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Chapter 18

Along With The Story of The Brave Bird and The Goddess I Believe In

 

「《Dark Arrow》!」

 

Along with that chant, a black arrow shoots out from my hand and cuts the edge of the Fire Dragon’s mouth, which is unable to evade in time, causing it to spew out a small amount of blood.

 

『Gwaaaah!』

 

It’s obviously enraged by the fresh scar marks I engraved on its body using my magic.

An excitement that made the blood in my body boil as well as a sense of joy is welling up from within my body at the sight of that fearsome dragon taking damage from my magic.

 

——Now I can use offensive magic too.

 

Moreover, it’s offensive magic with the strongest attribute that can even injure a dragon and can’t be learned using normal means

 

「….Wow, so he can use his Saint and Twilight Sorcerer skills simultaneously.」

 

Sybilla mutters from the shadows of the cave.

This is all thanks to you, though. She should believe in herself more.

Though it’s not like I don’t understand how she feels, since based on what she told me, it does seem looks like I’m a special case.

 

「Just stay there, Sybilla! I’ll definitely defeat this guy!」

 

「Ugh, fine! Just don’t go die, alright!」

 

「I’ve finally made it this far… as if I’m just going to die.」

 

That’s right, this is the start of my new step.

I keep climbing and falling for a long time, and I feel despair as if I’m falling into an abyss.

Today, I finally grasped it, the beginning of my true self.

 

Something like a dragon…. As if I will let myself be defeated by such a thing!

 

I once again double-cast Wind Barrier with my right hand and lift my free left hand up in front of me.

 

(《Dark Arrow》)

 

I run around the Fire Dragon while continuously shooting my magic at it without chanting. In order to defeat something this big I have to get behind it first.

When the dragon realized that it couldn’t attack me who moved behind him, it stood up and turned its legs to chase after me and tried to attack me with his fire breath again.

 

With the timing of that attack, I’m instead going to stop and take the attack.

 

「《Dark Javelin》! Alright, this one didn’t work.」

 

I shoot a more powerful dark magic into the dragon’s mouth.

At the same time, the dragon spews fresh blood from its mouth and fires its flame breath towards me.

It might’ve thought that its attack will reach me by taking my attack head-on… but that’s not enough.

 

His flames are, of course, blocked by my double-cast Wind Barrier.

I had heard that this magic could only protect against arrows, but never thought that it could even protect against dragon attacks.

Simultaneous chanting…… or should I say double chanting. I had no idea there was such an effective use for chantless magic.

 

I use the same strategy as before, shooting magic to reduce its health while trying to get behind the dragon.

I don’t have to worry about the fire breath since it’s taken care of by my Wind Barrier automatically, and if it’s going for a direct attack with its leg, I can just avoid it by keeping my distance. Though it’s a little bit annoying since going around it is easier the closer I am.

Well, I’m sure I’ll get used to it after repeating the same strategy several times.

 

If I suffered even the slightest graze, I can heal myself with 《Extra Heal》.

I keep firing 《Dark Javelin》 at the Fire Dragon.

 

After repeating this hit-and-run strategy for a while, the Fire Dragon which finally became impatient suddenly launched a surprise attack from when I was still in an awkward position.

 

『Guuooaaaa!』

 

「Ughh!」

 

I was hit by the Fire Dragon’s body blow and slammed against the wall.

But in that instant, I was able to hit him in the head as well, so I guess we’re even.

 

「Russel!」

 

But I didn’t actually receive that much damage because I double-casted Wind Barrier, which mitigates the impact, and cast a chantless Extra Heal the moment I got hit, and another one when I crashed at the wall.

To think I can still have this much of an advantage with my healing magic and almost infinite magic power even after I sacrificed my levels to learn offensive magic.

 

「I’m okay!」

 

Now I don’t feel like I can lose to whoever my enemy is, as long as I can drag the fight.

 

「Oi, red lizard, is that all you can do against a single Healer? You’ll never be able to defeat me unless you hit me with something that can kill me instantly, you know?」

 

『Guuoooaaaa!』

 

Even if it doesn’t understand what I’m saying, it must’ve felt that I’m provoking it, and as if it was agitated by my provocation, it launched another attack which I canceled with my magic once again.

I will be fine even if I take another attack head-on, since the moment I’m rolling on the ground after getting blasted, I would’ve completely recovered using my healing magic.

That’s why no matter how much I get attacked, I keep getting up as if nothing happened.

 

The Fire Dragon seemed taken aback for a moment.

What’s the matter, top species? Is that all you got?

No matter what you do to me, I’ll keep getting up unscathed.

 

——While repeating this attack and defense pattern, the Fire Dragon was bleeding all over its body and its movements became slow. The bleeding is forming patterns on its body after the blood dried up with its own fire.

It looks like he can still continue even with those injuries but… looks like I will need a killing blow to end it.

 

I look at Sybilla.

 

……Sybilla is the Twilight Goddess.

This Dark Magic ability bestowed by that very Goddess was indeed awesome.

