Chapter 714

A single mistake could lead directly to death, a fierce battle that felt like nerves were being shaved down to threads. The first to show signs of collapse was Ygg Persval, the escort knight of Emperor Leopold.

Having only recently reached the level of a master, Persval was slower in his movements compared to others and lacked experience in fighting large monsters.

“Huh…!?”

Jumping onto the roof of a house to evade Nidhogg’s claws, Persval let out a single groan as he tilted precariously. The roof beam beneath his feet crumbled, and his right foot sank in as if being sucked down.

In his haste to dodge the dragon’s attack, he hadn’t properly checked his footing.

To make matters worse, as he tried to pull his right foot out while bracing with his left, the left side of the roof couldn’t bear the concentrated weight and shattered with a loud crack.

His body tilted in the opposite direction.

“What the…!?”

Persval spat out in confusion. Not once, but twice, his feet had gotten stuck—a truly fatal opening.

【Kaaaaaaa!】

The dragon lunged toward its immobilized prey. Its ant-like jaws split open, revealing a throat densely packed with thousands of tentacles.

Its leech-like tongue, covered in sharp, needle-like teeth, writhed as drool dripped down, emitting a stench so acidic it felt like it could melt one’s nose.

‘No, I’m going to be eaten…!’

Persval’s face turned pale in an instant. It was too late to escape. He was already halfway into the dragon’s maw.

Reflexively, he tried to roll backward, but the dragon’s jaws snapped shut faster than he could retreat to safety.

– Crunch!

Fresh blood soaked the roof.

—

【Kraaaaaaah-!】

A roar that echoed beyond the heavens, scattering the clouds. Was it a cry of joy at finally devouring one of the pesky nuisances? The dragon raised its head high and let out a triumphant roar.

Everyone heard it.

“……Huh?”

Persval, who had been rolling on the roof with his eyes tightly shut, also heard it.

Startled by the deafening roar, Persval sat up and opened his eyes. The wall of the house he had been on was right in front of him.

He had thought the pain he felt was from being chewed by the dragon’s jaws, but it turned out to be the impact of falling from the roof onto the debris-covered ground.

‘Did I escape? How?’

His heart pounding as if it would leap out of his chest, Persval looked up at the sky. And he immediately realized why he had survived.

– Kwaaaaang!

Right above him, a massive creature with a rocky body was smashing the Insect-Dragon’s head with its fist.

“What the hell is that…?”

Though not as large as the Insect-Dragon, the creature was still over ten meters tall. Its turtle-like head and gorilla-like upper body were covered in stalagmite-like spikes, and it had no lower body.

Strange blue characters glowed around its neck, emitting thin beams of light that struck the Insect-Dragon’s body, causing explosions.

“What are you doing just lying there? If you’re alive, stop gawking and start swinging your sword again!”

Wait, upon closer inspection, the beams of light weren’t coming from the creature’s neck but from Ferne, who stood behind it.

After much deliberation and conflict, she had summoned a High-Level Rock Spirit and was riding on it, firing Spirit Arrows like water.

‘Fairy Guardian… So, that monster is a High-Level Spirit? Are High-Level Spirits really that huge?’

The recent Fairy Guardians were said to rival heroic knights, and this scene made that claim believable.

—

– Kwaaaaang!

【Graaaaaaaaak!】

A scream-like roar echoed.

Unlike the ordinary arrows that hadn’t left a single proper wound, the mana-infused arrows, fueled by spirits, caused intense elemental explosions, shattering the carapace and tearing through flesh.

A cascade of crimson blood poured down.

The insects that made up the Insect-Dragon’s body writhed and clung to each other, trying to heal the wounds, but the pain itself was unbearable, as evidenced by the roars filled with immense rage.

“Shut your mouth!”

Ferne, while continuously drawing her bowstring, commanded the High-Level Spirit to counter the Insect-Dragon’s attacks.

