—At the Magic Lake of Shirauso on the southwestern edge of the Forest of Deep Magic, the main camp of Count Ketzer's domain army.
"Messenger birds report that multiple units are requesting permission to retreat! Several other units have missed their regular scheduled check-ins entirely!"
Faced with a flurry of utterly baffling reports, the commander-in-chief of the domain army—Mudite—slammed his fist onto the table.
"What on earth is going on?!"
According to their intelligence, the Wind Cats were merely a gathering of relatives of traitors and other outcasts forbidden from living openly in the Holy Amelia Kingdom. They were scoundrels not even officially recognized as human beings. Let alone trading with them, lending them a hand would incur the wrath of the high nobles in the central government and spell virtual ruin. There was simply no way they could have received reinforcements.
If that was the case...
"Did that Great Spirit make a move?"
He asked a youth with a wild appearance clad in a blue robe, who was drinking alcohol in the corner of the tent.
This was Onyx. He was Ruby's older brother and an extraordinary, top-tier mage. Having caught wind somewhere that Princess Felice had contracted with a Great Spirit, he had joined this battle.
He was being paid an exorbitant reward. It was precisely in moments like this that they needed him to earn his keep.
"Not a chance."
"Why not?! Isn't Princess Felice's contracted spirit supposed to be quite powerful?"
"Most likely. But Ruby is with the subjugation force. Even for a Great Spirit, clashing head-on with Ruby's Deimos Lich would require massive compensation. It would take sacrificing the mana of every single one of those Wind Cats."
"Then what if Princess Felice used the mana of all the Wind Cats as compensation, unleashed that Great Spirit, and claimed victory—"
"Even if she managed to defeat the Deimos Lich, that would probably drain her dry of compensation. There's no way in hell she could scatter a thousand soldiers after that."
"Then how do you explain this situation?! Our army is already half-destroyed!"
"The reason they have the upper hand right now is probably that former Magic Knight Captain Cassael is so obsessed with. Don't worry. A human can't beat the Deimos Lich. Ruby and the others will bring good news soon enough."
"However—"
"Ah, you're annoying! If push comes to shove, I'll deal with them personally. That won't be a problem, right?"
Onyx was a summoner. His abilities were unquestionably first-rate, and above all, he held a contract with that legendary creature. He undoubtedly possessed enough power to annihilate an entire unit of this domain army single-handedly.
"Understood."
Mudite turned back to the messenger.
"I will not permit a retreat! Inform them that anyone who leaves the front line without orders will be deemed guilty of desertion in the face of the enemy and considered unfit to ever serve in battle again! Send that order out immediately!" he commanded in a stern voice.
After that, some time passed, and reports ceased coming in altogether.
"Any word from the units?"
"No, sir. But there have been no further requests for relief either, so they have likely succeeded in suppressing the enemy."
"I see... Yes, that must be it."
Crushing a puny settlement of small fry had proven slightly bewildering, but in the end, things had gone as expected.
The taut string of tension snapped, and Mudite exhaled a sigh of relief. Just as he poured wine into a glass on the table—
"——!!"
A soldier came tumbling into the tent, frantically mouthing words while pointing outside. His face was drained of all color, his lips trembling violently as he desperately tried to force words out.
"What is the matter?! If you have a report, spit it out!"
This battle was already decided. All that remained was to quietly deliver Princess Felice to their lord. With that, they could bid farewell to this wretched quagmire.
Onyx, who had been drinking with a composed expression up until now, clicked his tongue, pushed himself out of his seat with force, and peered outside the tent.
"We're surrounded," he muttered in annoyance.
"What? Are you saying we've been ambushed? Then what happened to the guards protecting the main camp?"
"W-Well, we haven't received any reports of them abandoning their posts, but..." the adjutant replied in a panic, waving his left hand back and forth.
Could they have left their posts to plunder the Wind Cats? Those savages who acted purely on base instinct were certainly capable of it. Had the enemy managed to close in this far under the cover of darkness?
(This is precisely why I despise a ragtag army!)
Cursing inwardly, Mudite turned to Onyx to resolve the crisis.
"We must annihilate the bandits. Onyx, can you do it?"
"Yeah. But there's a good number of them. I'll be taking an extra reward for this."
"Very well."
Desperate times called for desperate measures. It would be an unnecessary expense, but he had no choice.
Just as Mudite rose from his wooden chair, the tent suddenly blew apart in all directions.
"Whoa?!"
Letting out a stunned cry, he looked around. In the moonlight, several dozen men and women surrounding them entered his view.
(What? They are all amateurs!)
There were young women, of course, but also old people and children. None of them looked remotely strong. The vast majority were surely folk who had never even held a sword.
While some caution was warranted given the magic they had used to shatter the tent, they had Onyx, a first-rate summoner, on their side. Defeat against such amateurs was impossible. For that matter, numerous skilled mages should have been stationed at this main camp. What were they doing against a bunch of combat novices?
"You allowed rabble like this to reach the main camp?!"
Mudite roared at the trembling sentry soldier who was still clutching his head, only to widen his eyes in shock.
"Heheh! Heehehehe... They're genuine monsters!"
