Monster no Goshujin-sama - Volume 12 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: The End of a Stagnated Time

The attack was sudden. Before anyone knew it, the Mist Barrier protecting Draconia had come undone. The fog that obstructed all sight and disoriented those who wandered in was indispensable for the dragons to hide themselves from the world, and now it was gone. This had never happened since the establishment of the settlement, so what could the dragons do but panic? The only ones who took action immediately were the few “guardians” of the settlement, including Rex. They tried to investigate what was going on, but they were met with an ambush.

There were intruders, and only three of them at that, but they were terrifyingly powerful. They blew the settlement to bits with a wide-area blast of magic. Not a single building remained standing, and several of the residents who didn’t get away in time fell victim to the attack.

When the magic came to a stop and the smoke cleared, the assailants showed themselves. Rex and the others transformed into dragons to meet them head-on. Dragons were much stronger than any regular monster, and even though several had already died, nearly twenty of them remained. They bared their fangs to crush the invaders who’d taken their siblings’ lives.

“Graaawr!”

The dragons unleashed their rage. Rex went on a rampage ahead of his siblings. They’d all inherited their mother’s distinctive feature—large carapaces covering their enormous bodies—so a regular monster’s attack wouldn’t even faze them.

Among the dragons, Rex was particularly large. His siblings were on average about ten meters from head to tail, whereas his dragon body was well over twenty meters long. His carapace was as thick as a human was tall, completely resistant to any half-hearted attack. That was supposed to be the case, but Rex’s enemies were strong enough to surpass the defensive power he and his siblings possessed.

“Ooooh!”

One of the enemies let out a war cry and struck Rex with a hammer, shaking his gigantic frame and bringing him to a stop.

“You’re mine!”

A sword came in next, gouging into his flesh where his carapace didn’t protect him.

“G-Graaaah!”

“Hup! Close one.”

Rex retaliated, but to no avail. His claws, boasting extraordinary destructive force, hit nothing but air. His fiery breath was blocked by magic.

[Rex!] Ella screamed, seeing her little brother struggling in battle.

[Get outta here, Ella!] Rex roared back at her. [Gah! You pesky humans!]

He cursed at the humans before him, but they couldn’t understand. In his dragon form, he couldn’t speak the human tongue. Regardless, in this case, they probably wouldn’t have understood had he been in human form either.

“Man, this one’s sturdy,” a young boy with black hair muttered, resting the handle of his huge hammer on his shoulder.

The one who’d cut Rex with a sword was also a boy. Neither looked particularly used to fighting, but the abundance of mana in their bodies was far from normal. Their power was beyond comprehension. They surely had enough strength to save this world.

[Fuck! These guys really are visitors!]

Rex groaned, despair in his voice, as he figured out his enemies’ identities. He’d correctly assessed the situation, after all. Draconia’s residents possessed significant strength, but the entire settlement couldn’t mobilize at a moment’s notice. This sudden event had surpassed everything they’d prepared for.

Even if humans attacked the settlement, it would take time for them to get through the Mist Barrier, so that would give the dragons a buffer to run away. They’d never imagined that the barrier would suddenly be dispelled, which was why they’d been forced to fight on the spot.

At first, with only three visitors against them, the dragons had the advantage. The enemies focused on defense, however, buying themselves some amount of time. After that, enemy reinforcements joined the fray. There were only ten new arrivals, but if all ten were visitors, the dragons had no chance of winning. Two giant dragon corpses already littered the ground.

[Ella! Kath! Take our sisters and run!] Rex screamed, using his claws to strike at one of the visitors who’d leaped at him.

“Oof?!” The boy blocked at the last moment, but he slammed back-first into the ground. He passed out, and one of his comrades retrieved him.

Even though Rex had made himself some space with that, there was no time to rest. He swung his tail at another enemy, and breathed fire at yet another.

[Leave the rest to us!] Rex roared as he held back the attackers. Following his lead, his wounded little brothers cried out, prepared to die.

[I-I can’t—!]

[Kath!] Ella yelled, stopping Kath from objecting. [Let’s split into two groups and run away.]

Ella let out a growl from deep within her throat, one clearly full of regret. She’d rebuked her little sister, but she felt the same on the inside. Kath knew this, so she ground her fangs.

[Grr! Fine! Fine! I know!] Kath yelled, turning her back on her older brothers.

