Chapter 222

Cough… cough!

The Black Wizard Targa was flustered.

It had happened too suddenly.

A fierce volcanic eruption, bursting from the ground without warning.

Was it when he was relentlessly forcing his way through the smoke?

Two surprise attacks had been concentrated on the nineteenth tailbone.

And that tailbone shattered.

This… what!

He couldn’t believe it.

He had obtained the body of a Bone Dragon.

He shouldn’t be affected by a Swordmaster’s Aura Sword.

No, that was what he believed.

Damn it!

He hurriedly moved his wings.

He flapped them explosively.

But it was already too late.

When the nineteenth tailbone shattered, he lost the entire tail connected behind it.

And with that, he completely lost his balance.

Gaaaargh!

His upper body pitched downward against his will.

The ground rushed up at him.

…!

He slammed straight down as if being impaled.

With the momentum of flight beyond the sound barrier.

Carving an eight-hundred-meter furrow into the earth.

Crushing every tree and rock in his path with his massive body.

He lay sprawled amid a choking cloud of dust.

But only for a moment.

Soon, the Bone Dragon moved.

Thud!

He braced against the ground with his huge forefoot.

He forced his upper body up.

But that was all.

Crash!

Half-risen, the Bone Dragon collapsed back to the ground.

The reason was simple.

He had abruptly lost his tail and couldn’t keep his balance.

‘Got it!’

Queen Alicia, watching from afar, clenched her fist.

It worked.

Lloyd Frontera’s plan had really worked.

‘That was close.’

She recalled the moment of unbearable tension.

Bangul’s volcanic eruption.

Through that, she and Javier had poured in a combined strike.

At the last instant, she had flown with everything she had and driven the Aura Sword into the nineteenth tailbone.

To be honest, she’d nearly dropped her sword right then.

The moment she struck the Bone Dragon’s tailbone, a far stronger recoil than expected had surged back through the blade.

‘It must have been the Magical Power maintaining the Bone Dragon’s body. The hardness was on a completely different level from carving granite.’

It wasn’t ordinary granite.

It felt like slamming into a steel mass nearly a meter thick.

If she hadn’t trained relentlessly since the attempted assassination of the Queen—

‘I would have failed.’

She wouldn’t have endured the recoil at the crucial moment.

She wouldn’t have shattered the tailbone completely.

But she did.

Her relentless training had not been in vain.

“Hoo.”

Queen Alicia exhaled and reset her grip on her sword.

Through the thick dust, she found Javier.

“Then shall we go finish him off?”

“I shall follow your command.”

‘Now’s the chance.’

It would likely be the only chance.

The Bone Dragon, having lost his tail, couldn’t even stand properly.

But there was no guarantee how long that would last.

‘If we give him time, he’ll adapt.’

Losing a tail didn’t mean he’d be helpless for thousands of years.

An hour?

Maybe even less.

He would quickly adjust to fighting without a tail.

So they had to end it before that.

“Javier Asrahan. You and Lloyd Frontera can read the Mana flow around you, correct?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I thought so.”

It was a mysterious technique.

Queen Alicia curled the corners of her lips.

“Then answer me this. Which part of that Bone Dragon has the most active Mana movement?”

“The skull, Your Majesty.”

“Then we destroy it.”

Then they could deal him catastrophic damage.

If they were fortunate, they might even subdue him completely.

Queen Alicia and Javier sped toward the Bone Dragon’s crash site.

“With all our might. In one strike. As quickly as possible.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

Through the dust still billowing upward, they saw the Bone Dragon’s massive body—struggling to rise, collapsing again, over and over.

They closed the distance.

Without hesitation.

They ran.

They leaped.

Whoosh!

Queen Alicia first.

Javier followed, climbing onto the Bone Dragon’s spine.

The two Swordmasters ran side by side along the ridges of his backbone.

Their target was the Bone Dragon’s skull.

‘Like before.’

At the Queen’s signal, Javier nodded.

He accelerated.