The Rock Spirit’s fists pounded Nidhogg’s head repeatedly. The heavy stone fists caused the Insect-Dragon’s head to jerk back.

Its antennae trembled as it grabbed the spirit’s arm with its stag beetle-like horns, then whipped its tail to shatter the other shoulder.

The Rock Spirit’s left arm crashed to the ground with a thunderous sound. It was a scene reminiscent of the legendary battles between giants and dragons.

“Grrrrrr-!”

The now one-armed Rock Spirit roared in anger and headbutted the Insect-Dragon’s horn, freeing its right arm.

The chitinous horn shattered, but the Insect-Dragon, unfazed by the loss of one horn, lifted the Rock Spirit’s upper body with its front legs.

To humans, the Rock Spirit was enormous, but to the Insect-Dragon, five times its size, it was little more than a large toy.

“Wait, it’s lifting that!?”

Even Ferne, who had been drawing her bowstring, was stunned as the ten-meter-tall rock mass was lifted like a teddy bear.

The Rock Spirit tried to free itself with its reassembled left arm and intact right arm, but one arm was caught by the Insect-Dragon’s tail, and the other was blocked by its tongue.

【Kaoooo!】

The Insect-Dragon roared and stood upright, lifting the Rock Spirit like a monkey lifting a lion cub.

It intended to smash it to the ground, shattering both the spirit and the fairy.

“Not on my watch!”

At that moment, a blond youth leaped from the roof of a three-story building, spinning vertically like a windmill, and brought down a greatsword glowing with a blue-silver light.

The blade, imbued with the power of one who had surpassed the Hero’s Wall, ruthlessly cleaved into the Insect-Dragon’s front leg.

The sword shattered the carapace, crushed the flesh, and dug into the bone. Nidhogg’s front leg was nearly severed in one strike.

Unlike the insect-like carapace and flesh, the internal skeleton was made of dragon bone, so even Damien’s full-powered strike couldn’t completely sever it.

However, cutting halfway through the bone was enough to loosen the grip on the Rock Spirit.

【Kyaaaaaaaaaaaa!】

Four pairs of eyes filled with hatred and madness turned toward Damien. In the midst of the battle, this was the first attack that had reached his bones.

The Insect-Dragon instinctively released the Rock Spirit and flicked Damien off its arm like dust.

Damien, losing his footing, was sent flying. The Insect-Dragon’s tongue shot out like a tentacle toward him.

“This much…!”

Damien summoned mana to create a foothold in the air, then leaped again. The dragon’s tongue licked only empty air.

Enraged, the Insect-Dragon turned its head to chase Damien, swinging its front legs and tail wildly, as if intending to sweep the entire area if he kept dodging like a fly.

Damien’s movements grew increasingly frantic.

“Did I forget something? Is it because you’re a bug brain?”

“Groooooo!”

With Ferne’s taunt, the Rock Spirit, which had fallen to the ground and been half-destroyed, rose with its body fully repaired and struck the Insect-Dragon’s neck.

“Now! Everyone, attack!”

“Who do you think you’re targeting-!”

It wasn’t just Ferne. Those who had been busy dodging now unleashed every attack they had been waiting to use.

Six streams of High-Level Magic erupted from all directions, and a massive arrow imbued with a whirlwind of rage was fired.

A wrath surpassing even the Insect-Dragon’s rage. Milia’s fury, having seen Damien nearly devoured, was like a black sun that even a demon god would admire.

【Krrrrrrr-!】

Sensing the seven streams of destructive power flying toward it, the Insect-Dragon roared and took a deep breath, intending to reduce and absorb the impact with its roar as it had done before.

However,

“I told you, shut your mouth-!”

– Thud!

The Rock Spirit’s right fist shot up vertically, smashing the Insect-Dragon’s jaw. The dragon’s mouth snapped shut, and its head jerked upward.

Immediately after, the six streams of High-Level Magic and Milia’s arrow struck the defenseless body simultaneously.

A fountain of purple blood erupted.