Chapter 522 - Twelfth Story: Dragonewt Village ④
There are as many as twelve places in the Central Mountain Range disguised with magic. And they are divided into six groups. And there are also six villages. In other words, there are two places disguised with magic in each group. One of them always has a pond. Depending on the location, there are two ponds, but other places are valleys or flat areas.
"The ponds might be villages, and the others might be Amphiptere nests."
"Both should have been ponds on the eastern part of the northern slope."
"It's a Water-attribute village. Do Amphipteres also have attributes?"
"I wonder? I don't know."
Even if we throw rocks into the pond, if we make a mistake, it'll be quite bad.
"As I thought, why don't we use small stones?"
I tentatively propose.
"I cannot recommend that. What you did at the Wind-attribute village must have already been communicated. Doing the same thing is what makes it meaningful."
Everyone is nodding. I don't care what happens.
Finally, we reached the pond where the village is thought to be underground. The water here also has a green color.
"Then, shall we begin?"
At Eleanor-sama's words as a signal, the Elf Prince's Camouflage was deactivated. The bowl was also dismantled, and everyone stood by the pond, exposing themselves.
I thought they would throw stones, but Henry-sama took a step forward.
"Those far away, hear my voice; those nearby, behold with your eyes!"
Henry-sama suddenly raised a loud voice. It carries well, perhaps because it echoes off the mountainside...
"We are the residents of the foot of this mountain range, Henry, the former King of the Kingdom of Sertoria. The one standing by is my wife Eleanor, and Jeanne, a stray priest who is a user of holy magic and under the protection of the Three Great Spirits!"
What are you doing! Please don't use people's names without permission!
"Furthermore, Alex the Dwarf, the Prince of the Elf Village in the Northeastern Forest, and Violet the Arachne. This is the Dragonewt Village, is it not! We are the ones who came to this land to fulfill Gnome's request. However, we heard that we cannot enter the village unless we win a match against the Dragonewts. If so, you who are confident in your skills, come forth, let us fight fairly, fight, fight!"
Violet is clapping her hands in delight.
Suddenly in duel mode? What are you thinking?
In response to Henry-sama's declaration, only the sound of the wind returned.
Either no one is there, or we're being ignored.
Well, as Dragonewts, they probably don't want to deal with weirdos, so they're waiting for us to go home quietly.
"It seems no one is here. Then, as a commemoration of coming this far, I shall throw at least a coin into that pond. I might be blessed with good luck."
He's shouting uselessly loud.
"Eleanor, do you have a gold coin?"
"Unfortunately, I don't."
Eleanor-sama is also shouting just as loud.
"I see, then even a silver coin..."
"I have no gold or silver coins, not even a copper coin. I am penniless."
"What, is that so. Then it can't be helped. I'll throw a stone instead."
They are shouting at each other. It's a complete farce. If this was the case, we should have brought Edward-sama.
"Since we're at it, let's use as large a stone as possible. That way, we might be blessed with greater luck."
As she says this, she uses Clump Stone to float a large rock about the size of an armful and throws it into the pond.
Just when I thought there would be a loud splash.
Suddenly, the water from the pond leaped at the floating large rock and threw it back to the shore.
"What was that?"
When I unintentionally asked, Alex replied that it was a Dragonewt.
It seems there is a Dragonewt.
"Hoho. Quite good. It softly caught it with the surface of the water once and killed the momentum of the thrown rock."
It's the Elf Prince. His way of seeing is completely different from mine.
"Can an Elf do it?"
"I can, but the only ones in the village who can are the Elder and me."
That's amazing. Although the number of people is small, he's practically on par with the top of the generation of all Elves. Is he Chieftain class?
"Henry. This pond seems to hate granting you luck."
"What. That's no good. Let's try again."
Isn't this farce going too far?
After that, five rocks were thrown in succession, but they were all repelled.
"Alex. Help me. If it's earth magic, it's your turn."
"Can you get luck by borrowing someone's hand?"
"What are you saying. Luck is something you seize. You don't have to choose the means."
"Alright, alright."
I can only think it's become something else already.
