Dragonlord

Ep 98. Ludin. (1)

“Talk about crowded. The place is pretty much an ant colony.”

“…”

Stretching before the two dragons standing on clifftop was a beautiful landscape occupied by a vibrant city built upon the hills by a glimmering inlet. Despite the distance between them and the city, Raizel could still make out the numerous bodies busily moving about in its streets over the capital’s walls; although Serenis couldn’t make out nearly the same level of details as Raizel, she could clearly see that Zeria was, in fact, just a larger version of any other human settlement.

‘…I expected a war post of sorts.’

Though, despite the city’s unexpected beauty, Serenis couldn’t bring herself to think very highly of the sight. If the empire’s army dwelling within were equipped with Kelador’s shell, then that was already of significant threat to her current self; further, she scarce had compassion to spare for a nation that would willingly attack her kin and defile her friend’s corpse.

Meanwhile, Raizel turned towards Serenis after finishing her own observation.

“So? Can we bust in now? The emperor’s bound to be holed up in that huge palace at the top.”

“...’Bust in’?”

“Yeah. You know, just go in, think later. You even taught me how to fly, I don’t see why we can’t just head straight in there.”

“…Right. I…suppose we could.”

It was a nation that had wronged her kin and friend both.

And yet, something about the prospect of attacking the capital irked at Serenis’ conscience. Something she couldn’t quite put a finger on.

Noticing the dragonlord’s hesitation, Raizel spared a momentary glance towards the dragonlord, crossing her arms in annoyance. The youngling’s voice betrayed a hint of sarcasm, looking off into the distance.

“You feel sorry for them, don’t you?”

“No, that’s not…”

“No, I get it. You weren’t there when it happened, so you’re not all that angry about it. But…”

The steel dragon summoned her wings, metallic shards glittering under the sunlight. Her feet dug into the ground beneath her as Raizel prepared to leap.

“…Don’t blame me if you find the emperor dead. I’m not as nice as you are, lord.”

It wasn’t long until Raizel’s figure disappeared from sight, her body speeding off into the distance to become a speck in the air. Serenis watched the youngling soar across the distance towards the obvious palace located on top of Zeria’s largest hill.

And still, she hesitated to chase after Raizel.

‘What is this reluctance I feel?’

Despite being against harming innocents, Serenis, too, had scarcely any compassion to spare against people of a nation that harmed her brethren. And if she were so against harming the innocent, then it was merely a matter of ignoring them and heading straight to capture the emperor. She could simply subdue and release the others, just like she had with the four soldiers at Hilia.

The dragonlord shook her head, summoning her own wings to follow after Raizel. Whatever it was that was bothering her conscientious, surely it wasn’t worrying about right now.

Surely.

✧ ✧ ✧

“Hey…what is that?”

“Meh? What’s what?”

“Up there! Do you see that? That thing flying towards us!”

“…You okay? Did you drink too much last night?”

“This isn’t a joke! Look up, damnit!”

“What’s-“

Before their conversation continued any further, Raizel retracted her wings, letting her body freely fall down. It took no time at all for the youngling’s body to plummet down onto the palace ramparts, straight towards the conversing, oblivious soldiers.

And before he could ever look up, a heap of metal crushed one of the two guards underneath in its deafening landing, breaking off his skull and neck along with a significant portion of the stone he stood on.

Once the dust cleared, Raizel rose to her knees, whisking off the dirt and pebble on her body.

“Haha, that was fun. I could get used to that.”

“…”

The remaining soldier dropped his spear, taking a few cautious steps back in fear. He soon came to a stop when his back touched the rampart’s other edge, bits of stone falling towards the steep fall behind him.

Raizel then turned towards the frozen soldier, beguiled smile on her face.

“Hey. Where’s your emperor?”

“…I…he…uhm…”

“Don’t know? That’s fine, I’ll ask someone else.”

Raizel nonchalantly approached the trembling soldier, cornering him against the rampart’s edge. She nudged her chin with an amused smile, gesturing towards the empty space behind him.

“What’re you waiting for? Not gonna run away?”

“R…run away? But there’s…nothing behind me…”

“Pft. What, you’re scared of heights?”

“If…if I fall from here, I’ll die…”

“Won’t know ‘til you try. Here, I’ll even help you.”

Raizel fixed her grip on the soldier’s head, pulling him up by force. She then tossed him off the ramparts, letting the soldier plummet down to the ground far beneath the palace walls.

When his distant scream abruptly ceased after a loud crunching noise, Raizel snorted out a laughter. His body remained motionless in the bloody pool beneath.

“Huh. What do you know, you were right.”

A series of screamed orders and yelling followed suit. Dozens of ringing noises began to echo throughout, warning the palace occupants of their newest intruder.

But instead of waiting for Serenis’ arrival, Raizel instead elected to make her way into the structure’s depths, hopping down onto a large courtyard within the castle walls. Just this once, it was better to be alone – lest the dragonlord prevent her from doing as she pleased.

When armed soldiers began pouring in to surround the steel dragon, she couldn’t help but notice the odd, bronze-like glint in their various weaponry. According to what the dragonlord had told her, those weapons could effectively null magic.

‘So what?’

Unlike Serenis, the youngling had no need for magic when it came to combat. She only needed her own body.

A body that could ignore the scathing of swords and spears. A body that could ignore the hail of arrows and magic.

A body that could trample these insects underfoot, just like her parents would have if their daughter hadn’t been taken hostage.

✧ ✧ ✧

“…What is this noise?”

“Seems we have an intruder in the palace.”

Boom!

“Oh my, that was a rather loud one. I think a tower or two fell to that.”

The court mage let out a pleasant laughter; the emperor only returned a cold stare at his advisor’s unserious attitude.

“Elgade.”

“Yes, your majesty?”

“Do not disappoint me.”

“Why, of course. I’ll tend to the intruder myself as soon as you step through.”

“…Hmph.”

“Make haste now. He won’t be pleased if you’re late to his calling.”

The emperor soon turned away from the court mage, stepping into the shimmering disc of violet light in front of him. When the glowing portal disappeared along with the emperor, the mage lowered his staff, letting out a quiet sigh.

“I suppose I should get to it…”

After fixing his robe, the mage exited the throne room, making way towards the source of the noise. Even from here, he could feel the massive mana presence rampaging just up ahead. He could hear it too, roaring and tearing the palace to shreds.

‘I wonder how long they’ll last this time?’

If this was a bad day, 5 seconds.

If it was a good day, maybe 6.