Chapter 91 - Interception Readiness (2/2)

The band’s Conductor started directing the Minstrels to begin performing. Music echoed through the area, boosting everyone’s status values. Those who heard the performance recognized the tunes as ones that were always played during Stampedes, and gradually regained their composure.

The Devourer Dragon pushed forward, its breath heavy; the Golem-construct bases did nothing to slow its progress. Its body, practically a mass of pure muscle, plunged on as if it was not up against any obstacle. Moreover, its highly advanced sense of smell enabled it to track even the faintest smalls of its prey; this had also caused it to detect the vast amount of Magic Stones in Dungeon City.

The only time this creature was ever satisfied was during a meal. In every single moment not spent eating, it was hungry and would be on the hunt for more food. Its nose had sniffed out the best prey it could hope to ever find: the sheer quantity of Colorless Magic Stones in Dungeon City — that was why the creature’s legs were leading it here. Obviously, along the way, it had devoured almost all of the Stampede’s monsters in its path.

Now, it was making a beeline to where it could smell the most Magic Stones coming from, but on the way, it found its progress halted by a wall.

The wall was transparent, and thus invisible to the Devourer Dragon; it was none other than House Babenberg’s barrier. The Dragon, confused as to why its body had bounced back, proceeded to walk toward the wall again, after which it realized that it was being blocked by something.

Then it roared, its voice raspy as if all the creatures it had eaten were trying to get out of its stomach.

Those who heard the roar felt as if they were being eaten; all except Tsutomu, were frightened by the Dragon. They reacted in a myriad of ways, some taking a few steps back in panic, and others falling down under the pressure. Tsutomu, having been welcomed into this world by the Corroded Elder Dragon’s roar, did not wince, but still slightly stiffened his expression.

The whole band’s performance stopped at once, replaced by the Devourer Dragon’s roar, which absolutely dominated the area.

The Devourer Dragon, eyes bloodshot, flexed its legs so hard that the ground caved in… and then it tackled the barrier, shaking the entirety of it.

Constantly screaming as if it was a beast in heat, it attacked and attacked, eventually cracking the outer barrier, producing a sound similar to teeth grinding together.

More than half of those present were on the verge of panicking; the menacing Dragon was roaring closer and closer to their ears, and the supposedly invincible barrier had cracked. Thankfully, another, more dignified source of sound drowned out the monster’s voice.

The band’s Conductor had resumed the performance, directing all the Minstrels to play. The tunes began to resound with a volume no less than the Devourer Dragon’s.

The skill they used, all in unison, was <<War Deity Instrumental>>. It could only be performed with musical instruments, but it had the valuable effect of boosting the STR of those who heard its tune.

The performance served to encourage all of those who were frightened by the Devourer Dragon’s roars. The band’s volume increased more and more. Eventually, the Dragon’s roars felt as if they were part of the music, which in turn let the music effectively calm the panicking fighters’ minds.

That did not change the fact that the barrier had cracked, however. The magic-shooting squads near the barrier and the anti-monster magic tool-operating military forces were especially aware of that threat.

The barrier had never gotten so much as a scratch before, but this time, it had been cracked by just one creature. By the nobility’s orders, almost everyone had been positioned further from the barrier than before, so the ones closest to the action now were the attack squads… and naturally, some of them were now starting to take steps back.

“Stay calm, people,” the head of House Babenberg said nonchalantly through a megaphone-like tool, seemingly aware of the attack squad’s unease.

The eldest son and daughter jumped down from a watchtower, then cast <<Fly>> to break their fall, landing safely beside their father.

“Heh, now that is some awesome power. I’ve never seen anything crack even the outer barrier before!” The eldest daughter laughed heartily, greatly amused by the sight.

“Curses! Those commoners must be SO HAPPY that they doubted us…” The eldest son grumbled, apparently worried about his future reputation.

Both of them held up their hands, and the crack in the barrier was immediately repaired.