When Alex raises both hands, countless stones gather at the shore of the pond and form a long, thin shape. It's a stone snake like the one that entangled the Wind-attribute Dragonewt. It raises one end like a head and slowly approaches the pond.
"Approaching like that is a good idea. It has atmosphere."
"Right? My sense is different."
I don't know what he's saying.
"Ah, a counterattack came."
In the direction Violet is pointing, the water from the pond rises from the surface and stretches high while swirling like a tornado. It slowly moves across the water surface toward the snake.
"What is that magic?"
If the one casting it is Chieftain class, it should be a user of water and fire. However, I've never seen or heard of magic where a whirlpool moves through the air.
"He gave it physical attack power with water by winding up the water with Tornado Wind. It seems he can use high-level wind magic too. Moreover, that size and power are on par with ultra-high-level."
Eleanor-sama knew. I've seen an applied use of Tornado Wind. Mel used it when she fixed the landslide that occurred when she fought the Fire Dragon that had become a Revenant. It's much smaller than that. But it's much larger than when Beatrix and Lyudmila collaborated to make a fire tornado.
"Aahn? You think you can oppose the earth magic manipulated by a Dwarf with some high-level wind magic that you're not even good at? You've got some nerve. Don't think you can win."
"That's the spirit. You must win."
"Yeah, leave it to me. No one else put a hand in."
Even Alex has gotten into it. He refused even though there are two people who can deactivate Tornado Wind. He intends to crush it from the front.
I don't care what happens anymore.
The whirlpool floating in the air approached the stone snake raising its head. The range is narrow, but the destructive power might exceed Maelstrom.
In contrast, the snake huddled in one place as if coiling itself and also lowered the position of its head.
It's a battle of water versus earth... this time it's stone... In the case of spirits, water is at a slight disadvantage. It is said that water is absorbed by earth. Though, that's a story for when their power is equal.
GOH!
A massive amount of water that became a whirlpool attacks. If it's a direct hit, a human body would probably be torn to pieces.
In contrast, the snake lowered its head even further and literally leaped at it with a shout. The moment they collided, how should I say, a low-frequency sound that hits the stomach echoed around.
The snake Alex made of stone uses a large stone for the head part. That stone, as it tries to plunge into the whirlpool, is being repelled with a flashy sound, bitan, bitan, as if it were being slapped.
"D-Do your best!"
"Please win!"
"You can definitely do it!"
Whether the support of the three girls with sweaty palms was effective or not, after retreating once, it successfully dived inside by plunging toward the base. It's swirling around as if sucked into the vortex.
"Isn't it bad?"
"It's okay. It's from here on."
"It hasn't lost yet."
It seemed completely trapped in the opponent's vortex, but Alex's reversal began from here.
The snake Alex made also has a large tail. It's a two-headed snake, so to speak, but that one is out of the vortex. To prevent the other head, which is being toyed with, from being blown away, it's working hard on the ground like a ship's anchor. That one finally moved.
The other head stood up while drawing a spiral around the vortex in a different direction from the one where its partner was swirling around in the vortex.
The rotation speed of the outer head becomes faster. The fact that it's getting longer means that the part that was swirling inside the vortex has come out. By making the stone snake rotate counter-clockwise against the clockwise vortex, he intends to eliminate the rotation of the vortex.
One is high-level Tornado Wind. But the rotation speed might be slow because it involved water. One is mid-level Clump Stone. Since it's pure magic to move stones, the rotation speed is sufficiently fast. However, since he's handling many stones at the same time, the consumption of magic control is intense. It became a battle of endurance versus instantaneous power, so to speak. Summarizing the stories I've heard so far, if a Dragonewt uses their specialized attribute magic, Elves and Dwarves cannot oppose them. However, if it becomes a match with magic the opponent is not good at, they can sufficiently win. In other words, if the opponent was only a Purple who specializes in water and fire, we, who have both a Dwarf and an Elf, have the advantage.
That means.
What, in the end, we can win.
I was surprised by the sudden development, but if I think about it calmly, there was no need to worry.
"Alex! Do your best! If you lose, I won't let you drink mead ever again!"
It might be okay to give this much support.
