Chapter 223

There was a high-pitched metallic clang as the demon sword bounced off. I frantically jumped back into the air.

“Damn. I forgot about that!!”

The body of a dragon was impenetrable unless you used a weapon that was enveloped in magic. I regretted focusing so much on my strategy and nothing else.

“Asagi!”

“I’m fine! I can still do this!”

There was no point in moping. I had to attack!

“GRRRAAAAA!!!”

“HAH!!”

I threw the demon sword aside and raised the speed of Legs of the God Wolf all at once. And then I created a giant ice sword and swung down.

But my timing was off, and it wasn’t the definitive blow that it should have been. The tip of the sword merely cut through parts of the wing. A wound like that wouldn’t take long to heal.

“Hah!”

Just then, Daniela attacked with a wind bullet. It went right through its wing as well. The wound was getting bigger and affecting the wind dragon’s speed. And I wasn’t going to let it go unpunished.

“There!!”

This time, I focused on speed. I threw away the giant ice sword and created one of standard size. Then I rushed forward, this time, cutting the entire wing clean off.

“GGGGAAAAAAGGGGHHH!!!”

Blood sprayed from the wound and the ground turned red. The sea of blood quickly covered the blood apes and bandit corpses.

I moved away as the wind dragon writhed in pain and I reunited with Daniela.

“Perhaps it is because I am not used to it, but the magic depletion was excessive.”

“Can you still fight?”

“Enough to support you.”

“That’s fine. Can you distract it?”

“Of course.”

The wind dragon’s wounds closed as we altered our plans. It was now glaring at us with murderous rage. I created a second ice sword in my other hand.

For a time, we stared at each other. Two against one. I slowly moved away from Daniela and activated a thin layer of Legs of the God Wolf. Daniela slowly nocked an arrow.

The wind dragon folded its remaining wing. Its eyes swayed from me and then to Daniela, as if intent on ensuring that neither of us got away.

Eventually, we were far away enough that it had to look entirely towards Daniela. And at that moment, I activated Presence Block and raised the speed of the wind as I ran.

At the same time, Daniela unleashed her arrow. It went right for the dragon’s face. The dragon jumped to the left in order to dodge it, and that’s when it lost me completely.

“…!!”

I held my breath and put as much power behind the two swords as I could. It would take immense strength to cut those thick hind legs. I just had to believe in my status I had worked hard to raise as I rushed behind the wind dragon and towards the leg in front of me. And then slashed outwards with all of the strength I could muster.

There was less resistance than I was expecting as the leg split into two. The scales, skin, muscles, and bones all came away.

I felt rather good about my power then. But quickly had to move back as the wind dragon shrieked and thrashed in pain. Its voice was much more pained than before, and there was no longer any sanity in its movements. And so I moved in and lopped off the other leg without hesitation.

“Ggg…GGGGAAAHH…!”

Its blood ran without anything to stop it. I was careful not to step in it as I moved to the side where the wing had already been removed and looked for another spot to attack. Well, the front legs were the only place.

However, the wind dragon was doing more than screaming.

“Asagi! The breath!!”

I looked up just as I heard Daniela’s voice. The wind dragon was looking down at me and our eyes met. While I couldn’t see anything in its open jaw, I could feel that energy was being compressed to a shocking degree. It would be worse than that other time.

“…!!”

I frantically sent ice magic into the ground and had it shoot out, right under the wind dragon’s head. There was no name for this spell. It was similar to Icicle Inverse, but that was a spell that brought out countless icicles from the ground in order to skewer enemies.

The thing I created now was a single icicle. A thick and long thing that shot up into its jaw.

“Ggghfff…?!”

Its voice was muffled by the forceful closure of its mouth. Its head now pointed upwards and rays of light leaked from the holes in its closed mouth.

“Bbbgggaaaahh!!”

It raised its voice in a dulled cry as the pressurized wind was released. And like that, the blockade that was its own mouth, was blown away.

“Hahh…hah…!”

In fact, I was still in a panic. But all of my experience fighting up until now had allowed me to always have this little corner of my brain where I could think, and maintain the ability to make decisions based on the environment.

Though, there were always limits. I was having trouble thinking of my next action.

“Asagi!”

Bam! Something hit me in the back. I nearly fell, but managed to catch myself. Then I turned around to see Daniela looking at me with a confident smirk.

“That hurt…”

“Forget about that! You were able to use such magic in that situation…that was amazing!”

I heard her say. Was it really? It was the only thing I could think of.

“The wind dragon is barely breathing now! We must kill it! But my attributes will not do. So you must do it!”

She slapped me on the back once again to urge me on.

I took a step forward. Then another. The dragon seemed to be unconscious. The closer I got to it, it began to dawn on me that this really was quite a feat.

For an instinctive reaction, had it not really been the perfect action to take?

It was hard to shake the thought once it came to me. It was as if some hidden talent had been unearthed at that moment.

“…Right.”

I was calm now. I understood everything. I just needed to cut off its head and we were finished.

I conjured a greatsword made of ice.

The wind dragon had no hindlegs now. Its front legs were supporting its body as its back arched. And so I did not need to lift myself with the platinum and green wind in order to reach its neck.

I pulled the sword back and hunched forward.

Then I aimed for the neck. And swung.

□ □ □ □

And like that, this rather convenient encounter ended safely after a mishap or two.

After that, Daniela and I used our magic in order to dig graves and bury the dead. That being said, Daniela was sure to take the head of the leader. It was wrapped up and placed carefully in a different bag.

We also took the long red tails from the blood apes. Nothing would go to waste.

Of course, I was sure to pick up my fallen weapon.

Once most of the blood had been drained from the wind dragon, I put it into the hollow bag. If I used these materials, I would be able to make superior versions of my poncho, waste mantle and half pants. Thinking back, I really shouldn’t have sold half of the stuff. From now on, I would be more careful about keeping a stock of valuable materials.

In fact, there were other things that changed during this fight as well. The willingness to make sacrifices and never giving up. A lot had happened up until now, but no fight had left as big an impression on me as this one. To think that abandoning something would weigh so heavily on me…but it was something I knew was coming, and I could bear it.

Still, I might be a little unstable… I would definitely have to take it easy once we returned to the city.

“We are going, Asagi.”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

I picked myself off of the ground and looked at the mountain that had turned into a battlefield. I was glad that it had already been a wasteland.

I jogged after Daniela but then stopped. No, I would walk slowly today. That’s what I felt like.