One week before Erik started conquering the tower. Within the 50th floor of Orum Arx, near the ruin of Praesia’s shrine.

“Un Num Cordias?”

“Yes, by saying our names and those words, master can forcefully turn us into our weapon form and we will instantly appear right next to master regardless of where we were as long as it is within a certain radius… let’s say about twice the size of Arx Norr. While we can transform by ourselves, I believe this will be more useful.”

“That is certainly useful.”

“As our mana pool is being completely dependent on master’s our time in battle will also be limited to how much mana master has. Of course we can store and pile up small unnoticeable amount overtime but we can also absorb master’s mana by however much amount allowed by master at any time.”

“What will happen if I exhaust my mana to zero?”

“If we still have some amount stored, we will be able to maintain activity to some degree, similar situation occurred when our temporary contract was half severed before, rendering us unable to receive mana from master. If we ourselves run out of mana, however, we will enter deep slumber in weapon form with all our abilities unavailable until certain amounts are restored.”

For the time being I decided to try it.

“Azanthys, Mareritter, Un Num Cordias.”

The two literally transformed into something like magic sphere the size of a basketball, Azanthys is bluish white while Mareritter is reddish black. The spheres then teleported to both my sides, Azanthys at my right and Mareritter at my left.

I extended my hands and touched the spheres which then transformed into the two familiar and trusty weapons I’ve held countless time before. Different with the magic spheres’ color, the pure white Azanthys and the jet black Mareritter gleamed faintly under the dim light of magic stones embedded in the ceilings.

“Oooh this is kind of cool.”

While thinking that this is the first time I held them as weapons after our reunion I proceed to do some practice swings and some combination of dash and slash. What is this? I feel so light but there is also some strange feelings mixed in. I tried doing a forward dash while putting my full power.

In an instant I who was unable to control my trajectory crashed into a boulder.

(Master!)

“*Cough* It’s okay, I’m fine.”

Dust cloud and falling pieces of the boulders are all I could see so I protected my eyes with the hand holding Azanthys who shouted worriedly into my mind while walking away from there. After moving away I just realized that the part where I crashed was flung away in small pieces like shotgun’s pellets rather than just simply crumbled. The evidence is that the larger boulder in the background was filled with numerous holes and cracks.

I think I moved almost three times faster than I thought I would. With this I’m now sure that my stats have been raised yet again by having the two as weapons. Heck it might be that the two’s stats were added to mine although I don’t have any proof backing the speculation.

(Master, how about trying to release our full gear mode and wings next?)

“I can do that? Alright tell me how.”

I couldn’t hide my excitement and urged Mareritter to tell me more about it. I always loved the idea of having wings and fly on my own since I was a kid. Kind of embarrassing if I do say so myself though.

(Master may recite armarevesta verbally or in master’s mind and we will do the rest of the magic processing)

“Alright then, armarevesta!”

Ice suddenly covers me following the contour of my body but I don’t feel cold. Black electric sparks ran through the ice which suddenly get tinged black with some white pattern forming on it and the texture now seemed metallic. I am now wearing black and white full plate body armor complete with a helmet that covers my face. I took it off and I think it is called the close helmet or maybe armet type or even something between the two. If Surya is still around I could ask him… I was too late in realizing that what just happened to me might looked to be just like the old transforming superhero and I somehow felt indescribable embarrassment to it. I’m glad I didn’t have to make a sequence of some strange poses though.

As I wore the helmet back on, I noticed a pair of detached wings on my back. Each one are both Azanthys’ and Mareritter’s wings respectively. Putting aside the difference of both right and left wings, can I just fly now?

(Master, open your mind and let us synchronize our thoughts. That way we can fly according to master’s wish.)

Even though you say that, how do I do that? For the time being I just tried to convey everything that is on my mind to both Azanthys and Mareritter.

(Yes… master… trust… in us…)

Trust? Right now in this world I could confidently say that the only ones I trust unconditionally are Liz and these two.

(Mind sync achieved… Now, just try to fly however master wishes to.)

That was quick, I don’t know how it was done but it seems the thought synchronization has been achieved before I know it.

