Hard Carried by My Sword-Chapter 82

Chapter 82
Leon’s eyes turned gold. At the same time, the whole world split into black and white, and the flow of time slowed to a crawl.
His mind had pushed past his body’s natural reaction speed, and the strain was hitting his optic nerves. Leon was at the absolute limit of dynamic vision. Were his eyes not honed by Rodrick’s Vision, his blood vessels would’ve burst in seconds.
How should I go about fighting a drake...?
Staring at it in that state, the first thing Leon felt was a sense of futility. With wings spread, the drake could blot out the sky.
It was darkness in the form of a dragon. With scales that swallowed light whole and a slit pupil twitching in the middle of those killing intent-filled eyes, just facing that monstrous presence could stop an ordinary person’s heart.
Truly a calamity worthy of being evaluated as an S+ rank threat.
Think,
he urged himself.
He had to squeeze every drop of use out of this moment of slowed time. In that near-frozen world, Leon examined the drake’s entire body.
The menacing horns, the cracked scales where the giants had struck, and even Karen’s thrown daggers which were now all gone. In less than half a second, he finished his analysis and narrowed his eyes.
Its defense is too strong. If even the giants’ attacks can’t break through, there’s no way Karen or I can land a fatal blow.
Their Aura Weapons were superior to the Aura of the Titans, but raw power was the sum of everything physical. At four meters tall, weighing tons, the giants’ swings dwarfed their strength by far. If that force, concentrated in weapons, only left scratches, there was no point aiming anywhere but a weak spot.
El-Cid agreed with his judgment.
—Pretty much just the wing membrane and the eyes.
I figured.
Leon’s eyes shifted slightly to the drake’s wing membranes and eyes. Both were hard to reach. The former, because of its sheer size, and the latter, because any creature would guard its eyes above all else.
Worse yet, an eye’s weakness came from its soft lens. All the drake had to do was just close its eyelids for instant armor.
We’ll have to find an opening.
They’d have to catch it in the one moment its guard slipped and exposed its fatal points. Only then could they have a real chance.
By the time he’d reached that conclusion, Leon’s sword moved. The boost to his awareness was already reaching its limit.
Light burst from his blade’s tip. It was the signal for the fight to resume.
With a loud
clang,
the drake’s claw slammed the blade aside, the recoil numbing Leon’s wrist.
It blocked that surprise slash like it was nothing. Its reflexes were unreasonably quick for its size.
“Holy hell...” Leon let out a low groan without realizing it.
To react to that speed? Its agility was unreal. Feeling the wall in that single clash, Leon took two steps back.
The giants then closed the gap left by Leon. Their spear and axe whipped forward, strong enough to create a miniature hurricane.
A circular shockwave ripped up the earth beneath them. Not even a catapult stone could hit this hard.
Leon braced himself, letting the vibrations roll off. No way the drake would stop from that.
And just as he had expected, the drake’s tail burst through the dust cloud, sweeping sideways like a battering ram.
The two giants and Leon all leaped at the same time. If that hit them directly, they’d be dead on the spot.
So this is what a difference in weight class feels like...!
Power, defense—it was all on a whole different level. They could strike it a hundred times and not bring it down, but all it needed to wipe them out was a single well-placed blow.
The fact that the Titans had kept this up for so long was astonishing. They fared better physically compared to Leon and Karen, but they were still small and light compared to the drake.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
Then it happened. The drake, realizing it hadn’t hit anything, spread its wings and beat them hard enough to blow away the dust cloud.
No—it did more than that. The wind gust trapped all three in midair.
Leon and the two Titans cursed.
“Dammit!”
“Brace for impact!”
The giants realized what it was doing and hardened their defenses but when its tail was whipped around again, they were sent flying at least two hundred meters. It couldn’t hit all three at once, so Leon alone landed on his feet, bracing himself.
The drake coiled its tail back and glared down at him with contempt. Leon felt his spine freeze as he entered a desperate situation. The giants were rushing back, but it would take them ten more seconds at least.
It’s coming.
He’d have to stay alive until then. He knew the odds were slim, but he forced his trembling body still and raised his sword.
He didn’t forget that there was one more person here besides him.
A dagger flew out of nowhere, bouncing off the drake’s eye with a
clang
.
“Kyaaaaah!”
Of course, it did nothing. The drake reflexively closed its eye, deflecting the blade with its eyelid.
It roared, thick with rage. Sound was the vibration of air, and a loud sound turned into a shockwave. The roar sent a wave of force tearing through the forest in the direction the dagger had come from.
