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Translator: Kurehashi Aiko

 

Volume 3 Chapter 26: Dragon-san Faces the White Disaster

First of all, together with Nectar I flew into the sky over the city while still in my humanoid shape, and once we were high enough I reverted back into my dragon form.

After a few seconds, I was yet again my majestic dragon self, covered in black and red scales.

Then, Nectar jumped off of his staff and sat on my back.

「Are you ready, Nectar?」

「Ready when you are.」

I felt that Nectar gently stroked my neck, and I erected a protective barrier around us.

It was very difficult to do at the moment because of all the monsters that appeared from the damaged leylines, but that was not the only reason.

That white mist had a lot to do with it.

I couldn’t help myself but to feel anxious.

I wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible.

I also needed to calm down and stabilize my magic, so that Nectar sitting on my back could stay safe.

Besides, if we don’t do anything, the whole town is going to get destroyed.

Aaah, the events are already starting to unveil in a way that Kyle said they would unveil!

Both Ligurila and Senjiro were engaging the monster hordes down below us, which doesn’t seem to get any smaller no matter how many of them they have killed and how fast they were going at it.

Ligurila was still in her human form, but her hair were already transformed into numerous tentacles.

Since magic was always useful in a fight against monsters, she has infused each of her tentacles with different kinds of spells and used them to dispatch the monsters in a more efficient way.

While Ligurila was throwing spells and tentacles left and right, Senjiro was dashing through the battlefield all on his own, slicing and dicing the largest of the monsters with ease.

He was probably using some Eastern magic to boost his physical capabilities, but att he moment there was no way for me to confirm that.

Thanks to that his strikes were super fast, cutting through the cores of the monsters in just one strike.

Looking at the two of them from above, I could only admire the bond of trust and partnership that they had going on between them.

At the same time, Kyle joined the other Hunters from the Guild.

They were making efforts to divert at least some of the monsters from Ligurila and Senjiro.

They are going to be fine. I am sure of it. So I need to do my job as well.

I take a deep breath and prepare myself.

I didn’t need any incantations to cast my magic.

The spells of that kind were relatively easy to use, you just had to conjure some images connected to them inside of your mind and voila –– magic was ready to be used!

But just to be on the safe side, I spoke some words in the ancient language to strengthen the image.

「I am the shield that guards the world. Bless me and protect me.」

The words I am using right now are close to some of the ancient spells I’m familiar with, but I am currently using them to create a completely new phenomenon of it’s own.

The magic that I gathered twisted and swirled, until eventually it solidify into a huge protective barrier around the whole mountain where the dungeon was located.

When the fog hit the barrier it screeched and made lots of other nasty sounds, but it withstood the fog and prevented it from spreading further.

It is successful, but it won’t be able to hold it at bay for long.

I hurry it up and put similar barrier around Nectar and myself.

I also made sure to make Nectar’s barrier especially thick.

「Let’s go.」

「Follow my lead.」

I shifted my body and lowered my altitude, coming inside of the barrier.

It was the kind of barrier that would let things inside of it, but would not let anything get out.

And once we were inside, we could see for ourselves just what the effects of the white fog were.

The fog, which was already covering the whole area around the mountain, wiped out all of the vegetation that was once there.

The land itself also seemed changed by the exposure to the fog.

It seems that the fog was taking its toll on the world itself.

Leylines here were in total disarray, and the only way in which I could describe the fog was like maggots slowly eating away at the body of the world, leaving nothing but bare bones.

Even the leyline’s magic eroded into nothingness once it touched the white fog.

This is bad! Really, really bad!

It was really hard for me, but for now I pushed the issue of the leylines aside, focusing on the task at hand.

Resolving this crisis is going to be far better of a solution than trying to do something about the symptoms.

Nectar was watching the same thing, and said so in a low and dreaded voice.

「No way, I would never have thought that the damages would be so severe……」

「We must hurry and resolve it as soon as possible, right, Nectar? You understand, right?」

「Yes, the terrain itself is changing, and we can’t have that.」

With that being said, I let Nectar guide me towards our destination.

The place where the white fog was supposed to be the thickest.

With that in mind, we dove right inside of it.

The moment I touched the fog, I could feel my whole body becoming stiff.

For a moment out there I didn’t know what might happen, but when the barrier managed to withstand the fog’s assault I could let a small sigh of relief.

We were safe for now, but we won’t be able to stay inside of the fog forever.

While we were still separated from the fog’s destructive influence, I couldn’t help it but to think of all the things that were withering away around us.

I could also feel the overlapping consciousness of various plants, animals and lesser spirits, their confusion and agony running through my head all at once.

