How?
The answer stood right beside Dustin — an elderly archmage.
Ronant, humanity's greatest spatial magic user.
He must have used Teleportation to bring Dustin here.
But why?
Ronant had also been evacuated during the fight with Lord Larse.
That was because if Ronant, who could use Teleportation, were to be killed, they'd lose their only lifeline.
The same logic applied to Dustin. Yamada, Oshima, and little Sister all had Ruler Skills, but Dustin was supposed to stay in a safe zone as their insurance in case the worst happened.
If Dustin were to show up, it should only be after we'd been defeated and their safety was secured.
So why, at this timing?
No, there was no need to even ask.
So he'd been pushed to the point where he couldn't afford to care about appearances either.
Harmony, was it?
That Skill that neutralized the Breath attacks from two Queens.
It was probably a Unique Skill.
Among the Skills gained upon acquiring a Ruler Skill, there were two tied to the Title you received — this was likely the second one.
In my case, Devour had granted me Sublimation.
The Harmony that Dustin activated was probably in the same category.
I didn't know exactly what the Skill called Harmony did. But one thing was certain — it completely negated the Breath attacks from two Queens.
In other words, I had to assume that Harmony held at least enough power to block the Breath of two Queens.
Well, it didn't look like he could spam it, though.
Dustin was gushing blood from his entire body.
That had to be the backlash from using Harmony. Some Skills came with drawbacks upon activation, but Unique Skills carried especially heavy costs. Even I couldn't use Sublimation casually.
More to the point, I'd never used it. The drawbacks were severe enough that I had no desire to.
As for Harmony's cost — as you could see, it nearly killed Dustin.
But for a non-combatant like Dustin to completely neutralize the Breath of two Queens, the cost-to-performance ratio was an absolute bargain.
And that was exactly what made it so irritating.
I issued orders through my Skills. The Queens and Puppet Taratects were to continue engaging the Ancient Dragons. The orders regarding the other Archs, Greaters, and miscellaneous forces were directed at them as well.
The target was Dustin.
A near-death non-combatant — not targeting him would be absurd.
"Don't let them! The Pope is being targeted!"
"Pay no attention to me — focus on the enemies in front of you!"
Guwen noticed the Taratects' movements and moved to shield Dustin, but it was Dustin himself who stopped him. He'd already abandoned any thought of preserving his own life for the sake of victory. He'd cut off his own retreat, leaving no room to back down.
In truth, if the Ancient Dragons fell here, Dustin and his forces would have no recourse. If that happened, the side of the Black God could only pray for Guwen to win.
That had to be why he'd rushed here. I'd assumed he'd stay in the safe zone and watch from the sidelines, but he'd seen through that expectation.
But I wouldn't let him interfere any further.
"Don't underestimate us!"
However, the Taratects charging toward Dustin were swept aside by flames.
Ronant's fire magic.
Tch.
So the title of humanity's greatest mage wasn't just for show, huh. That single blow had annihilated everything below Greater Taratect. Even the Greater Taratects had been seriously wounded.
Was it only at the Arch Taratect level that you could fight him on even terms? For a human, he was frighteningly strong.
Of course, compared to the Ancient Dragons, he was weaker. But he was functional enough as a combatant to be impossible to ignore.
No — it wasn't just Ronant. Yamada, who was maintaining a barrier, was the same way, and Oshima was also picking off Taratects left and right. Yamada could probably take on a Greater on his own.
I'd been underestimating the humans a bit.
While this was happening, the Puppet Taratects began to be pushed back. As I'd feared, they simply weren't equipped to handle the Ancient Dragons. I immediately ordered the Queens to reinforce, but one of the Queens ignored the order and instead moved its massive body to block something in front of me.
My line of sight was cut off by the Queen's enormous frame. Almost reflexively, I activated Clairvoyance, seeing through the Queen's body to assess the situation.
There, with one hand extended toward me, was Layse.
…So I'd been about to get attacked.
Probably some kind of magic. The Queen had thrown its body in the way to shield me.
The Queen's judgment was correct.
Correct — but this had given me away.
The fact that I was weakened.
From their perspective, I should have been the biggest threat. Even if the Ancient Dragons had all attacked at once, the me at full power could have won. They had to have been suspicious about why they weren't doing that. And now, with the Queen shielding me, that suspicion had turned to certainty.
The me at full power wouldn't need a bodyguard. The Queen shielding me meant it was necessary.
Layse swatted aside two Puppet Taratects lunging at him and sent them flying. In that opening, he broke into a sprint.
Straight toward me.
Those eyes were locked directly on me.
He was targeting me completely.
I couldn't fault Layse's response — after all, I'd been targeting Yamada and the others and Dustin myself.
Two Queens moved to intercept Layse. Both Queens unleashed their Breath at him. At this range, there was no dodging. Even weakened, a Queen's power was equal to that of an Ancient Dragon. A direct hit from two Queens' Breath would leave even an Ancient Dragon like Layse in serious trouble.
"Harmony!"
But that only applied to a direct hit.
Dustin's Unique Skill activated once again. The Queens' Breath should have struck Layse dead-on, yet he charged through it completely unscathed.
That Skill called Harmony — it wasn't some kind of defensive power boost. It was total damage negation!
The two Queens frantically brought their feet crashing down on Layse, but even that seemed to have no effect, whether due to Harmony or not.
Layse didn't stop. He barreled straight toward me without hesitation.
And then his piercing hand was thrust directly at my chest.