My Slain Dragon Bride

Chapter 97: Chapter 97

Chapter 97 - Ambush

Two men stood far apart, watching the village from a distance.

"So that is Hestia Village."

"Yes."

"Can a place really change this much in just a few months?"

The large man expressed his astonishment.

The Far Eastern Region—a place where no one dared set foot.

To see a proper village standing proudly on land so close to the border filled him with a strange sense of awe.

"Wasn’t it said that, until just a few years ago, it was impossible for a new village to take root on this land?"

"It was impossible. That’s how poor the perception of the Far Eastern Region was."

"Then how is this possible?"

"All I can say is that they were incredibly resourceful. With the full support of the Pascal Trading Company, the alliance declared by Iorga, and the addition of the southern Halim region... it might as well have been Alchemy."

"Alchemy... Well, considering how wealth is pouring into the place, calling it Alchemy wouldn’t be an exaggeration."

Turning such a barren wasteland into a gold mine was nothing short of miraculous.

"And all of it was accomplished under the name of Ferda Valdrova."

"A dangerous individual. If he continues expanding his influence like this, our plan will be in trouble."

"Hmm..."

The man quietly looked down at the village.

The large man, watching his back, made a suggestion.

"Should we reveal ourselves now?"

"No. That doesn’t fit our plan."

His answer came as sharp and cold as a blade.

"What we need most right now is Valdrova’s isolation. What do you think would happen if we openly attacked and destroyed Hestia Village?"

"Wouldn’t they lose their unity?"

"No. They would unite instead. Just like during the Dragon-Demon War."

The Dragon-Demon War.

Even the large man’s excitement cooled the moment those words were spoken.

For the Demon Race, there was no greater humiliation than that event.

"Humans are frightening when they have justification. Once, they united under the banner of exterminating demons. Even now, with only a handful of us remaining, they still seek to wipe us out."

"That’s true."

"So we must leave them alone. Let their descendants lose their vigilance against the Demon Race."

The man murmured as though reciting a poem.

"It is peace that rusts the sword, peace that crumbles the fortress walls, and peace that dulls mankind."

The large man agreed with the plan.

Yet the unease weighing on his chest would not disappear, and he finally voiced his concern.

"But if we leave them alone, won’t their forces continue to grow?"

"Of course. That is something we cannot ignore either."

If they destroyed them now, the greater plan would collapse.

If they stayed hidden, Valdrova’s influence would only continue to strengthen.

Everything had begun the moment Ferda Valdrova accepted the Engagement.

"So... wouldn’t it be worthwhile to sow a few seeds?"

The man raised a hand hidden beneath his robe.

His fingers were pale and unnaturally slender.

With a single motion, he drew a vertical line through the air.

Immediately, a shimmering multicolored rift split open before him.

Stepping out from within was a wolf.

Grrrrrr...

No...

They were Monsters in the form of wolves.

One after another, they slowly emerged from the rift and lined up in perfect formation.

Their eyes had lost all reason, yet they remained utterly obedient.

Like puppies awaiting the commands of their master, they stood patiently before the robed man.

In a polite tone, he gave his order.

"Sweep them away."

Woof! Woof!

The Monsters charged forward the instant they heard the command.

Filled with nothing but the desire to destroy, they raced straight toward Hestia Village.

***

"Battle stations! Gather every soldier and notify the adventurers! I repeat—we are under attack! All government officials are to evacuate the civilians, and every soldier capable of fighting is to assemble immediately!"

Isabella, who held command authority during emergencies, shouted at the top of her lungs.

"How many are approaching?"

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen..."

Isabella was busy using Communication Magic to summon everyone.

Meanwhile, Erika remained silent as she stared at the ground.

Something’s wrong.

She stepped back mentally, looking at the situation from a broader perspective.

Monsters appeared out of nowhere... Fifteen of them at once.

She pieced together the recent incidents and circumstances.

Even allowing herself to make bold, far-fetched assumptions, she searched for the explanation that fit the situation best.

Perhaps...

Erika turned toward Isabella.

"Bella! You’ll be fine without me, right?"

"You’re not joining the battle?"

"There has to be someone behind this Monster attack. I’m going to find the mastermind."

Five separate Communication Magic transmissions continuously rang in Isabella’s ears.

Frowning deeply, she glared fiercely as she answered.

"The children of the great Iorga are watching our rear. Please don’t worry."

"Thank you."

Erika calmly assessed the situation and unfolded her Magic Circles.

Unlike ordinary Mages, who could draw only a single Magic Circle, five circles revolved around her body.

That was the true power of Erika—the master of the Blue Eye Magic Tower and leader of the Blue Dragon Spawn.

Multi-Casting.

She could chant two spells simultaneously while preparing five different spells at once.

