CH 78

Ch. 78 The Dragon Approaching the Capital

As I held onto Hati and flew, I used the long-range communication Artifact and called Lotte.

Werner: “Lotte, can you hear me?”

[Yes, Master. I can hear you.]

Though it was late into the night, Lotte immediately answered.

Werner: “I need you to relay information to the Royal Magecraft Knights.”

[Yes, what is the message?]

Werner: “While we were walking inside the Capital, we heard the roar of a dragon from the North East. We are heading to investigate now.”

[A Dragon appeared near the Capital? I’ll go tell them right now!”

Werner: “Thanks. We don’t have any further information about the Dragon right now.”

[I understand. Master, please be careful.”

Werner: “I will.”

And I deactivated the communication with Lotte.

It was a short exchange, but I was able to relay everything I needed her to know.

Werner: “This Artifact really does come in handy. I understand now why Lotte said this would greatly change battle and war strategies.”

Hati: “Yes, your Artifacts are amazing, My Lord! Oh! I see something!”

As Hati yelled through the roaring wind, only 3 minutes had passed since we left the Capital.

Hati is faster than a horse, but she could only go so far in 3 minutes.

The thick winter clouds had covered the sky completely, and you could not see the moon or stars.

On top of that, the raging blizzard made it impossible to see.

But even so, I could feel the Magic presence of a large Dragon.

I began preparing for battle, and moved from Hati’s hands to Hati’s back.

Werner: “That Dragon was very close to the Capital.”

Hati: “It’s even closer than Hati was.”

The wilderness where Hati was found was much farther from here.

And to have a Dragon approach this close to a city itself is a state of emergency.

Werner: “Hati, can you communicate with other Dragons?”

Hati: “If it is intelligent, communication is possible.”

Werner: “Then let’s hope this is one of the smart ones.”

Hati: “It’s likely. Intelligent Dragons are fundamentally very strong.”

If it was a Dragon that couldn’t communicate, then it would be much weaker, and restraining by force wouldn’t be a problem.

But if it was an intelligent Dragon that couldn’t be persuaded, the situation would escalate from bad to worse very quickly.

Hati: “If it’s being manipulated like Hati, it would be very difficult to persuade it.”

Werner: “Yeah, in that case. We’ll have to destroy the Artifact even if it means climbing onto its head. ……….hm? What’s that.”

Finally, we could see the shape of the Dragon through the blizzard.

Its body was……considerably bigger than Hati’s.

Werner: “......at that size, it would be no surprise if it was one of the matured Ancient Dragons, no?”

Hati: “That’s……that’s not possible.”

And as Hati approached, we saw the Dragon.

But it was nothing like an Ancient Dragon.

Werner: “What is that?

Hati: “Hati doesn’t know either!”

Instead of a Dragon, it was a giant Golem.

The majority of its body was made of stone.

The shape of it was nothing like a Dragon’s either. It just looked like a giant with no head.

It stood on two very short, fat legs, and a cube shaped body sat on top of it.

And its arms were longer than its body.

――ＧＯＵＵＵＡＡＡＡＡＡ

The mysterious creature roared.

At the same time, from the center of its body, streams of pure Magic fired straight at Hati.

Hati: “...?!?!”

Hati spun quickly through the air to dodge the Magic attacks.

The Magic concentration was high, and the attacks were very fast.

That Golem caught us off guard, and Hati still managed to dodge the attacks.

As we watched the beams of Magic fly by us, Hati spoke.

Hati: “My Lord! Something is strange!”

Werner: “Strange?”

Hati: “It’s appearance is strange, but the Magic emanating from it is definitely a Dragon’s. But…I can’t put it into words, but something is very strange about that thing!”

Werner: “Strange, huh…”

But Hati could not identify exactly what.

Then it wasn’t about the appearance of a giant Golem with a Dragon’s Magic power.

I studied the mysterious stone creature and searched for the source of Hati’s uneasiness.

But we were currently in the middle of dodging the creature’s attacks, and Hati flew at top speed.

She flew in all directions, so studying it from here was difficult.

If I let my guard down, I would fly off her back.

I held on tight to her back, rubbed my eyes furiously to get a better view and continued to observe exactly what we were dealing with.

It’s true. A Dragon’s Magic enveloped that mysterious monster.

Werner: “Something is off about that creature. Is it because there’s an Artifact being attached to it…?”

Hati: “The same Artifact as the one they used on Hati?”

Werner: “No, it’s similar, but that Artifact is quite different.”

In fact, rather than implanting an Artifact on the Dragon, the mysterious Golem itself looked to be an Artifact.

Werner: “No, that thing is not just an Artifact…..then what is it….?”

When the former Academy President attacked us, they converted one of my Artifacts into a weapon.

That was when they modified my dog-walking Artifact.

But this was not the same.

With that much identified, I rubbed my eyes once more to get another look.

Werner: “Ah, now I see. They trapped a Dragon inside the Artifact.”

Hati: “WhーWhat do you mean, Master?!”

Werner: “To put it simply, there is a Dragon inside that stone creature.”

Hati: “What? Is that even possible?”

Werner: “I don’t know of anyone who has tried to do so. But theoretically, it is possible.”

Inside a giant Artifact, they placed a Dragon inside.

It was like using the Dragon as a source of the Artifact’s energy instead of a Magic Stone.

Werner: “No, not just the source. They’re also using the Dragon’s mind to move it too.”

Hati: “That’s terrible…”

Werner: “Yes, it is…”

ーーGOOOOOAAAAAAHHHH!!! (*sfx - Dragon’s roar)

The giant stone monster roared once more.

And this time, it’s roar was full of sorrow.