Despite the successful first strike, a second or a third with the same technique didn’t work.
Even leaving her defense to Lou and concentrating just on offense, they were about neck and neck.
“Ehehe, Miss Airi, I knew you were strong.”
“You are pretty sure of yourself.”
“Not at all.”
Using back steps to maintain the range best suited for her rod, Nowa smiled at the maid.
“Even when it’s hard, don’t forget to smile. That’s one of my Captain’s teachings.”
“That might be so, but…”
Sliding through the air without a sound, the redhead tried to reduce their distance.
“That Captain of yours lost to me!”
However, every time she tried, the half-elf tilted her body backwards, keeping her distance and rhythm.
Nowa attacked from her staff’s range, longer than the scythe’s, avoiding contact with Airi so as to not get her essence absorbed, but consequently couldn’t deal the blow to decide the battle.
On the other hand, ever since the first attack had led her to the verge of fainting, the maid had hesitated to dive in aggressively. Even though she pictured a turnaround victory by getting into the other’s bosom and absorbing her essence, the orange girl wouldn’t let her.
Thus, without any decisive strike, the seesawing stalemate went on.
Still, if they stayed as they were, gradually spending their physical strength, it would end in Airi’s victory, followed as she was by the wraiths. After all, she needed not meet the stakes of the battle, she would be content with maintaining the status quo.
“What a boring fight…”
At the very moment she sighed, the air shook terribly.
“W-What happened?!”
The vibrations in the air tore off her clothing.
“Kyah! T-This is…?!”
It wasn’t a mere vibration. Or, if she needed further proof, she only had to look at the wraiths, who after being crowded for the past while, were now scattering in all directions.
“It can’t have been the young master!?”
At the feet of the startled maid, sprouts grew with a cool breeze, refreshing as if it was spring.
The forest that by all accounts should have been dying had revived.
“What in blazes…”
[Unbelievable. He did reverse it in time…]
In contrast with the surprise in Airi’s face, a smile popped up in Nowa’s; the forest was reviving. In fact, if she listened carefully, she could hear a comforting singing voice from the bottom of the earth—the song of the spirit tree.
“Thanks, Fio…”
Whispering words of gratitude, she clenched her rod. While she had been confined here, Fio had gone and done what he had to.
“What are you doing, Nowa?”
The dignified voice of a woman sounded from behind Airi. At the end of the air corridor leading to the assembly hall stood the Combat Instructor Alleyne, holding Fio to support him.
“Captain!”
The half-elf’s expression shone bright.
“Don’t retreat, fight!”
“Yes!”
Following her teacher’s words, Nowa began rushing at the redhead without hesitation.
“W-What is this, so suddenly!?”
With that entirely new movement from the girl, Airi couldn’t afford to re-materialize her clothes, and had no choice but to fight back.
“Rotate! Don’t get caught off guard by your foe!”
“Yes!”
The orange girl quickly rotated her body, tracing a big arc with her staff.
“Kuh!”
Airi jumped up high, dodging the weapon.
“Hit her when she lands!”
“Yes!”
With that, she aimed a sharp thrust at the place the other landed on.
*Thwack!*
Her opponent moaned as she felt a satisfactory feedback.
“Captain’s Teachings #12: ‘Don’t forget the coup de grace if they fall’!”
Straight away, she swung down her staff at the knocked down maid.
“That’ll be enough!”
A pink curtain that appeared suddenly repelled Nowa’s weapon.
“Melona!?”
Airi blinked at the unexpected save. The pink girl, who should have been fighting Leina, stretched her body to the maximum to protect her.
“The strategy was successful, there’s no need to fight pointlessly, is there?”
As she was, she enveloped the redhead inside herself as if placing her inside a balloon.
“Wha!?”
“We’re retreating!”
With the surprised maid still captured inside her, the shapeshifter jumped down from the air corridor.
***
“Let go of me, we have not settled it yet!”
Airi complained inside Melona.
“ ‘Settle’ what? If I hadn’t intervened, you’d have lost.”
“Hm…”
The redhead pouted hearing that.
[Certainly, Nowa’s motions after Alleyne came out became like a totally different person; add that the shock wave that came with the spirit tree’s regeneration, and I wouldn’t have been able to deal with it.]
“Understood, we shall withdraw like you say.”
“I’m glad to hear that~, I wanted to go home like you Airi, I just couldn’t find the right timing.”
“But, what do you mean ‘the strategy was successful’?”
The fact that the spirit tree had revived meant that the stake she had gone through all the trouble to drive in had been rendered impotent. It was no exaggeration to say that all Airi had done, just went up in smoke.
“Ah~, the witch told me to keep it under wraps. Well, I guess I could tell you now”.
“Don’t call her ‘witch’, call her ‘Mistress’.”
