Chapter 85: A Dragon Horde and Musou

Author’s Note: I’m thinking of revising Part 5, though not necessarily right now. Well, I say revise, but it’s really just changing the order of events. I think Akatsuki appeared too often. It would have been better to have the duel happen early on, and then not have him show up again until the eventual destruction of the Dragon’s Gate.

TL: Since the author’s note was written back in 2017, I’m guessing this didn’t happen.

*************************************************************************************************************

Ignoring Damn Maggot’s final moments, I instead looked towards the hole in the barrier, where I noticed something akin to black fog. Of course, it wasn’t actually fog. It was a huge cloud of dragons, densely packed together, and coming our way as we spoke.

“Woah, are those all dragons? There are quite a lot of them.”

“Yes, there are…”

“Kyu~, Kyuu~. Ugh, Dora hates dragons.”

Mio and Sakura smiled wryly, while Dora made a displeased expression. She really hates them, doesn’t she? Well, she grew up in the Hidden Area, so I guess it’s only natural.

“Ah, it’s the end… I never thought the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area would be destroyed like this…”

The Chieftain said in a resigned voice. 

Mind you, it’s not unreasonable for him to think that, seeing as there’s a significant number of dragons living in the forest surrounding the Hidden Area (53,291 of them to be exact). There’s a reason why it’s called the Dragon Forest after all. Plus, dragons seem to view dragon newts as mortal enemies, so once they realised the barrier had gone down, there really was no reason for them not to come. As such, when I checked with the map, all the nearby dragons without exception were now rushing towards the newly-made opening.

The dragon horde was mostly made up of lesser dragon species around level 30. Basically, they are dragon-like monsters that can’t use ‘Dragon Breath’. The ones here mostly consisted of the four species with affinities for the four elements: Salamanders, Wyverns, Hydras and Serpents. They weren’t really what you’d call dangerous opponents, but even so, with 40,000 of them grouped together, they could still do quite a bit of damage.

Next were the higher-ranked species around level 50. These are your actual dragons that can use ‘Dragon Breath’. Like the lesser dragons, they mostly consisted of the ‘4 elements’-related species: Flame Dragons, Wind Dragons, Ground Dragons and Aqua Dragons. They accounted for about 10,000 of the enemy troops.

Then, there were around 1000 of the highest-ranked species near level 100. These included things like the Abyssal Dragon that attacked the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area last time, and the Infernal Dragon from the time before that. The class of dragons that would cause a huge number of casualties whenever one broke into the Hidden Area, and with 1000 of them, it would normally spell certain destruction of it. …No, with that many, there probably isn’t a single country in this world that could actually fight back.

And then, above those, in a class of their own, there were 5 more dragons, 4 around level 200, and one around level 300. That one must be the dragons’ final boss.

Even so, for the barrier to have protected the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area from all that is really impressive. But the fact that they put so much effort into making the barrier, and yet so little into making the actual dungeon, is still unsatisfactory.

“I’ve told you, didn’t I, Chieftain? If you let Akatsuki live, you’ll surely regret it.”

“You did say that, but… I never thought something like this would happen.”

The Chieftain replied to my light-hearted comment. Still, it’s true that the impact turned out to be much greater than what I had initially expected. Even I didn’t think it would put the very survival of the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area in question.

“Well, us coming here may have been the inciting incident, but it was Akatsuki’s actions that actually caused this to happen, and it was the Chieftain and the others who did nothing to stop him all the while, so, sorry, but we’re not going to apologise for it.”

“That’s true… There’s no doubt that we have brought this upon ourselves with how Akatsuki and the rest of us have acted until now. And while you’re not exactly unrelated to it, I also can’t say that you’re entirely responsible for it. Besides, nothing I say at this point will make any difference anyway.”

It’s true that various things have been thrown into disarray by us coming to the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area, but for the situation to have gotten this bad is entirely the accumulated result of all the choices made by the residents of the Hidden Area. As such, I don’t think I can really apologise for something I don’t feel responsible for.