With nearly half the dragons running away, the invaders obviously noticed.

“Hey! Those ones are running!”

“Don’t let ’em get away! After ’em!”

[Like hell!] Rex shouted, standing to bar the visitors’ path. [You won’t pass!]

Rex hardened his resolve and showed no hesitation. He was the settlement’s guardian, but he hadn’t started out with the strength to protect anyone. He’d been a crybaby as a child, and he’d always clung to his reliable older brother, Thaddeus. Rex had changed the day their father, the former savior, died, because their father had told the young dragons to protect their family.

All their older brothers had died with their father, so Rex believed that he and Thaddeus had to protect all of their siblings. Rex’s obstinate nature was born of rectifying his originally timid personality, but had he not done so, he couldn’t have become so strong. That was the reason Rex was who he was today.

He’d tempered both his mind and body and grown larger than everyone aside from his great mother, with a thick armor of carapace. All of it was for the sake of protecting his family. In truth, even though Rex had been the first to charge into the invaders, he’d endured to this point while covering his brothers from many attacks. It was due to his tremendous efforts that only two victims had fallen prey to the invaders so far.

[I’ll make you regret ever stepping foot into our home, you damned humans!]

Rex ran amok, making full use of his huge body. He had no delusions of surviving, but he wasn’t going to stand by and let these invaders go right through him. He had to buy every second he could for his family; that was why his strength existed. Rex, a carapace wyrm, wasn’t going to die so easily.

If Rex hadn’t been facing saviors, the very incarnation of outrageous power, that would’ve been the case.

“Okay, I’m ready. Everyone, fall back!”

One of the visitors to the rear gave a signal. The ones fighting at the front fell back, and an enormous glowing red glyph took shape in the sky. A terrifying amount of mana had to be responsible for its creation.

[Th-That’s...?!]

Even Rex was speechless. It was none other than grade 5 fire magic. With the cruelty of the largest and strongest act of violence known to this world right before him, Rex opened his jaws wide.

[Everyone! Get awaaaaaay!]

“Burn in hell!”

The grandest magic in the world, which only a select few saviors could use, activated. Its target was the linchpin of the dragons’ formation—Rex.

[Ooooooh?!]

A fireball even larger than Rex’s body shot out of the glyph.

[Reeex!]

Kath turned around and screamed. She watched the fireball engulf Rex whole. An incandescent gale tore through the air, and the earth quaked. The explosion was so big it could have blown away an entire town.

Despite avoiding a direct hit, the dragons fighting close to Rex were all defeated. Kath was far away, but the searing heat still washed over her and scorched her carapace. If it was that bad at this distance, then for Rex, who took it directly...

Blood drained from Kath’s face as she watched the fire burn.

[Don’t...look down on me...]

A large shadow moved within the raging blaze. It took one step, then another. It advanced by sheer willpower, refusing to lose. It stirred inside the flames, but it was in a horrific state. Its thick carapace had been carbonized by the heat, and cracks ran down its entire surface due to thermal expansion. One of its eyes was milky, and the wings on its back crumbled off with each step, but the figure still lived. It hadn’t been killed. Its tenacity, one that had spanned many, many years, finally overcame even a savior’s power.

[Like hell...I’ll die...so easily...]

Rex emerged from the fire, his fighting spirit still strong. He looked so heroic...and hence, so pitiful.

[I’m still not... Huh?]

He was shocked speechless. His one remaining eye reflected two gigantic glyphs, one atop the other.

[Wh-What...?]

His eye went wide. These were also grade 5 magic. Unbelievably, a single boy had invoked both. Normally, a person could only deploy one glyph at a time, with the only exception being spiritualists, but they simply had their spirits invoke a second glyph for them. It was impossible for an individual to deploy multiple glyphs at once. However, saviors overturned such common sense.

“That’s some amazing endurance. Pretty impressive, for a dragon,” said the boy who deployed the glyphs. He was one of the ones who’d come with the ten reinforcements. He pompously held a hand up high. “But that’s not enough to take me on.”

The boy’s name was Okazaki Takuma, known as the Almighty Vessel in the exploration team. He snapped his fingers, and five massive spears of ice plunged from the sky toward Rex.

[Ugh! Aaargh?! Aaaaaagh?!]