As prompted by Mareritter I lightly kicked off the ground and just like that, I’m flying. I tried accelerating and the max speed is comparable to my earlier dash so I quickly decelerated before another mishap could occur since this place is cramped compared to the outside world. Flying feels really good though.After that I tried various acrobatic maneuvers for fun.

(Master… let us land since it seemed that master’s mana is nearing depletion.)

Mareritter threw a wrench to my happy thought but now that he mentioned it I feel quite a heavy mana exhaustion and decided to quit. So that strange feeling I felt before was because my mana was getting depleted rather quickly. As I landed the armor immediately dissipated into diamond dust like particles and both Azanthys and Mareritter returned to their human form, supporting me who stumbled because of mana exhaustion. I felt the same tiredness before after Surya forced me to accompany him watch a marathon of his favorite magical girl anime series that is completely not to my liking, it’s more mental than physical but the body is affected. Bagus was saved since he said his parents weren’t home so he had to take care of his siblings. Surya almost offered to watch it at Bagus’s place but I sacrificed myself to not let his siblings get tainted by Surya.

Even though my head is heavy I inadvertently smiled to the memory that flashed through my mind. I’m definitely getting stronger. Just wait. After I fulfill my deal with Praesia I will exact judgment to that bastard Daunte and the empire. There’s Liz now so it might have to be delayed some way or another until I can secure a safe and stable life for her though.

Mareritter then told me both using their weapon form and armored form drains my mana in high amount although it is obvious armored form drains even more mana than just the weapon form.

After that I trained with the transformation for several days in succession while hiding the fact from Liz.

I got afflicted with mana exhaustion almost everytime before quitting so I know the time limit now although it has been extending a little each time so I guess my maximum capacity is also growing thanks to it. This quick stat growth is the only merit I could savor for being a former hero I guess. The current time limit is roughly 3 hours in weapon form and just twenty minutes for full gear mode and it would be even less if I use magic. The difference is tremendous. Later I would also find out that when Azanthys’ and Mareritter’s mana reaches zero, they will really turn into their weapon forms while being completely inactive until a certain amount is recovered. In short they will just be weapons with far higher quality than most, of course without the stats increase on me. Just like when I was using them as a hero. So I put some interval of rest between trainings to let them accumulate mana from me. The only way to extend their operational time is for me to increase the size of my mana capacity so the amount being sent constantly will also rise. I’m on the right track it seems.

The mana consumption is really bad but Mareritter told me that not to mention its high physical defense value, the armor has absolute defense again ice and lightning magic including high resistance to water and wind magic. Mareritter didn’t explain further but I think the resistance might have come from the relationship between ice and water plus lightning and wind, at least that’s how it is in some games I know. Mareritter also told me I can use both their magics freely with only a third of its normal mana consumption rate since the spell processing is divided between the three of us. The spell magnitude is however significantly lowered since technically I am still the main user. I can still use their magic even without using the armor form but there wouldn’t be wings so I won’t be able to fly without the armor. Nevertheless I was, once again, elated. I who don’t even have one elemental affinity could try out some powerful magic now. The only drawback is that different with the two I still have to chant the spell aria for the very first time I use a magic although once I do it will be kind of registered in Azanthys’ and Mareritter’s directory so after that I will only need to use a keyword or chant just the spell name. To me it is somehow similar to the demon race. The two will of course teach me the chants. Crap, my chuuni-self and my shame are starting to have a war deep inside of me.

I then tried various magic as much as my small mana capacity compared to the two who have even more capacity than the current Liz, it’s just that their mana pools are barely filled since they can’t gain mana via normal way. I accidentally found out that after a full contract, as long as I don’t allow it no matter how much Azanthys and Mareritter attack me with their magic, I won’t even get a scratch. The inflicted magic itself is effective I just simply won’t be harmed. Should I thank Praesia for creating them to be like that?

***

After holding Azanthys and Mareritter in their weapon form I immediately resumed my attack on the battered dragon. Using armored form right away is too risky since I already used more than half of my mana. My stats should have been raised more than twofold roughly judging from the training sessions. However this is simply battling with three people’s worth of strength compressed into just one when compared to the previous situation where the three of us fought together. A one against one fight as opposed to the previous three against one isn’t necessarily a better situation.

