kscans

Chapter 109 - Decisive Battle on the Snow

Rey Cuelebre's scales peeled away, spreading out like extensions of its wings.

Immediately, a dozen lances of light shot forth. At the same time, the main body charged in at full speed.

I dodged to the right with everything I had. Beams of light landed in a circle around where I'd just been, and at its center, the great ice sword on its tail tip sliced through the earth.

Amidst the swirling snow, a purple light flashed without pause. Relying on my foresight, I evaded the breath attack and advanced to close the distance.

But I wasn't fast enough. The dragon escaped into the sky, circling as it fired a barrage of light from its scales.

I kicked off the snowy ground to escape upward, running on the air as a foothold. I outpaced a few scales that had slipped beneath me with a burst of acceleration, then barrel-rolled through a volley of light fired from my left.

As I closed the distance in a single breath, my opponent met me with a spinning front kick.

It was a new move, but foresight allowed me to dodge it as well. As we passed each other, I slashed at its right leg.

But it was still too shallow. Without the horseshoe-shaped magic items, my acceleration had decreased, leading to a drop in destructive power.

No, it wasn't a drop. It had just returned to normal.

"Hyaah...!"

I dodged the beams coming from all directions by moving diagonally upward, continuing to gain altitude.

Rey Cuelebre also ascended at a diagonal angle. Our double helix trajectories collided only a few seconds later.

Using the breath attack fired from straight ahead as my axis, I drew another spiral to close the gap and slashed at its head.

The dragon twisted its neck, and my strike, aimed for its eye, was blocked by its scales. As I tried to pass over its head, the tip of its flicked-up tail was waiting for me.

"Ugh...!"

I dodged sideways at the last second, but the wind pressure threw me off balance. As I stumbled slightly, newly detached scales rushed toward me. They coated themselves in frost at point-blank range and fired their lances of light.

Instinctively, I swatted away a few with my left gauntlet, imbued with [Concept Interference], and dodged the rest by leaning my upper body far back.

Cutting the mana flowing to my temporary foothold, I supplied it to both my arms. Then, as I fell, I unleashed a maximum-output blast of wind and fire at Rey Cuelebre.

"■■■■■■!!"

But, of course, it dodged. Rey moved sideways at high speed, gathering a massive amount of frost-like mana in the blizzard.

When the mana cleared, the dragon's massive body had multiplied into three.

An illusion? No. Those are ice duplicates coated with its jettisoned scales. Which means they have mass.

With speed rivaling the original, two ice dragons charged toward me. They approached on slightly different, wavering trajectories, and though my eyes could track them, my body couldn't react in time.

I dodged the first and the second, but couldn't avoid the third—the real one. I took the brunt of its charge on my left gauntlet.

"Gah, aaah...!?"

The impact was greater than when I'd been hit by Lefkos's spear. A sharp pain and a strange sensation shot through my left shoulder. With tears welling in the corners of my eyes, I fled from the ensuing storm of light.

Not yet? Are the preparations for her plan still not done?

My brain seared with impatience, and my anxiety grew as the roars of the normal Cuelebre grew louder. Their reinforcements would arrive soon.

I suppressed my body's urge to flee with sheer willpower, parrying the light beams with my regenerated arm and evading the subsequent breath attack.

Just then, I saw Erina-san and Byakuren leap from the shattered ceiling of the palace out of the corner of my eye.

She ran off somewhere with her golem. As I swung my sword to deal with Rey's flying slashes, I sensed a mana reaction at a considerable distance and height.

Is that... the barrier magic item I gave her before?

A moment later, I realized her intention. That self-proclaimed ninja, is she going to act as a decoy and draw the grunts away!?

With just one person and one golem, that was far too reckless. I questioned Erina-san's sanity, but Rey was diving down from above, forcing me to refocus my attention.

"■■■■■■───!"

"You...!"

I retreated backward to dodge its kick, only to be met by the blade of its tail, swung in a roundhouse kick.

I blocked it with my sword, and a shower of sparks erupted as my body was sent flying.

As I fell toward the snow-covered ground at incredible speed, I twisted my body around, turned my soles downward, and somehow managed to kick off the wind.

On the verge of crying out from the pain in my limbs, I weaved through the rain of light pouring down from above.

Immediately after, I sensed wind pressure and mana from my side. I leaped in the opposite direction, holding my sword up as a shield.

Rey had closed the distance in an instant. From a posture with its wings spread wide, it suddenly folded them in and swung.

Not just its tail. Its wings were also firing slashes hardened with mana!

