Dungeon Practice

The Hell Lich’s hut stood in the middle of the forest.

Outside the hut, the sun was already slanting down.

The shadows falling across the clearing had grown long.

Liricia and I stood side by side in the open space around the hut.

Her silver hair still hid cheeks that were faintly red, but Liricia seemed to have calmed down.

I shared what I had in mind.

“About that dungeon—just from looking at it, it seemed really narrow.”

“Yes, it looked like it would be full if three people stood side by side.”

“And it was very dark. One of us has to use a lantern.”

“That’s true.”

I took the lantern in hand.

“But with warp and teleport traps, I want us to hold hands so we don’t get separated.”

“How about tying ourselves together with a rope?”

“If I move to the front and you stay in the rear to support me, that will get in the way.”

“Ah, you’re right… Should I handle it in angel form instead?”

“Your angel form is stronger, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct. In my human form, the only power I can use is healing magic. As an angel I can use both healing and offensive magic, and even with the same healing spell, the effect is several times stronger.”

“Then you should dive the dungeon in angel form. Especially since that dungeon must have been used by the Hell Lich. We don’t even know what other strong monsters might be inside.”

“Yes. In that case, you walk in front, Master, and I will hold the lantern in the back… like this.”

Liricia’s white habit swished as she stepped behind me, took the lantern from my hand, and held it up.

Her free hand came to rest against my back. I felt her supple fingertips through my clothes.

“It’s nice that I can tell exactly where you are when you keep a hand on me—though won’t that keep you from using your flail?”

“That cannot be helped. But I can still attack with my angel wings.”

Saying that, Liricia made a loud whoosh behind me.

When I glanced back over my shoulder, she had spread white wings from her back. White feathers danced through the air.

Then, as she swept her wings forward, the scattered white feathers shot straight ahead.

When she spread her wings and thrust them forward, the feathers flew in an arc.

The path the feathers traced was razor-sharp, neatly slicing the leaves off the weeds.

“So you can make normal attacks using your feathers. …How strong are your offensive spells?”

Liricia knit her slender brows.

“Hm, how strong are they, I wonder? I have yet to fully check my current condition.”

“That makes sense… Is there some good way to test it? A tree or a rock we could use as a practice target—”

—At that moment.

A sharp cry rang out from the sky.

When I looked up, a huge dragon—a Wyvern—was flying across the evening-red sky.

Judging by the giant bundle of hay it carried, it must have just finished raiding a ranch.

It was probably materials for its nest. For some reason, though, it was twisting its body as if in pain.

—Oh. Perfect timing.

If I remembered right, there was a subjugation request out on that thing.

I pointed at the Wyvern as it beat its great wings and flew.

“Think you can shoot that down?”

“I believe I can… I shall try—Heavenly White Feather Cannon!”

Liricia snapped her white wings wide open.

Countless feathers rose up, tracing circles as they flew while leaving trails of light behind them.

She bent her knees slightly, then thrust her white wings forward and began to close them.

The feathers flew in a way that traced the shape of a cylinder.

The cylindrical shape drawn by the trails of light began to glow—

The next instant, the light exploded.

BOOOOM!

With a tremendous roar, a mass of light was fired.

It slammed into the Wyvern’s belly with a deafening thud as the creature flew.

“Gugyaaaah—!”

It not only pierced straight through its belly—an instant later, it exploded in midair with a wet blast.

A gaping hole opened in the Wyvern’s body, and it began to fall.

A light rain of blood started to fall on us as well.

“Whoa!”

“Kyah!—Heavenly Light Veil!”

Liricia stretched her hands up and spread her wings wide.

A film of light wrapped around the two of us.

Rumble…

The Wyvern then crashed down with an earth-shaking boom at the edge of the clearing.

Once Liricia dispelled the light barrier, she looked around.

Not only the clearing, but the surrounding trees were stained red.

“…That was quite powerful… To think it could bring one down in a single hit.”

“More than I expected. In a dungeon, if we don’t watch where we use that, it might actually be dangerous.”

“Yes, I will be careful. …Even so, what shall we do with this Wyvern?”

“If we just leave it, it will probably attract more monsters—hm, it’s still alive!”

I drew my sword and dashed straight forward.

I poured Serâge, the Holy Wave of spiritual energy, into the blade.

The Wyvern slowly lifted its blood-soaked face and glared at me.

Even for a B-rank monster, it was still a dragon-type, after all.

The fact that it was still alive after taking that hit was impressive.

It then opened its mouth full of fangs.

—Is it planning to breathe its breath attack?

—Just then.

White feathers flew in front of me as I ran.

They flew in a pattern that formed a hexagon, then turned into a glowing white shield.

Light began to gather deep in the Wyvern’s throat, but it looked like my attack would land first.

Apparently realizing its breath would not be ready in time, it swung one massive hand and slashed at me with its sharp claws.

Claaang!

The hexagonal feather shield deflected the claws.

It was tougher than I expected!

Thanks to that, I was able to charge straight in and reach the Wyvern’s side.

“Haaah! Holy Slash!”

Slaaash!

My sword traced a pale blue arc and sliced cleanly through the base of its long neck.

Without even letting out a death cry, the Wyvern’s head and body fell separately to the ground.