“By the way, Chieftain, don’t you have some contingencies in place for a case like this? Like using the weapon that requires the sacrifice of multiple dragon newts, or escaping to the dungeon?”

“Haah… You are asking this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Pretty much.”

Originally, were the dragons to actually invade the Hidden Area, the Chieftain should have three options to choose from: to sacrifice some of the dragon newts in order to use the hidden weapon; to escape to the dungeon; or to abandon the Hidden Area altogether and evacuate through the Dragon’s Gates. However, as of now, all three of those routes were no longer available.

Even if he were to use the hidden weapon to strengthen his own ‘Draconic Magic’, and actually succeed in defeating all those dragons, it would still take him quite a bit of time, so the remaining dragon newts would obviously get wiped out long before that.

As for the dungeon, there are gems with several anti-dragon skills hidden inside of it, but the entrance is still covered by a barrier that’s set to only open once the core runs out of power. And since this time a portion of the barrier around the Hidden Area went down because of the destruction of one of the Dragon’s Gates, the barrier around the dungeon entrance itself remained unaffected.

Moreover, the other Dragon’s Gates also stopped working when that happened, so it’s no longer possible to escape from the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area without going through the Dragon Forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m going to digress a bit, but when I became the dungeon master and learned of all the settings for the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area, I also understood the grand design behind it. Basically, the idea was to preserve dragon newts, and not just specific individuals, but rather dragon newts as a species.

If the dragon newts of the Hidden Area were to become weak enough for the dragons to break through the barrier, they would still be able to intercept them with the help of the hidden weapon. However, since the weapon in question requires the sacrifice of multiple dragon newts, it can be seen that the design was centred around the preservation of the race as a whole, and not its individual members.

And if the number of the remaining dragon newts were to decrease to a certain point, they would then be able to enter the dungeon, where they would obtain the anti-dragon skills. However, even with their help, there would still be no guarantee that they would be able to win, so, if push came to shove, they would still have the option of evacuating through the Dragon’s Gates.

Now, you might have been wondering: why is there a rule that says ‘Do not associate with humans’, but not a rule that says ‘Do not go outside of the Hidden Area’? Well, naturally, it’s so that they can escape when the time comes.

All of these put together led me to believe that the original dungeon master’s intention was to keep the dragon newts alive, even at the cost of sacrificing a large portion of them. Yet, at the same time, there was also another, much more nefarious design, namely: if they fight among themselves, and end up destroying a Dragon’s Gate in the midst of it, then they should all perish alongside it. 

The reason why I thought that to be the case, was because of the heavy penalties imposed in case of a Dragon’s Gate ever being destroyed from the inside: the partial collapse of the barrier; the sealing of the dungeon entrance; and the shut down of the remaining Dragon’s Gates. Put together, they were pretty much a perfect storm to seal the fates of the Hidden Area’s remaining inhabitants.

And since the destruction of a Dragon’s Gate could only ever happen in the case of a falling out between dragon newts, the original dungeon master must have decided that it would be better to just destroy them altogether if that were to ever happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, to return to the conversation, the moment Damn Maggot destroyed the Dragon’s Gate, all the measures that could be taken to deal with the invading dragons instantly became useless.

“Then, Master, what do you want to do about these dragons?”

“Obviously, we have to defeat them, right? There are still a bunch of my subordinates living here.”

Sera asked a pretty pointless question.

“Dora, Blue, Leaf, wouldn’t you hate it if the Hidden Area was destroyed?”

“Kyu~! Dora doesn’t want it to be destroyed by dragons~!”

“…I agree. While I can’t come back here ever again, I still wouldn’t want my home town to disappear.”

“That’s riiight. As expected, it would be a little lonely if it got destroooyed.”