Naturally, the soldier was crying. With a face smeared with tears and snot, he squeezed out the words while laughing foolishly.
"Huh?! Monsters? These guys?"
Onyx narrowed his eyes and looked around at the young and old, men and women still encircling them.
An old man leaning on a cane at the front stepped forward.
"We of the Wind Cats have completely surrounded this place. Choose. Will you quietly surrender and confess everything? Or will you... taste hell right here?"
He delivered his demand for surrender in an overbearing tone.
"Surrender?! Me, to a bunch of amateurs like you?"
Onyx tried to intimidate them with a deep, menacing voice, but...
"..."
Even the women and children, who clearly knew nothing of battle, did not show a single trace of fear; they merely waited silently for an answer with cold, settled eyes.
"Amateurs getting cocky! Hey, Armored Dragon! Wake up!"
Veins bulged thick on Onyx's forehead as he snapped his fingers, and a gigantic lizard manifested before him.
It lacked wings, but had a massive, sharp maw and glossy black scales. That distinct form was a dragon. While dragons, the strongest species, were even harder to command than spirits, a single one on the battlefield possessed enough combat power to completely alter the tide of war. The outcome was as good as decided.
"There's going to be compensation, right? Even if they're small fry, I'm not working for free, you know."
The wingless dragon, the Armored Dragon, cast a disinterested glance around at the people still encircling them, then looked back at Mudite and the others, questioning Onyx.
"Yeah. You can eat the mana of anyone here except that fat guy. He's on my side for now, and there are eight of them. That should be plenty for opponents of this caliber, right?"
"Fine then. The contract is sealed."
The Armored Dragon opened its massive maw and made a motion as if inhaling something, and Mudite's aides collapsed to the ground one after another.
"H-Hey!"
"The Armored Dragon's a glutton, see. Give up on them. In exchange, he'll definitely slaughter those insolent bastards."
So this was what Onyx meant by the compensation for a summoned beast. Through the contract, it seemed to utilize the mana of those on the summoner's side as its power source.
Regardless, if this level of human sacrifice allowed them to safely overcome the situation, it was a cheap price to pay.
"A-All right. I leave it to you."
Just as Mudite nodded in agreement, the old man spoke.
"Did you just sell your comrades' lives?"
With the expression of a demon, the old man trembled all over as he threw the question at them.
"Comrades? Useless soldiers like that are just pawns. Pawns are meant to be used efficiently. Ain't that right?"
Onyx scoffed derisively, posing the question to Mudite as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Indeed. They have become noble sacrifices to turn the tide of this battle. It must be what they desired."
"What they desired, is it? I see. So you are that sort of scum. Then enough. You deserve not a shred of mercy."
"You still think you can beat this guy after all that?"
For the first time, Onyx twisted his face in displeasure.
"Armored Dragon, tear 'em apart!"
He gave the order to the wingless dragon—the Armored Dragon.
"A contract's a contract. I get it. I've been wanting to eat human flesh instead of mana once in a while anyway. Though the meat on those geezers looks pretty stringy and foul."
The Armored Dragon strode toward the old man and the others, shaking the ground as if relishing their impending terror.
"Elder, let me—"
Holding back the girl with the black bob cut with his cane, the white-haired old man muttered toward the approaching Armored Dragon.
"I will handle this alone."
In an instant, the old man's eyes dyed gold, and a dramatic transformation occurred.
The old man's body rapidly expanded to dozens of times its original size. Golden scales formed across his skin, sharp claws and fangs elongated, and wings sprouted forth. In the blink of an eye, the form of the world's strongest species took shape.
"..."
The Armored Dragon stared up dumbfoundedly with its mouth half-open at the Golden Dragon, which was now more than ten times its own size.
"I-Impossible..."
Onyx raised his voice in sheer astonishment, all color draining from his face.
Suddenly, a pillar of fire erupted from the Golden Dragon's mouth—and their vision was engulfed in light.
When Mudite's sight returned from the blinding glare, the surrounding landscape had completely transformed.
"No way..."
At the utterly absurd sight, the strength drained from his legs, and he fell onto his backside. It was only natural. The Magic Lake of Shirauso that had once lay behind Mudite's main camp had now cleanly evaporated, leaving behind a massive crater of exposed, reddish-brown earth.
"..."
Unable to move a single finger in the face of this insane spectacle, Onyx began to shudder violently. And then—
"Gyaaah!"
Having completely lost all will to fight from that single attack, the Armored Dragon turned tail and fled at top speed, but—
"Did you think you could escape?"
With a chilling voice, the Golden Dragon's eyes gleamed eerily, causing the Armored Dragon's massive frame to freeze instantly in place.
"I told you. You deserve no mercy. You had best regret your cruelty from the bottom of your puny, wretched soul!"
Looking up to the sky in the completely clear wasteland, the Golden Dragon unleashed an ear-splitting roar.
"GROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAARGHHH!!!"
From the roar alone, the atmosphere violently vibrated, and a tempest raged.
Caught in the frenzied wind pressure, Mudite's body spun helplessly through the air like a fallen leaf. Slamming back-first into a tree, his consciousness was cleanly snuffed out.