Flap-!
The Black Dragon raised itself and spread its enormous wings to either side.
Like those of Wingian, one of his sons, they were bird wings densely covered with black feathers.
Then the feathers shot out in all directions.
Thud-thud-thud-crack!
Screeeech-!
Thousands, tens of thousands of pitch-black feathers covered the sky.
"Argh!"
"Kuhuh...!"
As the feathers bombarded like a barrage, the ground forces that had just managed to get close to the Black Dragon were shredded instantly.
The armor worn by the soldiers meant nothing against the barrage of feathers firing like machine gun bullets.
Soldiers pierced by feathers collapsed, bleeding from holes in the front and back of their bodies.
The feathers were also fired upwards. The shower of feathers slicing through the air resembled a massive flock of birds in flight.
Airships in their path tried to perform evasive maneuvers, but the feathers moved much faster.
Thud-thud-crack...!
Boom-!
Feathers stuck into the armor of the airships, turning them into something resembling a porcupine.
One of the airships, heavily hammered, could not withstand the assault and exploded, while another spewed flames from its engine and trailed smoke as it plummeted.
And unfortunately, the crash site was where the infantry was densely packed.
Soldiers screamed, trying to dodge, but with the troops tightly packed, there was no room to move.
"Aaaaaah!"
"Get down, get do-"
Boom-bang...!
A large explosion followed, with flames erupting.
Heat, the smell of gunpowder, damp darkness, and the stench of blood...
The scent of death spread.
The soldiers gritted their teeth. Massacres were happening in every direction—above, below, all around. Before the Black Dragon, humans were trampled like ants.
But they could not retreat.
Facing it, they knew. This creature before them truly had the power to annihilate the world.
Such a being must not be allowed any further into the human realm.
So the soldiers, even as they cried, their legs trembling, vomiting the acid reflux of their fear, bleeding from their wounds... did not stop their charge.
"Forward-!"
"Chargeeee!"
Bang! Boom...!
Another airship exploded in the sky.
This airship, too, crashed, but its pilot, even in death, managed to alter its course towards the Black Dragon.
The airship, falling at a sharp angle, collided with the Black Dragon's tough scales, but failed to inflict any significant damage.
However, it briefly blocked the Black Dragon's view, giving the cavalry and infantry time to approach.
And finally— the vanguard of the assault team made contact with the Black Dragon.
"Aaaaaah!"
With the momentum of their charge, a cavalry soldier thrust his spear, and the infantry swung their swords.
However,
Clang-!
Against the Black Dragon's tough scales, ordinary spears and swords simply shattered.
The soldiers at the forefront were flustered, but soon clenched their teeth and clung to the body of the Black Dragon.
"Climb on!"
"Get on top of its body!"
Soldiers lined up to climb onto the Black Dragon's body.
If they were to be crushed like ants anyway.
Then they would attack like ants.
Climbing started in various places. Soldiers used their swords and spears like walking sticks, running up the monster's body in lines.
Of course,
Crack, crunch-crunch-!
Even then, more lives were shredded than those ascending.
A single movement from the evil dragon killed dozens, even hundreds of humans.
But there were still many humans left, and even for the Black Dragon, it was impossible to kill everyone with a single movement.
Humans stubbornly climbed the body of the Black Dragon.
Whether it was the neck, legs, belly, or wings, they did not know, feeling their way as if blind men touching an elephant...
"Find its weakness!"
"Look for the wounds inflicted by the previous expedition!"
"The previous expedition focused their attacks around its neck! Head for the neck-!"
The cavalry also began landing on the body of the Black Dragon.
Strapping onto saddles, they leaped up, clinging to the Black Dragon, stepping on scales, grabbing horns, and just touching the chilling body of the black monster placed both feet on it.
Thus, the allied forces and the imperial army, starting from opposite peaks of the valley, met on the back of the monster and-
Without a word, they nodded to each other in silent agreement.
And together, they advanced towards the Black Dragon's head—towards the place they would die.
"It's the neck!"
"The monster's head is there...!"
"The previous battle left wounds there!"
After its descent into this world, the Black Dragon, having fused with the night, had healed all its wounds.
Not all the scars had been erased yet. The scars left by the Guardians of Humanity and the heroes under them in the last battle were still visible all over the Black Dragon's body. Soldiers crowded in front of these scars.
"Pass the weapons!"
"Deliver the weapons!"
"Forward, the weapons-!"
From the rear to the front.
Hand to hand, the Dragon Slayer dropped by the knights who had died earlier was passed forward.
Thus, a black longsword delivered to the very front was raised high by one soldier and then thrust downwards.
Thunk-!
The tip of the black longsword unmistakably pierced right through the scar carved by the previous expedition.
"...!"
"It...hit."
"The attack has landed...!"
At that moment, the Black Dragon, belatedly noticing the vermin on its back, casually spat out fire.
Whooosh-!
The engulfed soldiers turned to ash and fell dead, their burning bodies screaming as they plummeted beneath the Black Dragon.
But all the scales on the Black Dragon's body were pointed backwards.
This, in fact, provided a barricade that allowed the soldiers to dodge the flames shooting from the head towards the body.
The soldiers who hid behind the scales and avoided the fire took the Dragon Slayers from the hands of dead soldiers and gripped them anew, then swung them, screaming.
Thunk-!
The blade carved a new wound over the scar left by the previous expedition.
"It's working!"
"The attack is landing-!"
"Pass the weapons! Anyone who can breathe, come forward!"
"Forward!"
"Forward-!"
Humans wielded weapons, burned and died in the dragon's flames.
The next human picked up the weapon, swung it, died, and then the next human picked up the weapon, swung it, and the cycle repeated.
At last, numbers became weapons.
