Chapter 289 Death Match ③
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
GIGIGIGIGIGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGOGOGOGOGOGO-OOOOOOOOOHHH!!!!
The ancient dragon Ur Hamit, his face blasted open by the Ddo-Buddy Cannon¹, let out a shriek nearly identical to the death-cries of his mate Zil Meina as he spiraled downward.
”Give it everything you’ve got!!!!” Satsuki screamed.
”Roger!!!!” Marsetta yelled back.
”Ro… ger…!!!” Kushe groaned.
Whir-r-r-r-Sch-v-v-v-v-pt!
The female mage trio-Satsuki, Marsetta, and Kushe-unleashed their follow-up. Satsuki clung to the barrel as it began to glow white-hot, her body acting as a lightning rod for the searing beams of light that tore Ur Hamit apart.
”More! MOOOOOOOOORE!!!!!”
Whir-r-r-r-Sch-v-v-v-v-pt!
GUOOOOOHHHHHHHH!?!? !?!? !?!?
Not knowing if they had a single shot left in them, they swung the superheated barrel in a frantic, wild arc, swatting the Lesser Dragons from the sky.
Their desperation paid off; the Lesser Dragon swarms began to thin. The beasts circling the group pulled back, wary of the devastating heat. The Ddo-Buddy Cannon hissed, the sickening sound of searing meat echoing as the heat began to cook the air itself.
”Satsuki-san…! Any more is suicide…! At this rate, you’ll end up worse than Marsetta-san…! Kushe-san, Marsetta-san, please, stop…!”
Sister Amelia screamed the warning even as she desperately knit the flesh on Kushe’s forehead back together. But the girls were deaf to her pleas. Their faces were contorted in agony, yet they continued to pour every drop of their mana into the weapon, swinging the massive barrel with reckless abandon.
”We can still fight, too…! You don’t have to carry this burden alone…! Fine, have it your way! I’ll just have to heal you right where you stand…!!!” Amelia shouted.
Abandoning persuasion for action, Amelia bathed the three in the radiance of Sacred Healing. The Ddo-Buddy Cannon, already pulsing with its own internal light, was now shrouded in a blinding, divine halo.
To the exhausted survivors, that light became a pillar of hope amidst the carnage of the Lesser Dragons. And then…
ZUGAGOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNN!!!! !
Ur Hamit finally hit the earth. He fell slowly, a rain of draconic blood misting the air, until he crashed with a deafening roar directly atop the body of Zil Meina.
””””Kyaa…!”””” the soldiers cried out.
””””Ugh…!”””” the knights groaned.
This time, the subjugation force was ready for the shockwave, digging their heels in to maintain their defensive perimeter. But for the three mages manning the cannon, the limit had been reached. The Ddo-Buddy Cannon, having spent its last dregs of that thick white light, finally went cold.
”””Ah…””” the three mages whispered in unison.
They felt the power vanish. The light died. Amelia lunged forward to pull them away from the weapon; they were surely covered in horrific burns. But in that instant-
”Kya…!?”
Whether the mounting had been too hastily built or the supports had simply buckled under the strain of their erratic firing, the massive Ddo-Buddy Cannon began to topple-straight toward Satsuki.
”Satsuki-san!!!”
Amelia tackled Satsuki, the two of them tumbling across the scorched, dusty grass just as the heavy iron crashed down. Satsuki was a mess; her clothes were charred rags, and fresh burns mottled her skin. Without a word, Amelia began to pour healing magic into her.
””Satsuki…!”” Kushe and Marsetta called out.
”I’m okay! Both of you are hurt just as bad, so stay calm…!” Satsuki said, gasping for air.
Amelia soothed Kushe and Marsetta as they limped over, extending her Sacred Healing to cover them as well. She prayed for another healer to assist, but looking around, she realized the situation was dire.
”Damn it…! We took down so many, but they just keep coming…!” Priest Samarefuoso muttered.