The spears tore through his carapace and drilled into his muscles. Blood burst into the sky. One pierced each of his limbs, and one his tail. Now pinned to the ground, Rex screamed in agony, yet it still wasn’t over.

The second glyph activated, and a huge mass of earth shot up from the ground. The amalgamation of stone and soil formed a giant arm, stretching high into the sky. It was thick, hard, and huge. That made it slow, but its immense destructive potential made up for it. The only choice when faced with this was to dodge the attack, but that was impossible when pinned down. Rex’s eye reflected the image of the stone hand forming a fist before it came down on him.

[I have to...protect...]

Those were his last words. A thunderous roar drowned out his one and only wish for all eternity. Kath and the other dragons could only watch in shock.

◆ ◆ ◆

“Man, that one was pretty tough, huh?” Okazaki said indifferently, as if the terrifying spectacle moments ago hadn’t even happened.

Using multiple grand magics was actually quite the burden on him, so he was a little tired, but he still had enough composure to act it up.

“I’m glad I came to help destroy this Dark Wood’s lord. By the looks of it, it wouldn’t have surprised me if one or two of us had croaked.”

One of the others listening to his boasting gave Okazaki a sullen look, but before he could say anything to Okazaki, another masculine boy stopped him.

“Yeah, you really helped out.”

He was Jinguuji Tomoya, an exploration team member known as the Dragon. He was also the one who’d brought Okazaki here.

“Thanks for lending us a hand,” Jinguuji said.

“It’s no big deal,” Okazaki replied casually.

He was as carefree as when he’d accepted Jinguuji’s request for aid on that street corner some time ago.

“Dark Woods threaten the livelihood of the people,” Okazaki said. “The lords of these forests have to be defeated. That’s our duty as saviors.”

That was common sense here, so nobody questioned his statement.

“But there’s still a risk to doing it,” he continued. “We gotta be safe about it whenever we can. I get why you’re so careful, Jinguuji. That’s why I came with you. Still, you might be a bit too careful.”

“Well...”

“Yeah man, I know. That thing you mentioned going on in the small eastern provinces, yeah? Something about guys leaving the exploration team and screwing up big time? Pretty sure you’re overthinking things.”

“If only I was...”

“Anyhoo, it’s got nothing to do with us. This was a perfectly safe subjugation. I mean, we’ve got you and me here.”

Two nicknamed cheaters were present. They also had more than ten visitors with them. In all likelihood, no Dark Woods had ever been attacked by such a powerful force. What’s more, this Dark Woods had exceptionally few monsters in it. That was because the dragons of Draconia had been culling their numbers to prevent as much damage to human society as possible. Thanks to that, the invaders had made it all the way to the settlement without much fatigue.

“All righty then. Guess we can talk later,” Okazaki said, bringing the conversation to an end. “Let’s finish exterminating us some dragons.” He turned his focus to Kath’s group. “Those things get away, and some helpless folks might fall victim to them.”

[Ah...]

The dragons were badly injured just from the aftermath of the magic he’d used on Rex. They’d be done for if they took any direct attacks like that. Even the ferocious dragons were no more than prey at this point.

“Let’s roll.”

And so a hopeless chase began—at the current rate, that was sure to unfold—but just then, a shadow fell over the small hunters, a shadow much larger than it had any right to be.

“This, I never foresaw.”

“Wha—?!” Startled by the sudden event, the visitors came to a stop.

“I never even conceived the notion. To think the Mist Barrier would be undone so quickly.”

The carapace wyrm Malvina, her wings spread wide, thrust herself between her children and their hunters.

[Mother!] Kath cried.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I was stalled,” Malvina replied, but she didn’t turn to face her children. Her eyes remained vigilantly fixed on the visitors. “Now then, I shall be your opponent, humans.”

[Mother! You mustn’t! We’ll fight too!]

“Hmph. Don’t be foolish.”

[Mother!]

“Run, Kath. All of you must survive, no matter what happens.”

Sensing the urgency in Malvina’s voice, Kath could no longer object. The dragons shook free of any lingering reluctance and ran off.

“S-So this is the Dark Woods’ lord?! Brace yourselves, everyone!”

The boys had also been talking to each other while Malvina had been speaking to her children. Faced with such an enormous monster, even these visitors had to remain on guard. That was rather convenient for Malvina, though. The more careful they were, the more likely it was for Kath and her other children to get away.

