I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 100
Chapter 100
Monster
William tried to boost morale as much as possible, even if it meant pushing himself.
Whether his efforts worked or not, the phalanx held firm, and the spearheads aimed even more resolutely at the monsters’ bodies.
-Chief of Police, what is your status?
A voice reached him via telepathy.
William shouted.
“Engaging three monsters! The police force alone isn’t enough! We need backup!”
-Understood. Two scions of Iorga are heading your way. Hold out a little longer.
A moment later, something with wings spread wide flew toward them from the sky.
They descended with graceful movements and confronted the monsters.
“Filthy beasts. Your master has already departed for the afterlife, yet you lot possess such needlessly long lives.”
“Return to your master’s side.”
Expressing their hostility, the scions of Iorga uncorked their water skins.
The transparent water inside moved according to the flow of their fingers, transforming into whips split into ten strands.
Whish!
As they swung the whips, the ten split strands scattered and stretched toward their targets.
They seized the monsters’ bodies as accurately as if the water were their own limbs.
In an instant, the three monsters were subdued.
“Chief of Police, finish them.”
“Yes, sir!”
The knight’s sword, shrouded in red mana, aimed for the vital spots of the bound monsters one by one.
“Aaaah! Die!”
The spearmen, as if they couldn’t just stand by and watch, moved with newfound courage.
As the saying goes, there’s no match for a mob.
Even a monster rendered motionless is bound to be pierced by a rain of spears.
In this manner, William finished off two, and the spearmen took the life of the last one.
The desperate struggle of just a few minutes ago felt like a distant memory; they hadn’t expected the suppression to be this easy.
“T-thank you, mages.”
“…….”
The scions of Iorga glanced at William briefly before turning their heads away.
And then, as if their work was done, they flew off somewhere else.
High-and-mighty dragon spawns did not bother interacting with low-ranking humans.
‘So, to them, I’m not even worth speaking to.’
Though it stung his pride, he didn’t harbor a grudge and quickly accepted the reality.
‘If I were stronger and more charismatic, this might have been a problem I could have solved easily.’
Accepting his current situation, he used it as a stepping stone rather than settling for it.
The Chief of Police, William, thought to himself.
‘I must become stronger.’
He resolved to possess power befitting a village under the rule of a Red Dragon.
“The knights of the Valdrova Principality are deploying now.”
-Understood. We’ll leave the north to you.
Two mounts descended from Valdrova Castle.
No, one of them was not a horse, but a donkey.
The man perched atop that donkey wore a dazed expression.
“S-Sir Zed! I don’t think I’ll be of any help, w-what should I do?!”
The one who answered was Penelope, who was hitched on behind him.
“What else? Go grab some popcorn.”
“S-should I really do that?”
“Of course. Make sure you make some for me too, ugyak!”
“Ugh, every time you open that trap of yours, nothing but nonsense comes out.”
“Ack, ack! I surrender, I surrender!”
Zed choked Penelope, and she pounded on his thick forearm.
“If you want to be helpful, act as a meat shield! If those wolf demons show up, at least draw their attention!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“I’m heading that way! You keep going straight down this path!”
“Understood!”
The moment they split from Malcolm on the donkey, Penelope spoke up again.
“Telling him to be a meat shield? Isn’t that a bit cold?”
“If he can’t handle it, he’ll run away.”
“He didn’t seem like a guy with enough brains for that.”
“He’s probably smarter than you, brat.”
“What? Why you—!”
Just as Penelope was about to grab and yank his hair from behind, a large object entered their field of vision.
It was a wolf monster.
Setting aside their bickering, they focused on the target.
“Enemy spotted. It’s similar to the one from back then.”
“Yeah.”
“The size and shape are almost identical. We barely dodged it last time, will you be okay now?”
“More than okay.”
Zed broke into a smile.
Had he not endured that agony specifically for this moment?
“You have no idea how thrilling the moment of revenge is.”
Now was the time to harvest.
Zed drew the short sword tucked into his waist.
Blue mana flared up from the blade.
The blindfolded horse galloped bravely before coming to a halt.
Zed used the momentum to spring off the horse’s back.
“Pepe! Now!”
“Haste!”
The pink-haired demon cast an acceleration spell on the mid-air Zed.
Their coordination was now reasonably well-synced.
With movements even more nimble, he vanished the moment his feet touched the ground.
-Grrr?!
The wolf monster was bewildered.
It tried to track his movement, but the attached snake heads could barely follow his afterimages.
It was different from when he was simply running away.
The blue mana imbued in the short sword drew long trajectories following the afterimages.
Swish-swish-swish!
The trajectories reached the wolf monster’s body and pierced through.
He neutralized it by severing all the snake heads and cutting its tendons.
The moment the neutralized monster focused its energy on regeneration was the greatest opening he had been aiming for.
Zed plunged the short sword into its chest.
Unlike when he was protecting Ferda, it ended quite easily.
“Wow, that was sick!”
Penelope hopped around excitedly.
“Ze-ze! What did you do back there?”
“You think I was playing around, woman?”
