Revival And Subjugation

It felt like my whole body was soaking in warm water, a strangely pleasant sensation. What was this… what had I been doing again?

Maybe I had taken a bath and fallen asleep…

“…Ca, …Lu…, Luca!”

“Ha…!”

When my name was called, I instinctively sprang up, and what entered my eyes was Ann wearing a relieved expression, and a little farther away Rebecca and Hubert fighting a gigantic dragon.

That was right—right now we were in the middle of a coup, and we had been fighting Caesar—

“Could that dragon possibly be Caesar?”

“It seems like it. At the moment Caesar transformed into that form, a shockwave was released, and Luca who received it at close range just…”

“Died?”

“…Yes. So I used Soul Reattachment.”

Whoa… seriously? People die that easily. Somewhere inside I had grown complacent, thinking I was strong so I would be fine. From now on I really had to be more careful…

“Ann, thank you so much. You’re literally my lifesaver. I’m really glad you were here.”

“Yeah. I’m also grateful to Lady Milora all over again.”

“I’ll thank Lady Milora directly next time too. But right now, it’s that dragon.”

‘Lady Seremees, is that complete dragonification? Will Caesar never return to being human again?’

As I called out to Lady Seremees while looking at the dragon rampaging around, an unusually emotional reply came from her.

‘Luca… I’m glad you’re alive. You mustn’t let your guard down!’

Hearing that slightly hoarse voice made me feel truly sorry. I was glad it hadn’t turned into something that would make Lady Seremees grieve.

‘I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful.’

‘Yes, and from now on I will also do more to help you, Luca.’

‘Thank you very much. I look forward to your help.’

‘—And about that dragon, it probably won’t return to Caesar anymore. Even now it should have no reason left.’

‘I see… understood. Then I will subjugate it.’

‘I’m counting on you.’

After finishing my conversation with Lady Seremees, I returned my gaze to Ann and we nodded to each other almost simultaneously.

“Let’s defeat that thing.”

“Understood. I’ll support you with magic.”

“Thanks. I’ll try aiming for its weak point at close range.”

To help the two who already looked at their limit, I first cast a spell to draw the dragon’s attention toward us. The dragon’s eyes slowly turned toward us, and a low roar echoed through the hall.

“Both of you, thank you! Please fall back a little!”

“Luca…!”

I heard Rebecca shout, so I glanced toward her briefly and smiled to reassure her. Rebecca seemed relieved, and her body swayed as if the tension had finally left her.

“Hubert! Take care of Rebecca for a moment!”

“Yeah, leave it to me!”

After confirming the two of them were retreating to the side, I turned my gaze back to the dragon approaching me.

Being able to fly is troublesome…

“Wind Press!”

I tried applying air pressure from above with wind magic… the dragon’s posture faltered slightly, but it immediately used similar wind magic and blocked my spell.

So it can still use magic the same as before. This might be a tough fight.

“No, wait… is its left arm unusable?”

Looking closely, its left arm wasn’t moving at all, and it even seemed to be protecting it. The damage from Temporary Peace must still remain.

If that’s the case, then we have a chance. There’s no reason not to attack the injured side. Its defense on the left side should be weaker, so I’ll attack from there.

“Ann, I want you to target the dragon’s right side and fire flashy magic repeatedly.”

“Understood.”

“Thanks. I’ll circle around to the left in the meantime. Alright… here I go!”

After briefly discussing the strategy with Ann, I kicked off the ground with all my strength and leaped toward the dragon. At that exact moment, Ann’s magic was launched from behind me.

Distracted by that magic, the dragon reacted slightly too late to block the fire magic I launched from point-blank range.

Because of that, part of its scales blistered from the heat, making its movements even slower.

“Fire Arrow! Ice Spear!”

Ann’s magic, fired with precise aim so it wouldn’t hit me, had tremendous speed and power. Even in the middle of this battle, Ann was still growing stronger.

With Ann’s support, I successfully slipped into the dragon’s guard and, putting all my strength into it, thrust my sword into the exact spot where I had inflicted damage earlier.

“Haaah!”

Because the hard scales had been blistered, the sword pierced far deeper than expected. As I moved the blade around inside and pulled it out with full force, the dragon let out a cry of agony.

“Gyaooooooo!!”

The violently rampaging dragon looked as though it might destroy the building.

“…Air… Impact!”

“Tornado!!”

When Ann and I activated wind magic almost simultaneously, the dragon’s movement finally stopped. It must have been weakened by the damage from Temporary Peace and the earlier attacks, because it could no longer cancel out our magic.

—Now is the chance.

The moment I thought that, my body moved instinctively, and I kicked the ground again to close the distance to the dragon.

I raised my sword high and swung it down toward its neck. And the instant the blade touched the dragon, I released lightning magic from the tip of the sword—

Struck directly by the lightning, the dragon convulsed violently once, then collapsed powerlessly onto the ground and stopped moving.