There’s no way she can dodge that! Or so it seemed for a second. But...
Whump! Ran didn’t even bother trying. She simply stepped in toward Nelfic with a blow at her head, forcing Nelfic to bend backward.
Regenell, transformed into a cyclops, was tall enough to peek into the second-story windows of a house. The height differential between him and Gourry was like that of an adult and a toddler. To Regenell, it probably only looked like something began flying toward him in his moment of blindness. He defensively flung his arm out, but...
“Dodge, Regenell!” Galdorba shouted.
Regenell seemed to pick up on the urgency in Galdorba’s tone, because...
“What?!” he shouted—and then leaped upward with power unimaginable for a cyclops. At the apex of his jump, he morphed into a great four-winged bird, transforming leap into flight! I’d never seen a creature like it. Perhaps it was something indigenous to the outer lands. It wielded its four wings in impressive formation to remain hovering in place in the air.
“Wh-What was that?” Regenell asked. He’d done as he was told without hesitation, but he didn’t seem to understand the reason for the warning.
I was pretty sure I did, though—underestimating Gourry and swinging wildly was a good way to get yourself cut in half. Galdorba had only tangled with Gourry briefly before, but that was apparently enough to teach him that the big lug wasn’t to be taken lightly.
Tch! Spoilsport!
Nevertheless, I chanted and released my next spell! “Fireball!”
The bead of light I conjured made a beeline for the airborne Regenell. It would burst into flames on contact, but...
“You’ll never hit me!” Regenell, apparently now fully recovered from the blinding I’d inflicted, let out a snort and dodged the Fireball with ease.
Too bad for him I’d expected that. See, I figured he might transform and retreat while airborne, so I’d made sure this was no ordinary Fireball. I’d cooked up one of my signature variations. The minute the bead of light left Regenell’s field of vision, I had the spell change course.
“Behind you!” Galdorba called in warning. Too bad for him I’d anticipated that too.
“Break!” I snapped my fingers.
Cra-bwoosh! The light burst near Regenell as he moved to dodge, scattering fire all around him. See, my handiwork on the spell didn’t just let me control its movement; I could also trigger it on cue!
“Agh!” Regenell cried out—not in a chant but in pain. Turning himself into a bird hadn’t been the wisest choice. As the flames spread along his very flammable feathers, he plummeted to the earth. “Graaah!” Right before impact, he took the form of a giant spider, which just barely allowed him to regain his equilibrium and touch down lightly.
Gourry wasn’t about to give him a chance to recover. But before the big lug could strike... countless flaming spears appeared in the sky!
What the... How are there that many of them?!
“Celestial Flare...” Galdorba’s voice echoed over the battlefield, “Descend.”
Heeding his call, pillars of fire began to rain down. Did the spell target everyone but him?! Was he going to take his allies out right along with us?!
Per Galdorba’s command—Cracracrash!—the flames descended. Heat filled the surrounding air as leaves, branches, grass, and earth all burned. Gourry aborted his charge to focus on dodging. Ran and Nelfic kept up their fight, but thankfully neither of them were hit.
As for Regenell... “Graaah!” With a cry, he now transformed into a giant beetle! The flames struck his back, but they didn’t do much to harm his hulking carapace. The individual blasts of fire weren’t terribly hot, although the rain of flame scorched the air, singeing our skin and making it difficult to breathe.
With Regenell literally under fire, was this my chance? I kept dodging, enduring the pain in my lungs as I began to chant!
Thou who art darker than twilight
Thou who art redder than lifeblood...
“The Dark Lord’s spell?!” Galdorba gasped.
I had no idea how he’d heard me from that distance—but yep! I was currently calling on the power of Dark Lord Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu, which was capable of blowing up even a dragon! The spell hit everything within a certain range indiscriminately, but as long as I used it the right way, it was A-okay. My target at the moment was Regenell’s beetle form!
...Shall face destruction unconstrained
Grant me power, and unleash thine!
I clapped my hands together and, catching my signal, Gourry leaped back and out of the fray.
“Dragon Slave!”
In response to my words of power, red light coalesced around Regenell... Then a circle of white light appeared atop it! The red light was my spell, but what in the world was that white circle?!
Cra-boooosh! The ensuing explosion shook the very air and all of the surrounding trees. This bad boy could blast away a small castle. Even in the inner lands, a kingdom with a single sorcerer who knew how to cast it was not to be trifled with.
Now, I’d been hesitant to whip it out in the outer lands thus far, but things had gotten serious enough that I couldn’t afford to be conservative. My thought was that the explosion centered on Regenell should take out Galdorba behind him too, but...
“Grr... rrrr...” Mixed in with the reverberations after the explosion came a low... low growl. “Graaah!”
Finally appearing out of the thin smoke was the writhing, howling Regenell.
He endured it?! Or... did he block it?!
“Regenell? Galdorba?!” Nelfic shouted after getting some distance from Ran.
“I suppose it’s only natural... that I can’t fully block the Dark Lord’s spell...” Galdorba groaned. He was obviously in pain, but I couldn’t yet see him through the smoke. “We’ll have to... retreat for now...”
“Yeah, not much choice...” Regenell replied.
“Got it!” Nelfic followed suit, disappearing into the swirling cloud.
I didn’t want to let them get away! I was about to chant another spell, but... All of a sudden, Regenell’s shadowy form, previously visible within the smoke, disappeared. Then—Whoosh!—kicking up a powerful wind and cutting through the cloud came a spreading pair of giant wings!
Wait, that’s—
With each wingbeat stirring up more wind, the great creature took to the sky!
“A dragon?!” the knight commander exclaimed in shock.
He was right... It was a pitch-black dragon! I’d seen my share of dragons, and this one was definitely on the larger side. Two of the red-robed figures grabbed its legs, and before I could chant a spell...
“Graaaaaaah!” It let out a howl and took off, flying toward the horizon with unthinkable speed. That roar had probably been a spell chant, using magic to increase its velocity.
Ah, they got away after all... Our battle with the robed figures was over—for now.
I turned back to face the knight commander and said, “Might as well ask... Any idea what those guys in robes might be?”
He was silent in response. Did he really not know? Or did he just not want to tell us?
“Understood. We’ll be going, then,” I followed up, turning to leave as the knights behind us just stood and watched.
This probably goes without saying, but the world’s a big place. You might not get a chance to appreciate just how big if you put down roots in one spot, but if you ever go traveling, you get a sense of it.
Sometimes walking, sometimes taking a wagon, the three of us kept heading north.
By the time we arrived in the city of Toltas, it had been about ten days since our fight with the knights and the robed guys in the village of Renihorn. We hadn’t seen any signs of ambush from the robed figures, nor any signs of pursuit by the knights since. I felt pretty optimistic about saying we’d shaken the knights, but that was too much to hope for from the robes.