68 – Ah, this is pain.
It was more of a massacre than a fight.
As accelerated machine gun bullets poured down, the monsters began to be torn apart in an instant.
Though boasting tough hides reinforced with magic stones, the monsters were no match for the penetrating power of human high-caliber bullets.
“The hybrids are approaching!”
Of course, not all monsters were like that. While most turned into a bloody mess and exploded, the hybrids carefully nurtured by the dragons showed a monstrous resilience, enduring the gas and machine gun baptism, fighting on without dying.
But there were beings designated to deal with those creatures.
“We’ll take care of them.”
Instead of soccer balls, soldiers in iron gas masks with reinforced magical armor adorned with enhancement features and armed with advanced weapons stepped forward.
The hybrids, spewing blood as they ran, clashed with the soldiers, and the outcome was clear.
“Kill them! Prevent them from approaching the machine gun positions!”
The hybrids could not withstand the brutal strength of the soldiers and the cutting power of the enhanced weapons, falling one by one.
It was a sight completely different from what the dragons had anticipated.
“What is this!……..”
“I’ve never seen such a bizarre weapon before?”
“First, we need to get rid of that gas!”
One of the dragons tried to cast a spell, but the others stopped him.
“That’s a violation of the rules.”
“You’re going to use magic when we have a bet on?”
“Then it won’t be fun.”
That was it.
None of the dragons took this as a serious war. All seven dragons perceived it as a fight between insects. Eventually, the suggestion to dispel the gas with magic was ignored, and the war between the monster horde and humans continued.
“Still, in the end, the monsters will win.”
The dragons were confident.
No matter how much humans struggled, the monsters, carefully crafted by the dragons, were destined to break through the human defenses and trample them.
But their expectations were wrong.
No matter how much time passed.
There was no sign of the human formation crumbling.
“Wind Cutter.”
“Sonic Boom.”
Just as the monsters barely pierced through the gas and machine gun barrage and approached the machine gun emplacement, the magicians’ reinforced magic erupted. These were high-powered spells whose efficiency had greatly increased due to the high-purity magic stones.
The weakened monsters couldn’t withstand these powerful attacks and exploded, unable to break through the thorough defenses of machine guns, giants, gas, and magicians no matter how hard they tried.
“If this continues, the entire horde of monsters will be wiped out for real.”
“Darn it! I’m going to lose the bet!”
It wasn’t until then that the dragons began to take the situation a bit more seriously.
They started discussing changing the rules.
“Let’s send a few dragons for support. If we use commands, it’ll end too one-sided, and that won’t be fun.”
“A hundred dragons?”
“A hundred. That should be enough.”
“Looks like we’re resorting to tricks to avoid losing the bet… Fine. If we continue like this, we might end up having to burn down most of the human territory ourselves.”
“Monsters may be stupid, but they excel at destruction. I’ll allow the dragons, at least.”
And so, the dragons changed the rules and sent the dragons to the front lines.
[My kin, do not cause too much destruction. Just shake the defense line slightly. That way, we can enjoy watching each other fiercely clash.]
The dragons gave this order, and the dragons, roaring in response, began flying towards the machine gun emplacements.
Upon seeing this, the sentries immediately sounded the alarm.
“The dragons are coming!!”
Upon hearing the trumpet sound, 200 dragons and guardian dragons stationed in the rear flew up altogether.
The dragon knights were all dressed in magical armor, carrying fake holy swords provided by Selenae at their waists.
“Move!!”
However, the sword that Karia, riding the lead guardian dragon, carried was not a fake holy sword.
It was a real holy sword.
The same holy sword used by the first dragon slayer in ancient times to end a dragon’s life.
“For the Empire.”
After uttering these solemn words, Karia spurred the dragon forward, and at the same time, the 200 dragon knights followed her into the air.
Keiik?
To comply with the dragon’s orders to only cause moderate destruction, the 100 dragons that were flying clumsily towards the machine gun emplacements were taken aback when they saw the heavily armed 200 dragon knights riding on rare metal-clad dragons, accompanied by guardian dragons towering above.
Realizing that the numbers were against them and, above all, that there were dragons on the other side, they hesitated.
“Attack!”
At Karia’s command, the guardian dragon opened its mouth wide and let out a fierce roar.
The flying dragon phalanx of a hundred dragons was engulfed by the dragon’s fire, causing them to panic and hurriedly turn back towards the seven ancient dragons.
Seeing this, the red dragon wrinkled its brow in disgust.
“Those useless dragons. They’re like a bunch of idiots, unable to cast magic, lacking intelligence, and yet calling themselves dragons!”
The Red Dragon seeks agreement from the other dragons.
“I’ll just crush that stupid Guardian Dragon and be back.”
“Let it be so.”
“A battle between dragons. I wonder how it will unfold?”
The dragons, still not grasping the situation, gave their consent, enjoying the game-like feeling.
The Red Dragon gathered mana and began to fly towards the Guardian Dragon.
“You are a descendant of the stupid Black Dragon.”
Hundreds of years ago.
There was a Black Dragon that lived, whose magic was mediocre compared to other dragons, whose wings were unimpressive, and whose size was small.
Naturally, it was a rejected existence.
He couldn’t get along with other dragons, built his lair in the territory of the Aylam Empire, lived alone in solitude, and then one day.
News came that he was defeated by the Aylam Empire’s reigning emperor.
The reigning emperor barely managed to subdue the weak and inferior Black Dragon, sacrificing the lives of tens of thousands of humans, thousands of wizards, and knights, welcoming the dragon as his wife and establishing it as the empire’s Guardian Dragon.
