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Chapter 312

In the sky’s battlefield, where life and death constantly interchanged, the true and faux Dragonkin primarily starred. However, amid them, Dramina, wielding a shape-changing weapon and driving a chariot pulled by Sleipnir and his companions, shone distinctively.

While termed a chariot, it lacked the usual Valkyrios royal emblem, instead being a two-wheeled carriage just large enough for Dramina to stand, drawn by Sleipnir and his kin. It was an ancient chariot – a relic of bygone battlefields.

Rather than using her own wings, Dramina was fighting alongside the descendants of the divine horses that soared through the sky, turning into red meteors on the battlefield in the sky, like ancient heroes who had been lured to the heavenly world in the distant past.

She was clad in Garcion, a circlet-shaped Sacred Treasure with a three-eyed design, and Sikhlainus, red full-body armor. In her hands, she wielded Valkyrios, a formless sacred weapon transformed into a bow. She scoured the battlefield with eyes redder than blood, not even gripping the reins.

Now a knight of Berne’s Raider Knights, Dramina had swiftly departed the Barony of Berne’s encampment at the war’s outset. Accompanied by her beloved horses, she primarily aimed to provide aerial support.

Wherever the Dragonkin unleashed wide-reaching, disaster-like stray bullets, she shot them down with Valkyrios, now a bow, before they could harm Arkrest Kingdom’s ground troops. She also subtly aided unfortunate Dragonkin ambushed by the faux dragons, playing a skilled supporting actress in the theater of war.

The Sleipnir, previously accustomed to Dramina moving by foot or wing in battles against the Demon King’s Army, were fiercely motivated, now having the chance to serve their master on the battlefield.

As descendants of divine horses, they were high-ranking divine beasts, naturally endowed with high spiritual status and corresponding physical prowess. Among their kind, they were the elite, worthy of being the mount of a Vampire Queen.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they reached the Sleipnir species’ pinnacle.

In battle, their morale skyrocketed, and the mix of divine and magical energies in their defensive barrier, coupled with their speed, transformed any unfortunate faux dragons in their path into unrecognizable mincemeat.

The enthusiasm of Sleipnir and his companions stemmed not only from the joy of accompanying their master in battle but also from their efforts to prove themselves as worthy mounts, lest they be left behind. With their white manes flaring like flames and their six legs ceaselessly moving, they embodied this determination.

The four Sleipnirs, having taken employment at the Barony of Berne alongside Dramina, grew anxious as their master increasingly collaborated with Dran.

Dramina’s status as a vampire had reached the primordial realm and was now ascending beyond, thanks to her daily intake of Dran’s Ancient-Celestial Dragon blood.

The Sleipnir once deemed suitable as the Vampire Queen’s mounts now questioned their worthiness for their most beloved master. They wondered if Dramina moving on her own feet or wings had become faster than riding them.

This was a profound existential dilemma for them. In battle, momentary or short-distance movements were one thing, but long-distance travel was another. Unseen by Dramina, the four Sleipnir solemnly vowed to strive as worthy mounts for their master.

Fortunately, they had the opportunity to train away from Dramina’s eyes. Though it saddened them to be apart from their beloved Vampire Queen, they endured, considering it a temporary challenge.

While Dramina was a student at the magic academy, she often moved on foot. Even after transitioning to the chief secretary and raider knight of the Barony of Berne, working alongside Christina and Dran meant fewer opportunities to be ridden by the Sleipnir.

Facing the reality of limited time with their master surprisingly disheartened Sleipnir and his companions, but they did not despair. Instead, they took it as motivation.

They consulted with a sword imbued with the will of their equally beautiful employer, who swayed at his waist. They requested a special space with erratic changes in gravity, extreme temperature differences, atmospheric pressure, and even climate. In this space, they ran until exhaustion, dashed through rock-shattering torrents, and plunged into bottomless quicksand to escape, pushing themselves to the limit.

The Sleipnir knew their astute master was somewhat aware of their hidden training but tacitly allowed it.

Why were they so anxious and fearful? Certainly, there was fear of losing their purpose. But more than that, the thought of being left behind by their master, by Dramina, was unbearable.

They understood that Dramina wouldn’t readily abandon them, whom she considered family. However, having lost their country, companions, and friends like Dramina, the thought of being forsaken by their remaining connection, Dramina, was an unspeakable terror.

Now, racing across the battlefield sky, Sleipnir and his companions pondered.

「O beloved and revered master Dramina, forgive our shortsightedness and folly. We couldn’t bear to be by your side otherwise, fearing you wouldn’t accept us.」

「O beautiful queen of the night, lovely child of the moon, our one and only Lord. In exchange for our foolishness, we shall serve only as your worthy steeds on this battlefield!」

Determined not to be overshadowed by the cries of the true and faux Dragonkin, the neighs of the divine horse Sleipnir, imbued with divine spirit, echoed, shattering the main stream of pitch-black flames heading for Dramina into countless sparks.

