Others Summon Dragons, I Summon Legendary Knights

Chapter 523: The Leopard

Lucy rode her leopard through a street ravaged by the Crusaders.

Bodies lay in pools of blood, their eyes wide with horror. Those who had fought back had died grotesquely. Some buildings barely remained standing. Arrows had punched enormous holes through brick and steel rods, leaving the structures broken and bent.

Lucy couldn’t look away.

Her city. A place of peace. A place where love still lived. Gone.

This was a massacre.

She clenched her teeth until her jaw hurt. Only then did she realise what she was doing and force herself to stop.

”We’ll stop them,” Percival assured her.

They were heading for the Mist District. Meinstrel was already in shambles, but the Sentinels were fighting back. All around them came the sounds of summons clashing, skills colliding and people dying.

Isaac had been sent towards the core. Since the sun came, he had possessed the highest tier among them. The others were still Monarchs.

Isaac was already a Sovereign.

Mist District relied mainly on trams and trains for transportation. If the Fanatics seized the main bridge connecting Mist to Meinstrel, the people would have no route of escape.

They would have two choices: face their killers or flee into the dungeon and risk the horde of red foxes lurking just beyond their district.

Lucy’s leopard could manipulate space. With the ability active, it crossed the remaining distance in seconds.

Its claws suddenly dug into the ground, gouging through the hard surface as it screeched to a stop.

Lucy immediately saw why.

Crusaders. They stood in military formation across the bridge, covering it from the Meinstrel end all the way into Mist.

In the river below, shattered ships and boats slowly disappeared beneath the water.

Percival leapt onto the roof of a nearby building for a better view.

Crusaders were already pouring into Mist. Spatial tears repeatedly opened in space, releasing even more fanatics onto the streets. These ones were centaurs with grayish-black skin.

People fled at the mere sight of them.

And Percival finally understood why Cain had sent Fanatics whose summons were all tainted by Obsidians.

Fear. They could inflict it. With such a powerful emotion under their control, Paradise could barely mount a resistance.

”We can’t win,” Lucy said.

She trembled, feeling the agony of the people afar. The Paradise police fought back, but they died just as quickly. The elven Crusaders were Origins, and there were at least a thousand of them.

No. More than a thousand.

Percival looked at Lucy and found her already staring at him.

Mana wasn’t endless.

Eventually, they would run out. Then they would be surrounded. As Monarchs, they wouldn’t be easy to kill, but even they had limits. And neither of them knew what would happen if their bodies were pushed far enough to bleed out.

Let me loose. You clearly need me.

”Shut up, Hera,” Lucy replied grimly.

You will die a gruesome death. You think that leopard can save you? It can’t! It’s just an animal!

Lucy severed the connection.

Even then, she could still feel the elf ranting inside her soul space.

Two portals opened nearby, their surfaces covered in blue diagrams glowing with brilliant light. From one emerged a small, thick-scaled, serpentine beast. From the other stepped a man in a black hoodie and loose pants.

King was barefooted. He took his place beside Percival while Levi coiled around his body.

”Protect her,” Percival told Levi.

Then he turned to Lucy.

”Help as many people as you can. I know what to do.”

”What are you planning?” Lucy asked, keeping her eyes fixed on him.

”The mana factory. It has enough mana for me to wipe out these Fanatics.” Percival jumped from the building and landed in a crouch.

”Percival.” Lucy stared down at him. ”People we’re supposed to protect will die if you bring a flood.”

”They’re everywhere. We can’t kill them all head-on.” Percival summoned the trident relic into his hand. ”But I can seal this entire place inside a dome of water and fill it.”

Lucy went still.

Percival tightened his grip on the trident.

”Everything that can’t breathe underwater will die.”

”Don’t worry, the citizens of Paradise won’t. Levi will help you. Retreat if their attacks become too severe.”

His smile held enough warmth to ease her concerns. Lucy watched him and King vanish into the distance, then turned towards the bridge.

”Levi. Go to the water.”

The leviathan slithered through the air and plunged into the river.

The Origin Tiers began moving off the bridge. Half marched into Mist. The others advanced towards Meinstrel.

Towards her.

Their arrows came first, tearing through everything in their path.

Concrete offered no protection against the might of an Origin Tier summon. Distance offered little safety either. Their arrows could travel for kilometres.

A hail of arrows sailed across the sky, spreading like a blanket of darkness. Lucy’s leopard charged towards it.

She never thought a day would come when she could be this courageous. The confidence surging through her seemed to energise her even more than mana.

Lucy pointed a finger towards the sky.

Mana coursed through her body as she reached upwards and tore open a small hole in the air.

Her mana began plummeting. At the same time, the black hole pulled at the incoming arrows. One after another, they twisted from their paths and vanished into its unknown depths until the sky was clear.

The leopard crashed into the elves.

They fired, but their arrows suddenly slowed.

The leopard lunged. Her jaws closed around an elf’s head, and with a violent wrench, she tore it free.

Lucy watched her beast rip through them. Claws tore through armour, flesh and bone. The leopard twisted between the elves, striking one before another could even draw his bow.

In their midst, the Crusaders could no longer fire freely. A missed shot could bury an arrow in one of their own. The leopard exploited every moment of hesitation.

She carved through them like a natural disaster. As men faltered and fell before an earthquake, so the Crusaders fell before the beast.

Then Levi rose from the river. Its jaws clamped around the bridge.

CRACK!

Stone and concrete collapsed beneath the force of its bite. Some of the Crusaders still on the bridge were quick enough to leap towards land.

Others weren’t. They plunged straight into the leviathan’s gaping maw. Levi’s growl rolled across the battlefield, deep enough to trouble the earth like a monstrous peal of thunder.

The elves already on Mist’s side turned their bows towards the sea beast.

A volley struck Levi. Arrow after arrow bounced from its thick, segmented carapace.

Levi was a Monarch with an immense Defence Factor. Against opponents of a weaker tier, it was a nightmare.