“……”

Dora, Blue and Leaf all nodded. Mikazuki, who was also here, but wasn’t asked, got slightly depressed. 

I have already tamed 97 dragon newts in the Hidden Area, and the remaining 95 would all have likely said something similar to Blue and Leaf, were they here. I mean, even if they were tamed by me, it’s not like they suddenly lost all attachment towards their homeland, right? And that’s why, as their Master, it’s only right that I would defeat the dragon horde in order to protect it. (ED: Still ignoring Mikazuki, so… neglect play? Also, Dora wasn’t tamed ‘in the Hidden Area’, so she’s excluded from this count)

“And with that, I think I’ll go and slay the dragon horde now.”

I confidently declared in front of everyone. Well, to be precise, there is no need to actually go anywhere, since the dragons are already coming our way…

“Please let me help you, Jin-sama.”

“Then, everyone will also get the ‘Dragon Slayer’ title. We’ll all match.” (ED: Mio got hers for slaying the Abyssal Dragon)

“Kyu~! Dora will help too~!”

“I’ll do my best…”

Maria, Mio, and Dora were full of spirit, and it seems like even Sakura will participate this time around.

“Um, Master, I am the only one who still lacks an anti-aerial attack.”

“Oh, now that you mention it… Then, I’ll give you ‘Flying Slash’.”

“I’m very grateful.”

Dora, Maria and I can all fight in the sky, while Sakura and Mio can attack aerial targets with their magic and bow respectively. Sera on the other hand can neither fly on her own, nor has any magic type skills other than the integrated ‘Magic’ skill that everyone has. As such, I gave her the ‘Flying Slash LV10’ to remedy that. (ED: Sera is not very talented at magic, so she doesn’t really use it in fights, but ‘Flying Slash’ is categorised as a ‘Martial Arts’ type skill, so she can use it just fine)

“You people, what are you even saying? Do you think you can defeat that many dragons?”

“Well, yeah. That’s exactly what we intend to do. …Ah, you can relax. This time we’re doing it for our reasons, so we won’t ask for any reward.”

“Are you sane…?”

“Who knows… But at least we’re serious.”

The Chieftain looked as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard. Incidentally, your own sanity is not something you can really determine on your own, you know.

“Also, If you’re going to evacuate, it would be best to gather everyone around the Gate of the Ox. Almost all of the dragons are currently headed towards the Gate of the Goat, so the area opposite it should be relatively clear right now. Depending on how it goes, you might have to destroy the Dragon’s Gate to break the barrier there and escape to the forest.”

“…Come to think of it, you’re right. If we were to destroy another Dragon’s Gate, it might not be impossible to escape…”

I offered the Chieftain a word of advice. If only one Dragon’s Gate were to be destroyed, then the barrier sections supported by the other gates would continue to function, but If additional gates were to be destroyed after that, then their respective sections would also go down. Still, whether that’s an oversight by the original dungeon master, or an intended feature, is hard to say at this point.

“However, don’t do it while we still have the upper hand. If any dragons were to enter from that side, it would become much more difficult to defend the village.”

After all, our victory condition is not to slay all the dragons, but to defend the Dragon Newts’ village, so I’d rather they didn’t increase the difficulty unnecessarily.

“Also, I don’t want a stray ‘Dragon Breath’ to randomly get through and cause a bunch of damage, so let’s fight separately and have ourselves some Musou-like fun without the usual status restrictions. …Well, there are only 50,000 of them, so let’s just think of it as a chance to get some bonus experience and status points, and enjoy ourselves while we’re at it.”

In a way, the place we are at right now will become the final line of defence against the invading dragon horde. But if we take too long to wipe them out, the village behind us will likely get damaged, so let’s fight with almost no limiters in place, and aim to annihilate them as quickly as possible. Plus, there are a lot of them, and they’re up against some of the world’s most powerful people, so it’s pretty much a perfect setup for a Musou game.

“Alright~! It’s the first fight without the status restrictions! Time for some Musou action!”

