“Oh? But why should I listen to you? If I recall correctly, Mr. Karl, you aren't my superior, are you?”
Faced with Karl's intervention, a provocative smile played on Syndra-Lo's lips. Far from stopping, he increased the pressure of his fingers, causing the sharp shadows to sink deeper into the dragons' scales, eliciting pained roars from them.
“You!” Karl started to retort, but Midir waved him down.
“Enough, Mr. Syndra-Lo. We still need the two of you to deal with that big fellow in the sky. I won't have any combat strength for a while.” He pointed to the dragon still circling high above, reminding them of the current crisis.
“Fair enough. Since these big lizards have practically landed on our faces, it would be wrong not to act. Whiskey, Sherry, come out. Help me keep a close eye on the Shadow Stitches. If they make any unusual moves, kill them.”
Syndra-Lo snapped his fingers. His subordinates, led by Whiskey, emerged from the shadows like ghosts and silently moved to the dragons bound by the shadows.
“Well then, please rest for a while, guests. As for Karl, it’s up to you whether you dare to follow~” Syndra-Lo said, tapping the ground with his toe as if stepping on an invisible staircase, slowly rising into the air.
“Tsk! What a troublesome fellow! You lot, keep a close eye on these dragons until I get back!” Karl clicked his tongue impatiently and then unhesitatingly followed Syndra-Lo’s lead, soaring into the clouds.
Once the two Saint Rank experts were airborne, they immediately engaged the massive Blue Dragon in a fierce aerial battle.
To prevent the shockwaves of the battle from causing further damage to the ground, they tacitly moved the battlefield above the clouds. However, even with the two of them working together, completely suppressing this dragon in the air was no easy task.
Listening to the booms and roars from above, Midir, supported by Aila, walked toward the tightly bound dragons.
The stripping barrier from earlier had caused all elements within several kilometers to vanish. Even Midir himself had temporarily lost his mana, though his body, which was unusually robust for a mage, quickly adjusted.
“Midir, what was the principle behind that barrier you used? And is there some connection between you and that Radiant Meteor?” Aila asked in a low voice, her eyes full of curiosity.
After a moment of silence, Midir gave an explanation that was both vague and illustrative.
“The principle of that barrier... it's like suddenly draining the water from a fish tank. These dragons are like fish that are the least adapted to a waterless environment. As for the Radiant Meteor you mentioned... if my memory ever returns, I will surely tell you everything. Also, look at that Red Dragon. Isn't that the one that attacked us the other day?” He pointed to a bound Red Dragon nearby, a trace of gravity in his eyes.
Aila looked in the direction Midir pointed and saw a Red Dragon collapsed among the ruins. Controlled by the shadows, it lay powerless on the ground, a long, narrow, recently healed wound visible on its chest.
“Looking at that wound, it should be the fellow you slashed with your sword. Do you get the feeling that this guy is a bit different from when we last met?” Aila asked after studying it for a while.
“Now that you mention it, something does seem different. Is it because its mana was drained?”
Hearing this, Midir recalled the encounter from a few days ago and found that, as Aila said, the Red Dragon before them was indeed slightly different from before, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.
Aila gathered her courage and slowly approached the Red Dragon, gently touching the scar on its chest, her tone uncertain.
“How should I put it? Hmm... it feels like that aura of violence and that tearing sensation are gone. Hey! Big guy, you can understand us, right? What happened to you? Answer me!”
The Red Dragon managed to lift its head, a flash of complex emotion in its massive eyes. It then lowed in an ancient and unfamiliar language, its voice filled with sorrow and helplessness.
“Eh? That's Dragon Tongue, right! Can't you speak the Common Tongue?” Hearing the dragon's low growl, Aila felt a headache coming on. While there were individuals among the pureblood dragons who could speak human languages, they were few, and this Red Dragon clearly wasn't one of them.
Just as Aila was fretting, Midir suddenly spoke, his voice tinged with confusion.
“Dragon Valley... rift...? Dragons being controlled...?” He seemed to catch some key information from the Red Dragon's intermittent speech, his brow furrowed in deep thought.
“Ah? You can understand what it's saying? But... but didn't Dad say that under normal circumstances, other races can't learn Dragon Tongue? Something about a bloodline shackle or... bloodline seal?”
Aila was shocked once again. She felt that Midir was like an endless treasure trove, always capable of revealing astonishing abilities at critical moments.
“I'm not sure... I can't fully understand it either. It feels different from what's in my memory, so I can only make out a few words right now.”
Midir shook his head with a frown. The Dragon Tongue spoken by the dragon did share similarities with a language deep in his memories, but there were differences in many places, making it extremely difficult to distinguish.
“No, these are the only words I can distinguish for now. But I'm certain these dragons were definitely being controlled by something, and something must have happened in Dragon Valley that forced them all to come out. If I'm not mistaken, the elemental stripping I used just happened to strip away whatever was controlling them as well, so...”
He looked up into the dragon's massive eyes. The former madness and violence were gone, replaced by a trace of confusion and relief. He shared his guess with Aila.
Aila's eyes brightened with joy. “Doesn't that mean these dragons have returned to normal? And Emerald City is temporarily safe? Then we should quickly have these shadows release them so they can help stop the fight up there!”
“Please forgive me for eavesdropping on your conversation. Even if you have reached such a conclusion, we still cannot release them before my lord returns. This is a matter of great importance, so please bear with us.” Whiskey appeared beside them at some unknown point, speaking politely but with a tone that was equally firm.
“Don't worry, I didn't mean for you to release them. Besides, the direction of this battle depends entirely on the outcome in the sky. After all, they probably can't disobey that fellow's orders either.” Midir nodded to him and pointed to the flashes of battle light occasionally appearing above the clouds.
At this moment, the Red Dragon also seemed to understand the meaning of their conversation. It powerlessly lowered its massive head, resting it gently near them, its eyes reflecting a complex emotion.
“Midir, do you have any strength left? If you can, could you go up and hit that Blue Dragon with the magic you used earlier?” Aila asked.
Rate on N.U.