Although both of them served the same person, someone like Airi, who had sworn loyalty to her mistress, didn’t understand how Melona kept behaving like she and the witch were equals.
“Well, it’s fine, isn’t it? Doesn’t matter what I call her.”
“That’s not fine!”
“Ah, we’ll reach the ground soon, don’t talk or you’ll bite your tongue.”
The pink girl morphed her body into a spherical shape, absorbing the landing shock and bouncing up into the air.
The maid experienced a feeling of weightlessness inside the other’s body, as she waited for Melona to keep talking.
“Umm, back to our talk, the purpose of this strategy was to attach the Devil Ring to the Sword of the Unicorn and transfer the stake’s curse to Fio.”
“And what were we supposed to do if the young master didn’t appear in the forest?”
She did bring up a good point. Taking such a large-scale action while leaving to chance whether Fio appeared or not was too big of a risk.
“Well, making the spirit tree dry up by uprooting its life force was also a good plan, tho~. Anyhow, that’s what the witch thinks, why over complicate stuff?”
Melona rolled up on the ground, and completely killed the shock from the landing.
“That’s why, staying any longer is useless. Shall we go home?”
“Alright.”
Now released from the shapeshifter’s body, Airi looked up at the air corridor floating above her head.
The giant tree that was about to wither just several hours ago was beginning to get wrapped in a fresh green.
[How terribly resilient.]
“Still, it is boring to go back empty handed. Even if I cannot kill the spirit tree, I would like to deal them some damage.”
“Well, that might take some brute force.”
Melona grinned.
“Summon that fellow, and have him destroy the forest, spirit tree and all.”
“That fellow’? You can’t mean…”
Airi’s voice trembled faintly.
“I’d say we’re thinking about that very same guy, yes~”
*Kishishi*, she laughed, stretching her body into a magic circle for summoning.
“It is not elegant, but oh well, what can we do?”
She pinched lightly the edges of her skirt and set foot inside the magic circle.
“I summon thee in the name of my mistress, the Swamp Witch. Be free of sin by accepting our summon, and just crush the enemies in front of thee!”
Airi danced on top of the magic circle made by Melona, casting a summoning spell.
With a chill of very low temperature, a roar sounded from the creature being called from the other side of the magic circle.
***
As a pleasant cool breeze blew up, new leaves grew in the treetop.
The rustle of the trees and the singing of the elves showed that the rhythm of life had been restored in the forest overrun by wraiths.
“Nowa, it was a fantastic fight.”
Ignoring how Melona’s party escaped downwards, Alleyne called out to her disciple standing in the air corridor.
“And Lady Leina, Exiled Warrior, thanks to your actions and those of Sir Fio’s, the forest has regained its life. You have our gratitude!”
The blonde nodded silently at her words, and turned her eyes to the boy next to the captain, as if snuggling her.
“Fio…”
“Yo, Leina…”
Even as he staggered, he smiled at her.
“Was I able to pull it off?”
“You did, beautifully at that. Just look at this scenery.”
The heiress spread her arms, getting a bird’s eye of the landscape spreading around the air corridors. The scenery reflected in her eyes was not a forest fluttering with dying leaves, it was a beautiful world full of fresh green vitality.
“Who else but you could do this?”
Looking at the results of the miracle worked by Fio, Leina felt as proud as if she had done it herself.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, a wrinkle appeared on Alleyne’s forehead.
“Miss Leina, Nowa, run away!!”
At the same time she screamed, she hugged the dancer and jumped backwards.
“Eh?”
Having no time to hesitate, Nowa pushed Leina away.
Without knowing what was happening yet, the blonde fell on the air corridor.
“What?”
A beast’s roar overlapped with her question. The place she had been on an instant ago was now frozen white.
“What’s this?”
[What happened?]
The blonde sat up, still unable to digest the situation.
“Miss Leina, hurry up!”
Nowa grabbed her hand and pulled her up. With a creaking sound, a tear ran along the vine supporting the frozen corridor.
“Nowawawawah!”
Leina screamed, beginning to run towards the other side, opposite Fio.
By a razor-thin margin, the corridor started to collapse. If she had taken just a little longer to escape, or if Nowa hadn’t pushed her away, she’d have fallen along the frozen corridor.
“What the heck is this?”
“Leina, calm down.”
The boy called out to her from the opposite side of the now collapsed corridor.
“Fio? What…”
Interrupting her words, a cold air blew up, and a huge shadow soared up from the ground.
Wings reminiscent of bats, white shining scales, the same elongated pupils as a cat.
Bending its huge body, it gave a big roar at Leina.
As the air vibrated, the part of the air that received the emitted cold air froze shiny.
“The Frost Dragon…”
The appearance of the demon beast sung about in legends made her body stiffen involuntarily.