“Kyu~! Dora’s full power mode~!”

As expected, when I said I would be removing the status restrictions, Mio (and for some reason Dora as well) got really into it.

“…Now that you mention it, it will be the first time we’ll be fighting with our full strength.”

“There hasn’t been a situation that required it until now after all…”

Sera and Sakura commented calmly. I guess the last time we went full power was when we fought Sebastian. …Though, even then, I was the only one who actually did any fighting… (ED: The noble girl’s butler/retired S-rank adventurer assassin that Jin got his sword from back in Eludia. Sera only joined after that)

“Well, It’s good that we haven’t been forced to go all out, right?”

“If possible, I would prefer Jin-sama to never use his full power. Please use me instead if need be.”

“As usual, Maria-san really cares about Master.”

“It’s my reason for being.”

The usually overprotective Maria said without hesitation.

“…Well, this time I’m also going to fight, so maybe next time. Oops, the dragon horde is almost here. Everyone’s ready? Then, let’s lay waste to them.”

“Oooh~!” x4

“Kyu~! Oooh~!”

Even without looking at the map, I could see the first group approaching.

Then, let the battle (trampling) begin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, let’s explain the defence strategy for the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area. …Though, while I say ‘strategy’, it’s not like there are any impressive tactics at play. Basically, it’s like a Musou game.

Let’s start by explaining the dragons, who are coming in through the hole in the barrier, before fanning out to the left and right.

Whether it’s the lower, or the higher-ranked species, most dragons fall under one of the four elements: fire, wind, earth or water (with some exceptions). Among these, the ones with the highest average ‘Flight’ skill level are the wind-attribute dragons, followed by fire, and then water. Earth-attribute dragons on the other hand don’t have the ‘Flight’ skill at all. From there, the difference in their individual ‘Flight’ skill level follows the difference in their overall level. In conclusion, since earth-attribute dragons travel exclusively on land, both air and ground have to be fully covered by us. (ED: ‘Flight’ skill level dictates how fast, and for how long one can fly without rest)

In response to this, we have also scattered over a wide area in order not to let a single dragon get past us, and into the Hidden Area. Since there are six of us, we split into left, right and centre, with each pair further divided into air and ground.

The centre is me riding on Blue in the air, and Sera on the ground; right is Sakura on Leaf, and Maria on the ground; and then left is Mio on Mikazuki, and Dora on the ground.

The aerial squad’s job is to reduce the number of incoming dragons from the air with long range attacks. I am using ‘Flying Slash’ and magic, Sakura uses magic, and Mio can rapidly fire her bow in order to thin them out.

The ground team’s role meanwhile, is to finish off the enemies that slipped through our attacks. Both Maria and Sera specialise in close-quarters combat, so they naturally were assigned to this group. And as for Dora, even though her ‘Draconic Magic’ is really powerful, it’s somewhat lacking in range, so even though she can fly on her own, she was also assigned to the ground team.

…Still, I really would have loved to charge into a horde of dragons on Blue and mow them down, but, as usual, Maria stopped me, so I had no choice but to give up on that one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, since some time has already passed since the battle began, let’s check in on each member’s individual battle progress.

First, Sakura. …Basically, she just keeps casting magic spells from atop Leaf’s back. She doesn’t seem to understand the beauty of doing ‘Musou with beginner level magic’, and just keeps firing level 5-7 magic spells rapidly.

“Leaf-chan, please move a little to the right…”

“Leave it to meee.”

Leaf moved following Sakura’s instructions.

As soon as they reached their new position, Sakura cast another spell with ‘No Chant’. Ah, since our goal this time is the ‘defence of the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area’, and not just Musou, following Sera, the other members were also given skills for faster annihilation.

To be more specific, I either gave them new skills, or increased the levels of their existing ones. In Sakura’s case, I gave her ‘No Chant LV10’ and ‘Parallel Casting LV10’, in addition to raising all 8 of her basic-attribute magic skills to level 10.