Thinking he might have been struck by the Holy Sword, I looked closely, only to find out that he had been struck by a human who simply pushed him with his intelligence, branding him with shame as a disgrace to the dragon race. The descendant of that pathetic Black Dragon was now flying towards him.
“You fool. You are no different from a disgrace to our race. I shall personally kill you!”
As the Red Dragon prepared to breathe fire and charge at the Guardian Dragon.
“Now’s the time!! Draw it!!”
At Karria’s command, the Dragon Knights drew their swords simultaneously.
Karria also drew her sword, and hundreds of imitation holy swords and one real holy sword began to radiate a brilliant golden light in the air.
Completely relaxed, thinking she would easily crush them, the Red Dragon’s eyes widened in shock.
“Ho, Holy Sword!!”
Karria did not miss that moment of the Red Dragon’s confusion.
“Ugh!”
The transcendent strength of the Dragon’s avatar, vast mana, and the strength-enhancing magic of the armor she wore all combined to create a spectacular sight.
Karria shot like a bullet from the Guardian Dragon’s back towards the Red Dragon. The holy sword in her hand swung like lightning, and in an instant.
“Defend! Defend against me!……..aaah!!!”
The holy sword, along with the hastily cast spell of the Red Dragon, left a deep scar on the Red Dragon’s face.
As the Red Dragon’s blood scattered and his desperate mental and physical cries rang out, the remaining six dragons also ceased to breathe.
“It’s the Holy Sword!! The Holy Sword!!”
“Damn it! Why on earth is it here!!!”
There was no need to distinguish whether the holy sword was real or fake.
The Red Dragon’s spell was torn apart, leaving deep wounds on his body.
Throughout the entire continent, there was no real Holy Sword other than the one that could do this.
“Get, get away! Get, get back!……..Uwaaah!!”
But that wasn’t the end of it. Landing on the Red Dragon’s back, Karria mercilessly began to slash at his body. The aura blade, growing up to three meters, easily tore through the dragon’s tough skin and spell, captivating the Red Dragon with a sensation he had never felt since birth.
It was the sensation of pain, a feeling familiar to all creatures not born as overwhelmingly strong as dragons from a young age.
And that sight was enough to instill one emotion in all dragons witnessing the slashing and the one being slashed.
Fear.
To dragons born excessively powerful, the sight of their kind shedding blood and screaming in pain was so unfamiliar and terrifying.
“Run, run away!!”
“I said run!!”
It was an ironic sight.
If the Karia and the Guardian Dragon were truly serious, they could have torn apart everything within a day. The beings capable of reducing the entire Ilam Empire to dust started screaming and fleeing in terror.
If they had just endured the pain and calmly cast a spell, even Karia would have turned to dust in an instant.
That was the extent of the gap between dragons and humans.
However, the Red Dragon, experiencing pain for the first time in its life, was so shocked that it couldn’t move and froze in place.
Caught in immense fear, the dragon remained frozen and plummeted to the ground, while Karia jumped off its body and transformed back into the Guardian Dragon.
With a roar, the Red Dragon’s body was crushed in the midst of the monster horde, and hundreds of monsters burst out and perished.
“Drive them away!”
At Karia’s command, the Guardian Dragon forcefully burst the Dragon’s Fire and at the sound, the rest of the dragons lost their composure and swiftly disappeared following their masters.
Afterward, Karia led the entire Dragon Knight Order to the fallen Red Dragon.
Approaching the Red Dragon, paralyzed with fear and trembling due to shock, were hundreds of dragons and the Guardian Dragon.
Once again, the Dragon’s Fire burst, and the horde of monsters stopped their advance immediately, cowering at the sound.
“Cease fire! Cease fire!”
Considering the possibility of hitting Karia, the machine gun emplacement ceased fire.
Karia, wearing a gas mask through the thick mustard gas, leaped down, with the rest of the Dragon Knight Order leaping down alongside him.
Hundreds of fake Holy Swords and one real Holy Sword began emitting a sinister aura.
Seeing this, the Red Dragon started shedding tears, overwhelmed with fear.
“D-Don’t come any closer. Don’t come!!!”
“Transform into your human form. Otherwise, there really is a chance I might kill you.”
In Karia’s intense voice, the Red Dragon frantically polymorphed.
Even one Holy Sword was terrifying, but the sight of hundreds emitting an aura was unbearable fear for the Red Dragon.
In his state of terror, the Red Dragon couldn’t distinguish whether the hundreds of Holy Swords were real or not.
“P-Please spare me. Please spare me!”
One enemy soldier, tears streaming down his face, desperately begged Karia. Without a word, Karia plunged a sword into his throat.
“Ahh!!”
The Red Dragon froze once again. Seeing the completely terrified creature, Karia laughed beneath his gas mask, as if in disbelief.
Randor’s words were true after all.
From Noble mtl dot com
Dragons were cowards.
It wasn’t easy to scare them, but once they were scared, it was very easy to manipulate them.
“Make the monster horde retreat.”
[Retreat! Retreat immediately!]
With an urgent command, the monster horde turned around and began retreating.
Karia grabbed the Red Dragon’s neck with one hand and lifted it up.
“I will treat you as a captive. But if you act up, I will kill you on the spot.”
It was a bizarre moment of a human threatening a dragon.
Even more amusing was…
“Uwaaah…… P-Please spare me. I will do as you say. P-Please don’t hurt me, even though it hurts!”
The point was that the threat was working.
Thus, Karia and the Dragon Knights could return after achieving the unprecedented feat of capturing the Ancient Dragon, which had never happened in human history.