I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 78
A single blow from Ferda turned the wolf monster into a corpse.
Those watching the scene could not hide their astonishment.
“The monster, in one shot….”
Though people had heard that magic was effective against monsters, few had actually witnessed its efficacy. Even for a mage, taking down a monster in a single strike was no common feat.
Ferda looked at the man wearing a dazed expression and spoke.
“What are you idling for?”
“Pardon?”
“The rift is still open.”
It was exactly as he said. Even though the wolf monster was dead, the rift had not closed. That meant there were still monsters remaining inside.
“Everyone who can draw a sword, prepare for battle! Protect the citizens!”
“Request reinforcements! Call the guards!”
“Not the guards, call the mages! Summon mages who can blast them with magic!”
Shouts erupted haphazardly from all directions, but since a chain of command was forming in its own way, Ferda didn’t pay it much mind.
At the boundary, the limp corpse twitched.
“I-it moved!”
“Is it not dead yet?”
Someone shouted.
However, that wolf monster was indeed dead. The fact that it was moving like that meant another one was preparing to emerge.
Ferda immediately prepared his next spell. Soon, something revealed itself from beyond the shimmering haze of the distorted space.
It was an identical wolf monster.
It attempted to leap out, but Ferda was one step faster.
“Lightning Spear.”
Ferda hurled the chanted spell toward the monster emerging from the rift. The spear of electricity struck the wolf monster as it was coming out.
—Grrr!
Lightning Spear was one of the 4th-circle spells. Possessing excellent piercing power, it could deal fatal damage if one could aim for a vital spot.
However, if a vital spot wasn’t hit accurately, the creature wouldn’t die. Just like the one right before his eyes.
‘Still, not bad.’
The creature that had been trying to emerge backed away in confusion. But it couldn’t retreat far. The heads of at least four other wolf monsters were visible, shoving their way through the gap in the rift.
Thanks to the panic, the sudden surge was temporarily blocked. In that interval, those capable of fighting moved into a ready stance.
Knights drew their swords, and the few mages present prepared their incantations.
Mages were effective at dealing with monsters. Everyone knew this, but how many mages had actual experience fighting them? In the society of mages, the higher one’s circle rose, the closer they moved toward politics rather than magic.
With this current strength, there was no chance of victory.
“What about us? Do we evacuate?” Zed asked.
Since this was Halim’s business, there was no particular need to risk their lives.
“No, we join the fight.”
The only useful mage here was Ferda himself. However, there was no need to put his life on the line, and the odds of success were high.
‘Fighting is more beneficial than running away from this.’
Having made his judgment, Ferda searched for what he needed.
‘What I need is mana.’
What Ferda needed were mana tanks to fill his own lacking reserves. In other words, mages who would serve as his foundation.
For that plan, he called out a name.
“Malcolm!”
“Yes, Regent-nim!”
Malcolm answered promptly. Contrary to his verbal response, his body was fidgeting, unsure of what to do.
“Bring all the mages to me. Even those who can only manifest a Mana Shot are fine, just gather them all for now.”
“W-what if they say they don’t want to?”
Was he really asking that?
“Then kidnap them if you have to. Drag them here.”
“Ye-yes! I shall obey your command!”
Malcolm flailed his arms and ran off.
“Can I go fetch some too? I’m quite confident in my persuasion skills,” Zed asked slyly.
“You should work as a knight.”
“Damn it.”
Zed let out a sigh as he drew his daggers.
—Grrrr!
In the meantime, the wolves’ panic subsided. A wolf squeezed its body through and leaped out, and the wolves that had been waiting poured out like a flood.
Once all the wolf monsters inside had poured out, the rift sealed itself again.
‘Are there seven in total?’
Considering even a single one was a handful for ordinary knights, seven had infiltrated the building.
‘I can handle about two. That leaves five to be dealt with….’
Ferda quickly assessed the forces and compared them.
‘It’s impossible.’
The creatures would engage in a one-sided hunt, and that hunt would lead to total annihilation. Like a line of falling dominoes, it wouldn’t stop.
