The first to move was the ice lion. Thanks to its cat-like nimbleness, it launched itself with explosive force at the fire dragon to bite down on the latter. However, the dragon swiped its tail horizontally to defend itself. And then, spinning the other way, it swung its flame-engulfed forelimb toward the lion’s face to replace the tail that was just there.
“Gi, gaa…!?”
With just those 2 attacks, the ice lion’s face was already partially destroyed.
Shards of ice were flying around everywhere. Those two giants simply moving cracked the ground and caused dust to dance in the air. But amidst it all, I ran through.
There was just no way I could stand there and watch. If I wanted to live, I had to move and keep on doing so!
“Hii…hiiii…!”
I let that rather pathetic sigh escape from my mouth. As much as I wanted to whine about why this was happening to me, I didn’t have any spare time left.
I made sure to keep the 2 giants always in my vision as I pushed my legs onward. My Future Sight warned me of any approaching debris, so I dodged those I could while I swatted with my sword those I couldn’t. Some of the rubble that fell down in front of me shattered the ground and obscured my vision further with the dust it scattered, but that didn’t stop me from moving.
The ice lion was being pushed back by the Fire Drake’s fierce attacks. The lion’s claws were melted by the flames in the dragon’s claws, and its left foreleg was smashed and chopped off by the dragon’s tail. And when the lion went for a ramming attack, the enemy countered by charging forward as well.
Despite the 2 being of nearly similar build, the dragon made use of its remaining flames to gain more momentum.
As I ran and watched them, I tried to regulate my breathing as much as I could. My heart beat so loudly that it felt like I was pressing my ears right next to my chest, and my arms were so heavy they might as well have been lead. I was scared, to be honest. But what happened thus far, all of it, it was all as we expected.
Still, this was a decisive moment. If I screwed up now, all will be for naught. Not knowing when an unexpected intruder might come, this plan stood on thin ice. Thin ice that I could fall through at any moment.
I kept my feet moving, worried that should I stop, I might not be able to take another step again. Worried that fear would swallow me whole, rendering me unable to fight or even run.
Then, a mass of concrete flew by the side of my face. It could be mistaken for some kind shell by the speed it was going. It only grazed my helmet, yet it was enough for my field of vision to shake quite a bit.
At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind: now that it has used its breath attack, maybe I can escape from it!
My instincts wanted me to go for it, but my logical side told me no. Even without its insanely powerful and long-ranged breath attack, we were still pouring our all into fighting it. After all, while we had managed to weaken it, we too had grown weaker since the fight began. My point was that if we didn’t take it down now and opted to run away instead, it would catch up to us in no time. It was that simple.
Fight and live. Kill and get to go back home!
I hyped myself up like that as I swiped an incoming lump of ice aside with my sword. Looking at the lion more closely, I could see that its chest was completely gouged out. Which between the two would emerge victorious was now as clear as day. Weakened or not, dragons sure were outside of the norm.
But the ice lion wasn’t out of the fight just yet.
…now!
The future was shown to me by my Magic Eye. I was convinced that if I let this moment get away, there would no longer be any chance for us to win this. From beneath my helmet, I tried to shout as loud as I could. Of course, that meant that my voice reverberated so much within the bucket helm, but I didn’t care.
“Yukineeeeee!”
A lump of ice emerged from the wall of steam that was about to subside and flew toward me. It flew at an astonishing speed, but thanks to my Magic Eye, I could follow it accurately. I ran to align myself to its flight path, jumped up, and raised my sword so that the tip would intercept the ice.
Soon, I felt an impact. Despite the strange sound coming from both of my shoulders, I employed my Magic Power Discharge to adjust my form. And so, rather than slow down, I began to accelerate as soon as both of my feet landed on the ground.
Without even turning my head to look, I knew what was happening to my zweihander. My zweihander, my two-handed sword, already had a large blade, but now, it was twice as big as before thanks to the ice that covered the blade. This ice blade was taller than I was, had a width of 50 centimeters, and a thickness of over 3 centimeters. As it was, what I held was closer to being a blunt weapon than being a sword.
