Record of Lodoss War 4: The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain 2 (novel)

Record of Lodoss War 4: The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain 2
Author	Ryo Mizuno
Illustrations	Yutaka Izubuchi
Japanese title	ロードス島戦記４ 火竜山の魔竜（下）
Romanized title	rōdosu-tō senki 4 hi tatsuyama no ma ryū (shita)
Publication information
Original release	20 June 1990
Chapters	4. The Thieves’ Guild 　(盗賊ギルド) 5. Defeat 　(敗北) 6. Abram The Water Dragon 　(水竜エイブラ) 7. The Battle of Fire Dragon Mountain 　(火竜山の戦い)
Pages	304 308 (re-release)
ISBN-13	978-4044604059 (1990) 978-4041011485 (2014)
Novels
← Previous	The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain I
Next →	The Kings’ Holy War

Record of Lodoss War 4: The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain 2 is the fourth novel in the Record of Lodoss War light novel series and cotinues to adapt from Record of Lodoss War RPG Replay II (novel). It details the continued adventures of Orson, Shiris, Parn, Deedlit, Slayn, Leylia, Cecil, Maar and others as they endeavor to stop a party from Marmo led by Ashram from getting ahold of the Scepter of Domination and defeat the fire dragon, Shooting Star.

The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain 2 was adapted into anime twice, loosely in the 1990 OVA, and more closely in the 1998 anime.

Synopsis

　Shiris, Orson, Slayn, Cecil, Leylia and Shari have arrived in the free city of Raiden. They decide to rest in an inn, called the Sea Dragon Tavern. There, they meet a grassrunner, who is also a bard, and invite him to perform for them. The grassrunner says his name is Maar. After the performance the party decides to rest, but Cecil notices his stones and money have been stolen and Maar suddenly gets in trouble with a trio of thieves. The thieves want the stones and gold that Maar had stolen from Cecil. A fight breaks out, but Cecil ends it with a slumber cloud spell.

　Recalling King Kashue wanting them to work with the Thieves’ Guild, the party decides to let one of the thieves, a man named Jedd, take them to the Thieves’ Guild on the outskirts of Raiden. Once there, the thief introduces the party to the guild master, who happens to be Fourth. Also present is Marsh. Both worked with Slayn in the Flaim civil war. Fourth explains to the party that since the events of the second novel, he and Marsh had returned to the Thieves’ Guild and overthrown the traitor usurper and restored order and a set of new rules within the guild, such as barring assassination jobs and only stealing from the rich. They also explain that they have troubles with a certain group of pirates in Raiden. Slayn explains that they're in a hurry to get to Blue Dragon Island before Ashram does. Orson decides to help out Fourth and Marsh with the pirates and then use one of the pirate ships to get to Blue Dragon Island. Meanwhile, Slayn will look for some saylors.

　That night, Shiris and Orson spend a room together. While Shiris is asleep, Orson tests his resilience against Hyuri by allowing the spirit of anger to control him. Orson still had some control over himself though, and when he came near Shiris with two hands put together in a fist, ready to crush her face, he managed to snap out of Hyuri's control and promised not to test himself like that again.

　In a cave west of Raiden, near the sea, Ashram and his crew are preparing to head to Blue Dragon Island in two days. Ashram is uneasy, because he just received news of a sighting two days ago of a possible eavesdropper. Meanwhile in Raiden, Slayn and Leylia have succesfully recruited several sailors. From one of them they learn that the pirate cave where Orson's party is heading towards, is occupied by Marmo.

　When Orson and his party arrive at the cave, Maar and Fourth, using stealth and trickery, sneak closer to the entrance and take out the two sentries. The party then enters the cave, until they reach an open area, fighting and beating several enemies along the way. There, more enemies await them, led by Alhaib, a pirate henchman of Ashram's. These pirates too are defeated and eventually the party reaches the pirate ship they came for. Meanwhile, Ashram and his party of mercenaries Gilram and Smeddy, sorcerer Groder, dark elf Astar and Phalaris priest Gaberra, and Myrii priest Hobb, have been alerted of their presence and have surfaced from the ship. Hobb begins chanting the War Song, strengthening Ashram's party.