The faux dragon targeting Dramina, adorned with black scales spotted with purple, was stunned that a mere horse capable of flying had extinguished its flames with a single neigh. This disbelief created a fatal opening.

「Stop laughing! Such tepid flames dared to harm our master!」

The twenty-four legs of the four Sleipnirs pounded the void, gaining further acceleration. The thunderous sound of breaking the sound barrier and the impact followed as Sleipnir and his companions, giant horses appearing like foals to the large faux dragons, boldly leapt at them.

The astonished faux dragon, with eyes wide in surprise, raised its tree-trunk-like right arm, aiming to tear the audacious Sleipnirs apart.

Given the disparity in mass and strength, the outcome seemed predictable, but the opponents were Sleipnirs, companions of Dramina.

「An uproarious scene! Such an attack might crush a pebble but dreaming of shattering us and our master is mere fantasy!」

In an instant, a flame of invisible fighting spirit erupted from Sleipnir’s eyes. The two in the front row, pulling the chariot in two lines, rose on their hind legs, striking the descending right arm of the faux dragon with their front and middle four legs.

Had the faux dragon’s arm only been repelled by that strike, it might have reluctantly accepted the unbelievable reality. However, it didn’t comprehend its demise as not only its arm but every limb and even its tail tip shattered into oblivion.

As the faux dragon dispersed in the air as a mixture of scales, bones, flesh, and blood, Sleipnir and his companions did not particularly boast that this level was natural but instead looked forward to their next selves. It scans the battlefield both in the sky and on the ground with its eight eyes, searching for prey that will serve as its master’s exploits.

Dramina knew that her beloved horsemen, who were her family, were worried, anxious, and afraid, just as Sleipnir and the others had guessed. She knows that she was desperately trying to overturn those insecurities.

In the battlefield above, Sleipneir and his companions unleashed their tremendous fighting spirit, as if to dispel their previous anxieties. They not only dispatched faux dragons but also Nyvern and soldiers mounted on flying magical beasts, acting ahead of Dramina. Observing their performance, Dramina hoped this would alleviate their worries.

Thanks to Dramina’s support and Vaje’s valiant efforts, the aerial battlefield was mostly balanced. Particularly, Vaje managing to hold off Mazfelo, the Sixth Demon General, was a pleasant miscalculation that surpassed Dramina’s pre-battle predictions.

According to Dramina’s predictions, Masferou is a powerful individual that will reach the top ranks among the dragon kings. Even though he was trained by Dran and Ryoukichi, it was unexpected that Vaje, who was still young, was able to fight on a nearly equal level.

Then, taking advantage of this unexpected situation, Dramina tried to use her vampire super senses to find her next prey, just like Sleipnir and the others, in order to further tilt the trend of the sky battlefield to her side. I notice a different, powerful presence.

Sleipnir and the others also noticed this after Dramina. The presence of people who are connected to the lineage of God like us. Each of them has an ancient, strong lineage and spiritual elements reminiscent of the distant age of gods.

In response to the approaching presence surrounding Dramina from the front, left and right, Sleipnir and the others stopped where they were, understanding their master’s wishes, and turned dense divinity and magical power into invisible flames rising from their bodies. .

Dramina, not Sleipnir, responded to the shadow that approached Dramina head-on with stupid honesty. The Valkyrios in his hand had changed into a long sword with the same common design as Dran.

Descending upon Dramina from above was a half-human, half-beast female demon wielding a double-edged scythe. Their blades clashed – the red blade of Valkyrios in Dramina’s raised hand against the black blade of the demoness’s scythe, creating a tense deadlock. The demoness had twisted goat horns protruding from her purple hair and a grotesque form with the beautiful upper body of a young woman but a lower body of a four-legged beast with giant bird-of-prey wings. Both her human-like upper and beastly lower bodies were clad in deep purple armor.

Through the blades, Dramina’s red eyes intersected with the demoness’s golden eyes. Overwhelmed by Dramina’s unveiled beauty, the demoness became dizzy.

Dramina chuckled at the dramatic change in her face, previously filled with unrestrained murderous intent, now softening. However, she showed no mercy.

「You seem quite relaxed for a battlefield.」

With a flick of Dramina’s slender arm, the demoness was sent flying into the air. Dramina aimed Valkyrios, now transformed into a spear, for a finishing blow at the demoness’s exposed back.