I blocked the first strike, but the second one, which came without pause, broke my guard. I twisted my body, and a slash from its tail struck my breastplate directly.

"Gah, ah...!!"

The armor caved in, crushing my lungs.

My breath was forcibly knocked out of me and my vision swam. My [Spirit Eye] showed me a vision of my own death approaching.

Acting on pure instinct, I retreated with all my might. From a height beyond my awareness, higher than the snow clouds, a lance of light descended.

A beam I couldn't fully dodge shattered my helmet, and my vision filled with red. The cloth lining beneath was also torn. I snatched it out of the air and desperately wiped the blood from my eyes.

At the same time, I partially released my breastplate. My compressed lungs returned to normal, and my broken ribs regenerated.

"Hyuh...!"

My eyes widened as the cold air rushed into my lungs, and I confirmed that all my wounds had already healed.

Those scales... were they the ones it coated its ice clones with...?!

I cursed at how many tricks it had up its sleeve, but I wasn't given a moment's pause. The next attack was already coming.

Rey scattered its scales again, charging while firing indiscriminately like suppression fire. The beams came in at an angle from above, forcing me to retreat downward.

The dragon, now having the high ground, spread its wings wide and gathered mana in its mouth.

Immediately after, a torrent of light was unleashed. I fired wind from both my feet at maximum output and, with [Concept Interference], instead of kicking, I launched myself straight forward.

At the last moment, I escaped its trajectory, and the purple breath passed by my side. It hit the ground, and seeing the snow explode with a deafening roar, I dove right into it.

The lord of dragons lost sight of me for just an instant. In that moment, I abandoned my chipped and battered sword and reformed a new one-and-a-half-handed sword. I didn't have time to summon my armor.

My head and torso, vital parts of the human body, were covered only by thick cloth. If I took another hit there, I would undoubtedly die.

The realization sent a cold sweat down my spine. At that moment, the great ice sword sliced through the snow and appeared before my eyes. I parried it upward with my two-handed sword, pushing my sinking body back with the strength of my legs.

As I escaped the range of the follow-up spinning slash, I frowned at the strange sensation in my hands.

I tried to figure out what it was while dodging the pursuit of light beams.

Scales fired their beams from above and from the sides. I ran across the ground, kicked off the wind to ascend, and as I swatted them away with my sword, I realized the source of the strange feeling.

—Is the amount of mana it contains decreasing?

In the first place, the onslaught until now had left no room for thought. The very fact that I could think was strange.

I focused my [Spirit Eye] on the enemy's attacks and confirmed that the mana being supplied to them was indeed lessening. At the same time, the 'line' that had connected Rey Cuelebre to the palace had been severed.

"■■■■■■───!!"

With a roar that didn't hide its displeasure, the dragon lord turned its gaze toward its own palace.

Understanding the meaning and the opening, I charged. As I ran at full speed toward its throat, it tried to gain distance by ascending.

This time, I was the one giving chase. I kicked off the air to gain altitude and re-gripped my sword.

Rey Cuelebre had been 'storing a vast amount of mana through some means'. The people trapped in the birdcages, from which it had been replenishing its spent mana, must have escaped.

Now, it had to make do with its remaining mana. And that reserve was likely insufficient to maintain such a high output.

Rey Cuelebre was skilled at mana management. But even so, the power it wielded was too great.

"Hyaaaaah...!"

I exhaled a breath that tasted of iron, maintaining the closing distance.

This dragon was by no means stupid. It had to know that I wasn't the only enemy it had to fight.

I didn't know if it was the professor's group or the Self-Defense Force that would eventually arrive. But it probably couldn't afford to fire suppressive beams anymore.

I was acting on the assumption of my opponent's 'rationality'. I was pushing myself just as hard. To prevent it from gaining distance and returning to the palace, I relentlessly aimed for its throat.

My accelerating legs had been screaming in abnormal pain for a while now.

A cold sweat broke out on my forehead. Even if I could regenerate, the cycle of destruction and healing was repeating so rapidly that my brain was feeling phantom pains.

My concentration was almost gone. I was just putting on a brave face, running to make the enemy mistakenly believe that 'if an opening appears, I can reach its throat in one step'.

My body had recovered to a state that could be called perfect, but my spirit was on the verge of breaking.

The dragon lord flew erratically, trying to shake me, then dove to skim just above the ground.

As I dove in pursuit, the sharp pain in my legs intensified. My face contorted against my will, and my fingers holding the sword threatened to loosen.

Endure it. Push through. Just a little longer, just a little longer and...!

"Sorry to keep you waiting!"

The telepathic message from the person I was betting everything on arrived.

