The Devouring Dragon-Chapter 31: Protect the Queen

Vargan POV

"G-General Rurik has been killed, Your Highness!" A voice called out to me in the chaos.

"Tell Baldrek to take over commanding his forces!" I called back, grunting as I swung the heavy hammer in my hands. It slammed into a boulder flying toward me, shattering it into pebbles that flew into the air around me.

"General Baldrek already has his hands full with two dragons, Your Highness!" The messenger screamed back, his voice sounding muffled by the sound of my hammer deflecting another boulder.

"If I can hold off seven, then Baldrek damn well better be able to take another!" I shouted back, stepping to the side and raising my shield. A geyser of fire slammed into it, streaming around the shield but not making contact with the woman behind me or me.

The frontline situation had gone from good to horrific very quickly - and I couldn't help but feel it was my fault.

I had been too arrogant, believing that things were going so well that we could finish off the generals in one final push. Instead, the final two Succubus Generals had turned into four, and two of the Princesses came out of nowhere.

Now, I was down a general, and we were in a precarious situation. The Succubus Queen was more crafty than I had believed and likely had spies within my own forces.

She knew that I believed she only had four generals and had sacrificed two to give me a false sense of security - sending the generals that Baldrek had killed and Skarn had captured with only a flurry of weak monsters, comprised of mostly trolls and serpents, to their deaths.

Then, right when we rush forward recklessly to deal the final blow with victory in sight, the real firepower appears. A dozen dragons came soaring down from the sky, supported by powerful Fallen Angels, Devils, and other various forest-dwelling creatures that the succubi had under their control, as well as being buffed by succubi magic.

It was a well-laid trap, with fairies and gremlins utilizing their light magic to conceal an entire army in the dark forest until it was too late.

Now, we were in a fight for our lives.

Foll𝑜w current novels on fɾēewebnσveℓ.com.

"You should retreat when you find an opening, lady!" I called back to Raya, grunting as I shifted my shield to swing my hammer into another incoming boulder.

The massive rock broke into pieces, flinging back toward the towering Earth Dragon in front of me. The beast raised his scaled arm, swinging a claw out and bashing the shards of debris away.

The only luck we had going for us was the strength of the dragons - aside from a duo of Flame Dragons, the other ten dragons were only Earth Dragons, which were considered low-class amongst most draconic beasts.

Not that they were weak - they were still dragons, but I was able to hold my own, if barely, against a Flame Dragon and six Earth Dragons while Baldrek handled another two. Rurik had been taking on the other Flame Dragon with his personal battalion, but it seemed he had fallen.

If I make it out of here alive, I'll ensure a grand funeral is held for him.

Now, I was standing in a rather open area of the dark forest - which was mainly because the majority of the nearby trees had been torn from the ground or knocked over. Around me, our backline fought valiantly - doing their best to take on the hoards of weak monsters, occasional devils, and Earth Dragons that were baring their teeth at us.

To my right, a hoard of dire wolves led by one of the Princes tried to assist us - but the poor wolves were much less prepared to fight dragons than my men were, even with the armor I had supplied them with.

It was far inferior to my army's equipment - which was refined and upgraded personally to fit each man's fighting style, compared to the wolves' mass-produced sets of armor. I watched pitifully as a 20 foot tall boulder flew through the forest, rolling and bouncing as it crushed tens of wolves in its path.

Of course, their Prince didn't just take it lying down - the wolf-man, who I believed was named Ragnat, came flying through the air as he tackled the massive dragon to the floor, rolling around as a dog fight began. His claws tore into the monster's neck as the dragon's claws swiped at him, tearing through his skin and drawing blood.

I turned back to the situation at hand, lashing out my hammer to block another rock aimed at the woman behind me.

"Not happening," Raya declined behind me, "If I leave then any stability we have will crumble!"

She turned back to the messenger wolf, who was looking bloodied and missing an ear despite being chosen for its role because of its high speed, and continued giving orders at a million miles a second.