Their father then raised his right hand high in the air. This was a signal to be prepared to engage at any time. Seeing that, the attack squad got ready to fight, albeit while still surprised.

Just like the Dragons from before, however, the Devourer Dragon was expected to immediately attack upon the disengagement of the barrier.

“Focus defense on the inner barrier. Carefully time the disengagement of the outer layer.”

“We’ve got this, dad.”

“I won’t let you down, father.”

The two bowed to their father then turned to look at the Devourer Dragon, and saw that its constantly dripping drool was a bright red. The Dragon’s eyes were full of hunger, as if it was starving. The eldest son showed no fear, however, for he had absolute faith in the barrier — one that he, his sister, and his father operated together.

The Devourer Dragon moved a short distance back, charged up its strength, and lunged at the barrier. A crack formed on the barrier once again, which the monster then tried to push through with brute force.

“Hah!”

Then, when the Dragon was about to land another strike, the barrier’s outer layer disappeared. The creature’s missing its intended target, caused it to fall over forward, but its momentum carried it on a collision course against the inner layer.

The oncoming crash looked like it would be quite a loud one. Before that happened, however, the head of the noble house held up his hand and cast a spell to modify the barrier’s attributes, making it soft and elastic. The Dragon ended up slamming into the barrier so hard that it got its head stuck.

With it stretching the barrier inward, the Dragon’s face was now getting closer to the attack squad despite the latter having stepped away a few minutes ago. Their eyes met, but thankfully, the monster had already lost its momentum.

Then, once the Devourer Dragon stopped, the elastic barrier bounced back as if reflecting the lunge it had taken. The Dragon’s force countered in full, it was knocked away and fell on its backside.

“OPEN FIRE!”

The head of the house wasted no time to issue his command, and at almost the same time, the barrier was disengaged and the attack squads’ skills rained down on the Devourer Dragon. Unlike the previous battle, there was only one target, allowing them to concentrate their attacks on it. As if to counteract their fear of the monster, everyone put all the power they could into their skills.

Arrows rained down, and magical cannons hurled one fireball after another. Magic blasts flew from Mages’ staves, landing on their target and bursting into flames. The Devourer Dragon, even with its mass of tenacious muscles, could not withstand the storm of hundreds of attacks, eventually failing to keep its posture.

“Those who have expended all their energy, switch out! Permission granted to use Blue Potions as needed! Keep the attacks going!”

The head of the house, seemingly aware of the Devourer Dragon’s odd presence now, gave orders to ensure that the stream of attacks never stopped. The Blue Potions in question were special — they had been made with the Forest Apothecary’s special recipe; even a single sip would restore a large amount of mental energy, but the Potion itself was quite costly. Still, this reluctant approval for them to be used liberally was to maximize the defending force’s firepower.

Fire, lightning, wind — all sorts of magic spells streaked through the air, and volleys of expensive Holy and Dark-elemental arrows flew at their sole target. Ice blasts, lightning storms, heat waves — all elements mixed together to attack the Devourer Dragon. All the while, the attack squads drank vial after vial of Blue Potion, the empty vials dropped to the ground and left rolling around.

“<<Meteor>>.”

By the time the attack squads were almost out of Blue Potions, they closed things off by unleashing the currently most powerful attack known to Black Mages. Expending the maximum amount of energy into it, the meteorite turned gigantic, and its mass was further boosted by the Black Staff’s power boost. It fell and crashed down on the Devourer Dragon, producing a thunderous explosion on impact.

Dust clouds and pebbles flew all over the place as the head of the house re-engaged a layer of the barrier.

Then, after a little while, the quaking subsided. The barrier was once again disengaged, and the Black Mages and Spiritualists cast the wind spell <<Blast>> to clear the dust away.

All they saw now was a round, giant meteorite. Cheers echoed through the area, coming especially loud from the Explorers who had seen the meteorite crash onto the Dragon with their own eyes. The civilians who had remained to watch the action also celebrated, in awe of the tremendous power displayed by that attack skill.