“Here we go…! ‘Tempest’…! ’Thunder Rain’…!”

The two magic spells Sakura was using were both ones with a wide area of effect. ‘Tempest’ is a wind attribute spell that creates powerful gusts of wind, while ‘Thunder Rain’ is a lightning attribute spell that rains down lightning over a large area. 

Still, ‘Tempest’ and ‘Thunder Rain’, huh…?

I remember when Azuma’s replica used these two back in the dungeon. At the time, I thought they were just crowd control spells, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Dragons in Sakura’s area have all been knocked down by strong winds and crashed to the ground, or were hit directly by lightning and died. (ED: ‘Crowd control’ refers to spells and skills used to manipulate opponents’ ability to act, like putting them to sleep, or separating them from the group in order not to have to fight the entire group at the same time. They usually do no damage by themselves)

By the time the two spells ran out, there were no more dragons left in the affected area. Forget level 100 dragons, even the strongest one at level 150 didn’t manage to survive. Still, I didn’t check its status or anything since it wasn’t really a notable opponent.

“Wooow, that’s amaaazing.”

Leaf exclaimed in admiration. Her tone was still relatively calm, so she didn’t really sound surprised.

“Yes… But it’s not over yet… Next, let’s move a little more to the left… There seem to still be a lot of dragons left in that area…

“Yeees.”

Sakura and Leaf are both quiet types, so they might be a surprisingly good match for each other. …I mean, for Sakura, with her poor motor skills, a mount that can move in her place would obviously make a great partner, right? …Also, aren’t they basically a self-propelled artillery unit at this point?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next let’s look below, at where Maria’s battle is taking place. I raised her ‘Flying Slash’, ‘Flash Step’ and ‘HP Auto-Recovery’ skills levels to 10.

Being a part of the ground team, she’s in charge of finishing off the dragons that survive Sakura’s magic spells, as well as stopping the ones advancing on the ground. Now, even though I gave her ‘Flying Slash’ to let her kill multiple opponents at once at range, it looks like she still chose to kill them one by one with her own hands instead. By making full use of her ‘Barrier Magic’, ‘Flash Step’, and ‘Warp’, she was able to achieve the classic ultra-fast-movement combat style.

“……”

She is silently cutting down dragons one after another. It may not be as fast as Sakura’s wide area magic, but the speed with which she can dispatch monsters with a weapon is still clearly extraordinary.

In the blink of an eye, several dragons’ heads fell off.

A little later, a huge turtle-like dragon (LV150) approached Maria. It looks like it has an absurdly high defence. Especially if it hides in its shell, regular attacks won’t be able to get through (general opinion).

The next moment, the turtle-dragon’s head fell off before it even had a chance to hide it in its shell. Why is she going out of her way to decapitate them all?

A: She heard from Mio that it’s ‘the proper way to kill a dragon’.

Ah, I see. This is indeed the correct way to kill a dragon (according to mythology and folklore). Mio probably asked her to do it. Since her weapon is a bow, it’s not really suitable for beheading.

Now, even though Maria was engaged in high speed combat, her attention wasn’t fully on the dragons. …Obviously, her complete devotion to me has caused her to always keep a portion of her attention on me. She’s super overprotective. And the fact that she never turned her back to me, no matter how fast she was moving, is the perfect evidence of that.

Then again, I can’t say I’m actually worried about Maria’s battle. In terms of basic combat sense, she is definitely the best in our party. Still, a beautiful girl wielding invisible weapons (Sunlight Sword – Sol and Moonlight Sword – Luna) and cutting off dragon’s heads is a relatively scary picture nonetheless…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next, on the other side, there’s Dora.

Since she’s acting as a part of the ground team, she keeps firing ‘Draconic Magic’ without flying too high above the ground. 