“You look kind of sexy? You’re the first man I’ve found this sensual.”
“Haha, get lost. Don’t try any cheap tricks to suck my energy.”
“Don’t be like that, I haven’t had a woman in a week either……!”
Penelope sent him a seductive look while stroking her hungry stomach.
She called it seductive, but to Zed, it was a sight that induced nothing but discomfort and a desire to hit her.
Just then, Isabella’s telepathy was heard.
-Sir Zed.
“Speak.”
-Sir Malcolm is herding a monster. Please provide support there.
Zed answered immediately.
“What is the location?”
-He’s heading your way. Look toward the alleyway.
He didn’t even need to search for which alley.
A loud commotion drew near.
The first thing to appear was the face of a donkey.
And then there was Malcolm, letting out a scream that didn’t even sound like a scream.
“Aaaah! Ack! I’m gonna die!”
Hee-haw!
Malcolm and the donkey came charging toward them, tears and snot flying in the wind.
Soon, two wolf monsters revealed themselves.
Watching the scene, Zed was struck with shock.
‘How is that guy still alive?’
A man with no particularly outstanding physical abilities or martial arts was running for his life with nothing but a single donkey.
Let’s say it was because he was on a donkey.
Even that donkey was moving without any special characteristics to speak of.
The wolf monsters surpassed them in both speed and agility.
By all accounts, it was the perfect situation to be devoured.
And yet, the wolf monsters couldn’t catch Malcolm.
More accurately, every time the two wolf monsters moved to attack the pair, their movements clashed and they got tangled up.
Either they were dealing with exceptionally dull ones, or the man had incredibly stubborn luck.
Regardless, killing the wolf monsters was the priority now.
“Hey, donkey mister! Over here!”
“Ack! Ack! Aaaaah!”
The guy only shrieked back instead of answering.
That useless thing.
Just as Zed was wondering if he should adjust his movements to match the guy, it happened.
The donkey, as if it had understood Zed’s words, veered and began running toward him.
The thoroughly irritated wolf monsters charged again to catch the two of them.
In any case, it was going exactly as intended.
The donkey zoomed past Zed.
Zed counted down in his head.
3, 2, 1.
The wolf monster’s body came into view at zero.
Zed launched his accelerated body and dug into the heart of the one whose eyes had rolled back in frenzy.
-Yelp!
One wolf monster died, and the other realized it wasn’t the time to be chasing a donkey and moved.
But a lone wolf was nothing more than a snack for Zed.
The short sword, held in a reverse grip, took the heart of the remaining one as well.
Zed, who had thought dealing with two might be difficult, couldn’t believe this result.
‘He’s an excellent decoy.’
He wondered if this was why Ferda kept him around.
At any rate, Zed praised Malcolm to build some camaraderie.
“Man, you really were a perfect bait. Good job, mister—”
“Gah! Ack! I’m dying. I’m dead…….”
“…….”
It took another three hours for the soul of Malcolm, the excellent decoy, to return to his body.
Before the monsters attacked, Valdrova stood in the alley she had been assigned.
‘The monsters are coming in.’
Her five senses reacted to that recurring sentence.
Everything happening in all directions was mapped out, appearing vividly before her eyes and reaching her ears.
The range extended past this village, beyond those woods…….
Nothing could escape her senses.
Therefore, Valdrova suppressed those senses.
‘What I must do is…….’
Kill the wolf monster coming into this alley.
That is all I need to do.
I can think about other things later.
A short while later, the presence of the enemy made her open her eyes.
-Grrrr.
The wolf monster bared its teeth and growled.
What she saw were not the yellow fangs of a beast, but green ones.
-Woof!
It lunged at Valdrova.
A threatening charge, like a cannonball flying toward her.
A human would have been terrified and would have had to prepare thoroughly to counter it.
But to Valdrova, it was nothing more than a lowly creature.
With speed and strength far greater than the monster’s, Valdrova grabbed it by the snout and lifted it up.
She plunged her left hand into the body of the wolf monster, which was dragged along without being able to resist.
Squelch!
She pierced through the monster’s hide as if it were wet paper, then pulled out its heart and crushed it.
Crunch!
The entire process took 0.1 seconds.
Having killed more monsters than anyone else, Valdrova finished it as easily and quickly as a simple mechanical process.
-Gurgle…….
The wolf monster died instantly without even being able to let out a yelp.
Valdrova confirmed its death and withdrew her hand.
Then, as if throwing away trash, she slammed the monster onto the ground.
Valdrova did not look at the monster.
No, she couldn’t.
‘I mustn’t look.’
The moment she cast her eyes upon it, something squirmed and rose within her heart.
Valdrova knew this emotion.
It was hatred.
She felt a vivid hatred whenever she faced monsters, and she used that hatred as fuel to incinerate them.
In that way, she had killed many monsters attempting to march out of the Demonic Land.
However, the emotion she felt this time was slightly different from the familiar one she usually felt.
It was fear.
‘Why is that…….’
The answer was simple.
It was because the situation was different now.
