The Fang of the Black Dragon, Tustivian.
The massive evil dragon had fallen sideways in death, its face mostly blown off in a gruesome display.
"..."
Standing emotionlessly in front of the fallen beast's corpse was Dusk Bringar, covered in soot from the dragon's breath.
Her armor was still intact but damaged, her clothes fluttered unsightly, and her once lustrous black hair was a complete mess.
She muttered to herself beside it.
"Now that I think about it, this is the first time... we've directly taken down members of the Black Dragon Legion."
There are a total of seven dragons in the Black Dragon Legion.
Of those, we have now subdued three.
One I killed in the Colosseum in my first year, another was captured a few days ago... and this one is the first we've taken down properly in a raid.
"How do you feel about defeating your nemesis?"
A conversation I had once had with Dusk Bringar came to mind.
She had said that being born a Black Dragon was a crime.
Due to the bad blood passed down from previous generations and ideological differences over the existence of the world... Dusk Bringar deeply hated the Black Dragons.
"...I'm not sure. I feel strange."
But Dusk Bringar's voice lacked the venom it once had.
"I realized it as soon as we faced each other. We were fated to fight and kill each other."
"..."
"Even now, my thinking hasn't changed. Black Dragons are inherently sinful, and these creatures that seek to destroy the world... that's my belief, and it's the natural order."
Dusk Bringar clenched her lips as she looked down at Tustivian's open, lifeless eyes.
"But why... When I looked into his eyes. I wondered if it wouldn't have been okay to talk a bit more before killing each other."
She then let out a hearty laugh.
"It seems I've grown soft being around you."
"..."
"Don't be mistaken. Black Dragons are beings meant to destroy the world, and for our survival, we must kill them. What I said was just..."
Dusk Bringar stumbled over her words before spitting out.
"Nostalgia."
"Nostalgia?"
"Yes, nostalgia. Even though we're archenemies destined to fight to the death, we're also of the same dragon kind. Now extinct, this is the only way we can reunite... kin from the same origin. It's just a fleeting longing for the old times."
Dusk Bringar gave me a sidelong glance.
"Such useless sentimentality and trivial worries should be discarded. We must become iron-hearted and fight. You know that, right, Ash?"
She brushed the soot off her body and trudged away. Her frizzy hair bouncing as she moved.
"..."
As she walked away, I turned my attention from her to the interior of the warehouse where our allied heroes were beginning to organize.
Inside the military warehouse were piled various valuable items. Not only treasures gathered by the dragon in its lair but also numerous military supplies stockpiled during the era of the Lake Kingdom.
'Of course, these are fine spoils, but the greatest trophy is.'
Tustivian himself.
Tustivian was the first complete dragon corpse we had obtained. Meaning, we could now genuinely begin crafting dragon slayer equipment.
The equipment that could be made from Parekian's claws was limited.
Their grade was capped at SR. But now, from the bones, skin, scales, heart... we could craft equipment from various parts.
Everything inside the warehouse was being transported to Crossroad through the activated teleport gate. Watching this, Evangeline chuckled.
"If it's like this, the rest of the dragons will be easy to capture, won't they?"
"Aha."
I had said no to planting flags, hadn't I!
As I tapped Evangeline's lips with my finger, she pouted discontentedly.
Lucas, amused, also placed his finger on Evangeline's lips.
Evangeline then blinked her eyes widely and suddenly bit Lucas's finger.
Aaaaah— Listening to Lucas's scream, I turned to the main party members gathered around me.
"The real 'Dragon Raids' begin with the next dragons. The battles ahead will be incomparably harder."
Kilitian, Parekian, and Tustivian.
Each had one (or a few) clear weaknesses compared to other dragons.
But the ones we will face next are different.
Dragons capable of using all their powers, each with their unique advantages. It won't be an easy fight.
'Proper dragon slayer creation, followed by thorough preparation... we'll take them down one by one.'
I took a deep breath and glanced at the system window.
[STAGE 40]
- Time until start: 25 days
Stage 40... Less than four weeks left until Night Bringer invades Crossroad.
The rough path ahead of us was becoming narrower and more rugged.
Any fatuous concerns were now too difficult to retain in mind.
***
Lake Kingdom, Zone 10.
The fountain square in front of the king's castle.
As it wasn't the season of overflow, purified clear water was springing from the massive fountain.
Originally guarded by a demon guard squad, now gone, leaving the place deserted.
Whoosh-
Thump...!
A gigantic dragon landed, spreading its wings wide.
Its body, completely covered in flawless black scales, seemed as if clad in well-forged armor.
The body, with its elegant curves, split into three necks, each topped with a head that glinted with ferocious eyes.
The Tri-headed Dragon.
'The Eye of the Black Dragon,' Ipian.
"This was the agreed-upon meeting place."
The middle head spoke in a dignified voice, while the left head snorted disdainfully.
"What do you know, idiot. You set up the meeting without talking to us, doing whatever the hell you want."
"..."
Then the right head nodded off, muttering.
"Sleepy... I want to sleep..."
"..."
The cursing left head and the truly slumbering right head, now snoring.
Ipian's middle head sighed deeply. Considering the eons spent with these two, he was utterly fed up.
"Fine, you keep swearing, and you keep sleeping. I'll handle the meeting."