And it was because my sword was like that that it could do the job! It was the weapon, the suitable weapon, for slaying that monstrosity!!
Ahead of me, at my target location, the winner in the match between the 2 giants was already decided. With the last of its strength, the ice lion tried to bite the dragon’s neck. But the Fire Drake ducked and then thrust its horns up, impaling the ice lion in the neck. Cracks soon appeared all over the lion’s body.
With half of the lion’s head smashed, its throat pierced, and the cracks all over its body, the lion could only be described as a “corpse” now.
That would have been the end…if the lion ever was a proper living being.
“GAAAAA!!”
Despite its ruined throat, the lion’s roar wasn’t any weaker. Moreover, the lion could still keep on moving. It pressed down its entire weight on the dragon and pinned down the dragon’s head with its remaining foreleg. The intense heat and cold from them caused the ground to crumble, thus burying half of the Fire Drake’s body.
“OOOOOooOOoo!!??”
The dragon’s eyes trembled with agitation as it glared at me. At me and the sword of ice I brandished against it.
“—■■■■■■■!!!”
From the mere smolder in its limbs, the flames grew as hot as the dragon could make them and spread all over its body.
It no longer cared about consequences. Rather than worry about its survival 5 minutes later, it only considered how it could win in the next second. The dragon unleashed flames without even any regard about preserving the magic power needed to maintain its flesh and turned the ground into lava. Almost immediately, the ice lion pinning it down evaporated.
But the dragon’s entire lower half disappeared too as it opened its mouth. My Magic Eye warned me that the dragon was about to launch its breath attack without even gathering magic power, along with a vision of death by burning that awaited me if I were to take on the attack at point-blank range.
Evasion was not option though. To make it worse, the ice blade I had was already starting to melt simply from the transmitted heat from the flames. Truly, every moment mattered!
At this rate, the dragon would have fired its breath attack faster than I could close in on it. With the potential future of me burning to death in mind…
“Feast your eyes on thissss!!!”
I threw an apple sparkling in silver high into the sky.
“—————”
For some time now, the dragon had its sight fixed on me. Although its whole body was covered in hellfire, its golden eyes didn’t at all lose in terms of brilliance. But, for the first time, those eyes started to grow dim.
The dragon followed the tossed apple’s trajectory, even going so far as to tilt its head upwards. However, it could only stay distracted for a fraction of a second. Even with the reaction speed of an Awakened One, that window was much too narrow.
But what if I knew of it beforehand?
For real this time, this was going to be the end. I discharged from the bottom of my feet all the remaining magic power I had and rushed forward. As I felt the red-hot and crumbling ground burst open, I firmly gripped my sword with both of my hands. Beyond what seemed like a wall of flames that was more than ready to assault me with extreme heat simply for approaching, there laid a scale that was facing the other way. The dragon’s reverse scale.
My eyes had locked on to it. There was absolutely no way I was about to miss.
“OOOOOOOO!!!”
I roared in defiance to the incoming heat and thrust the blade of ice forward. The blade slipped through easily like there was only a piece of paper blocking the way. It felt so easy, it was hard to imagine I was stabbing one of that monster’s scales.
Despite the ease though, furious sparks still flew from the scale and the blade, almost like a sword over a grinder. Thanks to that, my surroundings lit up in white light rather than red.
Instead of fresh blood, a white flash flowed out of the wound. As my body was basked in that light, I pushed the blade—which was on the verge of being pushed back—further in.
“GAAAAAAAAA!!??”
I could hear the dragon’s death throes from above. At the same time, I could feel the intense heat of the breath attack being unleashed from the dragon’s mouth. The dragon didn’t bother to charge or aim the breath attack, yet even then, it still had a great impact on our surroundings.
The extreme cold and the extreme heat made a mess of our surroundings. So much so that a storm was created, and my body got lifted up into the air. I let go of my sword and got swept along like a leaf. Who knew for how long I stayed like that. While my vision spun, I saw embers dancing in the air and setting the heavens on fire.
