Akatsuki Translations

The Soaring Black Dragon with the Evil Eye

The dragon that had swallowed Sua whole—it was the greatest challenge facing the warriors of Babel.

They had contingency plans for fighting without Heavenly Prayer, but those were temporary measures at best. If they didn’t handle this, there would be no future to plan for.

“First, we need to drag the dragon down from the hole it’s struggling in near the Solar Aegis.”

If the dragon slipped beyond the barrier’s edge, the difficulty of rescuing Sua would skyrocket. The 【Sun Devourer】 was designed to fight within the barrier, where it could rely on layered auxiliary enchantments anchored to the Solar Aegis. If the dragon moved outside, nearly all of those precautions would be rendered useless.

Fighting the dragon without them would be near impossible.

Before anything else, they had to ensure it couldn’t escape.

“We can’t afford to put any more strain on the Wise Heavenly King. We’ll bring the dragon down first—without forcing him to use Hand of God.”

“Then he won’t assist in slaying the Black Dragon?”

“Holding back the falling Proudia is an enormous burden—far greater than we can comprehend. He’s already consumed ten doses of spirit elixir. Any more, and it will threaten his life.”

Even if they overcame the Sun Devourer, if the Wise Heavenly King perished, it would be as good as defeat.

Everyone agreed—protecting the King was paramount.

“We’ll use multiple Dragonslayers, then disrupt its flight magic with dispel magic. That should bring it down. Its wings are too small for its massive frame—it’s clearly not relying on muscle power alone to stay airborne. Once it falls, we sever the wings.”

“And once it’s down? What about all those evil eyes?”

The one to voice the concern was Begude.

He had already been struck down by those very cursed eyes—his wariness was justified.

Typically, a creature possessed one, maybe two of those eyes. Yet, the Black Dragon’s entire body was covered in them. And it fired them in volleys, a relentless barrage beyond reason.

“Should we suppress its evil eyes with dispel magic as well? Though, within its range, we’d also lose most of our magical defenses…”

“No. Instead of dispel, we’ll use magic to stir up dust—blind its field of vision. Even against a dragon. The nature of a evil eye doesn’t change regardless of who wields it—so long as it takes the form of an ‘eye’, it must still ‘see’ to function. It’s not guaranteed, but the logic holds.”

Evil eyes functioned by casting spells upon anything within their line of sight.

This was their fundamental nature—and it held true regardless of the wielder.

A dragon’s eyes might harbor magic, but eyes were still eyes.

And if they took away its sight—

It would lose its power to strike them down.

“But if we raise a dust storm with magic, wouldn’t its erasure-type evil eyes just wipe it away?”

One of the magicians raised the concern.

Victor nodded.

“With that many eyes, it’s possible some of them have erasure properties. But if part of the dust storm starts disappearing, it’ll make locating those eyes a lot easier.”

“And then the combat units will take them out?”

“Exactly. But what about our own vision? How do we fight in all that dust?”

It was Ur, of【The The Walkers】, who raised the question.

In response, the only priest among them stepped forward, puffing out his chest with confidence.

“I shall bestow upon all participants the blessing of my sacred patron—the 【Spirit of the Lampfire】. Have no fear.”

“Lampfire?”

“The guiding light that pierces the night in which the Sun God Zerudia rests. Praise it.”

“That’s… incredible.”

Ur’s genuine admiration seemed to please the priest greatly.

“So we prioritize eliminating the erasure-type eyes first, then take out all the others. But the dragon won’t just sit there and let us, will it?”

This time, it was Shizuku, also of【The Walkers】, who spoke up.

She had mainly served as radar during previous operations, but this time, she would be fighting on the front lines.

She had entrusted her grimoire to the intelligence division—for now, she would wield her own strength.

“There’s no doubt the dragon will resist fiercely. And to begin with, there’s no guarantee that our method for destroying the evil eyes will go as planned.”

Victor spoke with brutal honesty.

As the one issuing orders, it was an uncomfortably uncertain thing to admit.

But when facing a dragon, logical strategies like “If we do this, then this will happen” simply didn’t apply.

If they built a plan based on predictable logic, the dragon would shatter that logic entirely, and they wouldn’t be able to recover.

That’s why, when fighting dragons, they always prepared multiple fallback plans.

But this time, that wasn’t an option.

“We’re already dividing our forces to handle three dragons at once. We don’t have the manpower to create multiple contingency plans for each.”

“Then that means we have to push this plan through, even if it takes some force.”

“Exactly. Of course, if something happens that overturns our entire premise, we’ll adapt accordingly. I’ll issue new orders when necessary.”

“Understood.”

It was a recklessly uncertain strategy.

That much was clear.

Victor had even expected some of them to back out at this point. But instead, Shizuku merely nodded and stepped back. Not a single warrior moved to abandon the mission. Instead, they checked their weapons and armor, making final preparations.

Clearly, no one here was the type to run away after coming this far. Victor was grateful for that.

“Once we’ve dealt with the evil eyes, all that’s left is carving the dragon open and rescuing Sua-sama. By the way, how many anti-dragon weapons do we have?”

Another adventurer spoke up, directing the question at Victor.

“We have about twenty shots with our【Dragonslayers】. They’ll be fired the moment the dragon crashes. Each one will be enhanced with multiple layers of combat-specialized spirit blessings. Also, everyone gets one dose of spirit elixir.”

