The Revenge of the Soul Eater

How A Dragon Rider Fights 

  After I dove into the midst of the battle with Clau Soras, I pulled my sword out and made quick work of our enemies――It did not go like that.

  To put it simply, I can’t reach my enemies even if I were to swing my sword on a wyvern’s back. From what Astrid told me in a short conversation we had in the capital, Canaria Kingdom’s dragon riders use long spears and crossbows as their standard equipment.

  At first, I was going to follow suit as well, but in my case, not only do I have long-range attacks from my kei techniques, I have the fire magic spells that Miroslav taught me as well. I decided that there was no need for me to go through all that trouble to use weapons that I’m not used to using.

  There’s also the undeniable truth that there’d be more destructive power if I left it to Clau Soras instead.

  In fact, I’m just doing my best to not get in his way right now.

  I’ve somewhat mentioned this before, but a wyvern doesn’t only use the power of its wings to fly, it also uses the mana inside its body in conjunction. That’s exactly how they are able to do vertical take-offs and landings as well as hover in the air.

  At this time, Clau Soras strengthened himself with mana and rammed into the ground at nearly full power. That impact was most likely equal to a giant boulder that was fired from a catapult hitting the ground.

  With the sound of an explosion, countless masses of soil and shards of rocks danced through the air. They eventually poured down on our surroundings like rainfall.

  There was a hole in the ground where Clau Soras landed as if something like a meteor had landed there, and the monsters that were previously standing there were crushed into pieces with no traces of their original forms left. 

  The scattered blood of the monsters dyed the earth and sand red.

  The monsters that were attacking the adventurers in a state of frenzy stopped moving as though they were stunned.

  It was no exception on the adventurers’ side as well, as an unexpected silence was born in the harsh killing field. Without letting this opportunity escape, I called out to them in a loud voice,

  「Adventurers! The 『Blood Spraying Sword』clan will take it from here! Fall back quickly!」

  As I spoke with dignity, my nose twitched a little. 

  ――Leave it to me here and go on ahead!

  Although the words were a little different, I was able to say a line that I always wanted to say at least once in my life. It’s not something I should be thinking about right now, but it made me a little happy.

  While I was secretly having thoughts like that, the herd of monsters had already begun to move. Many of them stopped moving because they were frightened, confused, or being cautious of Clau Sora’s appearance, but that did not apply to the monsters that were coming from behind them.

  After we shoved, trampled, and raked away the ones that had stopped moving, new monsters would start rushing at us one after another. Actually, a considerable amount of them ended up being run over by their kin. 

  I urged Clau Soras to take flight. Getting surrounded by the swarm of monsters on the ground would render us immobile.

  「Clau Soras, let’s go. This time we’re going to sweep them away by flying through them」

  「Puii!」

  Clau Soras responded to my directions and spread his wings wide.

  However, since he has already landed once, he will need to circle in the air to reach his max speed for the assault. Considering the speed of the new bunch of monsters, they will probably reach the adventurers before we finish doing so.

  *Chi*, I clicked my tongue.

  It was a big mistake to give up our momentum against this large number of monsters. I have no choice but to recognize my own inexperience when it comes to riding a dragon. 

  If it’s Duke Dragunaut or Astrid, I’m sure that they would have fought more effectively. 

  「Well, regretting it won’t help. Right now, I have to stop the enemy’s advance first――『The flower that absorbs fire. Conceive of flame. Mature and swell, ripen and fall』」

  I’m giving the new magic spell that Miroslav passed onto me a shot.

  The spell is ranked as the third realm. Its destructive power is nowhere close to the 『Flame Princess』 spell that is of the 5th realm, but this spell is easier to use on a dragon’s back.

  It’s a magic spell that drops bombs once chanted.

  「『Explode――Housenka(Phoenix flower)』」

  Clusters of red fruit appeared in the air. Each one of them is about the size of my head and there are 30 of them. They immediately started to detach from each other as if they could not support their own weight and fell to the ground.  

  The moment those fruits touched the ground, they exploded. 

  The flames contained inside the fruits burst ablaze, and the fragments of fire scattered everywhere in the surrounding area. The heat that filled the air in an instant was hot enough to burn a human’s skin. 

  The fruits continued to land on the monsters’ snouts as they cried out loudly.

  Again, the destructive power of the “Phoenix flowers” spell does not match “Flame princess”’s. As long as it’s not a direct hit, the monsters won’t die from it. Basically, them crying out means that they were still healthy enough to make sounds.

  However, the nature of the spell is more than enough to stop them in their tracks. Since the incantation is not long, I can use this spell in chain succession without having to skip parts of the chant and have the spell’s firepower reduced. I can boost its power by putting my kei into the spell too.

  If I use this spell while I’m riding a dragon, my enemies would not be able to stay grouped.

  I should thank Miroslav who taught me this after she searched for magic that would be useful for a dragon rider to use.

  「I guess we should have done this from the start…」

  「Puiii……」

  「N-no, I’m definitely not blaming you, okay?! Your attacks before were effective in their own way!」    

  「Pui?」

  「Yeah, really, I mean it!」

  So cheer up. Around the time I finished encouraging Clau Soras like that, we also finished the crucial circling around that we had to do.

  When I looked at the ground, the majority of the adventurers had already begun to retreat. Different from regular soldiers who follow their superior’s order, the adventurers moved according to their own judgment. For better or worse, they were all lightly equipped.  

  At this rate, I could probably make a full retreat myself after I deal with the enemy for 2 or 3 rounds. 

  I’m curious about what’s happening in the village that the epidemic resurfaced in too, so let’s quickly finish things up here.

  I had such thoughts in mind as I bent my body on the saddle, preparing to charge again.

◆◆◆

  After I finished rescuing the adventurers, I headed for the village that’s upstream of the Kale river as planned.

  On the surface of the Kale river, there are many times the usual amount of ships.

  Those ships are probably filled with people who are evacuating from the stampede. Since the monsters are hurtling through the roads, the natural escape route would be via water. 

  As the people on the ships saw Clau Soras, some mistook him for a monster attack and screamed, but when I waved my hand at them on the dragon’s back, their screams all changed to cheers.

  They probably thought that the royal capital’s dragon riders came to rescue them. Even though that wasn’t the case, there was no need for me to go out of my way to correct them either. 

  After this and that, I arrived at the village where the incident happened.

  Sure enough, it looks like this village has gotten attacked as well. However, the scale of the attack didn’t seem too big, so it appears that the village guards have fought the monsters off with only the help of the villagers.

  I was told that after the attack, most of the villagers had finished evacuating and got on the ships that were sent by Ishka’s government office.

  However, there are still some people remaining in the village right now, and the officials are worried about what to do with those people.

  In other words, they’re talking about the ill who could not move due to the poison.

  I told an official that I have something that’s even more potent than the antidote that is circulating in the market, but the expression on the official’s face did not change.  

  They are already at a stage where medicines wouldn’t do anything for them―― While the words of the official echoed in my mind, I went into the hut that the patients are quarantined in. 

  As soon as I did that, a pungent scent of rotting flesh hit my nose, even though I had used the cloth that the official passed onto me to make many layers to cover my nose.

  The inside of the hut that was enveloped in darkness was strangely quiet; not only do I not hear anyone talking, but I can’t hear anyone groaning either. 

  I knitted my eyebrows without realizing it. My feet stopped moving for some reason. It was as if…the air of this hut is rejecting the living.

  With that said, I can’t turn back here. I made my resolve and got my stiff feet to move.

  And after I got close to one of the patient’s beds, I took a peek at the person who was lying there.

  I took a peek…and I regretted it.