The Spearmaster and the Black Cat

<Have you decided what you’re going to do?> (Rubydra)

Being urged on by Rubydra, Renya matches his gaze with hers.

Rubydra took a large detour the moment she saw the city, that was their destination, already in the midst of battle, and on top of that in a disadvantageous situation, which effectively postponed any approach for the moment.

“What am I going to do, you ask?” (Renya)

<Move forward or turn back.> (Rubydra)

Rubydra herself doesn’t expect for the overall battle progress to change drastically with her, Renya and Shion joining the battle.

That’s because she’s aware that she’s not an overpowered existence, no matter how high-ranking of a dragon species she might be. But, having said that, it doesn't mean that she had as much farsightedness so as to choose an obedient retreat after seeing the scene of her brethren fighting in front of her eyes.

Hence she tried to leave the decision to the humans riding on her back, but Renya readily replied.

“There was an option of turning back?” (Renya)

<So you were serious about going ahead and annihilating the enemies…> (Rubydra)

Even her astonished telepathic transmission caused no change in Renya’s expression.

“Since it’s an enemy I'm encountering for the first time, it’s important to give it a try first.” (Renya)

“Renya…I feel like your thinking resembles that of the beastmen.” (Shion)

There’s a fed-up voice coming from behind him, but Renya decisively ignores it.

Anyway, since we're lacking information about the enemy, it’s necessary to gather some while fighting them for the first time, Renya judged.

As for escaping, we can probably do that at anytime.

<If that’s your decision, I will try plunging into them once. Do you guys have any means of attack?> (Rubydra)

Rubydra asked while altering her flight course towards the airspace above the city. Thanks to that, Renya suddenly realized that he doesn’t have any effective means of launching an attack.

The katana is too short, making it unsuitable for slashing at flying dragons.

If he could freely launch a sword flash like Yuuki, whom he had fought before, it might have been fine to use that, but although Renya used it once, it’s not like he can command it at will.

“Now that you mention it, I don’t have many projectile weapons on me.” (Renya)

“Isn't the sword flash you used in the battle against the hero good enough?” (Shion)

“I can’t really control it. If it’s okay to disregard any damage to the surroundings, I will use it, but…” (Renya)

The biggest problem lies in his inability to adjust the slash's strength.

If he unleashes one slash after the other at full strength, the aftermath and stray slashes will not only deal devastating damage to his targets, but also to the surrounding environment.

<You can at least use the fire-based spell <Fire Lance>, can’t you?> (Rubydra)

Rubydra’s flight path had already changed towards the city. The evil dragons, which noticed the new dragon, cautioned each other by screeching and getting ready to intercept.

While feeling disappointed that a surprise attack was now impossible, Renya answered Rubydra’s question.

“I can only use <Small Fire Ball> from the fire-based spell repertoire.” (Renya)

<I will send you an image through our path, so memorize it!> (Rubydra)

Isn’t it enough with just use <Roaring Lightning> or <Lighning Bolt>? Renya wonders, but faster than he can ask, he was sent a single image through the path he was using to supply Rubydra with mana.

After transforming into some kind of picture in Renya’s head, the image promptly vanished.

<You can chantlessly cast, can’t you? So, now that you can use <Fire Lance>, take care of the cover fire please!> (Rubydra)

As they steadily approach the city, the silhouettes of dragons flying around in the sky can be seen more clearly.

They were violet dragons boasting huge builds which were not inferior in the least when compared to Rubydra and Emedra.

Mixed in among the flock of dragons there are some that have even bigger builds than Emedra.

<Start attacking!> (Rubydra)

There was an indication that mana was being gathered in Rubydra’s mouth.

The clump of mana, which shone white at first, transforms into a red flame that emitted heat after having Rubydra’s attribute added to it.

While cutting through the evil dragons that were flying around above the city, Rubydra spat out the her fire breath at the dragons as she passes them by.

Rather than a flame, it’s a crimson beam attack that resembled a laser in Renya’s eyes.

One dragon that was slightly late in dodging among the evil dragons, who were taking evasive maneuvers, was pierced by that crimson flash, blowing up into a blaze in no time.

While tightly clinging to Renya’s back due to the vibrations and thunderous roar that immediately assailed the vicinity, Shion takes a look over her shoulder at the evil dragon that received the beam attack, and is assaulted by a sense of disbelief.

Even though it was hit by flames that produced a shock strong enough to make the atmosphere tremble, the part of the evil dragon, which was directly hit, was only injured to the extent of having been gouged out a bit.

Even so, the evil dragon was falling, unable to remain airborne as the wound was apparently too deep.