 

However, this magic wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve gotten from Sybilla.

 

I was really impressed with Sybilla’s thinking as an adventurer which I found out from our conversation.

She has a flexible and sophisticated way of thinking to get the best results at any time.

This way of thinking is the biggest strength I was able to get from her.

I’m sure with it, I’ll probably get through this situation with my own power somehow even without learning Dark Magic.

 

It’s true that I thought of this day as the start of my new beginning.

However, I already decided this before I even learned Dark Magic.

It isn’t something I decided after Sybilla revealed herself as the Twilight Goddess either.

It was through Sybilla the solo adventurer that I began to have this thought.

Because Sybilla acknowledged my childhood where I’ve been holding a sword all my life.

 

And it’s from that point, I decided that it was my beginning——

 

——And that’s why, with this right hand, I’ll deal the finishing blow!

 

「《Enchant Darkness》!」

 

(《Enchant Darkness》!)

 

The Fire Dragon probably thought I would finish it off in a long-term fight.

It seemed startled for a moment when I suddenly came straight at it for a finishing blow.

The accumulation of his injuries also contributed to a slight delay in his reaction.

 

「This is… the end!」

 

I jumped up toward the dragon’s neck and swung my sword with both hands as hard as I could.

The sword, which was covered with the dark magic power, easily cut off the dragon’s head, and as if that wasn’t enough, the enchanted blade even reached the ceiling and left a straight line of marks on it.

 

Then… of course, all of my body was covered in blood from the blood spewing from the neck of the dragon when I jumped at it.

 

「Ugh, now I’m soaked all over. Did I ever learn “Clean” magic, again? Heal… no, that won’t do anything, so maybe Cure? Ohhh, so Cure does doubles as magic to clean my body.」

 

My dirtied body was cleaned after I cast Cure on myself. The blood on my hands and sword also quickly faded away completely.

But for some reason, the robe I wore looks like changing its color as it dries up.

I sighed lightly at the rapid image change of my one-piece robe as I heard the level-up voice ringing in my head.

 

…But still, I won.

Me… against a dragon…

 

I, who could only use healing magic and was from a rural village, won against a dragon and became a dragon slayer…

But, for some reason, I feel more relief than joy.

 

I’ve thought up a lot of theories, but I can say now that… all of this is the strength I got from Sybilla.

Truly, I have nothing but thanks for her.

 

Then Sybilla, after confirming that I certainly defeated the Fire Dragon and that we’re safe for now, walks over to me.

 

「…Do you know that there’s a bird called a Black Kite?」

 

「What’s this again with the random things so suddenly.」

 

I was wondering what she was going to say to me about me who defeated the Fire Dragon with my newly learned Dark Magic, yet here she was looking so indifferent.

Why is this girl always talking about random things out of nowhere, I wonder.

What kind of cult invitation it is this time? Bird-watching cult?

 

「It is said that that bird is big and really brave, you know?」

 

「Of course I know what a Black Kite bird is, what are you trying to say?」

 

Sybilla takes my robe in her hand and checks the feel of it a few times.

 

「What is it? The color won’t turn back to normal whatever you do.」

 

「The fact that Cure that doubles as Clean magic didn’t work means the magic didn’t recognize this as a stain. Salamander’s blood which has heat-resistant properties is also often used for dyeing, so the blood of the Fire Dragon, also known as the highest species of Salamander, is an even more expensive dye than that.」

 

She was talking about birds earlier, and now this Goddess who likes to abruptly talking about random things, has started talking about clothing.

I wish she just tell me where she’s going with this.

 

「It’s like your robe which is already excellent in the first place since it has magic resistance properties is getting an upgrade. In other words, it’s becoming more complete now.」

 

Now that I look at it again, after the robe is stained with the Fire Dragon’s blood, it has gone from red to a brownish black and it feels smoother.

Also, the contrast with the gold color stands out so well that it almost feels like it was originally this color.

 

「Alright alright, now we know that it’s not dirt, thank goodness, right? So, what’s the deal with the Black Kite bird?」

 

「When I look at you now, it reminds me of that bird, you see.」

 

I’m even more confused now…

Then as if she knows that I’m still puzzled, she continues.

 

「…There was once an anecdote in a certain bird-loving country that a Golden-Black Kite bird would bring you victory.」

 

I stroke the gold decoration, which has been cleaned of blood stains.

Then Sybilla looked at me and smiled before she turned her back to me and took a few steps ahead.

Her glossy black wings shone, swaying with each step she took.

 

「A very beautiful, deep color of dried Spirit Dragon blood. The Golden-Black Kite bird that brought victory to the Goddess.」

 

Sybilla turns around and peeks out from between her black wings.

 

「You see, people in that country would call the color of your robe——」

 

Then she closed one eye while holding up her index finger.

 

「——Kurotobi*.」

[*TL Note: 黒鳶色 (くろとびいろ) is a Reddish-brown color with a tinge of black. Also, とび or トビ  means Black Kite bird in Japanese.]