Chapter 157

“GAAAARRRRGHHH!!!”

The head of the roaring wind dragon was now visible. I held Daniela so that her eyes would align with it, and she nodded.

“You can drop me here.”

“Alright. But take this with you!”

I handed Daniela the last potion that the old guard had given me. It was the magic recovery potion.

“How did you get this?”

“A certain old guy gave it to me. It’ll recover your magic.”

“Thank you. But I happened to get the same thing from a certain guy as well. And my magic has not run out yet.”

“What!? A guy!?”

“In any case, I will go now!”

“Hey!”

I wasn’t finished, but Daniela let go of my hand. But I still had so many questions!

As Daniela fell from the sky, she created a jade wind at the tips of her feet, which allowed her to descend as if she were sliding through the air. It looked so cool… I might have to copy that.

“…Ah, I can’t be thinking about that now.”

I turned to see the glaring eyes of the wind dragon. Yes, it clearly recognized me as an enemy.

My sword was still stuck in its jaw. I guess those dragon hands were not capable of removing it.

I had thrust it in so deep and no manner of head-shaking would dislodge it.

“Hah! Try eating me like that!”

And so I slid down the sky…not quite as gracefully as Daniela, but trying my best. And then the dragon spread its wings wide. Was it going to fly?

“But first…!”

I increased the speed and closed the gap between us. The wind around my legs grew stronger as my surroundings blurred.

The wind dragon lost sight of me as it beat its wings but remained grounded. I was now under its jaw. My hands wrapped around the hilt of the great sword as I sent a rush of magic through it.

“I’ll be taking this back!”

This time the water blade cut through the upper jaw.

“GAAAAAAGHRRHRHR!!!!”

“Huh…!”

My body turned as I used Legs of the Forest Wolf to change positions so that the great sword was held behind me. Then I pulled with all of my strength. The blue blade would cut through anything, and it easily tore through the dragon’s jaws.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOGGG!!”

The dragon’s blood was washed away by the whirl of water around the great sword, and it returned cleanly into my hands. A torrent of blood gushed out of the wind dragon’s mouth as it thrashed in pain. I retreated in order to avoid being crushed, all the while, I was running simulations with Master ‘Jack of all Trades, Master of None.’

“No, that’s no good… Hmm…yes, that looks promising. Keep things simple.”

I ran a few more simulations and examined the results. Ultimately, I decided that there was no other choice. Yes, me and the Master always thought alike. Well, maybe not as much as Daniela.

The wind dragon stopped thrashing just as I had made my decision. I guess it was finished with that. It was a dragon after all, and an adult no less. Its once severed jaw seemed to be connected again. Was that a scab? There was a welt-like mark left where the cut had been. And the bleeding had stopped. However, this didn’t change anything. I would kill it.

“There’s something that every man needs.”

I held the great sword over my shoulder as I faced the wind dragon.

“Everyone needs one.”

The wind dragon looked at me and opened its jaws wide. It wasn’t the movement of a wyvern preparing itself to breath. The magic in its body was being gathered in its mouth.

“It can be one, or there can be many. I think that I prefer to have multiple.”

The green and silver wind swirls about my legs as I walk. I knew how to do it. The wind speeds up in an instant, creating such pressure that nothing could come close.

“A special move.”

A light flashed in the wind dragon’s mouth. At the same time, an ultra dense pressurized wind shot out like a very thin spear. It pierced through me.

Only, it wasn’t me. It was the afterimage.

Faster than the blink of an eye, I ran up into the air and over the wind dragon’s head. I watched the unleashing of the breath, only possible for adult dragons, as I moved my body in accordance with the answer I got from Jack of all Trades.

“‘Kamiyashiro-style, Swiftest Wind Flash’!!”

The flow of water was free. And ‘Jack of all Trades’ taught me that the water blade that flowed along this sword was also free. Controlling it, I could change the width of the blade. Thirty centimeters could be sixty. And then one-hundred and twenty. Even more. I could go to two-hundred and forty. And just as the blade grew wide, it also grew long.

I didn’t even know if the thing in my hands could still be called a great sword. But I held it below me as I shot towards the ground with a tail of green, silver and blue streaking behind me. Speed was the one thing I was always good at.

In a second, the sword cut through the thing between it and the ground. And like that, the wind dragon’s head was severed.

The head was launched into the air from the pressure of its continued breath. As it fell, our eyes met.

“Sorry about that. I have a habit of picking the most immature names for my moves.”

Was it surprised or was it uncomprehending? The head landed on the ground and rolled. A moment later, the rest of the dragon’s body collapsed to the ground.

“I don’t know, but I’m starting to feel like a protagonist.”

I muttered to myself as I swung the sword. The water flew off the blade, leaving the blue blade bear once again.

“Maybe I should think of a signature phrase…”

I said amusedly while searching for Daniela’s presence. She wasn’t too far away.

I could reach her in less than a minute. Of course, with the use of these legs… I tried to activate Legs of the Forest Wolf then, but something was wrong. The wind was about as weak as an electric fan. It was cool and all, but that’s not what I wanted…

“Is it because I used it too much…?”

The weak wind soon died away, and then my body stopped listening to me. And just like the dragon, I collapsed to the ground on my back. This sucked… I was completely conscious, and yet my body wouldn’t move. Apparently, there were restrictions on the use of unique skills.

I had not known about it, but there was nothing I could do now. I had to wait there until I could move again, all the while feeling her presence.

