Chapter 87 - Flash Blasts in Black and Red (1/2)

Golden Tune’s strategy against this Stampede was to increase the involvement of Tanks and Healers.

Past Stampeded had never been all that dangerous, and were perfectly manageable with Attackers. This time, however, things were much riskier due to the addition of enemy Dragons. Although unlikely, the situation had at least some chance of going hard south, so Leon had persuaded his Attackers to work behind the scenes. Fortunately, there were already more than enough of other organizations’ Attackers.

As such, Leon was the sole Attacker of his Clan to be on the front lines. He and his Tanks and Healers worked to support other groups, helping to maximize their efficiency. The idea was to prioritize safety; it had been pitched by Eunice, which Leon had gladly accepted to put in action.

Additionally, at one point, Weiss of the Scarlet Devil Squad had personally requested Leon to support Alma. Weiss had also asked Leon to stay out of the way first, so he had not taken any action until the Ice Dragon started fighting back.

In addition to Alma, Leon had also saved the three other mortally wounded Attackers, quickly bringing them inside the barrier and delivering them to the medical-professional White Mages on standby. Thanks to that, four members of the Scarlet Devil Squad had avoided death.

As the Ice Dragon headed towards the barrier, multiple Tanks in its way unleashed <<Combat Cry>> at once. The Dragon seemed to recognize Leon’s appearance for being the one who had saved Alma, however, and exclusively pursued him.

“<nchant Flame>>!”

As soon as the Fire element was added to his sword, Leon disappeared — and reappeared the next instant to slash at the Ice Dragon’s wing. The flames on his sword trailed behind his movements, their sparks falling onto the Dragon.

With the <<Gold Bless>> and the band’s supportive effects, Leon’s AGI rating was now an S. Further buffed by <<Fly>>, his movements were difficult to follow with the naked eye. Even the Ice Dragon was stuck at a standstill, unable to keep up with its target’s speed.

Leon focused his slashes on the wings and scales that had been damaged by <<Meteor Stream>>. The Tanks continued to use <<Combat Cry>>, gradually building up aggro levels.

The Ice Dragon, irritated by Leon’s darting about, let out a roar and blew cold air from its body in an attempt to catch its opponent. By the time the cold air blast got to Leon, however, he had already backed away. He proceeded to dodge around until the air turned normal again.

It seemed that the Ice Dragon could not emit cold air constantly, as apparent from how its air blasts subsided after a while. Leon, having made sure of that, repeatedly attacked with his long sword by spinning in the air like a gyroscopic top.

“Gah, this is hard!”

The Dragon’s steel-solid frozen scales deflected his sword, which also numbed his hand. Fortunately, the scales and wing webbings that Alma had damaged could be sliced through. For a while, Leon focused his attacks on those areas, overwhelming the Ice Dragon by himself.

The Ice Dragon had been hit twice by the <<Meteor Stream>>, and its wings had broken from the subsequent crash, so it was now moving slowly. And then, just when the Tanks’ <<Combat Cry>> wave was about to pull away the Ice Dragon’s aggro successfully, red streaks of light pierced the Dragon’s side.

Weiss, the Clan Leader of Scarlet Devil Squad, had a deep crimson-dyed crossbow in his hands, and was shooting red arrows with it in quick succession. The Ice Dragon was visibly intimidated by the crossbow bolts strengthened by <

>.

Weiss’ unique skill gave him a great advantage over the Ice Dragon. In fact, he had already killed one, and had just now returned here to help. The White Mage that had followed him was also back, flying behind him.

Weiss turned to the Golden Tune support group, so as to confirm that Alma was not with them. Then, he proceeded to wave his red crossbow as if to say that he could take things over from here.

“I’m not about to let you steal my kill, man!”

Leon grinned mischievously, and then stabbed the Dragon on one of the spots where Weiss’ bolts had pierced. The damaged scales were identifiable by their changed colors; they were much weaker than before, enabling Leon’s sword to get through with ease.

Weiss looked at Leon, who was now levitating beside him. The look he gave the latter suggested that he was cool-headed, in stark contrast to the super-heated blade in his hands.

“…I can do this myself.”

“I should be the one saying that, dammit!”

“…How’s Alma?”

“She’s safe. But that was a close call, mind you. If not for me, she and at least three others probably would’ve been dead, you know?”

“…I knew you were the right man for the job. You have my thanks.”

In the beginning, Weiss had planned to separate the Ice Dragons and kill them one by one, similar to Tsutomu’s approach to the Black Dragons. At Alma’s insistence, however, he had reluctantly allowed her to lead the rest of the Clan in fighting one. As such, when Leon expressed anger at what he had allowed, he thanked the wolfman despite still being somewhat disgruntled at Alma.

Weiss proceeded to tuck his mechanical crossbow into his Magic Bag and pull out a long sword instead. Once its handle was in his hands, its blade instantly turned a deep crimson.

“…Why not go somewhere else? I have an advantage over the Ice Dragon here.”

“Well, the other places’ already have all they need!”

The two continued to converse while fighting the Ice Dragon. Weiss’ crimson-dyed long sword melted its way through the monster’s scales, and Leon followed up by attacking those exposed spots.

“…The Black Dragon?”

“All the heavy hitters are there — Camille, Garm, Tsutomu and his friends… No point in me going to help them.”

“…The rulers?”

“Ol’ Melchor’s running the show.”

“……”

Weiss, ready to give up arguing at this point, said nothing more and focused his attention on attacking the Ice Dragon. Leon, while complaining in his mind how Weiss was as hard to please as ever, continued to chip away at the enemy Dragon together with the latter.

“…Whew.”

Golden Tune’s Tanks that had been repeatedly using <<Combat Cry>> down below heaved a few sighs upon the sight of the pair fighting however they pleased. Just the two men were already overwhelming the Ice Dragon, making the Tanks feel frustrated at how they probably would be a nuisance if they interfered.