◆ Chapter 10: Of Course, It Has That Attack
THE dragon unfurls its mighty wings and opens its maw. The ensuing ROOOAAAARRRR shakes every bone in my body.
“This is the same sound as before!” Lex shouts.
“Then this dragon is controlling the zombies?”
“Probably! But I have to say—”
“It STINKS!” I cry out the same time Lex does. We’re both pinching our noses. Besides being the most chilling thing I’ve seen yet, the dragon’s breath excretes an overpowering stench. It reeks more than any zombie I’ve ever encountered.
But we can’t afford to be pinching our noses right now. The dragon lifts its right forefoot to crush us. I run to the left, with Lex pulling my arm. Kodbyen also succeeds in dodging it by a hair as he tumbles out of the way screaming “AAAAHHHH!”
We somehow managed to avoid being squashed. But we just threw ourselves out of the frying pan and into the fire—the zombie horde is to our left and right. Even more zombies are sluggishly closing in behind us. There is no escaping to the left, right, or rear.
“Please don’t tell me we have to…”
“...Escape by going past the dragon,” Lex finishes for me.
“Ugh. Why is my first guess always right…?”
Getting through the dragon’s legs poses a huge risk. There’s not much space, and I can’t shake the feeling it’ll just smush us under its big chest. Then the dragon raises its left forefoot to crush us while we’re talking.
Lex pulls me away just in time. He draws his sword and strikes back, but the blade bounces off the dragon’s black scales with a clang. If Lex can’t cut through it, then it must have an extremely tough hide.
“If that doesn’t work on you, then try this!” he shouts, chucking a canteen he removed from his belt at the dragon. “How do you like the taste of Lady Mizuha’s holy water?!”
“I keep telling you not to call it mine!” I complain as Lex swiftly runs his sword through the spot on the dragon’s left leg where the holy water splattered.
The tough hide splits open and a bluish-purple fluid gushes out. He clearly hurt it, but the dragon doesn’t even flinch.
“Crud! It didn’t help!”
“That didn’t do the trick either?!”
Zombies are already within two or three steps of us. Kodbyen and I both squeak out pathetic yelps.
“Carving a path through them is the only way out!” I yell.
“No, m’lady, there is still hope!”
“What hope?!”
“Here it comes!”
A loud THWUNK comes from the dragon’s left wing. Straining my eyes, I see an arrow falling, having lost its momentum on impact. Where did that come from?
Dozens of arrows fly past me faster than I can piece together the situation. THWACKS echo through the area as the arrows strike the dragon’s torso. My eyes are drawn in the direction the arrows came from.
There I find around thirty soldiers from Grantz’s Royal Army. Around twenty beastmen are riding alongside them on short horses. It’s mostly the beastmen who are armed with bows and arrows.
“Why did the Lucors come with Grantz’s soldiers?” I ask.
“They came to repay their debt to you, Lady Mizuha!”
It’s true I purified them, but I didn’t expect anything in return, much less that they would brave the danger to save me. Even now, they hold themselves to a high standard. I can never be grateful enough.
Led by Chieftain Theos, the Lucors continue shooting at the dragon, but its hide is too tough—not a single arrow pierces it. Luckily, the attack redirects the dragon’s attention, creating an opening in front of us.
“Now!”
I start running with Lex and finally escape the zombie threat. All that’s left is to get away from the dragon. Vianta responds to Lex’s whistling and gallops through the trees toward us. I’m always amazed by her intelligence. Lex jumps on Vianta’s back and holds out his hand to me.
“Your hand, Lady Mizuha!”
“Take it!” Just as I’m about to place my hand on his, the dragon roars again. Spooked, Vianta stomps the ground and snorts, causing Lex’s hand to pull away from me.
“Run away, Holy Priestess!”
Theos’s shout of warning informs me of the impending danger. I instinctively turn around—the dragon is coming right at me with its jaws wide open. Worse yet, something like a black miasma swirls in its mouth.
Of course, if there are dragons, they’ll obviously have THAT attack.
“Lady Mizuha!” Lex reaches for me, but Vianta leaps sideways, creating a bigger gap between us.
