Attack

As he watched the troops follow the embankment across the black swamps of Neck Marsh and pour into the fringes of the Wilds, the gloom in Roy's heart grew by the day. Though he buried his worries beneath a mask of composure and calm, they remained, swelling with every kilometer they crossed.

Was it because Green City's reply said the green dragon would arrive late?

No, it was not. He, Roy Brando, son of an earl, did not need outside help to deal with a mere orc clan.

He knew this vast wasteland the northerners called the Wilds like the back of his hand after so many years of exploration and travel. Besides, he had an army at his side. By all rights, he should have feared nothing, steady as Mount Tai.

Yet tonight was an exception. Unlike before, something indescribable lurked within the dark curtain around them, raising gooseflesh on his skin and filling him with intense unease.

His instincts had always been sharp. He sensed danger, as though he had overlooked something—and that was the true source of his worry.

Human nobles were generally paranoid, and Roy was no exception. He was an ambitious man, and thus even more sensitive and suspicious, determined to keep everything under his control.

He checked his deductions again and again, confirming that there was no flaw in his logic. Yet his unease had risen from nowhere, and a pall of gloom still hung over his heart.

"Stay alert!"

He reminded his soldiers, then glanced at the sky—the stars were fading, heralding the approach of dawn. But with the starlight and moonlight gone, the land would enter its darkest hour of the day, and the time when people were most likely to let down their guard.

The sinister gale made the shadows of the trees sway like savage living things. Roy felt watched by some cold, unknown presence that bore him no goodwill; the spellcasters beside him seemed to have sensed it as well, tightening their grips on their staffs.

Damn it, what exactly had he missed?

Soon enough, he found out.

A muffled clap of thunder jolted Roy from his thoughts. He raised his head to the sky, but saw only heavy clouds piled together like thick cotton.

Then, a terrifying low growl came from nearby. Roy's body tensed involuntarily as an enormous shadow engulfed the people below.

A deafening roar erupted overhead, tearing through the air like a hurricane. Roy desperately steadied his terrified wildebeest while forcing himself to look up.

Unfortunately, what he saw this time was a scene straight from hell.

A monster as dark as black smoke filled Roy's vision. Roaring, it extended its claws and dove toward the army.

A dragon!

An approximately adult black dragon—they had been attacked by a dragon!

The army instantly erupted in a frenzy of shouting men and neighing horses.

Fortunately, they were no wine sacks and rice bags, but a genuine regular army. Though shocked beyond measure, they did not panic. These were the Brando Family's finest professional soldiers in Kaki Territory. They reacted swiftly and met the attack at once.

The cavalry shouted commands, urging their warhorses to spread outward. The vanguard in black armor raised their shields and closed their lines together, forming an unbreakable wall layered with iron gleam.

The massive shields stood about half a man tall. These soldiers formed an array for close-quarters combat, where defense ranked above all else.

They spread their legs, braced their plain heavy shields against their shoulders, and stood clad in thick armor, their free hands gripping longswords.

As long as they could withstand the dragon's charge, it would be dragged into the mire afterward, left at their mercy.

Training for fighting dragons was also compulsory for Eladia's professional soldiers. Yet this black dragon was so powerful and ferocious that they instinctively deployed a battle formation meant for red dragons.

At the same time, the black dragon arrived!

Throughout Eladia's long history, nearly every famous battle had involved dragons. Nothing could compare to the sight and spectacle wrought when dragons and humans fought one another. In an evenly matched battle, the power displayed by both dragon and army was enough to make hearts tremble in admiration.

Bronze and steel shattered amid hoarse, clanging crashes, dull and strange, their echoes unending. The enormous black dragon slammed directly into the formation like a meteor falling from the heavens. Countless hard shields splintered at that instant, and the warriors on the first line suffered snapped sinews and broken bones, crying out in agony.

Its strength was simply too great. It felt as though they had struck a mountain, and the defensive formation was forced steadily backward.

"Hold your ground!"

Roy roared in the native tongue of the Northern Kingdoms. Blood burst from the veins in the soldiers' hands, yet they raised their shields even higher. The black dragon answered with an earth-shaking roar.

Such elite, steadfast soldiers would likely have stopped even a real mountain. The defensive formation was smashed to pieces in a short time, but the impact force the black dragon had gained from its dive was likewise spent.

It had folded its wings. The time for close combat had come!

The black dragon was welcomed by the unmistakable clanging of steel and the creaking of bodies crushing together. Now, it had to face the encirclement of a regular army—more than a hundred men stood before it on the front alone.

"Now it's our turn! Advance and counterattack!"

The human commander shouted the order. Soldiers raised their weapons high, striking back with longswords and heavy hammers. Farther away, the archers had already taken aim and pulled the triggers of their hand crossbows, unleashing a sky-covering rain of whistling arrows.

"Roar!"

Facing the surging crowd, the black dragon roared and opened its jaws wide.

The next instant, the air warped, and a scorching torrent of flame swept across the human position.

"Fire?"

The nerves near Roy's temples throbbed wildly. How could this damned black dragon breathe fire? It was utterly inconceivable. Wasn't that an ability only red dragons possessed?

Cries of misery filled the field. Fire was a weapon most creatures found difficult to resist, humans especially. Nearly forty warriors were instantly scorched into charcoal, while even more endured indescribable pain, unable to continue their assault.

"Ice Barrier!"

Yet before the flames had raged for even ten seconds, a tide-like surge of magical radiance swept over the soldiers' bodies, resisting the fire's assault and sparing them from pain.

There really was a spellcaster.

The black dragon's movements visibly paused. Its chilling vertical pupils swept toward the source of the voice. It saw him—near Roy, a spellcaster entirely shrouded in a black robe sat calmly atop a packhorse.

Seeing the black dragon's gaze turn in his direction, the mage seemed to sense it. He revealed one hand and gently lifted his hood, a faint smile at the corner of his lips as he fearlessly met its stare.

Then, beneath the black dragon's gaze, the spellcaster raised his staff—

Fireball!

The spell model had long since been completed. An incomparable elemental fireball manifested before the tip of his staff, locked onto the raging black dragon not far away, and howled forth at Mach speed.

Faced with a Fireball moving at such astonishing speed, the sluggish dragon could not possibly evade it. It could only rely on magic to block it as well—so at the very moment the elements erupted, the experienced spellcaster had already prepared Spell Disruption, his eyes fixed on the black dragon's every movement, ready at any time to unravel its spell and let it take a solid Fireball head-on.