Translator: Silver Editor: Namorax

「Liberating Rione」Part 1

Under the somewhat cloudy sky, the capital of Delfuento Kingdom was visible on the distant horizon.

The city seemed grayed out and removed from the rest of its surroundings.

Chiome’s cat ears were flicking restlessly on her head as she scanned the seemingly abandoned city.

“Even at this distance, the city’s foul stench can still reach us....”

Behind Chiome stood a group of cat-eared people dressed in similar ninja clothes as she was.... all of them had the same grim expression as they glared at the former capital in the distance.

“It’s doubtful that any survivors remain in that city. I’ve never seen a city so completely engulfed by death’s impurities....”

Ariane, who stood with crossed arms, seemed to be in agreement with Chiome.

Occasionally, a warm breeze would blow her long, white locks into her eyes causing her to brush them aside.

“Preparations are complete, we’re ready to strike at any time.”

Elder Dylan, the commander of this operation, ?commented while standing next to Ariane.

They were currently positioned on a steep hill southwest of Rione. Their base camp, which housed the forces that had been transferred over, was hidden behind a small woodland area.

A location so close to the Hiruku Theocracy and Delfuento’s border was perfect for launching a pincer attack. Therefore, it had been chosen as the base of operations for the coming battle and as an observation hub.

Based on the information Goemon gathered from his previous scouting expedition, they managed to calculate the range of the enemy’s sensory capabilities. Moreover, they could easily abandon this base and flee into the forest should the need arise.

The fighting force that had been gathered here ,the elven warriors and the Blade Heart Clan, were skilled in forest combat. Even though they numbered less than five thousand, they could easily best a force of over one hundred thousand through guerilla warfare.

The elves had used their earth spirit magic to entrench their makeshift base and surround it with a sturdy wall, with other defenses strategically placed along the tree line in preparation for a defensive battle.

While retreating into the forest wouldn’t do much against the mobility and strength of the spider monsters, but it would slow down the undead soldiers that made up the majority of the enemy’s forces.

To build such a base in the limited amount of time they had was a tribute to the elves’ and beastmens’ considerable skill.

“Is it finally this one’s turn?”

As elder Dylan began issuing orders to various people throughout the base, a booming voice spoke up from within the forest. The origin of the voice stood at a height of nearly four meters and had a dragon’s head.. it was Dragon King Williahsfim in his human form.

While not as large as Ferufivisurotte, he was thirty meters long in his dragon form and had been asked to wait in the forest until it was time for him to act.

Though he was initially reluctant to comply with their request, Ferufivisurotte was a significant existence in his eyes, so he smiled and vaguely nodded along when he was assigned to the Delfuento team.

“Our assault on Rione should be starting soon.”

I traded the axe I’d been using till now for the 『Holy Thunder Sword』and headed towards Ariane and Chiome.

Williahsfim and the three of us were in charge of drawing the undead out of Rione.

“Kyun!”

“....You want to come along, Ponta? It’s gonna be dangerous, you know?”

“Kyun!”

She seems set in her conviction.... so we’d be bringing along a plus one.

In addition to the 『Holy Thunder Sword』, I was bringing the 『Holy Shield of Teutates 』and the emergency canteen of spring water I carried everywhere nowadays.

I’d already received permission to go all out this time.

As Ariane and Chiome finished checking their equipment, Williahsfim turned into his dragon form nearby the base.

Nearly thirty meters and length. his body was covered in bluish-scales, four horns rested atop his head, and, unlike Ferufivisurotte, he had four massive wings on his back.

Our strategy would make use of his abilities of mass destruction.

Regarding abilities of mass destruction, I still had the Heavenly Knight’s skills in reserve, but I wanted to avoid using them if possible.

《Are you ready? Then let’s go.》

A massive gust of wind erupted on the spot as Williahsfim flapped his enormous wings and began ascending into the air.

The spectacle of watching a Dragon King take flight would never diminish.

Since Williahsfim hovered low to the ground, his tail dragged along the ground.... Ponta wrapped around my neck like a scarf as I hopped up and grabbed ahold of one of his legs, with Ariane timidly following suit.

When Chiome lightly grabbed hold of another of his legs, Williahsfim flapped his wings once more and slowly began flying towards Rione at a low altitude.

The ground beneath us flew by at blazing speeds, this gentle sensation across my body making this method of travel far more thrilling than tearing through the sky at high altitudes.

If felt like I was on an extreme thrill ride attraction, but Ariane’s pale face made it clear that this wasn’t an enjoyable experience for everybody.

“Ittt’ss too fasssssssssssssssssstttttttttt!!”

The frightened screams and complaints about our speed that ?managed to escape her lips, were mostly lost in the air current.

When I faced Chiome, her expression remained deadpan as usual, but her tail stood up straight like a pin, and she seemed a bit tense.

“Kyun! Kyun!”

Pota seemed to be enjoying it just as much as she enjoyed the ride on Ferufivisurotte’s back.

The reason we were using this thrilling mode of transportation was that Williahsfim said he’d have difficulties flying with multiple people on his back and this was the best we could come up with in the short amount of time we had.

I’d have to use short-range transfer magic dozen of times to cover the distance that holding onto his leg covered in seconds.

As we neared Rione, the city came into focus.

Similar to what had unfolded in Tajiento, multiple breaches ran along the city’s defensive wall, and towering pillars of smoke rose from within the city.