It would seem dragons aren’t as much attracted to the dragon newts themselves, as they are to the ‘Draconic Magic’ that they use. As evidence of this, there are a lot more dragons heading towards her, than there are towards Blue, Leaf, and Mikazuki, who are also present, but aren’t using ‘Draconic Magic’, and are acting as just mounts in this battle.

As a side note, Blue and others are also gaining experience from the enemies we defeat, so their levels are rising rapidly. The power levelling of mounts is quite a novel idea, wouldn’t you say?

Before the fight, I raised Dora’s ‘Draconic Magic’ to level 7. …I had a bad feeling about raising it all the way to level 10. Still, even at level 7, the range has increased, so she’s steadily incinerating all the dragons that come her way.

Other than that, I’ve also raised her ‘Dragon Strike’, ‘Dragon Scales’, and ‘Dragon Killer’ that we obtained in the Hidden Area’s dungeon to level 10. …Or, maybe it’s having these 3 skills that’s actually making all the dragons target her. That would mean that the true intention of the original dungeon master wasn’t for the dragon newts with the anti-dragon skills to defeat the dragons, but to have them act as decoys in order to buy enough time for the others to escape. …It’s plausible, I guess.

“Kyui~, Kyu~! Nnn~, special fire~!”

The dragons around Dora were thoroughly incinerated by her ‘Draconic Magic’ that was further charged with ‘Dragon Strike’. The same fate befell the largest dragons there, in the level 150 range. Even at the sight of this bizarre scene, the other dragons were not intimidated, but rather flocked towards her with increasing vigour.

“Kyu~! Normal fire~!”

She used a regular breath attack this time, seeing as a charged one wouldn’t have made it in time.

“Kyu, KyuKyu~! Nn, in the way~!”

She stopped a dragon trying to bite at her from behind with her shield, before beating it to death with her staff. Although there are some close calls, it seems like Dora is also a solid Musou player. …Or rather, where else would Dora get to play Musou if not here in the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Above her, Mio was riding on Mikazuki while firing her bow. 

Basically, she plays the same role as Sakura, but her bow doesn’t attack in a wide area, so she doesn’t have the same destructive power as her. However, since there are many dragons gathering around Dora below her, she is able to pierce more than one with each shot.

Mio’s weapon, Star Bow – Meteor, becomes more powerful (and the size of the arrows increases) the more magic power you put into it. And with Mio, who is currently at her peak status, going all out with it, there are currently arrows the size of telephone poles flying through the air below her.

Next, she conjured several arrows before firing them all at once. Although it was mostly for show, with the aid of ‘Bow Mastery’ she still managed to pierce a dragon’s vital point with each one of them. Well, to put it bluntly, there are so many dragons packed together below her that no matter where she aims she’s pretty likely to hit one…

“Ah man~! They just keep coming! …But then again, that’s what Musou is all about!”

Mio kept moving around busily, with a lively expression. As expected, she seems to be a fellow fan of Musou games.

“Mio-san, you certainly look like you’re enjoying yourself.”

“You betcha! Our opponents are the invaders here, so it’s not a problem if I beat them all up! Plus, they are considered to be overwhelmingly strong, going by this world’s standards, so you just can’t help but smile when you defeat them! Ah, speaking of which, is dragon meat tasty?”

During her conversation with Mikazuki, its subject suddenly flew out of focus. Well, the arrows kept flying as well, but it seems like Mio just can’t help but look at things from a chef’s point of view. To begin with, can you even eat dragon meat? I mean, I’ve heard about Feather Dragons and Abyssal Dragons, but that’s about it.

A: Most dragons are not edible.

“Ah~, that’s a shame! Well, that’s fine. Let’s just be happy we got to enjoy some Musou for the first time in a while. Let’s do this, Mika-chan!”

“Yes, Mio-san. Let’s do our best.”

