Leviathan of the Covenant Vol 5 Chapter 5.3

The Army of Fire had appeared over the Old Manhattan Concession.

A great army consisting of roughly three hundred salamander-shaped flames, they were all minions under Hannibal's command.

Unlike Raptors, the Army of Fire did not fly all over the place. Instead, they hovered neatly in the air like soldiers awaiting the commander's orders.

"If we rush into that army, it'll be checkmate for us like how they took care of the Raptors last time. That being said, we have no choice but to attack. What troublesome enemies... Hazumi-san."

"Y-Yes!"

The obedient junior witch instantly responded in a stiff voice as soon as Asya spoke to her.

s.h.i.+rasaka Hazumi was like an angel and did not like conflict. However, she must have felt how terrifying dragon king Hannibal was, thus making her more nervous than during the usual battles.

Currently, Asya and Hazumi were the only witches remaining on the transport helicopter.

After the salamanders showed up, Asya immediately instructed the members of the WotC to meet up with ground forces. Even without the ability to use pseudo-divinity for now, four "serpents" still stood as valuable combat potential.

"First Rushalka and I will test out the enemy. Minadzuki is important backup, so please don't carelessly enter the combat zone."

"Understood."

No good would come out of throwing all their available forces into the front lines.

Looking back at history, many battles were won through the efforts of reserve forces. After predicting possible mistakes that the still inexperienced Hazumi might make and warning her about them—

Asya looked at the aerial battlefield again from her vantage point in the helicopter.

Rushalka was in the sky over Chinatown in the southern part of Old Manhattan. The Army of Fire were in a formation at the center of this wasteland—above Central Park.

They were separated by roughly ten kilometers.

The Army of Fire moved in unison and flew towards Rushalka. In addition, the hands of the three hundred salamanders had gained weapons without anyone noticing earlier. Using the four fingers on their right forelimb, they were wielding black spears dexterously!

Runes of Ruruk Soun were arranged in front of all the salamanders.

The runes were all the same, reading "O spear of mine, gather the northern star's power to advance with ferocity" in every case.

"—!? Rushalka, evasive maneuvers. Hurry and circle to the back of the enemy!"

Asya issued emergency orders but a surprising result awaited her.

Despite always following orders faithfully, Rushalka did not respond this time. She did turn herself to dodge at least, but that was as far as she could go. As her partner, Asya instinctively guessed the reason.

"Overwhelmed by the enemy's pressure?"

In that case—Asya yelled.

"Retreat, Rushalka! Leave the city and withdraw to the riverside!"

If attack orders could not be executed due to pressure, perhaps a retreat command was possible?

Asya was correct. Continuing to face the Army of Fire, Rushalka started flying backwards.

Ruahalka flew from Chinatown in the south of Old Manhattan to the city's entrance, Manhattan Bridge.

Directly below her was the great river flowing north-south in New York State—The Hudson River's mouth. Rushalka continued to back away, retreating to the sky over Liberty Island, the Statue of Liberty, Governors Island, etc.

Asya nodded.

Ruashalka's retreat speed was faster than the Army of Fire's advance. Hence, their separation had lengthened, reducing the pressure Rushalka somewhat. Asya immediately command, "Invoke pseudo-divinity. Wall of Water!"

Kyuahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Pseudo-divinity activated together with the roar. In the next second, the surface of the torrential Hudson River rose up, forming a gigantic towering pillar of water—

The great volume of river water was enough to form a sphere surrounding Rushalka in all directions.

The sphere's diameter was roughly sixty meters, resulting in a protective layer sufficient to cover the gigantic body of the "serpent" with no blindspots.

"Add the enchantment of imperishable protection!"

The s.h.i.+eld of water guarding Rushalka began to glow with pearly radiance.

This was the strongest defensive formation, a combination of pseudo-divinity and a Tyrannos' power. So long as she persisted in sniping the enemy forces while under protection—

"Rushalka, although I'm not Orihime-san, we'll have to fight a Battle of Nagas.h.i.+no here!"

The partner in Queen Form readied an arrow of light on the crimson bow and shot swiftly.

This arrow pierced a salamander squarely—That was supposed to happen but the arrow of light disappeared as soon as it struck the arrangement of Ruruk Soun runes reading "O spear of mine, gather the northern star's power to advance with ferocity."

The second and third arrows met the same fate.

"The enemy side has iron-clad defense too... It's like a phalanx of spearmen."

The Army of Fire arrived while Asya clicked her tongue.

