Chapter 41 : Chapter 41
Chapter 41. Anonymous (4)
The number of enemies who found the paradise of dragons was a mere five.
They had the appearance of human mages, but in reality, they were high-ranking demons.
“This is truly astonishing! An artifact that can put dragons to sleep. Hehe. This is just too easy, isn't it?”
At someone's words, another person immediately replied.
“It is an item bestowed by Lord Nox. It would be wise to use it carefully.”
With the artifact at the forefront, the dragons fell asleep in an instant.
They collapsed to the ground without being able to mount any proper attack.
Thud.
As the dragons were large, the amount of dust they kicked up was no joke.
“How disruptive.”
When the demons cast wind magic, the dust blew to the opposite side.
It was truly a spectacle to see the dragons, their vision blocked, hesitating to approach.
“Uahaha. This is quite amusing.”
It seemed like a one-sided slaughter would ensue, but that wasn't the case.
The number of dragons was countless, and their counterattacks were formidable.
All five demons had sustained their own internal injuries.
It was nothing more than the characteristic bravado of the Demon Tribe.
“Tsk. Where the hell is Anticus, the one we were actually after? At this rate, I'm going to end up wasting all my strength catching these useless guys.”
Just a moment ago, it had taken quite a lot of power to take down the ten dragons before them.
Although they had an artifact that put dragons to sleep, its effective range was limited, making it insufficient for catching those far away.
The demon who appeared to be the leader among them slowly opened his mouth.
“Don't worry too much. After causing such a ruckus, she's bound to show up soon.”
His name was Silentium.
He was one of the elites of the New Demon Tribe, a figure who would later rise to the position of one of the Four Heavenly Kings in the original version.
The large man opposite him grumbled as he spoke.
“Maintaining a human form takes more magical power than I thought. Can't we just release it?”
However, Silentium was firm.
“Impossible. We must thoroughly act as mages from the Lombard Kingdom.”
“Is there really a need for that? The moment Anticus joins our side, the Benedict Kingdom will become a sea of fire.”
“It is his command. We merely follow.”
At the mention of 'his', the other smacked his lips as if he had no choice.
“Tsk. What a pain. If we didn't have this artifact, we might have been the ones to be crushed here.”
A battle of several hundred vs. five.
It was a story that didn't make sense from the start.
A young dragon possessed power comparable to a mid-ranking demon, and even high-ranking demons avoided one-on-one fights with adult dragons.
Even if they could kill one, they would have to suffer great damage themselves.
So, it was no exaggeration to say that this single artifact had turned the tide of the battle.
“Where on earth could he have obtained something like this?”
“You talk too much. If you have time to chat, focus on the battle before you.”
As the endless battle with the dragons continued, an unfamiliar object came into view.
“Huh? What is that?”
Demons inherently had good night vision.
This was because they possessed a passive skill called Dark Eye.
The demons soon identified the newcomers.
“What's this. A couple of humans are flying this way on a Pegasus?”
“What are they? Seeing as they're on a Pegasus, are they high-ranking individuals?”
“All who approach are enemies. Pay them no mind and kill them.”
As soon as those words were finished.
The white dot that had been visible from a distance just a moment ago approached in an instant.
“Wh-what? Why is it so fast?”
“Damn it. They're not pushovers. Respond!”
However, the demons could no longer speak.
A tremendous baptism of fire erupted above their heads.
KABOOOOOM!!
With a massive explosion, the surrounding area was instantly decimated.
***
“Uahahaha! Did you see that! This is the skill of the Sage!”
It was Rude, so happy he didn't know what to do.
What he had just dropped below was the 7th-circle flame magic, Explosion.
It was threatening enough when fired from the ground, but since it was a direct hit above their heads, its power must have been immense.
‘It's like the performance of a Little Boy.
Of course, it wasn't that destructive, but looking at that mushroom cloud, I couldn't help but think of a nuclear bomb.
Anyway, thanks to the return of the Hero's power, I was able to control the Pegasus with ease.
‘I've never even ridden a horse before, but it's strangely easy.’
Perhaps Frank had learned skills like horsemanship or piloting.
And at max level, at that.
But was it to be expected from a group that had invaded the paradise of dragons with only five members?
