[Humanize (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

“M-My Lady, while I can take heat well enough while my armor is on, without my enchantments, you are boiling me alive…” Larent, sitting behind me inside this sphere made from my shed scales, was sweating like crazy, despite my white flames surrounding him.

“Don’t die!” I shouted out, realizing I was slightly underestimating how much Mother and the twins could offset the heat treatment with their cold aura.

“W-Well… hopefully, I won’t.”

Mother’s training around my [Volcanic Blaze] involved me learning how to control temperatures as well as mastering my new ability of lava manipulation. Temperature control was important, since I could overheat with stuff like [Symphonie des Feuergottes Movement (Finale)] whenever my core gets damaged. Like during the Griffonpeak raid. I had to learn how to manage my internal temperature even with my core.

With the usage of mana, I could do it, since I could manipulate heat with [Pyrokinesis] to a certain extent, similar to how Tasianna could control cold with [Cryokinesis]. Mother noted I already did exactly that with my white flames, so now I had to apply it to myself and my surroundings.

Weirdly enough, it was almost like a physics lesson.

Essentially, temperature manipulation was the stealing and transferring of energy through mana. On the elemental spectrum, fire and water were opposites of each other, while ice was a compound element between water and wind. However, when it came to heat and cold, they were, more or less, two sides of a coin. What determined whether it was warm or cool inside a room was the amount of energy inside of it.

Physics, basically.

And to control it, I needed to use mana. Mana was the foundation of this world, and depending on the user, it could morph into whatever they wanted. Similar to how I could “feed” my scale-dust fire to grow larger or to produce a stronger [Hellflame Breath], I could also use mana to “make things colder” like with my white flames.

Still, even with this theory in my head, controlling extreme heat to turn earth into lava to “swim” in while maintaining a small area where it was cooler than the molten rock I was swimming through was difficult. Especially since I also had to manipulate my scales to maintain a spherical shape to protect Larent from the lava.

And why exactly did I do this? Well, ‘cause of the tremor coming from above us, forcing me to dive deeper into the earth and away from it.

At least, I dispelled [Symphonie des Feuergottes] before going lower. With all the flames, that probably would have cooked Larent faster.

“Ahhaaaa ah, it’s getting better now…” Larent used her handkerchief to clean away the sweat on his face, drenching the poor cloth piece. “My lady, ahuk! Agak!”

Larent suddenly coughed up blood. Magmakammer, or magma chamber in English, not only created an elemental area for me to fight in, it also continuously produced toxic gases born of my corrosive fire. I wasn’t sure if I could defeat Larent in a fair match, so I decided to use poison to win it if I had to.

My white flames quickly cured him of any ailments, and I apologized and explained to him what happened. Strangely, he didn’t take it too personally, as he noted he expected to fight against nature itself when he challenged me, knowing I was a dragon. His straightforwardness flustered me a bit.

“W-We can speak afterward after I’m done with this.” My parallel minds and I had to be completely focused on this dive trip. The very earth before me was being melted into semi-solid liquid before I used [Volcanic Blaze] to move it aside.

I’m using so much mana here. I complained to my parallel minds about all the spells and actions we’ve done until now, which made my minds slightly nervous as I was starting to show some arcane corruption problem — headaches, mostly. I needed some fulinoe tea.

After the tremors above us subsided, I let out a sigh and began moving back to the surface.

Hey, God Yeostar, does that cannon have a long wind-up time?

We were talking about the dragon-killing cannon, dragonator. An integrated weapon in the castle Fatalisa, which somehow just activated and nearly eliminated Larent and me from the match! To save us, I grabbed onto him and dove into the ground, where I sought refuge from that one-hit shot.

Thank you for that warning. I thanked him for providing me with the information, instead of leaving me in the shadows like before. I have a question, does this castle exist nowadays?

Grimnir never specified it, but I thought the cannon came from Chihiro. So it came from an outside influence, huh?

After a bit, I eventually managed to reach the surface. Lava moved upon my command and the artificial light of the dungeon shone on me once again. I broke my scale sphere apart, laying them over my scales in preparation for a battle. Iwas going to have to dispose of them after all of this was over, as Mother told me to.

I turned around to Larent breathing heavily, looking out of place with how drenched in sweat he was. “Sorry, I didn’t bring any water with me.”

“No need, my lady. How would you know this would happen?” With how much Larent had been sweating, I was worried he would fall over from dehydration. “I am more at fault. My armor didn’t stand up to the test and failed me.”