The three hundred salamanders scattered in front of Rushalka all at once, closing in from all angles, using the spears in their hands to stab the water sphere. No matter which direction, there were salamanders everywhere.

Kyuahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The blue wyvern roared again, but this time was due to pain.

Rather than pulling out their spears, the three hundred salamanders pushed their spears deeper into the s.h.i.+eld of water. Tormented by pain, Rushalka screamed even more acutely.

Hannibal's technique of a.s.sured annihilation was capable of inflicting physical damage even with imperishable protection in the way!

"Rushalka!?"

Her partner was enduring the pain of being stabbed by three hundred drills.

Realizing this, Asya looked grim. Considering Rushalka's current condition, she should be able to completely block even Pavel Galad's technique of a.s.sured annihilation.

However, this solid defense was being tragically obliterated by Hannibal's minions.

"If the general shows up now...!"

"Asya-san! P-Please look at that!"

Inside a helicopter circling over the Hudson river, the two witches watched the battle situation.

Asya looked in the direction indicated by Hazumi and gasped. What she feared had come true.

On Governors Island where Hal and others had met the red dragon king—

The island's ground was ablaze from a magical conflagration. Amid the sea of flames, a gigantic elite dragon—no, Manhattan's king—was getting ready to rise.

Dragon king Hannibal opened his great jaws and roared repeatedly.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!

One could call it a great noise that shook heaven and earth.

This howling further granted the Army of Fire more power. The salamanders stabbed deeper with their spears, immediately breaking the protective s.h.i.+eld.

The sixty-meter-diameter water sphere barrier guarding Rushalka—

It began to collapse with water splas.h.i.+ng.

The sphere shrank progressively. In merely a minute or two, its volume had been reduced to half of its original. Hannibal came forward personally, flying slowly to approach Rushalka and deliver the final blow.

Naturally, the dragon king himself was wielding a spear too. All was lost—Just as everyone thought that...

'Please... Hang on a bit longer!'

Asya seemed to hear the voice of her childhood friend. Rather than her ear, it was the Rune of the Bow surfacing on the back of her left hand that had transmitted the message to her.

"Rushalka, use the Water Cannon and the Rune of the Bow simultaneously!"

This was her third time invoking pseudo-divinity today.

The Hudson River's water surface bulged up violently again, spewing a water pillar upwards.

This is a technique using the river below as artillery to fire several hundred tons of water as ammunition. Together with the Rune of the Bow's firepower, it was upgraded into a dragonslaying attack.

This attack was evidently effective.

Water extinguished fire. This time, a natural law of the universe took effect.

Swallowed by the great flood of water from the Hudson River, the three hundred salamanders disappeared with a sizzle.

"Unable to withstand attacks from below—or rather, flanking attacks. Sure enough, their strengths and weaknesses are the same as a phalanx..." said Asya quietly after realizing the properties of the Rune of the Spear.

The water cannon earlier had also allowed Rushalka to bolster her defenses.

Having shrunk to less than half its size, the defensive water sphere replenished its moisture, returning to its original diameter of sixty meters.

Used as a cannon, the river water gushed up to a height of seven or eight hundred meters.

The water pillar then fell swiftly into the Hudson River like a gust of violent wind—In the next second, Red Hannibal charged in just as this momentary downpour ended!

"Although I have forgotten how many millennia I have fought with the dragonslaying spear by my side..."

Hannibal made a straight forward thrust with the dragonslaying spear, flying to make beeline towards Rushalka in the air over Governors Island.

"This is my first time fighting an imitation dragon king!"

"Rushalka!"

The dragon king tried to pierce the defensive water sphere with the tip of his spear.

The sphere guarding Rushalka barely managed to block Hannibal's thrust.

As a result, the sphere vanished in that instant. Hundreds of tons of river water spilled into the Hudson River.

"How about that? Your petty tricks end here, right!?"

Hannibal resumed flying towards Rushalka. The red dragon king extended his spear. Now, the imitation queen no longer had any defensive s.h.i.+eld. Asya roared, "Rushalka, retreat first!"

The partner obeyed Asya's command and back away swiftly.

Hannibal gave chase. Fortunately, their initial speeds were different. The blue wyvern had an overwhelming advantage in speed.

The time needed for Rushalka to start accelerating from rest was extremely short.

Within only ten-odd seconds, Rushalka was able to reach maximum speed, displaying her agile and nimble flying form. In contrast, Hannibal glided slowly first before speeding up gradually.

In a certain way, Hannibal's leisurely appearance was more fitting of a king's style.

Consequently, this battle of pursuit was initially in Rushalka's favor—

"Rushalka, please keep your distance and continue to escape. Don't fight Hannibal head on. You must flank him!"

