Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 11 Episode 4 (section)

===Part 2===
Returning back to the present, in the New Kingdom──

Lux, Lisha, and Airi were taken inside the Ruin, Garden. Outside Garden, the Triad and Yoruka were taking care of defense.

At the back side of the giant cube shaped Garden, a single girl was standing.

The girl with glossy black hair was wearing a white mask.

She was holding her breath and concealing her presence while observing the situation.

「……That man, his pieces are more complete than expected. However, in the end his stamina is worn out due to the consecutive battles. He is not in a state that can oppose us.」

There was no one beside the girl to receive her words.

Till the end she was just talking to herself. She was speaking out the situation to confirm it to herself.

Due to the immensity of what she would do after this, she would need a lot more resolve.

In order to endure the weight, in order to accomplish it, the girl purposefully put it into words.

「If the situation is like this, it will definitely succeed. If by any chance the unlikely event happens, I will take care of it. The time is──」

「Can you not move, the person over there.」

「──!」

Coral Esther warned from behind the masked girl.

[[File:SaijakuBahamut v11 07.jpg|thumb|right]]

Wearing his EX Wyvern, he pointed the muzzle of his Breath Gun on the girl’s back.

「Why, are you here?」

The masked girl asked with a muffled voice without turning back.

In response, Coral also kept unmoving and talked to that back with a dispassionate tone.

「Dragon Marauder is a warmonger organization that is composed of three division commanders. They already cut their connection to the King of Vices, but after losing connections to both Hayes and Calensia, they should have another main contractor. I don’t know what you all are planning but, there should be the existence of an employer.」

「…………」

The masked girl didn’t even stir.

In exchange Coral continued his investigation.

「Even I didn’t expect that you would appear. Just, when I came to observe the situation in order to protect Lux-kun, an unexpected fish was baited like this. Is it you who provided Dragon Marauder with the horn flute and Elixir?」

「Liar.」

Suddenly an innocent laugh that was like a child came back from under the mask.

「──Lies lies lies lies, aaaall lies. While you are planning to interrogate me so proudly, you are overlooking the essential thing.」

「──!?」

The masked girl snickered with a bottomlessly bright voice.

「You are keeping watch of that descendant of the traitor. Certainly he is someone the Lords might be paying attention to, but even then what you are doing is too excessive. I don’t know if this action is something you are doing arbitrarily or if there is some kind of secret but──either way, from my point of view you cannot be trusted.」

Even while the girl was raising both her hands in a display of non resistance, she spoke threateningly with a calm tone.

「How do you know that!? You──who are you!?」

Coral’s voice turned rough. Right after that, the masked girl spoke coldly.

「It’s not only you who is laying a trap. Showing one’s figure intentionally as bait for the sake of the objective, is also a trap under the name of diversion.」

「……Coral! Behind you!」

Suddenly Lux’s tense voice came from behind.

(Damn it! An ambush!?)

Thinking that, Coral immediately turned around, but behind him there was only wasteland, the horizon, and a very clear blue sky.

「──Born out from flame, the taboo god. Devour hatred and truth and transcend, Vritra.」

Instantly, from behind Coral who turned around, the passcode to summon a Divine Drag-Ride could be heard.

The voice of Lux that came from behind was a fake.

Coral turned around in panic while he tried to pull the trigger of his Breath Gun in order to shoot the masked girl, but his armored arm was stabbed from behind.

「──Wha-!?」

This time Coral didn’t force himself and glided to the side to escape.

Why was an attack came from behind even though he was turning around to face the masked girl again?

That question was cleared when he saw the two Drag-Rides before him.

The Divine Drag-Ride with dull yellow color the masked girl was wearing, Vritra.

The Drag-Ride that was standing by its side, was a Drake type Divine Drag-Ride with the trait of steel sharp claws growing from its four legs and two arms, Asp.

One of the three division commanders of Dragon Marauder, Drakkhen Megistry.

The girl who dressed like a bandit with her leather breastplate and waistcloth was someone who Coral also remembered.

After all he was chasing after Dragon Marauder until now.

「The Divine Raiment of Asp that freely manipulates sound──Hell Choir. Using that to mimic Lux-kun’s voice, when I noticed that it was a trap and became flustered, Asp that was hiding with camouflage ability attacked──what an elaborate plan just to kill me with certainty.」

First Drakkhen made Coral to look back where she was hiding, then by making him turn around once more when the masked girl chanted the passcode, his concentration was taken away and his back became defenseless.

But, perhaps Coral suddenly noticed something out of place, he shifted his body just by a hair’s breadth and avoided from getting shot in his vital spot.

The unnaturalness of no one being there when he heard Lux’s voice made him suspect that there were multiple enemies using Divine Raiment.

