Faced with the dragon who’d come flying to the outside of the forest, Liedis clicked his tongue and lamented inwardly.
So much for controlling it with that artifact, he thought to himself.
Liedis had seen the dragon target the woman running away, so he’d used his teleportation to get between them, at which point the dragon had switched its target to the prince.
There was nothing to suggest the dragon’s strength was being kept in check.
Roaring up at the sky, it charged Liedis. The prince formed a barrier with telekinesis and somehow managed to land a hit between the dragon’s eyebrows with his saber while protecting himself, but the area proved abnormally tough and repelled the attack. All despite the fact he’d poured mana into his saber made out of dragonbone steel.
Thinking he might not have put enough mana in it, he poured in a higher amount before the next attack, but the result was the same.
That was when Liedis realized something was strange here. Looking closely at the forehead of the pitch-black dragon, he noticed an object embedded into it with a mana stone attached—it looked like an artifact. A strange silver light was emanating from it.
Dragons were said to be over three meters in height—over six with their wings spread. They were bigger than elephants, which were rare animals found in Gandia. Dragons’ attacks were fierce and powerful.
Damn it, Liedis cursed inwardly. He couldn’t keep defending against the dragon’s charges forever. Cold sweat trickled down his back.
Running wasn’t an option for him, however. He had his pride as a member of royalty. There were helpless noblewomen in this place. His pride wouldn’t allow him to abandon them.
“Liedis! If the spot between the eyebrows doesn’t work, go for the heart!” came Sachis’s voice from the other side of the dragon.
Seeing his father run this way with his saber drawn, the prince opened his eyes wide.
“Father! Please return to the pavilions!”
“You fool! What do you think we royals have our powers for?!”
Sachis was supposed to be unwell today, having refrained from hunting. He’d previously come down with an illness around this time a year ago. Liedis was worried about him; people had been talking among themselves ever since that the king might still be in poor health.
Defending against the dragon’s charge ended up easier on the prince this time—perhaps Sachis had used telekinesis.
“I’ll keep it in check, and you go for the heart!” shouted the king.
“Understood!” replied Liedis.
The fight would be less mentally taxing on the prince if he didn’t have to worry about defending himself. Pouring mana into his saber, he closed the distance on the rampaging dragon and thrust the blade into its torso.
“GRAAAAAAAAR!” came a ground-shaking roar.
Pulling his saber out, Liedis jumped back and saw red blood gush from the dragon’s torso.
Is this it? he wondered.
As he looked on, his eyes met those of the dragon. He found its amber eyes beautiful, despite the situation. The next moment, however, they turned crimson.
It went berserk.
Upon being wounded, dragons would sometimes lose all reason and go on a rampage until they destroyed everything around them. This state was known as “going berserk”—it was indicated by the change in the color of their eyes.
The dragon raised its foreleg toward Liedis.
This is bad. I can’t defend with my telekinesis in time.
The moment he prepared for the worst, he heard crackling, and the dragon’s claws stopped just short of him.
Sachis had protected him with his telekinesis.
The telekinetic barrier lasted only a few seconds, however. A cracking sound could be heard, and then the foreleg came down again.
Liedis leaped backward and dodged it, then formed a telekinetic barrier between himself and the dragon.
“Ghah...”
Hearing violent coughing behind him, the prince turned around and saw Sachis collapsed in a heap. He covered his mouth and coughed, and when his hand came away, there was fresh blood on it.
“Father!”
The distraction proved to be his downfall. As Liedis’s telekinetic barrier grew weaker, the dragon’s foreleg came down on him again. He attempted to reinforce the barrier...
“Kgh!”
Something—probably the dragon’s leg—hit the prince, and he found himself flying through the air. In the midst of his consciousness fading from the pain, Liedis cursed himself for leaving an opening.
✦ ✦ ✦
What in the world had happened? Estelle couldn’t tell.
What was certain, however, was that the pavilion had collapsed from a powerful impact.
Fortunately, Estelle was unhurt. She’d felt something on her chest burst right after Neville had pushed her away, so her “good-luck charm” must’ve protected her.
However, Neville himself was buried under the pavilion’s fallen metal beams.
Sierra, May, Neil... Estelle couldn’t see anyone else who’d been in the pavilion with her. They’d probably been buried under the collapsed pavilion. There was supposed to be a coach near the pavilion—the one Estelle had come here in—as well as guardsmen’s horses...
But there was no time to check what state anyone was in.
The dragon was right in front of Estelle’s eyes. On top of that, it was in a berserk state. Estelle went pale at the sight of its bloodshot eyes. Red blood was gushing from the chest of the pitch-black dragon.
Estelle understood the situation in an instant. It had been wounded. And attacks on the spot between its eyebrows must’ve failed.
Her power let her see the silver mana swirling around the spot between the dragon’s eyebrows. It resembled Arcrayne’s telekinetic barriers, as well as the silver light emitted by mana-based items upon activation.
Whoever attacked the dragon in the chest must’ve gone for the heart because attacks on the spot between its eyebrows hadn’t worked. The dragon’s heart was in a different area, however.
It depended on the angle when you were facing the dragon, but it was difficult even for experienced riflemen to target the heart precisely. Normally a headshot on the spot between the eyes would secure the kill, but in situations where there was no choice but to aim for the heart, several riflemen would shoot the torso at once.
Estelle’s eyes could see it, however. The heart was the source of mana in any creature, and it glowed with much brighter silver light than everything else.
That wound must’ve been left by either Liedis or Sachis. Estelle couldn’t see either of them. Had they, perhaps, already...?
Estelle stopped her thoughts as the situation took a turn for the worse—her eyes met those of the dragon.
If a dragon which had gone berserk set its sights on you, you were done for. The speed of a dragon’s flight was said to rival that of mana locomotives.
In Estelle’s hands was her favorite mana pistol with its limiter removed. But she was paralyzed with fear.
“GRAR!”
With a short roar, the dragon charged. Estelle had to shoot, or she would die. And yet...
Prepared for death, Estelle closed her eyes.
The pain and impact she expected never came, however.
“GARRR...” came a growl, along with the sound of sparks.
Slowly opening her eyes, Estelle saw a mana barrier deployed in front of her like a shield separating her and the dragon.
“Don’t...touch her...”
Turning toward the voice, Estelle saw a battered Liedis, rising up from underneath the fabric of the collapsed pavilion and extending his hand this way while releasing mana. It appeared that the mana barrier had come from Liedis’s power.
“Run, Lady Estelle, quick... I can’t keep it up for long...”
She knew that much. Estelle could see that the prince’s mana was nearly depleted.
Estelle prepared herself. If she didn’t kill the dragon here and now, who knew how many people in this place would lose their lives?
Even if she lost her hand as a result.
Estelle gripped her favorite mana pistol firmly with both hands. She aimed it at the heart of the roaring dragon as it clawed persistently at the mana barrier.
It’s all right. I can do this.
Estelle could tell the exact location of the heart, and there was no risk of her missing at this range.
Putting all the mana she had into the pistol, Estelle pulled the trigger.