“Sir Zed.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll need you to step up. Can you buy some time against two of them?”
“Two?!”
Zed swallowed hard. Though they looked like wolves, their means of attack weren’t limited to just jaws and claws. Sharp, tentacle-like tails floated threateningly. He was being asked to stall two of those things?
“Can you do it?”
After agonizing over it, Zed finally answered.
“The reward will have to be quite high.”
“Have I ever cheated you out of money?”
“No. Well then…!”
Zed adjusted his grip on his daggers and moved. He approached Penelope. In this situation, there was only one thing she could do.
“Waaaah! I don’t want to die!”
“Hey, Pepe! Get a grip, kid!”
Slap!
“Ugyak!”
“Don’t just blubber, do some work. You use magic too!”
“W-what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to fight something like that?!”
“You don’t need to fight, just help. Do something to make my body lighter. You know, that thing, that!!”
“That thing? Hmph, wait a second. Haste!”
Penelope’s magic enveloped Zed’s body. Feeling himself become much faster, Zed loosened his limbs.
“Yeah, this is the feeling.”
Zed smirked and muttered as he looked at the wolf monsters.
“Then, I’ll be off for a little stroll.”
With that, Zed moved to draw the attention of two of them. This way, Ferda would take two, and the rest would handle three.
Ferda turned his head and picked the man who looked the most experienced among those who had drawn their swords.
“You there!”
“Yes!”
“Good spirit. We’ll handle four, so you and the people around you try to deal with three somehow. Can you do it?”
“H-how, exactly?”
“Instruct them to move as defensively as possible. Form a phalanx.”
He said that, but it didn’t really matter whether they were on the defense or offense. As long as they didn’t lose their will to fight and run away, it was enough. That was all Ferda expected of him.
“Regent-niiiiiim!”
Malcolm, who had been given the order, came running back in a hurry. Ferda was about to ask why he had returned, but he was rendered speechless by what the man was carrying.
Over each of Malcolm’s shoulders was a man dressed in robes.
“Here, mages!”
“You really did kidnap them.”
“I wasn’t confident in my persuasion…!”
Ferda stared fixedly at the panting Malcolm.
“You’re smarter than I thought.”
“Pardon? I’m smart?”
“Knowing oneself is no easy feat. Keep doing exactly that.”
“Understood!”
Malcolm moved off to kidnap more fresh mana tanks. The men who had been caught without knowing why were frozen in place. They had been in the middle of escaping when they were suddenly dropped into the heart of a battlefield.
Ferda gave them no time to think.
“You, do you know how to use Mana Bomb?”
“Pardon? Ah, yes….”
“Then prepare a Mana Bomb. When I give the signal, throw it toward me. And you?”
“I-I’m not there yet….”
“Then prepare a Mana Shot. Once it’s ready and I give the signal, throw it to me. That much is easy, right?”
“Yes!”
“And when that kidnapper brings more mages, give them the same instructions. I don’t want to explain twice. Understood?”
“U-understood!”
Given the urgency of the situation, there was no way they had understood everything perfectly. Without expecting much, Ferda prepared for battle.
‘I must refrain from using black magic as much as possible.’
In the grand scheme he was drawing, black magic would bring a fatal stigma. Though Erdes already knew he used black magic, it was a completely different matter for the public to witness it. He had to avoid it at all costs.
‘But that doesn’t mean I can’t use it at all.’
He would use it secretly and quietly so others wouldn’t notice. That was why he had mastered Barbatos’s Shadow Art.
Beneath Ferda’s feet, the shape of his shadow moved. It reached out stealthily beneath the feet of a wolf.
Ferda chanted the spell.
“Bind.”
A hidden hand reached out from within Ferda’s shadow.
—Grrr?!
It firmly gripped the wolf’s ankle. It was a binding spell belonging to the 4th circle of Barbatos’s Shadow Art. Its original name was Shadow Bind, but Ferda didn’t attach the word ‘Shadow.’ In fact, an incantation wasn’t even necessary. That alone was sufficient, and it looked similar to a standard Bind spell.
