REFDL 50

The harpies roared, their mouths wide open. They chased after the fleeing Pensilta dragons.

Some of the monsters that had besieged the fortress heard the sound and raced across the ground in pursuit.

The knights moved together for a while before splitting into two groups.

Nine pensilta, led by Melissa, flew south at full speed.

Five remained.

Grrrrr!

Kyaaaah!

The scattered Pensilta attacked the harpies.

They couldn’t block them all.

As if following orders, the harpies prioritized chasing the nine that were fleeing, not the ones left behind.

Kaelus commanded without panic.

He sent hand signals, ambushing the harpies chasing the return group from behind.

The harpies, with human upper bodies yet still closer to monsters in appearance, grew irritable.

Kaelus responded by tearing out their throats.

Swoosh!

Kwaaah!

Lightning flashes across the clear sky.

Each time the blue light flashed between the harpies, winged monsters plummeted down in droves.

The monsters that had been swarming behind them charged forward as if they’d been waiting for this moment.

It was a feeding frenzy.

Those creatures, their blood-stained mouths gaping wide, fought over the spoils, even killing each other. Then the dead became a new source of nourishment.

“Enough! We’re returning to the fortress!!”

Many harpies still pursued Melissa’s group.

But the distance had grown considerably.

The other side had nine of them.

And considering Melissa’s leadership and skill as a dragon knight… their survival looked promising.

Now the problem was themselves.

Could they return safely?

‘We have to.’

…If they followed Melissa as well, they might survive, but the lives of those left behind in Anax, including the subjugation force, wouldn’t be guaranteed.

Kaelus didn’t hesitate, and turned his Pensilta’s head. The other knights did the same.

Then. Late reinforcements flew in from within the horde of monsters.

Bat monsters.

And giants eagle monster.

“……that…”

“Don’t lose your nerve!”

“……!!”

“Fortress! Head for the fortress!”

“Th-that’s easier said than done…… Aaah!”

“Smil! Smil, no!!”

A Pensilta began to fall after two harpies folded its wings.

Kaelus’s Pensilta twisted its body at an impossible angle. A blue flash ignited in the man’s pupils and sword.

A brilliant blue flash, incomparable to the other knights, sliced through the harpies’ heads like a stunt.

“Smil! Are you okay?!”

“Huh. Haa! Damn, I almost died!”

“…… You look fine.”

The five Pensilta began acrobatic maneuvers.

Now, even if the harpies charged, they ignored them. They would never engage head-on.

They advanced unconditionally.

Toward the fortress.

Fortunately, the upper part of the barrier dome, once as tightly crowded as summer insects drawn to a lantern, was now sparse, most having left to pursue them.

Attacking them separately wasn’t necessary.

Just dodge and get inside.

‘Good.’

If nothing went wrong, everyone here would make it back safely…

Whoosh!

“Argh!”

A massive tree flew up from below.

It was the giants’ doing. Three giants with three eyes each pounded their chests, then began hurling the trunks beside them.

Beside the giants, dwarf goblins carried the uprooted trees like ants.

“Ahh!”

“Aaah! This is insane!”

The Pensiltas performed insane acrobatic maneuvers and somehow managed to evade.

‘No, no time to reach the castle!’

‘We’re screwed. Screwed. Screwed……’

The path to the fortress was blocked.

Worse, while they hesitated, the harpies, bat monsters, and eagle monsters caught up to them.

Kaelus’s expression turned rigid.

‘We could circle around them, but then the harpies would reach the barrier first and cover it. …If that happens, there’s nothing we can do.’

In the end, they had to force their way through the trees, through those brutal projectiles that would shatter even Pensilta’s bones if they hit.

He gripped his sword.

His place had always been at the very front.

He never questioned it. The duty borne by his exceptional nature had become second nature over time.

A place with no one’s back ahead of him.

The position that met the enemy first.

Sometimes, the view was so wide open it felt overwhelming. But there was no time for sentimentality.

“Focus! We’re going straight through!”

“……Yes!”

The knights gritted their teeth and followed Kaelus.

Whoosh!

Whoooosh!

The trees grazed the tips of the Pensilta’s wings.

A life-or-death acrobatic flight.

