Chapter 122: Let's rewind back

Chapter 122: Let's rewind back

Let’s rewind a bit before the assassination attempt on Kanna’s group from the window.

Outside the ruins, members of the Phantom Dragon were standing guard and having a brief conversation.

“Hey, haven’t you noticed something odd about our Captain lately?”

“Yeah, ever since that recent Raid mission, something’s different.”

These words came from two soldiers standing guard next to each other.

“The Captain used to seem almost heartless, you know? Always cold and gloomy while working. But lately, it’s completely different.”

“What are you talking about? How can you tell when they’re always wearing that helmet?”

“It’s true though. Even if we can’t see their face, their behavior is completely different from before.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard others mention it too. The Captain seems anxious and restless lately.”

“Don’t tell me… could she be sick?”

Incidentally, within the Phantom Dragon, all members knew their Captain was a woman.

However, whether Regulus-Real was female or not, she always maintained absolute professionalism and discipline while working. In return, the respect and admiration from her subordinates never wavered.

“Hey, keep your voice down. The Heavenly Dragon squad might hear.”

“Oh… right… sorry…”

The knight quickly covered his mouth, as if trying to prevent the secret from escaping, though no one was paying attention.

Phantom Dragon regulations clearly stated that aside from internal members and special individuals designated by the Captain, anyone who revealed the secret of Regulus being a woman would face severe punishment. Since all members were personally interviewed by Regulus before recruitment, this could be considered their oath upon joining Phantom Dragon.

This work is hosted on mananovel.com

The hushed conversation continued as both lowered their voices significantly.

“But she seems worried about something lately.”

“How can you tell when we can’t even see her face?”

“It’s not about that—it’s the atmosphere, the aura around her, you know? She’s giving off the same vibes as Mika-chan (a 16-year-old dog-eared maid working in the Palace) sometimes shows.”

“Eh? Why are you comparing her to that kid who occasionally goes crazy over noble boys in the palace? That’s completely unrelated.”

“No, you idiot, that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about the atmosphere. She’s anxious and restless just like that girl.”

“WHAT?!”

“Keep it down, you fool.”

After shouting, he got smacked on the head by his colleague for his unrestrained mouth.

“That’s it… exactly that. I think our Captain has reached her ‘spring phase.'” Thanks for reading on ManaNovel!

“You mean she’s caught a cold?”

“You dense fool. Are you naturally this stupid or just pretending? I mean the Captain’s got someone she likes. Get it?”

“Oh, that’s what you meant… Why didn’t you just say so instead of all that spring nonsense?”

The two seemed to have gotten sidetracked by unnecessarily flowery metaphors. But suddenly, they both fell silent.

“Did you hear that?”

“Yeah…”

Other knights seemed to notice something wrong too, immediately signaling to surrounding areas with hand signs.

Listening carefully, I saw thunderous footsteps approaching. Not just one or two sets of footsteps, but many.

Tension visibly spread across everyone’s faces.

Though assigned to an unfamiliar mission, the Phantom Dragon members had undergone rigorous training in handling situations. Combat instincts were ingrained in their blood—they could all switch to “wartime mode” and fight selflessly at any moment.

Thus, when it came to adapting to sudden situations, they ranked at the top of the Diagal Army.

Previously, at training camps, while other Knight Squads had rest periods, Phantom Dragon’s leadership utilized even these breaks to train their soldiers to maintain constant, maximum focus.

“Looks like the Heavenly Dragon squad’s noticed too.”

As the rumbling from the forest grew closer, the Heavenly Dragon Knights began to move. Though slightly panicked when first realizing something was wrong, they quickly stabilized their mindset and formation, simultaneously placing their hands on the ground to create magic circles. From these circles emerged massive winged creatures—the Heavenly Dragons.

Though they received the information after Phantom Dragon, the Heavenly Dragon squad’s response speed was equally impressive.

“Doesn’t seem like military forces.”

“Right, they’re monsters.”