He kicked off the Bone Dragon’s spine as it heaved like a giant wave.

Activating the circle around his raging heart.

He collided.

He loaded the shock of impact into his sword and unleashed it.

Thoom-thoom-thoom!

Three consecutive [Triple Detonation] strikes, aimed at the back of the Bone Dragon’s head.

Specifically, the joint where skull met neck.

Boom!

The back of the Bone Dragon’s head twitched from the blast.

Of course, that level of attack wouldn’t truly damage the Bone Dragon.

So Javier prepared.

More Detonations.

Far more.

Thoom-thoom-thoom-thoom-thoom!

He fired again and again.

He hit only the same spot, relentlessly.

He attacked from shifting angles, but the point of impact was one.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

If one strike didn’t break through—

Then two.

Three.

Ten.

Twenty.

More than thirty Detonations slammed into the same place in rapid succession.

Of course, the Bone Dragon didn’t just take it.

Aaaagh!

He twisted his entire body.

He wrenched his long neck, trying desperately to keep Detonations from landing on the same spot.

In the process, he swung his head again and again, trying to counterattack.

But every attempt failed.

Javier was far too small compared to the Bone Dragon.

And that much more agile.

At the same time, he was precise.

No matter how violently the Bone Dragon thrashed—

No matter how he snapped his neck and tried to bite—

Javier evaded it all and landed each Detonation on the same place again.

And the Bone Dragon still couldn’t stand properly.

Effective counterattacks were nearly impossible.

It was a one-sided beating.

Even Lloyd, watching from the sky, clicked his tongue.

‘Whoa. He’s insane.’

Lloyd had been watching since the moment the Bone Dragon fell.

He’d been weighing whether cutting off the tail was enough—whether they should retreat—or whether they should press the advantage.

But Queen Alicia and Javier had launched a full assault first.

So he watched their counterattack with a tight, anxious knot in his chest.

Then, as the fight unfolded—

‘This is so brutal I almost feel bad for the Bone Dragon.’

That was how merciless Javier’s attack was.

Only the most painful spot.

Only the spot he’d already hammered.

Again and again, until it broke.

At this rate, they might really bring the Bone Dragon down.

Hope flickered.

Especially when he saw the Queen preparing a finishing blow near Javier’s barrage.

‘Is Her Majesty going to use that gigantic Aura Sword again?’

The Aura Sword looked several tens of centimeters wide.

Its length was at least four to five meters.

A literal greatsword made of Aura.

‘It’s not even the same category as a normal Aura Sword.’

Normally, an Aura Sword simply sheaths the blade like a lightsaber.

At most, it extends about a meter past the tip.

But the Queen’s Aura Sword was different.

‘Maybe she’s stepped onto the boundary between Swordmaster and Grand Master.’

The thought flashed through him.

Javier—who became a Grand Master in Iron Blooded Knight—had displayed an even more wondrous Aura back then.

But it was clear Queen Alicia was approaching that realm.

‘Her Majesty is improving at an insane pace.’

Now, even Swordmaster Cherny—the former captain of the Royal Guard—wouldn’t stand a chance.

She might even handle two ordinary Swordmasters alone.

As he thought that, he saw the Queen raise her sword.

A unique, gigantic Aura Sword formed above it.

Not precision like Javier’s, but sheer force.

A brutal Aura Sword that poured everything into destructive power, soaring nearly five meters long.

It was closer to a siege weapon than a blade.

And the Bone Dragon’s skull—

It had been weakened by Javier’s relentless Detonations.

‘They might really crack it.’

Victory felt possible.

And Lloyd felt he should help.

He urged Ggoming.

He dropped altitude.

He prepared Triple Blast.

If the Queen’s strike failed to finish the job, he would immediately drive Triple Blast into the same spot.

With that vow, he cut through the wind.

The battlefield below surged closer.

The Queen charged forward, Aura Sword leading.

She was aiming to cleave the back of the Bone Dragon’s head.

He saw her rushing in.

And then, suddenly—

He saw the Bone Dragon’s tail strike Javier.

