"I understand your good wills..."

Adrian sighed deeply, sitting on the throne. He shook his head and closed his eyes before responding.

"But reclaiming Parristol was my father's wish. If I didn't have this chance, so be it. But now that restoring the kingdom is possible, how could I simply give up!"

"Exactly! From what I know, you humans highly respect your parents, right? Helping your father fulfill his final wish - what's wrong with that? Logically, shouldn't you all support and encourage him?"

Mirium sneered, slowly unfurling her draconian wings from behind her back.

"Besides, I'm not exactly a pure monster, am I? Why can't you join me?"

"You're a dragon?! How is that possible..."

Eleanora couldn't help but exclaim loudly. So they had been fighting without knowing their opponent's identity?

"So what if I'm a dragon! This battle was inevitable anyway, why drag it out?"

A dazzling phoenix suddenly emerged from Brennan's hands and flew straight at Mirium without warning, screeching sharply. Alfreed followed up, launching an attack from another angle in a pincer move. The battle kicked off unexpectedly.

"A phoenix? And just a baby...how laughable!"

Mirium didn't even bother moving, simply raising a hand to easily block the phoenix's advance. Unfazed by the intense flames, she crushed the phoenix in her grip. Then with a swing of her fist, she sent Alfreed, who had just charged in, flying backwards until he slammed against the railing at the edge of the throne room.

Such immense strength!

Seeing Alfreed lying motionless, I was dumbstruck. I thought the combined efforts of two sixth-tier fighters might pose some threat to Mirium, but it was utterly useless.

Ever since coming to this world, I felt my angelic powers were formidable. Advancing to six wings made me even stronger. But compared to a dragon, I realized I was still a small-fry. If not for the Chromos Tower's sturdy railings, Alfreed might have plunged to the bottom - dead or alive, who knows.

His current state didn't look good either. He might have broken multiple bones. Seeing this, Eleanora rushed over to heal him with her magic, ultimately ensuring his safety.

"So, do you all still want to keep beating a dead horse?"

Mirium glanced at the two being treated, not trying to stop them further. Then she turned to the rest of us - me and Brennan, ignoring the few remaining soldiers and followers behind us.

Dragons were rumored to possess immense strength, whether human-formed or not. And each draconic subspecies could naturally control different elements for attacks, though their magic development lagged behind angels' due to minimal interaction with humans. Most dragons were stuck using inborn, instinctual elemental attacks without any established theoretical foundation.

That said, despite flaunting her overwhelming power, Mirium made no attempt to press her advantage and continued guarding King Adrian. This attitude felt rather odd.

Perhaps she was being cautious for some reason? Or was she letting us off? It didn't seem so - maybe she actually feared one of us? I didn't think it was me though, since we'd met before. As for the others, I couldn't say if any of them posed a real threat to her. Of course, my presence did increase our chances...maybe we could still turn the tide if we joined forces?

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"Be careful everyone, the dragon race is infamously powerful, as you've just witnessed. We must work together to stand a chance!"

Alfreed had fully recovered, thanks to Eleanora's sixth-tier healing abilities. The "Rebirth" water healing spell she used was several times more potent than ordinary low-tier water magic, able to quickly revive even those on death's door before sending them back into battle.

As long as Eleanora was around and didn't get killed, there was always a chance for a full revival.

"This level of challenge won't scare me off!" Alfreed's recovery was an unseen morale booster, lifting everyone's dampened spirits. Brennan nodded confidently, "Don't forget, we have Feliciana on our side! As a six-winged angel, her power is unmatched. We can definitely achieve victory!"

"No problem!" I nodded assuredly, drawing my usual longsword. Though I may have felt uneasy facing Mirium alone before, with so many comrades around, I had no more fear.

"What? You two planning to take me on together?" Seeing Alfreed take an offensive stance toward Mirium after recuperating, but noting her lack of intent to engage, he couldn't help feeling confused.

Mirium shrugged nonchalantly, glancing at Adrian who lazily watched the city monitors from his throne. "If you really want to fight, then just attack! Unlike Arick, I have no particular interest in brawling. Especially now when I have other matters at hand..."

Adrian's attitude was indeed odd. Despite Alfreed and the others charging right at him, he remained calm enough to distractedly watch the video feeds, as if this invasion meant nothing - leaving the defense entirely to his ever-present dragon guardian Mirium.

Of course, I could still sense his occasional glances toward me, likely concerned for my situation. But this only vexed me further. If so, why insist on opposing me? Even if reclaiming the kingdom was vital, why ally with monsters? Relying on one to protect him - how shameful!

"No worries! You go take care of those invaders. Leave this task to me!"

Finally, the long elusive "mysterious man" Fernando appeared, though I couldn't discern how he entered the throne room. He approached, taking Mirium's place beside Adrian.

"It's pure chaos outside the tower now. You still don't intend to act?"

Clearly, he was urging Adrian to unleash Divine Punishment against the kingdom's forces that had already breached the lower levels.

Adrian shook his head without hesitation. "No! Our soldiers are still resisting - we haven't reached total defeat yet. Launching Divine Punishment now would harm our own. You know I cannot allow that - it's a matter of principle!"

It seemed caring for his people was a firm bottom line for him, if nothing else.

"Suit yourself then. I'll just clean up here before dealing with the rest..."

Unable to argue further, Fernando turned his gaze to Mirium.

"You're late." Mirium seemed displeased by his tardiness, exhaling in relief before questioning, "Did you get that thing?"

"Got it! Just a small hiccup on the way - a few rats, nothing more..."

The "mysterious man" immediately produced something from his palm to show her. Likely not wanting us enemies to overhear their conversation, their voices grew softer until we could barely make out anything.

The atmosphere turned bizarre. We few "invaders" were equally dumbfounded - a seemingly imminent battle had turned into the enemy ignoring us to secretly converse. It was evident they didn't consider us a threat at all, which was rather hurtful. Yet their discussion piqued our curiosity, unfortunately without revealing what Fernando held.

Originally unconcerned by the situation, even Adrian seemed roused by Mirium and Fernando's puzzling exchange. Though his position should have allowed him to hear everything, his bewildered expression suggested he understood little.

"What do we do now? Is this a deliberate ploy to lure us? Or should we just charge in, damn the consequences?" Brennan turned uncertainly to Alfreed. The enemy's bizarre attitude, coupled with their great strength, made him fear rushing in blindly.

"Let's wait a bit..." Alfreed, equally clueless, could only make this decision for now. With two formidable foes, a reckless ambush might prompt them to strike together. Despite our numerical advantage in a group attack, we could still easily be overpowered - Mirium had clearly intended to take us all on solo earlier, so this chance to pick them off was worth considering.

"Damn it! You again?!"

Just then, another uninvited guest suddenly appeared. Or to be precise, two of them...