[If this beast rampages for real, the just revived forest will get frozen and destroyed in an instant.]
“Nowa! Get around it using the vines.”
Alleyne barked an instruction to her pupil, who was about to go rigid like Leina.
“Yes!”
Following her teacher, the half-elf took one of the innumerable vines that grew over her head.
“Miss Leina, you too!”
The heiress regained her senses when she heard Nowa, and firmly held her sword, taking a posture to face the dragon.
“I’ll be the decoy. Nowa, look for this guy’s weak point!”
[Fio, lend me just a little more power.]
She softly whispered in her mind, and clasped the Sword of the Unicorn gently.
***
The Sword of the Unicorn had already grown to a size close to its limit.
Normally, whatever the size was, Fio didn’t feel pain. However, ever since he fainted at the assembly hall, every time the sword grew huge, a pain like his body was being chopped up with a sharp knife ran through him.
And then, the energy he would let out usually by singing was accumulating, up to the point where it felt like it had become a hot mass welling up inside of his body.
A hot pulse raging for a way out…
“Guh…”
Holding down the pain that would make him faint if he let it get out of hand, the boy looked down.
At the base of a huge tree, he saw a magic circle spreading like a huge stain. It appeared the Frost Dragon had been summoned from there.
“M… Miss Alleyne… over there.”
In response, the captain immediately issued an order to Nowa.
“Nowa, destroy that magic circle!”
The girl jumped to the outer wall of the huge tree without hesitation.
***
The orange girl reached for the vines, following her teacher’s instruction. Rather than dashing through the outer pathway, dropping along the vine was definitely faster.
Holding the Sword pulsating hot in her hands, Leina kept moving every which way to provoke the dragon.
With a bellow, the Frost Dragon rushed at her. If it was a normal fight, she’d meet his charge, but with such an obvious difference in size, she couldn’t consider the option for a second.
That was why she jumped across the side road, dodging his rush.
With a crushing sound, the side road it had rammed into crumbled.
“It’s cold…”
Leina trembled, feeling the cold air around the dragon from up close.
Even his breaths were frozen, drifting around her like glittering crystals. Unfortunately, she couldn’t afford to warm up at the time.
After destroying the side road, the creature approached, winding its huge torso around a huge tree.
“Deyaaaaaah!”
[I can’t keep away forever.]
Leina thrust her Sword straight on, aiming at the opening the Frost Dragon showed while it prepared for its next motion.
In a gesture like a cat playing around, the beast extended his claws towards the blade.
The shock alone that came from the Sword was enough to almost blow Leina away. Noticing the overwhelming difference between their weight, she couldn’t help but lose her nerve.
She might have fought many one-on-one battles so far, but this was her first one against an opponent with such a gigantic build.
Every time the Frost Dragon breathed out, the surrounding air froze, shining as if it was inlaid with jewels. If her armor hadn’t been melted by Melona’s solution, it would have given her frostbite, so cold it was.
“I couldn’t have imagined fighting without armor would be for the best.”
Stepping aside from the side road, she started thinking on how to attack him.
[The Frost Dragon is a strong enemy, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be brought down.]
As a matter of fact, Leina did know the very person who had once encountered and defeated this beast, and she had even heard the story first-hand.
The problem was that the strategy that person had taken then, was useless here.
Then, the Frost Dragon extended its claws towards her; maybe he didn’t want to give her time to think, or maybe it was out of the instinct to frolic with the prey in front of him.
“I have no choice but to attack!”
Leina sharply laid down, avoiding his claws, and thrust the Sword—pulsating hotter than ever before in her hands—at the dragon’s chest.
*Slash!*
In an almost disappointingly easy way, the Sword’s blade pierced through the dragon’s scales, cold bodily fluids gushing.
“Did it work?”
[I heard that the strength of a Frost Dragon’s scales outperforms a knight’s armor. How could I pierce them so easily, it feels disappointing?
Perhaps, the sword becomes sharper as it grows larger.]
Involuntarily perplexed, Leina stopped moving after her stabbing.
On the other hand, the severe pain in its chest made the dragon raise a violent roar of anger, and lifted his large build the tallest he could.
“Eh?”
Swung around along the Sword, Leina’s body flew through the air.
“This… might be tricky.”
She muttered calmly as she faced the crisis of the desperate situation.
***
When Nowa landed on the ground, the magic circle had already started disappearing.
“Oh my, you were too late, weren’t you, girlie?”
A cheerful voice sounded from the magic circle about to disappear.
“We already fulfilled our goal, so we’re going back home~”
“Wait!”
The circle’s movement stopped for a moment when Nowa screamed.
“What?”
“What is your goal?”
She asked, candidly.
“Hm, well, it was to attach the Devil Ring to the Sword of the Unicorn.”
“Eh?”