The dragon spews the mass of fiery miasma out of its mouth. If only it was just spraying a foul odor on me like a skunk, then I might survive with a humiliating stench as the only damage I take. Alas, black flames are carving out the ground as they rush toward me. It looks like this is the end of the line for me.
“Mizuha!”
Just as the black flames engulf my vision, I hear someone call my name. I jerk my head toward the voice and a tall girl quickly moves into view—my friend, Nady. She scoops me into her arms and sits me in front of her on the horse.
The black flames miss the horse’s tail by a literal hair. It was a really close call. My heart hammers in my ears—I nearly died this time. I doubt my heart will shut up anytime soon, but it can wait. I look over my shoulder and anxiously ask, “Why are you here, Nady?”
“I don’t need a special reason to help a friend!”
“…But I hurt your feelings.”
“You did nothing wrong, Mizuha. It’s my weakness that brought it on. Anyway, escaping comes first!”
“Yeah, I totally agree!” I lean forward in the saddle to better assess our surroundings.
As soon as Lex rescues Kodbyen, he bellows, “Retreat!” Grantz’s soldiers and the Lucors begin withdrawing down the path away from the zombie-infested Cladorca.
Zombies can’t keep up with horses during the daytime. Now we can gallop away to safety...is what I’d like to think, but the dragon has other plans. If that wasn’t bad enough, it’s coming straight at me. The ground trembles as its heavy feet bring it closer.
“It’s after Lady Mizuha! Please hurry!” Lex shouts.
“Hang on tight so you don’t fall off, Mizuha!” Nady kicks the horse into a full gallop, distancing us from the dragon—but not for long. The dragon rises into the air using the wings it had been flapping for fun this whole time.
“Fill it with arrows, men! Protect the Holy Priestess by distracting the dragon!”
Theos’s steely voice inspires the Lucor people to wisely keep shooting. Sadly, the dragon is still intent on us. I’m confident it’s instinctively attracted to the Goddess’s powers in me.
“Nady, I’m pretty sure that dragon is just after me, so—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” Nady says over me, her full concentration dedicated to keeping our horse running when the dragon blasts more miasma flames at us.
Though we barely dodged a direct hit, the flames slam into the ground directly behind us. It generates tremendous wind pressure as it gouges the earth. Our horse is knocked over by the blast, tossing us out of the saddle in the process. I hit the ground rolling.
“Are you all right, Mizuha?!”
“Oww… I’m alive at least. What about you—”
“I’m also all—” Nady’s voice cuts off. She was interrupted by a tremendously loud BAM.
The dragon landed nearby—less than ten feet away. It roars. Fear paralyzes me, rendering me speechless.
Nady, unlike me, springs into action. She takes up her bow and quickly nocks an arrow. She’s ready to release it at any time, but doesn’t. Looking closer, I notice her arms are shaking twice as much as mine.
“Nady, shoot it!” Theos bellows.
His voice does nothing to move the arrow from her bow. Seeing its opening, the roaring dragon snaps its jaws at us. Its breath is rank. My fear of impending death outweighs the foul stench.
I’m really a goner this time. It’s gonna eat me!
Or so I thought until the dragon turns its snapping jaws away and takes flight—it’s leisurely flying back toward Cladorca.
“It’s letting us live…?” My jaw drops. What in the world is going on? Questions flood my mind, but even greater relief washes over me.
“Lady Mizuha! Are you hurt?!” Lex rides over on Vianta.
“Nope. I’m okay aside from a few bumps and bruises. Nady saved me.”
“I didn’t do a single thing. I couldn’t do anything at all!” Nady sinks her sharp teeth into her lower lip.
She seems vexed she couldn’t shoot the dragon when push came to shove. I place my hand over her tightly balled fists.
“That’s not true. I would be a splattered smudge on the bottom of the dragon’s foot about now if you hadn’t come for me, Nady.”
“Lady Mizuha speaks the truth. You have my utmost gratitude for saving her, Lady Nady.”
I express my heartfelt gratitude alongside Lex.
“I guess so,” Nady mutters, unconvinced.
Lex looks out across the troops who have stopped near us and raises his voice for all to hear. “We don’t know when the dragon will come back. Let’s withdraw and return to the royal capital immediately.”