I watched it for a while, but it no longer moved. Its breathing had stopped as well.

It looked like we had finished it off.

Liricia flew to my side in an instant, as if gliding through the air.

Her violet eyes sparkled with astonishment.

“As expected of you, Master! To take out a Wyvern before it can fire its quick-shot breath!”

“Thanks for the defensive magic, Liricia. That was a good combo.”

“Yes! From now on, whenever you charge in, I will protect you with an angel’s shield.”

“I’m counting on you… Now then, what were the proof-of-subjugation parts again?”

When I asked, Liricia made a circle with her fingers like a little spyglass and looked over the Wyvern’s corpse.

“Please wait just a moment… Let’s see, the fangs, horns, wings, and tail. The meat has a strong toxicity, so it is inedible.”

“Once we cut off the parts, we’ll dump the rest in the forest.”

“Yes.”

After that, we cut off the required parts, stuffed them in a bag, chopped the Wyvern’s corpse into manageable pieces, and dumped them in the forest.

Ideally, I would have liked to bury it, but the Wyvern was bigger than a house.

There was simply far too much of it.

Even just getting rid of the body took a lot of time.

The roll of hay that was taller than a person was a pain to carry, so we just rolled it over and left it by the hut.

Once we finished cleaning up, we finally went back into the hut.

Let us turn the clock back a little, to early evening.

The Wyvern flew leisurely through the red sky.

In its grasp was a roll of hay it had taken in a raid on a ranch. It was nest material.

The Wyvern trembled with a dark joy.

Its lips curled in a grin, and its sharp fangs gleamed in the setting sun.

Every time it felt the evil aura stirring in its belly, laughter welled up inside it.

—To be born… the calamity that will destroy this world…

The Wyvern rejoiced in having been chosen as the vessel that would destroy the world.

With each passing day, its growing belly radiated an evil pulse that made its heart dance.

Not even the gods would have imagined that a Chaos Dragon, a being said to be born only once every ten thousand years, would emerge from a mere Wyvern.

It had also chosen to make its nest near the human Royal Capital for a reason.

A Chaos Dragon was born as an SS-rank monster.

It would burst from its mother’s belly and then do nothing but eat and eat, growing to SSS rank.

The moment it was born, the Wyvern itself would die and thus would be unable to feed it.

That was why it had built its nest near the Royal Capital, where there was plenty of food.

—Just a few more days.

In just a few more days, the world will end… Heh heh heh!

It was when it once again twisted its lips into a dark smile.

Suddenly, a shock ran through its massive body.

A searing pain like a red-hot iron rod being rammed into its belly assaulted it.

It let out an involuntary scream.

“Kyashaaaaa!”

—Is it being born!? N-no, that’s not it!

Yes.

Because it had been flying at high speed, because its elation had made it careless about its surroundings, and because of the evil aura pouring out from its belly, it failed to notice Alec’s Serâge, the Holy Wave.

As a result, the Wyvern had flown straight into a dense field of Serâge and taken massive damage that robbed it of half its life force.

The evil Chaos Dragon inside it had taken even more damage and was now on the verge of death.

That damage fed back into the mother’s body as unbearable pain.

What was more, Alec’s Serâge slowed monsters’ movements.

The previously crisp air now clung to its body like water.

No matter how hard it beat its wings, it felt itself being dragged toward the ground as if sinking into a swamp.

—What is this!? What is happening!?

It frantically flapped its wings, trying to escape the swamp-like air, but because it had flown in at such high speed, it would have to travel a long distance to reach safety.

Gradually, its altitude dropped.

—Then.

A heavy impact slammed into its belly. The agony exploded.

“Gugyaaaaah—!”

This time, the pain came from an external attack.

As it tumbled toward the ground in a spinning dive, it glimpsed the earth below from the corner of its eye.

There were two humans.

It understood that it had been attacked with some sort of magic.

Then it realized that the child that should have been born in just a few more days was gone.

Looked at another way, the Chaos Dragon in its belly had served as a shield, allowing the Wyvern to narrowly escape instant death.

The Wyvern hit the ground.

It lifted its long neck and ground its fangs together.

The rage that welled up inside it overwhelmed even the pain of crashing into the earth.

Unforgivable…!!

It would tear these humans to pieces and devour them!

The Wyvern opened its mouth.

A Wyvern’s Sonic Breath was wind-attribute. As a high-speed vacuum slash, it had always allowed it to attack first, no matter the opponent.

Its power was high enough to mince even armored humans before they could get close.

So this time as well, it opened its mouth to unleash its breath.

But it was too slow. The breath would not rise up its throat.

—Why!? What is happening to me!?

It was just like a dream. Like the dreams it saw when it slept.

Those nightmares where something chased you, and no matter how hard you tried to run away, your body would not move as you wanted and you could not gain speed.

The Wyvern thought that was exactly what it was experiencing now.

By the time it noticed, the human was already right in front of it.

It lashed out with its claws on reflex.

But they were deflected by a shield, and an instant later, a burning shock ran through its neck.

Then it realized its field of vision was spinning up through the air.

In the absurd situation where a human had cut off its head with a single blow, the Wyvern thought, “So it really was a dream after all. This will put an end to the nightmare,” and closed its eyes.