If Gadora was flummoxed by what he saw, the other side of the equation was even more confused.
The airship fleet advancing toward northern Englesia was enjoying an elegant journey in the air. The sky, unlike the dangerous sea route, was perfectly safe—very few monsters could reach their high altitude, although there were still some.
This was a fleet of some three hundred airships, and they were commanded by their leader, Major General Zamdo. His mission was to transport imperial troops—the thirty-thousand-strong Magical Beast Division, commanded by Gradim—toward the central continent. They wouldn’t be fighting themselves, so they couldn’t ask for an easier mission.
But in the flagship Zamdo was boarding, a measure more luxurious than the other ships, one section was enveloped in an eerie atmosphere. Zamdo had been informed that a very important official would be inspecting the ship, but nobody told him who this person was. The news came quite suddenly, to the point that Commander Caligulio might not have known, either.
Still, Zamdo was unconcerned. Heh-heh-heh… Better to be left in the dark. Excessive prying will do little but shorten your life…
So he went about his duties, managing to keep himself fully relaxed. But then he received an urgent message.
“Excuse me, sir!”
A communications officer tore onto the bridge, an ominous look on his face. The fact that he personally reported here instead of sending a soldier over indicated this was something important.
“What is it? A message from the homeland?”
They had already received word that Caligulio had been handed a painful defeat. Most of the ground forces were already lost, but that wasn’t any of Zamdo’s business. Once an operation was underway, nothing would stop it unless he was ordered to halt. The battle was just a few days away, and it wasn’t like panicking would allow Zamdo to call anything off.
To tell the truth, however, Zamdo was internally hoping for a stop-down order to come at once. He hadn’t told any soldiers about the ground losses, but if word got out, it could gravely affect morale and the success rate of their operation. Better to pull back and start over than take that risk, he thought—but since some would take that as a sign of weakness, Zamdo couldn’t make the call on his own.
Gradim, commander of the forces they were transporting, wasn’t the type of person Zamdo was good at dealing with. That’s why Zamdo was hoping against hope that this was a stop-down order. Instead, it was nothing like he ever imagined.
“The… The Marshal is coming!”
“Wh-what?!” Zamdo shouted back, in no small part because he didn’t even know the Marshal was on board.
S-so that’s the VIP I was told about…?! Ridiculous… Is this operation truly that important?!
It was important, yes, but it was just one of the Empire’s three major military divisions on the move. There shouldn’t be any need for the Marshal to be involved. But enough about that. He had to figure out how to greet this guest.
“All rise to welcome the Marshal!”
Zamdo, regaining his composure quickly, shouted out the order. A pulse of tension coursed across the bridge. Everyone stood upright to give a salute—and then the door opened to reveal Velgrynd, one of the world’s most stunning beauties. Everyone on the bridge was immediately astounded. The Marshal, this figure none of them had ever laid eyes upon before, was standing right in front of them…but before this fact even registered in their minds, Velgrynd’s beauty mesmerized them.
But she took that for granted.
“Don’t just stand there, you silly people. Get back to work.”
Her voice was gentle. She knew she had to be careful. Velgrynd was a rational woman, and she knew that resorting to any kind of violence here could destroy the flagship in an instant. Emperor Ludora—his “main,” non–Separate Body—was aboard the airship as well, and she needed to take that into consideration. It was a stroke of luck for everyone around here.
“Be seated! All hands, back to work!”
Zamdo’s orders set the officers back to their duties. The elegant pleasure cruise was over. From that point on, Zamdo was in for a series of surprises.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Excellency. My name is Zamdo, and I am proud to serve you.”
“Oh? Well, hopefully you’ll survive this, then.”
“It would be a great honor. I will do my best to live up to your words.”
“Yes… I’d like to give you a pep talk, but I’m short on time. Let’s get down to business.”
Velgrynd sat down on the captain’s seat, paying no attention to Zamdo’s brownnosing. She promptly gave an order to Zamdo, who hurriedly got to his feet.
“Call Commander Gradim in here. I don’t wanna have to keep explaining matters over and over.”
“Right away!”
Zamdo glanced at an officer. He immediately set up a visual link to the ship Gradim was aboard. Within a few minutes, Gradim was on the display.
“Heavens. You are even more beautiful than I thought.”
At first sight of Velgrynd, Gradim thought that she looked remarkably easy to handle in a fight. So he couldn’t help but wonder:
Why? Why is a woman like this said to be stronger than I am?
Her body was supple and soft, no excess fat or muscle at all. Strength was not the kind of aura she emitted. Some people, he thought, were of the belief that magical power and fighting spirit were the most important things—but you still needed a strong body to leverage that to its full extent. A strong body like mine, he thought, proud of himself. That’s why Velgrynd looked so weak to him—the textbook jock attitude.
Velgrynd, meanwhile, had little interest in thinking deeply about Gradim. His strength, at least, was the real thing, and she wanted to use him to the fullest as a helpful pawn.