While following its fall with her eyes, Shion mutters in a daze,

“Aren’t they way too sturdy…?” (Shion)

<It’s our win if they crash!> (Rubydra)

The moment Rubydra said, “They will suffer some damage due to the crash, and we will be able to deal with them later on one way or another since they won’t be able fly again,” a white, glittering light penetrates the falling evil dragon.

Ahead of Rubydra’s and Shion’s eyes, who looked around wondering just what had happened, the evil dragon, whose entire body trembled with a start at the moment it was pierced by the light, burst into flames as if exploding from within.

Its flesh, bones, skin, and scales are jumbled together and turn into pitch-black charcoal. Its process of turning into pieces after breaking apart due to the wind pressure caused by the fall apparently shocked the other evil dragons, too. They merely chased the plummeting lumps of charcoal with their eyes, having completely forgotten to attack Rubydra who was cutting past them in the meantime.

<Eh?> (Rubydra)

“That just now…” (Shion)

While Rubydra and Shion were still unable to understand what exactly happened, Renya closely stares at his right palm, and then said as if complaining,

“A failure…” (Renya)

“Eh? Renya? What’s a failure!?” (Shion)

Renya answers Shion, who grabbed his shoulders from behind and was lightly shaking them, in a mood that could be considered as not amused,

“I blundered with the power output. This <Fire Lance> thing is unexpectedly difficult.> (Renya)

“That just now was sorcery!?” (Shion)

While fully harboring a feeling of disbelief, Shion raises her voice into something close to a scream, but Renya is doubtful, wondering just why she’s so surprised.

Although she doesn’t express it in telepathic thoughts, even Rubydra was frantically suppressing the urge to scream out like Shion.

The evil dragons are opponents she has to do her best to reasonably injure them with her dragon breath, even if she says that she didn’t put all her power into it.

A heat, which pierces through an evil dragon in one blow and furthermore burns its entire body down to nothing in an instant, is originally impossible for the <Fire Lance> spell.

To generate a heat that should otherwise be impossible would mean increasing the output by consuming a lot more mana than usual for the spell, but as far as Rubydra knows, the original <Fire Lance> is a spell that releases a crimson burning flame in the shape of a lance. She never heard about it shining white.

To begin with, it’s not like there are many spells that can exceed the power contained in a dragon’s breath attack.

“As Rubydra’s breath delivered some damage, I tried unleashing the spell while using her breath as a reference…” (Renya)

<No, I’d like you not to come up with spells while referencing my dragon breath, though.> (Rubydra)

Rubydra, who passed through the evil dragons once while retorting calmly, turns around, preparing to plunge into the enemies once more.

Several breaths are hurled at Rubydra by the evil dragons, who apparently recovered from the shock at last, but those scatter and vanish in front of her as she takes evasive maneuvers as if they were being blocked by something in the sky.

The evil dragons were forced to watch something unbelievable, but Rubydra realizes that Renya had stopped the enemy attacks with the <Magic Shield> spell in an instant.

But then again she didn’t want to believe that dragon breath attacks could be stopped by such a spell.

Diving through the remains of the scattered breaths, Rubydra opens her jaw.

This time Rubydra spits out such a strong breath from within that it tears off the wing of an evil dragon that was passing by.

The evil dragon that was spinning while falling after having lost one of its wings is pierced by yet another white lance.

This time the lance transformed into a pure white flame that caused a heat wave that made it seem as if the lance had pierced the sky.

“The power output is still too high…” (Renya)

Renya groans.

He repeatedly cocks his head in contemplation, but no matter how much he ponders about it, he was apparently unable to adjust the power output.

“This time half of its body was blown off…” (Shion)

Shion says as she follows the evil dragon with her eyes as it crashes,exposing a hideously burned, pitch-black section of its body.

The other half that had been blown off had been smashed up and turned into charcoal like the first evil dragon.

“I don’t understand how to adjust this!” (Renya)

“Even if you tell me that, I will be troubled, however there’s one thing I can tell you: it’s probably not sorcery that's causing the spell's power output to be so high, you know?” (Shion)

Shion calmly retorts Renya's statement, who keeps grumbling, seemingly having composed herself after the initial surprise.

“This spell is unusable!” (Renya)

<What's this human saying while conveniently shelving his own abnormality…> (Rubydra)

Even while complaining, Renya continues to defend against the evil dragons’ attacks after sensing them.

The dragon breaths, which normally could never be blocked by a human, are intercepted by an invisible wall, and scatter once again.

