Your Excellency Is Strong, but My Style Is Above Yours! Chapter 28

For some reason, the closer Iori got to the battlefield, the more uneasy he became. It was not until the clouds overhead grew thicker and that strange feeling struck him again that he stopped the boat, his eyes turning grave.

"Roar~~~"

Sure enough, the clouds split apart once more. A gigantic dragon, covered in blood yet still powerful, looked down upon the sea with the majesty of a god. After swiftly passing over a cluster of wrecked ships, it finally fixed its gaze on Iori!

The Crippled Dragon and the Broken Blade

In his previous life, Iori had once imagined what dragons looked like during his adolescent fantasies. He believed that, to some extent, everyone had been awed by such creatures in films and television. Yet no matter how realistic the special effects were, they could never compare to the miracle of seeing one with his own eyes.

Beautiful, dangerous, sacred... such impressions were irrelevant now. Once the distance closed to a certain point, once he felt that breath brimming with life and was suppressed by an invisible aura, only one thought remained in his mind—

Powerful!

This was a mighty body built from pure strength and the accumulation of years!

It was so close that Iori could clearly see his own reflection in those eyes, each as large as a round table.

There was neither beastliness nor divinity in those eyes. They were so calm, like a lake without a single ripple, utterly unlike its berserk appearance during the earlier battle.

Whoosh—

Its breath lifted Iori's cloak, revealing the famous blade Gouetsu at his waist.

"Roar~"

The resounding dragon roar sent wave after wave rolling across the sea. The little boat swayed like a fallen leaf in an autumn wind, yet Iori stood firmly on the deck without budging.

As the dragon raised its majestic head and opened its massive jaws, Iori's pupils slowly contracted—

Boom!

There was no charging motion. It was neither flame nor frost, but an instantaneously created expanse of vacuum. Dense, invisible blades swept through like a flood, shredding the little boat into countless pieces and sending them, along with millions of tons of seawater, soaring into the sky.

But Iori was nowhere to be seen.

The next moment, the boy who had drawn his katana appeared slightly behind and above the dragon's head. The spinning blade tore through the Flowing Wind and struck the dragon's neck like lightning—

Screech!

A string of sparks flew, accompanied by a teeth-grinding scraping sound. The feedback through the blade felt nothing like cutting flesh and blood.

The seemingly soft mane possessed extraordinary strength. Iori's downward strike cut through several strands, but a thin silver thread hidden among them blocked the blade, forcibly deflecting its edge aside!

In the end, it only left a conspicuous scratch on the hard dragon scales.

"Roar—!"

The sea dragon, which had suddenly lost its target only to be attacked immediately afterward, paused slightly before releasing an exhilarated, soaring roar that sent enormous gusts sweeping in every direction.

Iori instinctively reached for the fur along the dragon's spine, but the instant he touched it, he sensed something wrong and pulled back. The next moment, he was blasted far away.

Amid the gale, Iori struggled to adjust his posture. His feet skimmed the sea, kicking up a chain of splashes before he finally plunged beneath the water. In the dim surroundings, he looked at his left hand. His leather glove had been sliced open across the width of his palm, and tiny beads of blood slowly seeped from the skin beneath, dispersing into the seawater...

It cut me? Was its fur naturally that sharp?

Iori thought of the Imperial Arm Changen Wanhua: Cross Tail from the original work, and his heart turned cold.

It was said that the thread-based Imperial Arm had been made from the fur of the East Sea's Super Dangerous Species—the Dragon in the Clouds. Its toughness and sharpness were astonishing, and the strongest strand was even called the "Boundary Severing Thread," with an exceptionally impressive record in actual combat.

And this was only its fur. By the laws of nature, the fur of a massive predatory creature like a dragon was generally meant to enhance its intimidation or keep it warm. Overall, it served an auxiliary purpose. Its true offensive organs were its fangs and claws.

If even its fur was this tough, there was no reason its claws, fangs, and scales would be any weaker!

It was practically like fighting a mobile armory...

Another unbelievable thought flashed through Iori's mind: Could this be the very dragon that the First Emperor encountered a thousand years ago?

The span of time was enormous, but ordinary lifeforms included long-lived species capable of living for centuries. It did not seem strange for a Super Dangerous Species to possess such an extreme lifespan.

Bang!

The dragon did not give Iori much time to think. Its enormous body soon cleaved through the sea, and divine light flashed in its eyes as it lunged toward him at high speed.

I was waiting for you!

Iori's gaze sharpened. Abandoning his usual frugal habits, he released the restraints and let his reiatsu pour out.