"Get back inside the palace at full speed!!"

"You're late!!"

"Right on the three-minute mark!"

I stabbed my sword into the snowy ground, kicking up a cloud of snow with my heel as I forcibly changed direction. I turned at almost a right angle and ran toward the palace.

I heard the sound of the dragon also changing direction behind me. With my back defenselessly exposed, it went on the offensive.

A multitude of light beams were fired. Relying solely on my foresight, I dodged them with side steps, running for all I was worth.

My shoulder was grazed, my side was shallowly gouged, and the lower half of my right ear was torn off.

Enduring the searing pain that came a split second later, I slid into the palace.

My hands and left arm, which I'd planted on the ground to brake, kicked up a huge cloud of snow. I came to a stop with my back against the tattered throne in the center.

As I tried to steady my ragged breath, I watched the dragon flying toward me through the large hole in the wall.

An open maw. A row of spear-like fangs, from which a purple beam of light leaked, was aimed at me.

Whether to ensure a hit, or to avoid losing its 'mana collection facility', Rey flew into the palace without slowing down.

But it seemed it couldn't see them.

'Stop.'

The traces of mana carved into the cross-section of the wall.

Dozens of glowing lines extended toward Rey Cuelebre's massive body. Golden chains wrapped around its tough flesh, their mana seeping into it like veins in a leaf.

The bindings were far too flimsy to restrain a dragon's body. But if time itself was stopped, even the king of the Cuelebre couldn't easily break free.

If even a part of its body was stopped, its internal mana circulation would be disrupted. If multiple parts were stopped, the effect would be immeasurable.

At the very least, its mana was thrown into such turmoil that it couldn't even fire a breath attack.

"■■, ■■■■...───!!"

The light in its mouth vanished, replaced by a low, agonized groan.

But the reception for the master of this palace wasn't over yet. It would be far too rude if it ended with just this.

That British lady would never do something so half-hearted.

'An arrow that repeatedly fell, its space connected together.'

Professor Arisugawa's voice echoed from my left earring, and a golden magic circle appeared in the air at the edge of my vision.

It was, of course, aimed at the bound dragon.

'I cannot hit a moving target... but if it is a stationary one, I can.'

A single arrow, bound by chains, was fired from the golden magic circle.

It was released from its restraints in mid-air as if blossoming, and though it disintegrated in the process, it struck Rey Cuelebre's right eye directly.

Almost simultaneously,

"Finish it, Kyouta-kun!"

I responded to the voice I heard with action.

The sonic wave that was generated almost blew me away, but I pushed myself forward with a blast of wind from my back.

The golden arrow had literally destroyed half the dragon's head. Its right side was blown away, and the base of its wing was also pulverized.

A fatal wound for any normal creature. But it was precisely because such common sense didn't apply that it was a 'monster'.

The scales that had been bound by the chains burst off all at once.

They weren't jettisoned as weapons. They were peeled away along with the skin, exposing muscle fibers and spurting blood.

The blood-soaked dragon, its remaining left eye glowing, once again gathered mana in its mouth.

That dragon could no longer continue the fight. Therefore, that was its final attack.

A torrent of mana that didn't even shy away from self-destruction was gathered at a single point. Its target was the direction from which that arrow was fired.

There were surely many people there. But only the faces of my acquaintances came to mind. That was fine. That was good.

Otherwise, how could I possibly make a step so powerful it could shatter my own legs?

I was putting everything I had into this, too. Faster than the breath could be fired, I leaped into its guard.

"Ooooooh...!"

With all my momentum, I thrust the sword in my hands upward.

My target was one point and one point only: its throat. The remaining mottled scales protected its weak point, but I slammed the tip of my blade into that comparatively soft spot.

But I couldn't pierce it. Even if it was a weak point, these were still dragon scales.

With my own strength alone, I couldn't break through. The difference in our fundamental power was just too great.

Therefore.

"Lend me your strength—"

Three seconds before the beam was fired.

"Champion!!"

The bracelet on my right arm glowed with the light of a sunrise.

My arms, enveloped in an orange light, pierced the scales and drove the blade deeper.

I unleashed flames from the blade hot enough to vaporize the gushing blood, and released wind from my entire body as I swung the sword in a diagonal slash.

[Concept Interference].

I tore through not only the biologically vital nerves and blood vessels, but also the mana that was concentrated there.

The mana that had been channeled into the breath attack overflowed from the wound. Not just from the throat I had just slit. Light leaked from the places where its skin was gone, from its head gouged by the arrow, and from the base of its wing.