　Shari tries a war song as well, but it costs her more than Hobb. The parties engage in battle. Smeddy duels Shiris, Astar attacks Fourth, Gilram duels Marsh, Gaberra takes on Maar and Ashram takes on Orson. At Hobb's request, Groder casts a spell on Cecil and Shari, taking them out. Shiris forces Smeddy on the defensive, but at the cost of her own stamina. Fourth gets the better of Astar and wants to help Shiris, but Astar summons Sandman, the spirit of sleep, and puts Fourth into a sleep. Marsh kills Gilram, rushes to Fourth and wants to carry him to safety, but suddenly gets pierced from behind by Smeddy, who had just beaten Shiris. Smeddy retracts her sword and pierces Marsh again, who dies almost instantly. Orson manages to force Ashram on the defensive, but when he sees a defeated Shiris, Hyuri takes control of him. At that moment Ashram strikes him with the Demon Sword “Soul Crusher”, and Hyuri leaves Orson again. Orson calls for Hyuri to return, but when he notices Shiris is alive and alright, the spirit of anger leaves and Orson surrenders to Ashram. Maar had surrendered to Gaberra. The party has been defeated and captured.

　Several hours later, with everyone awake, Shiris becomes emotional over Marsh's death, but also, primarily, over her loss to Smeddy. Orson tries to comfort her. Both get emotional, a rather new experience to Orson, who has felt Hyuri's control grow significantly weaker since he was struck by Soul Crusher. Shari is taken to meet Hobb. Hobb learns that Shari has decided to collaborate with King Kashue, as per her interpretation of Myrii's will. The two know that next time they meet, they will be enemies.

　When the ship reaches the shores of Blue Dragon Island, Ashram and his party, with Orson, explore the area until they find a cave on the east of the island. Inside they find Abram. Groder talks with Abram in the ancient language, that, of those present, only he and the dragon speak. He tells Ashram he is trying to reason with the chromatic dragon, but is actually trying to stir a fight with it so that he can obtain the dragon's treasure, which is not the Scepter of Domination, but the Soul Crystall Ball, another of the Governor’s Treasures. Groder gets his wish and the party begins to fight the dragon, who is still weakened because of his recent awakening. Despite that, the battle is fierce and Ashram and his men get seriously wounded, but in the end manage to slay the dragon. The party returns to the ship and Groder, through telepathy, informs Wagnard he has obtained the Soul Crystal Ball. However, he has also begun to question his loyalty to Wagnard, as his respect for Ashram has grown.

　In Raiden, Kashue, Parn, Deedlit and Shadam arrive with a detachment of Flaim's army, due to possible threat from Shooting Star. Slayn informs them of the recent events. The party decides to check out the pirate hideout. At the pirate ship, the Sea Demon’s Horn, Ashram and his companions are discussing fighting Shooting Star. Groder believes six men, together with some dragon's tooth warriors from Abram's fangs, will be enough to defeat Shooting Star, but not everyone is convinced of that idea. Ashram then receives report one of the prisoners has escaped—it was Maar, who had put everyone asleep with a Spellsong and took off with the Soul Crystal Ball.

　At the mainland, Kashue, Parn and the others bump into Maar, who tells them what happened. Maar leads the party to the pirate hideout, where they do battle with the Marmo forces and rather easily defeat Alhaib, who immediately pledges his loyalty and offers them a trip to Blue Dragon Island. Kashue is disgusted by Alhaib, but lets him live. After Alhaib's defeat, Orson, Shiris and the others are rescued and the merged party, consisting of Kashue, Parn, Deedlit, Slayn, Leylia, Maar, Orson, Shiris, Cecil, Fourth and Shari, decides to head to Fire Dragon Mountain, despite an attack on Raiden by Shooting Star. When the party nears Fire Dragon Mountain, Deedlit asks Orson how come his emotions have returned, and Orson explains its due to being struck by Ashram's sword and, later, by the roar of Abram. Both must have had an impact on Hyuri, the spirit of anger that controlled him since his youth, because Hyuri's hold weakened greatly since those moments.

