◆ Chapter 24: That Dragon
“NO, Boss Lady, this is a different dragon!” Rosso shouts, pointing to where soldiers are packing up the birds that had formed the defeated dragon. It can’t be the same dragon with all the birds still purified. As Rosso said, it’s valid to view this as a different dragon.
But then where in the world did it come from?
“Look, Mizuha!” Nady calls to me. “The last dragon we defeated had blood-red eyes, but this one has blue eyes.”
It’s too far for me to tell the color of its eyes, but if Nady says so, then I believe it. And I remember a blue-eyed dragon. I saw it up close and personal—there’s no way I could mistake it.
“This must be the dragon that was patrolling the mountains!” I exclaim.
“Then there have always been two of them…?” Lex concludes, his face grim.
It’s not strange for there to be two if there’s one, but I never imagined them to be in the same area. Though despair surges within me, an inspiring voice instantly dispels it.
“It doesn’t matter how many there are, for we Lucors can just bring it down again!”
The Lucors release a volley of arrows at the new dragon. Over thirty arrows soar in an arc toward their target. It’s breathtaking every time I see it, but the result is different this time.
“It’s not working?!”
“No, they aren’t even getting close!”
“It’s that damn mist! It’s repelling the arrows!”
Mist enshrouding the dragon’s body repels all the arrows. The last dragon didn’t have this skill. Panic begins to spread through the Lucors until a single arrow zipping through the sky quells it. Chieftain Theos’s arrow.
It flies faster and harder than any arrow before it and breaks through the mist unhindered. Glass shatters on impact.
“Chieftain Theos did it!”
“But the arrow didn’t hit it!”
The excitement lasted for but a brief moment before more stunned cries rise from the troops. While the arrow succeeded in getting past the mist, it lost momentum and fell out of the sky before it struck the dragon. Theos promptly releases a second arrow, which has the same disappointing result.
“No way! Not even Theos can pull it off? We don’t stand a chance then!” I shout just as the dragon decides to repay us for all the arrows.
After roaring until the air tingles, it starts blowing black flames on the ground below it. The fire breath creates a furrow-like line in the ground that lasts for a long couple of minutes. Black flames scorch the earth as if drawing a picture.
“I’m marrying MiZUha after our triumphant return to the capital! I cannot die yet!”
“I made a promise to be spoiled silly by my goddess once we get back home! Iris won’t die in a place like this!”
Keith and Iris flee from the blast while shouting their delusional reasons to live. Aside from them, a large number of soldiers are scattering in every direction to avoid the black flames of doom.
Blackness blankets the area, and the ground is shaking like there’s an earthquake. It’s such an apocalyptic scene that I wouldn’t doubt it if you told me the world is ending right now. Our complete annihilation is inevitable at this rate.
“Lex!” I shout, seeking his advice.
“We were never prepared for two!” he immediately responds. “We shouldn’t push our luck here!” He pulls on the reins, turning Vianta around, and raises his voice over the chaos. “Retreat! Everyone, retreat at once!”
Following his orders, everyone mounts their horses and spurs them into a gallop. But the black flames make it impossible to establish any kind of formation. Everyone scatters in whatever direction they can without caring about what the person next to them is doing. There’s just no latitude to fuss about formations right now—escaping the dragon comes first.
All our allies are quickly moving away from Cladorca. Vianta finally also crosses the line where the dragon stopped chasing me last time. If it’s the same as before, it should give up the chase here, but after the blue-eyed dragon stops scorching the area, it flaps its wings and pursues us with a vengeance.
“Are you kidding me?! The other dragon didn’t follow us!”
“This one might not have any inclination to protect Cladorca, m’lady!”
Considering it flew down from the mountains, this one might not have any area restrictions. It roars in hot pursuit of us as if to say “You aren’t getting away!” Unlike last time, there are people all over the place that it could go after. However, the dragon is on a set course for—
“ME AGAIN?! I knew it liked me, but this is too much!”
“Please hold on tight, Lady Mizuha!”
As soon as the dragon is close enough to cast a shadow over us, it alternates taking swipes at Vianta with each of its front talons. Lex’s skilled handling of the reins manages to pull us out of danger each time, but my whole body tenses in the saddle at the sound of claws slashing through the air. One hit from that and I’m dead. I glimpse the dragon’s bared fangs out of the corner of my right eye.
“AAAHHH!”
Now it’s snapping its jaws! We avoid its teeth thanks to Lex again, but it doesn’t matter how many lives I have. If this keeps up, I’m a goner. I want to do something about it, but there’s nothing I can do when I’m just a passenger on Lex’s horse. And it’s a huge mystery if I’m actually capable of doing anything to that dragon in the first place.
As I’m racking my brain, everything in front of me suddenly turns pitch-black. The dragon spewed its black flames in front of Vianta, blocking her escape route. We didn’t have time to avoid this attack. My body is violently struck by something.
I’m too dazed for the first few seconds to figure out what just happened. But I’m still conscious, and clearly alive. Plus, while the impact was hard, I’m not in pain. Wondering why, I open my eyes. Lex is pillowing me in his arms. No wonder I’m okay. However, Lex is covered in injuries from taking the brunt of the blow.
“L-Lex! Are you okay?! I’ll heal you right now with my left hand—”
“Healing puts too much of a strain on your body, Lady Mizuha. I am…all right… Please…run away!!”
“I can’t run and leave you—” I swallow the rest of what I was going to say.
The dragon is after me. Lex will get eaten along with me if I stay next to him. After a brief moment of hesitation, I dash away from him at full speed. But a dragon flies faster than a human’s legs can run—the distance between us is closed in a flash.
Landing right beside me, the dragon opens its big mouth. Black miasma swells up from its throat. It’s going to blast me with its fire breath attack.
Since coming to this world, there have been countless occasions when I have thought my time was up. I have never been more aware of it than at this moment.
I’m sorry, Dad, Mom, and I guess Big Bro while I’m at it. I don’t think I’ll be able to see you again…
I finish offering my final farewells to my family just as the misty black miasma surges up inside the dragon’s mouth. The dragon tilts its head back to release the flames, when a single arrow slams into its eye, shattering glass and membrane. It lets out a deafening shriek, and the swirl of black miasma dissipates inside its mouth.
For a second, I can’t wrap my head around what happened. How could an arrow pierce through the dragon’s mist and into its eyeball when not even Theos succeeded in hitting it? Heck, I don’t even know who shot the arrow. Countless questions flood my mind.