Chapter 75: The Red Dragon and the Dragon Orb (4)
So, they want to attack me?
The Red Dragons?
Sure, I fought alongside the Black Dragons against the Red Dragons before, but we signed a truce on the condition that no one would bring up that past. There’s no way these guys are breaking the agreement made by their elders.
This isn’t about that.
There must be another reason.
Not knowing the reason was frustrating.
The dragons were advancing toward me one by one, clearly with the intent to attack.
I can’t fight here in the city. Grayke is my peaceful retreat.
If a fight starts, they won’t hesitate to break their polymorphs and reveal their true forms. While they can’t openly attack the city, their justification of “revenge” changes things.
“Rurin, teleport us. Let’s go somewhere remote. Hmm… how about the Millyorek Mountains where we went last time? We can fight there without affecting any nearby cities.”
They’ll probably follow. Dragons can track the presence of other dragons and teleport just as easily.
As long as their target is me and not Grayke.
“What about them?”
“If we fight here, our lair will get destroyed. We worked hard to make it!”
“That’s true. I don’t want that. Alright! Let’s go, and I’ll kill them all!”
Rurin nodded with an angry expression and grabbed me tightly.
She was sensitive about the lair because she remembered how her mother’s lair was destroyed during the Dragon Wars.
“Wait, Rurin!”
I stopped for a moment, grabbing **Elena’s** arm as I called out. I’d forgotten something important.
“Those guys will disappear soon. Please take care of the Red Dragon who collapsed here. Use a powerful healing spell to keep her alive, at least!”
Given the severity of the wounds, even Elena might not be able to save her.
The Red Dragons likely already knew that, which is why they treated her as though she were dead.
Even with a hundred elf healers, it might be impossible to save her. But Elena was a high-ranking healer among elves, so she might be able to keep the Red Dragon’s life hanging by a thread.
The others wouldn’t listen if I suggested healing her first. Logically, there’s no way to save her. They wouldn’t heed my words. Their minds were fixated on killing, with the lead Red Dragon orchestrating everything.
I had to deal with them first.
I released Elena’s arm and merged with Rurin’s body.
“Let’s go, Rurin.”
“Got it!”
Darkness enveloped us.
We arrived at our destination. The area was completely forested. It was quiet, and we were the first to arrive.
“We made it! But what about those arrogant jerks?”
Rurin had barely finished speaking when, as I expected, the group of Red Dragons appeared, having followed us through teleportation. They each undid their polymorphs, returning to their dragon forms and letting out fierce roars as they soared into the sky.
Over 15 dragons filled the air.
“Did everyone see? The fact that he ran proves he’s guilty of killing Serena! Let’s avenge her!”
It was the same guy who had been accusing me from the start.
Even in his dragon form, high in the sky, he continued shouting the same lines. His overacted display of outrage reeked of pretense. He could probably win an acting award if this were the modern world.
What I still couldn’t figure out was what he stood to gain by killing me.
It was clear his target was me, not Rurin. He didn’t seem to care about her.
Everything was aimed at me.
Using “revenge” as their justification, the Red Dragons finally launched their attack. They opened their mouths wide, releasing a barrage of fiery breaths.
-BOOM!
A powerful breath attack.
To humans, such an attack would be nothing short of a disaster. A dragon’s breath attack in its true form is far stronger than anything Rurin ever did in her human form. No human could withstand it. Except me.
“How dare they! They’ll pay for attacking you, I’ll chew them up a hundred times over!”
Rurin summoned a protective shield, deflecting the incoming breath attacks as her fury grew.
She wasn’t the same Rurin from before. Thanks to the power of the Dragon Orb, she had become much stronger. It was incomparable to the past.
Even in her human form, she was now able to withstand the dragons’ breath attacks. That would have been impossible before she got the Dragon Orb.
-BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One, two, three hits.
But no matter how powerful her mana had become, Rurin could not hold off more than two dragons on her own in combat.
As the shield cracked from the repeated breath attacks, Rurin began to sweat as she struggled to hold her ground. It was heartbreaking to watch.
She was doing this to protect me. Rurin could get hurt at this rate, and I couldn’t let that happen. I began casting a 9th-class spell to deal with the dragons.
Flame Blades clashed with the breaths, exploding in midair. My wild Flame Blades collided with the dragons’ breath attacks, setting off explosions all over the sky.
The sight resembled a grand fireworks display, with the sky filled with booms and tremors shaking the ground.
Then I cast **General Blade**, a powerful sword of darkness that sliced through one of the dragons.
-Crunch!
One of the dragon’s wings was severed.
“What are you doing? Don’t panic! It’s just one human! Focus on killing him!”
There were 15 dragons. Not an impossible number to handle. In the past, I could have taken on 10 dragons at once. More than that would have been a challenge. But with my current increased mana, 15 was manageable.