There was an advantage. The trees crashed into the aerial monsters pursuing them. The monsters screeched at the giants as if protesting. The giants ignored them and kept hurling.

Their strength and aim were flawless, but the Pensilta, like falcons slicing through a hail of arrows, somehow pushed forward.

The fortress was right before them.

The knights held back cheers with flushed faces.

Then, a boulder hurled from the opposite side struck the tail of the Pensilta ridden by Kaelus.

Crack!

Grrr!

The Pensilta lost its balance and staggered. It didn’t fall, but writhed in pain. Kaelus’s body was thrown from the saddle.

Thud!

“……!!”

The strap fixing his body to the saddle caught, and he dangled against the Pensilta’s side.

The agitated Pensilta began flying on its own. Its eyes were bloodshot, and it was beyond control. Kaelus hastily used the vessel artifact.

But a ‘forced command’ was useless on the Pensilta, which had lost its reason. It was completely consumed by instinct.

‘Wrong choice.’

Instinct and experience.

The man judged instantly.

The Pensilta, twisting and struggling, was hurled toward the ground. It was trying to remove the lump clinging to its side by using the monsters’ strength.

Kaelus wasn’t disappointed.

He had long since stopped expecting anything from dragons.

Instead, he focused.

Harpies charged. Like skilled hunters, they targeted the Pensilta dragon’s head.

Kwaaak…!

Kya …

The resistance grew violent like convulsions, then gradually subsided.

While cutting the wings of the harpies attacking him, Kaelus realized that his second partner dragon had stopped breathing.

He felt nothing.

…The fact that he felt nothing felt strange.

The dragon’s mangled corpse plummeted. Kaelus gripped the upper part of the connecting tether and severed the lower section. Then he jumped up, stepping onto the dead Pensilta’s back before jumping sideways.

“…Ugh.”

The landing was successful.

…Surviving that height with just one shoulder and one leg intact was success.

Yeah.

‘No problem.’

He planted his sword into the ground and pulled himself up. The monsters surrounding him didn’t charge immediately.

Fragile flesh.

Bones like toothpicks.

They surrounded the fragrant prey, drool dripping from their mouths. He could feel their desire for despair. They expected him to panic, struggle, crawl on the ground.

Suddenly, he realized that all the monsters surrounding him, regardless of species or form, had the same eyes.

‘……I see. There must be something bigger behind this.’

What the mage, Odan, had discovered through magic.

Kaelus understood it through intuition.

It seemed the one manipulating these monsters, the one standing behind the curtain, was the true cause of this irregularity.

“Captain!!”

“Damn it!!”

He had clearly ordered them to return to the castle no matter who fell behind. Yet they were struggling desperately to reach him, pushing through the aerial monsters.

‘Disobeying orders.’

Thinking dryly, Kaelus raised his sword.

The end was in sight.

Probably, none would survive. Strangely, he felt no particular emotion. Instead, the fleeting thought that this should have happened sooner flickered and vanished.

Grrrr!

Kyaaargh!

Kikekekek!

The monsters charged.

In endless waves, lined up one after another.

Swoosh!

From the start, he unleashed his sword aura without restraint. The monsters’ corpses piled up into small mounds.

Even with his shoulder and leg far from intact, he displayed strength bordering on divine might.

……He quickly reached his limits.

Clang!

“……”

The sword, unable to contain sword aura any longer, snapped and flew off to the side. It spun and struck a random monster between the eyes.

‘At least I took one more with me.’

Kaelus smiled.

‘Is this it……’

Claws.

Teeth.

Swarmed in with malice.

It was then.

The man heard the sound of something tearing through the wind as it flew toward him.

The monsters’ movements froze.

The roar was like a thunderclap.

Kaelus covered his ears and ducked his head.

The monsters staggered and lowered their stances. Their bodies were visibly stiff. Kaelus drew the dagger strapped to his thigh as secondary weaponry and slit the throat of the nearest monster.

The goblin died with a dumbfounded expression.

After killing two more, the monsters around him began to twitch and slowly move again.

That was the end.

Boom!!

“……”

Grrrrrrrrr.

What had enraged him?

The agitated Kremlis dragon….

Grrrrrrr!

….started slaughtering everything, beginning from around Kaelus.