Chapter 537: The Conclusion and a Catchphrase

Tauro stood between Alpha Dragon and Aeris, raising the shield he had taken from [Magic Storage] and his Pella-mimicked Modified Shortsword Tauro.

While he did, Aeris cast multiple powerful enhancement spells on Tauro.

On top of that, she chanted a barrier spell that enveloped the entire area.

“—Now there’s no escape!”

Aeris did this to ensure that, in the unlikely event these two dragons—both having lost their sanity—tried to flee, no one else would come to harm.

“It’s fine. I won’t let them get away,”

Tauro replied, nodding in response to Aeris’s voice from behind him.

“GRRRROOOO!”

Alpha Dragon roared loudly, as if instinctively sensing that Tauro and the others were formidable enemies.

The roar was infused with magical power.

Normally, such a roar alone would make most opponents freeze in terror, unable to move.

But to Tauro and the others, it was like a passing breeze.

Well—aside from the fact that it was painfully loud on the eardrums.

“Tauro, it’s annoying. I’m going to shut it up.”

Aeris said this while gripping her black ebony staff as if she were about to rush in and strike it.

“Hey! I’m the one who’s supposed to do that, okay?”

Just as Tauro tried to distract her and restrain her movement—

Alpha Dragon seized the opening and swung its vicious right claw, lunging at Tauro.

“—You fell for the trap!”

Tauro had deliberately shown an opening to lure Alpha Dragon, which was fighting on pure instinct and showing no weaknesses.

That was also why Aeris had moved as she did.

Tauro used his shield to deflect Alpha Dragon’s attack to the left and throw it off balance. Seizing the opening, he thrust Modified Shortsword Tauro at what should have been the dragon’s weak point—the reverse scale beneath its chin.

But sparks flew, and the blade was repelled.

“Its weak point is hard?!”

Tauro blinked in surprise.

Tauro had thought it was common knowledge that a dragon’s reverse scale was its weak point.

“Tauro! It’s using magic to harden its neck—its weak point. Be careful!”

Aeris warned him after sensing the flow of Alpha Dragon’s mana.

“…I see. So it won’t let us win that easily.”

Once again aiming for a counter, Tauro raised his shield and assumed a stance, waiting for Alpha Dragon’s next attack.

But, having learned from before, Alpha Dragon stayed wary, avoiding reckless attacks as it slowly sidestepped, glaring at Tauro.

“…For something that’s supposedly lost its reason, it’s pretty cautious,”

Tauro muttered.

As if reacting to his words, Alpha Dragon drew in a deep breath.

“Tauro, it’s coming!”

At the same time Aeris called out, she activated her magic at just the right moment.

She must have anticipated what would happen next.

Tauro charged forward at the same moment the dragon drew in its breath.

It was a move made possible by each of them trusting what the other would do next.

Their coordination was flawless.

Before Tauro could close the distance, Alpha Dragon unleashed [Flame Breath] at him.

Tauro didn’t block it. Sword still raised, he pressed forward—

And in the next instant, he vanished.

[Spatial Transfer]? No, that wasn’t it. Tauro had leapt into the air above using [Teleportation], the skill he had stolen from the fallen hero Alexa.

He held the Pella-mimicked Modified Shortsword Tauro pointed straight down at Alpha Dragon beneath him and began to fall.

Alpha Dragon, still breathing fire, noticed Tauro from above, but it was too late to react.

By then, Tauro had already driven his blade into the dragon’s back.

“GYAA!”

The blade pierced all the way to Alpha Dragon’s heart. At that moment, Pella briefly mimicked the sword tip into a sea-urchin-like shape, increasing the damage.

Even the mighty Alpha Dragon couldn’t withstand that—it died instantly.

Meanwhile, Ragune, Ankh, and Zion were overwhelming the Gamma Dragon with a well-balanced formation: Ankh’s devastating strikes with his magic greatsword, Ragune’s impenetrable defense, and Zion’s support magic enhancing them both.

Just like Alpha Dragon, the Gamma Dragon hardened its scales and reinforced the weak point at its neck with magic. But Zion went on the offensive with her Opposing Demon Gauntlets, first delivering a powerful light-attribute blow with the right gauntlet that reverberated through its body, then following with a dark-attribute strike from the left gauntlet that inflicted a random status ailment. The second blow successfully inflicted severe paralysis.

With its movements slowed by paralysis, Ankh used wind magic to leap high into the air, raised his magic greatsword, and plunged down toward the Gamma Dragon.

Coincidentally, it was the same finishing move Tauro had used.

But compared with Tauro’s Pella-mimicked Modified Shortsword Tauro, Ankh’s attack lacked power, and the blade didn’t sink as deeply.

“I’ll leave the rest to you!” Ankh shouted as he pulled out the shallowly embedded sword and retreated. At that moment, Ragune—who had jumped even higher—came crashing down from above with her magic spear.

This was the true attack style of a dragon knight: a massive aerial leap followed by a plunging strike.

Ragune’s magic spear was earth-attribute, and once it pierced the target, it violently tore open the wound much like Pella’s mimicry.

The Gamma Dragon was impaled through the back by Ragune’s prized spear and, just like Alpha Dragon, had its heart torn to shreds by the spearhead, killing it.

“So… even in death, they don’t turn back into humans,”

Tauro murmured after confirming the deaths of both Alpha and Gamma Dragons.

“They were willing to give up their humanity just to try to kill us,”

Aeris sighed, placing a hand on Tauro’s back.

“…Whew. That settles it—we’ve taken down the fake ‘Black-Gold Wings,’ and we caught the fake leader too. But there wasn’t a fake me… Damn, talk about being forgettable.”

Ankh spoke as though the matter had been settled, then added an odd complaint.

Everyone ignored it.

“There was a fake Tauro, but no fake me either… Damn it… Just kill me…!”

Ragune muttered bitterly, apparently disappointed at how low the Empire to the north must have rated her.

“I was kind of hoping to see who would play me too, but there wasn’t one. …Damn it, I’ll live!”

Zion said sadly.

“Well, that can’t be helped. Just preparing someone to play Tauro must’ve been hard enough… I really thought there’d be one for me, since I’m a veteran and all, but there wasn’t… Damn it… while I’m still alive, I want to—(get married…!)…”

Aeris tried to cheer Ragune and Zion up while voicing her own complaint, but the last part was too quiet for Tauro to make out clearly.

“Huh? While you’re alive… you want to—be possessed?”

Tauro asked back, thinking, Did Aeris pick up a weird catchphrase too?

“Ah, no! That’s not it! That was just a wish!”

Aeris had been suppressing the phrase she had used as motivation while enduring the harsh training in the Dragon’s Den, keeping it from becoming a habit, but she let her guard down and it slipped out.

“So… being possessed is your wish?”

Tauro tilted his head, question marks filling his mind.

“Of course not! You misheard!”

“Then what did you say?”

“That’s a secret. It’s not the right time yet…”

Aeris refused, her face turning bright red.

“?”

Tauro gave up on pursuing the matter any further, since Aeris seemed determined not to tell him.