Chapter 43
Ah, damn it.
There's a hole in my clothes.
I somehow twist my body in midair and land on my feet.
The smell of grass boiling from friction fills the air.
Even before my vision catches up, the vibrations from the ground tell me the Forest Dragon is charging toward me.
One moment of carelessness, just a tiny gap, and this is what happens.
Just imagining how much my mentor would scold me makes me sick.
Ah, damn it, another hole in my clothes.
I resolve to land a single blow, even if it means mutual destruction, to buy time and fully regain my stance.
In a half-baked posture, I forcibly ready my sword and prepare to strike the snout of the charging Forest Dragon. Ugh, I hate this.
"Helping my husband in a crisis is a wife's duty, isn't it?"
My enhanced hearing picks up that voice even amidst the clamor of the Forest Dragon charging toward me.
In an instant, a fireball flies down from above and hits the Forest Dragon's head.
I desperately dodge the Forest Dragon as it loses balance, stumbles, and charges toward me.
Before I can even think I'm saved, the Forest Dragon's roar echoes around me.
Its mouth is torn to shreds from the misfire of its own breath, its eyes are burned and clouded white, and a third of its head is shattered, yet the Forest Dragon is still standing.
No, really, it's incredibly tough.
Though its recovery speed has slowed down, isn't it just unfair that it can live so casually even with a third of its head gone?
Ah, but a third feels so far away.
Far away, or rather, I think a third has already passed, but is it still not over?
Just as I think that, a voice rises at the perfect timing.
"Preparations are done!"
I think it's about time, while simultaneously feeling contradictory thoughts that it was faster than I expected.
Anyway, first I need to regroup with Erika.
"Shall we go, then?"
As I think that, Erika is already standing by my side.
As if it's the most natural thing, she brushes her hair aside and smiles at me.
"Are you ready?"
Instead of replying, the Forest Dragon lets out a roar, glaring at us with the one eye that has regained its light.
I hear Shara's scream-like voice.
"Preparations are done, but it's far! It's too far!"
Since we've been moving around, there's now a distance of about forty paces between Shara and the Forest Dragon.
"I'll stop its movement now, so get ready!"
I say this while swinging my sword down at the snout of the charging Forest Dragon.
This is revenge for the holes in my clothes; they're expensive, you know.
Though the strike carried quite a bit of personal grudge, the sword's trajectory was clean.
The Forest Dragon's upper jaw gets crushed.
Blood and drool scatter everywhere, but Erika gracefully dodges them and moves to the side.
Even though I had pushed my physical enhancement to its limit, Erika's sword swing appeared blurred to my eyes.
The Forest Dragon's right foreleg flies through the air.
The Forest Dragon stumbles as if about to fall but manages to hold its ground on three legs.
Not just holding ground, it twists its body and aims its tail at us.
I step between the tail and Erika, striking upward at the tail, which is as thick as a carriage, with my sword.
Despite the damage I must have dealt, that blow was the heaviest so far.
As I grimace at my numbed arm, Erika overtakes me and closes in on the Forest Dragon's hind leg.
I thought she might cut off its ankle, but the tip of her sword aims for the base of the leg, the thigh.
The leg, clearly thicker than the sword Erika wields, is severed in a single strike.
How is this even possible?
While thinking that, I dodge the Forest Dragon as it loses balance and collapses toward me.
"Now!"
As it falls, the Forest Dragon begins regenerating its leg, bubbling flesh forming anew, and I shout while staring in shock at its regenerative ability.
At that moment, Shara's voice rings out as if she had been waiting for this.
"Pierce and crush! Lux Lance!"
The unique incantation of syllabic magic is declared, and the magic manifests.