Chapter 6
-Rooooar!
The dragon roared and charged toward us.
-KABOOM!
“Gah! This thing’s got some serious strength!”
But the attack was blocked by Has, the shield-bearer.
-KLANG!
Huben swung his two curved swords at the opening, but they failed to pierce the dragon’s scales and bounced off uselessly.
“Tch! It’s tough!”
Huben pulled back, recovering his rebounding swords.
-KABOOM!
A massive tail slammed down right where Huben had been.
If Huben hadn’t moved fast, he would’ve been crushed on the spot.
“Pretty tough. This’ll be harder than usual.”
“They’re not usually that tough?”
“No. At the very least, Huben’s swords don’t usually bounce off that easily.”
Fair enough. It had looked pretty powerful at a glance, but it had bounced off rather pathetically.
“I’ll join the front line now. I’m counting on you to guard the rear.”
“Don’t worry.”
As Ken charged forward, magic spells shot out from the rear.
Colorful magic painted the sky.
The dragon seemed unable to ignore them all, so it retreated and dodged the spells, blocking a few with its arm.
“Hah!”
Taking advantage of the opening that created, Ken cut through the dragon’s scales and landed a solid hit.
At that rate, he’d be a Swordmaster soon.
-Rooooooar!
Its body suddenly slashed, and the dragon roared and tried to take flight, but…
“Not so fast!”
Huben stopped it.
Huben had already climbed onto the dragon’s back and slashed deeply through its comparatively fragile wings.
-Kraaaaaah!
With a huge gash in its wing, the dragon fell back down, unable to fly.
The mages didn’t miss their chance. Their attacks hit, creating a huge explosion and cloud of dust.
They really were veterans. They’re strong.
“…Something’s wrong.”
“Yes?”
But the mage from the Dragon Hunters party didn’t look happy at all. Was something wrong?
“It’s too easy. Strange how easy.”
“…!”
Come to think of it, they’d said the dragon’s scales were incredibly tough.
That meant it was stronger than other dragons, so why was it going down so easily?
With a bad feeling stirring, I looked toward the dragon and saw red eyes glowing in the cloud of dust.
…Danger!
-Rooooooar!
With the dragon’s roar, the entire cloud of dust was blown away. And all around it floated countless magic circles!
We’d let our guard down! I’d been wondering why a dragon, called the progenitor of magic, hadn’t used a single spell!
“Damn it! Everyone, defensive formation!”
Ken must have sensed the danger, too. He shouted as he braced himself for defense.
But the mages had just unleashed a barrage of spells and had no time to put up barriers.
“Damn!”
Ken and Has rushed over, but the spells had already been fired.
Their target was the rear, where we were.
The rear guard was about to be hit by the sudden barrage of spells without a chance to defend… or so it would’ve been.
I was here.
“Form 13.”
A flurry of snow suddenly began falling within a certain radius centered on me.
The spells that touched the snowflakes were shredded into tiny pieces, losing their power as they fell.
-Kwooh?
“Huh?”
At the same time, the dragon and Has froze in place.
“…Hup!”
But Ken kept moving, turning and slashing the dragon’s eye.
-Rooooooar!
And, without missing that opening…
“Form 3.”
I charged forward as a blizzard.
In an instant, eleven blizzards pierced the dragon’s body.
-Kraaaaaah!
The dragon lost its sight and began rampaging wildly.
But the Dragon Hunters party wasn’t so weak that they’d lose to a dragon that had merely lost its reason and started thrashing around.
“Haaaaah!”
-KABOOM!
Ken charged forward and cut through the dragon’s neck with his sword.
-Roooooh…
In the end, the dragon met its end with its head severed.
Huh. That was easy.
…
‘This is bad!’
In the middle of the fight with the dragon, Ken had sensed something was off.
The dragon was clearly stronger than the ones they usually hunted, yet it was taking hits like an idiot.
It could’ve been because it lacked experience, but Ken’s instincts told him something was wrong.
-Rooooooar!
Sure enough, the dragon unleashed a barrage of spells, its red eyes blazing.
More than twenty dark magic spells, plainly visible even at a glance, began flying toward the rear.
To make matters worse, the mages still hadn’t recovered enough to put up barriers.
He and Has, the shield-bearer, were rushing over, but they wouldn’t make it in time!
‘Damn it. I’d thought about deflecting the attacks, but this isn’t what I had in mind!’
The spells had already reached the rear guard.
‘No!’
At that desperate moment for Ken…
“Form 13.”
Snow began to fall.
Beautiful, fluffy snow, at that.
‘No, that’s not it. That isn’t snow. It’s sword strikes that look like snow!’
Each time the snowflakes touched the spells, the magic was torn to shreds.
Even Ken, whose eyes had reached a considerable level, couldn’t follow the technique or its speed.
‘A Swordmaster!’
“Haha…”
Ken watched the scene with a hollow laugh.
He’d known she wasn’t B-rank, but he hadn’t expected her to be a Swordmaster.
