Genjitsushugisha no Oukokukaizouki - Volume 19 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Racing Through the Era

“Tch...!”

“Ngh?!”

As Hashim’s blade lunged for Jirukoma’s throat, he jumped back, grimacing. His muscular brown-skinned arms were marked with several fresh scratches, all inflicted by Hashim.

“Are you okay, Jirukoma?!” Julius shouted, rushing over while holding his side in pain. The wound wasn’t fatal, but it was from his battle with Hashim.

“For all that he looks like a bureaucrat, he’s incredibly strong...” spat Jirukoma.

“Yeah,” Julius agreed. “He’s the kind of man you don’t want to make an enemy of.”

Praised by the people of the Empire with the epithet “the Wisdom of the Tiger,” Hashim was Fuuga’s advisor who had just successfully defeated the Kingdom’s resourceful commander along with his fierce companion.

Damn it... I never would have thought Hashim was this skilled, Julius mentally cursed. He had always taken pride in being an intellectual who could also fight, but Hashim had surpassed that.

Julius, not one to be easily intimidated, decided to continue provoking Hashim. It was a slight blow to his pride, but he said, “I see Fuuga has an incredibly strong advisor.”

He was half bluffing, hoping that if he could distract Hashim even a little, it would make the fight easier. However, the other part of his statement was simply the truth. Julius had not seen Hashim issue a single command to his forces since the battle began. Before the conflict, Julius had entrusted command of the forces in the central camp to Kaede, but there was no indication that Hashim had done anything similar.

The Kingdom had several leaders, including Liscia, Excel, and Ludwin, who were capable of commanding the entire military. However, without Shuukin present, the Great Tiger Empire had only Fuuga and Hashim available. Despite this, Hashim seemed to have completely abandoned the idea of giving orders.

“You’re not having Fuuga take command, are you? I can’t imagine any sane person would let Fuuga loose at this stage of the conflict...”

“Heh heh heh...” Hashim let out a guttural laugh. With an icy smile that chilled everyone who saw it, Hashim said, “You don’t understand, do you, Julius?”

“What?”

“From the very beginning of this battle, we have been acutely aware of our desperate situation. There was only one strategy we could use.”

Having said this, Hashim cupped his hand to his ear.

“Don’t you hear it? The heartbeat of a great man. The sound of an era being crushed beneath his feet.”

“What are you talking about?”

Yahhhhhhhhhhh!!! A distant sound rose—was it cheering, screaming, or shouting? Perhaps it was all of these. It was so loud that even from here, it was deafening.

“Heh heh heh,” Hashim laughed with satisfaction. “At this point, we have no need for a flexible plan. There is one person who can overturn strategies, change the course of this war, and even alter the era itself—my lord and master, the great Fuuga Haan. Allowing that majestic individual to reach Souma is the sole objective that I, along with all the soldiers of the Great Tiger Empire, have been tasked with.”

“Huh?! It can’t be!”

That was the reason for the total offensive? Julius gulped.

Rather than concentrate their forces, the Empire had opted to spread them over a wide front, putting pressure on their enemies across a broad area. This strategy would force the Kingdom to divide its forces while Fuuga launched an attack like a single needle—a poisoned sting that could potentially kill Souma if it reached him. This was the strategy devised by Hashim. If the needle struck its target, they would win; if it missed, they would lose. The plan was so simple that Hashim did not need to issue any commands along the way. All they had to do was fight until they could fight no more.

Crash!!!

““Wha?!””

Lightning flashed behind Hashim, followed by an earthshaking rumble and a cloud of dust billowing into the air. But it was more than just a dust cloud. Men in armor and horses were thrown into the air as well, clearly not by their own volition; they had been sent flying by a powerful ground-level attack.

“Heh heh heh.” Hashim cackled.

Although it was impossible to see the source of the dust cloud from their position, it was evident who was responsible for it.

Hashim pointed his sword past his two opponents towards the Kingdom’s main camp.

“Now, race onward, great one! Use your power to upend the heavens, the era itself—everything!” Hashim shouted.

At that moment, a white tiger soared overhead.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Ha ha ha! This is fun, Durga!” Fuuga exclaimed, patting Durga on the back as they soared into the air after obliterating an entire unit of the Kingdom’s forces with a strike from his Zanganto, which crackled with electricity.

An era was coming to an end. This festival of chaos would soon conclude, and Fuuga, sensing this, joyfully tried to savor every last moment.

“I should thank Souma for preparing one last grand stage for me!” he said.

