The ground under the Fire Drake’s foot burst open and from it came a massive amount of “rain water”.
“GaaAAAAaaA!!??”
Of course, I wasn’t saying that the world went so topsy-turvy that rain was coming from below. Previously on that spot was a manhole cover, but it got melted by the Fire Drake’s step. Layla then used her Nature Magic to direct the rain water that kept on accumulating beneath toward the monster.
The reverse water fall surged with great might, but as though it was a matter of course, the dragon and its scales were unhurt. Given the dragon’s exceedingly high Resistance Stat, even an attack saturated with magic power couldn’t be expected to deal that much damage.
All that said, that attack did weaken the flames that clad the Fire Drake.
“…!”
I tightened my mouth that was just about to yell and then did a wall jump using a nearby building’s wall. As I stepped on the wall and caused it to shatter, I pointed the tip of my sword toward the Fire Drake. My aim was its eyeball. It wasn’t protected by its scales and also offered a path toward its brain.
So, if I stabbed there and unleashed my magic power…!
“GaAAAAAaA!!”
Visibility was made poor by the water that just shot up, but there was no mistaking it, my eyes met with the the Fire Drake’s golden eyes.
The monster inclined its giant head to the side, causing my zweihander to hit not its eyeball but its crooked horn instead. The blade slid along the horn and made sparks fly all the while. The dragon then moved to turn its body. The tip of my sword continued going forward and I was left defenseless midair.
My Magic Eye activated and showed me my death. I felt scared of that, of course, but even so, I changed my position in the air. Soon enough, the dragon’s tail came at me like a roundhouse kick. In response, I pointed my feet at the incoming tail and used Magic Power Discharge on my feet. While like that, the sole of my feet made contact with the crimson scales and I bent my knees to absorb as much of the impact as I could. And then, I straightened my legs not to push back against the tail but more so to kick myself away.
“Gu, ahh…!?”
I acted right away and defended as much as I could, yet I still felt immense pain course through my feet. And due to the impact that felt like a truck hit me, I was late in putting a stop to my use of Magic Power Discharge. But that ended up being a fortunate thing: I was about to crash into the hard, asphalt ground but the propulsion from my Magic Power Discharge helped in cushioning the impact. I bounced a few times, but by maybe tenth time, I was able to regain some balance. I supported myself up with my left hand as I planted both of my healing feet firmly on the ground.
“Haa…haa…!”
In one short exchange, I was already this out of breath. I could feel my heart beating like crazy from the pain and the fear.
The Fire Drake kept glaring at me as it stomped and burned the spot where the manhole used to be. The flames around its body was still hot enough to evaporate instantly the water near it, and its scales which we managed to wet just earlier were already dry.
Even so, the fact remained that through that magically-controlled water, we managed to weaken those magically-produced flames.
I took a stance with my sword pointing forward and examined my enemy upon its approach. I knew being passive against an enemy stronger than me was a poor move, but on the other hand, rushing ahead without a plan would only get me killed.
In that stance, I inched myself toward building on my left side. I understood something from our earlier exchange: the Fire Drake didn’t move as quickly as I expected. Due to its enormous body, the distance it could close in one movement was beyond normal, but I could still see everything that was happening with my kinetic vision.
As for my attack…in hindsight, it was rather careless of me to have been so optimistic. I was fortunate enough for the dragon to see me as nothing more than mere prey during that clash, but what about now?
Thanks to my Magic Eye, I noticed that the dragon’s eyes were filled murderous intent and that any trace of carelessness was gone. Honestly, I could have missed that detail if not for my Magic Eye.
“Wha”
Upon being shown a vision of the future, I jumped while my mouth and eyes were wide open. I even used Magic Power Discharge to push myself to the left and burst through a cracked door. A moment later, the place I was just in exploded.
I took a fighting stance as soon as I broke the door into the store, and soon, I was greeted by the dust and debris from the road. As I used my left arm to cover my face and waited, I finally began to process the scene that I just saw.
“Nobody told me about any damn thrusters…!”
The flames on the Fire Drake’s back and limbs became more concentrated until it looked like what came out of jet engines. This was a living creature, for crying out loud. Still, it couldn’t be denied that that colossal body was able to charge at me in a speed it shouldn’t have been able to achieve on the ground.
Either way, I had no more time to think on the matter. Another vision came, and I jumped over the fallen shelves of goods and dashed toward the wall. At almost the same time I smashed my way ouy out into the road, a giant tail slammed into the store I was in just a moment prior.
I felt debris hit my back as I ran. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw the Fire Drake just about to spring at me again.
