“Pests!”
Valacirca’s supple tail swept sideways to slam into them.
“Now, everyone!”
All around Ghelreis, the dwarves put up layer after layer of shields, using the ground and their bodies to support them at a diagonal angle.
“We are invincible!”
“Roar, fire of courage!”
As the dwarves bellowed, the wall of myriad shields was built. Magic shields engraved with Signs activated one after another.
“?!”
The dragon’s tail swept in, but veered diagonally upwards. The ordinary dwarves and their countless shields had made no attempt to avoid the blow.
Instead, they had knocked it off course.
“Give us back—”
By that time, Al had drawn close to the dragon’s legs.
“Our home!”
With his abundance of physical strength, Al held the halberd clad in divine fire high above his head and brought it down with a full swing into the dragon’s leg. At the moment of impact, there was a tremendous sound. It was a volcanic, explosive strike, as if the god of fire’s fist had been delivered directly to the dragon’s leg.
At last, Valacirca’s enormous bulk toppled off-balance and crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom. This was our chance. We could finally take aim at the vulnerable parts of his body that had been inaccessible before because of the dragon’s sheer size. The tide of battle had begun to turn in our favor!
I ran towards the dragon’s huge body. As I did, a chill ran down my spine.
The foul-dragon Valacirca was grinning.
Black smoke spilled from Valacirca’s mouth. In fact, I could see his belly and throat glowing red. It was obvious that an enormous amount of miasmic breath, storing the overwhelming heat of lava, had built up inside his belly. He looked ready to burst.
The realization hit me. For a very long time now, Valacirca hadn’t used hisbreath. This situation was exactly what he’d been aiming for. He had allowed his breath to overflow inside his belly all this time and drawn the main warriors in towards him, waiting for exactly this moment, when he could engulf himself and everything around him!
“I didn’t want harm to come to my treasure, but…”
If I had to guess, he was confident that he was the only thing that could withstand this heat. Valacirca had called himself the king of poison and brimstone and brother to lava. His own heat and poisonous breath would never be fatal for him, even if he pushed his own limits, storing up more than his body was meant to handle and expelling it all at once. This was Valacirca’s final trick.
If that breath left his mouth, we were finished.
“Gallant warriors…”
“Maxima… ”
I left the whole concept of making decisions behind me.
“This is your destruction!”
“Acceleratio!! ”
I blindly incanted a Word and kicked off the ground. Action-reaction abnormalized. I could feel the bones fracture in my takeoff foot. As I pushed the bones throughout my body to breaking point, I flew towards the dragon’s throat like a bullet.
Everything became gray. Time moved like molasses. Valacirca’s eyes locked on me as I flew towards him. I saw him go for the breath anyway.
I raised up Calldawn and screamed a battle cry. The warriors’ memories I held within my chest told me the Word needed to draw out the power of this enchanted sword. It was a sword that the god of fire, Blaze, had given to his own minions as they headed into the darkness of the underground. Generations of dwarven lords throughout history had imbued it with mana in annual ceremonies. And its true nature was just as its name implied.
“Solis… ortus!! ”
Blinding light and fire erupted from the golden sword, eradicating the darkness covering the Great Cavern in an instant. The incandescent blade of light, the miniature sun that the silent god of fire had given to his minions, plunged into the throat of the wicked black-dragon. The dragon’s scales, the tough muscle in its neck — none of it mattered to the blinding blade.
At the same instant, all the scorching poison of the dragon’s stored breath erupted from his sliced windpipe and exploded everywhere. The force of the explosion blew my body into the air. For a brief moment, I thought I saw the corners of the foul-dragon’s mouth curve up, as if he were saying, “Bravo.”
If the miasma and scorching heat that was Valacirca’s breath had issued from his mouth, it would have headed for all of us. But it erupted out like an explosion, and all of it headed towards me instead, as the one who had slashed the dragon’s throat. Of course it would. It was obvious what would happen if you stuck a knife in a hose full of water just before it was about to start spraying. But despite how obvious it was, my body had moved before I’d thought at all. I’d taken such a direct hit that I was sure not even my soul would remain. But…
Maybe taking down a dragon isn’t a bad way to go. That was my honest, natural thought. If this is how I go, it’s pretty good. Cut the throat of a godlydragon, and perish. What an amazing end.
The storm of burning fire and poison corrosive enough to melt bone engulfed me. But a moment passed, and all I felt was confusion. The pain of my flesh burning, the agony of my bones melting, was yet to come. The badge of honor on my arm shone weakly, protecting me. Its shine was quickly swallowed up by the storm of heat and poison.
But in that moment, I felt that Mary was scolded me, saying, “You mustn’t give up.”
The intense heat and poison hit me at last, finally surpassing the protection of my stigmata. My skin melted. My flesh melted, exposing my bones. My eyeballs, my organs started to melt. Gritting my teeth through the pain, I pulledout Overeater.
“!!”
Voicelessly screaming with a scorched throat and unable to see, I stabbed the blade into Valacirca’s body. I could feel the thorns of mana growing. My body, being melted away by poison and heat, started being repaired. It was agony enough to drive me insane. The cells throughout my body were incinerated, regenerated, incinerated again. Still I kept my desperate grip on Overeater, with hands that were melting and regenerating over and over.
I melted.
I healed.
I melted.
I healed.
There was pain, only pain.
Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain, pain—
If you just let go of the sword, all this—
I forcibly suppressed the thought.
Pain.
Pain.
Pain.
I had to live.
Pain.
Pain.
I melted.
My body melted.
I healed.
Pain. Pain, pain, pain…
But through it all, I had to live.
Because that… was my promise… to my god.
To the end. To the end. To the very, bitter end!
Never give up on living!
With my entire body consumed by excruciating pain, clinging onto a single promise, I lost consciousness.
I woke up lying in a puddle of blood.
“Will! Hey, Will!”
“Sir Will!”
Menel and Al had shaken me awake. Reystov and Ghelreis were also looking over me, concerned.
“Nn… ggh… Wait, what?”
Strangely enough, my body wasn’t hurting. In fact, I felt great.