"Ah?! Sneakingly trying to take control again, hey! Remember, we're all 'The Eye of the Black Dragon.' Stop acting so high and mighty on your own, it's annoying!"
"...Growl..."
As the three heads bickered, slept, and quarreled, another dragon approached the square, slicing through the sky.
It was a Yinglong with unusually lush feathers sprouting from its wings unlike typical dragons.
Gracefully circling in the air, the dragon folded its wings and landed softly in the square.
'The Wing of the Black Dragon,' Wingian.
"Long time no see, elder brothers..."
Wingian trailed off his words. Whether he arrived or not, Ipian's three heads were too busy arguing among themselves to notice.
"You're too foolish! It's only natural that I lead the meeting!"
"You always act so smart, but who's poor judgment caused us to die in our past life, huh?!"
"Zzz..."
Catching glimpses of Ipian's quarreling heads, Wingian sighed as if to say, 'Here we go again.'
Behind Wingian, the monsters he had subdued as subordinates—known as 'Guardians'—crowded around, setting up a defensive perimeter.
Unlike other dragons, Wingian enjoyed actively forming groups and had conquered several monster legions to bring them under his command.
Leisurely, Wingian watched his elder brothers fight as his minions waited on him.
Then, at that moment.
"Whoaaa! Sorry, brothers! I'm late!"
Another dragon appeared, slicing through the sky.
This dragon had a snake-like long body with four limbs sprouting from it, resembling a divine beast from across the eastern seas.
With long catfish-like whiskers fluttering, this dragon wore unusually large glasses.
'The Pure Scale of the Black Dragon,' Scalian.
Floating gently down to the square, Scalian joined the others. Finally, all three dragons summoned for this meeting were gathered.
Ipian's middle head turned to his siblings with a warm smile.
"Yes, it's been a while. Wingian. Scalian. Hope you've been well..."
"Damn it! Every time I see you, I swear these names are a pain to remember!"
The left head burst in angrily.
"It's so confusing, so from now on I'll just call you 'Wing' and 'Scale.' That okay?"
"..."
"And you can just call me 'Eye,' okay?!"
Both Ipian's middle head and Wingian and Scalian were taken aback.
Ahem!
Clearing his throat, Wingian suggested,
"...Since conversation is difficult in this state, how about we polymorph first?"
It was awkward to cause such a commotion at their dragon sizes. Moreover, Ipian's left head had a voice so loud it was painful to hear.
The three dragons agreed and simultaneously used their draconic power—polymorph magic—to transform into human forms.
This ability, not available to their younger siblings, was an easy feat for these 'true dragons.'
Ipian was the first to complete his transformation.
With neatly trimmed black hair and dressed in elegant black armor, adorned with long earrings, this man had three eyes.
With the third eye vertically set between his brows—three golden eyes glaring intensely.
Although this polymorphed dragon looked fine on the outside,
"I'm in charge!"
"Shut up, you always have all the fun! It's my turn today!"
"Quiet. Let's just sleep, really..."
The three eyes rolled around glaring at each other, taking turns speaking through one mouth.
Just after transforming into humans, the eldest, now with a triple personality, was observed by Wingian and Scalian.
'This is madness...'
Wingian transformed into a handsome man with a ponytail and a feather-decorated coat, while Scalian appeared as a timid scholar in robes, wearing glasses.
"Ugh, ugh..."
After a brief struggle for dominance inside.
Ipian's right and middle eyes closed tightly, and only the left eye remained wide open.
"Alright, my siblings! I have taken control!"
It seemed the left head had won.
In front of his brothers, who always thought he was unbearable, Ipian picked his ear and asked,
"So, what was it? Why did we gather today? Wing, Scale, tell me."
"...Eye, you were the one who called us here."
"Oh?! Did I?!"
The reason was obvious.
The Black Dragon Legion had recently faced consecutive disasters.
"Parekian has gone missing, and recently Tustivian was killed. It seems the Guardian of Humanity brought an army and did this." (TL Note: As you may have noticed, all Black Dragons should have had the part they were made from + ian in their names. It's the case with "I"pian, "Wing"ian and "Scal"ian. I'm not sure if it was intentional or the Author just messed up, but "Tustivian" is obviously related to Tusk and I have no idea how Parekian correlates to Claw.)
Wingian explained calmly, causing Ipian to explode in anger.
"Damn these dragon bastards, it's so hard to remember their names! Which parts are they?!"
...His reason for anger was a bit different.
Wingian, or rather Wing, sighed. He just decided to go along with what Ipian, or Eye, wanted.
"Claw and Fang. Both missing and dead."
"These useless bastards, in their past lives and now, always end up getting trashed like idiots!"
The grumbling Eye asked curiously,
"But that... didn't we have another sibling?"
"Kilitian... the Blood Droplet, do you mean? She died two years ago."
"Oh, my poor and frail sister! She's finally gone too!"
Eye sighed, then asked,
"Who killed her?"
"The Guardian of Humanity did."
"That damn bastard! How dare he touch my precious sister! I will kill him myself!"
Although his response was about two years late, Eye cared deeply for his sister. It seemed he didn't care much about his brothers living or dying...
"Shall we discuss that today?"
Wing calmly looked between Eye and Scale and whispered,
"The Guardian of Humanity. He personally leads the army against us. We must decide what punishment to impose on this audacious human."