Kuwaaaaang!
The Black Dragon Legion, Tustivian.
The Descendant of the Red Dragon, Dusk Bringar.
As the two dragons' breaths clashed, a blinding light burst forth from the collision point, shaking the entire area. The passage, as well as the entire warehouse, began to tremble and collapse.
"...! ...! ...!"
Dusk Bringar, who was unleashing her breath, had her face turned bright red as she silently screamed in agony. It seemed quite strenuous for her.
Dusk Bringar's breath was, of course, vastly inferior to Tustivian's. After all, she was half-human, half-dragon.
However, Tustivian had been firing his breath rapidly, and a recent explosion had greatly diminished the power of his breath.
He was hastily spewing out even weaker breaths without a moment to catch his breath.
Dusk Bringar could hold out sufficiently.And now, as she bought time—
"Charge!"
The main forces attacked.
The collapsed warehouse ceiling. Standing atop the steel frames, I peered down through the gaping hole in the ceiling and shouted to my subordinates lined up beside me.
"Quick and decisive! We are at a disadvantage if we delay. Let's finish this in one go!"
"Yes!"
"Alright, let's go—!"
Ta-at!
I was the first to jump down, followed by the heroes.
"Airborne!"
"Airborne—!"
"Follow His Majesty!"
The soaring heroes showered down over Tustivian's head.
For me, this was already my third time diving from the air.
During a fight with Fernandez over New Terra, after being thrown out of the Thorns Ark, and just before, during the escape from the belly of the King of Flies...
Now, with this experience under my belt, jumping from such heights hardly scared me. Beside me, Kuilan, still suffering from acrophobia, grumbled.
The landing spot wasn't too high, so it didn't take long before the massive dragon's body came into close view.
"Hoo-woop!"
Bodybag used her multiple telekinesis to slow our descent.
However, some heroes had not requested telekinesis magic from Bodybag in advance.
They used their descent speed and weight to thrust the weapons in their hands deep into the dragon's body.
"Hah—!"
Among them, Lucas, who had dropped first, sliced through the dragon's body with a blade of light.
Like a downpour, the vanguard heroes inflicted wounds on Tustivian's body with their weapons.
The dragon's body, covered in black scales, was tough and robust, but our equipment was also sufficiently powerful.
The scales split, and black blood spurted out. Undoubtedly, our attacks were damaging the dragon's body.
But,
Kwaaaaaaaah!
Tustivian, regardless of whether we climbed on top of him or sliced at him, continued to fire his breath at Dusk Bringar without a care.
"Are you going to keep spewing it?!"
I shouted, flustered.
Dusk Bringar was doing the same. Her face, already beyond red, was now turning a sickly blue as she continued to unleash her breath.
The two dragons seemed determined to keep exhaling their breath until one choked or burned.
The problem was that Dusk Bringar was steadily losing ground.
Although the two breaths had initially counteracted each other in mid-air, soon the collision point had noticeably shifted towards Dusk Bringar.
"There's not much time left before Her Grace can no longer hold out, hurry—!"
However, regardless of our effective attacks,
Tustivian's body was so massively swollen that even inflicting wounds wouldn't result in fatal injuries.
Our attacks were merely peeling off his skin.
Lucas, struggling to push a blade of light into Tustivian's thick neck, turned to me and shouted.
"He's too tough and strong, My Lord! A quick and decisive victory is impossible!"
Beside him, Nobody's true strike barely managed to split a single scale. It really wasn't easy!
I surveyed the heroes around me and commanded.
"We need to find a weakness... a reverse scale!"
Every dragon species has a reverse scale, a spot where the direction of the scales is reversed.
This spot is a critical weak point for dragons and also... a trigger for their frenzy.
Stabbing the reverse scale can kill a dragon, but if the stab fails to kill, the enraged dragon, having lost its reason, will undoubtedly seek to kill us.
Naturally, striking such a spot would be immensely painful. Striking there would certainly infuriate them...
