Chapter 311 : Chapter 311
Chapter 311. Song of the Battlefield
“Is that your plan?”
“Yes.”
Arteo looked utterly dumbfounded.
“Even if there is a reverse scale, is this not far too reckless? Unless we use large-scale magic, attacks will not even reach a dragon.”
He had a point.
Professor Lillian’s attacks were fast and sharp, yet the dragon recovered almost immediately.
The problem was that the intervals between its recoveries were growing shorter.
“There is a Royal Mage Corps inside the Academy. If we gather them and prepare attack magic—”
“There is no time.”
Radel cut him off firmly.
“Before long, Leviathan will grow accustomed to that body. Is that not so, Brother Gillian?”
“That is correct. It was delayed only because there were not enough sacrifices. Ordinarily, the moment an Archdemon descends, corruption begins.”
From the instant demons were summoned from the Demon World, the Middle Realm began to rot.
The land decayed, the water turned poisonous, and the minds of people collapsed.
It was hell itself.
Yet now that Leviathan had descended, although the demonic energy had grown denser, people’s minds remained intact.
Moreover, the Divine Power that had weakened was returning.
Gillian took a breath and continued.
“I do not know the exact reason, but the sacrificial ritual has clearly gone awry.”
Radel’s eyes shone.
“Then now is the time to pierce the dragon’s heart.”
Arteo struck his chest in frustration.
“No, I am saying a sword will never work on a dragon…!”
“Magic is far more dangerous.”
Radel did not back down.
A dragon was a creature born with the ability to use magic.
Even if Leviathan was not yet accustomed to the dragon’s body, it would not be long before it could wield the dragon’s power.
Unleashing powerful magic before such a being would be like pouring oil on a fire.
Shartea, who had been listening quietly, spoke up.
“I understand. Professor Lillian has only been using basic magic this whole time as well.”
“She is trying not to give it a chance to grow stronger. I agree with this plan.”
Alexius also nodded, expressing his agreement with Radel.
Arteo’s face went pale.
Those foolish swordsmen!
Was it not common sense that magic was stronger than swords?
And yet they wanted to fight a dragon with swordsmanship?
At this rate, they could lose a precious opportunity.
He subtly sought help from the mage standing beside him.
“You say something. Do you really think that makes sense?”
Leon, who had been listening in silence, frowned.
He did not like the situation either, but siding with the Second Prince appealed to him even less.
“My answer is this.”
Leon instantly drew up his Magic Power and swung his staff toward the dragon.
‘No-Chant Casting!’
Radel’s eyes widened.
It was sudden, but the magic Leon cast flew straight toward the dragon.
Paaaat!
Arteo could tell at once that this was no ordinary spell.
To draw out such high-purity Magic Power so quickly with No-Chant Casting.
It was perfection worthy of a mage who possessed ‘Dragon’s Blessing.’
Pat!
However, Leon’s magic scattered uselessly before it even reached the dragon.
“The Magic Power…”
“It dispersed completely.”
“Has it already begun to dominate the surrounding mana?”
The expressions of everyone watching hardened.
As expected of a dragon.
A being that could freely manipulate mana by will alone.
Yet Leon, who had cast the spell, remained calm.
He merely tilted his head slightly and spoke to Arteo.
“You are not seriously thinking that a handful of human mages can stop something like that, are you?”
Those were the words of Leon, who possessed ‘Dragon’s Blessing.’
A judgment made by someone closer to dragons than anyone present.
It meant that no amount of magical skill would allow humans to face a dragon.
“Even so, relying on swordsmanship is far too reckless.”
“A dragon’s Magic Power is infinite. Before the dragon is exhausted, humans will collapse first.”
“Ghk…!”
Arteo clutched his head.
Radel did not miss the opening and swiftly cut in.
“Then I will continue what I was saying. A dragon’s weaknesses should not be so different from other magical beasts. The heart and the head. We must aim for both at the same time while binding its limbs.”
“I will take the head.”
Alexius Kudente, the head of the Kudente family, stepped forward.
“The Kudente Swordsmanship grows stronger the larger the enemy. Just looking at that enormous head makes my blood boil!”
“I will assist Grandfather.”
Shartea spoke, her arm restored through Gillian’s treatment.
She was not in perfect condition, but she explained that she could provide adequate support.
Radel also spoke with a serious expression.
“Then I will aim for the heart.”
The plan itself was simple.
They would merely switch the roles of swordsmen and mages.
While the mages endured the dragon’s Magic Power and defended, the swordsmen would attack from behind.
An ordinary swordsman would have had no chance, but with Alexius and Shartea, it was possible.
That was when—
“…That will not work.”
Someone interjected quietly.
It was the Fifth Prince, Venus Esven Cretian.
***
Venus had had a dream since childhood.
To meet a real dragon.
It was the dream of every member of the Esven family.
As a child, he would sit for hours before the murals of the Esven household.
When the flames painted on the wall flickered, the dragon in the mural seemed to come alive.
‘A dragon….’
Everyone of the Esven family experienced the same thing in childhood.
An obsessive emotion that took hold the moment they first learned of a dragon’s existence.