“Lava, how are you holding up?”

“Somehow.”

Nectar asked me through telepathy, thanks to which I managed to pull myself together.

Nectar was probably able to hear the voices as well, although not to the degree I was able to. Hence his worry about me.

“What did you hear?”

“The agony of all the creatures and plants that died due to the white fog…… Are you okay, Nectar?”

“I can only hear some noise, for me it’s barely even legible. Maybe you are able to hear it so clearly because you are a dragon, Lava.”

“It may be so, but still……!?”

While I was saying that, I was forced to turn around.

Something was right in front of us, and it was coming straight at us.

Once it got closer, I realize what it was.

“A demon!?”

They looked much like the demons we were used to wipe out on a regular basis, but were white in color, and instead of magic flowing under their skin, it was white fog.

I only noticed it now, but we were soon to reach the foot of the mountain, but there was no sight of change in our environment.

Looking around, I could see the rubble that were strangely resembling the broken parts of the dungeon.

I made me think that maybe the normal rules of physics stopped being a factor in here.

“It seems that this fog must be connected to another dimension.”

“Sure looks like it. And it looks like the various spaces got mixed with one another.”

“Say.”

It wasn’t a surprise for me that Nectar was shocked. To be perfectly honest, I was surprised by that fact as well.

After all, this world is presumed to be composed with layers upon of layers of matter, completely separate from one another.

So the white fog must also be eating away at the barriers that keep the dimensions separated.

So far the gaps were relatively small, but should they be left alone, they might become bigger and bigger, becoming a potentially huge problem.

Of course, tearing a hole through the dimensions was not an easy task to pull off, not even a dragon would be able to do that without putting maximum of effort into it.

I starting to really hate this white fog…… Hm?

“More of them are coming!”

Having said that, I began doing some evasive maneuvers in order to avoid the attacks of the fog monsters that began to appear from all directions.

After that, I could also see monsters that were native mostly to dungeons coming to attack us, there was even a golem among them!

Aaaahhhh, that a huge pain in the ass!

I inhaled a huge portion of air and let out a giant cloud of scorching breath.

Apparently my breath seemed to work just fine, because the demons scattered like illusions when they were swallowed in it.

The fog was cleared for a short while, and I saw something inside of it for a moment.

“That’s it. I remember passing through this corridor before.”

“Not that I’m complaining, but this looks really messed up!”

What I saw was a place where surrounded by the rubble were walls covered in intricate magical circles and symbols.

Amidst the fog, there was something similar to a dollhouse made out of transparent glass.

It looks like the dollhouse was protected by a strong magical barrier.

However, the room soon disappeared into the fog, and in its stead a huge amount of demons appeared.

What’s interesting, those demons were devoid of the bloodlust and hostility characteristic of the normal demons.

I let out my breath once more, but those demons managed to avoid it.

Even if I wanted to intercept them more effectively, it would put too much of a strain on my barrier.

Parts of my barrier were already being eroded, so in order to maintain it, I needed to abstain myself from using magic.

Also, I could feel traces of magic inside of this space, but those were very sparse.

As horrible as it sounded, even the most complex of magical processes governing the world’s phenomena were being obscured here or completely disabled.

I could feel Nectar’s magic surging on my back, as he was about to blast the fog demons away in order to protect us from becoming exposed to the fog’s effects.

「Thwart the seeds in the buds!」

Right after Nectar’s spell activated, the fog demons withered away like dead leaves and disappeared.

When the spell ended, Nectar lowered his staff all the while breathing heavily.

“It seems like magic works against those guys.”

“Nhh……”

In such an unstable place, even the slightest use of magic was like a heavy burden on the user’s body.

But I knew that he did that to help me, and I was grateful to him for not having to worry about the demons for now.

This is probably what Nectar meant when he told me that we shall think together about a solution and work together to make it happen.

Because of that,

“Nectar, please don’t overdo it!”

“I’m fine, so just leave this to me!”

Having said that, I focused all of my efforts on getting to that room, but I was unable to see it.

I release my breath at the demons yet again when they appear right in front of us.

I fly right through the opening I managed to create, but I could feel the demons giving chase from behind.

「 Death: the ultimate end that lies at the end of the beaten path.」

Soon enough, Nectar blasted them with his magic yet again.

So I try to remember where I saw that room and once I position myself that it is hopefully straight ahead of me, I fly there at full speed.

While making my approach, I analyze the barriers and try to apply my magic to them so that it would render them inoperable.

Normally, when the two barriers of the same type collide with each other, they clash and the weaker one disappears as a result.

