It was as if a rapid ringing of bells echoed at this very moment.
It was the countdown to death.
On the brink of death, Dart felt as if he were drifting back to the past.
As a kobold who had been blessed with dragon blood and advanced into a dragonborn, he had always considered himself incredibly fortunate!
Bringing great honor to his ancestors!
Yet, looking back on his life,
before His Grace's arrival, he had been so weak, so useless.
Other than running fast, he was completely useless at everything else.
He had been unable to help at all during their hunts.
If the chieftain hadn't adamantly refused to abandon a single clansman, he would have probably starved to death long ago.
It was only with His Grace's arrival that his life finally changed.
During the first few rounds of selection, Dart had been far too scrawny to be chosen to become a dragonborn.
He had failed to become a member of the Black Knights.
But he had never given up, constantly training with everything he had.
Heaven did not disappoint those who persevered.
Once food was no longer scarce, Dart grew stronger and more robust by the day.
Eventually, he successfully passed the selection and became a member of the Black Knights.
Yet, Dart did not stop there.
He continued to push himself.
In that sweet-scented wine cellar, he trained himself to his absolute limits.
Ultimately,
he got his wish this year, passing the trials and joining the Imperial Guard.
What a pity...
Now...
He was going to die.
“Boom!!!”
Blinding light and searing heat erupted at this very instant!
Instantly, it engulfed dozens of mages and a siege ballista behind them!
“Swoosh!”
At that exact moment, a bolt that had just finished charging on the siege ballista was fired.
However, it was caught in the shockwave of the explosion.
Although the bolt itself wasn't destroyed, its trajectory was thrown off by a fraction of a degree!
...
Atop the fortress walls,
Gar, the Minister of the Equipment Department, watched the explosion of light and heat in the distance and grinned excitedly.
Even the cowlick on his head perked straight up.
As part of the logistics unit, he hadn't been sent to the front lines.
This had originally left Gar feeling rather sullen.
But now, his frustration vanished completely.
“Your Grace, Your Grace, did you see that?”
Gar turned his head, his grip on the stamina potion bottle so tight that the glass creaked.
He said in a fanatical tone,
“This is the super-bomb function I engineered!”
“By forcibly draining all of the pilot's mana, it causes absolute devastation!”
“Isn't that awesome?!”
Irene did not answer, her expression solemn.
Seeing her lack of reaction, Gar turned somewhat deflatedly toward an Imperial Guard standing nearby.
Since there were only three hundred sets of power armor, those in the Imperial Guard who had no armor to wear hadn't been deployed to the battlefield.
Their duty was to serve as the last line of defense.
If this war was lost, they would have to do everything in their power to stall the enemy,
with their ultimate goal being to buy time for the two Graces to escape.
“How about that? Pretty cool, right?”
Gar slung an arm around the Imperial Guard's shoulder, holding his stamina potion bottle in his other hand, and said with easy familiarity,
“Isn't that incredibly awesome, brother?”
“...”
After a brief silence, the Imperial Guard's lips moved beneath his black helmet, his voice heavy with sorrow.
“I'm sorry, Lord Gar, but I don't think so.”
Gar blinked, his cowlick curling into the shape of a question mark.
The Imperial Guard's next words answered his confusion.
“They... are all my brothers.”
The rain continued to fall, but the atmosphere atop the fortress walls seemed to freeze in place.
In the next second,
Clatter...
The stamina potion slipped from Gar's hand and shattered on the ground, but he didn't even notice.
“I'm sorry... I...”
Gar's mouth worked soundlessly, at a complete loss for words.
“I...”
“It's fine, Lord Gar.”
Clenching his black-armored hand into a fist, the Imperial Guard pounded it heavily against his chest.
He offered a salute toward the distant firelight.
“To be able to bloom into such a beautiful firework at the final moment is our greatest honor.”
...
“Rumble!”
Daviel felt an immense pressure weighing down on him.
After fighting for this long, he finally understood the gap between himself and a Gold Rank.
It was a matter of endurance.
The opponent's battle qi, combined with the ballista bolts and fireballs supporting from the ground, were constantly wearing down his stamina.
They also left countless minor wounds across his body.
As these minor injuries piled up, Daviel gradually found himself on the defensive.