The glorious stage on which his fate would be determined—that was where Fuuga was dancing. He crushed the soldiers of the Kingdom along the way, instilling fear in them. They would remember whose era this was.

Perhaps, like a falling flower or a shooting star, he was putting on one last show. He fought and raced past them, heading straight towards the main camp where Souma was located. At that moment, he felt he was not just the great man carrying the hopes of others, but his own man, Fuuga Haan, doing as he pleased and fighting the battles he wanted to fight.

And so, Fuuga and Durga continued their advance until...

“Fuugaaaaa!”

“Roarrrrr!!!”

...a red dragon and her knight suddenly dropped from the sky to attack them.

◇ ◇ ◇

As she descended rapidly, Ruby the red dragon aimed to strike Durga the flying tiger with her front claws.

“Durga!” Fuuga shouted, prompting Durga to look up.

The flying tiger saw the incoming attack and met claw with claw.

Clang! The sound of hard objects colliding echoed in the air. Durga was determined not to lose this test of strength, even against a massive red dragon.

“Hmph...!”

Fuuga felt a surge of satisfaction seeing a short spear, wreathed in flames, rushing towards him.

“Ngh!”

Bang! Fuuga batted the short spear away with his Zanganto. The spear attempted to fly off, but a yank on the chain attached to its haft pulled it back to its owner.

Fuuga fixed a feral gaze on the spear’s wielder. “So, you’ve come to face me after all, Halbert Magna!”

“Hmph! You remember me, huh? What an honor.” Halbert snorted provocatively. “For a mighty emperor like you, aren’t we just pebbles by the roadside? Just things that make it harder for you to walk, ones you can kick aside or crush?”

“Ha ha ha! If you were just another inconsequential officer, sure!” Fuuga replied with amusement. “But the strongest dragon knight in the Kingdom is a different story. You’re one of the biggest threats on the Friedonian side, which makes you one of the most likely to let me have some fun.”

“I’m not planning to fight to satisfy your whims,” Halbert stated, pointing the spear in his right hand at Fuuga. “I’m fighting to protect the people I love from being trampled by you. That’s what I, Ruby, and everyone else in the Kingdom, starting with Souma, have been preparing for!”

Fuuga felt the corners of his lips curl upward as he listened to Halbert. “Aw, that’s so nice. You’re giving me a real ‘most favored nation’ reception here.”

“You’re about the only one dumb enough to be happy about it.”

“Ha ha ha! No doubt about that. All right, let’s do this, Halbert Magna!”

“Ruby!”

“Durga!”

The two shouted for their partners, who promptly moved aside. As soon as they did, Fuuga grabbed his bow and began firing arrow after arrow, aiming to hit Halbert with his impressive archery skills.

“Like I’d let you do that!” Halbert retorted.

Fuuga’s arrows flew towards him like missiles, but Halbert used his two spears connected by a chain to deflect them. Even Fuuga was astonished by this tactic.

While training with the Dratroopers, Halbert had practiced repeatedly cutting down projectiles from an anti-air repeating bolt thrower. This experience served him well in the current battle.

“Ha ha ha! Not bad! You’re more entertaining than the queen of Nothung and her white dragon!”

“Hey!” Ruby exclaimed telepathically. “I won’t let you mock Pai!”

Determined to resolve the battle, Ruby and Durga clashed once more. As the dragon and tiger grappled, Ruby wrapped her tail around Durga’s hind legs.

“Tch!” Fuuga clicked his tongue as Durga lost the ability to move.

With the tiger immobilized, Ruby opened her jaws wide, aiming at Fuuga.

“Eat this!”

“Not happening!” Fuuga shouted back.

Ruby unleashed a blast of fire. In response, Fuuga released electricity from his Zanganto to intercept the flames.

Bzzzap!!! As fire and electricity collided, fireworks and sparks flew through the air. The next impact forcefully separated Ruby and Durga, creating some distance between them. A human had just neutralized the flaming breath of a dragon, which was far more powerful than that of a wyvern.

Halbert’s and Ruby’s expressions tensed.

“Is that guy...for real?” Ruby asked.

“Damn it! He really is a monster,” Halbert replied.

Though they had expected this to some extent, they both gulped, taken aback by Fuuga’s extraordinary power. Then it happened.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Countless fireballs suddenly appeared and began targeting Fuuga.

Looking towards the source of the attack, they saw the wyvern cavalry, equipped with the Little Susumu Mark V Light (a simplified Maxwellian propulsion device), rapidly approaching the dueling warriors to unleash a volley of fireballs.

“Tch!”

“Grrr.”