From my follow-through stance, I leaped to the right with all my might. But,

"Tch!?"

The dragon's wing suddenly moved, blocking my path.

This thing, it's still...!

My eyes met its glaring left eye.

I instantly spun my body and burned through the black membrane. In those few seconds, the mana had already reached its critical point.

I'm going to be swallowed...!

"Like I'd let you!!"

A roar, unsuited for such a delicate voice, reached my ears.

In that instant, several chunks of ice wedged themselves between me and the dragon.

Faster than I could comprehend what they were, Rey Cuelebre's mana exploded.

The impact shattered the ice, activating the egg-shaped magic items hidden inside. They deployed a barrier, blocking the light heading toward me.

It lasted only for a moment. They were shattered, unable to withstand the force, and the shockwave slammed into me.

"Kah, ah..."

I might have blacked out for a few seconds. I felt a strong impact on my back, and my vision flickered.

Coughing violently, I somehow managed to turn my head.

The palace, one corner of which had completely collapsed. My own limbs sprawled out, and my one-and-a-half-handed sword lying a short distance away. From the sensation on my back and shoulders, it seemed I was leaning against a snowdrift in a sitting position.

Did it act as a cushion... or was this all part of that good-for-nothing college girl's calculations?

With a wry smile, I turned my face forward.

My eyes met the being that had been in my vision for a while now.

"........."

It was a dragon with only its head, and only half of that, remaining.

For a brief moment, our gazes locked, its eyes that had glowed reddish-purple.

Then, the light faded, and it turned into a lump of white salt, difficult to distinguish from the snow.

"Kyouta-kun!"

Mia-san ran toward me, her feet getting caught in the snow. Before her panicked form could reach me, a slender white arm extended from my side.

"...You were pretty close, weren't you?"

"Of course. I was aware that I was making an unreasonable request of you, too."

Aira-san, dressed in her black and white detective outfit, smiled fearlessly.

Was this pathetic, frail beauty tough, or just an idiot?

I smiled wryly and took her hand. And then, as I tried to stand up.

"Don't!"

"Huh?"

"Nuoah!?"

Mia-san's shout and Aira-san losing her balance as I leaned on her happened at almost the same time.

Her forehead slammed into the top of my head.

"Fungyaaaaaaah!!??"

"I knew this would happen..."

"Indeed..."

Great, way to ruin the moment...

The pathetic beauty rolled around on the snow, screaming, while her sister pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose.

I was so exasperated I could only stand there with my mouth half-open, but I quickly remembered the situation.

"Right, I have to go help Erina-san...!"

"Did you call for me!!"

"Ugh, there she is."

The self-proclaimed ninja and Professor Arisugawa appeared in a flash of golden light. It seemed the professor had gone to rescue her while Aira-san was being an idiot.

But it didn't look like she was unharmed.

"Erina-san, your arm..."

"Hm? Oh, it got dislocated again!"

Erina-san replied with a smile for some reason, her left arm dangling loosely. The professor, standing next to her, furrowed her brow deeply.

"You shouldn't move the injured area. I'll get some bandages, so we'll put your arm in a sling."

"Okay. Oh, before that, Kyouta-chan."

With a rare, awkward expression, Erina-san looked at me.

Then, with her right arm, she took something out of her Item Box.

"I'm sorry... Byak-chan protected me and..."

"Ah."

What emerged was Byakuren, its head half-destroyed, its left arm and right leg gone. Through a crack in its helmet, I could see the flask inside.

Its brand-new armor was in tatters, too. For some reason, only the iron ball remained intact, but it would be faster to replace everything else.

"It's fine. Byakuren did its job. What's more important is that you're safe."

"I'm really sorry. And thank you."

"I'll send the bill to Aira-san."

"My beloved car was just totaled, you know!?"

"Shut it, you pathetic college student."

As Aira-san returned, pressing her forehead, I also stood up, my mouth set in a thin line.

In the first place, I'd had to push myself pretty hard to save her. The monsters were to blame, but I figured I was entitled to at least this much.

"Kuh...! Grandma. About an advance on my allowance..."

"It's not an allowance, it's a cooperation fee for my research... Honestly."

The professor sighed after she finished wrapping Erina-san's bandages.

I smiled wryly at the scene, and a peaceful atmosphere settled over us.

I placed my hands on my hips and looked up at the sky.

The snow clouds had vanished, replaced by a clear sky. A few white clouds floated by, and the brilliant sun shone down on the earth.

Looking at what was once the ice palace, bathed in sunlight, I couldn't help but smile wryly.

I couldn't hear the roars of the dragons anymore.