Chapter 89
Here it comes!
The Ouroboros must have recognized the three newcomers as enemies too, because it opened its enormous mouth and tried to bite them all at once.
"Non, Mimino, get back!"
"Yes."
"Of course!"
Non-san and Mimino-san dodged backward, but Dantes-san instead stepped toward the Ouroboros.
"Hmph!"
Just before it could bite down, he backstepped.
Skilled.
The Ouroboros's mouth sliced through empty air after misjudging the distance.
"Nuoohhhhhhh!"
In Dantes-san's right hand was a mace: a thick iron rod whose striking head opened like petals made of steel plates.
At some point, Non-san's 【Support Magic】 had boosted Dantes-san's physical abilities by several stages.
The mace came down on the Ouroboros's snout, destroying the scales my shortsword had only managed to scratch, biting deep into its flesh, and pounding it into the ground.
Kaaaaa!!
The Ouroboros sprayed blood from its snout and rolled around, letting out a voiceless cry.
It crashed into the houses along the street, partially destroying some and caving in parts of several walls.
(So strong...)
He fearlessly stepped toward the gigantic monster, using that as a feint before landing a single blow. The boldness of the attack—and its power—
(He's clearly gotten stronger than he was four years ago!)
Dantes-san is pushing forty, isn't he?! Why is he getting stronger?! Aren't people supposed to lose stamina as they get older?!
He must have noticed my surprise, because Dantes-san grinned.
"We've had four years, you know. You must have gotten stronger too, right?"
"...Yes."
That's only natural. Four years had passed for everyone alike.
I hadn't fallen behind either.
"Dantes-san, I'll create an opening in the Ouroboros's defenses, so could you restrain it for just a little while?"
"Leave it to me."
He didn't ask how or why.
He simply nodded and took on the task.
He placed absolute trust in me—and that made me happy.
"It's moving!"
The Ouroboros glared angrily at Dantes-san, and 【All Creation】 confirmed that magic was gathering in its eyes.
(We're striking first!)
I immediately cast 【Fire Magic】 with my right hand and added 【Wind Magic】 with my left. The flames had no killing power, but their intensity was enough to make the Ouroboros recoil in surprise.
"Reiji, you just cast two spells at once—"
"I'll attack from this side too!"
I ran around to the opposite side of the Ouroboros's head. With six eyes, it had naturally spotted me.
"Oops."
Blobs of darkness flew toward me at high speed. One, two, three—【Dark Magic】. I dodged with a series of steps, and the blobs exploded the instant they touched the stone pavement.
Flying rubble and clouds of dust obscured my vision. Then the Ouroboros's enormous face came rushing toward me.
"I knew you'd come!"
The Ouroboros was a gigantic beast. At the same time, it possessed some intelligence. It feared fire, recognized enemies, and used magic.
Then it was obvious that it could devise a strategy or two.
(【Water Magic】!)
Using almost all the magic I had left, I activated a spell.
【Water Magic】 was, as its name suggested, magic that controlled water—but it could also manipulate cold, the opposite of 【Fire Magic】. Apparently some people called this "Ice Magic," but no Talent Jewel called "Ice Magic" existed.
With both hands pressed to the ground, three thick walls of ice appeared before me.
I could feel the magic inside me rapidly running dry.
This will stop it.
According to 【All Creation】, it should work.
This will stop the Ouroboros...
"What? Seriously?!"
The Ouroboros had still been hiding a trump card. 【Dark Magic】 activated, enveloping its enormous body.
It easily shattered the first wall, then broke through the second while slowing down. When it collided with the third, cracks spread with a series of snaps, and the ice wall crumbled pathetically.
(This is bad.)
It'll collide. Just as I started to evade—
Whooosh—.
A small pot came flying. The green-glazed ceramic pot shattered against the collapsed ice wall, scattering purple phosphorescence.
"—Huh?"
It was like watching a video being rewound. The three ice walls appeared once more—and unfolded around the Ouroboros.
'Guh, go-go, aaah...'
Encased in ice walls like a collar, the Ouroboros could no longer move.
"Nuffufu, how do you like my secret potion, 'Dupe Potion,' which I concocted myself?"
Mimino-san had nailed the throw from a distance and was standing there with her arms folded and a smug look on her face. Amazing. Adorable.
Wait, does that mean it's an item that reproduces a spell after it's been cast? What is this? I've never heard of anything like it.
"Reiji... It seems to have stopped moving."
"Yes. I don't know whether the Ouroboros is cold-blooded, but cold-blooded animals are vulnerable to changes in body temperature."
"What's that?"
Dantes-san tilted his head.
"Ah, well, I'll explain another time."
I didn't know whether the Ouroboros was cold-blooded, but since it had a form very similar to a snake, it was highly likely that it had inherited a snake's traits as well. I thought its weakness might be low temperatures.
"Anyway, there should be no need for Dantes-san to restrain it now—"
"Don't let your guard down! It's still moving!"
I jolted at Non-san's sharp voice. I'd let my guard down because the face in front of us had been moving sluggishly from the cold.
The body it slowly raised towered like a giant tree before toppling toward us.
"Nngh!!"
Dantes-san released the mace, slid in front of me, and braced his great shield with both hands. A sound like a car crash rang out,
"Nuoohhhhhhh!!"
He deflected the body, slamming it down beside us. The ground shook, and clouds of dust billowed into the air.
"Reiji! Finish it off, quickly!!"
"—Yes!"
I had already leaped onto the top of the Ouroboros's head. My magic was nearly depleted, and I grimly endured the dizziness making my vision sway.
I held the shortsword in a reverse grip and raised it high overhead.
"May God's protection be with you!"
Non-san cast 【Support Magic】 on me. Spells with the "Mystic Trait," such as 【Healing Magic】 and 【Support Magic】, were most effective when they touched their targets; their power steadily faded with distance. I was astonished that the spell had reached me even though I was about fifteen meters away from Non-san.
It was a fantastical sight, as though an emissary of God had descended from the heavens—and in fact, light poured down and filled my body with strength.
(There's another kind of magic mixed in with this!)
I'd never heard of 【Support Magic】 producing an effect this powerful—Non-san had learned some new technique too.
"Hyaaah!!"
I drove the tip of my sword into the space between the Ouroboros's six eyes. The blade sank halfway in, then began to stop, so I forcibly twisted it deeper using every muscle in my body.
"Doryaaaaaaah!!!!"
As the sword sank in—shk, shk-shk-shk—I felt something hard split with a sharp snap.
The Ouroboros's body suddenly stiffened, then went limp and collapsed where it stood.
"Ah..."
I jumped down from the Ouroboros and landed right beside Dantes-san. The giant snake's scales rapidly faded in color, then crumbled into ash with a dry rustle and floated up into the sky.
"Huh? Wait, it's disappearing?"
The bodily fluid coating me also rapidly dried out and turned white.
"Does that mean we defeated it?"
"P-probably..."
【All Creation】 no longer detected any signs of life from the Ouroboros.
When the wind blew, the process accelerated, and while we watched in a daze, more than half of the Ouroboros's body disappeared.
But all that remained was a gigantic bone with a black sheen. Like a fossil specimen, it also looked like a black railway line stretching unbroken from the Second Holy District to here.
My sword was still stuck in the Ouroboros's skull, and the red gemstone there had been split cleanly in two.
It would be fair to say that the threat to the Holy King's Capital had passed...