"Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
The scream pierced straight through the eardrums.
I frowned at the shriek, as miserable as if raw flesh were being torn apart, but it showed no sign of stopping.
It was a dreadful scream. A pitiful scream.
"Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"
As if paired with the scream, shouts erupted all at once.
At the cries that sounded like something equal to life itself was being ripped away, cold sweat trickled down my back.
"Sis... will she be okay?"
"Well... this is my first time dealing with something like this too."
In the Guild's underground, in Ouranos's residence, the woman's screams echoed through the air, and worry seeped into Ais's voice.
There was no point hiding it. The person screaming now was Meteria, who had suddenly gone into labor after her water broke.
The paired shouts were the sound of Meteria tearing at something to endure the pain.
And what that something was, I'll refrain from saying for the sake of someone's dignity.
"Haa..."
Ouranos let out a tired sigh. He had lived in the mortal world for quite a long time, but he had never faced a situation like this. Especially not in his own residence.
Maybe that was why he had been unusually flustered when he heard that her water had broken...
Ouranos glanced around at the other gods.
"Still, I guess I handled it better than those two."
That was what he thought, remembering the disgrace from earlier.
Loki had no connection to this sort of thing.
Zeus, who only made trouble and never cleaned up after himself.
He had never expected anything from those two in the first place. The moment this happened, both of their mental states shattered to pieces.
What was surprising was that Hera's reaction was no different from theirs. No, in some ways it was even worse.
"Me, me, me, me, me, Me-te-ri-aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!"
Hera's scream, reduced to pure wreckage in an instant, was still vivid in his ears.
The peak of hysteria. It was the kind of scream that could shatter glass, and for a moment Ouranos had almost lost his mind from it.
Even now, his ears were ringing. Surely they weren't bleeding...?
Hera, goddess of the household. Just from the name, one might think she would be knowledgeable about childbirth, but surprisingly, Hera had never actually delivered a child before.
In the divine realm, childbirth had no real meaning to begin with, and after descending to the mortal world, she had forbidden her children from engaging in romance.
No matter how omniscient and omnipotent a god was, it was impossible to handle things skillfully in practice. Unless they were a god specialized in that field, even gods were no different from ordinary fools.
So who was tending to Meteria now?
"I know it hurts, but you have to breathe. Come on, try after me. Hih, hi, hu..."
"Hii, hii, hukyaaaaaaaaaaah!!"
"Agyagagagagagagak!!"
Surprisingly, the one taking care of Meteria right now was Aphrodite.
Goddess of beauty, Aphrodite. Since beauty had long been intertwined with life and abundance, Aphrodite had vast experience with childbirth, fitting her name perfectly.
Her children had all been captivated by Aphrodite and chosen to become her followers, but blind fanaticism like Freya's was not the kind of love she desired.
Her followers came first, yes, but she also respected and welcomed their love in return. Whenever one of her children gave birth, it was always Aphrodite who received them.
Hera felt complicated seeing the Aphrodite she had ignored all her life show such competence, but right now the one she was caring for was none other than Meteria. All Hera could do was pray and pray that Meteria and the child being born would be safe.
Of course, it was absurd for a god like her to be praying in the first place.
"The person involved seems awfully calm."
Was it because he had already been born? The man at the center of this incident seemed to have little interest in what was happening inside the room, simply staring at the screen.
On the other hand, the blond child beside him, holding his hand, looked even more worried about Meteria, and Hera couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions.
"Wow~ That scream's brutal. Hearing it through a screen and feeling it on your skin are two different things~"
"Hm, I've made plenty of women pregnant, but this is my first time actually seeing it."
Hera bristled at Zeus's words, but she didn't even have the energy to stop him. All her attention was fixed on Meteria's safety inside the room, and every time she heard Meteria scream, it felt as if her heart were being squeezed shut.
Buried in those screams was the sound of something more precious than life itself being torn away in real time, but Hera's ears didn't even register that noise.
Hera only wanted the child she loved most to be safe.
And Zeus wasn't particularly concerned about Cranel's well-being either, so no one paid any attention to the man who had gone in with her.
Instead, Zeus was curious about that rabbit's intentions.
"You'd think he'd show some concern at least once..."
All his attention was fixed on the screen. At a glance, he looked like a child obsessed with television, but the worry in those eyes made it clear he wasn't watching for amusement alone.
"Hm. The more I look, the less I understand."
The bastards hiding beyond that throne were annoying enough... but more important than that was that boy's choice.
"It's about time he made a decision."
Looking at the screen, he could see the expedition force holding out better than expected.
A sight that made it seem as though they might actually be able to bring the subjugation to completion as they were.
Zeus might have thought so too, if he hadn't heard what he heard.
If what Zeus had heard was true, then harsh judgment would soon fall upon him. The moment of unavoidable choice. When that time came, he would have to choose in the end.
At the unavoidable moment of choice, what would the hero decide?
Zeus's gaze stayed fixed on the screen, waiting for that moment to come.
"Kang-! Kaang-!"
The battlefield rang with the sound of metal colliding.
A beautiful melody, hard to imagine on a battlefield, cut through the sharp clangor of steel.
-■■■■■■■■!!
The Black Dragon's confusion. The fleeting opening that appeared because of it.
The opportunity created by the adventurers who slipped into that opening. No one let it go.
Some chanted spells, some steadied their bowstrings, and some even handed over their own weapons to keep that opportunity from breaking.
