Skeleton Knight, in Another World Vol 4 Chapter 8

V4 Chapter 8

Translator: Silver  Editor: Namorax

「Dragon King」Part 2

The Dragon King floated in the sky in a grandiose manner with its four wings. The flapping of said wings was so strong, it blew up a dust storm.

In the game, its behavior would match that of a Wind Dragon.

They were a subset of dragons with large wings, slim bodies and long tails. However, this dragon was about thirty meters tall and its thick limbs seemed strong enough to easily cut anyone that carelessly approached in half.

The dragon seemed like it could use the large sword in my hand as a toothpick. Quite impressive considering my sword had temporarily doubled in length thanks to a skill I’d activated.

In the game, earth attribute attacks would have an advantage over wind attribute foes. Unfortunately, it was hard to hit a flying enemy with earth based attacks.

I could try using 【Rock Bullet】, but I remembered that airborne wyverns were able to easily dodge the attack.

There was a meteor fall magic spell that a certain high-level occupation could learn, but Heavenly Knights lacked that ability.

A being capable of flight was truly a menacing opponent.

It was also doubtful that the attribute balancing had an effect in this world in the first place.

《Here I come, Youngling!!》

At his shout, the Dragon King’s body began to emit a radiant light. With a flick of its ma.s.sive wings, an invisible force cut down the trees between us as it approached me.

It was similar to the wind attribute attack, Kamaitachi…… I remained calm with my 『Holy Thunder Sword』 and invoked a spell to dodge the invisible force.

“【Dimensional Step】!”

Just before the invisible attack reached me, I vanished.

《Huh!?》

I materialized right beneath the Dragon King’s feet. Since the Dragon King had lost sight of me, he was frantically scanning the area for me.

The wind generated by the Dragon King’s wing flaps was quite furious and almost sent me flying as I honed in on the long tail that was hanging off the end of the Dragon King’s body.

It would be ineffective to attack the main body with my sword.

Because it was difficult to pinpoint something moving in midair, I had transferred to this location and slowly made my way to the tail, so as to not be blown away.

Let’s see if my attacks can connect.

I looked up at the Dragon King as I pulled back my sword.

《!!? Reveal thyself!!》

His long tail drooped as he spoke, which gave me the opening I needed to launch a firm attack. An intense shock ran through my blade when it made contact with the tail.

A metallic clang you’d never expect to hear from a living creature’s skin rang out as fresh blood coated my armor and everything in the vicinity.

As expected of the pinnacle of Dragons, his scales were strong enough to match mythical grade weapons.

《Huuuuuhhhhh!!》

The Dragon King let out a cry between a wail and a shout as he flapped his wing harder and turned around.

As the increased wind shattered my stance, I saw the low hanging tail heading straight for me.

Before it reached me, I invoked my transfer magic again.

“【Dimensional Step】!”

My view instantaneously changed to the Dragon King’s blind spot beneath his tail. However, the Dragon King raised his tail faster that he should have been able to and whipped it at me.

“Huh!?”

Recognizing the danger, I invoked 【Dimensional Step】 three times in order to put some distance between us.

《You, you’re using the same technique as Hanzo! It appears this one can’t be careless either!!》

The Dragon King soared into the sky above the forest after he said that and began circling it.

After picking up some speed and momentum, the Dragon King dove at me with the claws on his hind legs fully extended.

I wasn’t daring enough to take on such a huge enemy moving at such speed with a sword.

At the same time I used transfer magic to dodge the attack, I invoked an earth attribute spell in the place I had been standing.

“【Stone Fangs】!!”

The stone spikes that rose from the ground hit the noise-diving Dragon King head on, but they shattered upon collision, causing a cloud of dust and debris to fly into the air as a sound reminiscent of a meteor strike rocked the area.

From inside the dust cloud, the Dragon King opened his wings and rose into the sky like a missile.

The shock wave from the forceful takeoff hit me like a brick and was enough to clear the area of debris.

I’d be obliterated if I took something like that head on.

《How long dost thou plan to scurry about!? This time you won’t escape!!》

When he finished speaking, the Dragon King soared higher above the forest before falling in a magnificent arc.

In order to neutralize the Dragon King, it might be necessary to use the strongest offensive skills available to Heavenly Knights.

However, it’d take a considerable amount of time to complete the necessary preparations.

Turning my attention to the Dragon King, I ran out into the open and held out my hand to invoke a new spell.

“Come forth, he who rules the skies! 【Seteka】!!”

An enormous magic circle appeared in front of me. I could feel my mana pouring into it as the circle’s complex symbols started s.h.i.+fting and wind began to gather at its center.

A large tornado burst from the magic circle and wrecked havoc on the forest as it rose into the heavens.

The summoned beasts that I could use were too powerful to be used against human opponents, but there wasn’t a problem if I used them against a Dragon King.

The Dragon King smiled a little when he saw the tornado, but his speed didn’t decrease and his body began to emit light again.

It seems that he attended to level this entire area with the Dragon Breath attack he used before.

Something like a carpet bombing strategy.

