Chapter 232

The dragon named Shion had wings.

However, it could not fly and writhed, as if crawling on the ground.

For the soldiers, this was instead a disaster.

Every time it took a step, people were trampled, and ‘Soul Fire’ remained in its wake.

Hard training and well-maintained spears and swords were powerless.

They were merely trampled.

The dragon tore through the soldiers with a roar.

The dragon’s advance continued until the giant-form magi-soldiers appeared.

As they were at the rear of the procession, it took a considerable amount of time for them to appear.

The giant-form magi-soldiers were over ten times the size of a normal person, yet they seemed like dwarves in front of the dragon.

They would lose their balance and topple over with a single flap of its wings.

Still, there were 130 giant-form magi-soldiers in total.

Having already completed their learning, they moved as one, forming a formation and pressing in on Shion.

The giant-form magi-soldiers that had completed their learning possessed combat instincts far superior to humans.

When the orders from the Magi-Soldier Corps mages were added to that, they became war machines more flexible and powerful than anything else.

They charged at Shion, making the earth tremble.

However, they could not reach the dragon.

The magi-soldiers, having learned too much, had acquired something akin to a human heart, and Shion’s second Ars, ‘The Unclosable Twenty Steps’, repelled all things with a heart.

Two magi-soldiers, pushed far back, were crushed under Shion’s foreclaws.

[Why.]

Shion asked.

He glared at the Cordis soldiers, streams of blue tears flowing.

The tears became smoke and flames, scattering in a deep, dark blue.

[-Why-!]

All emotions require a reason, and anger is especially peculiar in that regard.

The hatred boiling up from his melted heart forced Shion to ask questions.

He continuously threw out empty questions, knowing he would not receive an answer.

[Where has my world gone? Why are you still alive? Why am I still in anguish?]

There was no one to answer.

To the Cordis soldiers, that roar sounded only like the ravings of a madman.

Hatred boiled up from within the roaring Shion’s throat.

[Behold my piercing sorrow-!!!]

He spews blue flames.

Twenty giant-form magi-soldiers were instantly enveloped in the flames.

Considering the astronomical cost of making one, it was an unimaginably terrible loss.

The Ro-Garos Magi-Soldier Corps Commander, having lost twenty giant-form magi-soldiers, screamed like a little girl.

The dragon spewing blue flames was wrapped in the ‘Heated Iron Bloodline’.

Filthily hot and filthily heavy, its whole body was like a superheated hunk of iron.

Just being near it cooked the soldiers’ flesh with steam, and they dropped one after another.

His existence alone was a threat.

But it didn’t stay still; it stomped around, trampling, burning, and swallowing humans.

Shion alone was a disaster.

***

“…Bukenos. Stop it.”

“But Legion Commander Nana, your wounds….”

“In war, do you call this a wound?”

Nana Nereyades waved her hand.

She had only clashed with the ‘Dragon of Six Horns’ for a brief moment, but severe wounds remained all over her body.

The skin that had made direct contact had melted and stuck, and the places hit by its claws were torn deeply.

Nana was calm, despite having several wounds that would have left an ordinary person unable to walk.

She was becoming more and more like her grandfather.

“More importantly, how long will it take for all troops to get away from that dragon?”

“It will require at least an hour.”

“……Damned long.”

Nana lifted her clothes.

The metal armor was cumbersome.

In front of that dragon, flimsy armor would only be a hindrance.

Beneath the armor were all sorts of blades, but she threw them all to the ground.

What could one do with a dagger against a dragon like a mountain range?

She also took off her shoes.

Gloves were unnecessary too.

Nana Nereyades, in light cloth clothes, tied her hair up tightly, as if preparing to take a dip in the water.

Then she gripped the super-sized oar once more.

It was heavy, no matter when she held it.

“Legion Commanders.”

Several men lined up behind her.

“I will give you the opportunity to die honorably as His Majesty’s subjects.

You do not have the right to refuse.”

“…….”

Their faces were as follows.

15th Legion Commander, Furios Foren.

16th Legion Commander, Maseus Merkus.

33rd Legion Commander, Bix Bons Baretaus.

Ro-Garos Magi-Soldier Corps Commander, Hotnes.

Imperial Intelligence Bureau Director, Dandeus Deredom.

They were all men who rarely had to resolve themselves for death.

They had power and trust.

These things had kept danger far away from their lives until now.

Even if they did face danger, they were more than qualified to be called supermen even bare-handed.

Bix Bons Baretaus stepped forward, biting his lip.

He held two short spears, one in each hand.

The other Legion Commanders also stepped forward, gripping their favorite weapons.

“We must die here today.”

Nana said.

These were not words they wanted to hear.

Nevertheless, the five men followed Nana.

A tiny bit of sense of duty, a little more fear of Nana, and mostly, hearts long tamed by the system and by orders.

“However, for one hour, I will not permit death. So that we can send even one more of His Majesty’s soldiers away alive, fight with all your strength for one hour, and then you may die.”

No more words were needed.

Nana leaped.

She held that heavy oar with her wounded body, yet she leaped high.

The five men followed.

Fifteen more joined them.

“Shion of Merion-!!!”

Nana shouted.

“His Majesty Ferbias’s servant, Nana Nereyades, is here!”

[…Fer, bias….]

The dragon turned its head.

It was because she had touched its deepest anger.

His tears began to burn a darker blue than ever before.

[Fee-r-biaaas-!!!]

“It is not a name that a creature like you dares to call!”

The dragon looked at those rushing toward it.

In all, there were twenty-four.

