ALL NOVEL Chapter 433
Ainel, looking precarious as if about to be trampled, slashed her sword against the dragon’s ankle, and the knights erupted with a thunderous cheer that shook the heavens.
“Make it kneel! If we can’t make an old dragon like that kneel, then killing a demon is completely out of the question!”
“When the dragon’s neck touches the ground, the Commander will take its head!”
Especially the northern knights raced towards the dragon, their eyes burning with fury.
These northern beasts had come down to destroy everything in their territory. The very creature that had provoked and tormented them until now was standing right before them—the old dragon.
The generations of pent-up resentment they held became sharper than any weapon, threatening the old dragon.
“Right hind leg! It’s wounded! Everyone, attack the hind leg!”
“Tail! There better not be any foolish girls getting hit by the tail! If you don’t want to be smashed to bits, stay clear!”
As damage began to accumulate on its forelegs and hind legs, the dragon started to unleash the ferocity it had wielded as the top predator.
Ainel clicked her tongue at the beast’s rampage and shouted, “It’s about to go wild! Everyone, spread out!”
It seemed like the wounds inflicted were still too shallow.
Ignoring the injury, the creature’s massive left leg swept the ground, sending waves of dirt flying in its wake.
When the dragon’s thrashing finally ceased, only then did the knights coordinate and create some distance from the beast, aware that they were about to be buried alive.
But Ainel plunged deeper into the monster’s blind spot.
“I’ve heard the northern dragon can use magic! Is it only capable of flailing around like this?”
Just like Siabel and Aria. Words that her long-time acquaintance, the current Alenarr Marquis, used to provoke her daily.
Despite tales of the northern dragon’s ability to summon cold and bring storms, the current old dragon seemed to have depleted much of its strength, perhaps due to the demons. It wasn’t exhibiting the legendary prowess that was spoken of in epic tales.
Ainel’s bold actions began to shine.
“Huff—!”
Taking a deep breath, Ainel widened her eyes.
As she squeezed the mana dwelling in her heart and focused all her revelations from the castle walls into a single strike, a silver aura reminiscent of that time clustered at the tip of her sword.
When facing a demon, one must be craftier than the demon itself. While she had to parry and pierce with a trickster’s attack, her current opponent had to be met head-on with overwhelming power.
As a wave of conviction washed over her from gripping the hilt so tightly that it threatened to warp, Ainel drew her sword.
“─!”
Even as her sword met the dragon’s scales, sending ripples of danger through her, Ainel lodged her feet deeper into the ground and twisted her body, putting all her strength into it.
Crack─!
It was not her sword that cracked first, but the enemy’s armor. As the scales began to shatter, flying apart, Ainel could feel the tough muscles and flesh of the beast through her fingertips.
Was this a pain distinct from all the blows she had endured until now? The old dragon lifted its foot to stomp her.
But Ainel, still pressing the sword deeper, slammed her feet into the ground.
“It’s too late to run…!”
Nothing could stop Ainel’s advance.
Red blood flowed unceasingly from the old dragon’s right leg, and before it could freeze in the biting cold of the northern blizzard, hot, thick blood continued to pour out.
“Hah….”
As she retrieved her sword and took a step back to catch her breath, she noticed that all the knights who had temporarily distanced themselves from the dragon were now focused solely on her.
Unconcerned with her own fatigue and dripping blood, she raised her sword to uplift her allies’ spirits.
But then, she found herself momentarily frozen in place.
“……?”
The dragon had turned its head at an odd angle to stare right at her.
At that moment, her reflection appeared in the raw, menacing eyes of the beast, more intimidating than any of the daring princesses.
Ainel realized.
“Oh.”
The dragon, which had only been thinking of breaking through the fortress, was finally growing furious that it was being thwarted and threatened with death.
The proof of this was the cold emanating from the dragon, as frost began to envelop the ground and living creatures around it.
The weather worsened rapidly.
“…So the Marquis’s words were all true.”
The claim that it could manipulate storms was no lie.
With the sky darkening and temperatures plummeting, a blizzard was imminent, as evident by the stiffening expressions of the knights within her line of sight.
With renewed determination, Ainel glared directly at the old dragon and shouted.
“What are the kingdom’s greatest knights so afraid of! We all knew that taking down a creature that has lived for centuries wouldn’t be an easy fight when we pledged to kill it!”