To reach the flying dragon up there other than by flying I invoked the pre-registered spell.

“Laque stiria rostraes.”

In mere seconds, ice blocks of various sizes ranging between the palm of my hand and a game console (Play***tion 4 anyone?) appeared in the air. I used them as platforms for my jumps. I practiced this 3 dimensional movements many times and the ice blocks locations is according to how I wanted so I am closing in on the dragon without any hesitation. The reason I don’t slip? …It’s magic~!

There are limitations but this magic allows its user to create multiple ice blocks in the air which quantity, position, and shape can be manipulated freely within the effective period of about 5 minutes. However the actual spell aria was three sentences long and I need to continuously control where and when to make the ice blocks hence it is rather impractical in a real fight but thanks to mind sync and spell registration where I leave most of the magic processing to the original user, in this case it is Azanthys, this spell can be used like this.

The distance left between the dragon and me is about 100 meters but getting closer for even just a bit felt like an eternity. I mostly create the blocks in a predetermined pattern but responding to the dragon’s movements where it might use its laser breath anytime, in fact it already did twice by now, I managed to dodge because it is possible to create an ice block after the jump so I jumped anywhere the laser breath won’t hit. I know this dragon isn’t stupid so I also created more ice blocks than needed to allow erratic movements preventing it to lock onto me but it still occasionally fired easily dodgeable laser breaths since it always shoot in accordance to its line of sight anyway so I just need to predict when it will use the breath. I don’t want to think what if I misjudged the timing. Nothing will be left of me for sure.

The dragon is constantly changing its position but with my speed I am definitely getting closer. As the distance between us is almost at the dragon’s arm reach I prepared Azanthys and Mareritter in my hands. The protective scale is gone so using a blade to wound its already battered body should be easier, not to mention that it is Azanthys and Mareritter which are far stronger than the wyvern fang daggers I am holding right now. Then it suddenly happened. Instead of a pinpoint attack which is a laser breath that you can still dodge if you know where it will hit, the dragon used a normal wide area fire breath on me.

“Damn it! Glacis rumeris, clypmea!”

I immediately put a boulder of ice in front of me as a shield. It is the same spell Azanthys used previously to shield herself but mine is far smaller than the one she made. Controlling two different magic at once is still impossible for me even with assistance so the ice blocks I used as foothold started to be pulled by gravity along with myself. I somehow managed to make the ice shield stays in front of me but damn it’s still really hot and it is obviously melting. Fortunately I who fell down finally am out of reach from the blazing inferno before my shield melted completely. My skin was burnt a little by the heat alone nevertheless.

I immediately used the ice platforms spell and approached the dragon once again. It can’t be helped but to avoid being burnt to ash this time I’m making a roundabout way to approach it. The dragon of course moved away in response to the direction of my approach, it also gained more chance to use laser breath but I persisted. However when I thought I had the chance and jumped in a straight line from its left flank it somehow made a sudden nosedive and fired at me with laser breath from below. I managed to evade by using ice shield which melted almost in an instant and then re-invoking the platforms I made a mad dash avoiding the beam of death following me until it dissipated.

Why won’t this dragon get tired from using so many breath attacks? I’m running out of fuel here!

(Master, calm down…)

“Easy for you to say! Argh Dammit!”

I am starting to get irritated I inadvertently shouted at Mareritter.

(I have a plan… please use the full gear form and approach the lesser dragon right from the front and force it to use another normal fire breath.)

I apologized in my heart to Mareritter who answered me calmly… I forgot we’re doing mind sync so it will be transmitted anyway… oh well.

“How much is the time limit of the full gear mode?”

(In time format master most familiar with, it is barely 3 minutes. But don’t worry as we will only need several tens of seconds at most.)

“3 minutes? Am I ult**man?!”

Wait, I used that at the dragon…

“Am I instant cup noodles?!”

Just… lame… ugh…

I listened to Mareritter’s explanation as I dodged the dragon’s barrage of attacks. It does sound possible. Normally it is a plan where I need to cast two magics at once which is impossible for me. However there’s that way of doing it eh. Alright then.

