Chapter 92: The Incident in the Capital

"*Sigh* This is… not what I expected…" Ray tiredly exhaled through his nasal path and massaged his brow.

"I had been blind to not recognise the heaven above! Please! Please! forgive this lowly one's ignorance!"

"Please! Grant this lowly Kazuma just a tiny bit of your power. I am willing to do anything in return. Please!" Kazuma kneeled along with a few others in the gaze of pure worship.

———

An hour earlier.

"I announce the arrival of The Second Princess, The Goblin General and the exalted hero… es?" The announcer looked confused because he was expecting only one but it turned out to be two heroes.

The crowd inside the palace immediately start to whisper intensely about the appearance of another hero.

The large and heavy ornate double door is immediately pushed open by six knights as Ray and the group walk in along with the soldiers from both kingdoms as their escorts.

"Welcome, exalted heroes. Welcome to my humble kingdom." The Holy Kingdom's king immediately stood up from his seat to greet the newly arrived heroes into his palace that honestly seemed better days considering the place is practically empty of any luxurious decoration one would normally expect from a king's palace.

The whole place looks very barren of any luxury except for what is already embedded into the wall. Even the throne was made of simple marble without any decoration of precious metals and gems. However, Ray can tell that this king at the very least isn't some kind of tyrant for starving his people while he enjoys the luxury. Instead the king lived modestly along with his people and the people also lived happily in his kingdom from what he could see from the parade along the way from the castle wall to the palace.

"Father! I had returned and successfully brought the heroes to the capital." The princess excitedly ran towards the king.

Meanwhile, Ray walks into the royal court while surveying the people inside.

From what he can remember, the princess has four siblings total with her being the youngest and the second daughter. Her brothers and sister like her, also help to run the military and the kingdom to assist their parents unlike most stories that he watches where the prince and princess will have power struggle to seize the throne. Though, he can't be sure until he sees it with his eyes.

Near the throne is an elevated place where a group of goblins are gathered and where the Goblin General are walking toward. Safe to assume the one covered in savage yet somehow regal looking armor made of bones is the Goblin King. The Goblin King looks bored while he is feasting on foods and wines brought by his servants.

Then the nobles of the Holy Kingdom gathered on the right side of the court waiting with some anticipation for the real event to get started while they socialized with each other. Yet, none of them look like typically villain type nobles that will do anything to get more power or money. All of them look good and so perfect that it made Ray feel weird. Very weird that he starts to suspect something is up.

Then beside the king is a woman dressed like a woman of high class aristocracy but also a very loving mother in Ray's eyes with how she is concerned of the Second Princess' wellbeing. Beside her are two handsome men of tall build that have similarity in appearance to both the king and Queen.

The next one is a female that is looking at Ray as he finished examining the two princes and looking at her. Both exchange glances before the princess shyly turns away her gaze for a moment before performing a curtsy.

Ray suddenly feels painless but annoying jabs on his sides from Kazuma that give him a smug look.

"Oi, oi. Immediately flirted with the princess upon meeting and made her blush shyly like that. Sasuga my senpai. Teach me some tricks and tips next time okay? It's unfair to hog all the women yourself." Kazuma whispered while giving Ray a few more light jabs.

The exchange between Ray and the First Princess are noticed by the Second Princess, King and the others nearby. The Second Princess immediately rushed near her older sister and reprimand her.

"Sister, you shouldn't! Lord Ray is a married man and even has a daughter already." The Second Princess looked terrified as she jumped on her older sister to stop her from flirting with Ray.

Her fear is justified when she thinks about Ophis. If the daughter is already that strong, wouldn't her sister's flirting inciting anger of Ray's wife be a literal disaster waiting to happen?

Meanwhile Kazuma's shock is entirely a different reason as his soul literally escaped through his mouth for a moment before it returned when he snapped out of it.

"You have a wife! And a daughter!" Kazuma shouted in terror like his world just collapsed in front of his eyes.

His head lowered as shadow casted over his eyes as he tightly gripped his hands into fist. Kazuma took a deep breath and muttered under his breath but Ray's excellent hearing can pick up the voice clearly.

"Traitor… normies. I was mistaken to think we are fellow comrades."

Feeling like her presence is needed, Ophis appeared in curiosity and surveyed the surroundings but found nothing interesting around. She lands on the ground before pulling the edge of Ray's clothes before cutely looking at him with expectation.

Ray already knew the drill nodded before grabbing something in his inventory to satisfy his cute daughter's palate under the immense shocked face of Kazuma as he pointed at Ophis with his shaky finger.

