Chapter 306: Episode 306_Betrayal Is an Art (1)
1.
The so-called Bamboo Spear Squad, users who would be of little real help in the raid, charged toward the lair where the Holy Dragon Hatchling lay sleeping.
They made up the largest portion of the force, yet their assigned role amounted to less than ten percent of the overall raid strategy.
Naturally.
Even if it was “just” a Dragon Hatchling, it was still a Dragon.
Its base level was over 200. As a master of magic, its power was weaker than a fully grown adult’s, but it was still a creature that could kill flimsy humans with nothing more than a snort.
Even without casting a single spell, most users would die in a lee without ever managing to drive a single blade into its scales.
In that situation, how could such users possibly be of any use?
No matter how well one knew the patterns, the difference in raw power was simply too great.
The ones who could actually deal damage to the Hatchling were the top rankers, who were just approaching level 100, and the countless NPCs who had co to support them.
The Bamboo Spear Squad’s role was to inflict, at most, one percent of the total damage on the Hatchling.
And to scatter sothing.
“Graaaarrrr!”
“Argh!”
“Why is it so strong?!”
Their purpose was to scatter their own blood. They were sent to die, again and again, their blood paving the way for the next phase of the attack.
Of course, the users charging in had no idea.
Kenji hadn’t bothered to reveal the full raid plan to everyone.
It wasn’t as if they could do anything about it even if they knew, and when your only job is to follow orders, knowing too much just leads to overthinking.
In a situation where you were ant to simply obey, what good was thinking?
Thanks to that, the raid proceeded smoothly.
Thousands of users and NPCs bravely rushed into the pitch-black lair, its interior completely obscured.
Strictly speaking, from an efficiency standpoint, sending the NPCs in was a mistake.
For users, the death penalty could be a critical blow to their gaplay, but that was nothing compared to NPCs, who were gone forever once they died.
Even so, the NPCs did not back down, fully aware of the difference between themselves and the adventurers. Kenji, for his part, didn’t bother to separate them.
This was another reality, after all.
They had their own lives. While so envied the adventurers, most were proud of their lives as citizens of the continent.
The users who charged in did not return, their last monts marked by desperate screams. As ti passed, the reason for throwing so many people into the at grinder finally beca clear.
“Graaaarrrr!”
With heavy footsteps, the Holy Dragon Hatchling finally deigned to step out of its lair.
Their sacrifice had drawn out the beast, creating a historic mont.
*
It was not the first ti anyone had seen a Dragon, be they user or NPC.
Kardian had already caused a huge commotion once before, flaunting her presence to the fullest.
However, the number of people who had actually seen her with their own eyes was small.
Most had only watched through streams or replays.
How could that possibly compare to what they were experiencing now?
It was like seeing a celebrity you’ve only ever watched on TV in real life.
Rather than fear, their first reaction to the arrogant Dragon erging from its lair to deal with the annoying humans was one of pure curiosity.
It was only natural.
This was the classic fantasy Dragon, the kind they had seen countless tis in movies—a gigantic, majestic beast.
The only difference was that, true to its na, the Holy Dragon’s entire body was pure white.
It looked as if a thick layer of snow had settled upon it.
Of course, it wasn’t actual snow.
Though it looked delicate and fragile, so fine that you felt you could see right through its skin, that illusion was quickly shattered. Every weapon wielded by the Bamboo Spear Squad mbers who managed to get close simply broke against its hide, failing to leave so much as a scratch on its scales. The sight forced everyone to confront the harsh reality of their situation.
Phase one was a success: they had forced the Holy Dragon to reveal itself.
Kenji didn’t hesitate. “Everyone, attack!”
The second wave of troops, who had been on standby, surged forward.
“Graaaarrrr!”
The Holy Dragon roared, unleashing its magic power wildly.
That roar was the signal for the real counterattack.
“Defensive formation!” Kenji yelled.
Even if he hadn’t shouted, everyone tensed and prepared for the incoming attack.
Of course, all of them—thousands of people—knew it was ultimately pointless.
Divine power scattered everywhere.
And then it detonated.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Fortunately, because it was divine power and a spell cast by a re Hatchling, the more skilled users managed to survive.
The riffraff, however, those who had joined out of curiosity, hoping to earn the title of Dragon Slayer or Hero, were all wiped out on the spot.
In an instant, the once-teeming raid force thinned dramatically.
Even so, nearly two thousand troops remained, an impressive number in its own right. But compared to the start, it was clear they were now on a path toward annihilation.
This reckless strategy was only possible because the expedition was composed mostly of users.
Who in their right mind would pour troops into a Dragon raid, a battle with no guarantee of success, in such a manner?
Even a cautious, well-planned attempt would be difficult.
If the force had been composed entirely of the continent’s natives, they would have panicked and scattered after that first attack.
But Kenji smiled instead.
This was what he had been waiting for.
It was an overwhelming spell that could crush their spirits in an instant. If he hadn’t known the pattern, he might have curled up and responded defensively, but he had already heard all about it from Kardian and Han Simin.
