◆ Chapter 24: That Dragon

 

 

 

◆ Chapter 24: That Dragon

 

“NO, Boss Lady, this is a different dragon!” Rosso shouts, pointing to where soldiers are packing up the birds that had formed the defeated dragon. It can’t be the same dragon with all the birds still purified. As Rosso said, it’s valid to view this as a different dragon.

But then where in the world did it come from?

“Look, Mizuha!” Nady calls to me. “The last dragon we defeated had blood-red eyes, but this one has blue eyes.”

It’s too far for me to tell the color of its eyes, but if Nady says so, then I believe it. And I remember a blue-eyed dragon. I saw it up close and personal—there’s no way I could mistake it.

“This must be the dragon that was patrolling the mountains!” I exclaim.

“Then there have always been two of them…?” Lex concludes, his face grim.

It’s not strange for there to be two if there’s one, but I never imagined them to be in the same area. Though despair surges within me, an inspiring voice instantly dispels it.

“It doesn’t matter how many there are, for we Lucors can just bring it down again!”

The Lucors release a volley of arrows at the new dragon. Over thirty arrows soar in an arc toward their target. It’s breathtaking every time I see it, but the result is different this time.

“It’s not working?!”

“No, they aren’t even getting close!”

“It’s that damn mist! It’s repelling the arrows!”

Mist enshrouding the dragon’s body repels all the arrows. The last dragon didn’t have this skill. Panic begins to spread through the Lucors until a single arrow zipping through the sky quells it. Chieftain Theos’s arrow.

It flies faster and harder than any arrow before it and breaks through the mist unhindered. Glass shatters on impact.

“Chieftain Theos did it!”

“But the arrow didn’t hit it!”

The excitement lasted for but a brief moment before more stunned cries rise from the troops. While the arrow succeeded in getting past the mist, it lost momentum and fell out of the sky before it struck the dragon. Theos promptly releases a second arrow, which has the same disappointing result.

“No way! Not even Theos can pull it off? We don’t stand a chance then!” I shout just as the dragon decides to repay us for all the arrows.

After roaring until the air tingles, it starts blowing black flames on the ground below it. The fire breath creates a furrow-like line in the ground that lasts for a long couple of minutes. Black flames scorch the earth as if drawing a picture.

“I’m marrying MiZUha after our triumphant return to the capital! I cannot die yet!”

“I made a promise to be spoiled silly by my goddess once we get back home! Iris won’t die in a place like this!”

Keith and Iris flee from the blast while shouting their delusional reasons to live. Aside from them, a large number of soldiers are scattering in every direction to avoid the black flames of doom.

Blackness blankets the area, and the ground is shaking like there’s an earthquake. It’s such an apocalyptic scene that I wouldn’t doubt it if you told me the world is ending right now. Our complete annihilation is inevitable at this rate.

“Lex!” I shout, seeking his advice.

“We were never prepared for two!” he immediately responds. “We shouldn’t push our luck here!” He pulls on the reins, turning Vianta around, and raises his voice over the chaos. “Retreat! Everyone, retreat at once!”

Following his orders, everyone mounts their horses and spurs them into a gallop. But the black flames make it impossible to establish any kind of formation. Everyone scatters in whatever direction they can without caring about what the person next to them is doing. There’s just no latitude to fuss about formations right now—escaping the dragon comes first.

All our allies are quickly moving away from Cladorca. Vianta finally also crosses the line where the dragon stopped chasing me last time. If it’s the same as before, it should give up the chase here, but after the blue-eyed dragon stops scorching the area, it flaps its wings and pursues us with a vengeance.

“Are you kidding me?! The other dragon didn’t follow us!”

“This one might not have any inclination to protect Cladorca, m’lady!”

Considering it flew down from the mountains, this one might not have any area restrictions. It roars in hot pursuit of us as if to say “You aren’t getting away!” Unlike last time, there are people all over the place that it could go after. However, the dragon is on a set course for—

“ME AGAIN?! I knew it liked me, but this is too much!”

“Please hold on tight, Lady Mizuha!”

As soon as the dragon is close enough to cast a shadow over us, it alternates taking swipes at Vianta with each of its front talons. Lex’s skilled handling of the reins manages to pull us out of danger each time, but my whole body tenses in the saddle at the sound of claws slashing through the air. One hit from that and I’m dead. I glimpse the dragon’s bared fangs out of the corner of my right eye.

“AAAHHH!”

Now it’s snapping its jaws! We avoid its teeth thanks to Lex again, but it doesn’t matter how many lives I have. If this keeps up, I’m a goner. I want to do something about it, but there’s nothing I can do when I’m just a passenger on Lex’s horse. And it’s a huge mystery if I’m actually capable of doing anything to that dragon in the first place.

As I’m racking my brain, everything in front of me suddenly turns pitch-black. The dragon spewed its black flames in front of Vianta, blocking her escape route. We didn’t have time to avoid this attack. My body is violently struck by something.

I’m too dazed for the first few seconds to figure out what just happened. But I’m still conscious, and clearly alive. Plus, while the impact was hard, I’m not in pain. Wondering why, I open my eyes. Lex is pillowing me in his arms. No wonder I’m okay. However, Lex is covered in injuries from taking the brunt of the blow.

“L-Lex! Are you okay?! I’ll heal you right now with my left hand—”

“Healing puts too much of a strain on your body, Lady Mizuha. I am…all right… Please…run away!!”

“I can’t run and leave you—” I swallow the rest of what I was going to say.

The dragon is after me. Lex will get eaten along with me if I stay next to him. After a brief moment of hesitation, I dash away from him at full speed. But a dragon flies faster than a human’s legs can run—the distance between us is closed in a flash.

Landing right beside me, the dragon opens its big mouth. Black miasma swells up from its throat. It’s going to blast me with its fire breath attack.

Since coming to this world, there have been countless occasions when I have thought my time was up. I have never been more aware of it than at this moment.

I’m sorry, Dad, Mom, and I guess Big Bro while I’m at it. I don’t think I’ll be able to see you again…

I finish offering my final farewells to my family just as the misty black miasma surges up inside the dragon’s mouth. The dragon tilts its head back to release the flames, when a single arrow slams into its eye, shattering glass and membrane. It lets out a deafening shriek, and the swirl of black miasma dissipates inside its mouth.

For a second, I can’t wrap my head around what happened. How could an arrow pierce through the dragon’s mist and into its eyeball when not even Theos succeeded in hitting it? Heck, I don’t even know who shot the arrow. Countless questions flood my mind.

But they’re immediately washed away by the instinctive need to run. To my dismay, I’m too scared to move.

“Mizuha! Take my hand!” a frantic voice instructs me.

I look up to see Nady riding toward me. She stops right beside me and pulls me onto the saddle in front of her. Then she holds the reins with her arms coming around my back and spurs the horse into a fast gallop.

“Th-Thanks!” I say breathlessly. “Was that arrow yours…?”

“I wanted to save you so bad…my body moved on its own!”

My guess it was Nady’s arrow was right on the mark. Not only did she shoot through the mist covering the dragon, which no one else could, but her arrow also punctured its tough outer layer. I saw her exceptional skills during the archery demonstration, but it looks like Nady’s arrows have more power behind them than anyone else.

She still seems to struggle with shooting living creatures—even if they’re zombies. I can see the sadness and torment in her eyes. Guilt rises in me despite my joy over being saved.

However, fear soon overwrites every other emotion. The dragon flies just off the ground and instantly closes the distance between us again.

“You’ll get eaten with me, Nady…!” I cry.

“Yeah. I know we can’t outrun it. So I’ve come prepared…!” Nady slides the bow off her shoulder as she speaks. She plans to shoot at it again. That’s great, but what’s she going to do about the horse’s reins? “Take the reins, Mizuha!” she orders, answering the question for me.

“M-Me?! That’s not a good idea, Nady!”

Since the purification of Grantz Kingdom has started settling down, I’ve had Lex let me hold Vianta’s reins in the name of experiencing it. But that was solely for fun, and at a slow trot at that. I highly doubt I can hold on to the reins of a horse galloping so fast I can hear the wind rush by. Especially not with a zombie dragon on our tail.

But how can I say no when I see Nady staring down the dragon? She’s attempting to do what she’s not good at—for me. Then I need to do the same for her.

“Turn the horse left when I give the signal! He’s a good boy. He should respond if you lightly tug the reins in the direction you want him to go!”

“O-Okay!”

Stop thinking about how to ride well. I just need to think about holding the reins and keeping him steady. That way Nady can get a clear shot!

As if to mock my once in a lifetime attempt at being plucky, the dragon rapidly moves in on us, slashing its lethal talons to reap our lives.

“Oh god, oh god! GAAAAAH!”

It spits a beam of black flames while it’s at it. Either the horse is just that skilled or sheer luck was on our side, because we managed to avoid it. Nady will never be able to find the right timing to shoot with it bombarding us with one attack after another. If only we could distract the dragon for a moment...

Then, as if in answer to my prayers, a volley of arrows fly at the dragon from both sides. The Lucors have come to our rescue. Every arrow is repelled, but it’s enough to annoy the dragon. Enraged, it roars at both sides.

“Why…are you all here?!”

“Don’t slow down! You’re the Chieftain’s daughter! Finish it off already!” one of the young Lucor men yells at Nady. He’s the one who always says mean things to her. The other Lucors who had demeaned her are also assisting in distracting the dragon.

“Okay!” Nady quickly gets over her shock and cracks a smile.

They have finally accepted her. I can’t help being thrilled for my best friend. Not that now is a good time for that.

“Now, Mizuha!”

“On it!”

I yank the reins to the left, and the horse swiftly turns. Out of the corner of my left eye, I glimpse the dragon going berserk on the Lucors. Then I hear Nady take a deep breath. It’s over in a second. She quietly releases the arrow from the bow. It soars through the air and bloodily skewers the dragon’s left wing.

The dragon lets out a hiss of breath like a whimper. “We did it!” I whoop, but Nady doesn’t think it’s over yet. She releases arrow after arrow into it without pause. Shattering glass echoes through the woods, accompanied by the sound of arrowheads puncturing a thick hide. Ten arrows are sticking out of it when I look.

“It still hasn’t fallen?!” I groan at the dragon that’s still flying overhead. At least it’s flying slower than before. It should come down eventually if we can keep this up.

The dragon suddenly lets out an enraged roar as if to say it won’t let us get away with hurting it any longer, and it begins spraying the area with black flames. The Lucors scatter. Fortunately no one took a direct hit, but our advantage has been completely squashed.

The moment the arrows stopped, the dragon turns back to me. Sights set, it roars louder than ever. It was too much for our horse—it starts to buck wildly in fear. Seemingly waiting for that moment, the dragon blasts us with its fire breath. It’s going to be a direct hit!

“Please, move!”

I yank on the reins. Did that do the trick? Or was it the horse’s instincts? Either way, he runs at the last second. But in his panic, the horse stumbles and falls. Nady and I are tossed out of the saddle and roll on the ground.

A blast of black zips passed the space right beside us at the exact same time. Apparently, we fell out of sight. Nady seems all right despite hitting the ground too. We’re in the worst possible situation, but we escaped the worst-case scenario.

“My quiver…!” Nady cries just as I sigh in relief.

It looks like she lost her quiver during the fall. To make matters worse, the black flames crispified it, arrows and all. And Nady’s arrows were the only attack that worked on the stupid dragon!

Borrowing someone else’s would be best, but the Lucors fled too far. The dragon will reach us before we get to any of them. We’re out of options.

“Nady!” booms the voice of hope.

“Father?!”

A stern-faced Lucor—Theos—rides over to us. Did he run in our direction when the dragon scattered his people? He’s arrived with impeccable timing! He draws an arrow from his quiver and holds it up.

“This is the last one! Finish it!”

“…Yes, sir!”

Theos hands off the arrow to Nady without stopping his horse, and changes directions as he gallops by us. He charges straight at the dragon. I question his sanity, but soon realize he’s trying to draw its attention.

“Come and get me, wicked dragon! The mighty Theos will be your opponent!”

Theos’s howled challenge seems to have reached the dragon as its eyes turn to him. Nady nocks the arrow and prepares to fire it in the interim. But she stops with the arrow pulled back, unable to release it. On closer look, her face is taut. She must be nervous knowing it’s the last arrow.

“Hey, Mizuha, I’m sorry to ask this of you right now, but…” she starts.

“What is it?”

“I need courage. Will you place your hands on my hips?”

“Er… I hate to say this, but my hand stinks from touching the other dragon. Actually, it reeks something nasty. You okay with that?”

“I am. Because it’s your hand—my best friend’s hand.”

Her response is both immediate and the best thing I could’ve asked for. From the moment I met Nady, I had a sense that “I can surely get along with this person.” It seems my instincts were on the money.

“Thanks. I’m happy to help then!”

I place my hands on Nady’s hips, making sure not to hinder her ability to shoot.

The dragon has already lost interest in Theos. Without any arrows, he’s no threat to the flying beast. Makes sense why it wouldn’t care about him. But he offered the best back up he could as not only the Lucor’s Chieftain but also as a parent.

“Nady, now!

Nady releases the arrow from her right hand in time with Theos’s shout. The arrow has already reached the dragon by the time my ears register the twang of the bowstring. Recognizing Nady’s arrows alone as a threat, the dragon immediately tries to evade it. But the arrow strikes before it can flap its wings. It hits in a different spot from before—the head, and not just anywhere in the head, but between the eyes.

Nady seems to have targeted its head because it continued to fly no matter how much damage its wings took. In fact, it’s proven effective in the very next moment.
The dragon starts to fall, roaring so loud it could split the heavens.

The giant was finally grounded.