Though the chilling cold threatened to freeze the heated bodies of those in battle.
Above all, Ainel’s roar, which inspired heroic tales of fighting the dragon, fanned the flames of courage among her fellow knights.
This battle against the dragon would be recorded in history, either as a victory or a loss, leaving a mark of their deeds for future generations. To be celebrated as conquerors was far more honorable than being remembered as defeated soldiers in a textbook.
“The old dragon is leaning! If we can cut off one more of its legs, I can strike its neck! All knights, focus on using your strength to kill it!”
With Ainel’s declaration, the knights began to fight fiercely with their lives on the line.
“──!!”
“Ugh…!”
“Protect your ears as best as you can! We need to drown out the roaring sound!”
The dragon began to thrash menacingly.
As the ground trembled and dark clouds and fierce winds gathered, thick snowflakes began to fall, obstructing vision as one felt trapped in an abyss even at midday.
Finally, the tale of a protagonist from a story meant to punish disobedient little children struck Arael Fortress.
Ainel, with her sword raised, felt the surge of energy enveloping her being.
“This is…!”
She gritted her teeth, her expression tightening.
“…Tch!”
With a short, intense hiss, she swallowed her anger and narrowed her eyes, gathering her strength.
The dragon’s sharp claws were approaching, ready to tear her apart.
*
“Commander! A blizzard is starting to brew around Arael Fortress!”
“Make sure everyone prepares for the cold! It seems a severe blizzard is on the way.”
“Yes!”
After a thunderous noise and the sound of the dragon’s roar erupted from Arael Fortress, I wrapped myself in the blanket I had prepared and clicked my tongue.
‘I hope it’s not a dragon scale, that would be something.’
While the distance from Arael Fortress wasn’t incredibly far, it couldn’t be described as ‘close’ given the tension of a battle raging against a single dragon that sounded as if it was happening right in front of me.
Imagining just how fiercely Ainel and the hunting party were fighting against the old dragon made me unconsciously clench my fists.
“Hanelrn, you said the commander is from the north?”
“Yes, that’s correct. He lived in the north his entire life before entering the Academy.”
“What do the people of the north call that monster?”
“Well, that dragon is generally referred to as a disaster amidst the gray blizzards. There are tales that say the day the dragon awakens, the northern ends become covered in blizzards, and wherever it travels leaves destruction in its wake.”
Having become oddly intrigued by Hanelrn’s story, Dorothy and Theia quietly approached, listening in.
“This sounds just like the situation now. Since it’s a folktale, was there a way to overcome that calamity?”
“Well, in the tales, the dragon is depicted as an unbeatable foe. The northern knights and the Marquis Alenarr at that time could not kill it; they merely banished it, bringing back spring to the north and ended the tale in praises.”
“…….”
“For northerners, that dragon symbolizes centuries of frost that claims lives. This is the second war aimed at slaying it, not the first.”
“Second, not the first… what happened during the first?”
“The Marquis Alenarr, who led the war then, fell valiantly in battle against the dragon. It ultimately ended in failure. Record states that the Marquis’s prowess was legendary.”
“Oh.”
“Hanelrn, it sounds too negative. Did it really end like that?”
“Shut it, Theia. You’ve made Hanelrn go quiet again.”
So Alenarr, whose prowess had reached mastery, couldn’t slay the beast and perished in that war.
Just what sort of foe was Ainel colliding with head-on?
I was already certain that I would suffer encountering demons, but it felt like Ainel was equally in just as dire straits.
Hearing stories of her being thoroughly overpowered, I had thought the dragon wasn’t that fearsome.
“We need to pray for Ainel Shianella and everyone at the fortress to have good fortune.”
I was about to suggest we all pray for victory with our leaders, but—
“Cult! The cult’s army and demons have appeared!”
Sadly, it seemed we wouldn’t have time for such trivialities.
“…Before anything, we must survive before we can think about what to do.”
Cursed cult, just as expected, has come to attack the already tumultuous Arael Fortress.
It seemed like they had even brought along the Demon of Gluttony. The bright sky turned gloomy, and the cold was biting; visibility was nearly zero.
Thus, I raised my bow and shouted, just as we had agreed upon earlier.
“All troops! Prepare for battle!”
The winter war was about to commence as well.