“Reilia, do you sense anything?”
“Hmm, Sara-chan-san’s magic power is so strong that the residue is hard to track. But, wait… could this place be on top of a Dragon Line?”
“A Dragon Line?”
We had come to the top of the mountain where Sara-chan had teleported to conduct an investigation.
“Yes, it’s a place where magic power naturally gathers, but they are called that because many dragons settle there.”
“Heh. Hina, do you know anything?”
“Just as the female slave says, the ancient maps also describe it as a D-Line, nanodesu.”
“Can you pull up the map on the Magic Laptop?”
“Yes, nanodesu.”
Checking the ancient map, the point where two Dragon Lines intersected was right here.
I wonder if the gathering of magic power has something to do with this teleportation?
“Master, there is something near the crater.”
Perhaps it was an extinct volcano; although the rocky surface was exposed, the bottom of the crater had become a pool of water.
I could see a horizontal hole near that crater.
“Let’s head down…”
Chanting Flight Magic, we all descended to find a door.
“Master, the crest of the Empire is inscribed on it…”
When I put my hand on the door, it was locked, so I opened it with magic.
“We’re going in. Stay alert.”
Upon opening the door, a wide, clean corridor with magic lamps hanging from the ceiling stretched ahead.
Drawing my sword, we proceeded cautiously until we reached a set of double doors.
“This one doesn’t seem to be locked.”
Liz and I opened the doors together to find an altar inside the room.
“An incredible amount of magic power is rising up here from the Dragon Line.”
Filtering out Reilia’s words, I stepped toward the altar to find a pedestal in the center, and inside it, an orb was shattered.
“What’s this?”
“Is it a Mana Orb?”
“Master, magic lines are drawn so that magic power converges on that pedestal, nanodesu. It is reasonable to assume the orb stored magic power until it exceeded its capacity and shattered, nanodesu.”
“If it shattered, does that mean the magic power stored until then was released?”
“That’s right… I don’t know how much was stored, but there’s no doubt a super-high concentration of magic power flooded this place when it broke, right?”
“Is that the cause of the teleportation?”
“For now, that seems to be the only explanation…”
I searched the room for anything else, but there was nothing of note.
Returning to the crater, I thought it over, but since I wasn’t well-versed in phenomena caused by magic power, I really couldn’t say for sure.
“Master!?”
Liz shouted.
“Tch!? Directly above!? Reilia! Magic Barrier! Full power!”
“Y-yes!”
At the same time, I deployed multiple layers of Magic Barriers.
Immediately after, the area was engulfed in a flash of light and a roar.
“Good catch, Liz! Is everyone safe?”
“I… I just happened to be looking at the sky…”
That was close. If the deployment had been any slower, the barriers wouldn’t have been enough and would’ve been pierced.
A shadow covered the entire crater.
“That’s quite a greeting, hey!”
A giant mouth opened.
“Just when I thought the Great White Serpent who stole my nest had vanished… Have you forgotten the ancient covenant? What have you humans come here for now!?”
Reilia gasped.
“An… Ancient Dragon…”
Eh, what? Is this the “winged lizard” Sara-chan was talking about?
Heeey, was a battle of giant monsters unfolding right here?
“You’ve got the wrong person, right? I don’t know anything about a covenant.”
For now, I’d talk to buy some time.
“Reilia-sama, Flight Magic, please…”
“Master, I am requesting permission for Destroy Style, nanodesu.”
“Hina, I’ll permit it… but don’t self-destruct.”
“Acknowledged, nanodesu. Activating Destroy Style, nanodesu!”
Wings and verniers popped out from Hina’s back. Then, both her arms transformed into drills.
Eh!? What is that? How does that even work!?
“While I was away, you entered the altar! No more talk! Die!”
The moment the dragon pulled its head back, Liz, Hina, and I jumped up.
“Listen to what I’m saying!”
Just as it tried to breathe fire again, I struck its jaw upward with my magic sword, forcing it shut.
“Ngh!?”
Immediately after, Liz, having done a full rotation above the dragon’s head, slammed her bastard sword into its forehead.
Clang!
A hard, metallic sound rang out.
“Tch! It’s tough!”
“Hmph! Such a physical attack against my skin…”
Hina, who had jumped over the dragon and moved to its back, readied the drills on both her hands.
“Twin Drill Attaaaaack!”
Whirrrrrr!
“Hmm? Such an attack… WHAT!? GIIYAAAAAAAAA!”
Scales flying! Fresh blood spraying!
