Chapter 58: Dragon Swarm

After flying for two hours, the royal capital finally came into view. The eleven of us were taken aback by the scene before us. The walls were broken down, buildings were on fire, and people were running around in panic.

In the sky, countless dragons flew in circles. Occasionally, a few would swoop down and spew fire at the people below. Magicians and knights would launch spells or arrows at the dragons, but the dragons’ tough scales rendered their attacks largely ineffective, and the dragons' flames often engulfed those who tried to fight back.

“Emilia, have you contacted my servants who stayed here?”

With a serious expression, I asked Emilia, who was hovering to my right.

“Yes, none of them were harmed. According to them, because they had too little magical power, the knights didn’t approve of their participation in the defense. As a result, most of them have been evacuated outside the royal capital.”

“Is Fate among them?”

“No, Fate is in the castle with her father.”

“I see... Then tell them to gather near our location. Victoria, you’ll need to give them a crash course on the new method.”

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“Understood.”

Shin, who had been freed along the way, stared at the dragons flying over the capital. Eclara and Michelle were by his side, both gripping their wands as they prepared themselves mentally.

“Shin... I’ll need you to charge into the mass of dragons. Buy as much time as you can for us to commence our attack. I believe you’re the only one who can face them head-on.”

Shin took a deep breath and turned to me with a serious expression.

“... I’ll do what you say... But I have one condition.”

“Condition?”

I tilted my head slightly, echoing his words.

“Yeah, a condition.”

“As long as it’s within my power, I’ll fulfill that condition.”

“You said it! No take-backs!”

With that, Shin was surrounded by fierce winds and flew straight towards the dragons. Explosions erupted within the swarm of dragons, and soon, one dragon... then two dragons... and then three dragons fell from the swarm, one by one.

“Then I shall take my leave and catch up to him, Lumina-sama.”

“I’m going to head over there too...”

Eclara bowed before me and summoned two dragons before flying into the swarm. Michelle rode one of the dragons and accompanied her.

“Lumina-sama, what about us? What should we do?”

Liza flew beside me, her face full of enthusiasm.

“Since they’re using high-level spells over there, we can’t join the melee. We’ll stay here and provide support.”

“Yes!”

Liza and the others materialized bows and notched their arrows. Emilia continued to communicate with my scattered servants with the aid of Mary, who also began organizing the documents passed to her.

I materialized two diamond-shaped funnels beside me. One funnel had the fire element, while the other had the water element.

[Oh god of Fire, I implore you to grant me the strength to turn my enemies to ash! <Blaze Javelin!>]

The fire element funnel ignited, while the water element funnel split into three and became frozen spikes.

These were the chants I had read in one of the books from my mother’s library. They were for intermediate-level magic and were said to pack quite a punch. Incidentally, the chants themselves don’t affect the magic; I simply stopped the movement of molecules on one side and transferred their energy to the other.

The real reason I chanted was just to look impressive.

By the way, I used wind magic to make my hair float and created a magic circle under my feet to add a majestic appearance.

I raised my right hand, and as Liza and the others finished their preparations, I swung it down with great force.

Our magic soared into the sky towards the dragons. My Ice Lances and Blaze Javelin struck one of the dragons, but it wasn’t injured and ignored the attack.

“...”

Before the dragon rejoined the swarm, I saw it snort.

You stupid dragon!

Annoyed, I decided to use the magic Victoria had taught me when she arrived at my home.

I created a small fireball and a water ball in my hand. Closing my eyes, I meditated. The fireball and water ball entered my body, and a chant for the magic appeared in my head.

[Pierce him! Kill him! Extinguish his life and preserve the moment of his death in Ice for all eternity! <Frozen Ice Shard!>]

My surroundings grew cold as a large block of ice formed near my right hand and then molded itself into a javelin.

I materialized a new funnel and had it split into eight parts. Four parts formed a square, while the remaining four formed a diamond. With a surge of anger, I threw the javelin through the funnel. As it passed through, the javelin shattered into millions of pieces and flew into the sky.

I moved my arms to control the countless shards and directed them toward the dragon that had taunted me. Confidently, the dragon used its wings to swat away the shards.

Seeing this, I grinned maliciously and clenched my palms into fists as the shards made contact with the dragon.

Starting from the wings, the shards latched onto the dragon and slowly covered its body. I used a visual screen to control the ice encasing the dragon.

The dragon struggled, breathing fire on the ice and melting some parts, but the ice spread further, making its actions futile. Eventually, the dragon fell from the sky.

“Phew... That takes care of one dragon.”

Relieved to have defeated one, I turned my attention to the others.

Liza, too, used the method Victoria had taught us. She created a small fireball in front of her, closed her eyes for a few seconds, and guided the fireball to her chest.

[Dirty beings that defile my view, I’ll burn all of you away till nothing remains! <Hellfire!>]

Her hands emitted blue flames. She made a throwing motion, and the blue flames surged towards the swarm. After a few seconds, a dragon was engulfed in blue flames and fell from the swarm.

Like me, she smiled in satisfaction at her kill.

I then looked at Victoria, who was teaching Achil and the others the new method she had discovered.

“Lumina-sama, after 10 minutes, almost half of your servants will arrive. They’re bringing some volunteers with them.”

“I see...”

I nodded as Emilia ended her brief report and resumed her communication.

“Lumina-sama! A message from Gen. Mayers just arrived. He says that in about three hours, the magic cavalry will arrive near our location. As for the regular soldiers, he says he’ll need six more hours before they arrive.”

“Tell Gen. Mayers to secure supplies along the way.”

“Yes!”

I chanted another spell and defeated one more dragon.

Chanting this method takes 5 seconds, and killing a dragon with it requires at least 15 seconds, or up to a minute at most. During that time, Shin and Eclara managed to kill six dragons each.

Honestly... Just how strong are they?

After 30 minutes, 30 of my servants arrived and hovered near me. Victoria quickly gave each of them a crash course on the method she had discovered. Unfortunately, more than half of them were unable to use it on the spot and resorted to spamming Null element magic alongside the new method.

Shin and the others, exhausted, flew away from the swarm but were pursued by seven dragons. Since he was crucial to the defense, I ordered my servants to provide cover fire.

He successfully retreated back to our position along with Eclara and Michelle. The three of them looked pale and were breathing heavily, clearly having exhausted a lot of mana during the melee.

I turned my gaze back to the swarm of dragons. Despite the number we had slain, thousands more still circled above the capital.

“So it’s going to be a battle of attrition, huh?”

“Yes, it’s highly probable... It’ll be a really long battle. Ah, Lumina-sama, it seems some of your servants wanted to help evacuate the evacuees instead of coming here. What should I tell them?”

“Tell them to be careful.”

“Yes.”