"Infinite Dragon God, Ouroboros… Impossible… could he be one of those… Impossible! Impossible! Ha.. haha.. hahaha!" Kazuma faltered a few steps and laughed like a madman under the wary and confused look from the clueless audience.

However the audience manages to catch a few keywords which are Dragon and God. Individually the words are used to denote a strong being and together, they wonder how significant the title mentioned by Kazuma is.

The Second Princess took this opportunity to introduce the god she mentioned previously to her people. The reactions are mixed especially from the Goblin group because they can feel immense pressure pressed down on them that is caused simply by Ophis appearing and not by her conscious act.

"As expected of the heroes from the legend!"

"His daughter is a god! Who knows how strong he is… perhaps liberating the world from the monster problem is no longer a pipe dream."

"Kyah! Such a cute daughter! Never I expect a common looking man like him could result in such a cute daughter. I wish I could cuddle her!"

Various whispers and talks burst out from the crowd. Most are fine but some are offensive in his opinion. He feels like the people here see the heroes as their convenience to take on any impossible task which is parallel to all the stories he read or watched before. They can't expect him to take on such a task without an equivalent benefit or reward to himself.

"Ahem, heroes. I am the K-" Before the king could finish his words, a knight crashed into the royal court bearing a grave news.

"Your majesty! Horde of unknown flying monsters are flying toward the kingdom from the east! Their numbers are too much that they turn day into night with their sheer number!"

"Start the evacuation immediately! Open the palace for the people to take refuge!" The king ordered with regality befitting of a king.

"Summon all the knights and soldiers! We will defend the imperial capital." The two princes immediately said before rushing to their post while the nobles scrambled to their own task of either taking up arms or helping to evacuate the citizens.

There is a minority that stayed in the royal court. One being the Goblin group while the other is a small group of nobles that are shaking on their feet.

"Go, bring along a few elders with you." The voice of the Goblin King was heard and caught the attention of few.

"Yes, my king." The Goblin General kneeled respectfully and accepted the order.

The Goblin General then left with few of the supposed 'elders' that were holding staff, which made Ray assume they are magic casters.

"Goblin King, that was unnecessary of you. You are guests to my kingdom. It's rude of me to impose such a task on you and your people." The King said.

"Don't mind it, Human King. Take it as my good will for our future cooperation." The Goblin King said with a smirk before taking another bite of the endless supply of well roasted meat his servants keep bringing.

The king didn't continue to argue and nodded his head since every help is appreciated in front of unknown enemies of unknown numbers.

However, the good impression of Ray on these people since his arrival shattered immediately.

"Your majesty, why not send those heroes to fight those enemies? They are the legendary heroes that surpassed even gods in legends, no?"

"Yes, Marquis Rowan is correct. The heroes of legend definitely can will regardless of odds. Their legend of conquering even the gods above is well known throughout the myth passed down from five centuries ago."

The group of nobles tried to push their ideas of sending Ray and Kazuma to fight those unknown enemies for a higher chance of their survival while they were cowering there and wouldn't fight. If they are joining then Ray would mind even if it is still rude.

Then they immediately assume the so-called heroes of legends are very strong beings that can overcome impossible odds. If it's himself then it's understandable they would have such an impression but Kazuma would literally die when fighting even a normal soldier since he isn't much of a fighter at all.

Equipped with his trademark green tracksuit, a bow and a decent short sword from the moment of his death in the snow mountain during a quest. No matter how it looks, Kazuma is definitely a novice in battle that anyone with any battle experience can identify. Yet those people have no qualm to send Kazuma off to his death, fighting an unknown threat while they are hiding behind the castle wall and thousands of other brave defenders.

Ray's disappointment is very clear on his face and disdain as he glances over those cowardly faces. The king and the people left in the court couldn't help but to feel ashamed to have such people within their ranks that the king immediately ordered the royal guards to drag those nobles into prison for smearing the dignity of the kingdom and insulting the heroes. However Ray didn't care since such a bad apple is inevitable.

"Don't worry, I will also extend my help." Ray said to the worried king before swooping Ophis into his arm.

"You stay back, Kazuma. Your strength isn't much in the first place to fight even a soldier on equal ground."

Instead of feeling offended, Kazuma knew his limit. He nodded and unnecessarily saluted Ray as he left to join the defending force.

"I will stay here and await your victorious return, senpai!" Kazuma shouted passionately as he was looking at Ray's heroic figure exiting the royal court.

———

The seven Dragonlords that lead the horde of dragons, scouring every inch of the land suddenly felt the presence of their King returned to the land once again. However, her presence is weaker (suppressed) which raises an alarm amongst the Dragonlords mind.

"ROAR!!! We fly to the west!" The lead roared to pass his order before the horde realigned their path and flapped their leathery wings as hard as they could while powered by the mana to fly at their top speed.

In less than an hour, the dragon horde was already almost reaching the edge of the land.

All the kingdoms, empires, cities, towns and villages they passed. Mass panic occurred as people fled their land only to be left confused that the hordes only passed through their head without stopping.

In the edge of their vision, the Dragonlords can see their destination. A backwater kingdom that was totally unremarkable, without any specialties like resources, destinations or anything at all but this location had one unforgettable fact remembered by each of the senior members of the horde. This is the origin of all heroes or transmigrators which is what the heroes like to call themselves as.

"Could it be… the heroes finally returned to the land after centuries of silence?" The demoted former Dragon King now Dragonlord of Sky speculated and shared his thoughts with other Dragonlords.

"Could it be that our king was defeated by those accursed heroes!" The short tempered Fire Dragonlord roared with venom in his words, spitting at the existence called heroes.

"It's possible. Even our God once felled and conquered by those heroes, those heroes definitely could capture our king." The Dragonlord of Frost calmly shared his thoughts, opposite to the Fire that immediately roared loudly and gave the villagers they just passed a heart attack.

"We must free our King! Who knows what kind of depraved act those bastard heroes forced on our helpless king!" The Dragonlords roared in unison as the sign of their agreement and shared with the rest of the horde as they also roared with their rightful vengeance on the warpath against the evil heroes.

(Majority of those reincarnators and transmigrators are your typical otaku obsessed with anime and shiz, going around capturing creatures like pokemon to make into waifu like elf or monster girls. Those old generations already made a bad impression on the residents of this world.)

"ROAR!!! RIP THE BASTARD HERO INTO PIECES!" The Dragonlords chanted.

"RIP THE BASTARD HERO INTO PIECES!" The horde followed and they roared their declaration of war against the supposed bastard hero as they dived toward the wall of the castle.

There they saw their king but were already bewitched by the heroes using something sinister to make her obedient. Perhaps the food she was eating is the thing that bewitched her.

"CHARGE!!! RIP THE BASTARD HERO INTO PIECES!"

"RIP THE BASTARD HERO INTO PIECES!"

On the other side of the soon-to-be warzone, Ray is assessing his opponents and found the majority of the horde to be manageable but the 8 Dragonlords and dozens more elder dragons to be problematic.

Their level alone doubles until quadruple of Ray's own Levels. This means their raw stats alone outmatched Ray. However, Ray's real capability didn't lie fully on his stats. Instead, his equipment and skills. Also not to forget he had Ophis power and full support.

While he was observing the incoming enemies, Ray didn't notice his face breaking into a smile. Rarely he had a place to go all out except the Mission stages which he got bored of. A mindless monotonous opponent can no longer sate his hunger for battle. If there is god above, he would like to extend his thanks for this warm welcome for him.

"Ouroboros. Limiter Off."

The mecha suit usually had its full output inhibited because Ray normally wouldn't require much to defeat any opponent he met before. However, this time he is fighting opponents double to quadruple him in sheer stats, not even considering skills etc. So, holding back is the last thing he needed.

This time, Ray removes all the inhibitors that reduce the flow of Ophis power directly into his body. Immediately Ray can feel a sharp pain on his neck that travelled down his spine that was followed by a cold and soothing sensation.

Ophis took her seat on the castle wall, dangling her little bare feets while feasting on a new bag of chocolate chip cookies. She feels slight concern for Ray, taking on full output of her power that constantly flows into Ouroboros and filtered into a stable energy.

The only reason she isn't stopping him is because even herself has to praise Ray for his durability. The one thing Ray has great advantage in is his durability that rivals even the stronger gods of the DxD world.

Ouroboros that normally silent when in operation now hum slowly and gradually become louder as the armor is booting up those unused functions and parts due to previously inhibited.

Purplish red mist slowly oozes out the crevices of the armor due to saturation of mana in the system. A few moments later, the sinister looking incarnation of death hummed intensely as part of the armor glowed in violet light.

"Feel invigorating but also straining on my nerves." Ray muttered as he got a feel of the new sensation of concentrated mana in liquid form literally injected into his bloodstream to enhance his body performance.

After taking a few grip to feel the effects, Ray extended his arm in a grasping motion before a tornado of chaotic mana washed over his arm. A jet black sword with a similar violet glow of his armor appeared in his grip. Void Brand, the sword that is imbued with the attribute of void that creates a void with each slash and cuts off even the strongest defence like a flaming sword through a butter.

Lowering his body, Ray tensed his legs before jumping toward the sky and the wings on Ouroboros spread open, revealing six thrusters that immediately burst out a wave of energy that sent Ray instantaneously into Mach 4 speed that made him look like disappearing and reappearing in another location.

His entire body flashes violet from the rapid injection of energy tainted by Ophis mana and forms strings of energy flowing into Void Brand. His energy gauge dropped from max to zero but instantly refilled again. His armor didn't even have an opportunity to filter the energy before being absorbed by Ray's body again to fill the energy gauge.

Ray can taste the blood flowing into his mouth that leave the taste of copper caused by sudden forceful injection of energy into his body. However, insignificant injury like this wouldn't leave any significant negative effect on his performance.

Just when Ray arrived a few meters away from the horde of dragons, spearheaded by the Dragonlords, he suddenly halted his movements and his body flashed orange instead as he activated Hold The Line skill that required him to be stationary.

Ray used both hands to grip Void Brand before leaning it toward his right. He can feel excitement bubbling out from his stomach as blood rushed into his head while he grinned ferociously out of excitement. By his will, the energy sent into Void Brand now performs a simple sword technique most basic swordsmen can do but the sheer amount of energy spent into that one attack made it rival even the destructiveness of Ultimate Class all out attack.

Simplistic and basic attack but lethality is no less than any complex spell or skill.

The energy slash attack executed by Ray inflated a few dozen times its original size, proportional to the sheer energy contained inside that slash and clashed with the dragon horde.

The Dragonlords immediately deploy an energy barrier in unison to protect against the incoming attack. The elders also joined however they didn't know that the void attribute is extremely effective in piercing defensive ability or object.

The dragons and the people Ray is fighting with, stared with their eyes wide and mouth opened wide enough to fit two eggs or even three.

The massive shield that was supposed to reduce the momentum of the slash, pierced effortlessly like trying to stop a full speed train with a paper wall. It was torn to shreds and the dragon horde were forced to absorb the attack with their body.

Dragon being dragon, none of them died after experiencing the attack. At most they were heavily injured but still capable of basic movement as they retreated while the capable one continued to charge at their target that is within dragon equivalent of 'a foot length'.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR DEFILING OUR KING AND HURTING OUR KINS!" The Dragonlord of Fire stretched his claw out in an attempt to catch Ray with his claw and squash him like a bug.

Ray however already anticipated the attack with his battle asist implants and cybernetics. He effortlessly floats back a little for the claw to catch empty air before he retaliates with a frontal slash on the Dragon's arm. However, his plain slash without any power behind it, couldn't even scratch the Dragonlord of Fire's skin. Instead it just slid off as Ray anticipated.

"HAH! WHERE IS YOUR ARROGANCE NOW, HERO! YOUR ATTACK COULDN'T EVEN QUALIFY AS AN ITCH!" The Dragonlord taunted before attacking even ferociously but also more carelessly.

Ray smirked at such a simple minded opponent. With a mental command, several rings appeared and slotted around Void Brand before they synchronized to produce a similar magic circles for looping his energy just like when he fought against possesed Chifuyu. However, he can skip the calculation and recalculation of variables as the attack had been turned into a pre-program command that had been implemented with the help of the AI in programming it.

In a split second, Ray lifted Void Brand and aimed at the Dragonlord of Fire before the magic circles around his sword cannon glowed intensely and blasted a concentrated beam of energy on the Dragonlord of Fire's face. Then the rings disassemble instantly to orbit around Ray, functioning as fire support drones while Void Brand already smashed on the most battered part of the Dragonlord.

Not enough with one attack, Ray activated his thrusters to increase his speed while he executed multiple smash and bash in rapid succession. By the end of his attack, Ray already raked up two dozen combos.

Strangely enough, while Ray is attacking the Dragonlord, none of the other dragons is attacking him or the defending forces of the two kingdoms behind him. However, he didn't have time to think unnecessary thoughts as he focused on bringing down his opponent.

Meanwhile with Ophis, she was leisurely munching on cookies when seven other Dragonlords shapeshifted in their humanoid form to slip past Ray's perception.

"Our king! We are here to free you from the depraved and lecherous hero!" One of the Dragonlords speaked and immediately snatched away the cookies that they thought was the object that was manipulating her.

They even went a step further to eradicate it into dust before trying to forcefully bring Ophis away from this place while the hot headed Dragonlord of Fire is distracting Ray.

The soldiers and knights didn't act because their opponents were dragons and they didn't have any hostile intent toward them.

Understandably Ophis is furious that someone ruined her snacks. Her power briefly went berserk and out of control in response to her anger. Just releasing her presence to the world is enough to force everyone into submission except Ray. The Dragonlords felt immense pressure pressing down on them until they fell to the ground kneeling.

"Ray give silence and delicious food. Ray is papa. Remember that." Ophis said while her presence intensified, signalling the Dragonlords to only reply yes or they will face consequences.

"Y-yes!" The seven kneeling Dragonlords nodding their heads rapidly like chicken pecking on food.

However, nothing was done to stop the Dragonlord of Fire since Ophis can feel Ray is having fun fighting.

The other soldiers and knights only watch in awe and respect to Ray as Ophis, his daughter able to make the infamous tyrants of this layer, bow down to her in submission. Creatures that are always closest to gods in terms of strength like the Dragonlords usually already have high mastery of their own elements to be compared with authority of gods and added to their innate affinity with magic.

Yet they are all very submissive to Ophis and they know this isn't an act made by the dragons. Dragons are prideful creatures and very direct to engage in deceit. Thus, they knew this show of submission isn't just an act. Also not just the 8 Dragonlords, but the entire dragonkins are subservient toward Ophis. With this much might, reclaiming the territory infested with monsters isn't pipe dream any longer. It could be a reality with a simple verbal order from Ophis to mobilize the might that is seen as a menace even by the gods.

(Gods of Hub's internal world are different than usual stereotypical gods with divine authority and command law. These gods' authority are very limited yet also very strong. The Hub's system is technically the supreme god as it manages the world but is also restricted just like a game dev. They can do anything they want but couldn't because they will interrupt the balance of the world if interfering needlessly.)

———

Returning to the present, Kazuma, the eight Dragonlords and a few prominent dragons kneel to Ray. Except for Kazuma, the rest only did so because they were ordered by their king.

"Sigh, Kazuma… san. Not that I didn't want to help you but I have no power to grant you at all. Except if you are willing to take Ophis's snake to increase your power immediately but cripple your future potential." Ray said while trying to avoid the admiring gaze from tens of thousands of monsters, knights, soldiers, nobles and royalties.

He feel like he wanted to find a hole to bury himself from being the centre of attention but his past experience being a general from the DxD world made him able to bear this uncomfortable sensation of being pierced by countless gazes.

Suddenly Ray remembered the Blade Blacksmith sacred gear that he acquired from Jeanne but never used. However, he rather has this ability to one of his women or even one of the girls from Infinite Stratos world…

Wait! It didn't need to be an actual power right?

"Hey, Kazuma… How about if I give you equipment instead of power? I have weapons like exoskeleton to enhance your physical capabilities or futuristic weapons like guns or even lightsabers if you want." Ray offers while his mind is running through his Pocket Space to search for the equipment.

Kazuma considered the offer less than a few seconds before he accepted with open arms, to the extent of hugging Ray's legs and calling him father but immediately got a slap from Ray as he swept Kazuma away from the repulsive and disgusting feeling of being called as Daddy by Kazuma.

With the dragon horde issue resolved, everyone returned to the previous agenda that was forgotten due to the interruption. However, Ray's standing in the royal court is clearly different from the initial as many shoot him gaze filled with admiration, respect, awe, fear and even greed.

—————

I planned to have a week to write each chapter but this week I'm surprisingly not very busy and went overboard with the amount of words. Anyway, here it is.

I tried to add battle scenes since I will be adding a lot in the next dozen chapters, probably. So, this is a testing stage for me to write a battle scene since I really sucks at it. I tried reading a few other novels but I couldn't really grasp what was actually important to a battle scene.

-Lengthy explanation of the situation in battle (Slow pace)

Eg: How I write above

OR

-Brief explanation but many movement (Fast pace)

Eg:

Kazuma used his short bow and aimed at the lesser slime's core before shooting an arrow but he missed by a few centimetres.

The slime detected Kazuma hiding around the corner and denied Kazuma off his long range sniping position as the slime rushed toward Kazuma.

He discarded his bow as his opponent entered close range and pulled out the shortsword from his back before lunging toward the slime. Sword aimed at the core. Thankfully the slime has almost nil intelligence to dodge the attack and Kazuma successfully pierce the slime's core to achieve his first victory in solo combat... against a basic dungeon monster.