Wham!

He saw it clearly.

It was the tail that had been cut off.

The portion beyond the nineteenth tailbone—the tail that had snapped free earlier and fallen to the ground.

But it moved.

Without warning.

Without any sign.

So sudden, so fast—

Like a massive chain whipping through the air.

In an instant it swung, tore through space, and hit Javier.

“…Uh!”

That was all Lloyd could manage.

It happened too suddenly.

‘Be careful.’

‘It’s dangerous.’

‘Get away!’

No warning made it out.

He could only stare, blankly, as Javier was launched hundreds of meters away with a sickening impact.

And then Javier crashed.

Somewhere Lloyd couldn’t even see.

“…Uh.”

He couldn’t believe it.

‘What did I just see?’

‘Was that real?’

Just moments ago, Javier had been fighting with everything he had.

Relentlessly firing Detonations, steadily driving the Bone Dragon back.

So if they only pushed a little more—

If things went just a little better—

Maybe, really—

He had thought they might bring the Bone Dragon down today.

He had thought he should go help.

‘But why?’

He couldn’t accept it.

He didn’t want to.

“Javier!”

The shout came a beat late.

He didn’t even know when it left his mouth.

The moment he shouted, he was already urging Ggoming forward.

He had to get to Javier.

He had to see if he was alive.

So hurry.

Hurry.

Fly.

Ggoming pushed himself—

But he couldn’t.

At some point, the Bone Dragon had taken to the air.

He flapped his wings in front of Lloyd, staring him down.

With his tail restored.

Blocking his path.

“…….”

No way.

‘Does he know what I’m trying to do?’

Lloyd felt it—certainly.

He knows Javier is a threat.

So he’s blocking me.

So Javier can’t be treated.

So Javier can’t get back up and become a problem again.

But even so—

“I, I have to go see Javier.”

He had to.

He’d taken that tail strike head-on.

It wasn’t like Cremo City, when Javier managed to dodge the Giga Titan’s blow.

This time, he’d been hit cleanly.

Blown hundreds of meters away.

Even for Javier, that was at least a critical injury.

Maybe his life was slipping away right now.

So he had to go.

He had to go immediately.

‘Because there’s the Asrahan Heart Technique!’

If Javier was still breathing, Lloyd could save him.

He could resonate Javier’s Mana Circle with the Asrahan Heart Technique.

Force Mana circulation.

Maximize the body’s natural healing.

He could drag someone on the brink of death back to “severely injured.”

He could turn “severely injured” into “stable.”

So he had to go.

Right now.

“Move!”

The shout tore out of him before he realized it.

Was it because losing Javier would be a huge blow?

Because it would hurt to lose a useful worker and knight?

No.

That wasn’t it.

His heart was just pounding too hard.

To be honest, he was afraid.

‘Javier, you bastard!’

He was scared.

The fear of one side of his chest going hollow.

The anxiety creeping in, strange and suffocating.

Come to think of it—

The day he first opened his eyes in this world.

The day he first met Javier.

Had he ever truly been apart from him since then?

Had he ever imagined being separated forever?

No.

Not once.

He’d always assumed they would be together.

That they would be, for the rest of the road ahead.

That they would spend almost all their time together, just like they had.

That they would share hardships.

Share victories.

Share lazy days.

Share everything.

And then, as always, they’d trade insults.

Swap stupid jokes.

Grow old together—a country-estate loafer of a lord and the knight who guarded him.

That was what he’d believed.

So naturally—

Without anything grand or dramatic.

As naturally as breathing.

Because Javier had been there until now, he would be there later, too.

‘So I took it for granted.’

He had him.

He relied on him.

He used him.

And only now did he understand it.

‘Javier.’

What that name meant.

He finally knew.

A bodyguard?

A useful construction tool?

A powerful Swordmaster?

No—before all of that, he was—

“I have to go see my friend, so move aside, you bastard.”

Lloyd’s eyes, fixed on the Bone Dragon blocking his way, sank into a cold gray.