Ice Drag-Knight

Chapter 22: New Teachers in Royal Officer Academy III

"Haa...! You fool!"

Chasing Lux who flew in a somewhat low altitude, the lean man also flew. Exactly as his words said "mobility test", he came aiming at Lux's back.

"Ha, what's wrong? What's wrong?! Were you energetic only at the beginning?!"

Although Lux was able to fly, as expected the man raised his voice and laughed. Far from turning around and taking his opponent's back, it looked like running away by flying straight was the best Lux could do. The lean man who saw that became more arrogant.

"Fall unsightly! You, fallen Prince!"

The moment when the man who pressed hard on Lux's back was about to slash with his blade–

"Wha!?"

The <Wyvern> of Lux who had his back turned made a somersault and arrived exactly at the back of the man flying straight on. As a result, before he knew it the man found himself before the wall surrounding the practice field. Thus – to avoid a crash, he could not help but suddenly stop.

"Gah!?"

Without overlooking his defenseless back, Lux's lightning slash knocked him down. The lean man, still wearing his <Wyvern>, violently crashed onto the ground and the wall. At the dust which rose, and the sound, the audience seating of the practice field fell silent.

"That is... no way."

When Lisha was amazed, Krulcifer beside her also nodded.

"Yes, if you can't generate enough speed to sneak behind your opponent, you should just let him stick closely on your back and then sneak behind him with a somersault. He seems to have been aiming for this since the beginning."

The students with the ability level to know that were speechless, and the other students raised shouts of joy.

"Hmm. As expected, my eyes weren't wrong. All right, I shall make him join the "Knight Squadron" as soon as possible, a-and as for that other request–"

"Don't get carried away! You brats!"

The muscular man wearing the <Wyrm> raised an angry voice and set up his cannon, aimed at Ryoga. By focusing all the energy in a single blow of the main armament, he could certainly make him unable to continue fighting. The man who planned so fired the cannon aiming at Ryoga.

"...!"

But, Ryoga deflected the main armament's shooting from point-blank range with the point of his blade clad in energy and evaded it. The man changed his aim and continued shooting a second, and then a third time, but the result was the same.

"W-Why?! How can you apply your sword so accurately and deflect the attacks?"

"It's because your aiming was relatively simple."

As Ryoga answered indifferently, the muscular man became speechless.

"It's basic to aim for the center of a Machine Dragon if you only think about blowing away your opponent, but – Thanks to that, I was able to minimize the barrier and use energy in the blade."

"Wha...!?"

While the muscular man was flustered, the male leader wearing the <Drake> ground his teeth with his sniper rifle still set up. He was 300 Mel away from one edge of the practice field where Lux and Ryoga fought. From that safety zone where he could never receive the opponent's counterattack, he intended to one-sidedly snipe at Lux and Ryoga whose attention was attracted by his two comrades, but–

"What the hell is happening––?"

Lux and Ryoga had conducted themselves more than equally against three machines of the Capital's army as opponents. The <Wyvern> of the lean man was flown by Lux as his back was taken by Lux, and the <Wyrm>'s cannon was altogether flipped by Ryoga's blade, too. And, although he aimed at them with his sniper rifle, his attacks were all evaded by movements which, while in low speed, did not let him focus his aim; and not even one of his attacks hit. To that too much unreal spectacle, he felt irritation and shiver. The men intended to torment Lux and Ryoga who defied them.

"But - like this, it's as if...!"

The Drag-Knights of the army, even though there were three, were led around by the nose by the officer cadets Lux and Ryoga who bore a tremendous handicap.

"Aren't we the ones who have been humiliated...?!"

That humiliation caused the man to make a certain choice.

"Gee, it's fascinating as usual, eh. Lux-cchi's and Ryoga-cchi's movements–"

Tillfarr of the Triad, who was the person in charge of deploying a barrier before the audience seating muttered so while watching the fight. While the other female students raised cheers, Tillfarr, Lux's and Ryoga's classmate who was also a member of the "Knight Squadron" was analyzing the progress of the battle relatively calmly.

"Why was Lux-cchi able to take the back of the opponent's <Wyvern> so easily? Even though his speed should have been far inferior due to the overweight–"

"It is because his flying technique is quite special."

To Tillfarr's mutter, Krulcifer who was directly behind her in the audience seating answered so.

"Eh? What do you mean by that?"

"Normally, when one wants to sneak behind his opponent in a battle between fellow flying type Machine Dragons, he has to stick on the opponent's back by adjusting up and down the propulsion output. However in Lux's case, he pursuits the enemy by skillfully interlacing ascent and descent while adjusting the distance after having predicted his opponent's flight trajectory. As such, it's a quite advanced technique, but you can't help but say that pulling it off in that overweight state is nothing short of a miracle."

"At this rate, Lux's and Ryoga's victory is determined. That evil trio. It's your reward for having underestimated my favorite."

As she was pleased with this situation, Lisha contentedly folded her arms.

"It's amazing, Lux-kun, Ryoga-kun."

"They are much stronger than the Drag-Knights of the army!"

The female students' voices began to leak so, and the outcome was certainly determined.

"No. I am afraid there is still one concern."

Krulcifer stared at the practice field with calm eyes and drew out the Sword Device from the sheath at her waist. It was not her personal Divine Drag-Ride <Fafnir>'s, but a <Wyvern>'s for practice.

"Hey? What do you intend to do?"

To the question of Lisha who looked puzzled, Krulcifer answered with her usual smile.

"A little help. To my – lover, that is."