I zipped underneath the dragon’s arm as it made to swipe at me, then swung the halberd straight into its belly. Unfortunately, it was no better than when I’d tried to punch the monster.
Even blades are useless?! What is this thing made out of?!
“How about this?!”
I moved the halberd to my left hand and threw consecutive healing bullets at the dragon’s eye to blind it. The dragon roared, unable to see. It swiped at me with its claws. But now that I’d circled around behind it, the attacks were useless. I threw myself into a dropkick aimed square at the dragon’s legs, knocking it off balance. The ground shook as the dragon’s gigantic body fell.
With the dragon’s chest now wide open, I plunged the halberd into the ground and charged in empty handed.
“Let’s hope I’m right!”
This time, however, I didn’t punch the dragon. Instead, I slammed an open palm at its chest. But because I didn’t put very much power into it, there wasn’t much of an effect. However . . .
“I knew it.”
I could feel a thumping through the palm of my hand, and in that moment I knew. The dragon did have a heartbeat. I didn’t know how it worked, but I knew that it was a weak point. If I could get inside of the dragon, I could literally break its heart and kill it.
“And no better time than the present!” I shouted.
I weaved around the dragon’s limbs as it struggled to get to its feet. I wasn’t looking forward to it, but I was going to leap into its mouth and attack its heart directly. I called it the Tom Thumb Tactic.
However, the moment I was about to dive straight in, I felt my legs give out underneath me. I lost my balance and fell.
“I’m not fully healed!”
I’d pushed myself to my physical and healing limits, which dulled the effects of my magic. The dragon watched me fall, its face filling with rage.
“You attempt to do the same as the past hero!” it roared.
I clucked my tongue. Now it knew what I wanted. It had been defeated from the inside once before, and it knew instinctively that I intended to do the same thing. The dragon’s shrewd intelligence was going to make things difficult. And as if to prove it, poison began to spew from the dragon’s mouth to stop me from getting inside.
I knew I wasn’t getting in through by way of its mouth anymore, so I gave up and grabbed a hold of my halberd. Then I jumped back to where Amako and the others were.
“Usato! Are you okay?” she asked.
I kneeled and healed myself while I answered.
“To be honest, not really,” I replied.
The poison and my injuries had taken a heavier toll on me than I’d thought. Although I still had it in me to fight, my healing magic was weaker now. That was clear enough from my fall just moments ago. I also knew that I couldn’t enter the dragon’s body while it was filled with such strong poison. Trying would kill me.
“What happened to Nea?” I asked.
“The dragon got her. It threw her at the manor. She couldn’t stop it.”
“I see.”
So even she couldn’t do anything.
I quickly told Amako and Blurin about the dragon’s weak point. The monster was cautious for the time being and giving me space, but it wouldn’t wait long. We needed to come up with a plan as soon as possible. When she heard about the dragon’s heart, Amako frowned.
“If the heart is the weak point, how do we get to it?” she asked.
“That’s the problem,” I replied. “Look at that thing. It knows I want to get to its heart, so it’s playing things cautiously. That tells us how important its heart is, but its mouth is the only way in, and we can’t get close to it.
If everything had gone to plan before, this might all be over already.
I hated that I let a chance like that go to waste. But regret wasn’t going to help me right now. I had to put my focus on working out a way to attack the dragon’s heart.
“Then perhaps we bet it all on a last-ditch effort to get in through the mouth,” I said.
“But even I can tell how tired you are, Usato,” said Amako. “You can’t do something so risky.”
“But if I make it past the poison . . .” I started.
Then I saw the sorrow in Amako’s face.
“No, you’re right,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
Sacrificing myself wasn’t the right way to solve this problem. I’d made a promise to Rose, and I was intent on surviving so I could continue my journey and help Amako too. The chances of me dying from the dragon’s poison were high, so it wasn’t worth trying. We needed some other way.
The dragon’s going to stomp over here any second now. I guess I’ll just have to do what I always do: think on my feet.
“Sir . . . Usato,” came a voice, surprising all of us.
It was Aruku. He was standing up thanks to the support of Blurin. One look at his eyes told me that he was free of Nea’s brainwashing.
“Aruku, you’re awake!” I exclaimed.
“I am. I know what’s going on. Even while I was being controlled, it was like a hazy dream, but I was conscious. I also heard your conversation just now, and I know how bad things are.”
Aruku stumbled and stood up straight, then went on.
“Sir Usato, I have an idea.”
“An idea?”
“If it works, it may well help us stop that dragon. But we’ll have to work together to make it happen.”
Work together . . .
I looked around at everyone—at Blurin, Amako, and Aruku. Our journey had only just begun, but already they were all important to me. They were my companions on this journey.
And if getting out of here means all of us playing a part, then . . .
“Let’s do it, Aruku. Let’s bring that dragon down, together.”
I would give it everything I had left. Aruku and Amako nodded, and Blurin let out a confident roar.
We’ll do this together.
I let the words play over in my mind. They gave me confidence and strength. I looked over at the dragon, glaring at me, and shot it a bold grin.