A new wind blew across the battlefield, which had seemed on the verge of collapse. As if driving away the black wind that had already blown through.
Slowly, but surely.
"Buff!"
"Enchant, go!"
The chants of healers and mages continued.
To keep the flow of the two warriors holding the front line from breaking. To ease their burden even a little.
Senses honed to the extreme can create variables with even the slightest difference. No matter how much enhancement they received, if it affected their senses at all, that razor-thin battle might tilt.
So they poured on buffs and enchants that would affect the senses as little as possible, while also unleashing debuffs to hinder the Black Dragon's movements as much as they could.
Magic streaked through the air in countless lines, and even more dazzling slashes tore the space apart.
Amid all that, the rising song stirred a sense of alarm within the Black Dragon.
An ominous crescendo. It belonged to the human who had wounded it with pure strength alone.
Instinctively, the Black Dragon knew. The attack being prepared now was different from anything it had endured so far.
A fatal strike even the Black Dragon could not dismiss.
It had to be stopped.
The conclusion drawn through instinctive thought came quickly, and so the decision was swift.
Whoooosh-!
The Black Dragon's two motionless wings began to move.
A black wind blew. It was still only a breeze, but everyone knew it would soon become a storm.
A colossal storm that would sweep away the wind they had desperately raised.
And the result would be annihilation.
"As if I'd let that happen!"
That was dangerous. The Empress, who had been waiting for an opening, immediately unleashed all her power through magic. The space under her control became a net that bound the Black Dragon in place.
And she was not alone. The adamantite chains, essential when facing flying monsters, were brought out in full. Everything they had brought was poured into this moment.
Dozens of chains wrapped tightly around the Black Dragon's body. As if in a tug-of-war, the entire expedition force threw itself in to stop the Black Dragon from taking flight.
The Empress's full power and the combined efforts of hundreds of subjugators created a restraint.
It worked for only three seconds.
For Maxim and Zard, it was time enough to slash dozens of times over.
-■■■■■■■■?!!!!
Claws and greatsword raked across it.
Tear, break, rip.
The Black Dragon's body was tough. Even with the weakening of the Falna added on top, the supercharged attacks of Maxim and Zard could not land any truly decisive blows.
But they were warriors first. And before that, adventurers.
If it can't be done, make it happen. That is what adventurers are.
Because they always find a way, they are called that.
First-class adventurers.
The pinnacle of humanity.
Instinctively, they found the weak point. It is common knowledge that the space between armor and armor is weak, and by the same logic, the gaps between joints are among the most primitive weaknesses any living creature has.
The Black Dragon was no exception. After dozens of slashes, the greatsword driven in by Zard could not tear the wing off outright, but it sank deep into the joint and stopped the wingbeat.
Maxim's method was even simpler. He just tore through the membrane. Nothing more.
Smoke rose from the ragged claws as they regained the sharpness they had lost. The moment they recovered their edge to the limit, Maxim used all ten claws to punch holes through the Black Dragon's wings.
Even if it was only membrane, as part of the Black Dragon's body it was unimaginably tough. The lion's claws, each no different from a famed blade, began to crack and break before long.
It didn't matter. The lion's claws were weapons, yes, but they were also part of his body.
Every time they broke, he regenerated them. Every time they snapped, he regenerated them. How many times had he repeated it? The Black Dragon's wings were left in tatters and could no longer fulfill their purpose.
The Black Dragon, which had risen into the air, fell back to the ground. Even as it screamed in pain, its judgment was swift.
-■■■■■■■■!
Wuuung— black light began gathering in its mouth again.
Breath!
"Tch!"
Zard reacted quickly, but because his greatsword was still embedded in the wing, he had no proper means to attack. The Black Dragon seized that instant of weakness and used its massive body to hurl Zard away.
The giant figure quickly regenerated its claws and tried to stop the Black Dragon's attack, but it only left scratches on the dragon's scales and failed to deal any real damage.
He was lacking in power. Even as he painfully realized a sensation he had never felt in his entire life, the giant figure did not stop attacking.
He couldn't stop just because he lacked power. His skin was already telling him that the force behind that roar was no ordinary thing.
The best thing would be to stop it before it could be fired. But the giant figure's strength was not enough.
Baak-! Struck by the tail and sent flying once more, the giant figure did not go very far this time, but his being knocked away gave the Black Dragon a moment of freedom.
It's coming. The moment everyone instinctively realized that.
"[Xenos Angelus]"
-■■■■■■■■!!!!
Whip. The Black Dragon's head turned.
The overwhelming surge of power. The silver radiance that poured forth soon rang out like a colossal bell.
The torrent that should have spread in all directions flowed only one way. The power of an attack specialized not in annihilation, but in concentrated destruction at a single point, was truly overwhelming.
The silver bombardment was fired. It was, quite literally, the very definition of magic.
Overwhelming force that reversed the battle. A single stroke that could turn everything around.
-■■■■■■■■!!
Black light surged from the Black Dragon's mouth. Darkness as black as night, soon taking on the appearance of seething flame, stretched out toward the silver brilliance threatening it.
Everyone there saw it. No, even those not present saw it.
The clash of silver and black. A struggle with not even the slightest retreat.
A contest of force and force, each trying to shatter and devour the other.
And at the end of it, the black light shattered to pieces, while the silver brilliance pressed onward to its source.
The eerily beautiful silver radiance surged toward the Black Dragon.
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