Episode 91: The Impoverished Viscount’s Second Son Searches for Eyes 13
*
The Jewelhead Dragon made the second opening move.
Several Magicka Threads pierced my body.
Before I had time to wonder what it was planning, the Jewelhead Dragon’s jewel-like Scales flew at me like a hailstorm.
From its perspective, it was probably meant as a feint, but for me, it was a nasty attack; if I dodged poorly, stray shots could hit the carriage.
I met the wall of Scales flying towards me head-on, batting them away with my Sword.
Compared to an Ogre Knight’s fist, they were quite slow.
By the time the deflected Scales exploded on the ground, I was already before the Dragon’s eyes, raising my Sword.
After returning from the Demon Realm Forest, Tepe’s Sword had changed.
Before, I thought that as long as I channeled Physical Enhancement through the Sword, it would never break.
Now, I think, “If you can break it, then try.”
I closed the six-foot distance in half a blink, channeling all that momentum into my Sword without losing any of it.
Cutting it cleanly wouldn’t be enough.
“Crush! Shatter!” My Sword, imbued with that intent, struck the Dragon’s skull like a blunt weapon.
Twisting my entire body into the downward swing, the Sword crushed and shattered the Dragon’s forehead.
Its eyeball, popped out from its socket by the impact, still glared at me.
Using the momentum of the follow-through, I spun halfway around on the spot, scooping up the Dragon’s foreleg—which was scraping the ground as it came towards me—and sending it flying upwards.
The Dragon’s foreleg snapped, scattering Scales, while the excessive load forced my boot soles to sink into the ground, lifting half the Dragon’s body off the earth.
Heavy, hard, and it starts regenerating the moment you crush it… This is why Dragonkin are such a pain.
My body, moving ahead of my thoughts, let out a roar.
While half of the Jewelhead Dragon was still airborne, I constructed a second Magic Circle on my back.
The intensity of my Physical Enhancement rose to a level clearly beyond what I could normally handle.
“Still, don’t be afraid,” I scolded myself.
You need guts to call yourself a follower of Theory (Erica).
My advancing foot shattered the ground.
The Dragon tracked me as I entered its guard, its eyes already regenerating in their sockets.
“I can do it now! Crush and sever the Dragon’s neck!” The hilt gripped in both my hands creaked in my palms.
The moment I swung, I saw an illusion of Azure Flame erupting from the blade.
“Uwooooraaaah!”
The Dragon’s Physique went flying.
*
“Erica… what is… that? What are you doing?”
Shara Lansra couldn’t quite form the words in her mind.
Even though her newly tailored Nun’s Habit, prepared for traveling with adventurers, incorporated a Magic Tool with temperature regulation…
Shara Lansra felt cold sweat trickling down her back.
Because right before her eyes, Erica Longdagger was doing earthworks.
Erica’s clothes were her usual practical attire—plain-looking, yet exquisitely tailored and clearly expensive—but…
What she was doing was earthworks.
It made no sense.
Shara regretted not visiting the Longdagger Family every day.
Wasn’t she the one who had worried about what would happen to that Erica when separated from Shin? To think she’d decided it was fine to skip visiting for just two days—what a blunder!
“Um, Erica?”
Shara was about to ask “Are you alright?” to Erica, who was using Earth Magic to build some kind of foundation in the Longdagger Residence’s garden, but she instinctively swallowed her words.
Because Erica, with a dead-serious expression, was muttering something while using Earth Magic.
Her instincts screamed not to, but she couldn’t help straining her ears.
“I’m fine alone, not lonely. I’m fine alone, not lonely. I’m fine alone…”
Eek.
A scream almost escaped her at the chilling coldness of the voice, so disconnected from the serious expression.
Just as Erica, looking as if she might burn the world down with hellfire, transmuted the foundation—which should have been made of mere dirt—into a substance gleaming like marble, Shara reached her limit.
“Shin-san! Hurry! Hurry back!”
Shara Lansra finally screamed.