□ □ □ □

As I glided down through the air, numerous blades of fire shot up towards me. I shifted my weight and twisted so as to dodge them while I descended to where Eve was waiting.

“It is a good thing that I watched him…”

I had never seen anyone move in the air like that before, and it had been the most stimulating thing. It was no wonder that I would end up imitating him. I had spent some nights practicing during my watch.

I escaped the last of the flames before killing my speed with my heels and landing on the ground. Yes, it all went very well.

“Have you waited long?”

“Tsk…so you’re alive…”

“Regrettably, yes. I am too young to die, you know. And there are so many places I would like to visit.”

I unsheath my sword and look at Eve.

“However, your life must come to a close here.”

“How ludicrous! You are the one who will die!”

Eve continually sent out a monstrous wind through one hand as she used the other to unsheath her sword. It had a curved, wide blade. It was one-sided but looked horrifically sharp. If it was the same one I had seen a hundred years ago, then I had every reason to be careful. It was no ordinary weapon.

“Die!!”

Eve charged at me and swung the blade downwards. I parried it with my sword and rammed my plated elbow into her stomach and followed with a back-hand to the face. However, she caught it with the hand that had been unleashing magic.

“Tsk.”

“Bitch!”

Eve gripped my hand and pulled. Instead of fighting against it, I twisted my wrist in order to free myself and then moved back. It was the Asagi way of retreating with wind. And then I quickly pulled out my bow. There were no arrows.

“Eat this!!”

I pulled the bowstring and gathered air together to create a jade arrow. A special arrow of collected, condensed wind magic. It was something I had learned to do once when I had run out of arrows a long time ago. Once I released it, it flew at a speed much greater than an ordinary arrow. An arrow with all the features of wind magic would not only pierce, but horribly mangle whatever it touched. Even I was a little put off by it.

And it caught Eve right in the leg. She had been too wounded in the battle with Asagi to be able to avoid it.

“GAAAAHHHH!!!”

Eve fell backwards as blood sprayed from her wound. I wanted to unleash another arrow, but these things were terribly inefficient. They ate through too much of my magic. I would be the one to die first if I shot one after another. I had some magic left, thanks to Vent, but it made little sense to use it if it wasn’t necessary.

And so I unsheathed my sword again and ran to Eve. She held her leg and glared at me as I shot forward with the power of the wind and pointed my sword at her.

“Hah!”

“…!!”

However, Eve lifted her left hand to stop the blow. She was risking the arm as the blood-covered thing shot a ball of fire. I fell forward to dodge it and rolled forward, came up behind Eve and then thrust out my sword again. And again, she blocked it with her arm. But this time, her left hand went flying.

“Uhhh….!!”

“You will not block the next one!”

I enveloped my sword in wind, transforming it into a wide, one-sided blade as I swung down. But Eve blocked it with her curved sword. Damn it… The wind disappeared the moment it made contact with her sword.

“That sword is as awful as ever!”

“Ahahahaha! The mana dispeler will even cut through the wind of a dragon!”

Yes, it had the power to take magic and return it to mana upon contact. It was a relic of the age of advanced magic. It was making things rather difficult… However, I was not my old self either. If magic was no use, that meant I merely had to win through a battle of pure swordsmanship!

“Die, Eve!”

“I’ll kill you, Daniela!”

I pull the sword of the tree of life and death back and thrust hard. Over and over. But Eve continued to sweep it aside. I throw some swings into the mix, but she blocks them all the same. Well, I would have to try a place less guarded then!

“Hah!”

I jump into the air just as I thrust forward once again. Amber-colored magic flows from my feet and into the ground, activating earth magic. Deadly thorns shoot up out of the ground towards Eve. She was being attacked from the front and from below!

“Ughggg…!!”

She blocked the attack from the front just as the thorns tore into her feet. This was my chance!

“Haaahh!!!”

This time I envelope my own body in wind instead of my sword. This boost of magic allows me to unleash a barrage of thrusts at Eve with inhuman speed. She was bleeding from both legs now, but continued to block with her curved blade, and yet she could not stop every thrust.

And finally, my blade cut her right arm open.

“AHH!!!”

The pain caused her to drop her weapon.

“It is over now…!”

This time I sent wind to the sword and with all of my strength, thrust it into Eve’s heart. Weaponless and unable to use magic, Eve had no way to stop it.

The sword went straight into her chest.

“…”

Silently, she stared at me and coughed up blood.

“Gaghh…ah…kk…”

I pulled the sword out and stepped away. Blood poured from her mouth and chest as she fell on her back.

“It is finished. This is your final stop.”

“Damn it…damn-damn-damn-damn…how can…I…!”

Her eyes did not leave me. I did not enjoy hearing the curses of the dying, and so I stabbed her through the chest once again.

“Aaa…”

That was the last sound she made as the strength left her and she took her final breath.

“One hundred years…”

The fight that had been interrupted on the cliff had now ended with me as the victor. I wiped the blood from my sword and returned it to its sheath. Then I glanced one last time at her body before turning away.

“No, he could not lose…”

After all, he was my partner. And it was time I went to pick him up.

“Farewell, Eve.”

My goodbye was erased by the wind. It would not reach her. However, someone who had had such an effect on my life would never be forgotten. I decided it would be so, as the one responsible for taking her life.

We would meet no more, but I would not forget. I wanted to remember all of this when I died. And so I had to remember.