by Funa
Oh no! I have to save her…
From her position collapsed on the ground, Mavis had seen everything. Now she tried her best to pull herself to her feet, but because she had struck her head, and her bones and tendons were injured, none of her limbs would cooperate.
I know, the Micross! If I just use the Micross…
Even with that solution in mind, her arms would not work the way she willed them to. Bit by bit they inched toward her side, but she had almost no sensation in her fingers. She couldn’t find her pocket at all.
The elder dragon was already standing over Mile, reaching out its right arm.
No! I’m never gonna make it!
Just as Mavis plunged into despair, there was a sharp ringing in her ear. The sound gave her a strange sense of déjà vu…
Shiiiiiiing… Bang!!
“Gwaah!”
The elder dragon drew back its outstretched right arm in a panic, gripping its palm.
Mavis raised her eyes.
Could it be? If it was, then she would see, up in the sky…
And indeed, when Mavis looked up, she saw above her—
“Yahooo!”
—a girl about ten years old, shouting out. Beneath her, a familiar wyvern finished a drop attack and turned back to reascend.
“L-Lobreth!”
The singular reinforcement the region’s lord had sent out had now arrived.
Lobreth, flapping high in the sky, once more began an easy descent, likely to use his breath attack once again. However, this was incredibly reckless.
“This pitiful excuse for a dragon dares to challenge me…”
Viewing the wyvern as a foe who could cause harm, the elder dragon took a defensive stance. Just as Lobreth approached at a shallow angle, opening his mouth wide to prepare another blast of breath…
Boom!
A fireball burst from the elder dragon’s mouth.
This was nothing like the small flame it had fired toward Reina and the others; this was a true fireball, a sphere of searing death.
The high-velocity fireball smacked straight into Lobreth’s left wing. He crashed into the trees with a scream from the girl upon his back. The curtain had fallen on Lobreth’s performance just as quickly as it had risen.
However, those scant few moments weren’t for naught. Within that narrow window Lobreth and the girl had granted them, Mavis finally managed to find her pocket, seized one of the capsules inside, and flipped the lid open.
“I’m counting on you, Micross!”
Just as Mile taught her, she said a word of prayer, “to increase the effectiveness,” and gulped down everything inside. Every last drop.
“I can finish healing later. For now, I just need to focus my spirit, ignore the pain, and get this body moving! Let’s gooooooooo!!!”
Mavis fought with all her might to control her body, harnessing her own powerful spirit. As she believed she couldn’t use magic whatsoever, Mavis had no idea that what she was doing was, in fact, using healing magic.
As the pain vanished, and feeling and motion returned to her limbs, Mavis knew this didn’t mean her wounds were truly healed. It meant she had stopped feeling the pain. Her spiritual power supported her bones and ligaments to the lowest necessary degree. However, that was enough for her.
She drew another capsule from her pocket, the third that day.
Mile’s words ran through her head:
“Please only use one of these at a time. If you absolutely must, you can use just one more. However, if you do, please don’t push your body too far. When you use these, your muscles and ligaments will compensate to a fair degree, but eventually they won’t be able to keep up. If you overdo it, you’ll end up with fractured bones and torn ligaments. Your whole body will fall apart.
“And whatever you do, avoid using three or more at all costs. You should use only one, at most two, in a time of crisis—and in those moments you need to exercise the utmost caution. Got that? If you mess this up, you could end up dead!”
However, Mile had also taught Mavis a special spell that would smash through those rules, no matter how much Mile tried to warn her. As Mavis swallowed the contents of the third capsule, she uttered those words:
“To hell with that!”
Then, she took a fourth capsule, and a fifth, staring hard at them. Mavis borrowed a decisive phrase Mile used now and then:
“If this isn’t the time to use these, then when is?!”
And with that, she took the two last capsules.
Mavis’s short sword, her main weapon, had been thrown who knows where when the dragon sent her flying. All she had now was the sword she’d brought from home, previously broken and remade into a dagger by Mile. Smoothly, she drew her blade.
There was the faintest whisper… As the air around her began to stir, Mavis grinned.
“Looks like this will be our first real battle together. I’m sorry I’ve only used you for cooking up until now. This might be the first and last time we ever fight as a pair, but please, give me your all!”
A tremor seemed to run through the dagger.
Scrtch…
“Hm?”
Scrtch, scrtch, scrtch…
Beads of light flowed from the dagger’s blade. Then, upon it, a divine and brilliant, shining crest appeared.
“Is this your true form? Haha, never mind a dragon, I bet you could cut down a devil, or a god!”
It was the coating that had been applied to the blade to keep it from standing out and to dull the cutting edge. The nanomachines that clung to the dagger to maintain this coating had decided to remove it of their own volition.
Through many tearful days of misfortune, the nanomachines had heard Mile say those decisive words, too. Now they thought it to themselves:
IF NOW ISN’T THE TIME TO REMOVE THIS, THEN WHEN IS?!
