Chapter 395

The first to notice the change was the flying dragon pilot.

When I was concerned about the health of his back and neck, who often turned his head to talk to me behind me, he looked behind me with a hearty laugh and his head hesitant to go back. If he had been as silent as the second drake pilot in my life, I would have noticed it much later.

“Guest! It looks like something unexpected has happened!”

I couldn’t see his expression because of the goggles and the winter clothing he was wearing, but his voice, which was pleasant until a moment ago, was full of mischief and only seriousness. I was surprised by the sudden change in attitude, but when I looked back, I saw three flying dragons slowly ascending from below.

“Are you a wild drake?”

It’s not even a city, so there’s absolutely no reason for a flying dragon pilot to come out of nowhere. I wondered if there was a flying dragon habitat nearby, but the answer that came back was not very pleasant.

“No! Someone’s on board! The problem isn’t properly equipped! It could be hunters illegally hunting drakes and handing them over to local nobles!”

Come to think of it, I heard that there are often nobles who secretly catch and learn how to ride a dragon for the dragon knight test. Of course, it was illegal, but if you could produce a flying dragon knight without being caught, the evaluation of that family would rise vertically, so it was close to a kind of private education.

Even if you become a dragon knight and leave the family at the same time, the difference between having the ability to raise a dragon knight and not having it is a big law. From their point of view, they would want to use all the expedients.

Even so, do you really see that? My eyes aren’t bad either, but it wasn’t easy to find out what was on the back of a flying dragon that was ascending vertically. Like Giess, the basic condition for a dragon pilot might be very healthy eyes.

However, when the dragons stopped ascending and leveled up and started chasing us, we saw two people riding on them, just as the pilot said.

“Haa... If I think that nothing will happen from now on, it’s a dog.”

The problem was that the rider was not a Human, but a Demon. Unless they’re wearing viking horn helmets or something. I used my magic time hoping for one possibility, but the magic that could be clearly sensed even from a distance neatly shattered my hopes.

“It’s a demon!”

“Huh?!... Damn it! Hold tight, sir!”

Should it be said that it was a job directly managed by the royal family? It wasn’t slow at all until just a moment ago, but when I was determined and speeded up like that, the distance started to widen with the flying dragons of the demons, who seemed like they would catch up soon.

I wondered if this was the difference in technology, but I didn’t think it would be easy to solve when I saw the pilot of the dragon who didn’t let go of the string of tension even though the distance started to widen like this.

And sure enough, as soon as the demons flying at the forefront looked back and beckoned for something, their speed increased as well, and my worries became reality. Thanks to that, the situation turned pretty urgent, but I couldn’t stand the question that came to my mind.

“Where on earth did they get the dragon from Itis-el?”

“I heard a story a few years ago that the demon king’s army, who had a bitter taste as a dragon knight, started breeding dragons! Couldn’t it have been brought in secretly when Mandeli Port was attacked!”

It was not a bad decision if the goal was to avoid an immediate attack, but in the end it was just a struggle. If things didn’t work out, Marsh, who was rising vertically with the thought that he would drop him even if he bumped into him with his body, saw a target looking at him and turning his head.

Neither flustered nor trembling in fear, the sight of staring at the enemy was not that of a coward who gave up and ran away, but that of a warrior seeking an opportunity.

“Ha! What a waste of a man!”

If I had met him in a different form, I would have liked him quite a bit.

Thinking about that, while figuring out the distance, the opponent took the next action. And unlike her promise to respond to any form of counterattack, that action stopped Marsh’s thinking for a moment.

It had to be. Falling from an overturning flying dragon was not within the realm of prediction.

‘Did it fall by mistake? Or are you plotting some other trick? But what tricks are possible in this sky?’

A hand reached out from behind her as she couldn’t keep up with the unexpected situation. As soon as he judged that he could hit enough to faithfully fulfill the captain’s orders, Yawell, who had created an ice arrow, cast his magic. This allowed Marsh to shake off his embarrassment and decide what to do next.

Altitude is high enough. Even if he gets hit by that attack, I’ll be able to catch him long enough before he falls to the ground and can’t be seen. Now, I had to be careful not to let that guy fall and collide with the flying dragon and fall with it.

Just as Marsh decided that his work was not ‘combat’, something shot from the man’s waist.

Despite being very nervous, Marsh couldn’t quite see what it was. All she could see was the scattering ice shards and the grotesque twist of Yawell’s arm extending over her ear before bursting like rotten fruit.

After a while, I realized that it was the damage caused by an unknown projectile thrown by the enemy, that Yawel’s arm and shoulder were ripped off in that one shot, and that Yawell fell off the dragon’s back, unable to overcome the intense pain and shock.

No, it only took seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

Instinctively, Marsh nearly turned his head back to assess the situation, but with patience, his eyes fixed, and he crossed his arms to defend himself.

Even if I didn’t want to know, I had to know what it meant when that madman falling from the sky didn’t just fire a single projectile and took out the ax he was carrying on his back.

He literally intended to engage in ‘air combat’.

“Fuck the dog, you crazy bastard!”

The enemy who had just seemed like a good-hearted warrior began to look like a crazed lunatic, igniting her inner fears. Feeling the cold sweat running down his back, Marsh burned his fighting spirit by shouting the enemy’s name as hard as he could to overcome the creeping fear.

“Eldmia!”

If I didn’t do that, I didn’t have the confidence to handle the reality that I might end up crashing after a collision with him. She was afraid of the reality because dying in a fight was completely different from dying from a fall from an abnormal height.

The answer that came back was a violent ax stroke.