”Quit your griping! After a performance like that, you should be fired up, not falling apart!!!”
”That’s easy for you to say, Katz-old-man…!”
”Who are you calling a geezer, you whelp!!!” Katz barked.
”Is this really the time for an argument!?!? !?” Holy Knight Kuroalmante shouted.
Martial Monk Katz barked at the priest’s wavering resolve. Kuroalmante watched them with a look of pure exasperation. These old farts still have this much energy? she wondered.
Their banter sounded lively, but their reality was grim. Every one of them was covered in wounds and burns; their faces were ashen from the soul-crushing fatigue of maintaining Ultimate Sacred Defense².
They were only staying conscious by hurling insults at each other, using spite as fuel to keep the Lesser Dragons at bay.
If the masters were at their breaking point, the rest of the Holy Labor Corps was already past it. Some lay prone, their shields shattered by dragon breath; others had been broken in half by the sheer physical weight of the beasts. And then, there was her…
”Marian-dono, are you still with us…!?” General Oromanso asked.
”Heh… hehehe… ♡ I’m fine… ♡ The nuns of the Church of Demon-Subjugation aren’t broken quite that easily… how lovely… ♡” Mother Marian replied.
Mother Marian barely managed a response to the bear-beastman General Oromanso’s call. As the anchor for their defensive magic, she had been a whirlwind of destruction, conjuring the hellfire of Great Sacred Magic to incinerate anything that flew too close.
But she looked like a corpse. She moved like a ghost-stumbling through the blood and dust, her sunken eyes gleaming with a terrifying, predatory light. Elsewhere on the field…
”Pocchi is down!!! Shiro, you’re at your limit, get to the rear!!!” Slop shouted.
”Woof! Woof!!!”
Slop, the leader of the dog-beastmen, barked orders to his pack. He was a patchwork of scars and fresh burns; his tail was singed black and blood poured from a gash on his head. The copper scent of his own blood was blinding his nose, forcing him to constantly wipe his eyes.
”You better not be flagging on me! If you’re this weak now, the next rut is going to be a nightmare for you, you hear!?” Rikka yelled.
”I know, I know!!! Alright, boys, let’s show them what we’re made of!!! AWOOOOOOOO!!!” Slop howled.
””””AWOOOOOOOO!!!!”””” the pack answered.
Spurred on by the sharp tongue of his wife Rikka, Slop let out a howl that bridged the gap between exhaustion and adrenaline. His pack answered in kind, drawing on their collective bond to stay in the fight. Every person on that field was hanging by a thread.
”Damn you… Just die already!!!”
Fighting for the sake of his niece, Count Popol Martin unleashed a mimicked dragon breath, a perfect imitation that turned a Lesser Dragon into a charred husk. But for every one he dropped, three more swarmed in to take its place, pinning him down.
With a cruel, animalistic intelligence, the dragons were focusing their numbers on the strongest fighters. No matter how many Martin drew into his orbit, the tide was unending.
”Shield-bearers, hold the line!!! Protect the wounded!!! By the pride of the Army of the Kingdom, do not let a single member of the Holy Labor Corps die-they bled for us, now we stand for them!!!! !” their commander roared.
”””YEAH!!!! !”””
The shield-bearers of the Army of the Kingdom, despite having fought through the Stampede without rest, stood like iron statues at the front.
One fell, then another, but even as their ranks thinned, they remained the Queen’s Shield. That pride kept their heavy shields raised and their knees locked. They refused to break.
Not a single soul gave in to despair. They fought with the ferocity of the doomed, desperate to see the sunrise.
The plan had been a masterpiece. Stage one: Zil Meina suppressed. Stage two: Ur Hamit executed. Now, all that remained was to scatter this swarm and reach the supply wagons in the rear. Victory was within their grasp.
Just a little further. Just a few more minutes, and they could escape this nightmare. That was the thought in everyone’s mind.
