Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 5 Episode 4 (section)

===Part 1===

Lux continued to fly in a straight line through the night sky of the dawn that was still dim.

The military’s guard soldiers in the capital knew about the defense mission this time, but Lux was flying at high altitude so that he wouldn’t get found by the Drag-Knights from other countries participating in the All-Dragon Battle.

After flying to the north like that for a few minutes, Lux came to see troops of Drag-Knights outside the royal capital’s wall.

「So you finally came Chore Prince. Oops, right now you are already the knight of her highness the princess huh. It’s still a talk in the future if you can receive an official peerage but──」

When Lux landed in front of the troops, a red-haired big man in front, one of the Four Great Nobles, Bugriser, laughed heartily.

「Chore Prince is fine. Rather than that, are there any changes with the operation?」

When Lux asked seriously, Bugriser spread a large map for use of the operation and nodded.

At the abandoned village northwest from here, there was about a hundred Abyss that was thought to be hidden by the Rebel Army there.

Lux would lure them as a decoy, lead them to the hidden fortress at the north where the New Kingdom’s main force was standing by, and exterminate the Abyss with an all-out attack. That was the broad sense of the operation this time.

Bugriser’s Drag-Ride force was taking position at the north gate in order to intercept the Abyss that managed to slip away from that.

「There is no change to the plan. Currently, there is no change in the abandoned village that became the Abyss’s hangout, there is also no report about anything strange from the Drag-Knight scouts patrolling around the capital. But──」

「But, what?」

「……It seems that officers in the east fortress are saying that they hear strange rumbling sounds sometimes. Well, I think that’s just an absurd fear of theirs, but just in case we are being on guard.」

「Understood. Then──」

「Yeah, start the operation. Just like we first planned, the group of Drag-Knights of the combined forces arranged by the Four Great Nobles and the New Kingdom military are standing by at the fortress. We are looking forward to your effort here.」

「……Yes.」

Lux nodded lightly, then he put his strength into the touch part inside the armor and made his Wyvern fly.

After increasing his altitude once more and confirming the deserted village that was the target, he concentrated energy into the propulsion device at the wings on his back and accelerated the Drag-Ride further.

He heard that there was no inhabitants in the deserted village that was his target.

In the Imperial Capital Recapture Plan that the spy acquired, most likely there was no enemy Drag-Knights there except several ambush troops who were handling the horn flute.

But, if Lux’s prediction was right on the money──

(……No, it’s useless even if I think about something I don’t know. Today, just concentrate on the current operation.)

Lux put more spirit and arrived at the deserted village.

That village he was overlooking from above was desolated as a matter of course. There was no signs of people, in exchange there was a small light in just one spot.

「……….」

Lux strengthened his vigilance while going down to the village.

What leaked the light was from a cave inside the forest.

Lux walked between countless abandoned houses and when he got near the light, a strange thing happened.

IiIIiiIIIIIIIIiIiI-!

「Kuh……!?」

His brain felt like it was directly thrown out of order. An intense strange sound reverberated.

It was the sound of the horn flute that manipulated the Abyss.

The moment Lux noticed it, countless light bullets were fired at Lux’s feet.

He reflexively swung Scale Blade and deflected the light bullets of Breath Gun slantingly. ──Then, he simultaneously reacted towards another moving presence and flew to midair.

An additional Cannon attack was fired at him along with a thunderous roar.

He deflected it with the Scale Blade once more. Then after his gaze looked around, he caught sight of three Drag-Knights in his field of vision.

「As expected hero. A Drag-Knight who gets ambushed usually will try to counterattack right away or back away in panic but……like this even the captain ain’t your match.」

A young man wearing a general purpose Drag-Ride that received Yggdrasil’s seed and got remodeled──<B-Blood Wyvern>, he was stroking his short bristling up forelock while leaking out a sigh mixed with a wry smile.

「Don’t waste your time with stupid chatter Egnid. Take your position just as planned.」

The one who rebuked that frivolous talk was a familiar girl wearing the same B-Blood Wyvern.

A girl with a trait of wild long hair and dark brown skin, Saniya Lemiste.

She was a spy of the Heiburg Republic who once infiltrated the Royal Officer Academy, betrayed Celis, and assaulted the Academy along with Hayes.

Another girl wearing a B-Blood Drake was standing by on her side. She was wearing a doodled round mask. Her true identity couldn’t be peeked at.

「Kirly, check if there is any signs of enemies around. Are there other Drag-Knights coming?」

「Uuu……. Aa」

The masked girl called Kirly shook her head slightly in a display of answer no.

Saniya saw that and she seemed to understand. She turned towards Lux once more.

「Was it you guys who gathered the Abyss here?」

「Stop probing so transparently like that ruined prince. You yourself, what are you doing coming to this kind of deserted village by yourself while the All-Dragon Battle is going on? ──Haa?」

Saniya grinned fearlessly like that before she lifted up a horn flute dangling from her neck.