「Even sneak attacks will become unnatural instead when it’s overdone. As expected, it looks like I’m not suited for fighting.」

The girl in Vritra sighed in disappointment. Then Drakkhen calmly walked forward.

「Just leave this to me as this is my job. You have something to do right?」

「You have a loose tongue. I’ll decrease the pay if you say anything unnecessary.」

「That’s harsh. Then──the pointless talk is over now!」

Drakkhen flew towards Coral at the same time as her words.

Using the steel claws growing from Asp’s both hands, sharp thrusts were unleashed consecutively.

At the same time, strange noises were reverberating once more, right after that──the masked girl vanished.

「You’re planning to summon the Abyss by making the horn flute sound? But, why are you fighting here?」

「Hm? Ku-ku-ku, I’m a mercenary after all. As long as there is money, I won’t be picky about the time and place!」

Drakkhen evaded Coral’s question and continued to rush forward.

But, even with one of his EX Wyvern’s arms destroyed, Coral skillfully handled his Blade and avoided a direct hit.

Seeing Drakkhen’s attitude, Coral reached a certain fact instinctually.

(She is able to produce a horn flute’s sound using her Divine Raiment Hell Choir and draw in the Abyss toward her. Why then she would intentionally fight outside the Garden?)

Of course, the other division commanders, Vine and Gatouhan surely also had horn flutes, but for Drakkhen who was able to freely handle sound, fighting inside a Ruin should be far more effective for her.

For her to not do that suggested two possibilities.

One, the Abyss that at a glance seemed to have been exterminated already around this Garden were actually hiding.

The other possibility, was that Drakkhen considered it to be more effective for her to be outside rather than inside the Ruin.

That was to say──

「You are quite skilled. Besides you also have a good head on your shoulders. Should I say, as expected from an aide of the Seven Dragon Paladins.」

Drakkhen took a distance for the time being and grinned fearlessly while releasing her stance.

「But──you aren’t the type to survive for long on a battlefield. You have too much confidence in your own strength. Try looking up.」

「──!?」

This time, Coral didn’t stop looking at Drakkhen so he wouldn’t get his attention diverted. He was only directing his alertness towards above.

The moment his body trembled from getting hit by killing intent from a fiendish Abyss, Drakkhen’s Asp fired Daggers consecutively from its claw tips.

「Kuh……!」

Coral immediately unleashed Howling Roar and strengthened his barrier at the same time.

The trajectories of the countless blades were shifted and he avoided direct hit.

But, the medium size Abyss──Diablos that attacked from the sky couldn’t be blocked at all because of that.

(……Damn it, she got me!)

Coral shut his eyes tightly and resolved himself, it was then,

「──That’s not like you eh, for the honor student-sama to get flustered and make a mistake like that.」

A familiar voice came from above along with the sound of slicing wind.

Right after that, the multiple Abyss that were charging at Coral were carved into countless meat chunks and fell onto the ground.

「……What!?」

This time it was Drakkhen who scowled due to the unexpected situation.

The one who landed down in front of Coral as though to stand in the way was the Divine Drag-Ride with wild thorny armor, Cuelebre, and the Seven Dragon Paladins of the Vanheim Principality, Greifer.

His expression was peevish like usual looking unmotivated, however there was no opening at all in his stance.

「Greifer! Why are you here!?」

「I’ve got nothing to do now that the Dungeon is already conquered for the moment. I got ordered by our princess-sama to go check the situation here.」

「──Hah! That’s an absurd joke. No one’s going to decrease the protection of their own country just for that. It must be that Magialca or Singlen’s instigation right? Did they predict that we were going to aim at this Garden after we made our getaway from the pursuers of you, the alliance?」

The aide exchange was a proposal from Listelka of the Lords, but there was no rule that the Seven Dragon Paladins of each country couldn’t move away from where they were.

Magialca caused attention to be directed towards Avalon with her movement, while she gathered the remaining battle force near Garden.

When Drakkhen said that with a loathsome face, Greifer jerked his chin.

「Well, there is the duty of confidentiality so I cannot say anything about the details, but thinking with common sense, there are only two Ruins with known locations that haven’t been conquered. It’s only obvious to guard them right?」

「That’s certainly reasonable. But, it’s also troubling if you underestimate our strength. I see, the Greedy Wolf Greifer who is famous in Vanheim seems to be quite powerful but, it’s overwhelmingly advantageous for me in this situation.」

「Oi Coral, chase after the masked strange fellow just now. I’ll deal with this bandit.」

「──Got it! I’ll leave it to you!」

Coral nodded obediently and he flew his EX Wyvern towards Garden.

Instantly, several Diablos swarmed around Greifer.

Similar to before, the Abyss were coming down, not from Garden’s surroundings but from high in the sky.