Eighteen who were outstanding in martial prowess even among the Commanders of a Thousand, five of Legion Commander rank, and Nana Nereyades.

“Ha.”

Nana ran the fastest and leaped the highest, so she arrived first.

Shion tried to spew flames, but Nana unhesitatingly smashed him in the jaw with the super-sized oar.

The flames, unable to come out, were sucked back into Shion’s throat.

The dragon groaned in pain, and Nana did not stop.

“-Ha!”

She swims.

Ars, ‘Freestyle’.

She swam freely over the filthily heavy and filthily hot body of the dragon.

Her bare feet were constantly being cooked, but she paid it no mind.

She just kept swinging the super-sized oar, pounding on the dragon’s body.

Shion flapped his wings.

His wings were made of hundreds of thousands of ‘Fantasy Fingers’.

Unseen hands flew to grab Nana, who was playing on top of his body.

But dozens of beams of light poured down.

“Hey, dragon head.”

Ro-Garos Magi-Soldier Corps Commander, Hotnes.

At his gesture, the giant-form magi-soldiers moved as one.

“General Nana is swimming, isn’t she!”

He was a man skilled in handling magi-soldiers.

He had the composure to handle over a hundred giant-form magi-soldiers.

From behind him, dozens of winged faces rose up.

The secret war machines brought along the angel-form magi-soldiers.

The winged faces opened their mouths and pulled out spears of light.

There were forty angel-form magi-soldiers, whose performance was so outstanding it was cruel, and whose use was banned everywhere on the continent.

As they simultaneously poured out spears of light, even Shion had no choice but to hesitate.

[…….]

The dragon’s eyes sank, blue.

The ‘Dragon of Six Horns’ was different from the Hunchback.

He was finely mad, and though his direction was skewed, he possessed a sharper rationality than before.

Shion unwound and swung several dozen of the tens of thousands of iron bloodlines wrapped around his body.

Each one was filthily heavy and filthily hot.

Half of the angel-form magi-soldiers were caught in them and shattered to pieces.

“……Hey! Those aren’t even produced any- ……Ah.”

Hotnes lamented as he discovered the dragon’s maw had charged right in front of his nose.

“……Wasn’t the time to worry about them, huh?”

“Move, Hotnes!”

“Maseus!”

The 16th Legion Commander, Maseus Merkus, suddenly jumped up and shoved Hotnes hard.

He faced Shion’s maw in Hotnes’s place.

He was a soldier, and much quicker than the mage Hotnes, so he was able to avoid the disaster of being bitten.

However, his back was caught on a fang and torn wide open, exposing his spine.

“…Ugh! Why does this hurt so much…!”

Even with his spine exposed, Maseus bared his teeth and smiled.

The position of an Imperial Legion Commander was not one easily obtained.

He caught his breath and summoned the Ars of his soul.

The Ars of the 16th Legion Commander, Maseus Merkus,

‘Obedience to Superiors’.

He is a soldier.

This means he is an expert at doing the impossible.

Nana had ordered him to last one hour.

Therefore, he had to stay alive for one hour.

Maseus slashed the tip of Shion’s nose with a long sword.

A tiny amount, but blood flowed.

“You okay, Hotnes?”

“…Stop acting cool, Maseus!”

Hotnes muttered as he stepped back.

He and Maseus had known each other for a long time.

It was because they were from the same rural village.

But they didn’t want to call each other friends.

Hotnes saw the strong Maseus as stupid, and Maseus saw the smart Hotnes as detestable.

“Do you think I’ll forget about Benia just because of this?”

“Why don’t you just forget it!”

Maseus’s wife’s name was Benia.

Hotnes had been in love with her, but Maseus stole her away (at least, that’s what he thinks).

Since then, Hotnes had not spared his aggressive remarks toward Maseus even in public, and Maseus, too, would not back down, responding with a ‘bring it on’ attitude.

They had spent a long time as rivals like that.

“Benia said it. That she had no interest in you anyway!”

“No! Shut up! I was preparing an amazing event! Thirty musicians and a thousand roses….”

“To confess publicly at the main gate of Sdea Academy! Benia said it. She seriously considered assassinating you before you confessed!”

“……Shut up!”

Hotnes, while fuming, summoned the Ars of his soul.

The Ars of the four-star mage Hotnes,

‘Yearning for What is Above’.

Looking back, Hotnes had spent a very long time looking up.

At Maseus who married Benia whom he loved, at mages more outstanding than himself, and even now, he was looking at Nana and Shion.

His own station was so hard to accept; he wanted to overcome it, even if it meant sacrificing his soul.

That is why his soul temporarily reaches five stars.

Hotnes looked at the dragon’s wide-open maw and quickly formed a hand seal.

A five-star magic, ‘Group Sublimation’.

He was connected to over 100 magi-soldiers.

All of those magi-soldiers transformed simultaneously.

In terms of power alone, it was not lacking compared to six-star magic.

The weapons of the giant-form magi-soldiers, which had only been pushed back until now, began to reach Shion’s body.

Even while Hotnes and Maseus were bickering, Nana continued to pound on Shion’s body.

She couldn’t pierce the scales, but the shock was transmitted to the bone.

From all over, Arses of the soul began to appear.

Furios Foren’s Ars, ‘Cloud Step’.

Bix Bons Baretaus’s Ars, ‘Invader’.

Dandeus Deredom’s Ars, ‘From Within the Shadows’.

The twenty-four facing the dragon.

Twenty-four souls, thus twenty-four Arses.

Towards the souls struggling for a slightly more valuable death, Shion let out a roar, the count of which was lost.

[—Cordis—!!!]

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