If this knight was willing to put her life on the line for that girl, then they would aid her. This was the consensus of the nanomachines.
Mavis faced the elder dragon with this dagger in hand. She let out a battle cry.
For a short time, the elder dragon watched the trees, in case the wyvern had only pretended to fall and would try to send logs flying the elder dragon’s way. But when it showed no sign of that, once again the dragon turned back toward the girls.
It was well aware the human who had attacked it with a sword before was heading its way. But even in top form, she had barely scratched its scales. She had lost her main weapon and now relied on a tiny, back-up blade. Plus, with her body still battered, there was no way she could do any harm.
Knowing this, the dragon allowed her to attack as she pleased.
It could easily have brushed her away with claw or tail, but allowing her to attack, allowing her to see she couldn’t so much as wound it, would reinforce the futility and despair, as well as the fear of elder dragons that made them so legendary.
And so, the dragon struck a pose that let the girl know that while it knew she approached, it was completely ignoring her. It wouldn’t even realize she had landed an attack. But then…
Stab.
“…Hm?”
The elder dragon froze.
“Hm? Huh? Wha…?” It was in such shock, its brain couldn’t make the connection. It didn’t even feel much pain.
Something had pierced its side, through tough scales and powerful hide, far deeper than the few inches the drill had managed. Only when it felt a red-hot, searing sensation coursing through its side did the dragon stop staring, dumbfounded.
“Grr-raaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
With all her might, Mavis attempted to move the blade.
Learning from earlier failures, she hadn’t tried to slice through. Instead she buried the blade deep into the dragon’s flesh, so far that with another inch, the hilt would be engulfed.
From there, she had to move the blade again, but moving it from a dead stop would take tremendous strength; moving it after it had already pierced not only the tough hide and scales but t
he peritoneum and outer muscles, as well, was a high hurdle indeed.
If she only had to pull it straight out, it would have been comparatively easy. However, never minding the difference in their sizes meant targeting the dragon’s heart was impossible, inflicting a large gash would cause the dragon far more damage, she thought. Whether her intuition was correct, she couldn’t know.
“Nghhhhhhh…”
Mavis mustered all her strength to pull the blade sideways. Finally, with a crunch, she felt it move, just a little.
When she gave even more power, she felt it drag. Yes, it was definitely moving!
“Raaaaaaaaahh…!”
Rip.
From somewhere within Mavis’s body, there was an unpleasant sound.
Rip, riiiiiiip…
Snap!
“Gaah!”
Snap. Crackle. Rip. Pop!
“Waaaaaaaah!!”
“Graaaaaaaah!!”
Lagging behind a beat, the elder dragon, staring at the knife ripping through its belly, began to feel the pain. In a frenzy, it sent Mavis flying with its claw again. This time, she landed close to Reina and the others.
The other three had thankfully not lost consciousness, so they had managed to crawl behind a stone wall and heal each other with magic. When Mavis, seriously injured, was cast their way, they rushed out. All three concentrated their healing magic on her. Without paying sufficient attention to the elder dragon.
“Y-you measly humans…”
The elder dragon had managed to stop the bleeding from the wound in its gut with its own magic, but of course the wound itself didn’t instantly recover. Outside of Mile, and Pauline, who had received her instruction, the only ones who could use such rapid healing magic were the Wonder Trio.
The dragon glared at the fallen Mavis, as well as the other three. It opened its mouth wide, drew in a great breath, and quickly, along with a bright flame…
Bam!
Ka-boom~!
It looked at the sky and fired the blast.
A rock had struck it in the face at the last second, forcing the elder dragon to change the direction it was facing.
“Who dares?!”
The dragon turned, froth and saliva dripping from its mouth in anger. Before it stood Mile, her armor, clothes, and hair in shambles. Just like the dragon, she trembled and seethed in anger, her stance imposing.
“Guess what?” she thrust her index finger forward and shouted at the dragon. “Now, you’ve made me really angry!”
Chapter 34:
A Battle of Magic
Mile was angry. Her armor and clothing were in tatters. Her hair was a mess.
However, this wasn’t the reason Mile was angry.
Her allies, her friends, had been hurt. They were very nearly killed. If she hadn’t made it in time, they would have been killed. Her dearest companions, who fought their hardest and risked their own lives just to save her.
“Impossible… No human could recover so quickly from that much damage! You… just what are you?!” The elder dragon raged.
Mile stoically replied, “Me? I’m a completely normal, ordinary little girl and a C-rank hunter.”
“Lies!! Show your true self!”
Bwoosh!
Shing!
“Wh…”
Knowing it would never learn the truth if it killed her, the dragon held back a bit, firing a small, non-explosive ball of flame Mile’s way. Thanks to Mile’s Lattice Power barrier, the flames were repelled as though they were nothing.
“I suppose I held back a bit too much… Well then, take this!”
Whoosh!
Shing!
“Th-then, this…”
Bwoosh!
Shing!
“I-Impossible! Very well, time to get serious…”
Bwoosh!
Shing!
“!…”
Bwoosh!
Shing!
Bwoosh!
Shing!
Bwoosh!
Shing!
“Wha…”
“Now, it’s my turn,” Mile declared. The elder dragon, stunned that its attack spells could be repelled so easily even when fired at full power, was silent. Mile let off an attack spell with a brief incantation. “Transmute the elements and channel phase energy. Phase energy beam, fire!”
Smeck!
With a very light sound, the spell shot into the elder dragon’s left shoulder, right where arm and torso connected. Without any regard for the magical protection likely affixed to the dragon’s body.
“Hm?”
The dragon’s jaw half-dropped, as if it could not comprehend the current state of affairs. It was impossible to read a dragon’s facial expressions, but anyone who looked at it now would agree that it appeared nothing more than flabbergasted.
And then, a beat later.
“Gaaaaaaaaah~~!!!”
The elder dragon’s cry resounded through the trees.
How had Mile’s magic, supposedly inferior to the dragon’s, won in a fire fight? Why had her disposition shifted so drastically?
The reasons were two-fold.
For one, Mile was incredibly angry. Her immense rage had banished the fear, despair, and resignation roiling in her heart to a far corner of her mind.
But more importantly, Mile had realized something: The difference between her and the elder dragon’s power wasn’t so great after all.
Mile’s abilities were perhaps half that of the strongest elder dragon in this world. However, this didn’t mean they were half that of the elder dragon now standing before her. Judging by its behavior, this elder dragon was probably dead average between the most powerful elder dragons and those who were complete incompetents. In other words, at about half the strength of the strongest elder dragon. By that measure, Mile by no means possessed only half of this particular dragon’s strength.
So, what if the strongest dragons were orders of magnitude higher in strength? What if this elder dragon wasn’t in their league?
In that case, the difference between Mile’s power and this dragon’s wasn’t so great, was it?
Plus, Mile had an advantage. She possessed all the knowledge and power of the imagination she carried from her past life.
She could conjure the image of a Type 94 naval gun or a 500-kilo bomb exploding, a beam weapon’s power or the effects of a nuclear bomb. Although it was very unlikely the nanomachines would allow her to conjure an actual nuclear blast.
These were powerful, offensive images that this world could scarcely begin to imagine. They granted her overwhelming superiority.
Plus, with her knowledge of the principles of physical phenomena, she could conjure a relatively concrete image as well. And the nanomachines would automatically account for any deficiencies.
In other words, compared to someone who possessed the same amount of magical power, Mile was capable of far stronger, far more efficient spells. And the effect of that was:
In a battle between two swordsmen, even when there was a reasonable difference in raw power, the battle wasn’t yet decided. The victory went to the one who could strike a blow to their opponent’s vitals the quickest. Even the weaker of the two could still manage to pull a sudden victory in the end.
However, if one could completely deflect the other’s magical attacks, while their own burst through the enemy’s shield as though it were paper, then there would be no contest.
The victory was decided before the battle had even truly begun.
However, just then…
“What’s all the racket up there? Shut up!”
“What’s going on?”
Two more elder dragons crept out of the hole.
Of these two newcomers, one was a rank larger than the first dragon who had appeared. It looked from Pauline and Reina, who were trying desperately to heal Mavis, to Dr. Clairia, who was poised to cast another protection spell at any moment, to Mile and her tattered rags.
Then it issued a scathing rebuke to the first dra
gon.
“Wence! How many times do the elders have to tell you not to abuse lower life-forms? Er… or are you the one being abused here?”
Staring at the blood pouring from the wound on Wence’s pierced shoulder, its eyes round, was the much-older elder dragon, Berdetice.
“Aha aha ha ha ha ha! That’s so funny, Wence! An elder dragon, an elder dragon tormented by a human! Goodness, if you always made me laugh this hard, I would have never turned you down for a date!”
As Shelala, the daughter of the chief elder dragon, rolled on the ground laughing, Wence was so indignant he forgot the pain in his shoulder.
“Damn these humans, making me disgrace myself in front of Shelala… I won’t forgive you!” Wence opened his mouth wide and let out another powerful breath attack.
“Wh—Stop that, you idiot!!”
Ignoring Berdetice’s order to stop, Wence let out not a single fireball but a full-powered Dragon’s Breath. Mile, standing before him, vanished, her body enveloped in flames.
“Wence, what have you done…?”
Seeing this senseless violence from Wence, who she had been ribbing and mocking, all the color drained from Shelala’s face. No human would ever be able to tell, but to a dragon it was an unmistakable expression of distress, and an understandable one. It would be like a human girl seeing a kitten slaughtered right before her eyes.
“You’ve violated the ‘Lesser Life-forms Protection Act’! A decree from our elders!”
Just as Berdetice began to speak, the young elder dragon, Wence, finally ceased his attack.
Standing there before their eyes was Mile, completely unharmed.
“Impossible…”
“What?”
“Huh???”