I used a road sign as a stepping stool to jump to the fourth floor of a building. As soon as I landed, I heard a booming noise from below. And then, the building itself shook. My steps were unsteady but I ran through the floor and broke through the somehow still intact glass window.
Immediately after, the Fire Drake was getting ready to make another hole in the building and rush out of it. It discharged flames from its back and ended up reaching the wall of another building. The wall crumbled against the dragon’s sheer weight. It then stomped the ground while roaring at me.
“The heck…what would have happened if that thing was flying…!? Damned cheater!”
I was so thankful that we weakened the flames covering its body. Otherwise, I shuddered to imagine that thing combining its physical abilities with its ability to fly.
However…it should be noted that it still haven’t used its breath attack. Additionally, even though its guard was fully up now, it still haven’t covered its body in flames. Given these, I was convinced that Layla’s theory was on the mark. If so, all that was left was for me to do my role.
Time to start this game of tag with the dragon, then!
* * *
I stabbed my sword on the ground as I turned a corner and, after scraping the asphalt ground with my feet, came quickly to a stop. Right after, the wall in front of me, along with the building, blew up. As the debris rained down, a leg as thick as a column ran past me. I quikcly slashed it.
In a human body, that wound would have been not even a millimeter long. Yet, a ear-bursting roar still came from above, along with an oozing amount of unconcealed rage.
The dragon then wanted to slam its foreleg into me, but I dodged it without even looking back. Even so, a piece of rubble the size of my head struck my shoulder. But before I stopped from the pain, my Silver Apple kicked in and healed me. Without the self-healing granted to me by my Distinctive Superpower, I would probably have died 3 times by now. I mostly saw it as a jinx, but at times like this, I was nothing but grateful to have it.
“Da, mn…!”
That said, it wasn’t so powerful that it helped with fatigue too. In fact, it did nothing for fatigue. So, despite my regenerative capabilities and tough body because I was an Awakened One, I was near my limit due to my frequent use of my Superpowers and repeated evasive maneuvers. Most of all, my magic power consumption had been intense.
I subdued my desire to throw away my sword and armor, and instead flung myself diagonally forward. In the middle of a forward sommersault, large claw ran past over my head.
“OOOOOOOOooOOO!!!”
As the Fire Drake roared, it repeatedly swung down its forelegs. Each time, I managed to avoid getting hit by doing a forward sommersault after sommersault, weaving an S-pattern along the way. Couldn’t even find the time to stand up properly.
However, in the middle of a roll, my sword got caught in the ground and I lost my balance. At the edge of my vision, I noticed the cracked asphalt ground was interspered with protruding rock surfaces, likely an effect of the area transforming into a dungeon.
“Ah,”
Just when I stopped and got on my knee, a tail swipe came at me as though it was trying to scoop me up. I immediately used Magic Power Discharge and jumped. I was unable to dodge the tail though and got struck in the back.
“Aaa…!?”
All the air in my lungs got pushed out, and I could get out nothing more than a hoarse voice. My body flew through the air at a high speed. In no time at all, I crash landed on a building. I slammed into a wall and felt pain so intense I imagined my body was torn to a thousand pieces. In fact, it was enough to make me lose consciousness for a moment.
While I was unconscious there on the newly-made crater on the wall and had my eyes closed, a vision of an impending attack came to me. I quickly awoke and then struck the wall with Magic Power Discharge. As my body was pushed out and fell, the Fire Drake sprung at where I used to be. In the corner of my vision, I saw the dragon’s large body scrape against the building. In the meantime, I landed and ran through rubble that rained down.
“Haa…ah, you…!”
As I voiced my curses that had no real meaning behind them, I willed my feet to move despite my flickering vision. This game of chase began maybe 5 or 10 minutes ago. It could also have been 3 minutes or an hour ago. I wasn’t entirely sure. It would seem I wasn’t losing only my sense of balance but my sense of the passage of time as well. As the world around me began to warp, I gritted my teeth tight.
I don’t wanna die, I don’t wanna die, I don’t want to die! I want to live!
I declared so to myself and stomped the ground. At that moment, something flew toward the sky and exploded. And then, there was an out-of-place bright sound as well as a small flower of flames blossoming in the sky. That something was a magically-made fireball that burst like a cheap-looking firework.
It was made dimmer by the black dome, so despite being like a firework, it wasn’t that much conspicuous. It was only because it happened to be in my improved eyes’ field of vision that I noticed it. That flower my beacon of hope.
“Oooohh!!”
Set on using all my remaining strength in what I believed to be the home stretch, I made a run for a narrow alleyway. The Fire Drake gave chase and with its mass and speed, destroyed the walls along the way. The buildings had some magic power in them now, so they did slow the monster a little and helped me get some distance.
