..."
"'Hwaang! The Black Dragon's cock is incredible!'"
The Heretic Inquisitor's disturbingly accurate impression made Hudia flinch in horror.
Because it sounded exactly like the moans she herself had let out.
It felt like the Heretic Inquisitor knew her true nature and was toying with her.
"...What do you mean by that?"
"A great many women have surrendered to the black dragon's cock. In particular, among the women who went inside, got a taste of that black-dragon dick, and made it out alive— there were many who kept their mouths firmly shut even under interrogation."
"That's..."
"They chose to swallow the warm dragon cum he bestowed, rather than serve humanity's greater cause and peace."
"......."
She had some idea what that felt like, which left Hudia unable to say a word.
Because she knew better than anyone what the cock of "that man"— the one who could freely use magic even inside the temple, and whom she suspected was a dragon— felt like, something the Heretic Inquisitor knew nothing about.
"We describe women like that as 'corrupted.' Women who abandoned their humanity and became the dragon's slaves. The woman named Sharia likely went through the same thing."
"But Sharia is far too weak."
"Well, perhaps only Sharia's flesh remains. Such cases do exist. A banshee that steals and uses a virgin's body, or various other..."
The Heretic Inquisitor shook her head from side to side.
On the far side of the visual feed, the battle was now concluding as the swordswoman's slaughter wound down.
Though the dead weren't especially numerous, those left would soon be killed by the lair's disposal team, appearing from somewhere.
"That's my assessment. The woman called Sharia no longer exists, and her body has been seized by an entity serving the dragon. By the banshee who was once a Grand Swordmaster."
"Sharia..."
"She's clearly been corrupted. The dragon sees a pretty woman and violates her as he pleases. You said she was a virgin the unicorns didn't attack? She definitely surrendered to his cock, and then her body was taken. Though we'd need to look into who exactly is inside."
Sharia was in the dungeon.
Which meant the man who had left together with Sharia was connected to this dungeon.
"......."
Hudia agonized.
To speak, or not to speak.
Reason and experience screamed that the Heretic Inquisitor was right, yet emotion kept wanting to protect that man— to hold back and deflect.
"Um, Heretic Inquisitor. Sharia, she— she left with another man. By now, she's probably on her way to conquer a different dungeon. I mean, that man was simply someone with somewhat dark skin, after all."
"Hmm..."
In the end, Hudia chose emotion.
The Heretic Inquisitor frowned at Hudia's words.
"So did the dragon kill that man and abduct Sharia? Or was that man the dragon's pawn?"
"Well..."
"I'm sorry, Hudia. No matter how I look at it, her chest size is just too similar to Sharia's."
"I truly, honestly apologize, but Sharia does not possess the ability to wield a sword like that."
Sharia was weaker than herself.
"It's more plausible that this woman is Sharia's ancestor— a Grand Swordmaster who is the dragon's servant..."
"That's a possibility. Hmm. Definitely."
The Heretic Inquisitor nodded along with Hudia's statement.
"Let's continue to observe for now."
"Is it truly acceptable not to go help them?"
"There's no need to help. We'll watch a bit longer, and if they seem about to lose, we'll have to tear this."
The Heretic Inquisitor pulled a parchment from her bosom.
"A Holy Scroll. It's a scroll that teleports you to the goddess statue in the nearest temple. If by chance all the mercenaries die, we'll use this to flee."
"Th-that's..."
"This is Escort's way, Sister."
The Heretic Inquisitor was resolute.
"The mercenaries are all felons. Felons who violated the Goddess Church's doctrine and national law. There's no need to pity them."
"......."
"Instead, remember this. If they manage to go deeper and succeed in killing the dragon, they become heroes. A dragon's lair makes an excellent achievement with which to launder their past and present."
"To that extent...?"
"Even if it takes that."
The Heretic Inquisitor folded her hands neatly together.
"Even if it takes that— if only we can eliminate the virgin-obsessed dragon."
The Heretic Inquisitor's eyes shone with a sense of mission.
"To erase from this world the most foul black dragon of all."
A moment later.
On the Heretic Inquisitor's visual feed, a mercenary was seen exhaling a white Breath.
* * *
A sudden strike.
It was so bewildering, but I pulled myself together and hurriedly recalled all my swords.
Dragon Emperor Death Beam.
The Breath of the Dragon Emperor, by name.
That pure-white color was unmistakably the Breath color of a certain dragon I knew.
Which meant—
It was a weapon made by killing a dragon I knew.
"You fucking bastards...!!"
Clang!
Four swords to the fore.
The tip of each blade pressed against another's cross-guard, forming a diamond shape.
"Aegis!"
Now the swords became a shield to block the Breath.
I was a dragon, but I had faced many dragons, so I knew well how to block Breath.
'Destructive force suppression, attribute nullification, damage absorption, mana conversion!'
Whooooosh!
The Breath began to be drawn into the diamond sword formation I'd created.
The spells I'd already laid on each of the four swords activated all at once, and the Breath began to lose its power by degrees.
Ssssss.
The Breath— which had seemed about to annihilate everything around it— lost its force the moment it entered the sword formation, and I extended my hand toward the incoming Breath.
"Hahp!"
Inhale.
I set the empty magic stone I'd retrieved from the pocket dimension into my hand and clenched my fist. Mana rapidly began flowing into the magic stone.
Crackle. Crackle.
Mana began pouring into the magic stone gripped in my hand.
It was a somewhat reckless move, but if you overwhelmed something with an absolute quantity of mana, there was no reason you couldn't suppress a Breath.
Common sense dictated meeting a Breath with a Breath of your own.
But that would bring my house down.
'Not this lair I worked so hard to build!'
I couldn't let it be destroyed!
With fierce will, I drew my mana up and inhaled every wisp of the Breath streaming from the enemy's sword.
"Uh...?"
Perhaps the sword had a limit to its Breath release; its light gradually began to fade.
After stowing the now white-tinted magic stone, I lunged straight forward and drove my fist into the bastard's solar plexus.
"Keurgh!!"
He tumbled backward.
I seized the sword he'd dropped and examined the mana dwelling within it.
"...You bastards."
It was a weapon made from a dragon.
And a recently made one, at that.
What's more—
'Scales that hadn't even reached adulthood yet!'
The bastards had butchered a hatchling.
'I'll kill them all.'
Never.
I could not forgive this.
"I will not let you lot die easily."
Snap.
The moment I snapped my fingers, an immense surge of black waves from the corridor behind me began engulfing the room.
* * *
"The 'Branch' has appeared, Commander."
"Retreating."
Ssssss.
The Heretic Inquisitor tore the scroll.
In the same instant, a wide circular magic circle spread around her, and like the others, Hudia hurriedly stepped into it.
"Um..."
"What is it, Sister?"
"...The people and the equipment— are we leaving all of them behind?"
"Yes."
"That equipment seemed to be made of dragon bone..."
"That's fine."
The Heretic Inquisitor smiled unconcernedly.
"That— all of it was supplied to us."
"What?"
"Hmm. It seems the dragon is angry, in any case."
The Heretic Inquisitor shrugged her shoulders.
From the lair's entrance-side, the black wave was approaching the spot where Escort had been waiting.
"The Black... Branch?"
"Teleport."
Ssssss.
All of Escort vanished together in a halo of light.
Left behind in the lair were only the mercenaries, slashed and fallen.