“I don’t need your flattery,” she stated as she began laying out orders, her attitude fully demonstrating her lack of interest in him. “As of this moment, our current operation is canceled. Your new mission is to take control of the Armed Nation of Dwargon. That is all. Any questions?”
Finally, both Zamdo and Gradim thought at once. The fact that the order had been delayed so long indicated that, as expected, their nation was facing unprecedented turmoil back home. If they suffered a major defeat, they’d have to quickly review their strategy. This was a simultaneous three-front operation, so every decision they made would take on great significance. A single failure could bring the whole thing crashing down. However, after several days had passed, and with the Kingdom of Englesia lying just beyond, they now had orders to stop. It was only natural that the two men would be dismayed.
“Very well. In that case, let’s return at maximum battle speed.”
“Hmph! If it is your command, I, Gradim, will risk my life to undertake it. But do be aware that I will be asking questions later about this operation’s failure, as well as the delay in your new orders.”
Zamdo was clearly nervous. Gradim was just arrogant. Being on another vessel, he couldn’t pick up on Velgrynd’s sheer supremacy through the screen. His response put Zamdo on edge. Don’t drag me into this! he thought.
But Velgrynd didn’t care. “It seems that you are suffering from a misconception,” she said, smiling.
“A misconception?”
“What do you mean by that? You think you’re blameless here?”
Velgrynd nodded. “First of all, Zamdo, I will take you from here to your destination. Once we’re there, I’ll explain what to do, so be ready.”
“Pardon?”
“Next, Gradim. There was no failure in this operation. In fact, this is exactly what we’ve been planning to do from the beginning.”
“Don’t be stupid! You think you can escape responsibility like that? This late in the game?”
“Stupid, you say?”
Velgrynd stared at Gradim with narrowed eyes, displeased. What a pain, she thought. She wondered for a moment what to do about it, but concluded that it’d be better to let sleeping dogs lie. Gradim was certainly strong, but from her point of view, he was not an enemy. He could easily be crushed, but it’d be a waste to do so. And—most of all—there was no time to lose. It was a tremendous stroke of luck for Gradim.
“Well, whatever. If you survive, we can discuss this matter later.”
“What are you—?”
“Let me talk, please. Right now, I’m going to perform a Dimensional Connection, so prepare to move quickly once I’m done. After that, I will need to concentrate on Veldora. I’m glad to see that boy’s grown to be better than I thought, but handling him is going to be a bit tricky. So I want all of you to focus on dominating the battlefield on my behalf. I’ve identified several promising people among the enemy, and I want them captured alive if at all possible. Am I clear?”
Ignoring Gradim, who was about to raise another protest, Velgrynd got straight down to business. Once she had her say, she turned her back on them, then placed her hand on the reinforced door leading to the outer deck of the airship.
“Y-Your Excellency! What are you doing? It’s dangerous! Please come back at once!”
“What? I just explained it to you. If I don’t go outside, I can’t perform the Dimensional Connection.”
Giving Zamdo a glance that indicated just how stupid she thought he was, she opened the door without hesitation. Then she flew into the sky.
Of all the selfish things! We’re just collateral damage to her?!
Zamdo was horrified. Opening that bulkhead while flying at high altitude and speed was unbelievably dangerous. If not done properly, the difference in atmospheric pressure could suck out everyone on the ship. The ship’s crew were enhanced soldiers who had all undergone extensive surgery to strengthen themselves, but Zamdo, as a scientist, was just an ordinary man. The low outdoor temperature would weaken him, and the lack of oxygen could even kill him. The same was also true for the magic conjurers under his command.
Thus he was in a hurry to close the door as soon as possible. But his fears were unfounded. Velgrynd had cast Dominate Space to prevent any impact on the airship.
But before Zamdo could demonstrate any surprise, an even greater shock struck him—him and all of his staff.
With a snap of the fingers, Velgrynd floated into the sky. And the next moment…
“Dimensional…Connection!!”
A huge distortion in space appeared in front of her.
“No…”
“I—I can’t believe it. Spatial oscillation detected. It seems that our local space-time continuum is being affected by a gigantic, powerful fluctuation of magicules!”
“It can’t be… Was that the work of the Marshal…?!”
It truly was ridiculous. After all, this was a phenomenon beyond all human imagination and knowledge. No one could understand what was happening, and no one would ever be able to pull that off themselves—so they all tried to ignore the reality before them.
But then Zamdo realized.
“That boy”…? The Marshal referred to Veldora as “that boy”?
There were only a few entities he knew of that could get away with calling him that.
No! Could this woman really be…?
The guardian dragon of the Empire, a presence too awe-inspiring to even mention by name. Zamdo had thought that the Empire was blessed with her protection, but now he realized that was not the case.
As if to confirm the thought, Velgrynd’s smile deepened as she floated in the sky.
“Now, go. Go, and make yourselves useful to me.”
Her voice was unyielding. Zamdo—and even Gradim, lured by the sound of her sweet voice—turned the bows of their airships toward the rift in space.
Velgrynd’s actions caused a sea change in the war situation—a change felt by the three demonesses, still keeping up their fierce fight.
