Thud, thud, thud...
The feather bombardment had ended.
Wingian flew over us and far into the distance. It would surely come back this way, attacking with different means next time.
Its slowly rotating wings extended far to the sides, and a dark, sinister energy formed on the entirety of the wings.
'That pattern is...!'
It had used the breath pattern and the dive-bombing pattern, so what remained was.
"'Wave of Wind' pattern!"
The third signature attack of Wingian.
Using its giant wings, it would continuously launch sweeping waves of wind across the ground, the 'Wave of Wind' pattern.
It was obvious, but this was indeed a floor attack pattern. And!
'This was the pattern we were targeting!'
We had focused solely on evasion for the breath and feather bombardment, but this pattern was one we could counterattack.
Thus, my heroes had been trained to pour in their attacks when facing this pattern.
"Everyone, prepare to counterattack-!"
As I waved the flag to signal the offense, the eyes of the waiting heroes changed in unison.
"Proceed as planned, as we've trained before! Don't make any mistakes!"
"Yes-!"
From the forefront of the heroes who responded in unison, Dusk Bringar prepared to lead the attack once again.
Sssssshhh...
The [Lord of the High Tower] that had been deployed in the air was retracted.
Dark red chains swirled around her body, converging into her outstretched right hand.
The chains, connected by magic power, molded into a new form in her grasp.
From the handle to the massive guard, and from the guard, a huge blade rose...
In the next moment, a burning black and red chained greatsword appeared in her right hand.
"..."
I broke out in a cold sweat.
No, wasn't that supposed to be armor...? I mean, I had included barrier functions in it, but how did it transform into a greatsword...?
Still dressed in a red sleeveless dress, with her slender arms visibly light, Dusk Bringar spun the greatsword around with ease and grinned.
"This form is the 'Armored Blade'... A versatile armor indeed."
I laughed helplessly.
In some ways, it really was like an armor forged by the King of Flies. The chains that made up the armor moved individually, performing the shapes and functions the wearer desired.
'It must be because it's Dusk Bringar that she handles it so adeptly...'
The greater one's magic power, the freer their control becomes. Since it's Dusk Bringar, with her dragonblood ownership and ability to materialize magic power, that she can manipulate it like that.
Anyhow, Dusk Bringar's armor performance was impressive, but there wasn't much time to be distracted by it.
Wingian had completed its turn and was flying straight towards us.
"Let's finish this in one go... Everyone, let's go!"
"Good, I will lead! Everyone, follow closely!"
Charge!
Dusk Bringar ran at the front, followed quickly by the vanguard heroes who rushed forward.
Flap!
Lowering its altitude, Wingian came closer to us and paused at one point in the air, then repeatedly flapped its wings mightily.
Each time, a blackened current mixed with the wind waves roared from the tips of its wings. The sinister, enemy-laden wind waves continuously swept across the ground toward us.
Charge! Charge-!
And my heroes skillfully kicked off the ground, dodging the attack with perfect timing, and approached Wingian.
'We've gotten so practiced at dealing with this floor attack pattern that it's getting old!'
Meanwhile, our heroes, who were facing these wind waves without taking any damage, were rushing towards it, causing Wingian considerable consternation.
While using this wind wave technique, Wingian couldn't move.
The delicacy required to control the air currents and fire them off meant that it was using all available air currents for attack, immobilizing itself in the process.
In gaming terms, it was caught in a 'channeling' state during the skill's use.
In other words, for a brief time, it was definitely stationary-
"Hit it hard-!"
If our heroes could just reach it in that time, they could grab Wingian by the scruff of its neck and pull it down to the ground!
Soon, the vanguard of my heroes had reached the ground right beneath Wingian.
"Gasp!"
From the rear, King Poseidon confirmed their arrival and planted his trident in the ground.
Swoooosh!
From the ground, a stream of water erupted, and the leading heroes were propelled upwards on it. It was a high ground attack tactic once used in the Tustivian Raid.
"How arrogant, you vermin...!"
As humans reached the same eye level, Wingian's golden eyes contorted with rage.
"Return to the height that suits you! Crawl on the ground-!"
Wingian's beak-like mouth gaped open, and
Screeeeeeeech-!
A corporeal sound wave burst forth, slamming all the approaching vanguard heroes to the ground.
It was a Dragon Roar—though Wingian's was slightly different from other dragons.
It had a mix of the sound wave attack similar to the Harpy Legion they had previously encountered. Perhaps it was due to being part bird, part dragon.
"Argh!"
"Even with earplugs, my ears hurt...!"
The vanguard heroes who had ascended on the water stream screamed in agony as they plummeted.
Yet, some heroes endured the dreadful screams and managed to get right up to Wingian's snout.
Dusk Bringar, Lucas, and Kuilan.
Dusk Bringar had breached using [Lord of the High Tower] like a shield, while Lucas had Evangeline take the brunt of the sound wave, causing her to fall.
"Uncle, half of your military achievements are mine! Got it?!"
Lucas scoffed at the shouting Evangeline, stepped on her shield, and gathered strength to soar upwards once more.
Evangeline screamed miserably as she fell.
And Kuilan... just endured it with a monstrous resilience having broken through his limits.