“At any rate...” Malvina sensed her children getting farther and farther away, then let out a small sigh. “I don’t understand a thing they’ve been saying. Good grief, I can’t even grumble a complaint or two at them. I should’ve brought a translation runestone.”

Unlike her children, Malvina could speak the human language even in her dragon form. However, even other humans needed translation runestones to communicate with visitors from other worlds. It was impossible to talk to them, so it was impossible to appeal to them about the intelligence she and her children possessed. Not that this was much of a problem at this point: it was far too late to reconcile with words.

“Hmph. I see. So that’s how the Mist Barrier was broken.”

Malvina accumulated her mana as she observed the enemy. She narrowed her eyes when they fell upon Jinguuji Tomoya.

“Much like him, that boy has the ability to turn into a dragon. Now that I think of it, a stupid number of visitors came to this world this time around. I suppose it isn’t all that strange for one to have the same ability as him.”

Befitting of his nickname, Jinguuji Tomoya had dragon wings sprouting from his back. They were what had rendered the Mist Barrier useless.

“A barrier that makes it difficult for anyone but a dragon to get through is meaningless against another dragon. You really got us good,” Malvina said with another sigh. “Well, some parts of this don’t make sense, but there’s not much else I can learn with this language barrier. Or perhaps there’s no meaning in such talks at this late hour. Hmph. I thought I had long resolved myself for this, but look at me now.”

Malvina had lived a long life. She considered it more than enough time, so if humans ever attacked the settlement, she believed she was fine with sacrificing herself to let her children get away. She didn’t have the willpower to claw for the slimmest chance of survival.

She’d had everything stolen from her, had escaped to safety, and had lived a life where all she’d done was hide. She’d gotten tired of it. But now, things were different. She’d been given a glimpse of hope, after all.

Her old friend had brought a boy to her that reminded Malvina of her late beloved. At the end of that boy’s dream, there would be no need for her children to live in hiding like this. They could spread their wings and live freely. In that future, maybe Malvina could reconcile with her youngest daughter. Maybe she could convey her love to the child.

That future surely existed, but Malvina’s days were over. These were the last logical thoughts to go through the carapace wyrm’s head. From this point on, she decided she would become a beast driven only by hatred.

“How dare you, humans...”

Dark emotions clouded her once-rational eyes. She stepped forward into the pool of blood spreading from Rex’s headless corpse.

Her beloved children, those quiet days—even the ones that were a result of flight and stagnation—all of it stolen, broken, and crushed underfoot. She would never, ever forgive them. Even if these boys didn’t understand Malvina’s circumstances, even if they’d only attacked out of a sense of righteousness, none of that could rationalize what they’d destroyed.

“Now that you’ve done as you pleased, don’t think you’ll be able to leave this place so easily.”

The disparity in power here didn’t matter. The visitors gulped at the pure strength of the dragon before them and dreaded her emotions being turned against them.

Malvina’s enemies were saviors; they had the power to save the world. If she didn’t give in to rage and hatred, if she didn’t lose her mind, she wouldn’t be able to oppose them. Thus, she threw away the heart her beloved had given her and returned to being a senseless monster.

She spat out what had been stuck in her mouth. The visitors put themselves on guard, thinking it was some sort of attack. Something crashed into the ground in front of them, but nothing happened as a result. Okazaki Takuma strained his eyes, wondering what was going on, then shrieked.

“A-Aaaah! N-No way! You’re kidding me!”

He’d realized what those dark-red clumps were. They were his friends—his dead friends. They were the boys who’d stalled Malvina during the attack on the settlement. Using the time that Okazaki took to focus on using two grade 5 magics to murder Rex, she’d killed them.

These visitors had never truly surmounted a life-or-death situation. Even if they possessed the greatest combat strength in the world, they were still nothing more than children who were drunk on peace. By taking full advantage of that, by being ready to die with every exchange of blows, it was possible to kill them.

Witnessing the bloody deaths their comrades had gone through, the visitors became restless. Malvina wasn’t one to let such an opening pass. She let out a roar befitting her mountain-like stature and charged forward. Her few children who still remained followed as if spurred by her madness and rage.

What should’ve been a perfectly safe subjugation had degraded into a bloody struggle to the death.