171. CLASH! STORM DRAGON VS SCORCH DRAGON – FIRST HALF –
That battle had affected the surrounding topology, and caused great change to the ecosystem.
No matter the conclusion, it was definitely a battle that surpassed human understanding.
The heat had caused the seawater to evaporate, which formed clouds that brought forth heavy rain to the surrounding areas, but there was no major impact on land.
But, there definitely was some damage.
With the creation of these sea monsters, this ocean region had become an untraversable region.
This was the reality of the great damage that ‘The Scorching Tempest’ had brought about.
Among the central islands of the ‘Continent of Eternal Ice’, was an area of sea that lay in permafrost.
Because of that, and because one of the sea routes had ended up being closed off because of the ‘calamity’, there was a need to accelerate the establishment of a railway network and of Transit Gates for travel over the main land.
Whether he wanted to gain total control of the land transport routes. (TN: it was stated that Rimuruintended to spread his rail network in an older chapter)
But was the ‘calamity’ purposefully caused by the Demon Lord?
But that this calamity was simply an amusing twist of fate; no historian could have predicted this culmination of events.
The phrase “reality is often stranger than fiction”, couldn’t have suited these string of events better.
Putting the debate aside, the cause of this ‘calamity’ being a battle among ‘True Dragons’ would be made an undeniable fact by future historians.
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Veldora, comfortably soaring through the skies, tried increasing his speed slightly.
Compared to when he was sealed, having better control of his magic now, his flying speed has increased.
「Kuahahahaha! Superb. This is a superb speed!」
He said, getting carried away.
With the knowledge attained from the scriptures (manga) that Rimuru possessed, Veldora tweaked around with the logic here and there and produced good results.
It was now possible to utilize magic of a much higher quality.
Learning beside Rimuru, there were many things he wanted to try out.
It was a pretty interesting experience, being taught the logic of skills… from the old man called Hakurou. (TN: izzit ok to just use old man for 老人? lol)
Molding it, increase the concentration through focus, and then explosively releasing it on a single point.
It was to release that near limitless magic into the surroundings, and attack with all his might.
But, just that wasn’t good enough.
Which was why, suppressing power and living in human form, was the most effective form of training.
Similar to the logic in moving arms and legs while in human form, there was also a set flow to control power while in dragon form, thus proficiency increased with better concentration. (TN: THIS was hard to make sense of)
And that, was the gist of putting effort into combat styles, the reason to search for the efficient use of power.
Unconsciously learning how to control magic while playing around in human form, this resulted in Veldora gaining combat power incomparable to his past self.
Veldora himself only felt lighter somewhat, being unaware of the difference.
Concentrating, Veldora attempted to fly at full power.
The fastest among the 4 existing ‘True Dragons’, was ‘Scorch Dragon’ Velgrynd.
Due to reaching this speed that he had never reached before, unknowingly, he was fast approaching the Empire’s Aerial Fleet.
(Hey, Veldora! The Empire’s straight ahead. You’re gonna run right into them if you keep going like that!)
He was already within one hour away from contact, when he received Rimuru’s message through Telepathy.
Seeing the slightly panicking Rimuru, Veldora’s thoughts became composed.
Wait a sec. The Empire was headed for Ruminas but, Couldn’t this be his time to shine?
Even if I defeated all the enemies here without working together with Ruminas, it wouldn’t be a problem right?
Such thoughts went through his mind.
「Kuahahaha! Be at ease, Rimuru.
(Wha-! Will that be alright!?)
“Yeah, no problem! This is a long awaited chance to go all out. Don’t worry, just watch!”
Saying that, he ended the Telepathy message with Rimuru.
Even if he had a definite chance of victory, he always only started a fight when he was certain that there was no chance of defeat.
Yes, he should be like his Ultimate Skill, Raphael.
To Veldora, the Imperial troops were nothing to be afraid of.
Aiming to end the battle instantly, he increased his flight speed even more.
The Empire’s Aerial Legion came into view ahead.
Maintaining his current speed, it felt like he could win just by ramming into the opposition while cloaked in Hyper Energy.
Just the aftershock of him stopping mid flight caused the Airships at the front of the fleet to jolt immensely. Destroying the fleet seemed to be an easy task.
「Kuahahahaha! Fools of the empire!
If you stop your invasion now, I will let you retreat peacefully.
You may respond now!」
Veldora loudly proclaimed to the Empire through Telepathy.
Living alongside Rimuru, not only his power but even his concept of thinking had changed.
Well, the scriptures (manga) knowledge probably had more of an influence.
On the other hand, the circumstances for the Empire differed significantly.
As for the regular soldiers, they couldn’t contain their restlessness after seeing Veldora who wasn’t supposed to be there.
As for their superiors, the Beast Corps commander, Gradim, and major-general Xam’d were located on the same Airship in the middle of the fleet.
This much was expected for the ship of the leaders of the expeditionary forces.
As proxy for the emperor, she was highest in the chain of command.
Xam’d spoke up in place of Gradim.
Although slightly displeasing, it was necessary to inquire about her opinion.
「Grynd-dono, what shall be our course of action?」
Velgrynd smiled wryly, and answered with another question.