As the flames bore down on them, Fuuga’s Zanganto and Durga’s claws struck the fireballs down with ease. To them, who could fend off Ruby’s flames, it felt like swatting away insects. However, the wyvern cavalry flew overhead, unfazed. They executed a rapid hit-and-run strategy using their propulsion devices. While they might not have inflicted any damage on Fuuga and Durga, they had certainly given Halbert and Ruby a chance to recover. It was akin to Science Guard fighter planes providing suppressive fire while a giant hero battled a kaiju. They didn’t need to land a decisive blow; they just needed to assist.

After a brief respite, Halbert and Ruby charged at their opponent once again.

“We’re not done yet!” shouted Halbert.

“Ha ha ha! Good!” Fuuga replied. “I feel like I’m taking on a whole country here, and I like it!”

The two warriors clashed their blades several times. As expected, Fuuga maintained the upper hand. Halbert found himself repeatedly pushed into a corner. However, each time, the wyvern cavalry launched hit-and-run attacks to support him, giving both him and Ruby chances to recover. This tactic made it difficult for Fuuga to land a direct attack. Meanwhile, Halbert continued to strike back whenever he regained his strength.

“Urgh...! This is starting to get annoying.”

As the wyvern cavalry executed another support attack, Fuuga wore a displeased expression, as if he had just bitten into something unpleasant. He was preparing to swat away yet another attacker when suddenly, he heard a collective shout...

“““Lord Fuuga!!!”””

At that moment, the Empire’s wyvern cavalry flew into the path of the Kingdom’s wyvern cavalry, who were charging forward rapidly. Unable to stop in time to avoid the sudden interlopers, one of the Kingdom’s wyvern riders crashed directly into them. As the riders of the two colliding wyverns plummeted to the ground, the Kingdom’s wyvern cavalry halted their assault on Fuuga and separated. Meanwhile, the Empire’s wyvern cavalry regrouped around Fuuga, who had ventured too far ahead and left them behind.

“Lord Fuuga! We will keep the enemy’s wyvern cavalry at bay!”

“Please, push onward, Your Highness!”

“Fulfill our greatest wish, Your Highness!”

There was a noticeable difference in the quality of equipment between the Kingdom’s and the Empire’s wyvern cavalry. If there had been griffon cavalry available, they could have countered the wyvern cavalry effectively. However, all the griffon riders had been left with Krahe to keep Castor’s Air Force pinned down in Red Dragon City. In a direct confrontation, the Empire’s wyvern cavalry would be dominated by the Kingdom’s forces, which were equipped with propulsion devices that allowed for hit-and-run tactics.

Despite the odds, the cavalry still tried to protect Fuuga, believing that his dream was also their dream.

“Got it...” Fuuga nodded and headed towards the Kingdom’s main camp. The Kingdom’s wyvern cavalry attempted to stop him, but the Empire’s wyvern cavalry threw themselves in the way.

“Damn it... Ruby!”

“I know!”

Now, the only ones left to block Fuuga’s path were Halbert and Ruby again.

“Fuuugaaaaa!” Halbert roared as he hurled a spear wrapped in flames towards Fuuga. “This is what keeps getting people killed! The more you chase your dream, the more lives are thrown away for you! Stop it already!”

“They want me to keep pressing forward!” Fuuga exclaimed as he deflected Halbert’s attack. “I’m not just showing people a dream! I’m carrying their dreams with me, and that’s even more reason for me to keep moving forward! I’ve inherited the feelings and karma of those who died for me and those I’ve defeated along the way, so I can’t stop!”

“That doesn’t mean you can drag the living into it!”

“Yeah! It’s a real nuisance!” Ruby shouted, slamming into Durga’s side. “Don’t force us into a story that only reflects your worldview! You’re free to dream, but there are more important priorities! There are people you should care for! Even I have someone—like Hal’s son, Bill!”

“Urgh!”

Durga flinched after Ruby’s impassioned tackle. But despite that, Fuuga and Durga kept moving forward, closing in on the main camp where Souma was stationed. Suddenly...

“Roarrrrr!”

As Ruby howled, something large and black lifted off from the Kingdom’s main camp. It was a black ryuu, soaring into the skies as if climbing a waterfall. This was Souma’s second secondary queen, Naden Delal Souma. Between Naden’s antlers stood a brave dark elf warrior with a greatsword resting against her shoulder—Souma’s second primary queen, Aisha U. Elfrieden.

“We won’t let you reach His Majesty! Let’s go, Madam Naden!” Aisha declared.

“Roger that!”

Souma’s two queens stood in Fuuga and Durga’s way.