“Armarevesta!”

As instructed by Mareritter, I flew at the dragon right from the front in max speed. It fired a laser breath once but I easily dodged it. I readied Azanthys on my right hand at the same time the dragon prepared another breath attack, a normal one. As the dragon opened its jaw I invoked the ice shield while letting go of Mareritter. I bent my knees, preparing for the next move.

Turning to his human form Mareritter whose body is completely enveloped in black red lightning punched the sole of my right feet while at the same timing I used my whole strength to extend said leg, in short, I made a jump.

Mareritter fell down while I shot through the opposite direction right into the flaming hell while being enveloped by Mareritter’s lightning instead of the armor which crumbled to diamond dusts right after Mareritter turned to his human form. Being launched in that way plus clad in Mareritter’s magic I plunged into the flame.

Shit, hot hot hot! I screamed in my mind. The fire isn’t touching me directly but I felt like I’m inside the oven even with the ice shield and Mareritter’s corrosive lightning covering me. The ice shield is losing its form but I made it to my destination before it is completely gone. It felt long but in what should actually be a few seconds at most I came out of the fire and slashed at the dragon’s neck with Azanthys which just like my whole body is covered by Mareritter’s lightning which is both protective and offensive in nature.

The surprised dragon didn’t react until I made the slash. However, even though Mareritter’s corrosive lightning made the unprotected dragon’s flesh felt as soft as tofu while also expanding the effect of the slash I could only cut the huge neck at a fifth its diameter at most. The dragon which then responded while seemingly ignoring the pain on its neck flapped its wings and maneuvered so it could face me.

“I’m not done yet!”

Invoking the ice platforms with what little amount of mana I have left I zigzagged in the air and approached the dragon once again while the lightning on my body started to dissipate little by little.

“You can’t dodge when I’m this close!”

I made several more slashes at the dragon’s neck while it roars loudly in agony. I’m glad I still have the earplugs.

Then finally, it’s over. With its head separated from its body the dragon fell. With a great rumble the dragon’s body hit the top floor, I’m sure the tower shook as well but fortunately it still stood firmly. The dragon’s head however fell off the tower.

I just hope the head won’t drop into place where there are people down there… I hope Liz will be okay.

With that in thought, I exerted the last ounce of my power to create platforms until I landed on the tower. After confirming that Mareritter who is already in his weapon form suspended state isn’t crushed by the dragon’s body, I let gravity take control of my body and be sprawled on the floor. Azanthys turning into her human form also lied down next to me, snuggling in closer.

“Damn that was harder than I thought it would be…”

Mana exhaustion is hurting my head which already felt heavier than an iron ball so after taking off the earplugs which made my ears felt uncomfortable I gave in to the desire to drift into the dreamworld.

***

Feeling the hard floor on my back I groaned in discomfort but my head is on top of something soft. I opened my eyes while wondering and was greeted by the blue sky. It seems it’s already morning. Other than the sky in my view is Azanthys’ face looking at me from above.

“Uhh? Azanthys?”

“Want… master… sleep comfortably.”

The faintly blushing Azanthys told me so before I could ask why I am sleeping on her lap. Currently I am stupidly wondering whether I should quickly raise myself up or enjoy the feeling of her lap on the back of my head right now.

“Good morning, master.”

I immediately sat up and look at Mareritter who greeted me. He is grinning… Damn, you just read my mind huh?

Right now we’re not syncing our minds but I just know that Mareritter guessed what was on my mind when I, not so secretly, almost chose to enjoy Azanthys’ lap. The one who is disappointed the most however isn’t me but Azanthys who “Muu”-ed and glared at Mareritter.

Okay! Let’s ignore what just happened!

With such mindset I rose and stand before the swirling black distortion of space that has been making an eerie humming sound since a while ago.

“So is this it?”

“Indeed so, master.”

Mareritter confirmed it but I honestly thought a teleportation magic circle would appear instead of this strange surreal thingy. It’s the way to the next floor.

“Mareritter, I know I asked you to check on Liz before we continue on and I will summon you back here via weaponization. That dragon’s head also fell off the tower so I’m worried but… you used up all your mana before so shall I have Azanthys go instead?”