"This is what your army was made for, lady," I grunted, holding up my shield again as one of the dragons in front of me swiped outward, ripping the hulking tree from the ground in one swoop and flinging it at me, "Your beasts will do what it takes to survive! Value your own life!"

I grimaced as the towering tree collided with my shield and was deflected to the side, then quickly raised my large shield again, which was practically the same height as my short frame, as the red dragon opened its mouth to blast another flame at me. However, it was interrupted before it could.

A shining arrow shot through the air, slamming into the dragon's jaw and causing it to let out a growl of pain. A moment later, a muscular dwarf in the form of Skarn soared through the air - slashing his sword into the dragon's maw and managing to draw blood.

The dragon roared in pain, turning its bloody face toward Skarn as he landed, but was distracted again as a flurry of arrows shot at it from Skarn's small group of men. They distracted it, dashing into the forest as the Flame Dragon lunged after them, and gave Skarn time to sprint over to me.

"Took ya long enough," I grunted, idly swinging my hammer again to deflect the constant onslaught of boulders being flung at me - which was the Earth Dragon's primary form of offense.

"Killin' two dragons isn't easy, you know," Skarn grunted back, referring to the duo of Earth Dragons and Succubus General that his forces were battling, "The succubus had a couple o' annoying devils with her, but the rest of my men are finishing cleaning them up now."

"Take her," I said simply, knowing Skarn well enough to know he didn't care for any praise for him finishing his job.

Skarn nodded, swiftly stepping forward and abruptly grabbing Raya by the legs and slinging her other his shoulder, catching the wolf-girl by surprise as she was still speaking with her messenger.

"W-What are you doing?" She hissed, glaring down at Skarn as she struggled in his grip.

"I'll apologize later, miss," I grinned over at her, "But, I made a promise to that King o' yours that I'd protect you, and a true man never breaks his promises! Bring her to the palace, Skarn!"

She'd be safe deep within my kingdom - even if me and my entire army died here, we wouldn't go down pitifully. We'd go down in a blaze - killing enough of the enemy with us that they wouldn't dare try to launch a follow-up attack on my land.

While all my people weren't fighters, they could all still fight! Even a child knew the basics enough to defend themselves against a full-grown troll.

And, even if we did perish here, Valon would surely kill the Queen and finish what we started.

Not that I planned to die, mind you. I'll show these dragons what it means to fight against the Dwarven King!

"Got it," Skarn nodded, ignoring Raya as she continued to spit out refusals and try to get out of Skarn's grip.

"T-Then protect me here, bastard!" Raya huffed, actually cursing in the heat of the situation, "Our forces still need direction! I can't just leave you all!"

"It's too dangerous for ya here," I huffed mid-swing, knocking aside another thrown chunk of earth, "If this is where I die, then I won't be here to protect ya! Guard her with your life, Skarn! Even if it costs you your life, I won't break my promise!"

"Don't worry," Skarn grumbled, tensing his body and starting to sprint behind me through the collection of dwarves and cyclopses trying to hold back an Earth Dragon, "The only way they'll get to her is if my heart no longer beats!"

Raya let out another yell of frustration, but it faded away as Skarn retreated from the battlefield, tearing through any monsters in his way.

Without him here, we were even more outnumbered and outmatched - but I could trust no one except him or Baldrek with the task of bringing Valon's Queen to safety, and Baldrek was too valuable to let him leave the battlefield so early.

And, now I was no longer being held back. It's quite hard to go on the offensive when you have a little pup to protect.

I grinned, holding up my hammer as the enchantments on it glinted.

What was it Valon said about a King having to lead his soldiers?

"Don't even think about retreating, dragons!" I screamed out, launching forward at the nearest Earth Dragon, "This is what it means to challenge a King!"

In an instant, I was engrossed in the blood-filled battlefield - gone was the commander barking out orders, and in his place a simple Dwarven Warrior.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Valon POV

I grunted, swinging my sword downward in an overhead slash as a beam of pure light consumed the world around me. The massive blast was cut in half, curving around me and completely disintegrating the various houses and trees behind me.

