Smelling the pungent stench of blood, Lancer surprisingly felt his heart grow incredibly calm.
Perhaps it was because the last few worlds he'd experienced had been relatively "peaceful," at least on the surface. After all, no matter how they hunted yōkai in Fujiwara-kyō, the monsters hadn't engaged in a mass slaughter of humans. In Singularity F, ordinary people didn't even exist—maybe they were already dead, but at least there were no traces left. While Kyubey manipulated the course of world history from the shadows, its goal was "livestock farming," not "massacre." Though the death toll accumulated over thousands of years was indeed a terrifying number, it at least hadn't cultivated "guro" enemies just to entice those young girls...
But no matter what he went through, nothing could change the fact that he and the spear in his hand were forged through the struggles of the battlefield.
Back then, he hadn't received Scáthach's systematic teaching, nor had he learned the routines of the Baji Spear. You could say he was completely self-taught. His first enemies were Ghouls—monsters with immense individual strength and incredible regenerative abilities. This forced Lancer to abandon complex moves in favor of streamlined ones; the spear techniques he practiced sought nothing but the "sure kill."
Later, when he joined the Imperial Army to subjugate heteromorphic races, as the strength of his enemies decreased, Lancer's combat style became even more focused on lethality and efficiency. During that time, his hands were stained with countless lives.
Though his purpose had always been to protect his friends and the innocent, it was undeniable that blood and gore always followed the tip of his long spear.
Now, smelling that pungent, bloody stench, he felt as if the memories he had intentionally suppressed were resurfacing.
This caused the stillness in his heart to break. At this moment, he was like the ocean—seemingly calm on the surface, but surging with undercurrents underneath.
Clack~
Though the passage wasn't exactly short, it wasn't long either. In less than a minute, Lancer exited the tunnel. What met his eyes was a completely destroyed castle; among the ruins, he could even see many traces of where humans once lived.
However, he felt the hair on his body stand on end. A terrifying, evil presence was quietly descending.
The destroyed Castle Schrade was already shrouded in dark clouds—something Lancer had noticed long ago, but he hadn't paid much attention to it. As long as the weather didn't interfere with his combat performance, there was no point in caring, since he couldn't change it anyway.
But now, Lancer realized that the dark clouds outside were likely not a normal natural phenomenon at all.
More and more dark clouds gathered in the sky, and soon the heavens turned pitch black. Even the sun, which had been blurred by the clouds, seemed to gradually lose its radiance...
Wait?! Something's wrong!
Focusing all his attention on his eyes, Lancer soon discovered that the reason the "sun" in the sky was getting smaller wasn't because of an "eclipse," but because something was blocking his view.
"A dragon?"
Amidst Lancer's self-muttering——————
"ROAR!!!"
A furious roar echoed from the sky. Along with that roar, Lancer suddenly felt a massive dragon head manifest in his mind. The creature was roaring right in his face, its crimson eyes oozing terrifying killing intent.
This "hallucination" appeared quickly and vanished just as fast. Lancer's vacant eyes soon returned to normal, but he didn't relax for a second. After regaining consciousness, the massive dragon head from the hallucination was already right in front of him.
"Damn it!"
With a low curse, he hurriedly gripped his spear with both hands and held it horizontally. At the same time, the Phoenix flames on the spear burst into life. Unfortunately, no matter how he reacted, he couldn't change the fact that he had already lost the initiative.
BANG!!
The massive body, dozens of meters long, granted it terrifying power. The sheer force of the dive from high altitude sent Lancer flying instantly, and worse things were yet to come.
Taking advantage of the moment Lancer was dazed to launch its attack, the massive dragon monster opened its mouth wide toward him. At this moment, Lancer was holding the shaft of his spear with both hands, bracing against the pressure from above, while the ground beneath his feet was covered in hard ice.
The creature's terrifying bite force made Lancer feel like his muscles and bones were screaming. Even more desperate was the fact that countless sparks were leaking from the creature's open maw. There was no doubt it intended to blast Lancer with a breath attack.
"Meow!!" X 2
But just then, two cat cries rang out. Because it had been entirely focused on Lancer, the giant monster had ignored Jack and Tiger. At this moment, Jack's eyes were blood-red, and the cat-paw pattern on his chest flashed with a similar crimson light. His tachi, covered in red "Dragon Qi," stabbed directly at the giant dragon's eye. On the other side, Tiger's originally pudgy body seemed to swell in an instant. Swinging his Hunting Horn, he aimed for the horn on the opponent's forehead. Without a doubt, the experienced hunter Tiger knew very well that most monsters controlled their internal energy through their horns; this was the most likely countermeasure.
Having also activated "Beast Soul" power, the Hunting Horn in his hands instantly exploded with power no less than that of a war hammer.
CLANG~!!
With a loud crack, the horn on the giant monster's forehead snapped off. Simultaneously, the tachi in Jack's hand pierced through the creature's closed eyelid. It was unclear whether the monster lacked a sense of pain or was simply driven to madness by it, but the breath attack it had been charging suddenly blasted directly toward Lancer.
Facing the direct hit of the surprise attack, Lancer only had time to create a layer of ice to block himself. But to his surprise, the ice shield—which was strong enough to withstand a missile explosion—couldn't hold for even a second before being completely shattered from the center.
BOOM!!
Hit directly by the blast, Lancer was blown away, smashing violently into the completely destroyed castle before falling heavily to the ground.
The Gáe Bolg, which had been glowing with blood-red light, was now covered in cracks and filled with eerie, black-gray flames. As for Lancer, who took the direct hit, his body was scorched black. Although his body hadn't been completely incinerated thanks to the protection of the "Sapphire Star," eerie black-gray flames were still burning on the parts that weren't protected...
At this moment, the nearly broken Gáe Bolg stood quietly next to Lancer, looking like a tombstone.
"Meow~!!" X 2
Letting out cries of grief, Tiger and the others tried to go to Lancer's rescue, but unexpectedly, a giant claw swung toward them. They had no way to resist and were swatted away, falling into the ruins after being hit.
Struggling to climb to his feet, Tiger saw a sight he had never seen in his life. Even though the horn on its forehead had been smashed and one eye pierced, the black aura shimmering at the broken horn and the way its eye was moving proved that its previous injuries were in the process of—or had already—healed.
With its head held high, the massive black dragon monster looked down silently at the man and two cats who had nearly lost their fighting capacity, just like a high and mighty god...