「Xam’d, are we able to fire the Magic Canceller currently?
「Let’s see….
Our opponent is that Veldora, so our current forces just won’t be enough.
「Hmm. Transport ships aren’t gonna do much against Veldora huh.
Not much choice, I will go then. You all should hurry and withdraw from the battle zone.」
「What? You intend to go alone?」
Gradim was shocked at Velgryind’s words.
She glanced back and,
「Yes. It’s good that I came along with the expedition.
Assemble those who can use the Magic Cancellers and reform our composition.
Make sure to be able to fire anytime, and aim for the moment I create an opportunity.
This should already be obvious, get in contact with Rudra.
If you understand then hurry and get to work! I’ll be heading out!」
Orders came in like a volley of arrows.
She opened the doors with no hesitation and flew out toward the skies.
As Gradim thought of that, he lost all words at the the scene before his eyes.
Grynd ―― Velgrynd ―― flew out to the skies, and, after a brief flash of red light, transformed into her Dragon Mode in a dazzling display of Cardinal Aura.
「Wha-! Could it be ―― “Cardinal” Velgrynd!? The Guardian Deity of the Empire, Velgrynd-sama!」
Gradim came back to his senses after Xam’d’s surprised outburst.
And immediately said,
「I shall contact the emperor.
Assemble the Mages, land the remaining ships down to the ocean!!」
The orders were given.
Their hearts were momentarily stolen by the otherworldly beauty of the shining scarlet dragon.
But, Gradim’s stern rally was more than enough to bring them back.
For the soldiers who were mesmerized by the advent of “Scorch Dragon” Velgrynd, it brought them back to reality.
「That’s right! Our Guardian Dragon is with us. There’s nothing to be afraid of!」
「With Velgrynd-sama on our side, there’s no way we can lose!!」
Morale rose instantly for the empire soldiers.
And they quickly began moving as per their orders.
Having been a long time since returning to her true form, Velgrynd looked around her.
Using『Magic Perception』as naturally as breathing, she analysed the movements within the fleet.
As she looked ahead, Veldora seemed to be surprised and had gotten stiff. (TN: yea lol)
He probably thought he could do a full sweep of the fleet with a single blast of his Breath.
Before he was sealed, during the times where Veldora was out rampaging around, Velgrynd was already Emperor Rudra’s partner, and had laid dormant in the Empire.
It was around the southern area of the empire, where they last met.
Though at that time both of them weren’t serious at all, Veldora had caught a glimpse of the pinnacle of Velgrynd’s powers, and escaped with his tail between his legs.
It meant nothing by just having great amounts of energy if he couldn’t use it properly.
She would take her time to slowly teach him how to use his powers, after getting him on to their side.
Velgrynd would pin Veldora down.
After that,they would turn Veldora into one of their own with Emperor Rudra’s “Regalia Dominion”.
Though unexpected, this had become the perfect chance to bring Veldora to their side.
It was possible to grasp victory in their game against Guy if they had Veldora, which removes the need to increase the number of Sages as underlings.
The end to their eternally drawn out game felt within reach. A victory for Velgrynd and Emperor Rudra drew closer.
Making the best use of this chance, his capture was imperative in making their victory a reality.
Velgrynd slowly flew towards Veldora, with these thoughts.
Veldora was perplexed.
What’s up with that? He felt.
It was time to get serious.
With a polished battle style, one could feel she was fast just from her appearance. Well appearance didn’t really matter……
If he ended up destroying Ruminas’ country again, he felt like he was definitely going to be chased around till his last breath.
Even if it wasn’t Ruminas, if Tempest was destroyed, Rimuru would utterly decimate the culprit.
Although it was kind of a pain, the opposition also seems to be getting ready for battle, to arms then.
It would have been possible to clean up this fleet of dinky airships with a single blast of breath, Veldora thought.
It would have been a great opportunity, but life was never that easy.
Although they had never duked it out in earnest before, he felt that Velgrynd slightly had the upper hand. But that was all in the past now.
(Kuahahahaha! How about I see what I’m capable of, with this elder sister of mine as the opponent!)
Veldora put his focus on Velgrynd, and entered his battle stance.
And so, a battle of the current century between “True Dragons” erupts.
Editor’s Rant:
Thus concludes the first batch of the 3p translator team ~ Gao!! A big welcome to Sushi-san, He’s been contributing to the corrections of a lot of chapters through comments since long, but now has awakened into a full fledged translator. Lion reporter: How do you feel right now? Sushi: Despite this being the first chapter I officially translate, I got a chapter that had super annoying text to work on… Haha how silly Sushi-san, we all know of your accomplishments using 『Smart Phone』 and the Ultimate Skill『God Finger』. Though this lion is super jelly, he’s glad you’re on our side. So one more time… hip hip ~gao~~!! I’m sure everyone will appreciate the speedy translations, and gratuitously blame a certain Lion Mask for the editing delays :3 . Well, well, we should now learn to never trust lion mask. But that aside, next chapter could be next week, or the next hour. Only the calculations of Raphael sensei knows. So without further ado, see you all in another chapter ~Gao!!