Crisis Invasion (2): Dragonai Recovers His Memories
“Are the turrets preheating?!”
“Yes, Your Grace, the Archduke!”
The Archduke was experiencing a dire crisis for the very first time. Even when Bratan’s hundred-thousand-strong army had surrounded the fortress, he had never felt such crushing pressure.
“Well done! Those dragon-slaying weapons were prepared exactly for this moment!!”
Niberia, now holding overall command of the army, immediately ordered the magic turrets to begin preheating. She also instructed every unit to converge on one of the twenty pre-designated assembly points scattered throughout the city the instant a dragon fell from the sky, so they could rush in to finish it off.
The Archduke knew that defensive forces often had to operate far from the main lines. That was why he had stationed communication mages with each of the twenty regiments. Through magical wireless contact, they began moving in perfect unison at his command. The entire army flowed like living tissue, each regiment an organ working in harmony.
These were the finest defensive troops in the nation—the Archduke’s own Dominion Defense Force—already trained and optimized for every conceivable defensive scenario.
At the same time, five beacon fires lit in Koban City spurred eight elite divisions stationed in the surrounding area into motion. The Eight Banners Army! Each division numbered sixteen thousand soldiers, colossal legions that now shook the earth as they marched toward Koban City.
That was when it happened.
In that hair-trigger moment, Dragonai appeared.
Soaring freely through the sky, his massive wings parting the dark clouds, he descended at last like the legendary guardian deity of myth.
“Your Grace! A new dragon has appeared. Shall we engage?!”
The Archduke, still half-mad with the terror he had felt facing the black dragon, roared back.
“Do it at once! Intercept it! Pour everything you have into it! Fire without mercy! Waste ammunition if you must! Shoot even if the shells miss! Shoot even if you hit our own men! Fire even if the batteries are spotted! Fire even if the barrels overheat! Fire until the barrels burst! Even if you run out of shells, even if you have to grind yourselves into powder, keep firing as long as you can! If it means bringing those cowardly lizards down from Koban’s sky, then fire without restraint! Fire like madmen!”
But moments later, the soldiers realized the colossal dragon illuminated by moonlight, locked in combat with the black dragon, was none other than the legendary Red Dragon—Dragonai, protector of the Lusa Empire. Confusion spread at once.
Magical transmissions flooded in to the Archduke.
“Your Grace—the two dragons are fighting each other!”
“Shall we cease fire, Your Grace?”
The Archduke fell into thought.
I want to fire. I want to fire like a madman! How dare those vile lizards defile Koban’s sky!
Yet he kept his composure.
“Wait for now! But keep every turret charged to the brink—right until the barrels are about to explode from overheating!”
After all, their power was already halved, and there was no telling what the dragons might do next. He would wait for the perfect moment.
“And all soldiers and knight orders—form a circle around them and wait! Like hyenas stalking an eagle! The moment those creatures fall to the ground, the moment I give the signal, we charge! We will tear those sky-faring lizards apart!”
“Yes, sir!!”
This was the Archduke’s dragon-slaying plan. When he had first faced a dragon, the overwhelming pressure had kept him from even lifting his head. But now, with a powerful artillery force under his command, a thrilling excitement coursed through him.
Heh heh heh. I will be the first archduke to slaughter a dragon!
What a monumental achievement! If the Northern Grand Duke of Koraban could accomplish what even the founding emperor of Lusa had never achieved, he would be hailed by the people as a true “divine figure.”
He did not even need to kill them outright. If the two dragons simply exhausted each other and withdrew, he could claim the credit—just as his grandfather Halfiam had done at Colmar Mountain—by spreading the story that it was thanks to Archduke Niberia that the dragons had been driven off.
“Kuhahahaha!!!”
The Archduke’s nameless terror was slowly giving way to a sharp, intoxicating excitement.
* * *
“All units! Divide according to my orders at once!”
The Archduke quickly split the dragon-slaying force into three groups. The first line—the anvil that would sacrifice itself gloriously—would be his own capital defense troops. Their role was to act as shields, draining whatever strength the dragons still possessed. While they drew attention, the magic turrets would continue their bombardment, even if it meant friendly fire.
The middle line would consist of all the civilian and military knight orders hastily conscripted from Koban City. These were the ones capable of wielding Weapon Qi strong enough to crack dragon scales. Though few in number, their task was to keep the dragons occupied and buy time until the beasts were completely exhausted. They were to provoke the dragons, keep them raging as long as possible, and make them believe these knights were the city’s main force—like sturdy gauntlets supporting a shield.
The dragons would likely believe they had wiped out the main army after defeating them, only to be caught off guard when the true main force struck.
That true main force—the Archduke’s elite Black Star Knight Order, held in reserve until now—along with every support priest and mage who had answered the wartime conscription, would deliver the final blow from the rear of the formation.
Even if they failed, the Eight Banners Army would have gathered from across the north by then. The dragons would eventually be worn down by endless waves and meet their end.
And finally, the moment one of the two dragons would fall—the instant the red dragon tore out the black dragon’s throat.
“H-huh…?!”
To the Archduke’s trained eye, the dragons’ savage battle looked like nothing more than beasts tearing at each other, yet it still sent a shiver of excitement through him. He almost wished he could become a beast himself and sink his teeth into their necks.
But then an ominous feeling crept over him.
The magic cannons, charged to their absolute limit and capable of unleashing three times their normal power, still filled him with dread. Even as they finished charging, the feeling would not fade.
Because—
Why did one dragon die so quickly…?
The black dragon had been a fearsome creature renowned even in the brutal neighboring kingdom of Sky Mountain. It was among the strongest of the Elemental Dragons. Yet it had been slain in an instant by the newcomer, who now stood over its corpse—directly in the sights of eighteen fully charged magic cannons.
* * *
I tore into the black dragon’s throat, ripping and chewing with savage satisfaction, a thrill of vengeance for the novel’s protagonist surging through me.
Uhuhu. That brat Dragonai should be thanking me! Why? Because I stopped Bandseuk from having his way with Seira!
Yes. In the original story, Seira was dragged away by Bandseuk and subjected to every kind of humiliation and suffering. But I had saved her from that fate! Because Seira possessed the ultimate beauty that even the legendary beauties of myth could not match…!!!
“Now all my memories are coming back.”
After all, my other form—the one I possessed during the daytime—was also a character who had been possessed into the novel.
So I have to finish this as fast as possible!
Before daytime arrived, I had to meet her and get out of here!