　Meanwhile, Ashram and his party have found the entrance to Fire Dragon Mountain. At Groder's suggestion, the party decides to wait until Shooting Star leaves the mountain, hoping for an easy retrieval of the Scepter of Domination. Smeddy and Groder stand on guard, but when they notice the dragon leave, Smeddy also spots what she believes are forces from Flaim. Groder informs Ashram about this, and together they decide for Ashram, with Hobb, to go deeper into the cave, while Groder, Smeddy, Astar and Gaberra deal with the incoming force. When the two parties get closer to each other, Smeddy recognizes some, including Shiris, from before. Groder uses Abram's fangs to summon seven dragon's tooth warriors, to compensate for their lacking numbers. Shiris wants to fight Smeddy again, but Orson advices against it because she's too exhausted from the long journey. Shiris responds she will try to take Smeddy down in one blow. Gaberra casts a petrification spell on Shari, but she gets healed by Leylia. Astar summons Behemoth, the king spirit of the earth, and Deedlit, in response, summons Jinn, the king spirit of wind, causing a stale-mate. Slayn and Cecil engage in a magic duel with Groder. Kashue wants to aid Shiris, but, at Parn's advice, he enters the cave and goes after Ashram with Shari.

　Parn and the others eventually get the upper hand in the fight. Leylia and Gaberra slowly close in on each other for an armed duel, and Leylia easily topples her opponent. Shiris is being overwhelmed by Smeddy and the despairing Orson is unable to help. When it becomes clear Shiris is about to get killed by Smeddy, Orson calls for Hyuri's help and the spirit of anger takes control of him once more. At that moment, the two dragon's tooth warriors he faced struck his neck and torso, leaving mortal wounds. Orson, now once again a berserker, ignores the dragon's tooth warriors and goes after Smeddy. Smeddy attacks Orson with her two blades, tearing open his chest, but Orson survives and plunges his own sword into Smeddy's body, killing her. Shiris extends her arms to Orson, accepting the idea she will be Orson's next victim, but Orson turns around and destroys a dragon's tooth warrior, before killing the dark elf Astar. He then turns around to face Shiris again, who asks to be killed by him out of remorse. Orson turns his back to her, then dies. In the meantime, Parn, Fourth and Maar have defeated the other dragon's tooth warriors.

　While Shiris stays behind, Parn and the others go after Kashue and Shari. Meanwhile, Ashram and Hobb have reached the dragon's lair. They are shocked to find Shooting Star there. A battle is inevitable. Kashue meets up with Ashram, who explains Shooting Star is probably her because of the Kastuulian curse that binds him to the Scepter of Domination. Kashue proposes to fight Shooting Star together, before duelling for the Scepter. Ashram recalls the dishonourable way Kashue duelled Beld. Parn and the others arrive, and Parn says he will respect the agreement if he can duel Ashram in case Kashue is killed by Ashram. Ashram accepts. Kashue, Parn and Ashram, backed up Hobb and Shari reciting the War Song, begint the assault on Shooting Star. Throughout the battle, they are assisted by Deedlit, who summons Behemoth, Leylia, who grants them protection against fire, and magical assistance from Slayn and Cecil. Ultimately, Shooting Star is killed. In the aftermath, Kashue and Ashram begin their duel and eventually Kashue beats the Black Knight. Ashram then rushes towards the Scepter of Domination, but as he gets hold of it, Parn attempts to strike him. Ashram attempts to block the attack with the Scepter, but as a result loses his grip on the artefact, which then drops into the depths of the cave. Ashram follows after the scepter, and throws himself into the crater.

When the party exits the cave, the find Shiris, who has dug a grave for Orson and used her and Orson's sword as marker. Leylia and Shari leave a prayer for Orson. Shiris says her goodbyes and tells him he has been her best companion.

Characters appearing

In order of appearance.

• Shiris
• Orson
• Slayn
• Cecil
• Leylia
• Shari
• Maar
• Jedd
• Fourth
• Marsh
• Ashram
• Alhaib
• Hobb
• Gilram
• Smeddy
• Groder
• Astar
• Gaberra
• Abram
• Wagnard
• Shadam
• Asam
• Parn
• Deedlit
• Kashue
• Shooting Star
• Lukini

Gallery

Artwork from the novel.

Cover artwork without text (by Izubuchi) Cover artwork for 2014 release without text (by Dong-hyuk) Intertitle (by Izubuchi) Smeddy fighting Shiris (by Izubuchi) Ashram falls in Fire Dragon Mountain (by Izubuchi) Map of Lodoss Map of northern Lodoss Maar (by Izubuchi) Fourth with Slayn (by Izubuchi) Ashram’s party (by Izubuchi) Smeddy kills Marsh (by Izubuchi) Priest Hobb and disciple Shari (by Izubuchi) King Kashue with Deedlit and Parn (by Izubuchi) Orson (by Izubuchi) Shooting Star (by Izubuchi)