The dragon opened its mouth underwater, and a surging current shot forth like a high-pressure water cannon, intending to blast Iori into the abyss!

But the water column was clearly slower than the vacuum blades. Iori calmly extended his left hand, manifesting a glowing spiritual shield—Kidō #8: Seki. Though it was a low-level Kido, it protected Iori well. The incoming current pushed him and accelerated his descent, instead drawing him farther from the dragon.

And that distance it created gave Iori enough time to silently prepare an incantation—

Kidō #63: Sajo Sabaku!

Thick, serpentine chains shot out from the darkness, spiraling continuously along the current. The dragon practically charged into them on its own and was loosely wrapped up. By the time it sensed something was wrong, the chains suddenly tightened under Iori's control, locking down everything above its neck, including its lower jaw!

The dragon struggled wildly, only to discover in astonishment that it could not open its mouth.

The chains were wrapped densely, and they were strong enough that it could not exert force for the moment.

—!

Iori moved with astonishing speed. Gripping the chains, he followed the force with which the dragon dragged him, tracing an elegant arc through the sea as he attacked its relatively soft underbelly.

Boundless fighting spirit appeared in the dragon's eyes. Its enormous body erupted with terrifying strength, abruptly halting its descent before charging back toward the surface. Iori was struck by the powerful water pressure, and his movements immediately became disordered.

Splash!

The dragon burst through the sea and soared into the sky, circling once before rising into the clouds. Iori never let go of the chains.

The dragon was even more agile among the clouds than it had been underwater. Iori felt as if he were holding onto a high-speed train racing wildly along a roller coaster track, his body at risk of being torn apart at any moment. Even so, he had to persist.

Because once he let go, without his direct control, the chains could break at any time!

Wait, that is—

Perhaps because he had held on for so long, Iori spotted a scar on the inner side of the dragon's lower jaw, near where its throat should theoretically have been—though Iori was not very sure how a dragon's anatomy worked. It was hidden beneath its fluffy mane.

Normally, it would have been impossible to see. Only when the fierce wind blew through its mane would it occasionally appear.

Iori's eyes narrowed. After roughly estimating his remaining reiatsu, he began chanting the incantation for a Hadō spell.

The reiatsu fluctuation seemed to alarm the dragon as well. It had never encountered this form of attack, but its spiritual power was not weak, and it keenly sensed the abnormality.

Suddenly, arcs of electricity flickered across its scales, and Iori immediately sensed trouble—

Crack!!!

A blinding flash of lightning lit up the clouds and struck the dragon, instantly enveloping its entire body. Yet instead of harming it, the lightning's tempering made its mane appear even more magnificent and flowing, fully displaying the beauty of pure power.

At the same time, the dragon felt the chains around its mouth loosen. With a slight burst of strength, it snapped them apart. Then a ball of fire drifted down from the sky, seemingly the human who had been caught in the lightning.

Regret appeared in the dragon's eyes as it looked toward the fireball—

Its vertical pupil suddenly shrank into a line!

The fireball scattered in the wind. It was merely a burning cloak!

An astonishing reiatsu fluctuation abruptly appeared to the left of the dragon's head. The masked swordsman, clad in fitted combat clothes and holding a famous blade, coated its edge with "qi" compressed to the extreme.

A frontal clash? A life-risking strike?

This human had seen the wound on its neck!

"Roar!!!"

The dragon opened its mouth and bit toward Iori, as though roaring with human laughter.

Flash Step—just one Flash Step. Either Iori would pierce the wound through the protection of the mane, or he would be buried in the dragon's jaws!

Time seemed to freeze at that moment as the dragon's fangs were about to pierce Iori's body—

Crack!

The dragon's jaws closed with a terrifying collision, but no blood splattered. The dragon was immediately stunned.

This human's trajectory was not aimed at its wound!

The next moment, Iori had already appeared on the other side of the dragon's head. His practiced Flash Step was as precise and composed as Saito had said—

Hadō #78: Sōren Sōkatsui!

A pure white qi blade enveloped the katana, cutting through the dragon's vertical pupil like a spinning Blade Wheel!

Clang!!!

"Roar----!"

The longsword tore onward all the way to its jawbone, colliding with hard bone and sharp dragon teeth, producing a clear metallic tremor—

Crack!

The famous blade Gouetsu broke!

Huh? A Dragon-Slaying Blade, Me?

Scalding dragon blood rained down, while a roar suppressing immense pain echoed through the sky. Iori's body fell freely through the wild wind.

