Dark Dragon

After using Lavi's teleportation to cover some distance, the party switched to a carriage and entered the northwestern fortress.

In addition to Sei's group, their companions now included Mei and one more knight.

Apparently, this was a general who properly understood the king's intentions and was favorable toward Mei, and he would be taking command.

"Geographically, this is a narrow pass, and the fortress is positioned at this slightly wider area here."

The general explained while pointing to a map. Against a human army, this would be quite an effective fortress.

However, if there were many monsters that could dash through the mountains, they would spread out beyond the road on either side and advance past them from behind.

Moreover, this time they had few mages. They didn't have many means to counter flying monsters.

"For now, let's create walls with magic to force more monsters into the narrow pass."

At Sei's words, the general furrowed his brow.

"Walls? But I don't think that would be very effective against large monsters. And we want to conserve our mages' mana."

"Ah, I can handle that alone. Please lend me someone familiar with the geography to guide me."

With Sei's mana and recovery rate, he could create large earthen walls before the monster stampede arrived.

And if the monsters were concentrated together, the magic would be that much more effective.

And so, Sei created earthen walls stretching several kilometers east and west from the fortress. About ten meters high. This should be enough to funnel most of the monsters.

"I'll leave the aerial monsters to Laila… should I use Meteor Shower?"

It was a spell that could attack a wide area, but this time there was the terrain to consider. If he used it carelessly, the compressed blast wave in the narrow pass might destroy the fortress.

Rather, Lavi's breath would be more effective. It could concentrate on killing enemies gathered in the narrow pass.

"Right, let's do that."

As Sei returned to the fortress muttering to himself, someone firmly grabbed his head.

"M-Master…"

Trembling like a newborn fawn, Sei was met with Ria's exquisite smile.

"I'm in this boat now. I'll give you my full cooperation."

In the elevated building set up for commanding operations, Ria sat with an air of authority.

Well, she actually was important. Not just because she was a goddess, but she was the founder of the Sacred Ogress Empire. And her descendants' blood ran through Istria's royal family as well.

"You really don't seem to understand how strong evil gods are."

"No, I understand that I can't even scratch them."

"Then don't try to challenge the god behind the monster stampede. Even if you happened to fight a weak god and won, there's no guarantee you'd win the next time."

Their mission was solely to return the heroes. But when people were about to be killed right in front of them, if they knew they had the power to help, of course they'd try to save them.

"Well, your thinking isn't wrong for a human. I'm just not thinking from a human's perspective."

Having said that, Ria laid out the strategy.

First, Lavi would unleash her breath toward the narrow pass.

The army would attack from a distance to kill any monsters that survived.

Any that still survived after that, Ria would kill them all.

Then Ria would thoroughly beat down the god, and let Lavi deliver the finishing blow.

"Is that strategy really okay?"

At the general's words, Ria waved her hand dismissively.

"If we don't show off a dragon's power once in a while, humans start getting the wrong idea. Well, there's no need to reduce Istria's population, so just leave it to me."

What her words contained wasn't even confidence.

It was simply the tedium of performing a routine task.

"Divine dragons really are incredible…"

After the meeting, Mei let out such a murmur.

"I couldn't see the future at all. This is the first time that's happened."

"From what I've heard, she can even rewind time, so precognition probably doesn't work."

"… I thought I could use this power to make the world a better place, but…"

Mei's sigh carried a tinge of resignation.

"When this is over, I'll go back too."

"Are you sure?"

"Originally, this world isn't where I was born, and being told I'm having a negative effect on the world…"

That made things easier. Come to think of it, Jun was probably the only one who hadn't wanted to return to Earth.

"But I want to see this battle through. I want to properly see the outcome of something I was involved in."

The next day, it came.

Early in the morning, a carriage came barreling into the fortress along the road.

"Monsters, a horde of monsters! There's an incredible number of them!"

The merchant collapsed from exhaustion after saying that.

"Well then, prepare for battle."

The general received Ria's orders. Only Sei's group seemed to find this unnatural.

"Is she using mind magic or something?"

"No, I just think you can't defy that person."

Mako still didn't know how truly terrifying Ria was.

She probably had a stronger impression of Ria's adorable side when being pampered by Carla.

