Reincarnated as a dragon’s egg ～Lets aim to be the strongest～ - Chapter 535

535 – Howgrey’s Strength
I jump backwards to dodge Beezlebub’s [Darkness Rain]. I’ve been relying on my stat advantage a lot, but jumping head-first into an attack like that would cost too much.

Suddenly, Howgrey disappears from the corner of my vision. He’s probably using my momentary lapse of focus on him to attack from a blind spot. He’s seriously making my size work against me.

“Guuh!”

Pain runs through my shoulder. But, at the same moment I become aware of Howgrey’s position, I feel him kicking off my back.

“What’s wrong!? If you aren’t going to do anything, you’ll slowly be worn down, Irushia!”

Beelzebub has returned to his human form under the cover of his [Darkness Rain]. He’s chasing his own lights to dive down towards me.

I glance at Lilixira. She’s holding her staff ready and seems to be waiting for an opportunity. She’s fighting rather passively, but Beelzebub’s actions seem far too intelligent. I don’t know if it’s an effect of [Spirit Servant] or simply using [Telepathy], but it’s clear that she’s is supplying him with detailed instructions.

Suddenly, Lilixira’s aim shifts away from me. Thinking there’s no way, I expand the range of my [Presence Perception] which I had only been using to track Howgrey.

In the direction of Lilixira’s staff, high in the sky, the black lizard’s bat-like wings are spread wide. Volk is riding on her back.

I’m relieved that they’re both fine, but upon seeing them, the blood drains from my face. Both of them are covered in wounds, and clearly at their limits. They’re not completely incapacitated, but they’re in no condition to fight. Volk in particular is limply resting on the black lizard’s back, with only his sword grip firm.

The black lizard’s altitude suddenly drops, before she stabilises again. No wonder. Her wings are tattered, and her [Flight] skill level was never very high in the first place. She must have been already pushing herself to get this far.

“Lecherta, don’t force yourself… But, if you can, please throw me towards Irushia.”

I hear Volk talking to the black lizard.

『Y-you idiot! Hurry up and run away! Coming here now will just get you killed!』

I shout to them through [Telepathy]. At the same time, Howgrey jumps off my neck to appear in front of me.

“Here I come, evil dragon! [God-Felling Myriad Slash]!”

Th-this again! I hurriedly sweep a foreleg towards Howgrey. It looks like I’m going to hit, and I can almost feel the contact, but then Howgrey seems to disappear and I feel the sharp pain of his sword in my chest.

No matter what, I can’t seem to catch him. I even tried mixing in a [Mirage] feint this time, but he didn’t seem to fall for it in the slightest. What the hell is he seeing?

“You’ve arrived at a good time… [Holy Sphere]!”

A sphere of light shoots from Lilixira’s staff and flies in a straight line towards the black lizard. With my hands full with Howgrey, I’m unable to react.

『Dodge! If it hits, you’re dead!』

I desperately warn them with [Telepathy]. They have some distance, but the black lizard’s already struggling to fly. At this rate, all three will die!

『…I leave the rest to you, Volk!』

The [Golden Magic Steel Spirit Sword] in Volk’s hand, magiatite-jii, stretches out to form a hemispherical barrier. The sphere of light collides with the golden barrier and shatters apart. As a [Gold Magiatite Heart], magiatite-jii has a skill called [Magic Decomposition], which gives him a huge resistance against magic attacks. This must be the effect of that.

But, it seems he wasn’t able to fully cancel out the impact, as a huge crack runs through the golden barrier, and then he falls to the ground in pieces. I-is he okay!? Even if his body falls apart, magiatite-jii should be okay as long as his core is intact…

“Please, lecherta!”

“Kishiiiiii!”

The black lizard rolls through the air, using her tail to flick Volk towards me.

H-he’s coming this way!? It’s not completely impossible, but Howgrey, Beezlebub, and Lilixira aren’t enemies that Volk can fight.

“[Dimension]!”

Volk raises his hand and grips a creepy-looking dark greatsword. I sense a sinister magic coming from it. Wh-what is that sword?

I twist my body around to softly catch Volk with my wing.

“…Impossible. It was because I was certain that rising from that wound was impossible that I left you alone.”

Howgrey jumps towards my wing. He’s clearly coming to try and finish Volk off.

“Indeed, I hit the cliff wall and carelessly lost consciousness. While bleeding, lecherta searched the cliff for me and pulled me up!”

Volk swings his greatsword.

In terms of stats, he’s far above Howgrey. But, I know all too well how little that means against him.

“…At any rate, my next strike will kill you. This will be the last. I can’t let my softness keep getting in the way.”

Howgrey, who at some point slipped behind Volk, swings his shortsword down towards his shoulder. At the same time, Volk twists his body, just barely managing to avoid the slash by a hair’s breadth. To me, it looked like he was just able to buy a little time, but Howgrey stares at him with wide eyes.

“How did you see…? Did you perhaps learn to see my sword in our last battle?”

Volk immediately slashes his greatsword down towards Howgrey in a counterattack, forcing Howgrey to jump backwards. Grazed by the greatsword, strands of Howgrey’s brown hair scatter through the air.

Volk pursues, swinging towards Howgrey again. Howgrey blocks with his shortsword, as a result knocked down to the ground. 

N-no way, it looks like he’s managing to fight against Howgrey…? At the very least, it’s more of a real fight than I was able to manage. I just kept being tossed about.

Lilixira is biting her lip and she stares at Volk grimly. I can tell from her expression. For Lilixira too, Volk’s ability to fight Howgrey is completely unexpected.

Howgrey is staring blankly at Volk. It’s a completely different countenance to his prior sympathy for his his opponent. It looks like he was certain his secret would never be seen through. But, with it removed, rather than a one-sided beatdown he’s going to have to fight a real battle. Having lost his absolute strength, it seems he’s lost his confidence too.

Volk has somehow seen through Howgrey’s trick. This can work. As long as Howgrey’s strange strength is not a factor, all that remains are the stats of an ordinary Holy Knight. If Volk can share it with me, I could easily crush Howgrey, or Volk could simply do it himself.

Volk jumps down to pursue Howgrey, landing on the ground before glancing back at me.

“Irushia, I became certain when I saw you fighting Howgrey… This man has achieved the pinnacle of swordsmanship, and so can only be defeated by another swordsman. Please leave it to me.”

Howgrey quietly readies his shortsword.

“It’s a shame… I must kill one who has reached the same domain as me at such a young age.”