Erika activated her first Magic Circle.

"Go... become my eyes."

The Mana condensed within the Magic Circle dispersed into dozens of blue sparrows.

Each carried Motion Detection Magic and Mana Detection Magic, spreading in every direction to search for anyone behaving suspiciously.

True to her title, the Blue Eye that watched over all magic, no one could escape her surveillance.

The sparrows spread beyond the village and deep into the dense forest.

Soon, one of them found something.

"Found you."

Without hesitation, Erika activated another Magic Circle she had prepared.

It was Teleport Magic.

The coordinates were set instantly.

She teleported directly above the blue sparrow that had detected the target.

What had previously appeared only as a mass of Mana now became clearly visible to the naked eye.

Erika did not hesitate.

Anyone who unleashed Monsters was, without exception, to be treated as a member of the Demon Race.

She immediately activated the Magic Circle she had prepared, targeting the figure before her.

"Bending Time."

A high-level spell that slowed time at a designated location almost to a complete stop.

For a Mage of Erika’s caliber, she could halt time entirely.

Everything caught within the spell froze in place.

She still had two spells remaining.

She merged the two Magic Circles together, forming an entirely new geometric structure.

A bizarre form of magic that only Erika herself could wield.

Elemental Demolition.

By exploiting the repulsive force between two opposing elements, it was a savage and overwhelmingly destructive spell capable of obliterating everything within its area.

Its destructive power bordered on excessive.

Yet Erika did not care in the slightest.

Against the Demon Race that had once sought to rule the continent, nothing less was sufficient.

She intended to leave no chance for even their remnants to survive.

But just as she prepared the spell, her sixth sense sharpened.

The heightened senses of a Dragon Spawn.

Something within her field of vision reacted.

Impossible.

Time had literally been frozen.

Nothing inside the affected area should have been able to move.

Yet Erika never blindly trusted even her own logical judgment.

That instinct saved her.

Something flew toward her through the very space where time should have stood still under Bending Time.

A massive black object with a vicious face stretched out a hand the size of a pot lid.

The instant Erika saw that hand, she knew.

If it caught her, she would die without any chance of resistance.

The monstrous hand reached for her leg.

No—

It grabbed only the afterimage she had left behind.

She had already escaped the danger using Teleport Magic.

Landing on the ground, Erika quickly regained her stance.

Rather than preparing another Magic Circle immediately, she focused first on analyzing what had just happened.

Was the time-stop spell nullified?

The trembling leaves...

The crawling insects...

Everything remained frozen and colorless.

The spell was still active.

Yet there was one thing still moving within that frozen space.

A man wearing a gray robe.

He alone ignored everything and calmly looked at Erika.

How is that even possible?

Normally, the way to resist Bending Time was by casting resistance magic.

But until the very moment the spell activated, he had shown no signs of resisting.

Everything had frozen.

Everything should have been completely defenseless.

That was precisely why Erika had intended to finish him with a decisive blow.

How could someone move freely inside a frozen world?

"You seem quite surprised."

The man’s voice rang clearly in her ears.

"For someone who is both a descendant of the great Iorga and the wisdom of the Great Twelve Rulers, this isn’t your first encounter with the Demon Race."

His voice carried a mocking tone.

Regaining her composure, Erika answered calmly.

"You’re right. I’m surprised there’s still something capable of surprising me."

"That’s good news for us. It means we haven’t declined after all."

A moment later, the large man descended from the sky and landed heavily on the ground.

Boom!

The impact echoed with the weight of his enormous mass.

The man knelt behind the robed figure.

Without turning around, the robed man asked,

"So, the surprise attack failed?"

"She judged the situation faster than expected."

"Naturally. Our opponent is one of the Great Twelve Rulers and the master of the Blue Eye Magic Tower. It would have been stranger if she had been completely helpless."

The eyes hidden beneath the robe became briefly visible.

Jet-black pupils gleamed like obsidian, set within crimson irises.

The confidence and contempt in those eyes ignited a deep fury within Erika.

I have to kill them both...

But reality was not so simple.

The price of failing to cast a high-level spell was enormous.

The Mana backlash had not only drained her Mana—it had thrown all the Mana inside her body into complete disorder.

I have no choice.

She abandoned human magic for the moment.

Carefully, Erika reached behind her back.

There was a canteen fastened to her belt.

She opened its cap.

Pop!

The instant it opened, the water inside flowed out, swimming along her fingers.

The full canteen became a ring of water that encircled her body.

One of the large man’s eyebrows rose.

"A ring of water?"

"Iorga governs not only Magic, but also the Aspect of Water."

"Hmph. What could you possibly do with mere water?"

The large man sneered.

Erika slowly extended her hand.