Before long, I felt an impact. My back slammed against the ground and bounced a number of times until I bumped into a guardrail.
“B-blagh…”
I couldn’t even vomit. My throat likely got burned, in turn causing a blockage. I could feel myself about to lose consciousness, but the feeling of discomfort brought me back.
I made use of a nearby sign that was barely recognizable from its original form as a cane of sorts and stood up. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was my whole body shaking or if it was just my vision, but whichever it was, I still tried to turn my head toward where the Fire Drake was.
Each piece of my Magical Attire was damaged. My helmet was on the verge of crumbling. The bracers on my arms had melted down, leaving my bare arms exposed. The chain mail and surcoat were in tatters. The dagger that hanged around my waist was gone. It could not at all be called battle-ready.
Still, I turned to look at we accomplished.
“O-Oooooo…!?”
The Fire Drake. It was vanishing in front of me. Still, it tried to approach me, clawing its way across until its foreleg literally crumbled and fell.
Like something that got burnt completely and turned to ash, the dragon transformed into particles.
“I, I won.”
“…”
The dragon locked eyes on me until it closed them. I moved—despite still feeling lightheaded—toward the Silver Apple to collect it, and when I turned back to where the Fire Drake was, it was gone.
“Calling this lucky doesn’t sound right, so maybe I should just say this is the silver lining.”
A scale lied on the ground. I picked that Item Drop the size of a palm and stuffed it inside my Item Bag along with the apple.
There’s no way a monster will think to reward an enemy who risked their life and bested it, right?
Still feeling lightheaded, I breathed out a sigh. In any case, we won. We survived. I and my two companions. But just when I was about to let myself feel relieved, I heard the cries of some Wyverns in the distance.
What, did they notice their leader is dead but the prey is still there for the taking? Man, I don’t think I have enough strength to take down these flying dragons.
“Dear!!”
I then heard Yukine’s voice. She—while supporting Layla—began sprinting toward me without any hesitation and jumped into the river whose water level had gone down considerably. But rather than land on the water, she landed on a boat of ice.
“Dear, I’m so glad you’re safe!!”
“And I’m glad you two are as well…but more importantly right now…”
“Yes! Let’s withdraw with all haste!”
Tears were welling in Yukine’s eyes. Meanwhile, Layla was on her knees, leaning languidly on the edge of the boat, and had only her head turned toward me.
The Wyverns that had an eye on us were still far. Those guys might be fast, but because they were made to keep a distance from us by the fire dragon, there shouldn’t be any way for them to catch up to us now that we were on the move as well. Especially so when Yukine made the ice boat accelerate. And so, swaying in the boat like that, we made our way to the other side of the dome.
The edge of the black dome was just a few hundred meters away from where we were, but it was also already so close to ground. We didn’t have much time to spare, but we could still make it at our pace before the dome touched the ground and completed the dungeon’s expansion.
Realizing that, I finally allowed myself to feel relieved. I was still alive…I survived this ordeal.
“Haaaaa…”
There was a saying about how good fortune slips out whenever you sighed, but surely, for at least this time, I would get a pass.
I mean, we had defeated that fire dragon, that Fire Drake. That fight alone was more than enough for a lifetime, maybe even several lifetimes even.
Moreover, I had seen lots of people die. I had seen myself die lots of times too. There was no way I wouldn’t feel anything from those. In fact, I got somewhat emotional—
But then, my Magic Eye activated and warned me once more of my death.
“Turn! Turn the boat!”
“—yes!”
Without any question or hesitation, Yukine made the boat turn. Right when she did, a pillar of flame erupted where we were supposed to be.
“Kyaaaaa!?”
“Gh….ghh…!”
At once, I held Layla and Yukine in my arms and jumped out of the boat. In one bound, I managed to reach the riverbank but collapsed upon landing.