「It’s unfortunate for you, Seven Dragon Paladin-sama. A battle is not against only what you can see in front of you. Even you won’t be able to do anything against this many.」

「So what? You are going to let me off the hook if I beg for my life or something?」

「Unfortunately a stray dog like you have no value as a hostage. I’ll finish you quickly──」

Drakkhen was making a threat that was the same like a death sentence, but Greifer wasn’t perturbed.

「That’s saved me the trouble. I hate troublesome things like pulling my punches. If you ain’t planning to capture me alive, then that’s just make it easier for me.」

「Stop it with the acting brave. The man who is categorized as the weakest among the Seven Dragon Paladins is──」

Drakkhen sent Greifer a ridiculing gaze while ordering all the Diablos to attack simultaneously at the same time.

All of them were deflected by the light membrane covering Cuelebre and the Tail Blade was quickly swung in a counterattack.

Just with that, several Diablos that were within the range got their head lobbed off and their core destroyed.

In front of Drakkhen who took distance to the back in surprise, Cuelebre glided sharply and slipped into her bosom.

「Photon Dive──is that Cuelebre’s Divine Raiment that covered itself with the light of invincibility?」

Once that was activated, any kind of attack couldn’t possibly defeat Greifer.

But, the activation time of the invincibility didn’t even reach ten seconds, and it was impossible to reactivate right away after the time limit ran out.

In other words, if she made the Abyss to attack continuously at different timings, it would be easy to make the attack pass through.

「How naïve. I have prepared countermeasures for someone at your level since a long time ago.」

In order to fix her balance, Drakkhen called more Abyss using her Hell Choir to imitate a horn flute.

Greifer and the others hadn’t discovered it but, other than Garden, there was a liberated facility where Abyss gathered that was hidden.

But, the moment Drakkhen leaped backwards and took distance, she noticed that her surroundings were covered by heavy fog.

「{{furigana|Mist Cypher|Hideout’s True Name}}──then I’ll give you one more thing to learn. This is the power of the special armament that Cuelebre has.」

「Hah! When I wondered what you were going to do, it’s just a really cheap trick in the end!」

Making mist to obstruct the vision.

Certainly it would be troublesome in a normal battle, but Drakkhen’s Asp was a special equipment type Drag-Ride.

Similar to general purpose Drag-Ride Drake, her Asp was equipped with a radar function, because of that it was meaningless to seal her field of vision. Thinking that she investigated using her radar, but she didn’t detect anything.

「──Don’t tell me!? This is a mist for obstructing electromagnetic waves……!?」

It wasn’t a mere heavy fog, but a special mist of metallic fragments that jammed even radar.

Right after she noticed that, the Tail Blade with its many joints drew a spiral trajectory and aimed at Drakkhen’s neck.

「Guauh!?」

Even though the Tail Blade was already hard to dodge even at the best of times due to its flexibility that was like a whip, Drakkhen was late to defend when it struck from inside the thick mist.

She strengthened her barrier and barely avoided a lethal wound, but her body from her shoulder until her chest was shallowly ripped up.

But right after that, the Abyss attacked Greifer inside the thick mist one after another.

During that time Drakkhen withdrew to a safe distance, but the moment the mist cleared up, the Abyss were already annihilated.

「My invincibility is dispelled, but if you make the Abyss charge into the Mist Cypher, as expected it was easy to defeat them yeah? Did you really prepare countermeasures for me properly?」

「…………」

Drakkhen was breathing hard due to her injury while realizing her own naivety.

Greifer preferred to challenge a battle recklessly. Even so, how was he able to survive through every kind of battlefield until now? It wasn’t just because of simple coincidence.

Even while he was constantly throwing himself into battle against powerful people and difficult situations, he was avoiding lethal injury while tenaciously surviving and sharpening his senses.

And then, he was healing his injury until the next battle while finding countermeasures.

Therefore he was called with the nickname Greedy Wolf.

「Seems like I misread this guy. In this situation I want to withdraw for the moment but, I also cannot do that yet. Until my comrades obtain it and return──」

「────」

Greifer’s face frowned slightly and he turned his gaze towards the closed Garden.

The actions of Lux and his group of entering inside under the pretext of investigation was predicted somewhere along the road.

「You are picking up sound with your Asp’s Divine Raiment and grasp the situation inside, is it? But, if you are planning to shake me, then it’s meaningless yeah?」

「That’s what I thought. A lone wolf doesn’t have anything like feelings of fellowship after all.」

Drakkhen made a fearless smile and took a stance for attacking.

「Exactly as you said but──it’s slightly different yeah?」

In response Greifer also readied his Tail Blade and he held his breath and skated forward once more.

「That naïve prince-sama, he ain’t as weak as his looks suggest.」

Greifer muttered jokingly and laughed.