Part of the water ring separated into a single droplet that floated above her palm.

"I can do this."

With a snap of her fingers, the droplet shot forward like a bullet.

The large man instinctively thrust out his hand to block it.

"Urgh?!"

The compressed water projectile pierced straight through his hand...

Then drove directly through his heart.

"Gah!"

It tore through his chest and exited through his back, continuing toward the young man standing behind him.

However, it struck the Mana barrier surrounding his body and bounced away without penetrating.

"Ghh... What was that? It was only a drop of water..."

"Didn’t I tell you? Iorga embodies the Aspect of Water and the Aspect of Magic. And that attack came from its leader. Piercing your skin is only natural."

"You should’ve mentioned that sooner."

"I thought you’d enjoy experiencing it firsthand."

The large man’s face was filled with disbelief.

Yet the one who was even more shocked was Erika.

The two of them were calmly carrying on a conversation.

I fired that intending to kill them both...

Her water bullets possessed terrifying destructive power.

When they pierced a heart, the immense rotational force and water pressure should have twisted it apart into countless fragments.

Even for members of the Demon Race, whose bodies were many times stronger than humans, such a wound should have been fatal.

Yet the demon whose heart had been pierced treated it as though he had merely been lightly stabbed somewhere.

He simply stood back up.

And I couldn’t even pierce the one behind him.

The Mana barrier casually surrounding his body was that powerful.

To think mere remnants of the Demon Race are this strong.

At the very least...

They were Noblesse-class.

And not just that.

Noblesse-class beings approaching the level of an Emperor.

With both Bending Time and Elemental Demolition having failed, Erika no longer possessed any effective means of defeating them.

There’s no choice... I’ll have to withdraw, prepare, and face them another day.

She unfolded a Teleport Magic Circle.

The Magic Circle activated, wrapping Erika’s body in its light.

Yet her body did not teleport.

"Cough!"

Instead, blood burst from her mouth.

Without understanding why, she coughed up blood and staggered in agony.

It feels... like my organs have been twisted.

She knew exactly what this side effect meant.

It was what happened when an imperfect Teleport Magic spell was cast.

Did I construct the Magic Circle incorrectly?

Impossible.

Erika had lived for over a thousand years.

She had cast Teleport Magic hundreds of thousands of times.

She had mastered it to the point where she could draw a Teleport Magic Circle in her sleep and wake up somewhere else.

Which means... that man tampered with it.

She had been completely fooled.

Gritting her teeth in frustration, Erika glared at the robed man.

"Did you really think leaving would be as easy as arriving?"

A broad smile could be heard in his voice.

Whether she wanted to lash out in anger or answer coldly, all she could do was lean forward and groan in pain.

"The Tower Master has greeted us so enthusiastically. I suppose it’s only proper that I return the favor."

He raised a finger from beneath his robe.

His hand was pale as snow, without the slightest trace of darkness.

Pointing that finger forward, he drew a vertical line through the air.

A shimmering multicolored rift split open.

Then it spat out what lay within.

Grrrk.

Grrrk.

They were Monsters modeled after wyverns.

With powerful beats of their wings, they rose into the sky.

There were well over twenty of them.

For Erika, already cornered, it was an utterly hopeless situation.

The man’s finger slowly pointed toward her.

"End her life."

Screech!

The wyverns charged toward Erika all at once.

Just then—

A powerful gale swept toward them.

Something so enormous that it completely blocked Erika’s vision became a wall before her.

The charging wyvern Monsters were killed in a single strike.

Boom!

The object slammed into the ground, sending clouds of dirt soaring into the air.

Erika opened her eyes and looked at it.

It was an axe.

A massive war axe with a blade so huge that it looked as though it had been forged for a giant.

Erika knew exactly who wielded that axe.

Unlike the savage weapon she carried, its owner had a petite frame.

Yet she was a silver-haired girl whose martial prowess had earned her the title Nightmare of the Frost Giants.

"Greetings, Lady Erika."

It was Luri Silverwind.

"I heard that you had come to our territory, so I hurried here as fast as I could. I hope I haven’t intruded."

Erika wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with her index finger.

"I’ve shown an unsightly side of myself before Lady Valdrova’s maid."

"It doesn’t bother me. However, from this point onward, I think it would be best if you carried yourself with a little more dignity."

There was no need for Erika to question what Luri meant.

She could already sense someone walking toward them.

Clad in a jet-black suit, with gray hair and blue eyes.

He was tall and slender, his appearance almost delicate.

Yet no one could possibly mistake him for weak.

His unwavering gaze remained fixed upon his enemies, as though an army of a thousand stood behind him.

Ferda Valdrova.

He walked forward with imposing dignity and came to stand beside Erika.