It is only natural, as their primary role is to defend.

But if the barriers allow certain substances inside of them, you could easily assimilate two or three of them together without making them clash.

So it was a common practice applied by various magicians in order to create stronger, more durable barriers.

In other words, if I knew just what kind of barrier that was, I could apply it to us and just like with the barrier outside of the dungeon, we would be able to pass safely inside of it.

But since we were the ones who created the barriers outside, it was easy for us to apply the right magic to it.

Now, here the story was different, because I had to guess the type of the barrier by only looking at it briefly while we were approaching it.

I only had one chance to do this.

I had to make it in time!

“Nectar, get down!”

The moment after I told Nectar to do that, I cast the spell while ramming into the barrier at full speed.

There was a slight resistance to it at first, but we managed to pass through the barrier just fine.

When we emerged on the other side of the barrier, I change back into my human form.

I had to do it so that we could fit into the room. What was the point of searching for clues here if I was to break them?

I imagined that the stone floor would feel incredibly hard, but on the contrary it was surprisingly soft, and I saw that Nectar was already on the ground.

What kind of crazy acrobatic did he pulled off to get off me!?

「Uwah, I’m so sorry! Does it hurt anywhere!?」

「I’m okay. I’m just glad I didn’t hit the floor face first.」

In other words, he managed to pull that off in that split of a second while I was transforming!?

Ugh, I am aware that I’m not acting like a good and caring wife more often than not, since I’m a dragon and all, but it just hurts when Nectar was treating me like a woman in a situation like these.

As Nectar was getting his bearings, I hid my face in my hands, beet-red with embarrassment.

Y, you don’t have to be so kind to me in a situations like these!

Then, together with Nectar we began to inspect the magic circles that were inscribed all over the room.

「It looks like normal magic, but is it connected to another dimension?」

「It sure looks like it. But some of the pieces seem to be broken. It seems that interdimensional connection is what causes the formula to be broken in the first place.」

「Yeah. The magic maintaining the interdimensional connection deteriorated and some parts of the formula became irrelevant.」

As we looked around and read the formulas, both Nectar and I began to notice some of the similarities and scripts.

「Seems like it was a type of magic invented to contain the fog in this place, but probably over the course of thousands of years that magic simply wore off.」

「Yes, glad we can agree on that part.」

The magic formula behind those spells was really strong, but when it was applied into action, it turned out that its uses were fairly limited.

The way this room was constructed, it was hard to believe that there would be something in here that would cause an error.

Perhaps the leylines were powering up the seal here, preventing the fog from causing any kind of damage.

Or perhaps the fog’s effect was being accumulated in here little by little over the years, until the seal was no longer able to contain it here.

Even if it was a magic seal, it was something way more advanced than any kind of sorcery that we knew.

This only means that the one who created that spell was an absolute genius.

But why ––––…… No, let’s think about it later.

I was so fascinated by this magic that I was basically speechless.

「Nectar, let us try to reconstruct the seal based on what we have here. But if we get too focused on the seal here, our other spells might get weakened. Let’s avoid that so that our barriers stay intact.」

In other words, the white fog would swallow us whole.

But Nectar’s answer was brief and simple.

「Don’t worry about the barriers. Just do what must be done, Lava.」

Nectar’s gentle gaze gave me courage I needed, and I began to pour my magic over to the magic circles on the walls.

The magic circles began to glow instantly.

For a moment out there I felt like my head was about to explode from the abundance of information that overflowed my mind in an instant, but then I begin to correct the parts of the incantations that were done wrong or got worn off due to time.

This spell was truly solid, but one simple mistake could break it down beyond repair.

I must be quick, but also extremely precise.

I can feel the space around me shaking and my barrier flickering.

I wanted to turn around and see if Nectar was okay, but that would surely cause some kind of an error, and so I refrained from doing that and went to finish the incantation as soon as possible.

I give all of my magic to the symbols on the walls.

A new and reconstructed formula came up to my mind, even stronger than before.

「I did it, Nectar!」

Nectar turned towards me, only to open his eyes wide at the sight of a huge sphere of magic that was now hanging in mi-air in between us.

「Ooohhh! It’s so wonderful! By using this, you will separate the white fog to a completely different dimension!」

That’s right! I’m going to activate it, so stay close to me!」

What I wanted to achieve here was to try and gather the fog in one place, and then send it to a completely different dimension, outside of both space and time.

However, the hardest part was yet to come.

I just hope it works like I intended it to.

「Eat this!」

I screamed at the top of my lungs while throwing the spherical magic from my hand in the middle of the mist.

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