“It’s an AoE with a fifteen-minute cooldown! All units, full assault!”
“Woooooo!”
He knew this was their chance.
Of course, that didn’t an it would be easy.
A Dragon, the master of magic, had just cast an AoE spell so powerful that it couldn’t use any magic for a full fifteen minutes.
There was no way the spell’s effect would end with a single burst of damage.
The entire area was now saturated with divine power, and within that field, the Holy Dragon received an enormous buff.
It could not cast spells, but its massive body moved so fast it was almost invisible.
It whipped its tail and lashed out with its limbs.
Each ti, dozens of people were swept away.
It was an opportunity and a crisis rolled into one.
And this was exactly why he had brought them.
He had brought them to exploit this very pattern—the timing, the sole weakness of a Holy Dragon that replaced its magic with overwhelming physical might.
“Third Unit, move out!”
With a confident shout, the figures in black robes who had been waiting in the rear stepped forward.
Into the area overflowing with divine power, tendrils of dark magic began to force their way in.
A rebellion from within.
The overwhelming divine power rejected the encroaching dark magic, but as if to prove this had all been part of the plan, the dark magic slowly grew in strength. Fueled by the power of the piled-up corpses, the blood of the Bamboo Spear Squad and all those who had died before, it finally overca the divine power.
Another massive explosion erupted, an inevitable phenonon that occurred when the opposing forces of divine power and dark magic reached parity.
When the explosion subsided, the Hatchling’s overwhelming presence, which had allowed it to move with impossible speed, had vanished.
The robed figures, the warlocks who had manifested the dark magic, were spent as well, but that was enough.
They had reset the battlefield to zero.
For fifteen minutes, the Dragon’s magic was sealed, and its physical buffs were blocked.
That window, the Holy Dragon Hatchling’s only weakness, had beco their golden opportunity.
“All forces, charge!”
“Woooooo!”
Every single person, without exception, rushed toward the Dragon.
And among the charging horde were even so of the warlocks, who had collapsed to their knees in exhaustion only monts before.
*
Kardian had explained it like this, word for word.
“During the last continental invasion, the Holy Dragon opened with the strongest AoE spell it could cast, then used the resulting buff to massacre countless demons. Because they use that filthy divine power, demons whose strength is restricted inside a barrier saturated with it could only be slaughtered helplessly.”
“What the hell? That’s broken. How are flimsy users supposed to kill that?”
“However, once that AoE spell is used, it cannot cast any magic at all for at least seven minutes. In the case of a Hatchling, it will be roughly fifteen.”
“...You just said the buff stays up. Can humans really kill a Dragon that isn’t casting spells?”
“That I cannot guarantee. Humans are inherently weak. However, that is when the Holy Dragon is at its weakest. Not just the Holy Dragon—any Dragon whose magic is restricted cannot bring out even twenty percent of its true power. The Holy Dragon can exert nearly the sa strength only because its reliance on magic is lower than that of other Dragons. I am rely telling you how to break its buff.”
“Oh? How?”
“Of course, I also cannot guarantee that there is a warlock on the continent with enough dark magic to do it.”
Han Simin remained silent.
The thod had been laid out, and Han Simin had passed it on to Kenji exactly as he received it.
The only part he omitted was that even if you gathered every warlock on the continent, they still wouldn’t have enough dark magic to break the Hatchling’s divine barrier.
If they had proceeded with just that information, it would have been a guaranteed wipe.
But Han Simin hadn’t left it at that.
Even if he let them all die, he wouldn’t feel any particular guilt, nor would he have to issue refunds. But it was a matter of trust, and he was also looking further down the road.
“Then you can just do it yourself.”
“Fifty points.”
“What’s fifty points?”
“Complint points.”
“...You still rember that?”
“Fill up the fifty points and I’ll do it.”
“Fine. Deal.”
He had planned to participate in the raid anyway, so Kardian secretly supplied the missing dark magic.
Thanks to her, the buff barrier had been broken beautifully. While everyone else was charging in with cheers, he slipped in quietly.
He didn’t have a particular plan.
He didn’t need one.
’From here on out, seriously, nobody knows what’ll happen. We’re betting our lives.’
It was impossible to draw up a plan.
Kardian’s thod only covered things up to this exact point.
A plan for what ca after?
What more could a Dragon do to help them plan how to kill another Dragon at its weakest?
“You just beat it to death.”
She had given them a plan, in a way.
It was just a sha that carrying it out was so difficult that estimating the odds was nearly impossible.
“Hey. You’re not gonna help?”
“Give
the points and I will.”
“Forget it. I’ll handle it.”
Han Simin pulled out his hamr, shook his head, and dashed forward.
He headed as far away as possible from Kenji, who was leading the charge at the front, running in the opposite direction.
’Don’t forget, if you get caught, you’re screwed.’
Quietly, ticulously, the Dragon raid that had been set up for Kenji was turning into a joint operation.
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