Chapter 8 (10): How NOT to keep a low profile, part 8
The man who sprinted into the yard panted for a few seconds, then screamed out his message for us to hear.
"Four adult dragons! Outside the... west gate! Requesting... immediate assistance! ugh..." (Message runner)
"FUCK! What are you all standing around for?! You heard the guy! Well, before he fell over... Everyone, grab your real equipment and move out! Carlos! Run over to the barracks, get squads three and seven, have them meet us there! Now! Move it! Get GOING! We leave in TWO MINUTES!" (Gazef)
A guy whose arm was in a sling ran off as the rest of them scrambled to grab their weapons and put on their armor, before mounting their horses and riding off into the sunset... well, no, we kept up with them while on foot, running next to Gazef's horse as he took the lead, charging through the streets cleared for military use when a light signal, which was already going up, was in the sky.
"Why are you coming with us? Er, not that we don't appreciate the help, but you won't get paid for it, you know. It's not like there's much in it for you, after all" (Gazef)
"There's plenty in it for us. Minimizing the loss of life is always good, as well as it being a good opportunity for having some fun and staying in shape. Besides, if we take out one or two on our own, the materials would go to us, and those are valuable and useful in and of themselves, not to mention that the meat is delicious" (Ryuu)
"I will never understand you girls, despite the fact that one of you is my daughter and another is going to be my daughter-in-law soon enough... or would it be all of you? I'm not sure about that stuff" (Gazef)
"Neither am I, actually. We'll go on ahead, if you don't mind. Every second could cost someone their life, when fighting four dragons, at least" (Ryuu)
Without waiting for his response, despite asking if he minded, we sprinted further ahead, jumped into the air, high above the rooftops, and Ver shifted into a large golden wyvern wearing a large, prominent, silver-colored collar and well-crafted leather armor that was dyed silver. Mae and I landed on her back, and she flew on ahead, over the walls, and landed between the soldiers and the dragons.
"FUCK! First dragons, now a greater wyvern?" (Soldier A)
"Dumbass, it's a tamed one! It's wearing a collar, armor, and has two people on its back!" (Soldier B)
"Hello, we came to assist. The three of us, wyvern included, should be able to handle two of them" (Ryuu)
"Captain Gazef will be coming to assist as well, bringing with him several dozen of the royal guard" (Mae)
[Which one of these overgrown lizards wants to fight me, and which my master?] (Ver)
The largest of the dragons roared, and Ver launched a massive fireball into its open mouth.
[You don't get to call my master that, no matter how true it may be, as you used it as an insult!] (Ver)
With smoke coming out of its mouth and nose, the large dragon whimpered a bit as it slunk low to the ground. However, that was just a distraction, as the other three simultaneously launched themselves at her.
"Oh no you don't!" (Ryuu)
I stopped the biggest of those three by hitting both of its wings with a single arrow, then sending one into its flank. With that, it turned to face me, ignoring Ver. Meanwhile, Mae slipped under the belly of the smallest of them as it charged at Ver, then stabbed her sword deep into its gut while anchoring it and herself with earth magic, thus creating a large gash as it slit its own stomach on her sword. It died quickly, so fast that it couldn't even turn to fight her before losing all of its strength.
"Soldiers, please take care of the big wounded one! It can't bite or use its breath anymore, however, we'll be occupied with the other two for a while, so we can't deal with it!" (Ryuu)
"Oh! Uh... right!" (Commander)
The soldiers encircled the biggest one, who still had smoke leaking from its mouth and nostrils, and I turned to face my own foe once more. I bombarded it with magic, to little effect, so arrows and other physical attacks worked the best. Putting away my bow, I drew my axe, changed it to a poleaxe that was four meter long (five with the blade and tip), and slashed at its foreleg. Even with the weight and leverage coupled with speed, I couldn't break through the scales in one hit. Well, if one hit can't do it, how about three? Five? Ten? When I reached seven hits, I heard a shout.
"Girl with the axe! Behind you!" (Soldier)
"Huh?" (Ryuu)
I looked back and noticed the dragon's tail closing in on me, but I just stood there stupidly because I thought that I'd cut it off, like one should do when fighting dragons. First take care of the wings, then the tail, then deal with the rest of the dragon's body. Well, I'd done the wings, but forgot the tail, so I got hit. OW.
"Ah shit. She's dead. Now we have to deal with that one too. We're fucked" (several of the soldiers)
"I'm alive! Don't worry!" (Ryuu)
I used wind magic to propel myself back towards the dragon, and slashed at the base of its tail as I landed. The extra speed, along with the driving force of my weight and the weight of the axe, was enough to let me cut the tail off cleanly.
"Ow... that actually hurt. You four-legged snake, it's time for you to return to your natural, legless form" (Ryuu)
As soon as I said that, the dragon tried to bathe me in fire, but I dodged, closed in, and slashed at the back of its leg, cutting deep. I gave the axe a twist, widening the wound, and then pulled it out to slash the same spot again, completely removing the leg from the dragon's body. I then repeated that for the other foreleg, and then, with the dragon immobilized, I beheaded it.
"Now, how are the others doing? Two are dead, Ver's taking on the smaller of the remaining two on her own, and Mae is assisting the soldiers with the biggest one, and the easier of the two now that its head is no longer a threat in any form besides as a blunt weapon" (Ryuu)
I looked around, and saw that Ver had her fangs buried in the neck of the dragon, her claws lodged in its shoulder and spine, and was constantly throwing lightning magic into the mix as well. That fight's end was only a matter of time, and definitely going to be a complete victory for Ver. Mae and the soldiers... they had cut off the wings, tail, and three legs, but were having a bit of trouble with the hea- wait, Mae just cut off the head. Nevermind... That's all of them. Almost as soon as I decided that it was over, the gate opened and the royal guard, led by Gazef, charged out, Gazef calling out.
"Your reinforcements... have... arrived? And here I was, thinking that there'd still be something for us to do. I forgot how nonsensical Ryuu and her party are. Well, who killed which dragon? The one covered in claw and bite marks was killed by Ryuu's wyvern, the one with just a belly wound... probably Ryuu herself-" (Gazef)
"That one was me, actually" (Mae)
"Very well. The one with only a few wounds, mostly limbs and its head cut off, probably was soloed by Ryuu, right? That leaves the last one to the soldiers. Good work, I guess. We, that is to say, the military, will take back the corpse of the one killed by us, and you girls can have the other three. You earned them" (Gazef)
"Uh... sir? The last one was first weakened by the wyvern, and only then were we able to hold it in place, but couldn't really do anything to hurt it further, until the smaller girl came and joined the fight. Then she was able to kill it. All we did was stall it as they dealt with the others, so it's not really our kill" (City Guard Commander)
"Keep it. If you don't bring back any, it'll make you look bad, and we don't need that much dragon meat and other materials. Besides, if you hadn't stalled it, we would have had a much, much, MUCH harder time" (Ryuu)
After about ten minutes of them trying to change my mind, they accepted, bringing it into the city in chunks. Meanwhile, I stored the two dead ones while waiting for the one Ver fought to die. After another half an hour or more, it did, so Ver went into my subspace as I stored that one as well. She couldn't exactly shift back in front of all of the soldiers still dismantling the dragon they got, right?