He knew that if even a single ballista bolt managed to land a clean hit on him,
this battle would likely be declared over.
But right at that moment,
“Swoosh!”
Amidst the flashing lightning, a ballista bolt tore through the air, piercing through the heavy rain with a screech like a hunting hawk!
It shot straight toward the two dragons locked in combat in the sky!
Daviel's eyes went wide.
Just as he was about to dodge, he realized the bolt's trajectory was slightly off.
It didn't seem to be aimed at him at all.
Daviel looked up and saw the wyvern roaring as it charged toward him.
Renn, sitting on its back, was completely shrouded in battle qi.
The broadsword in his hand was fully charged, glowing with destructive power.
He was just about to unleash a devastating slash at the black dragon!
In the next instant, the massive, stray ballista bolt struck the roaring wyvern with pinpoint accuracy.
Pfft!
It pierced straight into its backside...
“Awooo!!!!”
The wyvern let out a screech of agony, though there was a bizarre, faint hint of pleasure mixed within.
Its wings flapped erratically, losing all rhythm.
It nearly plummeted straight out of the sky.
Daviel was absolutely ecstatic at this sight.
His eyes bulged so hard they nearly popped the jeweled goggles off his helmet, and a series of duck-like cackles escaped his throat.
At this very moment, the tide of battle turned once more!
...
Sitting safely at the rear, Robo's expression turned grim as he witnessed this.
He had never expected such an absurd accident to occur.
In his mind, he cursed the mages and clerics as utter garbage.
Robo's gaze swept across the battlefield, past the remaining siege ballistas,
and up to Renn, who was losing ground in the sky and on the verge of being overwhelmed.
Gritting his teeth, he angrily channeled his mana and cast several Levitation Spells on himself.
He shot into the sky like a rocket,
preparing to go and reinforce him.
Even though he despised his older brother,
and wished nothing more than to see Renn dead,
Renn could not die just yet.
If Renn died now, Robo would be left to face two dragons all by himself,
which would place an immense amount of pressure on him.
However, right at that moment,
a sudden, overwhelming sense of danger seized his heart!
Robo braked hard in midair, his expression turning grave as he stared in a certain direction.
Accompanied by a screech of grinding metal and the roar of rushing wind, a massive, pitch-black silhouette gleaming with a metallic sheen tore through the rain and lightning.
It was hurtling straight toward him!
It was Irene!
Having fully assessed the enemy's combat capabilities,
and seeing that one of their top fighters was already faltering,
the cautious little dragon girl finally chose to make her move!
To Irene, even if she didn't take down the mage before her, the battle on Daviel's end would eventually reach its conclusion.
The wyvern was already severely wounded; its demise was only a matter of time.
As for the warrior on its back, he was only a Gold Rank and couldn't fly on his own.
In other words,
once Daviel finished off the wyvern, the warrior would fall into the chaotic battlefield below.
At that point, he would be completely overwhelmed by the combined forces of the Imperial Guard and Daviel.
Against such overwhelming numbers, there could only be one outcome:
Death!
Thus, Irene had tasked herself with stalling, or even eliminating, the mage before her.
She had to stop him from reinforcing the Gold Rank Grand Warrior.
To guarantee success, Irene had spent the last few moments continuously stacking buff spells on herself.
To avoid any risk of failure, she had even waited for the opponent to make his move before launching her surprise attack.
She wanted to ensure absolute victory.
With the combined enhancements of her numerous buff spells and her power armor, Irene's speed had reached its absolute peak!
In the darkness, Robo could only discern two glowing golden eyes, tearing through the sky like twin streaks of light!
The moment those golden eyes locked onto him, Robo felt a suffocating shroud of death envelop him.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
A bone-chilling dread gripped his heart,
making him instantly regret his decision to intervene.
But there was no time for hesitation.
Cursing inwardly, the Archmage abandoned all other thoughts and hastily threw up a Mana Shield.
Immediately after, violent waves of mana began to condense around him.
Just a split second before his opponent reached him, the mana finally coalesced,
erupting into a series of glowing magic circles!
A barrage of multi-colored magical light carrying a furious onslaught surged forward, hurtling straight toward Irene!
Rate on N.U.