Apparently, Mio has also asked Alta the same question. After that, she went back to shooting telephone pole-sized arrows everywhere.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I looked around to see how everyone was doing, but they all seemed fine to me. Of course, given their current status, it’s not like I expected them to encounter any problems to begin with.

What’s that? What about Sera and Me? Well, unfortunately, we’re currently on standby.

I might have gotten a little overzealous.

Or, to elaborate a bit, I activated ‘Continuous Flying Slashes’ with my right hand, while at the same time using the ‘Parallel Casting’ + ‘No Chant’ combo with my left hand. In short, the ‘Continuous Flying Slashes’ is a technique that lets me launch continuous attacks with the ‘Flying Slash’ skill, while the combo of ‘Parallel Casting’ + ‘No Chant’ is an instantaneous magic spell barrage. Incidentally, I only fired ‘Fireball’ spells. Using beginner level magic in a Musou is a must. Still, both are long-range rapid-fire attacks, or, simply put, the perfect techniques for mass extermination. And while they don’t have a wide area of effect, they still pack quite a bit of punch.

So then, what would happen if I suddenly used two techniques geared for mass extermination, while using my full status?

A: A very large empty area has appeared in the middle of the dragon horde.

That’s what. Currently, there’s not a single dragon in the large space in front of me.

It’s been a while since I stopped firing, and yet, there are still no dragons approaching. They all split off to the left and right, almost as if trying to quickly gain as much distance from me as humanly possible. Apparently, I scared them all off with my initial attack. So that’s how it’s going to be? You fearlessly charge at Dora, but run away with your tail between your legs the moment you see me, huh?

“Amazing…”

Is what Blue had muttered after I unleashed my dual combo. It was hard to tell, given she was in her dragon form, but given her reaction, it must have made quite an impression.

“Master~! There’s nothing for me to do~!”

Sera complained to me via telepathy from below. If I, being at the central aerial position, am not busy, then is there any reason why Sera, who is below me, would be? Obviously not. She has nothing to do, or rather, she hasn’t killed even a single dragon yet. As expected, that’s a little pitiful.

“Then, go and join the others. I’ll call you with ‘Summon’ if more of them come this way.”

“Understood!”

Saying that, she sprinted off to the left side where Mio and Dora currently are. Ah, because there are obviously more dragons on the side where Dora is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ten minutes later, the number of dragons fell from 53,291 to approximately 1000. Almost there.

After all, I haven’t fought at all since then.

Yep, it seems the dragons are all avoiding me. To be honest, it’s a bit lonely, but It seems to be more efficient to defeat them once they split to avoid me in the centre. Plus, it gives them less chances to slip through our defences, which is also fine by me. But, on the other hand, I couldn’t really predict how the flow of dragons would change if I were to move, so I ended up staying in place in order to maintain the status quo. Talk about regrettable…

“There’s nothing to do…”

“There’s nothing to do, huh…?”

Blue and I, who had nothing to do, muttered to each other.

Sera went to the left side, and she seemed to still be quite active over there. Even now, I could see oversized ‘Flying Slashes’ flying through the air…

Oh, it looks like the four level 200 dragons who hadn’t entered the barrier until now, finally started to move. Their names are… Fire God-Dragon, Wind God-Dragon, Earth God-Dragon, and Water God-Dragon. What’s with those uselessly cool names? …Oi! Don’t split up as well!

The level 200 dragons also splendidly avoided the centre where I was, by splitting off to the left and right. Is the only thing impressive about you guys your names and levels? Ah, It looks like all four of them were killed by my companions. …It was just their names and levels after all (already decided).

Within 5 more minutes, the dragon horde was mostly destroyed. Well, I would hardly call it a horde, now that there’s only a single level 300 dragon left. In the end, I did almost nothing, so at least let me get the big one at the end.