But even Lavi, who was supposedly still young, had that kind of ability.

They couldn't even imagine how truly strong Ria was.

From the forest beyond the narrow pass, monsters began to appear.

Sei, Lavi, and Ria watched from a high vantage point.

"Alright, start firing breaths repeatedly."

Lavi nodded and unleashed her breath.

It wasn't a sweeping breath, but one that went straight ahead.

It carved through the road. While vaguely thinking that the maintenance would be a pain, Sei mounted Lavi.

"Don't let any of the small ones escape either!"

At the general's command, attacks from the fortress began. Arrows and magical attacks rained down on the monsters like a shower.

"Well then, shall we go too?"

From Ria's back, clad in black leather armor, wings of mana emerged.

Following Ria, Lavi took flight as well. Sei's Guided Arrows fired continuously toward the distant earth.

Compared to the flashy attacks Sei launched, Ria's were even more spectacular. She conjured hundreds of fireballs around herself and showered them down on concentrated groups of monsters.

The only thing Sei's attacks had over Ria's was precision. His Guided Arrows, linked to the map, reliably struck their prey.

The Guided Arrows were effective against aerial monsters too.

Even if the arrow didn't reach their wings and just hit their body, monsters that fell to the ground would kill themselves with their own weight.

"They're decreasing at an incredible rate…"

Sei's map had been filled with red dots, but every time fireballs exploded, blank spaces appeared.

"Don't let the small ones escape either. Even Level 5 small fry are monsters that ordinary humans risk their lives to defeat."

Sei thought that at that point, they weren't even monsters anymore, just wild animals.

"Well, that takes care of most of them…"

Less than half a day after the battle started, the monster stampede had subsided.

There were monsters that had fled in a completely different direction, into the mountains, but they weren't near human settlements. For now, they could consider this stampede over.

"The real show starts here though. Can you see that?"

"Is that… a small hill?"

"It's the entrance to a labyrinth. Probably not on any maps."

This world had labyrinths. And the masters of those labyrinths could be gods, dragons, or divine beasts.

For the most part, their power exceeded humans. While some special ones like the Trial Labyrinth existed, most were abysses that swallowed the lives of explorers.

"Normally we'd enter the labyrinth and explore, but that's too much trouble this time."

Therefore, Ria said.

"I'll destroy the entire labyrinth."

Mana gathered toward Ria.

It was ten times the amount Sei had struggled to gather for his Meteor Shower.

What the hell is this, Sei thought.

If she could use such outrageous magic, then a hundred heroes working together would be meaningless.

"Now then, please collapse."

When Ria pointed her finger, the mana traveled underground.

Destroying the surrounding forest, the mana headed toward the depths of the labyrinth. Then on Sei's map, a new light point appeared.

Unable to identify.

The god split the earth and manifested on the surface.

"It's stronger than I thought."

There was faint tension in Ria's voice as she said that.

"What level is it?"

"About 500. Well, at this rate, even I would have trouble."

If the god they'd fought in the Demon Territory was a puppy, this god would be about the size of a human.

He wanted to punch his past self for thinking he could even slightly fight something like this.

"Can't be helped. I'll show you the full power of a divine dragon."

As she said that, Ria's form became a black sphere.

The black sphere grew larger and larger, and Lavi hurriedly flew away from it.

Eventually, from the sphere emerged wings, arms, legs, a tail, and finally a head.

"H-Huge…"

She was twice the size of what he'd thought was a massive god.

"This is totally a balance breaker…"

Sei couldn't help but mutter, as Lavi rapidly retreated from the area.

The dragon's claws tore into the god that had emerged by splitting the earth.

With that same momentum, she pressed it down beneath the ground where it had been sealed.

Then the dark breath was unleashed.

The earth undulated, and a thunderous roar echoed to the heavens.

The same thing repeated several times.

Occasionally the god's hand reached out and magic was cast, but the dark dragon didn't receive a single scratch.

"You said it was a strong god, but… this is completely one-sided…"

Eventually the dark dragon's form vanished, and Lavi cautiously approached Ria.

"Whoa…"

The god's body that Sei saw had been pulverized.

"It's still alive even like this. Lavi, finish it off with your breath. After that, absorb the divine core."