Back then, she had tried to protect the continent as a dragon; now, she had to protect the village as a knight.
When she was a dragon, she flew to the Demonic Land to tear and burn everything apart.
What she had to protect was behind her, and she didn’t need to worry about it.
Even if she went on a rampage expressing her deep rage, no one would get hurt.
Because if anyone were to get hurt, it would only be her own body.
But now, the things she had to protect were right in the middle of it all.
‘If I were to go on a rampage…….’
Everyone would get hurt.
Hestia village would burn, and people would die.
That was why she feared this emotion.
‘Calm down.’
She tried to stop that emotion from boiling over.
But her five senses were superior to anyone else’s.
The smell of monster blood and the echoing screams were not things that could be blocked by will alone.
Finally, a wave of hideous sorrow overturned her heart and swept everything away.
What remained was an unquenchable fire.
It was a deep rage toward the demons.
That flame, that rage, touched her unhealed wounds once again.
The pain of the wounds stimulated her memories.
‘They are trying to take it away again…….’
The things she had built.
The things she loved.
Because Godwin’s malice, seeking to snatch away and violate everything, was still in motion.
It forced her to vividly recall that will.
“Ugh…….”
The fire was lit.
Her unstoppable rage was on the verge of turning into an impulse.
‘I have to go back.’
I must leave this village quickly and return to my Lair.
If I just unleash a little bit there, it will be resolved.
She prayed.
That everything would go smoothly until then.
Please, let nothing happen.
“Kyaaaaak!”
She lifted her head.
Two girls who hadn’t managed to evacuate came into view.
A small girl and a slightly older girl shielding her.
Valdrova knew the two well.
They were the children she had rescued for three shillings.
She saw the hideous form of a monster about to swallow them in one bite.
’No.’
It opened its maw to cruelly violate the two girls who couldn’t resist.
The moment that maw closed, the two would lose their forms and their lives.
’No!’
At that moment, a voice pierced clearly into Valdrova’s ears.
-Look, Valdrova.
It was Godwin’s voice.
It was what he had said to her before the Dragon-Demon War broke out.
-This is what it looks like when the things you wanted to protect disappear.
In that instant, the hesitation in Valdrova’s mind vanished.
Her body reflexively took a stance, bending her right leg and stretching her left leg back.
Boom!
Leaving a massive shockwave behind her heel, she flew forward like a human cannonball.
Valdrova’s fist lunged with all its might toward that snout.
Crunch!
The wolf’s snout didn’t just turn; it was torn apart as the creature was sent flying into a wall.
Its body tumbled like a tilted barrel, bouncing all the way out to the main street.
-Kack…… Krr-ack……!
The wolf monster, unable to compose itself, spat out the blood pooling in its lungs.
The belligerence created for total destruction made it lunge at Valdrova.
-Grrrr Bark!
Its snout was gone, but there was no hindrance to its vocalization.
It wasn’t a wolf to begin with, just something that mimicked the form.
A filthy and crude composite mimicking a wolf.
‘Don’t hurt them.’
The rage within Valdrova blazed.
In the meantime, teeth harder than steel bit into Valdrova’s pauldron.
But her armor was made of a rare mineral several times harder than steel.
A masterpiece of the Bronze Dragon, who was no different from a god of blacksmiths.
The wolf, having wasted its effort on a meaningless attack, was caught instead.
She slammed the hideous thing onto the ground.
‘Don’t touch them.’
Valdrova’s fist dug into the wolf’s flesh and snapped its bones.
Crack!
-Yelp!
The wolf monster realized too late.
It shouldn’t have lunged at this being; it should have run away.
But Valdrova’s hand, which had dug into its body, had no intention of letting go.
‘The one who needs to disappear is you.’
She was the authority of power, and that authority was radiating a blood-red light from her eyes.
Valdrova pulled out what she was clutching just as it was.
The spine hidden beneath the skin and the ribs were ripped out with a grotesque sound.
As the internal organs were shaken, the inside was turned completely to mush.
’Not yet.’
Monsters do not die easily. Valdrova reached out and crushed its heart.
The source of the monster’s life was pulverized, and the wolf’s form began to melt away.
That was the complete death of the monster.
’Not yet.’
Her rage did not stop.
She hated even the remaining form.
That corpse was still mocking and ridiculing her.
Valdrova balled her fist and aimed at its face.
‘From this continent.’
Her fist slammed down along with the ground.
‘Disappear forever!’
Thump!
A massive resonance.
Simultaneously, green blood splattered inside her helmet and touched her skin.
Only then did she realize she had lost her reason and came to her senses.
“Ah.”
What came out of her mouth was heavy breathing.
The sight before her eyes was a floor stained with purple and green.
And her two hands, painted even more grotesquely.
She lifted her head.
Valdrova stood at the bottom of a crater-like depression in the ground.
Everyone had come out and was looking at her.
She turned her gaze toward the alley.
The girls were there as well.
They were still afraid of the monster.
Even though the monster that tried to harm them was already dead.
‘Ah…….’
She knew.
That fear was directed at her.
That the monster was her.