Someone replied amidst the thunderous footsteps and roars from the forest. Then, the sources of the noise appeared. There were several large monsters, but most concerning was the diversity in their species. The most numerous were goblins and ogres, but alongside them were many insect-type and large beast-type monsters.

Goblins and ogres were very common monsters for soldiers to encounter. But the simultaneous appearance of insect and large beast-type monsters was extremely rare.

This strangeness caused even the soldiers to hesitate slightly in gripping their weapons. But suddenly, one of the Heavenly Dragon squad’s dragons let out a roar and soared upward. Like a signal, the dragon formation behind it also began spreading their wings.

The Heavenly Dragon squad had initiated combat on their own, leaving the Infantry and Cavalry on the ground unable to keep pace.

A large number of monsters began flooding toward the ruins. But thanks to the advantage of aerial attacks, the Heavenly Dragon cavalry would play a crucial role in reducing pressure. If the infantry coordinated well, clearing this monster horde wouldn’t be too difficult.

However, just as they thought this, from behind the tree canopy, several dark objects shot up and struck one of the dragons that had taken off first.

These were rocks over 50cm in diameter, launched from the forest floor targeting the Heavenly Dragon knights. The dragons reacted quickly to try to dodge but couldn’t make it in time. One of the rocks struck a dragon’s wing, causing it to roar and fall to the ground like a dried leaf. Though it managed to land safely with its rider still mounted, its wing was injured.

“Damn it, now there’s Earth magic too. Is there a mage behind these monsters using magic?”

“Oi, we don’t have time to complain about that now.”

Back to the battlefield before them, the goblins began swinging weapons at the nearest targets. Before they could be shocked by what had just happened, the Phantom Dragon members had to quickly prepare to face the oncoming monster horde.

The decisive battle between the Knights and the monster army officially began.

=====================

A few minutes after the battle began.

The Phantom Dragon Knights were trying to close ranks to eliminate gaps and blind spots. All gathered right in front of the ruins’ entrance, forming a living barrier between the monster horde and the ruins within.

At a distance, the Heavenly Dragon squad and their dragons were also fighting hard to drive back the monsters. They didn’t dare fly up as they could be hit by projectiles at any moment. Thus, they could only fight on the ground without utilizing their aerial combat advantage. At that range, Heavenly Dragons could use gravity and acceleration as a foundation for diving attacks. The time from takeoff until reaching the ideal height was when Heavenly Dragons were most vulnerable.

Aerial power, the dragons’ most overwhelming and superior strength, was also their greatest weakness. Heavenly Dragons couldn’t exhibit their full capabilities without being at a certain height and speed.

And although they could achieve maximum power in the air, physical limitations meant their attack capability couldn’t be sustained. Moreover, among the dragons participating in this mission, none had yet reached the optimal level of mature dragons.

Though suffering considerable losses right at the start, dragon power still overwhelmed other low-level monsters. Even just moving back and forth on the ground, the sweeping power of both dragons and dragon riders was incredibly formidable.

Though no mages were visible, the immediate priority was still reducing the number of monsters. While the hidden mages couldn’t attack the dragons when they weren’t airborne, this also meant ground forces risked being ambushed.

However, the next things jumping out from the forest edge weren’t mages or monsters but human figures. There were two in total, both wearing cloaks covering their upper bodies, charging across the battlefield at terrifying speed. Their target point was the ruins’ entrance.

“Impossible… they’re aiming for inside.”

“Stop right there.”

The knights tried to block the two figures’ movement, but they were quickly stopped by the giant ogres in front of them. Taking advantage of this gap, the three cloaked figures passed between the knights and went straight into the ruins.

“Tch, they got through.”

“Deal with the enemies in front of us first. Shiroyasha-san and the other guards are still inside. We have to trust in them.”

“Yeah, let’s do our best to reduce their numbers.”

The two who had just discussed this tried to fight, but another development occurred. When the cloaked figures had just passed through the gate, the monsters seemed to go berserk simultaneously, lunging forward as if ready for suicide attacks against the Knights. Under the tremendous pressure from the berserking monsters, the Knights’ strength, honed through years of training, gradually began to falter.