First Contact with the Dragon

Dawn broke.

Starting today, the full-scale operation to take down Peony would begin.

That said, we weren't going to challenge Peony right away. This was the preparation stage, so to speak.

“This should do...”

As soon as dawn broke, I came alone to the boundary of the 'Safe Zone.'

As far as the eye could see, heaps of rubble and ruined buildings stretched out before me. No matter how many times I saw it, it looked like the end of the world.

More than anything, Peony's vines clinging to the air were impossible to ignore. They were stuck all over the invisible wall of the 'Safe Zone.' And there were far more of them than yesterday.

(I don't think there's any chance they'll break through, but... when it's this overwhelming, I can't help tensing up...)

Each vine was thicker than my arm, throbbing, thump, thump, like some enormous blood vessel.

I tried cutting one from the inside. A wound on such a tiny offshoot probably wouldn't even register to Peony, but there was no harm in trying...