Vol 5: Chapter 20
** Lev Magic Empire – Red Gate Frontline **
「Shoot!」
The archers of Keith Gran Federation rained down a volley of arrows on End Fang. However, every single arrow was repelled by End Fang’s mana. Not even a fur was harmed.
The captain of the archers was surprised by the outcome. Even the outer walls of a castle would have been a little more damaged.
「W-What should we do, general?!」
The captain asked the general who appeared right after End Fang descended. Though the general was the adjutant of the Federation’s entire army, he was also a pure soldier.
「What everyone knows. The sword is stronger than the arrow.」
He pulled out the sword on his side. The blade was clad in beautiful mana. The weapon itself was a magic tool – a sort of “treasured sword”.
「Let’s go! Follow me !!」
The general charged at End Fang, shouting orders. The soldiers of Keith Gran Federation followed.
**
Friedrich, the general of the Saint Knight Kingdom, ran nimbly even while donning a bulky full-plate mail. He carried a steel beam-like large sword like it was a wooden stick.
Every step he took broke the pavement under and scooped out the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. His long cloak fluttered in the air, and his armor and muscles squeaked.
His every step reached several meters long. Only a handful of swift horses would be able to keep up with his sprint speed.
His knights followed behind him, but the distance between them was steadily widening.
「KOOOOOOOO–」
Friedrich doesn’t care about standing out. That was always the case on any battlefield.
Friedrich took in oxygen with a unique breathing method, and reached the back side of the collapsed End Fang. He held his sword aloft and swung it down on End Fang. When the blow reached the mana enveloping the tiger’s body surface, it tore the mana apart extremely easily. The mana defense on that part broke like splinters.
The fur on the body entwined around the blade, but that was also cut by Friedrich’s sword.
As the sword reached the flesh–
「!」
The sword stopped. As if it had hit a bedrock.
It was not because the large sword compromised sharpness for weight. It was a custom-made weapon that perfected the condition of size, weight, and sharpness to the utmost. He had slashed many monsters, armored humans, and even smashed large trees with that sword.
『RURURURUOOOOO』
It wasn’t that he couldn’t cut the flesh, it was just stopped halfway. It was sandwiched between muscle fibers. But naturally, when the flesh was cut, blood poured out, and End Fang experienced pain and went wild.
「Nuu.」
Friedrich’s muscles swelled as he tried to pull out the large sword. The sword, which seemed tightly lodged, came off with a “pop” sound. End Fang’s blood spurted out into the air.
Since End Fang’s back was towards Friedrich, its feet were facing the other side. The monster thrashed its legs in pain, which caused the death of many Keith Gran Federation’s soldiers.
「She said 512 seconds, right?」
Friedrich muttered to himself softly, and began swinging down the large sword again and again and again at the open wound on the monster’s back, like a miner digging a hole. That part of End Fang became extremely bloodied, and a white spine was exposed.
**
Former Holy King Grenjido barely escaped from crashing onto the ground after the first hit, thanks to the Holy King’s Knights Order who caught him.
When Grenjido tried to rush back into the battle after being rescued, the knights pinned him down and forcefully retreated with him.
After about 50 splashes of water and his knights begging for him to calm down, Grenjido finally regained his calm. Though he was now the former Holy King, he still stood at the top of the Holy Kingdom. A man like that lost all reason to the point where he had to be splashed with water.
In the meantime, End Fang collapsed.
「Let’s go.」Grenjido said.
「B-But Your Majesty, your weapon…」one of his knights tried to advise Grenjido.
「It’s over there.」
He pointed to the spear that was still entwined in the fur of End Fang’s left forefoot, which was now closer to the ground.
「How dare that thing underestimate me… I’ll get my weapon back first. Then I’ll stab it to death!」
Grenjido said in such a ferocious tone that you wouldn’t believe he was the king of a nation only a few months ago. But the Holy King’s knights nodded reverently.
「The 5th and 6th Knights Order follow me. 7th, gather the remaining soldiers and launch a full-on attack.」Grenjido shouted orders.
「Yes, sir!」
And then Grenjido started running. He was much faster not carrying his weapon, and was fast approaching End Fang’s left forefoot as it was groaning and thrashing about.
The left hindfoot was tied up by something which looked like a black rope, but the right hindfoot was kicking and struggling.
「It’s dangerous to get too close, Your Majesty!」
「No problem!」
Grenjido jumped up on the left hindfoot, which was not moving, and ran along the foot. The right hind foot could only move radially from the joint down, so running near the tiger’s belly was sort of like its blindspot.
「GUAAA!!」
Behind him, the Knights Order was kicked by the right hindfoot.
「Don’t overdo it! Make sure to crush the left hindfoot!」
Grenjido sprinted towards his spear.
All he could think about was retrieving his spear and stabbing the monster one more time.
**
「Is that also the thing called “Heroic Gear”!?」
Lark asked Dante while running.
「That’s right. “Quagmire How Tough” increases the mass of the target while maintaining the volume…. or so, I think.」
「What’s that supposed to mean?」
「Don’t ask me… Mimino seems to have understood that explanation, so I left it to her.」
「I see…」
Lark and Dante both were ignorant in the ways of science.
“Quagmire How Tough” worked as explained by Dante, but Mimino activated the Heroic Gear after binding End Fang’s leg with ivy amplified by【Flower Magic】.
Right now, the substance coiled around End Fang’s leg looked like just a black ivy, but in fact, it was a super-heavy substance. That giant body lost balance and collapsed due to the sheer weight of the substance.
Of course, it was unclear what that substance was, but the effect of “Quagmire How Tough” was understood.
「However, it seems to only last for 512 seconds.」Dante said.
「!? You should’ve said such important information from the start!」
Lark and Dante approached the back of End Fang’s head. It was thrashing around and attempted to get up, but it didn’t seem to be working well. Although the neck was moving around, it was completely exposed.
「—This is good enough.」
Black shadows rose from Lark’s body like steam. Dante was stunned by the scene. He had heard of a scene like this in the past.
He passed through the capital city of Achenbach Dukedom in the past, and encountered a dragon and the Mithril-rank adventurer, Crysta-la-Crysta, there.
Dante was caught in an explosion in the fight and didn’t see it happen, but a huge black sword appeared and lopped off the dragon’s neck, apparently.
He always thought that maybe the Black Sky Pirate fighting in the Empire was the same as the person who killed that dragon in the past.
However, Dante was unconscious when the dragon died, and in the battles in the frontline, Lark always defeated the monsters with minimum effort.
「T-This is… amazing…」
What stood in front of him right now was a huge blade—could it even be called a blade?
A black blade that stood tall like a tower.
Something like this could most definitely kill a dragon, he thought.
「I will have your head now.」
Blood spilled from Lark’s mouth as she said so.