“
Hehe
, missed me!”
Karen had already moved a beat ahead. She sneered, swinging her arms wide.
Sixteen streaks of light shot out from her hands. Sixteen daggers all at once, all aimed for its wings and eyes.
Unfortunately, every single one bounced off. The drake’s membranes and eyelids were tougher than they looked.
Karen’s daggers can’t even get through... Even with Eclipse, cutting that might be impossible.
An eyelid made sense, but it was unexpected for the wing membrane to be that tough. It should’ve been flexible for flight, so how did it have the hardness to shrug off daggers that could pierce full plate? Leon clicked his tongue in disbelief.
Karen dodged the drake’s tail swipe, complaining under her breath, “Even for an S-rank, isn’t this too much?”
Despite her complaint, her movements showed composure. She darted through the trees, switching directions over and over, using her arms and legs both for acceleration and deceleration.
In a forest full of obstacles, the elite assassin’s insane mobility truly shone. Not even the drake could fully track her, letting out frustrated growls.
The Titans, back at Leon’s side, each tossed out a joke.
“She’s impressive, that girl. Your lover? She’ll be a handful.”
“Moves like a flying squirrel! Fast as hell!”
Leon just grimaced, steering the topic away.
“Let’s talk about that lizard first. I’m sure you know where to hit it.”
“The wings and the eyes,
huh
.”
“Both are hard to reach, that’s the problem.”
As Titans are seasoned warriors and hunters, the two giants answered immediately. Then the spear giant spoke up first.
“The eyes are better than the wings. Even if it loses a wing, it’ll still fight fine. But if we damage the eye, we can reach the brain behind it.”
“But hitting the eyes is twice as hard. Did you see that reflex? That girl’s daggers took it by surprise, and it still blocked them with its eyelid. If we can’t strike faster than a blink, it’s no good.”
“My spear... not possible. It’ll be ready for that.”
Leon listened, then said, “It’s possible.”
“
Hm
?”
“What do you mean?”
“I have one technique that can destroy an eye faster than that thing can blink.”
The giants’ eyes widened for a moment, but without asking twice if it was true, they both nodded. They heard sincerity in Leon’s unwavering voice.
Thanks to Karen buying time, the three of them regrouped and gripped their weapons once again. The drake that had overturned the forest in mere minutes turned its gaze on them again.
Its blood-red eyes burned even darker now. It seemed like Karen hadn’t just provoked its hostility but drained its patience too.
Predatory rage swelled inside it—a beast infuriated by prey that dared mock it. The air strained to its limit, ready to snap at any second.
Then, a dagger slammed against the drake’s eyelid once more.
“Kraaaaaaah!”
At last, its temper snapped. The drake roared so violently that the air quivered, and the giants lunged for that fleeting gap.
The dividing of the roles was already done. Leon would go for the eye while the others would lay the groundwork for that chance. To keep the drake from noticing their aim, the two giants targeted every spot
except
its eye.
Blood sprayed as the axe struck its ankle. No matter how tough its hide, a Titan’s all-out blow couldn’t be shrugged off so easily.
A spear thrust followed right behind, tearing deeper into the wound. It didn’t pierce down to the bone, but it ripped muscle and raked nerves raw, dragging a furious shriek from the beast.
“Kyaaaaaaaaah!”
The drake thrashed violently. Four sets of claws slashed madly, wings flapped like hurricanes, and its tail smashed the earth and swept the forest clean. It was a literal frenzy.
Losing its calm turned its giant frame into an opening for any seasoned fighter. However, no one could approach.
“We’ll die if we get closer.”
“
Mhm
.”
That whirlwind was a storm of death. Even the giants would be torn apart if they got caught in that physical maelstrom that shifted direction every second.
There was no gap to strike the eye. Its eyes were a blur, the movements too wild, no pattern to follow. Leon clenched his teeth at that ridiculous scale of violence when the drake let out a low grumble.
Their eyes met, and what Leon saw gleaming in the drake’s gaze was... malice.
This is a trap!
“It’s coming!” Leon shouted, drawing the power of the Holy Sword.
He didn’t know what the trick was yet, but he knew it was baiting them. The drake was indeed enraged, but its cunning was using that madness to catch them off guard—to spring a trap that could wipe out its defiant prey in one blow.
Unfortunately, that gut feeling was exactly right.
“Krarrararara!”
A roar rang out—almost like a song of lament—carrying a dreadful echo that rolled across the forest.
In that instant...
“What the...?”
Darkness fell.