Velgrynd, in her full fury, was a force to be reckoned with. She was flawless in battle. With her overwhelming strength, she shamelessly toyed with Testarossa and the others, not even allowing them to touch her. She never went off guard, and she never held back. Even a basic magic-enhanced strike was incredibly powerful. She was attacking with all of her strength, trying to annihilate the three of them like a berserker with no sense of reason.
Although she hadn’t transformed into her dragon form, this was absolutely Velgrynd’s full power. But the demonesses were still alive. If they had not been granted names by Rimuru, they would have long since lost their bodies, exiled back to the demon world. However, the skeletons of orichalc created by Rimuru had been made even stronger by the magical power of the Primal girls. Thanks to that, they could withstand the violence of Velgrynd, if barely.
“What a surprise. I thought I would be done with you sooner. You’re stronger than I imagined you’d be, and you’re clearly used to close-quarters combat.”
Velgrynd was being honest with them. She didn’t expect them to take up so much of her time, even when she went full tilt at them.
“Hee-hee! We’ll never be defeated. Diablo would laugh at us if we ever tried something so disgraceful. That would be more humiliating than death.”
“So true. He’s so malicious.”
“I’m sure Diablo would come back with something like, ‘You’re one to talk,’ wouldn’t he? And he wouldn’t be wrong, either.”
They were down on the ground, battered and bruised, but the demonesses’ eyes were still full of life. Their expressions remained dauntless, sincere smiles on their faces. Their attitude was crystal-clear—as long as they never admitted defeat, they’d never lose.
“Oh dear… This is so troublesome.”
Velgrynd couldn’t help being puzzled at this. But the outcome was already set in stone. That pest Rimuru and his top officers were caught in their Phantom Fortress, and she had successfully dragged Veldora out from the labyrinth. All that remained was to seize control of him as planned. So she had been ignoring the three demonesses’ banter—but the next thing Testarossa said made her wince.
“Well, it’s taken a while, but I’ve figured out how Parallel Existence works.”
Their goal was not to defeat Velgrynd, but to stop her in her tracks. Those were the conditions for a tactical victory here, but Velgrynd’s Parallel Existence subterfuge made that an impossible task. Hence why Testarossa was looking for a way to break through it.
“Would you mind explaining it to me, then?”
“Oh, by all means.”
Testarossa smiled graciously, even though she was being beaten to a pulp. She still had her full dignity, something that impressed Velgrynd despite it all. So she decided to hear her out.
As Testarossa explained, Parallel Existence wasn’t all-powerful. It had its limits—namely, she could produce only so many Separate Bodies at once, and if any of them were defeated, Velgrynd wouldn’t emerge from that undamaged.
“To be exact, there would be no physical damage. But for spiritual life-forms like us, draining our energy is de facto damage. In other words…”
“Our attack wasn’t in vain, then!” Ultima concluded, taking the words out of Testarossa’s mouth. She nodded back with a smile—but her eyes weren’t smiling as she sized up Velgrynd.
The True Dragon sighed to herself.
This is why I didn’t want to deal with Primals…
Testarossa was right. In such a short time, and while being hopelessly overrun in battle, she had correctly analyzed the situation. Even Velgrynd had to admit that she had an amazing sense for combat.
“Well done, Blanc—or Testarossa, I should say. You are right, and I commend you for it.”
Velgrynd wished she could recruit her. Killing Testarossa would be pointless anyway; she’d just be resurrected someday, and she was bound to take her murder personally once she was. That wouldn’t be as bad as some demon lords Velgrynd could name, but having a Primal bugging her all the time would be a hassle of the highest order.
Carrera, unaware of Velgrynd’s feelings, smiled wryly.
“Hee-hee-hee… You’re far too composed, Lady Velgrynd. Lord Veldora would never pander to us like that.”
Velgrynd was now visibly annoyed. “Pandering,” as Carrera put it, meant looking down on your opponent and deliberately going easy on them. Veldora was well aware of just how dangerous Testarossa and her friends could be, so he made sure never to show them any weakness—it was vital if he wanted to keep his dignity.
Nonetheless, Velgrynd was far from amused by Carrera’s statement. She was being misunderstood, and she knew it. She had no reason to like that statement—and yet, for some reason, she found herself feeling a little happy about it. As Veldora’s older sister, she was happy to see such a formerly troublesome child gaining some maturity.
Perhaps that was why she no longer had any will to fight. It was about time anyway. After fighting Veldora, she realized that he was incomparably more powerful than before. If she didn’t get serious, she was going to be in for a world of hurt.
So, between that and everything else, Velgrynd decided to stop fighting at this point. She could have killed the demonesses in an instant if she put her mind to it, but she let them off the hook.
“You’re right,” she said. “Just as you say, that boy’s grown quite a bit. I’m quite happy for him…but you see, the problem is that I can’t go easy on him. That’s why I’ll have to postpone this for now.”
Before the demonesses could react to this one-sided declaration, Velgrynd’s Separate Body vanished before them. It happened in an instant—all they could do was watch.
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