Larent’s armor spent one of his three enchantment slots on [Environmental Adaptation], allowing his armor to adapt to any surroundings. Heat, cold, underwater — as long as he had his armor completely on, he could theoretically go anywhere he wanted. For an adventurer, it was one of the best enchantments to get.

Sadly for him, but fortunately for me, I managed to break his helmet and chest at an opportune moment, nullifying this magic. Just, it seemed his armor itself was less sturdy than the man inside of it. I did more damage to him by causing him to sweat like crazy.

“Haaaa, haaa, that cannon blast did quite catastrophic damage.” Larent pointed at the spot where the dragonator cannon hit, having atomized literally everything there. Even by flying up a bit, I couldn’t really determine how deep the crater was.

Scary.

“And look at that, people! ‘Crimson-Scaled’ and ‘Auegor’s Blade’ survived the blast! Now, I was quite surprised the dragonewt lass managed to do something like that, but I guess this is what you have to expect from a beastmen descendant of dragons! Monstrous powers like being able to turn a whole forest into a lava field and flying about with flames coming from their wings!” The announcer’s voice appeared out of nowhere, commenting on us reappearing.

“Hey! Don’t call me ‘monstrous!’ I’m trying to impress people here as an idol!” I shouted back, slightly annoyed at how he would call me that! Incredulous, if you asked me.

“But, my lady—” Larent tried to speak up about it, but my head just snapped around.

“Oi, don’t you dare!” I pouted before breaking off my [Panzer], having transformed back into my usual appearance, and began posing in a cute fashion. “Strength is important and so, but I’m also here to promote myself. I need to impress people enough to bring them to my concert!”

“Hahaha… ahhhhhhhhhh.” Larent laughed for a moment before letting a deep sigh from overheating a moment ago. He really didn’t look like he could continue fighting.

Worried, I walked over to him to check on him, but at the same time, the both of us snapped our body toward the rumbling sound in the distance. The castle was moving again, redirected to us, followed by the announcer’s voice.

“Ahhh, the brothers are moving the castle again towards our two top scorers! If they can eliminate both ‘Crimson-Scale’ and ‘Auegor’s Blade’ with one of Fatalisa’s weapons, we might actually see a change in the whole tournament! The brothers might actually take out all top scorers and bring their gang into the bracket stage!”

Fucking announcer! He blew our cover! I realized this a bit too late, but the announcer just broke my attempt to stealth this, as I wanted to take Yeostar’s advice to stay incognito to not get targeted by the castle, again.

Now, that plan was gone.

Verdammt! I cursed before grabbing Larent with my [Unheilige Engel] and taking to the sky as the castle materialized a barbed harpoon and shot it at us. Thankfully, I was faster than the attack, but it still baffled me at how this was even allowed in this tournament.

Urgh… I couldn’t argue against him now. That was a valid answer, but it was also a truth which could ruin Jethro’s plan altogether.

I technically didn’t have to win the tournament to continue this Divine Quest, but I told him I would, so I had to now. Besides, if I acquired the blood and could give it to somebody I trusted, it would be safe. As such…

“Waaaaaaaaah!” I screamed as even more bus-sized black harpoons and spears were shot from the castle, all aiming at me and Larent as we flew in the sky. “Mr. Larent!”

“Understood! Give me aim!” Larent face refocused and slipped through my obsidian slime claws, jumping into the air as I morphed the slime into solid blocks for Larent to land and stand on. I secured his feet securely onto it, allowing him to wield his sword.

“Hmph!” Channeling his mana into his sword, Larent swung his weapon with immaculate precision, slicing all the incoming projectiles in half before they reached us. With a more readied strike, he even launched a visible blue crescent projectile forward, slashing a few harpoons before crashing against the castle.

Only, it didn’t reach the wall. There was a barrier around the place.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Welp, that should have been obvious,” I commented while Larent resumed his attacks, undeterred by what happened.

“Agreed. Any fortified castle must have a magical barrier of some sort, otherwise any mage could take it down too easily,” Larent clarified my statement further. “My lady, I haven’t had the chance yet, but allow me to thank you very much for aiding me not once, but twice! Although, I am rather confused why you would do so. We are opponents, after all.”

“Huh?” My mind went blank for a moment before it resumed working, realizing I was currently inside Yeostar’s dungeon, not outside where that blast could have killed him. If I had let them get hit, my biggest opponent would have been kicked out of the match there and then! “Oh…”

“Hmm? Did you move to help me by pu— WAAAAAAAAH! My lady, FOCUS!” Larent shouted at me as he was almost skewered by a harpoon, as I suddenly stopped moving my [Unheilge Engel] due to my realization I just fucked up by pure instinct.