Just then, Kuilan, who had been crawling desperately on the dragon's back, made a grim face and shouted.
"But the scales are too numerous!"
Exactly. That's the problem.
The dragon is enormous. Needless to say, the number of scales making up its body is vast.
Among all those scales, one must find the single reverse scale, and to do so in the midst of battle!
Finding the reverse scale during such a raid, while the dragon spews breath and swings its tail, spreading Dragon Fear, is like looking for a needle in a haystack...!
'Even its location isn't fixed!'
In the game, the reverse scale's position changed every time.
Even my experience in strategy can't help me find it. Every battle requires finding the reverse scale anew...!
'That's why we trained, but...'
When facing the fake dragon, the reason we set finding the reverse scale as the victory point was this.
But no matter how much we train, finding the reverse scale in real combat ultimately relies somewhat on luck and intuition.
The heroes swung their weapons all over Tustivian's body, eyes alight with determination, yet the reverse scale was not easily found.
Meanwhile,
Kwaaaaaaaah!
"Cough, cough...Kaaack!"
Eventually, Dusk Bringar couldn't hold out any longer and was thrown out.
Dusk Bringar, exhausted and out of breath, coughed up her breath and was thrown outside the passage by the still ongoing breath from Tustivian.
Fortunately, Tustivian's breath had also weakened.
Having maintained his breath for several minutes, its power had noticeably dropped, and Dusk Bringar, though scorched black, seemed to be alive.
"Hoo..."
And Tustivian, having blown Dusk Bringar away, slowly turned his head, directing his gaze towards us.
"I must first dispose of these insects who dare interrupt this sacred duel."
Whoosh—
The air around became heavy, and magic and air began to be sucked into Tustivian's mouth.
'He's shooting again even after all that!'
Of course, rapid firing would have reduced the power, but the threat remained.
...but, because of that!
"I've prepared another way to block it-!"
As I shouted, a knight who had still been waiting at the edge of the collapsed ceiling soared up at high speed and began to fall.
Behind the pristine white armor, a white cloak fluttered like wings. Long platinum hair streamed out from behind the visor-shaped helmet.
"Heroine, enter—!"
The descending knightess laughed out loud.
She was Evangeline Cross, now a specialist in aerial combat, captain of the Monster Front Infantry.
Swish—!
As she fell, Evangeline positioned her lance backward and shield forward in a strange posture, and from the back of the lance, flames burst forth like rocket propellant.
The fire spirit enchanted in the lance was used as an accelerator. And that was not all.
Ting—!
A halo of magic energy formed behind Evangeline, adding an instant boost. It was a single-shot booster feature built into the armor.
"Quietly..."
As she rocketed towards the ground at terrifying speed, holding her shield firmly, Evangeline fell directly above Tustivian's head and—
"Strike—!"
Clang!
She slammed it down.
She struck the dragon's upper jaw, which was gathering breath, with her large shield.
It was a picture-perfect Shield Charge. Even the mighty Tustivian couldn't withstand it and snapped his mouth shut.
Then,
Boom!
An explosion.
The breath that was about to be released exploded inside the mouth, wrapping Tustivian's face in flames again.
Nice charge, Evangeline!
"Huh?"
Absorbing the flames and explosion with her shield, Evangeline rolled down the dragon's neck like a slide and her eyes twinkled.
"Isn't that the reverse scale?!"
"...!"
Evangeline pointed towards the end of the dragon's lower jaw.
The whisker-like tissues that had been hanging from Tustivian's lower jaw had all burned away after two explosions, revealing the hidden reverse scale.
"Everyone!"
I pointed in that direction and yelled.
"Destroy the reverse scale—!"
Even in this situation, Tustivian was gathering breath again. It's as if he was born just to breathe fire.
We must bring him down before the next breath is fired!
Flash!
The first to charge was Verdandi.
Her thrown blink dagger couldn't penetrate the dragon's scales and bounced off, but Verdandi didn't care and teleported to the handle of the blink dagger floating in mid-air.