‘I want to meet one.’
That feeling came to Venus as well, even as a member of the imperial family.
‘I want to meet a dragon.’
Venus devoured every book that mentioned dragons.
Even in his sleep, he dreamed of them.
To some, dragons were imaginary beings.
Ancient lifeforms long since extinct.
But to young Venus, they were real.
‘Venus. Will you promise not to tell anyone?’
On the day his mother took him somewhere to celebrate his twelfth birthday.
In a hidden chamber, Venus saw a massive egg.
‘This is a secret our family has protected for a very long time.’
Beneath the Esven estate lay a real dragon’s egg.
His heart pounded.
It was so overwhelming that he nearly forgot to breathe.
Yet he also learned that the egg would never hatch.
A dragon’s egg could only hatch if incubated by a dragon.
There were no living dragons left in this world.
The egg would sleep forever.
Still, Venus did not give up.
Before he died, he wanted to see a living dragon with his own eyes.
-Grrr…!
And now, a dragon appeared before him.
Nothing else entered his thoughts.
There was only the dragon!
“Venus, the professor said to evacuate through the main gate!”
“…I have to go.”
“Venus?”
Flap!
“Venus! It is dangerous!”
Before his friends could stop him, he mounted a hippogriff and took to the sky.
The closer he drew to the dragon, the more Venus realized something.
That was not a real dragon.
The instinct passed down since his ancestors told him so.
‘It is not a dragon.’
The mages who had stood closest to dragons.
Venus was their descendant, and a member of the imperial family of the Cretian Empire.
By instinct alone, he could tell that form was an Ability.
‘That is an Ability.’
The Ability of the Fourth Princess, Estina.
There was no doubt that the Primordial Origin had gone out of control.
Even so, what a magnificent sight it was.
Those majestic scales, sharp eyes, and keen claws.
A solid outer membrane and Magic Power that flowed faintly from within.
When the dragon unleashed its breath, his mind nearly went blank.
Again and again, Venus circled the dragon in the sky, etching its form into his eyes.
The horned head, the area near the heart where Magic Power endlessly poured forth.
Even the single inverted scale.
-Kiiik!
The hippogriff carrying him let out a low cry.
“Yes, I know.”
Venus murmured as he stroked the hippogriff’s back.
“I know it is not real…”
And that it had to be destroyed.
A dragon did not spew such vile demonic energy.
It was nothing more than a wicked existence daring to wear a dragon’s form.
Venus’s gaze grew calm.
He knew where the dragon’s weakness lay.
And he also knew who could reach that weakness.
***
Whiiing.
Lillian’s hair fluttered in the wind as she rode her broom.
She had not stopped casting magic the entire time.
It was to keep the dragon’s attention fixed on her.
-Insolent fly…!
“You talk too much for something that cannot even catch a fly.”
Lillian stuck out her tongue, cast enhancement magic on her body, and moved swiftly.
Shoong!
Whiik!
It was a speed invisible to ordinary people.
‘It is getting dangerous now.’
Though she acted as if she had leeway, her condition was far from good.
All but one of the layered defensive magic circles surrounding her had already shattered.
Even when the dragon merely infused its words with Magic Power, they turned into spells that flew at her.
-Die.
Pachang!
The last remaining magic circle shattered.
Lillian knew she had nowhere left to retreat.
‘Then…’
Something stirred within her.
The competitive spirit she had suppressed.
The desire to clash with magic against a lifeform that stood at the pinnacle of magic.
The yearning to truly fight a dragon.
Before she was a professor, she was a mage.
If it was magic created by devoting everything she had.
Might it not work on a dragon?
‘I want to fight.’
She wanted to fight so badly.
Even if it meant offering up her life…
“Hoo.”
Lillian barely swallowed the incantation that had risen to her lips.
There were still students she had to protect.
Her goal was to buy time, not to truly confront the dragon.
As Lillian suppressed her desire and lowered her gaze to assess the situation—
“Huh?”
Radel was below.
He looked straight at her, as if he had been waiting.
‘Professor Lillian.’
Radel opened his mouth wide.
“Is it all right if you do as you please?”
Lillian read his lips and froze for a moment, looking dazed.
“How could you know what I am thinking.”
Yet before she realized it, a smile had formed on her lips.
It was strange.
No matter that he was a prince, he was only a first-year student.
His Magic Power was pitiful, and he knew only a handful of spells.
And yet, an unfounded trust welled up within her.
A belief that perhaps something would happen.
Without hesitation, Lillian brought her broom to a halt.
“A head-on fight, dragon!”
-That is what I was hoping for.
Woooong!
The moment the dragon finished speaking, the mana in the air stirred.
It was proof that Professor Lillian’s spell had begun.
“Unique Magic.”
Lillian infused her voice with Magic Power.
Her Magic Power took on a crimson hue and surged forth through her staff.
The world she had created over her life as a mage.
A cruel world that only enemies were allowed to see.
“Song of the Battlefield.”
Facing the dragon blocking her path, Lillian recited the spell.
“Those who survive, even their tears shall run dry.”
In an instant, a crimson wasteland spread before the dragon’s eyes.