“Oh sh—!” The same applied to me, as I narrowly dodged an incoming projectile by arcing my body back before taking control of the floating obsidian platform and began moving again.

Gotta move down!

With the number of attacks quickly increasing the longer this stalemate continued, I decided it would be best for us to return to the ground, trying to find a way to get out of the castle’s front. Even with Larent helping out, getting a counterattack just looked grim with the barrier around it.

With my rocket boosters, flying through this bullet hell was both easy and difficult, depending on Larent’s cuts. Any divided projectile could cause me to twist myself around, breaking my rhythm. I told Larent this, but since he had so little time where he could only slash instead of think, it was hard to accommodate me like this.

Shit! Stop shooting at us!

I couldn’t see a way to escape this. Everywhere we moved, the large projectiles would destroy the environment. If I tried to build a [Terra Wall] or any earthen construct, it would be destroyed before it could harden. Similar to my obsidian. Shoot back at it? The castle had a barrier and it seemed like it had an infinite amount of ammunition. I didn’t even know how the castle was creating all these weapons in the first place!

Considering this castle was made to fight against dragons and probably other aerial threats, it sure did its job well as an anti-air weapon. I couldn't think of a way to get closer to it or hide. The only way was to make some distance and then try to formulate a counter plan. This was the only way.

“Down!”

““Huh?”” But as I was about to act on that idea, a sandstorm suddenly burst from underneath us.

It twisted before us as the millions of sand grains began to settle down as a wall of sand, large enough to completely hide our vision from the castle. Spears and harpoons still shot at us, but they weren’t as accurate as before, while Larent and I had [Danger Perception] and [Foresight] to efficiently dodge anything we needed to.

“Hey! Down here!”

“Lady Hestia, look!” Larent pointed at a group of five people on the ground, with one of them waving at us. There, I also saw a dark-skinned man kneeling down, putting his hands on a brown magic circle which was continuously producing sand. “We should go down there for now. Hide.”

Seeing as it was too late to go back to our previous duel, I thought this meant Larent was still fully on board with that ceasefire he proposed before. Considering he was a former knight, he probably wouldn’t backstab me now, especially since he seemed like a follower of Aurena.

I nodded and did what he wanted, descending to the ground where the person who waved at us thanked us. He revealed his face behind the brown scowl, showing us he had a similarly tanned skin like the sand mage. It made me wonder if they were from the Great Evida Desert, like Eshe and her knights.

“My name is Naemon. We can speak in a moment.” He activated the brown magic circle to his side, causing the earth to open up like a hatch, revealing a small, impromptu-made cellar. “Please, follow me.”

He and the sand mage jumped down first, followed by a flamboyant man in heavy armor and a giant lion beastman. The next person to enter it was surprising though, as it was that scary-looking merfolk from before. “Deepsea Ebony” was his nickname or something.

“Come.” The tall merfolk gestured with his hand for me to follow before jumping down.

Their presence… feels like the other members of the twelve. Can I trust them?

Still suspicious, Larent tapped my shoulders before speaking his opinion on the matter, “I know one of them. If he’s here, then I think we can trust them. Come, my lady.”

He offered me his hand like a proper gentleman, to help me jump down. Looking behind us, I saw the sand wall slowly disappearing so I shrugged my shoulders and accepted, but left my [Panzer] on just for safety’s sake.

Once the both of us were inside, the hatch was closed, hiding our presence from the castle and whoever was using it. In this pitch-black darkness, I could clearly see one of the mages taking out a small manatech torch. Seeing how small it was, I decided to ignite a white flame on my glaive, using it like a lamp to illuminate everything.

“Ahh, many thanks. May the Goddess bless you.” The mage named Naemon thanked us before personally bowing to Larent, as if the former knew the latter. “Introductions can wait later with the time limit on. Let me get straight to the point, I would like to propose an alliance between us.”

“Alliance?” I raised an eyebrow, but nobody could see it through my armor.

“Hmm, is that a woman’s voice?” The armored human man suddenly blurted out, taking his helmet off and revealing his blond hair. With his green eyes, he began to look me up and down before kneeling before. “My fair damsel! Forgive this fool for not recognizing you earlier! Woe to me!”

He then suddenly picked up my armored left hand, holding it gently before him as he gave it a quick kiss. “My fair lady, my name is Sir Arlond Estaban Herzkreuz. I pray to the Goddess, but would you be so kind as to reveal your face and name to me? A flower like you should not need to hide her beauty.”

