Chapter 107

Translator: Kell | Editor: Weasalopes

VS Earth Dragon Subspecies

Sarah couldn’t guess what was going to happen next . But her Instincts told her someone was trying to engage the Earth Dragon . She knew it was strange since she couldn’t sense anyone nearby . But her Instinct rarely failed her .

That dragon’s huge… Are they going to use a monster of similar size to fight it? A beast tamer could do it . But I don’t see any gigantic monster around . Is it underground?

Sarah quickly glanced at the roots of the tree she was on . But the same ground stretched out down there .

I guess not . Maybe they’re going to use transportation magic? Nah… They say transportation magic doesn’t exist .

How, then, would they fight?

My hunch was wrong, then? That’s unusual, but I guess that’s the most logical conclusion .

The Earth Dragon advanced steadily, one step at a time . Sarah could feel the area around her shake .

I guess now’s the right time . We have to abandon Borderzard and get to a town with proper walls . Then we’ll dig a pitfall trap…

She jumped down to the ground without making a sound, then started running towards Borderzard .

An explosion .

「What the?!」

She turned around and was hit by a shock wave . Wind turned her hood inside out, whipped her hair and robe around her .

And then she saw the Earth Dragon’s face burning .

The creature’s roar made the air tremble . But it only lasted for a short amount of time . Two giant fireballs fired in succession hit the dragon square in the face . Blaze of flames fountained into the air with each impact . The long necked-creature lurched backward, but the spells hit it at exactly the spot where it retreated, as though the caster knew its head would be there . Both shots hit their marks .

When the explosions stopped, the Earth Dragon collapsed on the ground, its charred head turned towards the sky . The earth shook, trees snapped, and a cloud of dust rose into the air .

「Is it… dead?」

No way . It can’t be . What was that spell just now? I heard firing spells in succession is difficult, but it was more than that . This one was more like a rapid-fire . Impossible . Are there more than one Mage around? Mages that strong? The fireballs were almost like the ones that Mage cast from on top of the wall .

Sarah doubted her eyes even more . Two more explosions . Flames climbed from the Earth Dragon, its entire body ablaze .

「Th-They can still cast spells?!」

She was hesitating whether to check the situation or not . The smell of burning flesh drifted towards her .

『・・——・・・・————・・・・・』

Then her ears picked a soft sound . Sarah’s hearing wasn’t anything special, but she learned how to analyze and isolate sounds after much training . Which is why despite the sound of trees burning and birds flying reverberating through the forest, she managed to catch the sound of its voice .

「The dragon… spoke?」

Sarah moved . She was about a hundred and fifty meters away from the monster . Concealing her presence, she advanced slower than usual as she did not want whoever fought the dragon to sense her . It was frustrating .

She took longer than normal, and by the time she reached the Earth Dragon, there wasn’t a single living soul around . The monster was dead, though its body still burned; its tentacles, especially, were flaring up .

「They’re not here…」Sarah muttered in surprise .

Whoever fought the dragon was here up until a while ago . But they completely disappeared . She came from the direction of Borderzard . If someone fled from the scene, she would’ve passed by them .

「………」

A chill ran down her spine . She had felt this sensation once before, back when they were investigating the disappearance of a Count’s daughter in Pond . Sarah, who concealed her presence, hitched a ride at the back of a merchant’s carriage to investigate outside . No one should have noticed her . But she thought otherwise .

A boy with black hair and eyes — much like her party member Selica Tanoue — approached the carriage she was on . It appeared as though he just stood there absentmindedly . But the moment she passed by him, she thought she saw his lips curve slightly . She froze . A second later, his face returned to the same blank expression, so she passed it off as just her imagination .

What if that boy actually saw me…?

It would mean that her ability to conceal her presence was not flawless . That he mocked her for not knowing that . Sarah felt uneasiness and fear . It was as if she was being manipulated by a mysterious being .

She turned her attention towards the Earth Dragon and noticed something . Its body almost entirely burned, one couldn’t normally take its scales — that could turn to gold — and skin . But there was one part that didn’t get that burned . Its throat .

An upside-down scale grew in that one spot called an Inverted Scale . It had been ripped off . The scale itself was just like any other . But behind it lay a Dragon Stone, an object that stored mana necessary to make dragons move . And that stone was gone .

「So they took the best loot they could get…」

It was said that a Dragon Stone as big as the tip of a pinky finger could be exchanged for a bag of gold coins . The one from the Earth Dragon was the size of a rugby ball . Sarah couldn’t even imagine how much it was worth .

They could sell the meat of the dragon, of course, and there were plenty of uses for its bones . The Adventures Guild would gladly collect them . Unfortunately someone already took the best spoils .

「Borderzard should be safe now… But I feel like we lost…」

Sarah turned her back on the Earth Dragon and made her way towards Borderzard . She needed to report back to her party members and think about what to do next .

Hikaru was relieved his strategy worked out fine . Surprisingly, he managed to take down the Earth Dragon without much effort .

Great job, Professor .

While Hikaru and Lavia were on their way to Borderzard, they tested the revolver’s new bullets . Five of them . They managed to store Lavia’s fire spell inside too . He was worried that five shots might not be enough, but it was apparent he had nothing to worry about .

First he fired at the head where its brain was . There was a possibility that it died in one shot . Hikaru already had three points on his “Snipe” Skill .

【Snipe】When attacking with a projectile without the target noticing, the attack will have a lethal buff . Max: 3 .

Once fired, fire loses power fast . As such he couldn’t shoot at a distance . Instead he lay in wait on the Earth Dragon’s path, waited for it to get close, and fired at the right distance .

The creature screamed and raged . Hikaru couldn’t stay steady on his feet, but ten points on Throwing was nothing to sneeze at . Two more direct hits and the Earth Dragon collapsed . And since the monster didn’t notice him, his attacks had the Snipe buff .

Hikaru could still hear the creature’s heart beating, so he fired the last two shots into its body and burned it . With his Life Detection he saw the flicker of life slowly burn out from the monster .

『Est enim mori (So this is where I die)…』the Earth Dragon muttered .

Its face was charred black . The grumbling voice came from deep within its throat .

『Et occidi potius quam praesens draco (Killed not by drakon, but by a man…』

And it drew its last breath . Hikaru sensed someone approaching and quickly collected the Inverted Scale . The moment he found out he was going to fight a dragon, he looked up what valuable materials he could get .

He glanced at the direction where the person was coming from, but he couldn’t see them, perhaps because they had Stealth as well . Mana Detection made it clear where they were though .

Hikaru distanced himself from the mysterious individual and withdrew from the battlefield . They shouldn’t have seen his face . They were too far when the fight broke out and he had his hood on . Plus his Stealth was active .

That dragon mentioned a drakon… Drakons are gigantic snake-like creatures, like the one in the ruins of Poelnxinia . Are dragons and drakons enemies? It sure felt like it… Wait .

He suddenly realized something . He released a drakon some time ago . Dragons started becoming active recently . Are the two related? he wondered .

「I have no idea . 」

Hikaru shook his head . No point in pondering something you know nothing about . All he had to do now was return to Borderzard, meet up with Lavia, and take Paula .

Lavia should be fine . The problem is Paula… I sure hope you don’t start stirring up trouble, Hikaru prayed .