“That’s generous.”

“Failure is not an option.”

“No, it isn’t…”

The adventurer sighed.

For warriors with weak faith-based abilities, this was an exceptionally generous allocation of resources.

But even then, it wasn’t excessive.

The outcome of this operation would drastically impact the war ahead.

And so, they would use everything at their disposal—no matter the cost.

Victor turned to Ur.

“Any word from Uuga?”

Ur shook his head apologetically.

“Sorry. Ever since we got word that a monster attack had begun, communication has been unstable.”

“…No, if they can’t be reached, then that’s that. But even if they’re just keeping some of the enemy forces occupied, it’s already a huge help to us.”

It was a shame—but Victor’s words were sincere.

If the enemy viewed Uuga as a threat significant enough to divert resources, that alone was a major advantage for them.

Of course, this assumed that Uuga would survive the attack.

But at this point, worrying about that wouldn’t change anything.

Victor took a breath, then spoke to the gathered warriors.

“Then let’s begin the operation. Fight well, and may fortune be with you all.”

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『So, our job is to get ahead of the others and clear out the monsters in the dragon’s landing zone, huh? Well, I suppose that means they’ve sent us somewhere relatively safe. 』

As he dashed across the glowing platforms of the Sky Garden, Rock muttered his thoughts with a wry grin.

Indeed, Ur and his team had been assigned to eliminate the surrounding monsters in advance and ensure that no additional threats interfered once the dragon fell.

If one called it a safe role, then… yes, it certainly was—at least compared to fighting the dragon head-on.

“Still, it’s an important role.”

Shizuku spoke with a serious expression. Ur nodded in agreement. He had no complaints about their assigned task. They were pushed to the absolute limit, and every bit of support mattered.

“Besides, there’s no guarantee that we won’t end up fighting the dragon ourselves.”

『Hmph, true enough… But still, no word from Uuga? 』

“None. I’ve been using communication magic at regular intervals, but…”

Neither the observation unit nor Shizuku could pick up on Uuga’s situation. Perhaps some interference magic was blocking their signals, or maybe massive concentrations of magical energy in the area were disrupting them. Either way, it was clear that something unusual was happening.

Ur felt a gnawing sense of unease. He worried about the safety of those stationed at Uuga. More than that, this entire battle was for the sake of securing Uuga in the first place. If Uuga fell before they could reclaim it, then all of this was meaningless.

The thought was frustrating—though not as frustrating as the one responsible for dragging them into this in the first place.

That damn Black…

He was nowhere to be seen.

Just what the hell is he up to now…?

“Ur, it’s almost time.”

Shizuku’s voice pulled him back to the present.

Ur lifted his gaze toward the sky.

There, the massive black dragon writhed, its enormous form twisting in the air just ahead of them. And looming over it, a set of gigantic hands reached out, attempting to restrain it. It was the manifestation of the Wise Heavenly King’s power—

An incredible and reckless feat, according to Knight Commander Victor. After all, the Wise Heavenly King was already occupied with preventing the Dungeon of Sin, Proudia, from plummeting.

Trying to hold back a dragon on top of that was akin to—

“Trying to balance a massive weight on your shoulders while pinning down a fleeing serpent with one foot.”

Ur had no experience with such a thing, so he couldn’t say for sure.

But one thing was clear—

That level of effort wouldn’t last forever.

“…Alright, time to roast some monsters.”

“I’ve connected the Dragonfang Spear to Rock-sama’s line.”

『HAHAHAHA!! Then let’s go all out!!』

Suddenly, the Rock ’n’ Roll spun in a full rotation. Rock activated 【Bone Core Transformation】, altering the very structure of the chariot in a dazzling display of technique. The massive vehicle whirled, extending its turret—the Dragonfang Spear—before unleashing its devastating attack.

“【Whirlwind Roar】.”

A colossal beam of energy erupted in all directions, incinerating the swarming monsters one after another.

『HAHAHAHA!! Now this is exhilarating!! Full power, let’s go!!』

“There’s an endless supply of magic stones to feed on. With the sheer number of monsters, we can fire as much as we want.”

Rock continuously funneled his stored magical energy into the Dragonfang Spear, prioritizing raw firepower over efficiency, allowing the Roar to fire in rapid succession. It was an absolutely reckless strategy. The transfer efficiency between Rock and the Dragonfang Spear was horrendously poor, and the weapon’s durability was a concern, but it didn’t change the fact that every blast wiped out hordes of enemies.

Simply put, they were in a situation where blindly firing the Roar would still hit something. Not the most refined tactic, but now wasn’t the time to be picky.

They had to clear out the monsters as quickly as possible for the reinforcements behind them—

“Ur-sama.”

“What’s up, Shizuku?”

“We have a problem.”

Ur furrowed his brow and turned around.

“…What’s wrong?”

“It’s coming down.”

“What is?”

“The dragon.”

『Ah, she’s right.』

Ur quickly unlatched the hatch of the Rock ’n’ Roll, stepping outside to look up at the sky.

The black dragon was plummeting straight toward them.

His face twitched, forming a half-grimace, half-smile as he let out a yell—

『GYAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!』

“DODGE!!”

An instant later, the dragon crashed into the ground, sending a shockwave roaring through the battlefield.