… Should I tell him my armor is toxic? I was completely unimpressed by his charms.

“Arlond, you brat!” But before I could say anything, Larent grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him up into a hug. “Ahahaha! How have you been, lad?”

“Hmm?” The blond man push himself out of the embrace, looking at Larent with confusion and surprise. “Wait… your voice, your hair— Sir Larent?! Is that you?”

“Ahahaha, in the flesh, lad!”

“No way!” They embraced once again before the Arlond guy stopped doing so to take a closer look at Larent. “I apologize! When the commentator announced your title, I thought I was going crazy when I heard it! But I saw your swordsmanship when you flew in the sky! I knew it was, but I cannot be forgiven for honoring you so late!”

“Hahaha, it’s been seven years but you still are a skirt chaser, huh? You should have no problems with noblewomen flocking to you with that face of yours, lad, but with your attitude, you will never be able to keep one for long!” Larent gazed at the younger man proudly, tapping his shoulder and shaking it. “Good lad, you gained some muscles. At least you kept up training. The next generation of knights shouldn’t disappoint, ahahaha!”

“Y-Yes, of course! But, I heard this rumors that—”

“KUUUUURAAAAAAAAAIEEEEEEEEEET!”

But interrupting this heartfelt reunion, the hulking leonid roared like a ferocious beast, loud enough to potentially puncture our eardrums. I quickly created an [Air Shield] around everybody before that happened, and dispelled it once the lion man stopped.

“Enough talk! Fight!” he growled, before picking up the mage, Naemon, by the collar. “Human! You told me to stop fighting, egging me on that there is worthier prey! Speak, then!”

“The castle assault,” the merfolk giant added onto the leonid. “We agreed to stop our duel for a common enemy. Make merry after we leave the battlefield, until then, we still must fight.”

The tidbits of everybody’s words were starting to make sense to me. Puzzling them together, I believed I figured out what this alliance was supposed to be.

“You want us all to team up to storm the castle?” I brought up, drawing everybody's attention to me, allowing Naemon to free himself from the leonid’s grip.

“Ahhhh, such a heavenly voice! Surely, my lady, you mus—”

“Yes, that is the plan!” Naemon’s voice drowned out the womanizer’s flattery. “I think you, ‘Crimson Scale,’ and ‘Auegor’s Blade’ should know very well what that castle can do. Fatalisa, the bane of dragons, and the location of one of God Yeostar’s most heroic tales. Although its historic value piques the historian inside me, I must admit that it would mean our defeat if we cannot take out the 23 men inside of it!”

Even if he calls me ‘Crimson Scale’… Verdammt, I don’t want that nickname! I complained inside my head as Larent posed a question.

“What do you mean by that?”

Arlond replied in place of Naemon, “Sir Larent, have you heard what the announcer mentioned? 30 contestants are left, and we are seven of them. The rest of the 23 are all huddled inside that castle, joined together to take out mostly you, their biggest competition. If they can take other threats out, too, then even better.”

“Wait, 23?” I tilted my head. “Wait, hold on, if that’s the case, then are you meaning to say they will take us out first, and then—”

“Survival of the fittest!” the leonid growled. “I ain’t letting that happen. I will take the blood of a god as my rightful possession!”

“My companion and I also have some vested interest in the tournament as representatives of Aleistunum.” Naemon pointed at the sand mage. “As such, I would like to propose an alliance between us. The seven of us shall take out the 23 in that castle. Afterward, may the best win it all.”

So, that assassin from earlier was probably working for them or was independent. Either way, if six members of the twelve I detected before were here, then the other half might be in the castle. It might be tricky.

He then suddenly pointed at me as I contemplated the situation. “I saw you, Crimson Scale, and what you did around that forest. I know you are a dragonewt, but being able to maintain five [Cyclone Madness] and [Levin Core] spells for nearly a bell’s worth of time can only be proof of being a master, no, I don’t think I could compare. You are worthy of an archmage! And you!”

His attention was now on Larent. “Ex-Hand of Heaven. ‘Auegor’s Blade,’ Sir Larent Antonodius. Evida and the crown might have our complications, but no man or woman could not know our Empire’s sword saint candidate.”

He laid a hand on our shoulders, gripping them a bit as he finally ended his recruitment speech. “The both of you lead us in kills as our first and second seat! Let us all fight as one and enter the bracket stage together!”

“…” Larent didn’t say a word, turning over to me as if he was giving me full authority on what he would do. I was really questioning how we started teaming up like this, but I guess it was better than being kicked out of the match.

