Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 3, Chapter 20: Embodiment of Different Dimension④

The Ghastly Dragon whose body was covered with mirrors then descended from an oval-shaped hole in the air.

The black hole in the air faded away along with the figure of the dragon.

「…Hehe, to think that you survived the fire of Drafea of the mirror world. Interesting.」

The silver-haired woman was looking at Lambert with her eyes wide open while licking her lips.

「Enchanted metal… Moreover, the best amongst them is Organ. With that kind of metal covering your whole body, and the fact that you survived Drafea’s fire, it must have extremely high purity. To be able to move while wearing that is truly the description of a mobile fortress.」

「O-ORGAN?!」

The one who was shocked upon hearing the woman’s remark was Kreuz.

Organ was an extremely rare metal. It could only be created in the center of a place with an extremely high density of magical power.

But only a handful of Organ was ever found.

Nevertheless, Organ—which the said handful was worth enough for a man to spend their entire life in luxury—was already mined en masse even before the Eight Countries Unification War.

In this era, almost all Organ had already been mined. There was an anecdote that the only amount left was beneath the area that had already become the den of dangerous magical beasts.

「And for armor, you must’ve used a lot of Organ… Armored swordsman, just… who in the world are you?」

「It’s the proof of our loyalty.」

Lambert pointed his greatsword toward the silver-haired woman.

「Sorry to let you down, but I’m quite strong, you know, Swordsman-san? I want to overlook you since you seem to be an extremely interesting person, but…」

Lambert completely ignored the girl’s remark.

Seeing the other party didn’t even flinch, the silver-haired girl heaved a sigh.

「My name is Alius. Most people know me as 『Personification of the Spirit World』 or 『Queen of the Mirror Dragon』 and tremble before me. Don’t underestimate me just because you survived one of my small-scale attacks. Despite my looks, I can raze an entire city if I go all out.」

「You’re just a heretic, but I must show my manners too. My name is Lambert de la Croix. When I was a captain, I took down an entire castle by myself. Don’t expect an easy fight from me.」

The moment he said this, Lambert made the first move.

He closed the distance between him and Alius in just a moment.

「Contrary to your appearance, you’re unexpectedly quite a humorous person, eh. But I guess I don’t have to hold back if you really are the legendary hero.」

Alius raised her arm.

Four magic circles appeared in the air which gave birth to elliptical holes in air.

And then, the heads of the mirror dragon Drafea appeared from each elliptical hole.

「I can increase the number of spirits of the mirror realm, which can appear in this world by offering an appropriate amount of my mana. But honestly speaking, they’re quite similar to each other, you see. Are you wondering whether they’re just reflections? But Drafea’s breath and claws aren’t just illusions for me, you see.」

Four of Drafea’s heads opened their mouths and faced Lambert.

And then, a brilliant red light was fired from each mouth.

「Good bye, Legendary Hero-sama. Do you really think that I have no way to bypass the defense of your armor?」

The hellfire from the four mirror dragon’s heads converged at once.

Alius was still clicking her tongue.

Drafea’s fire easily drilled holes in the ground.

Thus, no matter how tough Lambert’s armor was, he had no choice but to fall into the hole that formed beneath his feet and would still die from the impact of the fall.

And even if he didn’t die from the impact, Alius could bury him alive by filling the hole with other spells.

That was Alius’ aim—a double trap.

But Lambert stamped the ground with his feet, jumped in the air, and maneuvered easily in the air by adjusting his center of gravity with his armor and greatsword—dodging in between the gaps in the breath attack of mirror dragons.

His movements were agile and nimble, as if he didn’t wear that full-plate armor.

Lambert ignored the explosion behind him, heading straight toward Alius without even looking back.

Even Alius could only look dumbfoundedly at Lambert’s movement that had already reached the realm of art.

「N-No way… A-are you really… that traitorous legendary hero?」

Seeing how easily the other party dodged the supposedly sure-kill attack, even Alius started to accept that it wasn’t a mere coincidence.

「But this isn’t over yet! I’M GOING ALL OUT NOW!」

Alius spread her arms.

Elliptical holes appeared in midair again.

But, this hole was much bigger than the previous one.

The previous holes were only around one hein (about 1 meter), while the current hole was around five hein.

In addition, the head of a much bigger Drafea appeared from within the hole.

「Dragons of the mirror world have different concepts of existence when compared to the creatures of this world. That’s why few of them can exist at the same time… even increased to the limit of my ability.」

Alius’ eyes were bloodshot, which was followed by a nosebleed.

The blood vessels on her face were throbbing as if it was on the verge of exploding.

It was the side effect of overusing her mana.

「It’s not just the scale. A single attack from this Drafea is faster than a lightning bolt! Do your best to dodge it!」

The entire head of the giant drafea rippled.

Its mouth emitted an extremely bright light.

The blinding light was fired toward Lambert.

「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

Lambert swung his greatsword.

Lambert’s greatsword and the Drafea’s flame clashed in the air, resulting in a brilliant explosion.

And then, Lambert stood right in the center of the explosion, uninjured as usual.

The flame fired by the giant Drafea was split in half by Lambert’s greatsword, exploding far behind him.

「N-No way… how can you slash that beam?」

Alius muttered in astonishment.

Yes, Lambert did the impossible.

And yet, that impossible feat was performed right in front of Alius’ very eyes.

「…I guess I shall retreat for now. See you again, self-proclaimed Lambert. A gentleman should never refuse a beauty’s invitation, you know.」

The air behind Alius distorted, and another Drafea’s head appeared with its mouth wide open as if trying to eat Alius.

This was Alius’ last trump card―she used the mirror dragon to forcefully teleport away.

Upon entering the Drafea’s mouth, she would enter the spirit world along with the Drafea. Then, she would be released to a different place in this world.

She had to use a special barrier to protect herself in the spirit world. Although the mana consumption was too much for her who had already overextended herself, it was the most powerful escape method.

And due to her extremely vigilant personality, it was literally impossible to do anything to Alius as long as she stayed in this space.

「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

Lambert roared as he leaped forward, swinging his greatsword.

The vertical slash cut apart the face of the Drafea, who was about to swallow Alius.

Ripples spread on the surface of the Drafea’s head, but it was sliced in half.

The Drafea raised a death wail from its vertically bisected head as its figure started to blur. It was sucked into the hole behind it.

All that was left from the Drafea’s bisected head was Alius’ corpse.

Alius died with a shocked look on her face.

「Sorry, but I’m an impatient person.」