In the end... was I one move short?

Iori glanced at the broken blade in his hand and gently shook his head.

If it had been a Zanpakuto, the result would have been entirely different—but saying that now sounded like nothing more than making excuses for himself.

More than half of his reiatsu had been consumed, and what remained could not support such an intense battle. The weapon he carried had broken, and although there were spares on the boat, the little vessel had been destroyed at the very beginning.

It could be said that he had exhausted every means and still had no options left, right?

In comparison, even after losing one eye, the dragon retained formidable combat power. Iori's chances of winning next were...

Splash!

The boy crashed into the sea, raising a spray of water. This time, he quickly leaped back out and found a plank to stand on.

"No choice, then."

Iori looked at the dragon circling in the sky and reached into his clothes, gripping something hard—Dimensional Square Array · Shangri-La.

It seemed he had no choice but to flee... a strategic retreat for victory. Before that, he should mark this place so he would not have to cross the sea again in the future.

Iori gripped the Imperial Arm tightly, ready to activate it at any moment. Yet he was in no hurry. For some reason, he delayed taking action, instead staring at the scar-covered dragon with deep contemplation in his eyes.

A moment later, the dragon circled downward, raising crest after crest of waves on the sea. Iori stood steadily atop the plank, looking up at the apex predator straight on amid the rolling waters.

"Roar!!!!"

The violent dragon roar actually calmed the sea somewhat, as if even nature itself feared it.

Unexpectedly, the dragon that had been blinded in one eye did not immediately seek revenge against Iori. Instead, after seeing the broken blade in the boy's hand, it stopped moving. Its remaining eye even revealed a humanlike sense of regret.

It gave Iori a deep look, seemingly wanting to firmly remember this human who had lost his weapon yet showed no fear. Then it released a long, melodious howl toward the sky, soared upward like a whirlwind, and vanished into the dark clouds once again.

"...It left?"

Iori stared at the clouds in surprise. Although he believed this dragon possessed a certain degree of intelligence and that there might be an unknown reason behind its actions, he had not expected it to suppress its bloodthirsty beastly nature and choose to give up when the battle had reached this point.

The clouds had already begun to disperse, or rather, drift farther away. The winds and waves at sea gradually calmed as well. It seemed that it really had left.

"Why?"

Just as Iori was thinking that, a faint point of light suddenly fell from the sky. It was not particularly fast, merely free-falling, and it gave off no dangerous aura.

After hesitating for a moment, Iori still used Flash Step to leap into the air and catch the glowing object. It felt cool to the touch, refreshing his mind.

Looking closely, he found that it was an orange-blue orb the size of a melon. It was crystal clear and translucent, yet wisps of mist-like airflow inexplicably coiled around its surface, appearing and vanishing in an endlessly repeating cycle. It was truly wondrous.

"This is..."

A guess surfaced in Iori's mind, but the vast sea was hardly a good place for calm thought. He tore off a piece of cloth and wrapped it up simply, then found a larger piece of driftwood to use as a raft and began paddling hard with a broken plank in each hand.

Naturally, he had no intention of using this method to cross the ocean. His goal was to gather as many supplies as possible and find a relatively intact small boat.

He had seen it clearly at the time. All the large ships had been destroyed by the dragon's attacks, but quite a few small dinghies had survived. Those would become his means of transportation.

Sure enough, before long, he found a suitable dinghy. During the process, he also found the wreckage of his little fishing boat and recovered items such as the Reishi Conversion Device. Although he had lost more than half of his money and supplies, the important things had not been lost.

It was also worth mentioning that there were surviving sailors from the fleet. Some clung to driftwood and struggled to survive, while others had scrambled onto dinghies amid the chaos. They watched Iori's battle with the dragon in both terror and awe.

Iori knew that he had lost, but in their eyes, Iori had single-handedly driven back the ruler of the sea and even made it spill blood across the sky. His achievement surpassed that of their entire fleet. He was a man as powerful as a demon god!

Whether out of blind devotion to a strong person or helplessness in desperate circumstances, they naturally placed their hopes on Iori. One after another, they begged for help, hoping that Iori would take them back to land.

They were no longer far from the "Eastern Island Nation." Without any accidents, it would take at most five or six days. If everyone gathered usable supplies, they could definitely endure until reaching their destination.

But the problem was that so many people gathered together would likely attract the aberrations in the sea—Dangerous Species. Without a large ship to rely on, they would have no means of resisting the monsters' attacks. The only one who could save them was Iori.

And Iori agreed without hesitation: