I Was a Loner, but My Class Got Summoned to Another World…-Chapter 502: The Alchemist’s Gift

The battlefield was chaos. A massive dragon rampaged freely, tearing apart anything that dared approach, while demons clustered together in desperation to bring it down.

For a brief moment, there was a standstill, but in truth, the demons were steadily being pushed back.

Valeria's dragon plowed through the fiends relentlessly, scattering even the most seasoned demon knights.

Its tail lashed out, crushing a line of wolves, while its talons carved deep trenches through the earth, tossing demons aside like broken toys.

The top predator was immense, nearly four meters tall, with a long, sinuous body that stretched twice that length. Two powerful wings allowed it to dominate both the land and the skies.

Yet one demon knight refused to falter. His sword, more refined than the rest, suddenly blazed with runes as he called forth fire mana. With a thunderous cry, he drove the blade into the earth, conjuring a surge of molten lava that spilled across the battlefield. A shockwave rippled outward, shaking the ground.

The magma's heat even forced the dragon back, its glow clashing against the beast's own earth-born power. The mighty creature roared in fury at being challenged on what was essentially its own domain.

Reynar, however, was less focused on the clash and more on Valeria's words.

Like many of the high-ranking figures of the Empire, he had been given one of the new guns crafted by the hero of alchemy and forged by the smiths.

Reynar pulled the weapon free from its hastily made holster; its weight was strangely light, it was not something he could get used to yet.

But he had a strange fascination for the weapon the alchemist hero Omar had introduced them to.

The barrel had two runes that were strangely electrical and wind-like and seemed to work together with them as it introduced what the boy called bullets, which, in his words, were like arrows to a boy.

Reynar, who had mostly trained with blades his entire life, had never held something like this. Cheaper, less impressive models of this gun were given out to the soldiers.

He was told that this was no ordinary firearm; it was Omar's refined masterpiece, born from alchemy and human technology. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

If there was one thing the boy was interested in when living on earth, it was fire weapons of all kinds.

As for the demon knight, he wasn't still; he was fighting the dragon with all he had, even getting help from his fellow demons.

It seemed like he did not care about his body or dying, though; his mutating state was beyond that of the others, as if he amped it up to make him the strongest version of himself.

His body grew twice the size, and his muscles bulged to be as thick as logs.

"We have to kill them before they all start to look like that guy; it seems they lost their rationality…" That is why we feared the king of demons coming. It seems they are ready to die to fulfill his orders." Valeria called out to the prince; she held her new weapon while using it to kill off other demons.

Reynar knew she was giving him the chance to kill the fiend, and he appreciated the gesture; the demon had killed many of his friends.

The now red-skinned demon who pulsed like he was dipped into a volcano radiated a flame that came from the fire crystal he had mutated from.

The dragon snarled, slamming its claws into the earth as it tried to force the spreading lava back beneath the demons' feet. Yet even its dominance wavered slightly against the knight's conjured flames.

Reynar leveled the gun, heart pounding, and squeezed the trigger.

The shot erupted like thunder, not with the simple spark of powder but with a storm of alchemical fire born of both chemical and magical nature. A lance of blazing silver streaked through the haze, striking the knight square in the chest. The explosion engulfed him in searing light, tearing away stone and soil in a violent burst that left a smoking crater.

The knight staggered, his armor cracked, the runes etched into it flickering wildly as though struggling to contain the damage. Demons around him howled in shock, some retreating at the sight of a weapon that could rival their strongest mutation state.

Reynar lowered the barrel, smoke curling from its tip. If the weapon had a flaw, it was that it could not be fired repeatedly without pause. His arm still tingled from the recoil, but his Roc steadied him, wings beating hard against the blistering winds rising from the battlefield.

Valeria's voice cut through the chaos. "Good! When you can shoot him again, don't let him recover!"

Reynar nodded sharply, sliding another bullet into place. The weapon thrummed in his hands, syncing with his mana, hungry to unleash more devastation. For the first time in the entire campaign, the prince felt as though he held something capable of matching the overwhelming tide.

The demon knight roared, who was quickly recovering at the cost of his life force. He caused the molten chains to come from the ground as his glaive blazed to life once more. He charged, crimson energy bleeding from his armor, and yet he still raised his weapon up high.

But this time, Reynar was ready.

The demon knight bellowed as he charged forth while ignoring the dragon to kill Reynar, who had attacked him. The molten fissures cracking wider with each step. His glaive burned crimson, a weapon that seemed to be made to split the earth itself.

The flames were strong enough to cause Reynar to pull back; he couldn't let his Roc make another shot.

Before he could fire, Valeria raised her hand; she knew the prince wouldn't be able to handle such a demon who did not die easily from a shot.

Her dragon answered instantly.

Its massive feet let him jump into the air with ease before landing at her side.

With a surge of earth magic, stone walls erupted around the knight, forcing him into a narrowing corridor.

Valeria soon got on her dragon's head, a place she would be able to join the fight in. By now she was used to being there; even if her beast roared, she was able to keep herself steady.

The dragon's amber scales flared with golden light as it slammed its massive tail down. The shockwave shattered the hardened ground and drove the knight to his knees.

"Now!" Valeria commanded, her voice firm.

Reynar didn't hesitate to back her up; there were still so many demons that were close to using their own mutation stones. He raised Omar's weapon, the barrel glowing with the power of the next cylinder, before he pulled the trigger.

The blast struck on point, killing another of the demons, which was slowly changing its appearance.

As for their leader, the knight continued to fight the dragon; he used his large sword to defend himself from its claws and maw. The molten pit under him seemed ready to swallow him whole.

Around them, the remaining demons faltered after Reynar used up his second shot. Some turned to flee, but Valeria's two felines gave them no way out; they had made their choice.

As for the dragon, it finally got a handle on its own fight; it surged forward, maw gaping, and devoured a few demons at once.

Valeria, on the other hand, finished off the leader of the demons with a shot at point blank as she jumped down and directed her gun's barrel at the demon's pulsing crystal.

Night swept overhead, raining black feathers that pierced through those who still resisted.

Within minutes, silence fell over the ruins. Smoke rose from the craters, ash drifting as the remnants of the forest finished burning, and the only sounds were the labored breaths of weary soldiers who had stayed with Reynar.

The portals had long vanished, their unstable energy collapsing as there was no one feeding them mana.

The tide of demons was no more.

Reynar guided his Roc closer to the dragon before getting off; in the distance the sun began to fade as if telling them the day was over. He looked over the devastation, then turned his gaze to the woman who stood calmly beside her dragon, violet eyes glowing faintly in the haze.

"Lady Valeria," he said, voice steadier than he felt, "your timing was… flawless. Without you, more of my men would have fallen."

Valeria rested her hand on the dragon's arm, her expression unreadable. "You played your part well, Reynar; without you, the line would not have held long enough for my trap to matter. You fought well… I can see why your retainers speak so highly of you."

Reynar allowed himself the briefest smile, though fatigue tugged at his shoulders. "Then we'll count this as our victory."

Valeria gave a short nod, her eyes already scanning the horizon. "Come, let's rest. This was only one of many battles. The war is still far from over."

Together, they turned from the charred wasteland, the dragon's heavy steps echoing like drums as it followed its master. Behind them, soldiers began to regroup, clinging to the fragile hope the two had given them.

On this day, the southern front still stood firm.