“Haa, dammit…you’ve got to be kidding me”
I raised my body up with my arms and then looked over my shoulder. The river’s water evaporated, and the ice boat vanished as though there wasn’t one to begin with. Only the steam and the sound of rushing water filling the now-vacant space were there.
The riverbed, to say nothing of the water, got raised in the air and flew all the way over to us. But that was nothing compared to the embodiment of despair I saw when I raised my line of sight a little.
“■■■■■■■!!!”
Flying toward us was another Fire Drake. A monster of the same species as the one I slew just earlier. A dragon that had the same amount of power.
A stark reminder that this wasn’t a game. Dungeons didn’t have things like bosses in them. Some monsters were head and shoulders above others in terms of power, but they were likely not the only one of its kind. They were but one of an elite few, if not many.
That monster bellowed a roar while it circled in the air.
“Is it after revenge? …nah, that’s not it. It’s just being a glutton…!”
It probably thought that if it could devour the thing that could defeat its kind, then it would for sure be able to maintain its form. In other words, it saw me as some kind of highly nutritious chow…!
I tried to re-materialize my zweihander but my hand remained empty. It seemed like the best I could do at the moment was maintain my banged up Magical Attire, leaving no magic power to spare for remaking my sword.
“Dammit…dammit all…!!”
We’ve come this far, only to face with this!? You’ve got to be kidding me!!
I no longer had the strength or even the willpower to stand up, yet there she was, standing in front me.
“Yuki…ne…?”
Her white kimono and her long, black hair fluttered in the wind as she turned her head toward me and smiled.
“My dear husband. It would seem this is farewell”
Her smile was utterly beautiful.
“What…”
“My time with you was rather short but full of fun. It…it would make me incredibly happy if you don’t forget about me. That and if you remain not married to anyone other than Layla-sama. Yuki-onna are quite the jealous creatures, after all.”
She unfolded the fans in her hands and took a step forward.
Realizing what Yukine was trying to do, I moved to stop her. However, my exhausted body refused to cooperate.
“No! Don’t!”
“Thank you for everything. I pray that you stay healthy.”
She was planning on becoming the bait. Out of the three of us, she had the most magic power remaining. She was aiming to get the Fire Drake’s attention with her magic power reserves and lead it away from us.
But while she did have the most magic power at the moment, she herself was quite near her limit.
“Yukine…!”
“That name…I was so happy when you gave me that name, you know. Farewell, my beloved. Layla-sama, please look after our dear husband.”
After turning toward Layla—who was struggling to stand up with the help of her staff pressed against the ground—Yukine readied her fans and smiled.
“Now, come! Lizard more lowly than a vulture, let me show you how impossible it is to overpower the love of a Yuki-onna!!”
Many legends of Yuki-onna featured love that ended in tragedy.
Despite many of them declaring they would possess somebody and kill their husbands, in the end, they disappeared without even attempting to do so. When they could no longer keep existing, they would pretend to have fallen out of love and then vanish within a blizzard all by themselves. It took me this long to understand that that was the kind of monster a Yuki-onna was.
The Fire Drake flying in the sky laid bare its indignation at the haughty girl. Meanwhile, the girl in question took step after step to get further away from us.
Honestly, what could happen next was anybody’s guess at this point.
“Yukineeeeeeee!!”
I called out her name enough to rupture my throat.
But then, a “meteorite” hit the Fire Drake on the side of its face.
““……huh?””
“Gh *cough*”
Dumbfounded voices spilled out of my and Yukine’s mouths, while Layla had a bit of a coughing fit.
What…? What just happened?
The dragon lost everything from its neck up and then plunged into the river with a great noise.
Wait, THAT fire dragon? Am I seeing things? And was that really a meteorite?
As the delayed sonic boom descended upon me, a strange cry stating something I couldn’t wrap my head around reached my confused self.
“YUUURRRRIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!”
It sounded like a woman’s voice. But because it was too loud and the fact that the strange cry was just too nonsensical, I wasn’t so certain.
There was one thing I could say for certain though: my Magic Eye was no longer telling me of my impending death.
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