Ancestral God-Dragon
Level: 300
Skills:
Martial Arts: <Dragon Martial Arts LV10>
Magic: <Dragon Breath LV10> <Ancestral Dragon Arts LV10>
Body: <Dragon Body LV10> <Complete Resistance LV10>
Other: <Transformation LV10>
Notes: The ancestor of all dragons. One of the final ordeals imposed on mankind.

<Dragon Martial Arts>
A skill exclusive to the Ancestral God-Dragon. A martial arts style used by the Ancestral God-Dragon. Includes techniques for fighting in the air with fangs, claws, tail, etc.

<Ancestral Dragon Arts>
A skill exclusive to the Ancestral God-Dragon. Strengthens ‘Dragon Breath’ and changes its nature. In addition, by consuming magical power, dragons can be created. Dragons created with this skill are incapable of reproduction and leave no corpses when they die. (ED: ‘Dragon Breath’ can also be translated as ‘Dragon Arts’, but this one has more versatility, so we left it as ‘Arts’)

<Dragon Body>
A skill exclusive to the Ancestral God-Dragon. An integrated skill. Includes ‘Body Strengthening’, ‘Flight’, ‘HP Auto-Recovery’, ‘MP Auto-Recovery’, ‘Roar’ and ‘Iron Will’. Once per day, prevents instant death while HP is over half.

<Complete Resistance>
Immune to all negative statuses. Highly resistant to all attacks.

Yep, looks like a last boss to me.

It might be able to take human form with its ‘Transformation’ skill, but I probably shouldn’t tame it, given its open hostility towards the dragon newts. Incidentally, even the notes are very ‘last boss’-like. What’s this? An ‘ordeal imposed on mankind’…? There’s no way ordinary humans can beat that, right?

Currently, the Ancestral God-Dragon is waiting outside the hole in the barrier. Contrary to its level and grandiose name, its body isn’t actually that large. According to the information obtained from the map, it seems to be a medium-sized dragon of about 10 metres. Its entire body is pitch black, but it doesn’t give off the impression of being rugged like the Abyssal Dragon’s did. Its scales are also rounded, so if you go by sheer appearance, it wouldn’t even look that threatening.

Well then, if the opponent won’t come to me, I guess there’s no choice but to go myself.. Oops, before that…

“Is it fine if I slay the last dragon?”

I checked with everyone via telepathy. The chances of them saying no were pretty slim, but just in case.

“It’s fine…”

“Of course.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

“It’s fine~!

“Go get them, Master!”

Naturally, it was unanimously agreed that I would fight. Well then, let’s go defeat the last opponent of this defensive battle, shall we?

*************************************************************************************************************

Backstory – Chieftain (Emperor)

A Chieftain of the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area can pass on their role by performing a certain ritual. Conversely, if the current Chieftain dies in an accident, they will not be able to do so. And, according to the original dungeon master’s setting, if a Chieftain is no longer around, the entire barrier around the Dragon Newts’ Hidden Area will disappear. This is a measure to destroy the dragon newts in the event of a coup d’etat and the death of a Chieftain.

In other words, a Chieftain’s greatest task is to stay alive. This is the reason why the Chieftain said he could not fight when the Abyssal Dragon appeared. He could not risk even the slightest chance of death. Even so, the reason he appeared before Jin and the others so carelessly was because he wasn’t accustomed to being on guard against humans, rather than dragons. It’s hard to tell who ended up benefiting from the Chieftain having such a dodgy attribute.

*************************************************************************************************************

Author’s Note: Another mistake was changing the frequency of posting new chapters to once every 10 days. With the already slow story progression, the longer posting times only served to make me feel even more lazy. 

If I failed, I listlessly tried something new. If I got lost again, the feeling of laziness only increased. I fell into a perfect vicious cycle. I’ve done it.

Now that I’m on track for Part 6, I’ll post the remaining two episodes of Part 5 on the 19th and 26th. After that, I’ll be posting every 10 days, or every week… I haven’t decided yet.

TL: Just a reminder that the above is from the author from years ago. It has nothing to do with our schedule.