Only two had fallen, and they showed the miracle of a whopping three surviving.
Similarly, none of the dragons that had fallen asleep had died instantly.
I guess they don't call dragons the final boss of HP for nothing.
It was a natural result that Rude's face was tinged with bewilderment.
“N-no way! They're fine even after taking a direct hit from my Explosion?”
“Calm down. They don't seem that fine.”
Their appearances were no longer human.
A huge build and pointed ears.
And black skin.
“So they were the Demon Tribe……”
“What? The Demon Tribe? Why is the Demon Tribe here?”
The Demon Tribe disguised as humans.
Something smells fishy.
On top of that, in their hands was the artifact that put dragons to sleep.
‘Where did they get that? It was supposed to be sleeping in the treasure vault of the Durani Empire.’
I had no idea what was what.
While the startled dragons were evacuating from Rude's magic, one of the demons looked familiar.
Even after being hit by Rude's magic, he stood proudly and glared at me.
‘Isn't that Silentium?’
Silentium was a skilled individual who would later rise to become one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
With his outstanding infiltration skills and immense magical ability, he was a tough opponent to face.
‘I had to put in quite a bit of effort when dealing with him.’
But to think I would face him here and now.
I immediately increased my altitude.
Rude, who almost fell off due to the sudden ascent, took his anger out on me.
“A-are you crazy! What are you doing!”
“That one is dangerous. We have to maintain as much distance as possible.”
“Who is that guy?”
“There's a story to it.”
I couldn't reveal the fact that I was possessed.
No. Even if I did, he wouldn't believe me.
‘Even I find it hard to believe, so how would he?’
I climbed as high as possible and circled around them.
They tried to fire long-range magic at us, but it fell short without reaching us.
“Rude.”
“What?”
“When I give the signal, unleash all the maximum firepower you can indiscriminately.”
“Wh-what?”
“And hold onto me as tight as you can. Be careful not to fall.”
“What are you talking about, seriously!”
“Five, four, three……”
“Shiiiit!!”
As soon as the countdown ended.
I pulled the reins and nosedived towards them.
The Pegasus descended vertically towards the ground at such a tremendous speed that even the word 'plummet' was an understatement.
The distance to the ground was now only about 500m.
My cheeks flapped uncontrollably as if they were balloons.
“Wooooooah!!”
“What are you doing! Shoot, quickly!”
A crimson flame then flashed from Rude's staff.
The ultimate flame magic, a tier higher than Explosion.
Mega Explosion had burst forth.
The exploding magic was so bright it felt like my eyes would burn out.
***
Despite the dark night, the surroundings were as bright as day.
It had already been about 10 minutes since Rude cast his magic, but it was amazing that it was still burning fiercely.
It seemed even the dragons wouldn't have survived, but in the current situation, I couldn't afford to worry about the fallen dragons.
But why had the chatterbox gone silent?
I glanced back and saw he seemed a little out of his mind.
“Heeheehee. Hehe. Kukuku.”
He was drooling and letting out a string of bizarre laughs.
Well, even I thought this plan was hard to execute with a sane mind.
I had to suddenly descend vertically and unleash maximum firepower.
There's a saying that to deceive the enemy, you must deceive your allies too.
So, without prior discussion, I pulled the reins and initiated a vertical descent the moment I saw an opening in their defense.
‘It must have been like a bolt from the blue for Rude.’
Applause for Rude, who held onto his staff until the end and unleashed his maximum firepower even in such a situation.
Of course, the same went for me.
‘If we hadn't ascended quickly, we would have burned to death in that flame too.’
It would have been impossible to succeed without the Hero's piloting skills and the Pegasus' nimble movements.
But what was this?
Something was twitching in the area that had turned into a sea of fire.
‘My goodness! It's alive even after taking that?’
No matter how high-ranking the opponent demon was, with that much power, even the Demon King Nox would have melted in one shot.
Did this mean that as my daughters and I got stronger, the enemies did too?
I circled a few more times before cautiously descending.
The creature was only twitching and didn't seem to be in a good state.
Leaving Rude, who still hadn't come to his senses, I got off the Pegasus.
Neeeigh!
The Pegasus looked at me with a face that asked if I would be okay.
I told it not to worry and gently stroked its back.