Nowa couldn’t avoid letting out a funny-sounding voice.
[If that’s true, it was me who put Fio’s party in danger.]
“While I’m at it, tell them this: if they want to dispel the curse, let them come to ‘Fiend Island’.”
As the voice stopped talking, the magic circle gave one last glow, and disappeared.
***
“This is treatment, please accept it.”
Even if the elf said so with a sincere face, her shyness was clearly showing.
Not to mention, Fio felt guilty to be on the receiving end of this right next to Leina and Nowa, who were fighting seriously.
Noticing what was showing on his face, Alleyne caressed his cheeks.
“Please bear your shame for the people important to you.”
“Y-Yeah.”
“Excuse me.”
With that, the captain tucked up his skirt. A cool air brushed his crotch.
Back when he had been given treatment with the dryad, his underwear had been left undone.
“Ah…”
Even though he felt a cold air in his lower body, the mild, soft warmth pressed against it made him let out a mellow voice.
“Hyau… aah…”
In order to apply the Soul Drop from the elven tribe to the affected area, Alleyne couldn’t use her hands, she had to use the softest, most pleasant parts of her body.
Because of it, the pain disappeared in an instant, but a different feeling was bubbling up.
“I-It’s no good… auh…”
He kept trying to hold down what he had endured in the previous treatments, but he had reached his limit. For a long time, the enormous energy he diffused while singing had been roaring in search of an exit.
“Aah… I can’t…”
Fio released a hot mass that had been bubbling up inside him towards the elf.
“Kyah!”
Alleyne gave a short scream, bathed in the hot liquid that suddenly jumped out.
As he heard a cute voice that didn’t belong to a warrior more than a thousand years old, Fio lost the strength in his whole body, and fell towards the captain.
***
The Frost Dragon’s claws approached, aiming at the Leina thrown into the air.
“Kuh!”
She quickly shielded herself with the sword, staving off the attack.
[Still, it doesn’t change that I’m at risk of dying.]
Having lost her footing, she felt herself falling slowly. There was nothing that could support her. The huge trees were too far away to try grabbing vines as a lifeline, too.
“I have to do something, somehow.”
[I have to stay calm and focus.]
The ground was approaching slowly, and the roar from the Frost Dragon—convinced of his victory—sounded strangely clear.
[I’m going to crash against the ground and die.]
*Ba-dump!*
The Sword of the Unicorn violently pulsated in her hand, all of a sudden.
‘Don’t give up.’
Leina could feel Fio telling her that.
At the same time, a vertical stripe ran through the rounded part of the rear end of the Sword.
[Is it changing shape again?]
A luminous liquid emanated from the vertical stripe, towards the confused Leina.
“Hyaah!”
After the Sword of the Unicorn finished twitching and letting out the brilliant liquid, it began to expand its blade conically while emitting a vivid light.
As Leina was stupefied (“what’s going on?”), the liquid splattered on her body turned into a silver-shining armor covering her womanly body.
“What’s…?”
A blade away from the Sword of the Unicorn’s main body became a pair of wings that attached themselves to her waist, whirling up her body gently into the air.
“Eh? I’m flying in the air?”
(That’s right, my lady.)
Fio’s voice sounded in her head, as if answering her question. However, his tone wasn’t witty as always, it was full of a majestic might now.
(Ironically enough, by blocking my song, my seal was lifted. Use this power, and defeat thy enemy now!)
“This power…?”
Leina took a look at the Sword of the Unicorn in her right hand.
Instead of the usual spiral blade, there was a slender, elegant sword with a sharp, long and transparent blade, reminiscent of a crystal.
(If you will it, there’s nothing that can’t be cut down!)
Doing as she was told, the blonde swung down her sword straight at the Frost Dragon coming at her.
*Sheen!*
A high-pitched sound echoed, perfectly clear.
The blade didn’t hit it directly… and yet, the dragon stopped moving in midair.
“Did I do it?”
*Crack!*
Making a sound like ice cracking, the bisected dragon fell, freezing due to the cold air stored in his own body.
“Eh? Eeeeh?”
Witnessing the ability that couldn’t be more far removed from the ordinary, she let out a confused voice.
[This power is beyond what any human should wield.]
(There’s no time to be surprised, hurry somewhere with a stable footing!)
“Y-Yeah.”
Led by the voice, Leina descended to a side road.
The frozen body of the dragon fell to the ground, broke down, turned into fine hoar frost and scattered.
At the same time, the armor that covered her body disappeared, like thin ice evaporating.
“What the heck was that power…?”
She never heard any voice answering her question.
Lacking the presence of mind yet to pay attention to her own appearance—as good as naked—, she stared at the serenading blade, which had returned to its original state.
In its grip remained the jet black ring attached by Melona.
No comments:
Post a Comment