It’s clear that the black spot scattered around the collapsed walls weren’t escaping citizens.

《This town is almost entirely occupied by the tainted. I’ve never witnessed such a disastrous situation.》

Williahsfim uttered that while lowering his speed and altitude. The spider chimera didn’t even have time to recognize the threat before Willahsfim cut them down with the claws on his hind legs.

While the spiders were a threat to humans, they were nothing more than undead rabble to a Dragon King.

As we approached Rione, the spider chimeras and the undead soldiers which were out on patrol were all single-handedly cut apart and scattered by Williahsfim’s long tail.

Williahsfim rose higher into the air, over the city-walls themselves, and gave us a view of ?Delfuento’s former capital.

We intended to gather the attention of the undead and lead them back to where Goemon and Dylan were waiting.

However, if we led all of the tens of thousands of undead back to that simple base, it wouldn’t last more than an hour under their siege.

First of all, we had to get the undead out of the city.... once they were out in the open plains, we’d unleash our area of effect attacks, then funnel the survivors towards the base.

Our job was to eliminate the undead outside the city and ensure that the enemy couldn’t ignore us even if they wanted to.

Thus our current formation.... I looked over to Ariane, and she had the eyes of someone who made a big mistake.

She should return to normal once we landed, when we reached a suitable location.. ?I lightly swatted Williahsfim leg and gave him the signal.

“Williahsfim-dono, we’ll be descending here. Please, follow through with the plan.”

《This one understands and asks you to entrust everything to him..》

After flying around for a bit we came across a plain, roughly to the northeast of the city. The moment Williahsfim’s tail touched the ground again, I jumped off his leg.

Due to Williahsfim flight speed, I glided towards the ground in a gradual arc, and the two undead soldiers patrolling the area turned around when I landed in a kneeling crouch.

I unsheathed the 『Holy Thunder Sword』 and cut them down immediately.

“Hmm, we’ve made a pretty cool landing if I say so myself. Don’t you think so, Ponta.”

“Kyun?”

Ponta uncurled herself enough to give me a confused look.

It seems that Ponta couldn’t perceive the romance of a bipedal weapon leaping off a means of transport.

Landing in the way I did wasn’t possible with a flesh and blood body.... it was only possible with an unrealistically tough body.

As for the other two, Chiome leap off only after Williahsfim slowed down even further, and even then she barely landed after doing several somersaults to slow her descent.

It was a landing befitting of a ninja, but it was impossible for the current me to replicate it successfully.

Ariane, on the other hand, was basically freefalling when she finally released hold of Williahsfim’s leg.... the ground itself rose up to catch her.

From the distance, it looked as if she was twitching and having small convulsions, but she should be fine, right?

Since there weren’t any undead in Ariane’s general area, I had to worry about those gathering around me before I worried about her.

“【Sacred Lightning Sword】!”

Upon invoking the weapon skill, a blue current of energy enveloped my sword, doubling the blade’s length in the process.

A unique sound could be heard as I lightly swung my sword through the air.

Heteromorphic monsters descended upon me from all directions.... however, I was familiar with these seemingly slow-moving spider chimeras and wanted to test my fighting skills.

“【Flying Dragon Slash】!!”

There was still a considerable distance between the targeted spider chimera and the usual range of my skills.... but the fired energy wave, which had grown in proportion to the elongated blade, not only reached them but disintegrated the chimera and their underlings upon contact.

It was impossible to combine the effects of combat skills in the game, but Ponta’s grass cutting attack gave me the idea to test the limitations here.。

The result was a useful crowd-control skill.

“Ky?un! Kyun!”

Ponta realized what I’d done and excitedly began wagging her tail while remaining wrapped around my neck, occasionally shooting a wind blade of her own.

Although the distance seems to have increased since we last practiced, there weren’t any enemies around....

Chiome also dealt with a few undead without issue.

Ariane had recovered enough to separate a human upper-body from its spider-half, with the flames created from her spirit magic reducing the chimera to a pile of dust.

Her shoulders fell with a sigh, and she seemed a bit irritated as she scanned the area for other threats.

Williahsfim circled Rione like a bird of prey, occasionally swooping down to hunt the undead.

Unfortunately, their numbers were just too great and our individual efforts weren’t gonna accomplish anything.

Even the impressive number of undead outside the city couldn’t compare the numbers I imagined were behind those walls.

While cutting down any undead that approached me, my eyes constantly scanned the surrounding area and the top of the wall.

We were kicking up and impressive rampage out here, but there were no signs of the strange boy Goemon had mentioned.

Considering how Goemon described the boy, it was possible that he was one of Hiruku’s leaders.... its true form had yet to be seen.

Even when the majority of undead outside the city had been cleared out, Rione remained eerily quiet.

“Strange.... the impurities shows no sign of weakening, yet they aren’t coming after us.... Did the strategy fail?”

Ariane voiced her doubts as she took a position at my side and looked towards the city.

“The stench still remains, I thought our actions are doing nothing. But....”

After stabbing the final undead, Chiome took up a spot at Ariane’s side, her little noise and cat ears twitched as she stared at the city.

Chiome raised an eyebrow and looked like she was about to say something, but a fierce wind on our backside interrupted her, and cause us to look towards its origins.

The earth trembled as Williahsfim landed behind us, his wings folded straight against his back and an intense expression on his face.

《The orchestrator of this farce is moving within the city. They’re come out....》

At Williahsfim’s remark, my gaze immediately returned to Rione.