Jiron lets out a disgusting scream as he dives toward me.

　A moment later, the dragon zombie lands on the spot where Jiron was standing a moment ago.
The dragon zombie, which caused the ground to shake with a thud, let out a roar that was invaded by a terrible rotten smell.

''Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

　As we flapped our ragged, hole-riddled wings, a rotten-smelling storm engulfed us.

　What the hell?　This guy.

　Does he have some kind of necromantic power over dead dragons?

　I try to use my head to its fullest to deal with the extraordinary situation that is happening in front of me. But just as I was about to do so, a wave of words sprang up and kidnapped my thoughts.




"What the hell is this thing?

I've never seen that before.

Dragon....zon!

You're kidding me!

Ha! Let's get out of here!

I don't remember where the traps are.

What are we going to do now?

Master Cephiro, are you trying to get rid of us?

What did we do?


　The encounter with the unknown enemy instantly sent everyone in the ranks into a state of panic.

　They had seen humans using dragons before, but they had never even heard of a dragon zombie. It was probably unheard of.

　So this is the last hurdle. That Cephiro guy...!
　If that was the case, would they have even anticipated this panic?


''Gulul Oooh!


　Was it the loud crowd of demons that were making a lot of noise that irritated him?

　Or is it just a fighting instinct - the dragon zombie opened its jaws wide, which were about to come off, and spat a huge pillar of fire at me.

　If eaten properly, it would be an attack that would inevitably lead to annihilation.

''Don't get upset, you guys!

　I shouted resolutely and deployed the magic of the 《Barriers》 while shouting resolutely.

　The commander's weakness can be felt by the soldiers. In this place, even if it's the first time, I, the brigade commander, must be the strongest.

　When you think I'm going to lose, that's when the entire brigade is defeated.

　It was a "barrier" to destroy chanting, but I'm confident in my magic by nature. The pillar of fire spat out by the zombies didn't burn away any of us, but disappeared behind an invisible wall.

　Now it's our turn.
　I hold out my circular snake staff and quickly chant the fireball magic.

　The countless fireballs that appeared are collectively flown to the dragon zombies. Although this is an improved version that emphasizes speed rather than power, this will still have an immediate effect on the zombies.

　Since ancient times, it has been a given that corpses are vulnerable to fire.

　But this was not the case.

"...What...?

　I couldn't help but open my eyes.
　The magic of the fireball that I fired at the dragon zombies.
　It was just one step before it was due to land, and then it disappeared.
　The dragon zombie was not doing anything. Even though they didn't move a single claw.
　The fireball disappeared without a sound, as if it was blocked by an invisible wall.

"...Pillar of Fire! Blitz! 《Flare!

　I was confident in my magic skills.

　I'm sure there is no one who can't understand the magic I've trained so diligently from my grandfather and Sephiro.


　I'm going to shoot my magic in rapid succession. Even if it's a forbidden grade magic, we don't care. I'm not stingy with my words. I'm going to fire my entire being at the dragon zombies.

　And yet, all the magic is the same, and it disappears just before it hits the dragon zombie.
　What the hell is going on?

　The wave of flames created by the tiger's "Bombasticity Magic" also disappears as if it were swallowed up.

　He's setting up powerful magic up to this point in succession, yet it's all prevented.
　Strange. It's an abnormal situation.

　I don't care if it's Sephiro's fully chanted "Barrier" or not, such advanced magic shouldn't be able to be used on a zombie that's moving with necromancy or something.

　What the hell is this?　This guy.
　Isn't he just a zombie?

It appears to be a critical time.
　And.

　It was Shigan of the dragon tribe who called out to me.

　No, it's not accurate to say I called out to him. He was already holding his powerful spear at the enemy.

　A momentary intersection of the battle cry, Shigan told me straightforwardly.

You're magic is blocked. I advise you to attack directly with your weapons.

"Shh, wait, Michigan--

　Before I could stop him, Sigan carried his spear and wailed at the dragon zombies.

　My sorcery has indeed been prevented. If my magic is no good, then direct melee combat was a simple but really rational decision.

　In the Phantom Beast Brigade, he was only a troop leader. Shigan was calm.

　However, just before Sigan's assault reached the dragon zombies, it stopped just like magic.

''........What?　This is--

　Sigan held out his spear, but did not move in place, as if something was blocking him.
　It was also a comical sight, depending on how you looked at it.
　It's like a pantomime. No matter how much he tried to step out, Shigan's body would not move forward.

　Eventually, the dragon zombie, perhaps noticing that Cigan was close in front of it, opens its large mouth.

　In its mouth, it finds something shimmering.
　--That's dangerous!
　By the time I thought that, I had already started chanting.

'Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The barrier!

　Waving the circular snake staff, he set the coordinates in front of Cigan's eyes and unleashed the [Barrier].

　Sure enough, the dragon zombie spat out flames and came to cremate Michigan. The flames that were so close to being blocked by the "Barrier", but only the heat penetrated and attacked Cigan. Shigan couldn't bear to jump back and came back underneath me.

''I can't hurt you,''

'Very well, I did what I had to do. More importantly, you have to be brave enough to charge in alone. Even if you know what you're doing, it's not easy to do. You are very good at it.

　Thanks to that, I think I'm on to something.

　I thanked Shigan briefly and looked around at the dragon zombie with the magic of 《Perspective》.

　The shimmer that I saw in the dragon zombie's mouth earlier.

　I thought it was flames, but on closer examination, this dragon was already dead. The organs that were used to spit out the flames should have rotted away long ago and become a Buddha. And yet, this dragon spits out flames without a care in the world and tries to burn us to death.

　If that's the case, doesn't it have some kind of secret in its mouth?

Bingo.

　Inside the dragon zombie's mouth.

　The one that was shining as if embedded in the underside of the cheek was the alchemy's greatest treasure, the Philosopher's Stone.