Leon froze at the impossible sight. Seconds ago, the sun blazed overhead. The forest, scorched by the drake’s rampage, lay wide open. There was nothing to obstruct vision.
So what was this blackness? Not even an inch ahead was visible.
No—it wasn’t just his sight. All five senses were sealed shut.
He couldn’t see. He couldn’t hear. Even the wind brushing his skin was gone.
Only El-Cid’s voice cut through.
—Leon!
“Light!”
Leon swung his Holy Sword as if to carve the darkness apart, but the screeching sound it made was more like a thick curtain tearing. Where the blade of El-Cid slashed, the darkness split—and spat them back out.
The two giants—even Karen—were still disoriented. It was only natural after having all five senses sealed, even if it were just for an instant.
Leon’s blade had ripped it open quickly, but that short paralysis couldn’t be avoided. And that fraction of a second was what the drake wanted.
“Breath...!”
Leon spotted it overhead and his heart lurched. The drake had lost its edge for a heartbeat at their quick escape, but in its gaping jaws, darkness already swelled.
The ultimate weapon of dragon-type monsters: Breath. And a drake’s dwarfed any wyvern’s by far.
El-Cid muttered, —Looks like it’s a Dark-type,
huh
? Dangerous. A Breath of a Dark-type monster simply
devours
. Unlike poison or acid, it ignores durability and eats through matter itself. You can block it with magic or Aura, but a drake’s Breath is just too much power. Even a Swordmaster would die in one hit.
So what do I do?
—Cut it off before it fires or break it apart midstream.
The answer hit Leon like lightning. El-Cid said nothing more as if he thought that he had given enough hints.
“Hoo...”
Leon exhaled every scrap of stale air and flushed all the stagnant breath from his body. He focused his consciousness at the tip of the Holy Sword, gathering every drop of Aura.
It was a technique he’d only just learned, the third hidden art of the Grand Chariot. He’d planned to use it for the drake’s eye anyway.
With an ominous hum, darkness writhed in the drake’s maw. One blast could level a hill—that storm of death was about to rain down on them.
The Titans and Karen froze as they realized it a little too late: there was no dodging or blocking it either.
Leon alone stepped forward to shatter the deadlock.
In that depth of perfect focus, El-Cid’s voice echoed like a guide.
—Watch closely. The size of your power doesn’t matter. A tiny hole can sink a massive ship. In battle, victory belongs to the one who pierces the single point that decides it all.
Leon drew out all the stored strength within the Holy Sword. Every scrap of Aura left in his body.
A golden Aura Fire flared along the sword’s edge. It was a crude technique, but its power surpassed his rank for just an instant. However, in that instant, his energy also evaporated.
Leon’s face turned pale, but there was no tremor in his grip.
—It’s coming.
Right then, darkness flared in the drake’s throat and then roared earthward like a tide. A black blaze called Dark Breath ignored even air resistance and devoured all before it.
Leon only glared. He locked eyes on the rolling tide of darkness—and the drake’s pupil beyond.
The two techniques, Rodrick’s Vision at level 6 and the third form of the Grand Chariot, wove into one.
“Grand Chariot...” he muttered and stepped forward.
It was a massive step with every ounce of strength behind it.
“...Alkaid!”
Leon’s sword thrust forward on a diagonal line, bursting with light. This was the Grand Chariot’s sole piercing art. Master it, and it could even cut through space.
Leon hadn’t even reached half that mastery, but it was still more than enough to pierce through the Dark Breath.
It punched through the wall of darkness and scattered its energy to the wind until the soaring light struck the drake’s face. The Dark Breath had eaten away most of its power, but Alkaid still managed to pierce through the unprotected eye.
Blood and clear fluid sprayed from the shattered crimson lens. The drake, in unimaginable pain, let out the most appropriate screech.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
It staggered as if it might crash but barely caught itself, wings flailing for balance. Its survival instinct finally overpowered its rage and pride. In seconds, the massive monster’s shape dwindled into the distant horizon.
Leon’s knees buckled. He watched that massive tail vanish, stunned despite being the one who drove it away—then collapsed.
He couldn’t move a finger. Alkaid was more efficient than the Grand Chariot’s other forms, but he couldn’t afford to hold anything back. Had he tried to reserve even the tiniest bit of Aura, he might have stopped at just breaking through the Dark Breath or even gotten overwhelmed by it.
“Leon!” Karen called out from nearby, but her voice sounded distant.
Before he could savor his victory against the S+ monster, his eyes slid shut.
—Hah, what a pathetic end to the battle.
Fortunately, Leon was already asleep before he heard El-Cid’s jab.