Asya kept issuing detailed orders.

Despite the slow start, Hannibal's flying speed was quite high once given enough time to accelerate.

Furthermore, he continued to exude pressure that stiffened Rushalka's movements. He was not an opponent easy to escape from.

Rushalka fled to the sky over Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty was located with Hannibal in pursuit.

However, after two or three minutes of chasing the blue wyvern, the red dragon king suddenly halted in the air and started to laugh.

"Hahahahaha! I will need helpers to catch a swift swallow. Then I shall summon some shrikes!"

Flames—Salamander-shaped flames appeared one after another in Hannibal's surroundings.

Roughly three hundred salamanders. With that, Asya understood. Rushalka's earlier attack had simply extinguished the flames. The Army of Fire was not vanquished. After a while, they would revive like this...

As expected of a dragon king, the gap in power was too great. The worst-case scenario appeared in Asya's mind.

Would she be able to continue? Most likely, she was going to run out of options—

"Asya-san, please look at this!"

At that moment, Hazumi, who had been on standby the whole time, handed her a memo.

Due to focusing on the battle, Asya had not noticed that Hazumi had been in wireless communications with someone. Written on the memo was an instruction from the other person.

"Rushalka, retreat to the bridge quickly!"

Rushalka started flying according to Asya's demand.

With her back to Hannibal and his great army, she flew north swiftly, in other words, towards Old Manhattan.

There were only two kilometers to Manhattan Bridge and it would not take the wyvern's wings very long to get there.

Hannibal's army was out in full force, chasing after the fleeing Rushalka.

The dragon king took the lead with the three hundred salamanders behind him. The king and his p.a.w.ns each wielded a spear, giving off vibes of determined slaughter.

Hannibal's flying in the lead was still sluggish.

Hence, Rushalka was not going to be caught straight away. But once Hannibal got up to speed—and this time, with a great number of salamanders as hunting hounds—any slight mistake and all would be lost.

Meanwhile, the transport helicopter carrying Asya and Hazumi was also flying towards Manhattan Bridge.

This was due to Hazumi asking the pilot to do so.

Seeing Rushalka only seconds away from arriving over the bridge, Asya said, "Release Queen Form. Next user up!"

Rushalka flew over Manhattan Bridge.

The ruby armor and arms vanished. This time, the one who obtained armor and entered Queen Form was Akuro-Ou, on standby at the bridge since a while ago—

The white nine-tailed fox-wolf was equipped with Queen Form's armor.

There was a golden cannon on her back as well.

Kuohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Akuro-Ou barked sonorously and fired the golden cannon on her back continuously. Shooting out of the barrel were flashes of red light, targeting the Army of Fire pursuing Rushalka.

However, with Hannibal as the vanguard, the spearmen used that power again.

Once again, the runic arrangement of "O spear of mine, gather the northern star's power to advance with ferocity" appeared in front of the dragon king and his soldiers.

The cannon shots disappeared upon striking the runes.

Hence, what took credit for halting the army's advance was not Akuro-Ou but a gigantic "box" descending from the sky.

Moving towards the ground from the starry sky—

As a rough description, it was rectangular in shape but enormous enough to serve as a coffin for a thirty to forty-meter tall giant.

The box was colored white, making it especially conspicuous against the darkness of night.

It seemed to be made of wood. Indeed, it was a gigantic wooden s.h.i.+p.

At first glance, it seemed to be descending slowly, but the white ark was actually moving at the river at over fifty kilometers per hour. However, the water surface remained calm without any ripples.

It looked like the ark's descent was guided by gravity control magic.

The landing was quite similar to Genbu-Ou's arrival in Tokyo New Town two months prior. Perhaps this level of similarity was only natural. After all, the giant turtle Genbu-Ou and the white ark were both created for the same purpose.

Minions for serving a dragon king or Tyrannos. A mode of transportation to take their masters to the sea of stars—

"So that's Solomon's ark..."

Asya murmured while looking out of the helicopter at the white ark below.

The landing site was not far from Manhattan Bridge. This was no accident, because Akuro-Ou was not the only one on the bridge. Hal, the one who had summoned the ark, was there too with Orihime.

"Oh?"

Meanwhile, Hannibal muttered while leading his flying army of salamanders.

"Handiwork related to Ruruk Soun huh? Hohoho, Tyrannos, what exactly are your intentions...?"

Despite expecting a trap, Hannibal continued to march his army forward.

The fearless dragon king wished to crush Hal's group, trap and ark included.