He realized how arrogant it had been of him to test her.
‘In that case, all I need to do is…!’
Now that he knew the rear was safe, all that remained was to attack.
Ken turned around and slashed the dragon’s eye.
-Rooooooar!
The dragon writhed in pain after losing one eye.
“Form 3.”
And Flia, who had cut down all the magic, turned into a blizzard and pierced its other eye.
She’d also drilled ten holes through the dragon’s body.
‘She didn’t even use an Aura Blade, and she’s that powerful. What a monster.’
But he’d learned a few things from those techniques just now, so perhaps reaching that level himself wasn’t just a dream.
“Haaaaah!”
As he cut off the dragon’s head, Ken truly thought so.
…
“Cheers!”
After hunting the dragon and returning to the capital, we were throwing back drinks at a pretty large tavern.
It was the most expensive place adventurers went to. Maybe that was why the staff were so attractive and the food was delicious, too.
Especially the bunny-girl servers’ asses and tits… Oh, damn.
“El! You should drink, too!”
“Alcohol?”
Alcohol. Alcohol, huh…
“What? You’ve never had any?”
“No.”
Drinking before reaching adulthood was considered bad in this world, too. It wasn’t banned like in Korea, but for some reason, Flien and Loren had absolutely forbidden me from drinking…
“Come on! You’ve even had your coming-of-age ceremony, so you should learn to enjoy a drink!”
“Huben, don’t teach a kid weird things.”
“I’m not a kid.”
Saying that, I accepted the glass of alcohol Huben handed me.
Alcohol… I hadn’t been much of a fan in my previous life, either. It tasted bad.
With my childish palate, alcohol wasn’t exactly a great drink, but since he’d offered, I might as well try it.
-Gulp
“…Huh?”
“Sweet, right? That’s what they call fruit wine.”
Just as Huben said, it wasn’t bitter at all. It was actually sweet. Fruit wine, huh? Wasn’t fruit wine usually a little bitter, too?
“It’s the most expensive drink here, after all.”
“Really?”
The most expensive drink, huh… I did feel kind of floaty.
“Just so you know, it’s pretty strong, so be careful how much you drink or… whoops.”
“Hehe.”
Huben seemed to say something, but I couldn’t really hear him. I’ll just enjoy feeling good…
“You’re already drunk?”
“Drunk? I’m perfectly fine!”
There’s no way I’d get drunk after one glass, right?
“Anyway, this is delicious. I want more.”
“Haha! That’s the spirit! Bring us some more fruit wine!”
“Take it easy.”
As I sipped the drinks Huben kept giving me, I felt lighter and lighter. This is so good…
“You’re completely drunk, aren’t you?”
“I told you to take it easy.”
Huben and Ken seemed to be saying something, but it probably wasn’t important.
“Hey~ miss. You’re pretty.”
Just then, two guys came over to our table. One fat and one skinny.
They looked like veteran adventurers at a glance, but… somehow they had the vibe of third-rate thugs.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Huh? You don’t need to know.”
They completely ignored Ken’s attempt to stop them and sauntered over to me. Wow, they had guts.
“Miss, why don’t you come have some fun with us?”
“No. Get lost. Don’t ruin my mood.”
Normally, I’d have taught them a lesson for saying that, but I was in a good mood right now, so I’d let them off if they left right away.
“Aw, don’t be like that.”
“Kahaha. With tits like those, you must’ve slept your way into that party. Let us have a turn, too!”
“Hey. El isn’t that kind of woman. Don’t be rude.”
“Huh? Are you defending a woman who put out for you?”
Wow. How could they be so good at ruining someone’s mood?
“Those are some huge tits…”
Just then, the fat guy reached for my chest. He was crossing the line… by a lot.
-Slice!
“Aaaaaagh!”
“W-what the hell!”
As the fat guy screamed, one of his hands fell to the floor.
“Haa… hic. Why are you making a fuss and ruining my good mood?”
Oh dear, I’ve got the hiccups. That’s so uncool.
“Y-you crazy bitch! You think you can get away with causing a scene like this?!”
“Who knows. One thing’s certain: I can kill you here.”
After saying that, I took a sip of my drink. Mm. Still delicious.
“Get lost. Now.”
“Eek!”
I pointed my sword at him, and the skinny guy helped the fat guy up and ran away. He even picked up the severed hand. I wonder if he can get it reattached if he takes it with him?
After the thugs left, I looked around the tavern and saw everyone staring at me in shock. Hmm… I guess I’ve dampened the mood a little.
“I-I’m sorry for causing a disturbance, everyone. Let me make it up to you…”
“Hey, everyone!”
I cut Ken off as he started to say something and shouted. You’ve got to go all out at times like this!
I tossed four gold coins to the bartender and said,
“Drinks are on me tonight!”
-Woooooo!
-You’re the best!
-So cool!
Money really can solve anything.
I slipped another gold coin into the bunny girl’s cleavage and thought as I drank.
I’ve always wanted to do that at least once!