Lavi's breath erased the pulverized remains of the god's body.

After absorbing the divine core that remained at the end, the one-sided massacre was over.

And then Lavi collapsed right there.

"Huh? Lavi?"

"Probably level-up sickness. There was quite a level difference."

Lavi's body was enveloped in light and shrank.

But her human form had clearly matured.

"I'd like to let her rest for a while, but there's still cleanup to do."

Ria carried Lavi princess-style, but Sei had to walk.

Feeling the heat as he walked across the ruined ground, Sei returned to the fortress.

"Dragon Emperor, Your Majesty, we are truly grateful for your assistance on this occasion…"

"Don't worry about it. I thought it was about time to demonstrate a dragon's power again. More importantly, the aftermath will be difficult."

Repairing the destroyed road, considering countermeasures against future monsters.

Istria was already at its limits. If this had been Ogress or Gerhardt, the monster stampede wouldn't have been a problem at all.

Though not as good as the elven barrier, both Ogress and Gerhardt had established countermeasures against wild monsters.

For both nations, monsters were now merely resources that they specifically went into labyrinths to hunt.

"Also, Sei, show me the map you borrowed from Labyrinth."

"Ah, yes."

Looking at the map with its floating light points, Ria clicked her tongue softly.

"The precision is rough… Wasn't it difficult?"

"Using Mako's dot as a reference made it manageable."

"Even so, this map doesn't show forests or mountain ranges."

"Yes, so we've been using Lavi's teleportation for plains and carriages for roads through forests and mountains."

"I see… There's still one more hero in Istria."

"Yes, once we retrieve that person, I was going to discuss whether to cross to the Dragon Wing Continent or move to Gerhardt Empire, but…"

"No, after you retrieve the next hero, come back here once."

Not understanding Ria's intention, Sei fell silent. In response, Ria gave a simple explanation.

"Just going halfway around the Dragon Bone Continent took quite a while, didn't it? I've prepared a new means of transportation."

"Could it be an airship?"

"… Correct. Well, it's a bit difficult to use in this world. Basically carriages are better."

According to the knowledge she'd explained before, this world had many giant monsters in the sea and sky. Therefore, both sea and air only had routes that had been confirmed safe, and while the sea had some options, there were no regular air routes.

"There's also the problem of carrying horses, so it needs to be reasonably large."

"Don't you have automobiles?"

"We do, but depending on the location, there's no way to repair them if they break down. Even with restoration magic, it won't fix things if you don't know what's broken, and naturally worn parts can't be restored."

"This world really does have varying levels of civilization depending on the region."

"Yeah, one person with exceptional ability can suddenly change the world."

Ria explained the future route while pointing at the map.

"First, return to the Dwarven Village once and send back the hero in the Karasuri region. Then head to the Dragon Fang Continent and use the railway network to search for heroes."

"There are railways?"

"Yeah, that continent was once unified under a single government. Well, there are many autonomous regions due to racial characteristics."

Then her finger pointed back to the Dwarven Village.

"Once you return to the Dwarven Village again, head northwest next to search for Ogress's hero. After that, go from Ogress to Gerhardt and use the railway network to search for heroes."

"That's the Allied Empire, right?"

"Well, it's a demon-centered nation. By the way, in Gerhardt, barriers prevent teleportation near cities, so be careful."

"… Wouldn't carriages be inconvenient?"

"They might be in Gerhardt. But you'll need them for what comes after."

Her finger moved from the west to the east of the Dragon Bone Continent.

"After moving to the Dragon Wing Continent, carriages will probably be useful again. There aren't many proper roads. Travel around the various areas and go to the Dragon Claw Continent, and that will complete the heroes' return."

"The southern part of the Dragon Wing Continent has many forces of evil gods…"

"That's right. Avoid fighting gods as much as possible. After that battle earlier, you understand that they're not opponents you can handle, right?"

"Yes. But what if a hero refuses?"

At that, Ria brushed back her hair and let out a big sigh.

"The other divine dragons will start moving soon."

That meant beings on par with Ria would be taking action.

"We'll handle the gods. You fight the gods' servants while persuading the heroes. Anyone who won't be persuaded… persuade them physically."

That meant persuading them by force.