Soldiers continued this desperate relay at various points around the Black Dragon's neck where wounds had been inflicted.
Clutching the blood-sticky weapons of those who had died before them, they screamed and swung.
Finally, by human hands, the Black Dragon bled. Drops of the evil dragon's blood mixed with human blood and streamed down the vast neck.
How long had they continued the attack?
Creeeeak...!
At the junction where the Black Dragon's back met its neck.
Due to Night Bringer becoming enlarged by fusing with the night, a gap occurred between the protruding spinal bones and the scarred scales, and after the soldiers ceaselessly struck the Dragon Slayer into this gap at the cost of their lives.
Crrrack!
The giant scales cracked open,
Crack! Clang-!
And ultimately shattered into pieces.
"Huff... Huff... Huff..."
As the scales broke away, splinters of scales and the Black Dragon's blood spattered in all directions. Covered in this, the soldier holding the broken black sword gasped for breath.
"Haha. Look at this, everyone...! We've completely smashed its scales..."
As the soldier on the verge of exhaustion said this and turned around,
There were no more living humans there.
A chilling silence flowed. The soldier looked around in bewilderment... and belatedly realized.
That all the other soldiers attacking elsewhere had long since fallen, and the only ant left on the Black Dragon's body was himself.
Grooooo...
Suddenly, the Black Dragon's huge middle head loomed close.
The Black Dragon turned its long neck back to look down at the last ant on its back. The soldier shivered as he looked up at that head.
"Well done."
After inspecting the wounds on its back that the vermin had cut open, Night Bringer smiled slightly.
"Yes, you deserve this much."
"..."
"What is your name, human? As you have inflicted a wound on my body with that insignificant last blow, I will remember you especially."
The soldier's lips quivered and then curled up with difficulty.
And he said,
"I have no name to give to a reptile bastard like you..."
Night Bringer let out a low chuckle.
The next moment, smashed by a surge of magical power, the soldier's body burst into pieces.
***
The main force of the airships and the assault team had been annihilated.
They had gouged and scarred the Black Dragon, but they had never reached its life.
The once noisy battlefield had now become silent.
Swords and spears stuck in the valley floor lined up like tombstones, and beside these tombstones, the bodies of humans stretched endlessly. The wreckage of the fallen airships was still burning.
There were still some soldiers left above the valley, still harboring the will to fight, but
Woooooo-!
As the Black Dragon proudly raised its head and let out a long, low cry... they immediately shuddered and flung the weapons in their hands.
Dragon Roar.
That voice, deep and majestic, was dark and instilled fear in humans from the depths of their genes.
Predators, the dragon species, and their prey, humans.
Night Bringer's roar reminded humans of this relationship that had persisted since the mythic ages.
"Hee, heeeeee...!"
"No, this can't be. This was never going to work...!"
"Run away-!"
"I don't want to die!"
The rout began.
In front of the dragon fear spread by the superior predator, the last will of humanity's desperate forces completely shattered.
Throwing away their weapons, equipment, and even their armor, the soldiers turned and fled. They sprinted towards the teleportation gates, their escape route.
However-
"...?!"
Suddenly, all the teleportation gates were destroyed and burning.
Standing dazed in front of the vanished retreat, the soldiers slowly lifted their pale faces, feeling the damp heat from above.
One of Night Bringer's floating heads was smiling cruelly.
"AAAAAA! AAAAAAAAA!"
The bodies of the soldiers, collapsing and screaming,
Crunch-!
Were swallowed and crushed by the giant head.
"Ugh..."
McMillan, watching from inside an airship, shivered.
The Black Dragon's six auxiliary heads were being confronted by the royal mage corps, along with six airships that had broken off from the main force. However, in the face of the overwhelming firepower of the six heads, humanity eventually lost.
These heads, already dead, did not possess as much intelligence as the main body, but their attack power was monstrous.
The royal mage corps couldn't hold on and were annihilated, and the airships fighting alongside them also crashed, leaving only two remaining.
The two surviving airships were filled to capacity with wounded soldiers. McMillan, looking around at the dying mages, bit down hard on his pipe.
"Retreat, retreat...! The assault has failed. Everyone retreat! Regroup at Crossroad!"
Though there were few surviving soldiers left to retreat, McMillan, as the commander, raised the volume of his communication device enough to be heard across the entire battlefield.
"Retreat-!"
"The teleportation gates are destroyed! Escape by land to the next point!"
"Survivors, help each other! We must retreat!"
Most survivors were from the light cavalry unit positioned at the rear of the imperial forces.
They began to escape, picking up moaning wounded from various parts of the battlefield and carrying them on their saddles.
While the remaining two airships desperately sprayed barrages to fend off the floating heads of the Black Dragon trying to devour them.
Escorted by the two airships, the cavalry rescuing survivors dashed through the forest, fleeing.
The airships too, flying unsteadily, set their course north.
"Yes, run. Let even one more live."
Watching the human army scatter like ants in all directions, Night Bringer scoffed.
"Shouldn't the final despair grow even more?"
Following this, the Black Dragon laid its belly on the ground and slowly hunched down-
Huff...!
It began to gather its breath.
The Black Dragon's entire giant body swelled as flame, magical power, breath, and hatred began to be drawn into the monster's body.
The six hunting heads also slowly returned to the side of the main body, swirling around to assist in concentrating the Black Dragon's magical power.
A scout observing this scene from inside the airship screamed.
"No, it's preparing its Breath!"
"...!"
McMillan turned around with a pale face.
The scout had been part of the observation team that had seen the Black Dragon's first Breath at the Black Lake.
Tears of fear streaming down his face as he looked through the binoculars, the soldier continued in a garbled voice.
"It's its third Breath since landing on the ground! The direction is..."
McMillan closed his eyes tightly.
"It's Crossroad-!"