Instantly a shuddering chill ran through Lux’s back and he reflexively flew to the sky behind him.

At the same time the silhouette of a winged man assaulted from the darkness of the forest behind the three.

「This thing──!」

A winged man type Abyss that possessed a firm body, Gargoyle.

It was a formidable enemy that possessed high speed mobility in the air in addition to the capability to fire feather shaped light bullets.

Defeating it with the counter attack Critical Hit using Scale Blade would take some time because he needed to predict its inherent attack pattern.

Lux quickly readied his Breath Gun and laid down a barrage in front of the Gargoyle.

The claw tips of the Gargoyle who slipped through the barrage attacked. The moment Lux tried to match the timing with his Scale Blade──one more Abyss, a Chimera, assaulted from behind his Wyvern.

「Got you.」

Saniya who laid the trap saw that and her lips loosened up into a grin──but, right after that. The neck of the Chimera who should have taken Lux by surprise was snapped cleanly and the Abyss fell.

「……What-!?」

Lux pretended to intercept the attack from the front and evaded the claw while dealing the Critical Hit on the Chimera behind him. And then on the returning trip his sword dealt the second Critical Hit at the Gargoyle and smashed one of its hands.

He pretended to get caught in the Abyss’s coordination and reversely created the chance for Critical Hit.

Saniya and Egnid who saw that looked up to the sky with a strongly alert look.

「This is a harsh joke yeah……? That guy, is he really human?」

「──I see, just because he isn’t using Bahamut, doesn’t mean that it will be that easy.」

Right after Egnid whispered in amazement, Saniya blew on her horn strongly once more.

Abyss were going out one after another from the cave. Lux who saw that took even more distance.

Him defeating the Chimera with a bit of gambling on his part was in order to provoke Saniya and the others.

In order to lure the Abyss swarm to the hidden fortress north of the capital, he had to make all the Abyss come out.

Therefore, Lux needed to make them think that just several Abyss wouldn’t be enough to defeat him.

「I want to pay my debt back to you directly, but it can’t be helped. Become the Abyss’s food like this!」

Right after Saniya yelled, countless Abyss that surged out from the cave started moving simultaneously.

After seeing that, Lux also turned around and flew away to escape.

『──Fu, I’ll tell you beforehand, your tactic is meaningless you know?』

A communication using Dragon Voice came from Saniya. Lux held his breath for only a moment.

『You must be planning to steal the control right at the moment the effect of my horn runs out using your own horn but──it’s pointless. Inside that swarm, there is a special Abyss called Grimoire. That guy will broadcast the command sent out by the horn to the surrounding area and make the Abyss to continue carrying out the same command. As long as that guy is alive, the effect of the horn won’t be dispelled, and they also won’t accept the commands of other horn users.』

The reason how a large amount of Abyss could be controlled in the period of several days when the horn’s effect would run out in a fixed time.

If they had that Abyss called Grimoire, certainly it was possible but──there was also the possibility that Saniya’s statement itself was a trap.

She might be making Lux to think that it was impossible to steal control using the horn so to lure him into challenging the Abyss with a decisive battle of brief duration.

(In any case, I need to at least confirm it.)

Lux evaded the attacks of the countless Abyss while buying time by intentionally taking detours in his escape route.

It was approximately ten minutes with his biological clock.

In the timing when it seemed like the effect of the first horn flute should be running out, Lux strongly blew into the horn he was carrying.

Strange noise ran through the area, but the movement of the Abyss in front of him didn’t change.

『Now you get that it’s pointless? Then this time resolve yourself for sure and fight.』

(──Good!)

After confirming the existence of the Abyss called Grimoire, Lux started escaping again.

Lux showed the fact that 『he was carrying a horn flute and tried blowing it』 and made a reason for Saniya and the others to chase after him.

If Lux identified the Grimoire and defeated it, it was possible that the swarm of Abyss could be stolen by him.

Therefore, Saniya’s group should be moving to finish off Lux.

Like this it was possible to carry out the plan──luring all the Abysses to the hidden fort.

「USHAAAAAaaA-!」

Right after Lux decided his action’s objective, the swarm of Abyss attacked with even more vigor.

Lux slipped through the fierce attacks of a great variety of Abyss using sword handling and control skills and continued to escape.

Because he continued to defend, he could only mix actions to hold back the enemy from his end, each time he did that he risked danger and several times there were attacks that grazed his Drag-Ride’s frame.

「Kuh……!」

His armor was gradually shaved, he also became unable to use weapons, his options to defend and dodge was getting limited.

He wasn’t even allowed to blink inside the offense and defense to the utmost limit. That time when Lux almost ran out of breath, he finally saw the target forest──the hidden fort where the interception force was standing by.

(……Here they come!)

Right after Lux confirmed it, the Drag-Knights stationed inside the fortress were already readying their respective weapons simultaneously, and they pulled the trigger one after another.

The fired countless flashes roared and ran through the sky, shaking the atmosphere and exploded.

It became the starting signal of the battle, and the extermination operation began.