Having become one with Nightmare Slayer, a chosen of the tribal gods, and wearing double layers of equipment, Kuilan had become so strong that even I couldn't fully grasp his specs.
These three, having broken through Wingian's Dragon Roar, flew right up to the vicious dragon's snout.
Dusk Bringar raised her chained greatsword with a fierce smile.
"Indeed, it's always best to grab and swing the tower...!"
The blade of the giant chained greatsword in her hand spun like a saw blade, glowing with sunset-colored magic power, and then,
Craaaaack!
she struck Wingian's crown.
Almost simultaneously, Lucas, having surged upward with [Step of Persistence], glided smoothly through the air, and then—
Zzzzlash!
used [Strike of Will] to cleanly slash across one of Wingian's eyes.
Lastly, Kuilan assumed his distinctive stance in mid-air,
"'Single-minded Torrent.'"
and honestly slammed his ultimate skill.
Thuuuuump!
Kuilan struck precisely where Wingian had been spewing its Dragon Roar and sound wave attacks, along with cliché dragon-like lines, from its beak.
"...?!"
Wingian staggered in mid-air, incredulous.
The horn on Wingian's crown, a magic gathering organ, was crushed by Dusk Bringar's attack, while Lucas's sword cut had scattered the divine aura of one of its eyes.
And Kuilan's attack shattered the beak, the source of the Dragon Roar and sound wave attacks.
In an instant, three critical parts were destroyed.
"You, insufferable vermin that even tearing apart wouldn't satisfy...!"
Even with its split beak, Wingian roared back. Simultaneously, the wind wave pouring from its wings ended.
The brief respite was over. Wingian ended the wind wave pattern and surged upwards into the sky.
"I won't kill you easily, all of you! I'll capture you alive! Until your flesh rots and your bones decay, I'll gnaw at you bit by bit with my beak!"
The one remaining eye of Wingian nearly flipped in fury. It hadn't even been hit on the dragon's scale, yet it was so enraged that it had already entered a berserk state.
'Good, it's gone berserk.'
Seeing things go according to plan, I felt relieved.
Of course, the horn, the eye, and the beak were Wingian's key destructible parts.
But the core of its power was never really these.
Ultimately, the source of its insane mobility and mind control was the wings, true to Wingian's name.
Nevertheless, the reason I had ordered the vanguard heroes to aim for 'any part' for destruction was because of this berserk state.
Once any part of Wingian's body suffered damage, it would immediately become enraged and enter a berserk state.
In a berserk state, it becomes impossible to think clearly, and although all its abilities increase in power...
'Its defenses are lowered!'
Sccccrreeeeech!
Wingian soared to an immense height and stopped in midair. It seemed he was planning to incinerate us with an aerial breath attack now that the cooldown had ended.
I turned to my side and spoke.
"Well done, Violet."
There, Violet was breathing heavily, her mind fully focused.
Violet, drenched in sweat, turned to me, and I smiled broadly.
"...You can deactivate the illusion now."
"Finally...!"
Relieved, Violet let out a long breath and deactivated the illusion she had maintained since the start of the battle.
Ssssh...!
In the next moment,
"...?!"
Wingian, preparing to unleash his breath in midair, instantly realized something.
"What, what are you...?!"
That someone had stealthily climbed onto his back.
"..."
Riding on the dragon's back was an elf, her long green hair whipping about in the fierce wind.
Verdandi.
A scion of the elf royal family, a chosen of the elf god, our side's strongest assassin, and—
Shing!
Holder of the strongest dragon slayer weapon currently possessed by the World Guardian Front, [Isagum], made from the Tustivian's Fangs.
'From the start, this whole operation was designed for Verdandi.'
I grinned.
The vanguard heroes charging noisily, hammering Wingian's head to draw his attention, and pushing him into a berserk state...
All to give Verdandi, who had been hidden under Violet's [Illusionary Realm] from the start of the battle, a chance to climb onto this dragon.
And Verdandi succeeded.
While the vanguard heroes distracted him, she approached from behind, riding the stream of water from King Poseidon, throwing her blink dagger, and stealthily climbed onto his body.
***
"It's high."
Gazing distantly at the surface far below, Verdandi murmured emotionlessly.
From her downcast cold eyes, a vivid golden color flowed.
"It will be satisfying to bring it down."
At the same time, the dagger [Isagum] touched down on Wingian's left wing joint.
[Isagum] was a dagger forged from the magic core and symbol of Tustivian, a dragon specialized in breath—magic radiation.
Naturally, the dagger inherited the same properties.
Groooooo...!
From the tip of the dagger, a vivid green magic current swirled and gathered.
As if magic was being drawn into the mouth of a dragon preparing to breathe.
"Wha...?!"
Wingian had no time to utter anything else.
Verdandi was not a sloppy assassin who allowed her prey to utter last words.
Clang!
From the tip of the dagger, pure green magic shot out like a dragon's breath, and Verdandi, holding the dagger spewing green flames with both hands, forcefully slashed down.
Flash!
In the dark sky of the Lake Kingdom, a vivid green slash was etched.
Following its trajectory—
Whoosh!
Wingian's massive left wing was cleanly sliced off from the wing joint.
"Craaaaaaaah?!"
As the severed wing spilled copious amounts of blood and feathers, the vile dragon screamed in agony.