“Please don’t worry, Master also exhausted most of master’s mana yesterday and after recovering with sleep master’s maximum capacity has increased exponentially so my mana is currently recovering with more than twice the previous rate.”

There it is, my only useful hero cheat of quick growth! But might it meant that my max mp… mana also more than doubled? I don’t think the same has ever happened before even though I practiced magic with Mira and Lavinia until severe mana exhaustion many times. Well, I quit the practice after I found that I don’t have any affinity with the elements though. Oh well, as long as the result is good I guess.

“So, how long will this gate… thingy stays here?”

“I believe it will close immediately after one who triumphed over the lesser dragon has passed through it but I can’t guarantee that it will still be there by the time sun reaches overhead.”

I looked at the sun’s position…oyyy it is already beyond halfway up!

“For that reason, please allow me to receive some more mana to use my wings.”

“I see… there’s that way eh. As long as people don’t spot you flying that way is many times faster. Alright! And don’t show yourself in front of Liz and the others unless necessary.”

If my backpack is still there I have potion to quicken my mana recovery anyway so it shouldn’t be a problem even if another battle awaits right after I pass through the gate. If there is problem, it is that this world doesn’t have any kind of immediate recovery potion and magic. Not to mention the difficulty and that once you’re dead it is a permanent game over. Really, if this world was a game most people would consider it as defective product.

I immediately transferred some mana to Mareritter. Another meaningless thought but I’m glad no physical contact is needed to transfer mana. If there is, I would prefer doing it to Azanthys after all.

*Ahem* I’m a gentleman, I’m a gentleman, I’m a gentleman.

Realizing I’ve gone off track I immediately recited the magic spell to rid of my worldly desires which has been going strong recently. I’ve been quite stressed in many ways lately but that’s no excuse.

“Then master, I’m off.”

Wing mode Mareritter jumped down from the tower’s edge and plunged into the clouds below

“Well, let’s see if there’s anything we can salvage from the dragon’s corpse. Azanthys, you go check whether my backpack is still there or not.”

“Yes… master.”

Azanthys followed my order and headed to where I left my backpack.

I approached the dragon’s corpse. It won’t suddenly jolt and attack me again right? That dragon has quite a tremendous life force, so much that it can fire countless laser breath without being exhausted. I bet the mana crystal in its body is on the level beyond anything I know. Even the mana crystal from that wyvern on 67th floor, which is called wyvern ruby by its color and origin was enough to make the guild’s appraiser looked like he just found his purpose in life. I have expectation for this dragon’s mana crystal so don’t you dare disappoint me dragon. Looting time, start.

… Even though I said looting, the dragon’s scale has been completely turned into ash, its inner skin is charred, claws are rather fine but they’re still damaged and since its head fell off there is no dragon fang to take. Feeling disappointed I started to dissect the dragon using my wyvern fang dagger. It is a dragon so the mana crystal should be within its chest area near its heart. Thick viscous blood spilled out, not bursting, so its heart has definitely stopped. By the way its cut neck was kind of burnt from Mareritter’s lightning so no blood is coming out from there. I continued dissecting without lowering my guard just in case. I think I’m kind of too paranoid but I can’t help it after that friggin hard fight. After going through several thick layers of meat and muscle I finally found it. The mana crystal is small, only as big as the end of my thumb but it is radiating with bright blue light so it would be called a dragon’s sapphire. Personally it looked more aquamarine than sapphire but it seems this world’s original word for it is being translated into sapphire in my mind. I knew of some other difference thanks to written language learning with Lavinia and there are also some that comes out without being translated. The one who incorporated translation magic into hero summoning needs a dictionary that covers more words it seems.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a mana crystal which actively radiates light. But what’s with this tiny size?”

There’s no doubt that this thing is special despite its size but since I don’t have any use for it yet I chose to just keep it for now.

Since Azanthys returned with my bag I asked for her help in taking off the dragon’s claw. I decided to take just one due to its huge size and that is after smashing the damaged parts off using Azanthys in her blade form. As expected the inner part of the claw is in good shape and even Azanthys’ blade couldn’t cut it easily so it took me some time to process. I decided to take several chunks with relatively big size which already filled my backpack to the brim.