The green light covered the Dragon King’s mouth and the next moment a beam of light was sent flying towards my direction.

When the Dragon Breath attack collided with the tornado in front of me, the beam of light dispersed as if it had hit an invisible wall.

I somehow made it in time.

The humanoid summoned beast was over five meters tall.

Four large ears stood up atop the summon beast’s head, it had a long face and gray skin but strangest of all was its four-armed, bipedal, giant anteater-like body.

Since it was a humanoid beast, the creature wore a ornamented burka on its body, wielded a kindjal in two of its hands and s.h.i.+elds in the others. The summoned beast was also calmly floating in the air thanks to the tornado under its feet.

This was a summoned beast of the intermediate level that could create wind blades and area of effect storms.

It was a summoned beast that used the same wind attribute as the Dragon King and could fly.

『Seteka』 opened and closed its eyes before focusing its golden pupils on the approaching dragon, starting to emit light and wind from its body.

“What is that ma.s.s of spiritual power!? Could it be one of the Spirit Kings!?”

I heard the Dragon King’s surprised shout in my head just as he collided with the 『Seteka』, which had surrounded itself in a raging storm.

The force created by the collision sent a destructive storm through the area.

The over thirty meter tall dragon and the five meter tall summoned beast rose above the forest while intensely fighting.

Sparks flew as the 『Seteka』 held it’s kindjal against the claws on the Dragon King forepaws.

A similar standoff occurred when the Dragon King went in for a bite. Every time the two engaged each other, a shock wave jolted me to my very core.

When the two disengaged from each other, the constant bombardment of long ranged magic attacks from both sides prevented either from closing the gap.

Countless wounds had appeared on the two of them as the long and short-range battles continued. 『Seteka』 was by no means inferior to the Dragon King in terms of power.

Despite that, there was a limit to how long a summoned beast could last.

So it wasn’t the deciding factor in this battle.

However, it was a temporary distraction that had bought me enough time.

The four most powerful skills of the Heavenly Knight: 【The Executor】, 【The Judge】, 【The Guardian】, and 【The Prophet】.

Each skill is equivalent to a weapon of ma.s.s destruction. There was no wiggle room when using them and each carried a twelve-hour cooldown time. Even with my large mana pool I could only use three of them at a time.

Since the enemy was a Dragon King, 【The Judge】 may be the best one to use.

It would allow me to soar in the sky like the Dragon King after all.

I returned my gaze to the battle raging in the sky.

The skill was rather annoying to use in the game, so I wondered what would actually happen when I used it…… That was the question running through my mind as the Dragon King’s and summoned beast’s fierce battle unfolded before my eyes.

I was certain that taking this guy down would create an immeasurable amount of collateral damage.

But…… there was no helping it.

As I raised my sword to the sky, a surge of power filled my body as I prepared to activate the skill… However, a group of water wolf summons suddenly hit the Dragon King and the summoned beast.

I recognized those wolves as something created with Chiome’s ninjutsu.

“Please halt this duel, Dragon King-sama!!”

Chiome leaped out of the remains of the forest, did an impressive aerial twist and soundlessly landed in front of me, pleading with the Dragon King in the sky.

She managed to run all the way over here without any transfer magic. The tremendous speed of a ninja is quite terrifying.

When the Dragon King saw Chiome, he stopped moving and narrowed his reptilian eyes at her.

《Ho…… That appearance, art thou a member of Hanzo’s clan?》

The Dragon King had brought up that name a while ago, when I used 【Dimensional Step】, so maybe he had some connection to Chiome’s Clan.

Although she was a little startled by the Dragon King’s question, Chiome managed to answer him.

“My name is Chiome. I possess one of the six t.i.tles that have been pa.s.sed down since Hanzo the first led the clan.”

The Dragon King smiled a little at her reply.

《One so young, already bearing a spirit crystal…… Is that a testament your skill or of your clan’s decline?》

Chiome looked up at the sky when she heard the Dragon King’s calm voice.

Then I heard the familiar voice of the last person late to this party.

“Dragon King, that person is our companion. My name is Ariane Glenys Maple, of Great Canada Forest. Would you please excuse his rude behavior and listen to our story?”

“Kyun!”

Ariane’s long, white hair was jostled by the wind that the Dragon King’s flapping wings created.

The fluffy-tailed Ponta barked at the enormous dragon as she sat on Ariane’s shoulder.

There was no sign of Ponta’s timid nature as she stared down the Dragon King. She was even wagging her tail in an attempt to get its attention.

Ariane, also acting out of character, had knelt before the Dragon King and spoke to him in a polite tone.

When Ariane appeared, the 『Seteka』 that had been fighting the Dragon King disappeared into thin air.

It seems the time limit had run out.

The Dragon King’s fighting spirit faded as well and he landed on the ground in front of us before folding his large wings.

I returned my sword to my sheath and broke my combat stance.

《Forest dweller from beyond the mountains…… This one is known as Williahsfim. I will accept your apology and hear you out.》

The Dragon King identified himself with a snort strong enough to blow up a dust cloud.