***
**Veint** was growing more irritated.
The plan that the Black Dragon Nies had shared with him had been brilliant. He had to admit that much. Killing the Red Dragon near Grayke and framing El had been going smoothly.
The dragon’s name was Serena, a mid-thousand-year-old dragon. Things had gone well, even to the point of coercing Serena’s lover, Garand, into helping them through Nilt’s threats. Garand had agreed to ambush Serena.
But something had gone wrong.
Garand hadn’t been able to kill Serena in one blow. Serena had managed to escape. Fortunately, she had sustained a mortal wound.
A careless attack had struck her back directly, taking away any hope of survival. Knowing that attacking Garand would only hasten her death, Serena fled.
Veint’s conclusion was that Serena wouldn’t last another day with the wound on her back. That much was certain.
But the fact that she had escaped was an annoyance. Now they had to track her down.
The original plan had been to kill her and leave her body for El to find, then spread the rumor that Serena had been ambushed. They’d planned to arrive, pretend to try saving her, and then use her death as evidence to attack El. But the plan had gone awry.
However, luck was still on their side. For some reason, Serena had fled to Grayke, the very city they were targeting.
That made things simpler. They could just say they’d witnessed Serena being ambushed and rush in to frame El.
It was perfect.
Veint praised himself for his flawless plan. He had even intentionally gathered dragons from other factions, not just his own, to storm Grayke, ensuring they would all pin the blame on El.
Only six people knew of this plan: Black Dragon Nies, Nilt, Veint’s own loyalists, and Serena’s lover Garand.
El fleeing in front of the other dragons was a sign of guilt. That’s a story that holds true even in this era.
Everything was going according to plan. Veint was thrilled and led his group of dragons in pursuit of El.
Serena lay bleeding, collapsed.
Before her stood a human.
And a Black Dragon.
And now the human was running.
These facts alone were enough for the Red Dragons who had followed Veint to believe that El was the culprit and begin their attack.
Up to this point, everything had gone smoothly. The only thing Veint was dissatisfied with was that El still hadn’t been killed.
Rurin the Black Dragon was one thing, but the human kept using massive spells to neutralize the breath attacks. It was infuriating.
His mana was annoyingly strong.
A human capable of fighting off 15 dragons simultaneously.
He was stronger than Nies had suggested. The information had been wrong.
But El had to be killed, no matter what. Veint’s future depended on it.
His ambition to control the Red Dragons—and eventually all dragons—relied on completing this deal with Nies.
Once this deal was done, no one could stop him from becoming the next elder.
“Focus all your breaths in one attack! What are you doing?!”
But Rurin wasn’t idle either.
She unleashed a powerful breath of her own at the Red Dragons charging toward El. Her enhanced breath forced two of the Red Dragons back. Their wings were slightly scorched.
“Guaaaah!”
The dragon whose wings were burned roared in fury.
Veint wasn’t the only one getting frustrated.
El, too, was growing more annoyed with the absurd situation.
Although he could handle 15 dragons, the situation was an unnecessary hassle.
He was holding his ground largely due to the Dragon Orb.
But he feared he would eventually run out of strength if this continued.
That couldn’t happen.
With 15 dragons, there was still another option.
He could end this situation with a large-scale spell.
But if he used a massive spell to wipe out all the Red Dragons while under false accusations, it would only confirm the blame they were placing on him. The lie would become truth.
That’s why El was holding back from unleashing devastation.
It didn’t matter to him, but if the stigma extended to Rurin, that would be a problem. He couldn’t let her become a target of other dragons’ hatred. He wouldn’t allow her to repeat the same tragic path her mother had taken.
So the idea of killing them all in a fit of rage was the worst option. It was something he would only consider if his life was truly in imminent danger.
For now, the wisest course of action was to find a way to resolve this without killing the Red Dragons.
The ringleader of this whole charade was clearly that one arrogant Red Dragon. The others were just pawns, fooled into attacking him.
His only option was to endure for now.
Of course, there was a tactic he could employ while waiting. The fact that both the Red Dragons and El were expending massive amounts of mana was something that could be used to his advantage.
With this thought in mind, El unleashed **Flame Blaze** and **Plasma Tempest** simultaneously. The superheated flames created orbs that illuminated the sky, striking the 15 Red Dragons at once.
The power of the **Plasma Tempest** began to scorch the dragons’ wings.
They thrashed in agony.
Then, the situation suddenly changed—just as El had anticipated.
Strange phenomena began to occur around him. A radiant glow spread through the air.
From the sky, a wave of ice magic cascaded down, extinguishing the flames that had engulfed the dragons’ wings. The dragons, who had been spiraling toward the ground in pain, now regained control and flew back into the sky.
Reinforcements had arrived.
The newly arrived dragons wielded ice magic, dousing the flames and freeing their comrades from the **Plasma Tempest**.
On the opposite side of the sky, behind El, another bright light appeared.
More dragons materialized from the light.
New forces had joined the battle.