Right after I finished everything that needed to be done it finally came.

(Master, reporting in)

(Marritter? I’ll be direct, how’s things over there?)

(Miss Lissa is perfectly fine. The lesser dragon’s head fell close to the town’s edge and made a crater along with a wave of destruction so there are casualties however it is not on the side of where our inn is located.)

Casualties… I of course feel bad about it but as long as Liz is fine I honestly thought that it is enough for me. The old me was devastated when I couldn’t protect a village from the demon race’s army but the me right now is fine with this? I could only make a wry mocking smile at the thought and quickly dismissed it.

(That is good then ret…)

(However there is another concerning matter I believe master needs to know.)

Mareritter unexpectedly cut in so I stopped and urged him to continue.

(People from the same world as master, heroes, four of them along with several imperial knights are presently in Arx Norr. They came to register as adventurers to explore the tower and now are helping with the aftermath of the disaster caused by the lesser dragon’s head.)

Heroes… so it has finally happened. This is much earlier than I thought but four? Not five? Wait, more importantly I hope Liz won’t get dragged into something troublesome and dangerous involving the heroes and the empire. The possibility of their coming to Arx Norr being related with Liz is low as of now but I shouldn’t count on it.

Damn it. To come here when I’m about to conquer the tower, the timing couldn’t get any worse. Should I return to the town instead? But I don’t know if there is any other method to access the next floor if I missed the transfer gate now.

(Master, if I may offer a suggestion. How about having myself to monitor their movements as well as to ensure Miss Lissa’s safety while master advances with just my sister?)

(If we do that, how much will it affect the conquest? Or what if I have you return here and send Azanthys down instead?)

(It might take longer than planned however the overall success rate might be unaffected. While due to a troublesome matter I cannot disclose why, whether master can conquer the last floor or not depends mostly on master’s own strength. As for the latter, it will be better to go with my sister as her specs is more battle oriented than I am who was created to be a jack of all trades master of none.)

I guess that’s how I will have to proceed. I will of course have Mareritter hide himself from Liz and the other since Liz will be worried if she knows I have less people with me. With how Azanthys behaves if she goes instead of Mareritter I will also worry about her so it’s a no, eh?

(By the way, if I enter the gate how about your mana supply?)

(I would like to receive more mana right now because it is likely that it will be cut off at the moment master enters the gate. Howerver my current amount of mana should suffice for 25 days provided I don’t consume it excessively such as by using magic or be in a battle.)

(Alright I’ll transfer it right now if there is no need for you to return back here.)

(Thank you, master. Returning will be unnecessary since we are currently still in range.)

I immediately transferred my mana. I decided to give him most of what I have right now but stopped before I could feel mana exhaustion. I then took out a vial of mana recovery potion from my bag, which will hasten my natural mana recovery since I don’t know what awaits me beyond the gate.

(How about now?)

(I should be able to maintain activity for at least two months period with this.)

(Well then, I’ll leave Liz to you. I’m sure you know this already but don’t reveal yourself to Liz and the others unless necessary.)

(Affirmative.)

With Azanthys who patiently waited for my tele-conversation with Mareritter to end, I approached the transfer gate.

“Master… before entering… want to… hold hands…

I grabbed Azanthys’ timidly outstretched hand. She is expressionless most of the time but I can see that she is being nervous. What is it that awaits at the other end, at the topmost floor?

The two of us then entered the gate while holding hands.

When I came to I was on some kind of platforms made of stone bricks with stairs leading to a tower that looked exactly just like Orum Arx on the surface. This one is however floats midair with what should be remnants of land connected at its base while being surrounded by countless floating rocky debris in various sizes and I can see the top high up there. Below the tower and the platforms where I am standing is a bottomless darkness. How the surrounding looked like to me made me think that we are inside a bottomless giant dome made of glass under a sea of strange mixture of black and purple viscous liquid which glows faintly. Freakish but there is no other way to describe it.

“Let’s go.”

With a nod, Azanthys followed me to climb the stairs leading to the tower’s entrance.