Unable to lift its feet, the wolf floundered as if stuck in a swamp of thick adhesive.
‘Quickly, take one down first.’
He rapidly drew the magic circle he held in his mind with his hand and chanted the spell.
“Lightning Spear.”
The spear of electricity shot from his hand. With the target unable to move, hitting the heart was as easy as pie.
Crackle!
The lightning spear flew swiftly, piercing through the hide. The spot where the heart had been now only spewed mangled green blood, and the wolf collapsed powerlessly.
“Good heavens, in one shot….”
Exclamations of awe erupted again.
—Grrr!
Another bound creature felt the death of its kin and bared its teeth. As it struggled and resisted violently, it utilized a momentary gap to bite the dark form with its jaws.
“Ugh.”
A groan of pain escaped Ferda’s lips. At the same moment the wolf bit down, Ferda felt a sensation of something being severed near his right pinky finger.
The shadow was treated and used as a part of Ferda’s own body. Therefore, when the shadow was severed, he felt the pain as if his own skin were being torn.
‘That is the condition.’
If he wasn’t careful, he would be consumed by the pain and forced to live the rest of his life in agony from phantom pains. Ferda skillfully severed the mental connection, escaping the phantom pain.
As the connection between his mind and the shadow was cut, the spell’s power weakened. The wolf monster was released.
“Regent-nim! Where should I throw the Mana Bomb…!”
The timing was good.
“Throw it toward me!”
The mage threw a large blue sphere at Ferda. Ferda didn’t look back. Instead, a portion of a black finger appeared from Ferda’s back, spraying a thread of mana to snatch the Mana Bomb.
To others, it looked as if the sphere naturally entered his grasp the moment it came within Ferda’s radius.
“Gasp!”
“Magic Intercept…!”
They couldn’t believe their eyes at the difficult technique performed by a skilled mage. Whether they did or not, Ferda had no time to care. He poured his focus entirely toward his target.
He threw the Mana Shot and Mana Bomb at the wolf’s face.
Boom—!
A 100% hit rate. The explosion of mana struck the wolf’s face. The moment beings of the reverse order, who lived by spewing Junk Mana, encountered the natural order, their regeneration slowed.
And the moment its regenerative power stopped completely, the wolf monster staggered like a dog in the middle of summer.
“Lightning Spear.”
In that manner, Ferda finished off the two wolf monsters he had faced. Without even a moment to catch his breath, he surveyed the state of the battle.
‘The knights and soldiers’ side.’
The side where the knights and soldiers were holding out looked overwhelmed. Their faces were filled with terror. On the other hand, Zed was diverting the attention of two wolf monsters without a single scratch. The attacks of the two wolf monsters were literally devastating a wide area as if they were throwing their entire bodies into it. Surprisingly, Zed was moving faster than the monsters’ attack speed, dodging everything.
‘I need to help Zed.’
Even if he looked composed, he was in the most urgent situation.
“Zed!”
“What is it?!” Zed answered irritably.
“Lure them toward my shadow.”
“Understood!”
While performing a somersault, Zed’s eyes quickly identified the position of Ferda’s shadow. Then, with acrobatic movements, he ran toward the direction where Ferda was.
—Woof! Woof!
Two wolf monsters, thoroughly irritated, chased after Zed. The moment they were about to cross Ferda’s shadow, hands surged up and grabbed the wolves’ ankles.
—Yelp?!
Tripped by the sudden obstacle, the wolf monsters tumbled.
“Bind.”
Ferda bound the two of them once more with the prepared Shadow Bind.
“Throw them!”
Following the instruction, the supplied mages threw the Mana Bombs they had prepared one by one toward Ferda. There was concern that it might look like they were attacking the Regent. However, Ferda skillfully wrapped them in threads of mana, making them his own magic.
Boom!
Mana seeped into the bodies of the two monsters. As intended, both of them staggered.
‘My mana reserves are… precarious.’
Since his Red Circle wasn’t spinning forcefully, it was difficult to gather additional supply.