“It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurtssss!”
The dragon tried to reach its short arms around to its back, but they wouldn’t reach.
“Drills are the strongest, nanodesu! Digging, nanodesu! Digging, nanodesu! Digging, nanodesu!”
Grind-grind-whirrrr! Rasp-rasp-whirrrr!
The two high-speed rotating drills gouged through the dragon’s skin, which was supposed to be incredibly hard.
“Gross…”
Even I have never had my living flesh gouged by a drill before~. With Hina still on its back, the dragon crashed into the side of the crater.
“GIIYAAAAAA! GYAA! IGIIIIII!”
“Ah— Hina. Stop for a second…”
“Master! I haven’t finished digging yet, nanodesu.”
Hina, dyed completely red, answered. You’re scary, hey…
“J-Just stop! I can’t talk to it, so just stop for now!”
“Muu… Understood, nanodesu.”
Whirrrr… purr-purr-purr…
“Ugh, uuuh… This is the first time I have ever suffered such a painful attack… What on earth…”
“Ah— can we talk now?”
“T-To speak with a human…”
Whirrrr…
“I shall speak of anything you wish.”
“No, we just came to investigate why the Great White Serpent was here.”
“I-Is that so? B-By the way, where did that fellow go!”
“Ah, well. I don’t know how, but according to her, she suddenly teleported here, so I had her go home.”
“I-I see… I was in trouble because I couldn’t communicate with her and she was excessively strong.”
“So? What is this place?”
“Do you truly not know?”
“I’m telling you, I don’t.”
Whirrrr…
“T-That’s right… My apologies, my apologies. Humans of the Empire and I formed a covenant in ancient times… In exchange for protecting the orb that suppresses the magic power emerging from here, they were to periodically bring me wine and food.”
“I see… but the orb was broken.”
“I suppose so… No one has come for hundreds of years… Heh, heh, heh.”
“Hm? Something funny?”
“Did you think I would simply accept this humiliating situation as it is!”
Immediately after, two dragons appeared in the sky, not as large as this one, but still fairly big.
“Hahaha, my kin! Scatter them!”
“Th-they’ve increased in number.”
Reilia, who had climbed up from the crater at some point, whispered beside me.
“Master, leave it to me, nanodesu.”
Looking at Hina upon hearing those words, she had returned only one hand to its original form and popped an individual breast out.
Eh…? What is she doing?
“Oppai Missiiile!”
Boom! Boom!
Pardon?
I’ll tell you exactly what just happened.
The breast stretched out with a “boing” and was launched just like that.
That concludes the situation report.
…
I don’t understand this at all!
Hey! Why is a breast turning into a missile and flying out!?
Whirrrr…
“I-I was surprised by the sound, but such a slow attack against my kin…”
The Ancient Dragon raised its head to watch the movement of the missiles.
True… if they only flew straight, they looked easy enough to dodge.
“As long as they are living creatures, they cannot escape the heat-seeking nipple sensor, nanodesu!”
Ah… yeah… I’m not even going to question it anymore.
The nipple sensors twitched toward the two dragons that had performed mid-air somersaults to gracefully evade, and the breast missiles turned at a right angle.
“WHAAAAT!? How can there be such an absurd trajectory!?”
The Ancient Dragon was screaming.
Yeah, thanks for pointing that out for me.
KABOOOOM!!!
“Hikyaaah!”
Reilia was blown into the crater by the intense blast.
Even Liz and I had to drop to our knees to withstand the shockwave.
After a few heartbeats… a rain of dragon meat showered the surroundings.
…
What are we going to do about this disaster… the whole area is a scene from hell!
“So, we were talking about the orb being broken…”
He acted like it never happened!
“Right… Clean… What happens if the orb stays broken?”
“Could you cast that magic on me as well? Monsters will likely become stronger or increase in number.”
“That would be a problem… Clean. I guess I’ll ask if there’s a replacement orb available…”
“My thanks. U-Umu… For a while, while I treat the wounds on my back, I shall suppress the eruption of magic power myself…”
“Ah, then I’ll count on you… Uh… do you have a name?”
“Faranard…”
“I’m Riku…”
“I have marked you, so even if you run, the satellite will hunt you down, nanodesu!”
“I don’t understand what you are saying at all, but I have understood that my fate is sealed… Riku… I shall follow you…”
He’s talking in a haughty way… but he’s trembling a little, isn’t he!
“Ah… yeah… well, do your best!”
I ended up cheering him on for some reason.