"I'll also double the market price of Finis alcohol."
"I might as well not call you to banquets anymore."
We've ended up saying whatever we want.
"That's harsh! I'm doing my best here!"
He let out a scream, but he seems to have been inspired. He was sitting, but he stood up.
"That's right, do your best! If you win, I'll let you drink this year's new wine first!"
"I'll also add three barrels, no, five barrels of special bonus!"
"I'll catch a super large boar for you!"
Come to think of it, that's quite a materialistic support. The Elf Prince is also sighing.
"That's the way it's gotta be. Watch me!"
He put his spirit back in with a "Hun!"
Whether the support of the three women was effective or not, the stone snake finally stopped the rotation of the vortex. Since the Tornado Wind that was the source of the vortex was resolved, it's just a mass of water. It falls to the ground with a splash and flows into the pond.
The coiled stone snake raised its two heads as if boasting of its victory.
"How's that!"
Alex puffs out his chest.
"As expected of the Great Spirit of the mines. Splendid. I will make sure to keep the promise of the special bonus."
"Jeanne gets first dibs on the new mead, and Violet gets a super large boar."
"It's okay. It should be ready by the time this matter is over."
"I'll make it in time for the banquet."
It's a chorus of cheers.
"Don't let your guard down! Jeanne, deploy a wall of light to the left!"
The Elf Prince shouted.
I hurriedly extend my left hand and create a wall.
To my surprise, a huge orange fireball is floating in the air. He intends to release Prominence. I don't know because the Dragonewt has disappeared, but he's likely right below.
"Hey, hey! I'm your opponent!"
Alex raised his voice and dismantled the stone snake.
"User of light magic. I shall test that power. If you can defend, then try to defend."
Suddenly, a heavy voice echoed.
Test? Does he mean Light? However, I can't defend because I haven't strengthened it with Holy. Moreover, I'm the only priest. I put out one with my right hand, and another one from my mouth, and layered the three. The Elf Prince reinforced it with Wind Barrier, and Eleanor-sama used Ice Cube repeatedly to freeze it.
Prominence was completed, and an orange dragon's neck came flying.
Can I defend? It's my first time facing Prominence. Moreover, its size is twice that of Eleanor-sama's that I've seen so far.
Prominence crashes into the wall.
I unintentionally close my eyes.
In an instant, a shock ran through my body. It's the same shock as when I first received the Headmistress's Overflow. Magic pierced through my body.
For a moment, I thought I couldn't defend against Prominence, but apparently I'm safe.
Two walls were broken through. I finally managed to repel it with the third one.
"You did well to defend against a Prominence of that power."
Eleanor-sama praised me. The ice hasn't melted. I repelled it with my Light.
"Thank you. But for a moment, I felt a sensation as if magic had pierced through my body. What on earth was that..."
Perhaps Alex deactivated the Prominence at the last second. If it was the result of the Prominence's magic diffusing all at once, then I didn't repel it.
"That was me."
It's Violet. Her eyes have turned golden.
"Eh? Violet, your eyes..."
As soon as I asked, the gold faded and returned to her original red pupils.
"I released magic and raised everyone's magic defense. Even if you took a direct hit from magic of that level, you wouldn't die. But since Jeanne repelled it, it was meaningless. Jeanne is amazing."
As she said this, she stroked my head.
So that's how it was.
Come to think of it, everyone took turns taking defensive measures in case of emergency. Henry-sama is standing in front of me before I knew it. Even though he's royalty, he protected a stray priest like me.
"Everyone, thank you very much."
I felt like I was about to cry.
"You did well to put out three in a row. You might not have been able to defend with just one at full power."
The Elf Prince also praised me. He's been getting worldly lately, but I'm happy that he's started praising me like this.
Actually, Violet's visor was a hint. Creating a water film in the gaps of the crystal plate and making it triple was more effective in reducing the power of Light. That visor was also based on the Holy experiment on rats I did with Eleanor-sama. I had been secretly practicing based on that.
"Jeanne put out magic from her mouth. She's skillful."
Um, you don't have to say that out loud, Violet. As proof of that, the other three are looking down and shaking their shoulders, right?