‘The remaining mana is enough for about three Lightning Spears?’
If he blasted these two, the mana left to deal with the rest would be uncertain. How should he handle this?
“Regent-nim!”
Zed called out to Ferda. There was a fighting spirit in his eyes. Ferda looked into those eyes and thought.
‘Useless.’
It might be something for knights armed with mental fortitude, but it was useless to Ferda. However, he saw that the daggers were imbued with a cold light. It was Aura.
‘That is useful.’
Having grasped the intent, Ferda nodded. With a brief exchange of looks lasting about 1.5 seconds, they designated their respective targets.
“Lightning Spear.”
Ferda’s flash of light pierced through one creature’s forehead, even bursting its heart.
“Go to hell and have a nice long walk, you beast!”
Zed’s dagger pierced the monster’s belly hide. The tough hide gave way like jelly, and the dagger dug straight into the inside of the ribcage.
Snap—!
Along with the sound of thick, hard muscle tearing, the wolf corpse went limp. Even the two that Zed had been leading around were now dead.
Only three remained. What held the attention of those three was the ragtag army.
“Agh! That thing bit me!”
“Don’t back down! Maintain the formation!”
However, thanks to the leader’s charisma keeping them in place, the three wolf monsters couldn’t do much and were merely looking for a gap in the army.
Ferda aimed for that gap. He shouted toward the mages.
“Mana Bomb!”
The total number of mages Malcolm had supplied was ten. A total of twelve spheres were created and flew toward Ferda all at once. Ferda’s shadow fingers snatched every single one of them, making them his own. He aimed for the gap in the wolf monsters.
Boom—!
The mana struck their torsos. The concentration was high enough to pierce through the outer hide and enter their bodies. The wolf monster that took a direct hit tottered, and the two that had been moving aggressively also took significant damage and backed away.
“Now! Strike them down!”
“Waaaaaaah!”
With a shout, they plunged their swords into the staggering creature, launching a counterattack. The wolf monster resisted, but its swings were as feeble as those of a dying old man.
—Woof! Woof!
Two wolves turned their gaze toward Ferda. Their wild instincts had identified who the core of this human crowd was. Their eyes turned completely bloodshot as they lunged toward Ferda.
“They’re heading for the Regent-nim! Protect the Regent-nim!”
In a situation where they could barely look after themselves, there was no way the soldiers could react immediately.
‘Two of them.’
Ferda didn’t have the physical agility to dodge flamboyantly like Zed. Ferda had prepared his magic even before he felt the killing intent.
“Lightning Spear.”
The spear of electricity pierced through one’s torso. It didn’t pierce the heart, but it succeeded in deterring it. The remaining one recklessly lunged toward Ferda.
“Regent-nim!”
Zed moved to block the front of Ferda to protect him.
“Gugh!”
He might have beaten the wolf monster in agility, but in a head-on clash, he collapsed like a scarecrow stuck in soft soil. Ferda utilized the gap Zed had created and unfolded a magic circle to at least blast it with a Lightning Bolt.
“Lightning—.”
He couldn’t even finish the chant. The wolf monster pressed down on Ferda’s shoulders and pounced right on top of him.
—Roar!!
The creature opened its maw. It looked like a wolf, but the inside of its mouth was not that of a wolf. It had even sharper teeth and a tongue made of dozens of split tentacles. Those sharp teeth dug into Ferda’s neck.
He felt the onset of death.
Pang—!
An explosive sound echoed through the air. Simultaneously, something small and fast flew in, and the wolf monster’s body jolted violently. The teeth that had partially dug into his nape lost their strength, and the creature collapsed.
Having narrowly escaped death, Ferda looked to see why the monster had died.
‘Small, fast, and powerful magic….’
A sense of déjà vu washed over him. Ferda looked to see who the savior of his life was. The direction it had flown from was the stage.
Standing on that stage was none other than Bernel. In the hands of the man, who was gasping for breath, was something.
It was the Magical Engineering Rifle that had been scheduled to be introduced after Chancellor Bernard. The long pipe he was holding was emitting white smoke.