Then, I approached the one whose hand was the only thing twitching.
As expected, it was Silentium.
He was on the verge of death, his hand trembling. Just how much HP did he have?
As I was lost in thought looking down at him.
I saw his finger move.
I felt a faint but strong magical power.
It seemed he was planning to squeeze out all his remaining strength to land a final counter.
‘I can't let that happen.’
I immediately countered.
Frank's cherished sword, brought from the basement.
Using Ragnarok, I split his body in a single stroke.
Slice.
The guy passed on to the other world without even being able to scream.
Hehe. To think the day would come when I would use this myself.
In the game, even when I regained the Hero's power with the magic potion, I never thought of using this.
As I mentioned before, no special events occurred at night.
Besides, if I didn't sleep, the condition of my daughters who had slept soundly would plummet, so I rarely had the chance.
‘Ragnarok is one thing, but is this the power of the Hero.’
I could only say it was amazing.
I could feel it even more keenly because I had been to the Demon Territory with Adel.
To the point where I was confident I would never lose if I fought Adel one-on-one right now.
No. Wouldn't I be able to last quite a while even against Anonymous?
I looked around once more, searching for any survivors.
As expected, there were none.
Though it wasn't my intention, I could only offer my sincere condolences to the dragons who were harmed.
‘It would be best to restore this place with the villagers as soon as possible. That is all I can do for those who died unjustly.’
After a moment of silence.
I approached the bisected Silentium.
I took out the magic potion from his bosom.
The most fundamental reason I came here was to retrieve this item.
He had been wearing it around his neck, made into a necklace as if it were a precious item.
‘It's simply amazing that the glass bottle didn't break even in this situation.’
The same went for the artifact that put dragons to sleep.
It was made of an unidentifiable metal and didn't have a single crack.
‘This must be the charm of artifacts.’
To be fine even against a power that could kill the Demon King must mean that something like durability didn't exist for it.
Because if the artifact broke, the game could no longer proceed.
Anyway.
I packed the magic potion and the staff and walked towards the Pegasus, when Rude, who had just come to his senses, brought up a random topic.
“So that's what it was. I knew it was something like that!”
“What are you talking about? Again?”
“Noemi's vision! It wasn't them feeding it to Anticus, it was us…… no. It was a future where she drank this voluntarily!”
Hmm, is that so?That seems like a possibility, but what would happen if I drank this one more time?
‘Then, wouldn't the seal during the daytime be broken too?’
This was something I had never done in the game, so it was difficult to come to a conclusion easily.
Anyway, there were no more enemies here.
I hung the magic potion around my neck, held the staff in my hand, and mounted the Pegasus.
I returned to the mansion with Rude, who was endlessly muttering to himself.
“Noemi's Future Foresight is truly amazing.”
“To think it would end like this. We've regained our power, and if Anticus joins our
side……”
“Hehe. Now we're invincible! No one can beat us!”
Haa. He's so loud I could die.
Maybe I should just drop him.
Can't you just shut your mouth when I'm being nice?
***
Meanwhile, Bruno, who was on his way to Rarc Village, could no longer continue his march.
A soldier on horseback had suddenly approached from the direction of Rarc Village and said this.
“Halt! That direction is dangerous!”
“What is it?”
“Someone has invaded the paradise of dragons!”
“What? Nonsense!”
“N-no, sir. I saw it with my own two eyes. And the person who dispatched me to the royal palace is Baron Frank himself.”
Bruno hastily turned his horse around from the direction he was heading.
He didn't know what crazy bastard had invaded the paradise of dragons, but if he went there now, he would be unlikely to survive.
Having no choice, Bruno turned back the way he came and decided to take the eastern highway to the marquisate.
‘Damn it. I need to see Anonymous as soon as possible.’
Would Anonymous be okay?
Yes. She would be fine.
After all, Adel, the youngest person to pass the knight exam with top scores, was there, and above all, the man who caught the Demon King lived there.
He may have lost his power, but he surely had a hidden card up his sleeve.
Ironically, Bruno hoped that Frank would perform a miracle.
Right now, he couldn't think of any other clever solution besides relying on him.
‘Please, you must be alive, Anonymous.’
The only thing on Bruno's mind was Anonymous' survival.