”No… it can’t be…”
”Amelia-san…?” Satsuki asked.
Amelia was the first to see it. While tending to Satsuki and the others, her heightened sense of survival-honed by the responsibility of keeping the mages alive-forced her eyes toward the fallen dragons.
”You’ve… you’ve got to be kidding me…” a holy magic user whispered.
One by one, the other healers looked up, their faces draining of color. Satsuki forced her broken, aching body to turn, following Amelia’s horrified gaze.
”Zil… Meina…” Satsuki croaked.
There, cradled in the massive, dying arms of the old dragon, the dead queen was stirring. Her jaw unhinged, her throat beginning to glow with a malevolent, burgeoning heat. She wasn’t finished. She was opening her maw, preparing to exhale a final, world-ending conflagration directly into their midst….
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Summary:
The subjugation force successfully downs the two major dragons, Ur Hamit and Zil Meina, using the Ddo-Buddy Cannon. However, the victory is short-lived as the mages are incapacitated and the weapon collapses. The chapter ends with the horrific realization that Zil Meina is still alive and preparing a final attack.
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Trivia:
- The ‘Ddo-Buddy Cannon’ name likely refers to its two-person or ‘buddy’ operation, but it’s currently being pushed beyond its limits by three people.
- Martin Popol is mimicking dragon breath, a high-level skill, which explains his fatigue.
- The Lesser Dragons are targeting the ‘stronger’ fighters specifically.
- The ‘Queen’s Shield’ is a specific title/unit within the Kingdom’s Army
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Character Insight:
Mother Marian shows a terrifying level of combat zeal, suggesting her piety borders on mania when in battle. Amelia acts as the emotional and physical anchor for the main trio, prioritizing their survival over the general battlefield chaos.
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Behind the Scenes:
The visual of the cannon toppling onto Satsuki emphasizes the physical cost of using prototype magical weaponry in this setting.
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TL Notes:
Notes:
• Satsuki – A talented Court Mage who was forced to analyze the shop’s adult magic tools. Miranda’s granddaughter. Now she’s the new worker at Harvest, a development she finds both humiliating and surprisingly fulfilling due to the rapid progress in her research under Kento’s guidance. Has long black hair, palace mage robe, and staff.
• Marsetta – A senior court mage and specialist in magical weaponry. She has disheveled hair tied back, wears glasses, and has deep dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. She hasn’t eaten in two days and is under heavy pressure to find a countermeasure for the enemy’s weapons.
• Kushe – The Chief Mage of the Coalmine Kingdom. She has dark green hair grown out haphazardly and wears a mage robe loosely over her shoulders. She has a blunt, informal, and somewhat insensitive personality, focused on her ‘thinking experiments.’
• Amelia – The Sister of the Church of Demon-Subjugating, who usually buys from Kento, has light blue hair.
• Samarefuoso – A Priest and strategic advisor for the unit’s night watches.
• Katz – A Martial Monk and veteran described as an ‘outdated’ relic with immense physical strength, older male and muscular build.
• Kuroalmante – A Holy Knight; one of the elites in the hodgepodge unit.
• Oromanso – A General serving as the assistant to Duke Roost. Bear beastman.
• Marian – A ‘Mother’ and supervisor from the Church of Demon-Subjugation. Her appearance and demeanor defy the Church’s purported ‘chastity,’ instead she has wavy purple long hair, busty, black nun, tear mole under eye, and monroe walk. She has arrived with a clear purpose: to confront Kento about the ‘Devil’s Stick.
• Slop – Leader of the hound-kin pack; Laika’s father. Has orange hair and fluffy tail.
• Rikka – Member of the hound-kin pack; Laika’s mother. Has orange hair and fluffy tail. Energetic and teasing.
• Martin – Lily’s non-blood-related younger brother. Considered the strongest candidate to succeed the Popol family due to his lineage and manifested ‘power. He has pink hair.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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