“Just how am I supposed to reach the level of being able to roast them well with this spell?” (Renya)

<Just what do you think sorcery is!?> (Rubydra)

“A somewhat convenient, strange technique.” (Renya)

Rubydra hangs her head in a crestfallen manner upon hearing that immediate reply.

Around them the pointlessly released dragon breaths are easily blocked and scattered.

Understanding that the enemy’s breaths will never penetrate the sorcery shield deployed by Renya, Rubydra has already stopped evading for the most part. She chases evil dragons with her claws and fangs, and uses her fire breath as her main attack, but it doesn't bear much fruit.

Both sides should originally be struggling for supremacy due to their similar combat abilities, but as if wrecking that balance, Renya’s hands release fire lances, causing the targeted evil dragons to slowly drop towards the ground while having parts of their bodies turned into charcoal.

“Renya, it’s a waste to aim at the head. There’s a big magic stone inside a dragon’s head.” (Shion)

“You're mentioning something like magic stones now after all this time? For real Shion? If we get back to Klinge, Frau has so many of them that it makes me want to puke. Rather than that, I won’t be able to obtain the meat if I blow up their bodies…” (Renya)

<Are you going to eat them!? Hey, you intend to eat evil dragons!?> (Rubydra)

Rubydra felt that the attitude of the surrounding evil dragons had become somewhat indecisive, but she cannot help the feeling of wanting to retort, so she cuts into the conversation between Renya and Shion.

<Are you sane!? The other side is composed of evil dragons, you know!?> (Rubydra)

“However, that doesn’t change the fact that they are dragons, right?” (Renya)

“Unless you say that the meat has been contaminated by something, it’s normal to eat them, no?” (Shion)

Due to Renya and Shion declaring that with such serious expressions, Rubydra thought for the first time in her life since having been born that humans were a very scary race.

Rubydra believed humans to be a diminutive, powerless, short lived, irrelevant race, but she was forced to revise that thinking at this point in time.

But then again, even if you leave out Shion, taking Renya as representative for the average human will very likely make humanity raise an objection to spare them from that once they hear about it.

“Hey, you’ve become negligent with your evasion!” (Renya)

Once Renya raised his voice in order to caution her as he scatters a breath attack, which was on direct hit trajectory, with a wave of his hand as if swatting a fly, Rubydra returns from her reverie in a hurry, and raises her flight speed.

Several breath attacks vanished in empty space while grazing her tail.

As if returning the favor, the two fire lances released by Renya precisely pierce the foreheads of the two evil dragons, which had spit out breath attacks, ending their lives by making their heads along with their brains evaporate.

<You didn’t defend on purpose, didn't you!?> (Rubydra)

Rubydra protests while enduring the pain coming from her tail that comes in waves. Renya snorts at that.

“It’s because you’re letting your mind wander since you’re being protected by me.” (Renya)

Rubydra wanted to object with “Whose fault do you think this is?”, but as it’s a fact that she had lost focus, she grits her teeth, unable to rebut Renya.

Feeling uneasy about something noisy in her perception, Rubydra retreated while taking an unreasonable flight path at a quite unreasonable speed.

At the same time a dragon breath, which was remarkably more powerful from the ones so far, pierced the space where Rubydra had been just now and swallowed up several of the evil dragons present nearby.

“What was that just now!?”

“There’s a really big one. It’s just one dragon, though.”

After Renya pointed it out, Rubydra turned her eyes towards the breath's origin, and immediately let a small gasp leak.

The one that calmly flew over was a violet dragon with a body that was more than twice as big as Rubydra’s.

Renya wondered whether an opponent equal to the Four Great Dragons had appeared from the evil dragons’ side, but Rubydra's next thought, which was close to a mutter denies such a premonition.

<An ancient dragon of the Purple Water Dragon family…for even someone like that to come out…> (Rubydra)

“Is it a dangerous opponent?” (Renya)

Renya asks, seemingly perceiving Rubydra’s nervousness from the places where they are in contact.

While paying attention to other evil dragons' movements, Rubydra cannot take her eyes off that huge dragon.

<It’s natural that my brethren were hunted down. That one is a significantly higher ranked dragon when compared to us…> (Rubydra)

“I see, in other words, he’s the boss.” (Renya)

In contrast to Rubydra, whose voice is tinged with panic, Renya’s voice sounded somewhat happy.

“Since he’s a formidable opponent, it’s inevitable even if the surroundings get a bit damaged, right?” (Renya)

<Just do whatever you want…it’s not like I can hold you back anyway.> (Rubydra)

Rubydra, who can’t imagine a future where she’s able to stop Renya even if she tells him that this whole situation is avoidable, answers Renya’s question with a voice full of resignation.

Translation Notes: