Chapter 3: All or Nothing! A Last-Ditch Effort!
“Let’s do this, Blurin!” I shouted.
“Gwah!”
The two of us charged at the dragon. It was clearly taken off guard and suspicious of our sudden movements, but all the same, it raised its head up high, roared, and prepared to crush us.
As soon as Blurin and I entered the dragon’s striking range, we quickly split up. As I sped around to the dragon’s side, I glanced at Amako and Aruku hiding nearby.
“I’m counting on you,” I said.
Draw the dragon’s attention.
That was the first step in Aruku’s plan. Blurin and I would run circles around the dragon to keep it confused and on its toes. This task would have been difficult alone, but together with Blurin, it was a piece of cake.
“No need to do anything reckless, Blurin!” I shouted.
“Gwah!” roared the grizzly, letting me know it understood.
Blurin looked more alive and energetic than ever. Now that he was essentially let off his leash and free to run wild, he was utterly delighted.
“Over here!” I shouted, punching the dragon to break its concentration.
All we had to be concerned about was not getting hurt too badly. We weren’t trying to stop the dragon here. We just wanted to keep it occupied.
“You pests! You maggots!” roared the dragon.
It swiped at me again and I rolled underneath it.
“Better watch out when you swing big like that!” I shouted. “Blurin! Now!”
Blurin charged in and tackled the dragon on its right side, which it had left open trying to get me. The dragon rocked sideways on its feet and roared again.
“Now it’s my turn!” I shouted.
I slipped into the dragon’s blind spot and then punched it straight in the leg. The monster toppled and fell. A tremor ran through the ground as the dragon collided with the earth. I grinned in triumph.
“Great work, Blurin!”
Two heads are better than one! Especially when . . . one of them’s a grizzly?
We’d only fought side by side on two occasions, but we’d spent enough time together to understand one another. I could sense what Blurin was going to do, just as the grizzly could easily read my own movements. What more could you ask for in a partner?
Whenever one of us moved into the dragon’s line of sight, the other launched a surprise attack. Because the dragon only had one eye it had no way of responding when one of us attacked from its blind side.
“Now that’s what I call a combination!”
Though I couldn’t easily get close to the dragon on my own, with a partner it was all too easy to keep the dragon on its toes. At the same time, the dragon still had a mouth full of toxic gas, so we still couldn’t land any truly decisive blows.
“Do you think your dancing will defeat me?! You are not a hero like the one I fought last time! You are weak!”
Well of course I’m weak if that’s what you’re comparing me to. But given the circumstances, you just sound like a kid throwing a tantrum over losing a game.
“You sure like to talk!” I said as I weaved under some sludge the dragon spat at me. “Is that because you’ve been asleep for hundreds of years? Were you lonely?”
When it came to teasing and bullying, I was one up on most. That was because my repertoire for pushing buttons to frustrate and annoy had expanded when I joined the rescue team. I could tell that the dragon hated it, and that just made it all the easier to push around.
“Your attacks mean nothing! Not even the hero could scratch me! And you are so much weaker! No matter what you try, you will fail!”
“Ha! Keep talking, lizard! All your ranting and raving is because you’re scared, isn’t it? Just admit it!”
“Why would I fear a maggot?!”
Every time I looked at the dragon, I saw the snake from Llinger’s forest. Rose had landed the finishing blow. If she hadn’t been there, Blurin and I would have died. But through that experience I learned what it means to be on the edge of life and death. I also found my partner, Blurin. When I thought back on it, there was a great frustration in me. I hated that in the end I’d had to rely on Rose’s help. It made me feel pitiful.
I felt shades of that fight all over again as we ran circles around the dragon. But I wasn’t the person that I was back then. And more importantly, I had two other companions by my side.
What was it you said? Not even the hero could scratch you?
“Look, I’ll admit that when you were alive, you were a fearsome beast,” I said. “And even here, deteriorated as you are, you’re still formidable. I’ll bet you wielded unimaginable power. But!”
And with that, Blurin slid in front of me. I used his back as a platform to leap in the air and throw a roundhouse kick straight at the dragon’s jaw. Poison spewed into the air like a fountain. The dragon fell with its hands on the ground from the blow. It looked at me in astonishment as I landed before it.
“But I know what real heroes are,” I said. “To them you’re nothing more than a pesky lizard.”
Inukami-senpai would simply raze the thing to the ground with her overflowing lightning. Kazuki would have had the dragon wrapped around his little finger as he deftly wove his light magic around it. Those two were true heroes. If this dragon was having trouble keeping up with the likes of me, then it really was nothing but a pest.
“Damn you!” the dragon roared.
With its throat crushed, and poison leaking from its mouth, the dragon flew into a blind rage. It came straight for me. I wasn’t strong enough to withstand the toxic gas wafting all around its mouth. I knew that if it bit me, the power of its jaws, combined with its poison, would kill me.
“Did you forget I’m not alone?” I asked.
“Gwaaah!”
The dragon was focused on me alone. But when it was right on the verge of reaching me Blurin charged at it again, flailing. The shock of the impact sent the dragon reeling off to the side and straight past me. Once again, it crumpled to the ground.
“It’s not just me you’re fighting,” I said. “You shouldn’t underestimate my partner. He’ll fight anyone, any time, any place. He doesn’t know the meaning of fear.”
Well, except when it comes to Rose, anyway!
But even after all these attacks, we still hadn’t hurt the dragon. It was insanely durable, and on top of that, it was also a zombie. When a monster like that zombifies, it’s almost unkillable.
“But even zombies have their weak points,” I whispered to myself.
“Usato!”
Aruku and Amako shouted to me just as I was about to dive into another round of dancing around the dragon.
“It’s ready?” I said. “Blurin, draw the dragon away!”
“Gwah!”
Blurin dashed off while I returned to Aruku and Amako. Calling me meant that they’d finished with their preparations. Sweat was beading on Aruku’s forehead as he thrust the halberd at me.
“Sir Usato,” he said. “The rest is up to you!”
“Got it!”
The weapon was imbued with his magical energy, and the halberd’s axe blade was superheated. It was so hot it lit up the area around us. I clutched it in my hand, then looked out in the direction of the dragon.