Though a longsword couldn’t reach, Valkyrios, now a spear, easily could. Dramina held the tip of her long spear and fired a punch at the female demon whose back was turned towards us, but the female demon, who had barely regained her senses, twisted her body and swung her scythe, which deflected it back.

Amidst the high-pitched metallic sound and countless red and black sparks scattering, the female demon gripped the scythe tightly as if it was about to be blown away, and readjusted her posture while drenching her entire body with cold sweat.

Dramina’s pursuit, which was supposed to be released, was interrupted by attacks from two other presences that were approaching her. To the left, as seen from Dramina, a four-eyed male demon with a firm body covered in dark purple skin and another set of eyes on top of his human eyes, was holding a man with compressed magical power in his hands. They fired shells in quick succession.

The purple magic bullets, each as big as a human head, swarmed toward the beautiful Vampire Queen, reaching a hundred in mere seconds. Although just raw magic compressed, each shot possessed terrain-altering power befitting a high-ranking demon. Unfortunately, or perhaps for him, he faced an opponent for whom such attacks were trivial.

Sleipneir and his companions bravely ran through the rain of cannonballs, each of which was extremely large, and one could almost call it a torrential downpour.

Through a barrage of bullets that you wouldn’t think would have a gap to weave through, by combining their own magical barrier with the Chariot’s defense mechanism, they were able to keep the number of hits to a minimum and sustain minimal damage, continuing to fly towards us. It raises its front legs to make the enemy it was holding meet the same fate as the fake dragon from earlier.

「Impudent for mere horses, but I like ones with spirit!」

The male demon uttered words befitting his handsome but rough appearance and slammed his tightly clenched fist into the front legs of Sleipnir and the others who were swinging down to crush his own skull, creating a tremendous explosion and shock. Unable to stay where they are, they both take a big step back.Both were forced to stagger back.

With a deep exhale, Sleipneir and his companions suppressed their rising bodies and glared fiercely at the male demon, now hunching and laughing savagely.

Unlike her horses, Dramina’s gaze shifted not to the male demon in front or the female moving to the rear but slightly upwards to her right. There she spotted the third demon – Marzamis, the daughter of the Sixth Demon General Zandarza.

Marzamis, fully recovered from her wounds sustained in the Romal Empire, approached the battle in peak condition, her fighting spirit evident. Her ability to maintain combat readiness and sanity even after facing Dramina’s beauty confirmed this.

「You could have taken me by surprise. This is war, after all.」

Dramina’s voice seemed to be reprimanding Marzamis for not doing so, even though she could have aimed the blow right after the male demon and Sleipnir clashed, but there was no hint of ridicule or reprimand in her voice. It was like she was lecturing.

Marzamis showed no anger or irritation at the words of her enemy, Dramina, and stayed alert as she pointed the three-bladed tentacles that grew from her shoulders towards Dramina, and she herself was in a fighting stance that allowed her to instantly unleash a full-power blow.

「There was no chance for surprise. A few more steps and your spear would have moved as clear as day. Just as Vengitta and Quinse warned, an extraordinary foe is present. Hah, splendid! I shall introduce myself, Vampire! I am Marzamis, under the command of the Sixth Demon General Zandarza!」

Following Marzamis’s introduction, the female demon behind Dramina and then the male demon in front also announced themselves.

「I’m Suerben! I like it. Strong enemies, beautiful enemies, if it’s just one or the other, there’s no shortage of enemies, but strong and beautiful enemies are precious!」

「Name’s Galus Joe. Never seen a vampire mixed with divine energy. It’s more fun than hunting mere humans.」

Suerben’s face now bore no trace of ecstasy towards Dramina, and Galus Joe’s face revealed the clear smile of a hunter enjoying his prey.

Dramina’s lips too formed a faint smile in response, yet hers was different from the enjoyment of battling a formidable enemy.

「It’s a pity I didn’t get a Demon General, but you’re worthy foes. Let’s say we played our part as lures.」

As Dramina assessed, these three, including Marzamis, were part of the elite demon tribes Zandarza had trained for the eventual battle to usurp the Demon King’s throne from Yaheim. Already possessing strength nearly equivalent to the Demon Generals, they were promising candidates soon expected to reach that level.

Achieving such a feat of attracting three such formidable foes, Dramina considered her role fulfilled. While other strong demons were present, Diadora and Selina could handle them as in previous battles with the Demon King’s Army.

The concern regarding the Demon Generals was minimal, as Arkrest Kingdom’s trump card, previously absent from battles, fought with grand laughter, akin to a heavenly demon.

Even the demons, preoccupied with Dramina’s every move, inadvertently turned at the explosion of immense magical power, which dramatically altered the battlefield’s atmosphere.

「Merle seems to be enjoying herself, just like she did in our mock battles with me and Lenia.」