I was in the DxD world, right? What is this DBZ ass attack?!

Suddenly, a large magic circle appeared on the ground under my feet, covering a radius of roughly 20 feet in each direction. I didn't stand around to find out what it did.

I lunged to the side, and a split second later a pillar of light shot upward. The entire city was lit up by the pillar for a moment, almost as if the sun had abruptly appeared in the sky, and then it disappeared.

It seemed that Benemue got a pretty big MP buff, huh?

Benemue raised her hand again, an orb of light appearing on her palm. She thrusted her arm forward, and I leaped to the side as another beam of light crashed through the city around me.

I guess the Queen doesn't really care about her subjects much, eh?

As Benemue fired another blast at me, I sidestepped, letting it fly past me and destroy another section of the city.

Unfortunately for her, I have no intention of just dodging the whole time.

I sprinted forward, my sword barred as I dashed at Benemue. In response, she raised her singular bloody palm in my direction.

A light barrier appeared between us, which then doubled into two light barriers. They shot forward in a line, square barrier after barrier overlapping to create a thick wall of pure light in my path.

However, she wasn't the only one who was buffed.

I swung my sword, the blade cutting through the first barrier as the crash of glass breaking rang out. Then, it continued forward, cutting through barrier after barrier until I was only a few feet from Benemue.

She flapped her wings, quickly shooting up in the air as my slash cut through the space where she had been standing. She held up her hand again, and dozens upon dozens of light spears filled the air around her.

I tensed my legs, leaping off the ground and up toward her. I barely even acknowledged the light spears, simply twitching my hand as my face twisted in concentration as I used [Light Manipulation]. As they shot down towards me, intent on impaling me in a hundred different places, they shook and veered off course.

Explosions rang out as they slammed into the ground below me, exploding in domes of light that left craters in their wake.

Benemue raised her palm again, her face looking desperate as another thick layer of light barriers appeared between us.

After being so heavily injured, along with losing so many stats from my [Aura of Devour] and [Devouring Stab], I could tell she was on the brink of defeat. She was moving sluggishly, and even her enhanced barriers crumbled like paper as I swung my sword toward her.

"Stop!" Velrissa yelled up, and my body froze for a split second. Then, I forced my knife hand to twist, sending a jolt of pain through my body and mind as I continued my slash.

Benemue quickly formed a light sword in her remaining hand as I broke through the barriers, swinging downward to match my strike.

But, despite her being buffed, she was too injured to keep up with me anymore. Our blades clashed for only a second, and then her light sword shattered.

My arc continued forward, slashing across the front of her body and slicing one of her wings in half.

[Devouring Stab] has claimed stats from [Benemue]!

+1,250 HP!

+125 MAXHP!

+250 STR

+315 AGI

+140 END

+125 CHA

+140 INT

+570 MP!

Benemue let out a shout of pain, then plummeted to the ground from both the force of my swing and her balance being thrown off by her wing being split in half. She crashed into the ground, the snow shooting up around her in a puff from the impact.

"B-Bene!" Velrissa shouted, looking with a mixture of fear and shock as Benemue lay limp in the crater.

"Still think I'm dumb for making that contract now?" I heard Momo mock Velrissa lightly, rubbing in the woman's impending doom.

I landed in front of Benemue in a crouch, standing up and towering over the fallen as I looked down at her. She didn't move, or even twitch - she was unconscious as blood flowed across her body and pooled around her.

"Tell me, Succubus Queen," I grinned, glancing over my shoulder at Velrissa.

As I turned around and took a step toward her, she took one backward - slipping in the snow and falling onto her ass. She stared up at me with fear-filled eyes.

"Do you wish you surrendered now?"

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AN: Thank you for reading! The next Chapter will out tomorrow!

Patreon.com/Koyon if you'd like to read Chapters early or support me!