910: Dragonkin Arrival

Sophie removed the choker from her neck and gently closed her eyes.

Her hands were clasped together as if in prayer, and she took a deep breath with her slightly opened mouth.

Then, the voice of an angel echoed through the air.

「La~~♪!」

Her song had no lyrics, and yet it sounded as gentle and solemn as any hymn. The young girl stood atop the towering walls, singing towards the sky. That figure was so beautiful that everyone was at a loss for words.

In response to Sophie’s voice, a light-filled region expanded with her at the center. The mana imbued in this song exceeded anything we’ve seen so far.

The antidemons flinched, apparently taking damage from the song. And yet, the same song began healing Fran and Urus.h.i.+.

Could it be that her magic singing contained more power than her performances? Or maybe she just chose a different song?

With this powerful of a recovery effect, we might be able to use the mana heavy moves we were saving up. We originally decided to seal those away in preparation for an extended battle.

However, it’s obvious that Sophie won’t be able to maintain this state. No human can sing forever, even for normal songs. Considering this is a powerful magic song, we couldn’t even imagine what kind of burden it placed on Sophie’s body.

We’ll have to deal a fatal blow to the horde before Sophie reaches her limit. And of course, that means we target the commander again.

Fran and Urus.h.i.+ began charging their mana, while I was using mana detection to search for any strong antidemons.

But I ended up finding something other than antidemons.

There were about thirty ent.i.ties quickly approaching us from the middle of town. They were few in number, but each one was pretty strong.

With them helping us, we’d be able to take care of the antidemons easily. That’s what I had thought, but――

The group went in a completely different direction from what I had imagined.

For some reason, they ran up the wall where Sophie was and started attacking the adventurers around her.

After seeing this, I realized the situation.

These dragonkin appearing out of nowhere were not reinforcements, but the Dragon King’s men. He must have still had his agents lurking around town.

First the holy knights, and now the Dragon King again! Why are they always getting in our way?!

One of the dragonkin grabbed Sophie by the arm, forcibly ending her song. Naturally, this also stopped her attack on the antidemons, so they started to target Fran again. Our chance of a lifetime was about to take a turn for the worse.

「I’ll protect Sophie! Out of the way!」

「Grr!」

I decided to cast a teleport so that we could save Sophie. Unfortunately, that means the antidemons will quickly breach the wall during Fran’s absence.

However, it would only be a matter of time before they break through us without Sophie’s support. In that case, saving Sophie now would be better in the long run.

That was my line of thinking, but I never got the chance to activate my teleport spell.

「I find it hard to believe I share the same race as these buffoons…… How embarra.s.sing.」

「Indeed.」

Two new figures suddenly appeared and cut down the dragonkin attacking Sophie. Except, these two were also dragonkin, one with light blue hair and one with black hair.

（Velmeria and Frederick came to our rescue!）

『Yeah, before they could hurt Sophie too! Thank goodness!』

（Nn!）

Their sudden appearance must have been due to Frederick’s shadow magic. They really snuck up out of nowhere.

But how did Velmeria get so powerful? I sensed a portion of her strength during our reunion, but I never fully understood it until seeing her fight.

She’s still not comparable to her Divine Dragon Form state, but she’s on a different level than when we first met.

Previously, she was in the lower half of Rank C, but she’s now equivalent to Rank B at the bare minimum. I was stunned to see how much she improved in such a short period of time.

The same went for Frederick. He used to have really low stats in contrast with his high level skills.

All because of his “Debilitation” status that I saw upon my first appraisal, but that’s now been cured. In other words, he regained the entirety of his original strength.

He, too, was at least equivalent to a Rank B, maybe even higher.

And the two of them proved their abilities by easily taking out the a.s.sailants by themselves. No wait, they weren’t alone. One minute after Velmeria arrived……

More dragonkin, seemingly the two’s subordinates, entered the brawl, ending it even more quickly. This time, we really got reinforcements.

「Saintess-sama, continue Fran’s support!」

「O-Okay!」

「Frederick, you take care of the rest here.」

「Very well.」

Velmeria flew away, leaving Frederick in charge of the dragonkin and adventurers. Literally, she was flying with the wings on her back.

Her flight speed was no joke, and she bombarded the antidemons from the skies with water magic.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dragonkin with wings that big. Also, Velmeria’s right arm was covered with light blue scales despite not yet activating her Dragon Form.

Her usual appearance was quite similar to humans, but her current form took on many dragonic features. It’s almost as if she underwent an ancestral reversion, just like Frederick.

Maybe that’s due to the aftereffects of her activating Divine Dragon Form? Those wings and scales were similar to the form she took in her battle with Ashwrath at the capital of Kranzel.

「Master?」

『Woops, sorry. I was just surprised to see Velmeria suddenly get so strong.』

「Nn. She’s amazing. I have to keep up too.」

『You can say that again.』

After watching Velmeria blast the antidemons from above, Fran tightened her grip on me with renewed determination.

That’s when Velmeria approached us.

「Fran, sorry for being so late! I had a bit of trouble eliminating the elders!」

「Don’t worry about it.」

「I’ve gotten a bit stronger since we last met, so let me show you what I can do now.」

「I’ll be looking forward to it.」

「Good!」

「Nn!」

Fran and Velmeria simultaneously nodded at each other, both smiling in the middle of the h.e.l.lish battlefield.