With two daggers wreathed in green energy, she delivered a large X-shaped slash over the reverse scale.
"Damn, it's tough...!"
But that wasn't enough to destroy the reverse scale. Verdandi clicked her tongue and tumbled down through the air.
"Hmm-!"
Watching this, King Poseidon planted his trident into the warehouse floor and shouted.
"Everyone, rise!"
At his command, massive streams of water erupted from the floor.
The waiting heroes placed their shields and weapons under their feet and surged upwards on the water streams, surfing them like surfboards.
Training for high-altitude attacks was essential for dragon raids, and this method also helped mitigate damage from the dragon's fiery breath by dousing them in water.
"Up and down, it's absolute chaos!"
Grumbling, Kuilan, who had surged up, wrapped in red energy, fiercely struck the dragon's lower jaw.
Following him, the other heroes continued to rise and pummeled Tustivian's reverse scale.
Gradually, clear cracks began to form on the stubbornly resistant reverse scale.
Crack-!
By the time Lucas's [Strike of Will] hit, a large crack had formed, and then.
"..."
With a large hammer in one hand and a chisel in the other, Kellibey surged up on a water stream.
"This strike is..."
Reaching the dragon's lower jaw with his wet beard flapping, Kellibey placed the end of the chisel on the reverse scale,
"For my son, you beast-!"
He precisely hammered down on it.
Clang-!
The reverse scale shattered into pieces.
"Kraaaaaaaaah-!"
Until now, Tustivian had withstood every attack, even an explosion of breath within his throat.
But he couldn't withstand the pain of the shattered reverse scale and let out a booming roar.
"Krugh...?!"
It was a terrifyingly powerful Dragon Roar.
Thanks to my [Unyielding Commander] skill, the heroes weren't affected by fear, but they couldn't stop their bodies from instinctively freezing.
Heroes about to launch further attacks paused momentarily, and even in his agony and rage, Tustivian managed to gather breath for another shot.
With eyes glittering with furious rage and hatred, Tustivian aimed to unleash his breath at us.
I was ready to defend against this breath with another method, but...
Ta-at!
There was no need.
Dusk Bringar, who had sprinted up to us, kicked off the ground and leaped up to Tustivian's eye level with terrifying force.
Then, gripping the dragon's lower jaw with both hands, she opened her small mouth wide and at the spot where the reverse scale had been sheared off—
"Burn."
She thrust her breath into it.
Swoosh-!
A beam of red magical light burst from Dusk Bringar's mouth, piercing through Tustivian's lower jaw.
Boom! Kwang!
Explosions erupted continuously from Tustivian's neck and face.
But Tustivian was a formidable dragon.
Even as his lower jaw flew off and melted, he fixed his gaze on Dusk Bringar and expelled the breath he had gathered.
For a moment, the two breaths collided violently in mid-air, but soon one faltered and was engulfed by the other.
The victor was Dusk Bringar.
Tustivian's massive black breath was cleanly obliterated by Dusk Bringar's slender red breath.
Crash-!
The red breath that had blown away Tustivian's lower jaw now pierced through his upper jaw, eyes, and brain.
The battle was decided, and Dusk Bringar slowly stopped her breath.
Covered in ash and soot, Dusk Bringar and Tustivian, whose giant face was completely melted and burned, exchanged a glance.
"...You conspire with these insect-like humans."
With half his gigantic face melted away, Tustivian spat out his last words.
His voice, transmitted by magic without a tongue or jaw, seemed about to dissipate at any moment.
"Do you fight us even to this extent, descendant of the Red Dragon...?"
"Of course."
Exhaling flames from the corners of her mouth, Dusk Bringar grinned spitefully.
"Half of me is human, you monster."
"Hahaha..."
Laughing or moaning in despair, he uttered his final unintelligible words.
Tustivian's giant head and neck slowly toppled to the side.
Thud...!
Dust billowed heavily.
--TL Notes--
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at /MattReading