“… Cool!” I gave him an okay sign.

“Ahhh, thank the Goddess! Ahahaha!”

“Woah!”

Naemon suddenly embraced Larnet and me, squeezing us together as he tapped our backs in elation. Everybody seemed very touchy-touchy today, but not like I minded it too much. I preferred hugging a problem over then resorting to violence.

“Brilliant! As such, allo—” Naemon probably wanted to explain his plan right now, but as I said before, I believed I had the puzzle figured out.

“Let me guess, you want me to act like a decoy by attracting the castle’s defenses, while you lead everybody else through the gate, right?”

“U-Uhm, wise, my lady! Wise! Yes, it is a bit more nuanced than that, however.” The scholarly mage stuttered, surprised to hear me understand what my role in this alliance was. “I have studied much on how God Yeostar once conquered this fortress, so I believe I have an idea how to overwhelm them despite our far inferior numbers. I apologize, but could you possibly act as bait for the rest of us?”

“Hold on!” Arlond grabbed Naemon’s shoulder and pulled him around. “What sort of man are you to put a woman in the vanguard like this? If you need a distraction, allow me to do so in her place. I, ‘Arcane Rider’ Arlond, shall declare to put my body and soul on th—”

“Sure, I can do that.” Unwilling to listen to one more word from this guy’s mouth, I just agreed to Naemon’s suggestion.

“Ark?!” For some reason, Arlon comically fell to his knees, mumbling something I was actively ignoring.

“Yes, thank the Goddess!” Naemon thanked me. “Then, let me—”

“But, in exchange, allow me to create the plan for our assault.”

Naemon went speechless as I said that, looking flabbergasted like a scientist or professor being spoken back to in their primary field of study. Believing this armor was making it harder for people to believe me, I dissolved the armor in its entirety before revealing myself to all the men, causing those who haven’t seen me to widen their eyes.

Some had a stronger reaction.

“Oooh! My lady, please, allow me to accept your hand in— Bwah?!” Arlond tried to do something fishy so I had my [Unheilige Engel] push him onto the ground, face-first.

“I have a pretty good plan on how to solve this issue easily, so everybody can get into the fight earlier,” I grinned impishly at Naemon, causing him to flinch back a bit.

“B-But, my lady, I have stud—”

“So be it, Lady Hestia.” Larent was the first to agree to my suggestion. “I am more of a soldier than a commander. I have seen my share of terrible leaders, but my instincts are telling me otherwise with you. I trust in the words of someone who would save others without demanding something back in return.”

I guess my time with him has gained me his trust. Maybe saving him out of instinct will have some benefits after all.

“I trust your word, scale-kin,” the merfolk also agreed with me immediately, probably influenced by the [Royal Presence] and [Draconic Aura] I was exuding to convince them. “Lead us to battle, like your ancestors did, dragonewt.”

“Ghrmmm.” The leonid scratched his braided mane, looking over at Larent all the time. “Feisty female, huh? Good, get us in, and I will rip everything apart! If the swordmaster trusts you, then so be it. Rather follow a fellow beastman, than a human, anyways.”

“T-Then, I shall listen to you, Lady Hestia! Oooh, that name…” Arlond jumped up before falling onto the ground as he mumbled my name. I didn’t care what he did, I just didn’t want to listen to him anymore.

Eww…

With four of the six other members persuaded, I was democratically voted as the person to lead this alliance. Naemon seemed conflicted about it, probably wanting to shine himself or have his plan executed, but he ate up his pride with a deep sigh before agreeing himself.

“My partner and I will listen. If you need help on the structure—”

“Oh, no problems, I know allll about castle Fatalisa.” I interrupted him.

“Grk!” It seemed like a vein was about to pop on the mage’s forehead, but I ignored it and turned around to the wall. I placed my hand on it before speaking with Yeostar.

God Yeostar, is there a barrier underneath the castle?

Cool, then please, educate me on everything the castle has. I want to know my prey like the back of my forehand.

Why did I need somebody to give me a second-hand recollection of what castle Fatalisa was, when I had someone who fought within it himself? It was easier and quicker for him to give me a quick rundown of everything while my parallel minds sorted the information out.

As such…

The temperature around my arm began to blaze up, slowly scorching the earth I was touching and turning it into lava. Slowly, with my purple fire, I molded the area into an oval shape, hardening the lava into an obsidian door frame.

[“Rajah, get ready, boy!”]

[“Yes, Master!”]

It was time to boil a castle.

Using [Terra Wall], I shoved the earth in front of me downwards, creating the first part of this long tunnel.