Beyond that alleyway was a large river that was about 10 meters wide. And although the water level had risen a bit, it wasn’t threatening to overflow just yet. But I knew of somebody that could do just that.
“Layla!!”
“[Oh, Water]”
The fire dragon soon came face to face with a water dragon.
The river, which had a strong current, had its water rise up in a swirl. It then rushed at an incredible speed toward the dragon, transforming into the snake-like water dragon.
“!!!”
The raging water reverberated like a roar. And the “open jaw” that formed was by no means inferior to the fire dragon’s.
The water dragon was bringing down its fangs at a speed that was just a level shy of the speed of sound. It was an attack that likely could destroy even a building built with reinforced concrete. Moreover, it reminded me of that river god.
“GAAAAAAAA!!!”
The real dragon roared and brushed aside the fake one.
And while shooting a piercing glare at the dragon made of water, the fire dragon opened its mouth once more. This time, it gathered a scary amount of magic power there.
In response, the water dragon also began to unleash magic power. In the corner of my vision, I could see Layla on the opposite bank pressing her staff against the riverbed and pouring her all into it.
And like that, both sides fired off their breath attacks. One was fire, the other water. If they were of the same rank, the conclusion would definitely have been the fire getting extinguished.
“AAAAAAAAA!!!!”
But the water dragon wasn’t even able to put up a close fight and instead got evaporated.
“…!”
Steam spread quickly. Had the water dragon been made of flesh, it probably would have its skin burned rather than become steam. At any rate, I stepped away from the hot steam and then took a deep breath once the air was clear enough.
But what about the fire dragon? At almost the same time I turned toward the area still covered in steam, the earth trembled. And then, from within the white steam, the crimson dragon emerged. With majesty, the dragon, whose scales glimmered and seemingly didn’t suffer any scratches from the previous attack, stomped the ground with its strong limbs and headed my way once more.
However, I could tell at a glance that the amount of flames that covered its body had been reduced. At the moment, only its four limbs were covered in flames and the pillar of fire on its back was gone.
According to Layla’s estimation, the fire dragon’s breath attack consumed a vast amount of magic power. Which, given its power, was no surprise at all.
A dragon might be a monster that had a vast amount of magic power, but it still had a limit to how much magic power it could possess. In other words, it only made sense that the Fire Drake couldn’t simply do that attack one after another.
Because if it could fire that attack willy-nilly, the fire dragons would have used it to herd the fleeing citizens all from a tall building or something.
In the first place, monsters didn’t have real flesh and were only made of magic power. And because their bodies were constantly being eroded by the air, having a big body meant a rather significant portion of their magic power was being dedicated to maintain said body.
That explained why the dragon walked its way to me at the start instead of flying, as well as why it hasn’t reinforced its weakened flames.
But even if we schemed to make the Fire Drake waste its magic power, it wouldn’t change the fact that its body was a mobile fortress all by itself. Even with weakened flames, it could melt the ground by simply walking. Moreover, it could smash humans like we were bugs with a single swipe of its tail.
While I was still panting, the Fire Drake glared at me with its long vertical slit eyes.
Perhaps thinking I was at a dead end, the dragon looked like it was grinning. It was on guard against me because it likely worried that I had some kind of move to kill even dragons. Hence, why it held back on its breath attack for so long.
But it was wary no more. It looked down on me as I had the tip of my sword on the ground to support myself. And then, it jumped at me. Even when the flames only covered its limbs and even when those flames were barely rising above the scales, the gap in power between us was still too wide. At this rate, I was going to lose.
“That’s why, please!”
That was why I relied on the help of my other companion.
“GAAAAAAAA!!”
That roar that could shake even the heavens wasn’t from the Fire Drake.
It came from the still-present steam.
In response, the Fire Drake turned its gaze from me toward the source of that roar and lowered its center of gravity. In the next moment, a gigantic figure broke through the steam and leapt at the dragon.
[Ice Lion the White King].
It was unleashed by Yukine, who was currently supporting an utterly exhausted Layla while holding her silver fan toward the dragon. This pure-white lion was the greatest sorcery a Yuki-onna wielded.
The lion whose large body rivaled even the dragon’s was now baring its fangs against the latter.
““GAAAAAAAA!!””
The two giants roared at each other. Together like that, my eardrums actually burst. Thankfully, I healed up right away. And with my fingers which were just a step away from trembling, I readjusted my grip on my sword.
Alright, time to take down a dragon.
Like that, I pushed strength back to my wobbly feet and dashed with my sword on my shoulder.
TL note: I believe (just guessing here) that the river god mentioned here is referring to the one appearing in the Ghibli movie Spirited Away.
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