Ep 12. Pay Your Respects. (7)

  A soft groan escaped the red dragon as she made her way deeper into the icy cavern.

  She’d long lost track of time sining in. She could manage being drowsy, but the endlessly stretg walls of ice bored her to no end.

  “Just how much further is this tunnel…? We should be almost at the end, right? It ’t stret forever!”

  Raizel rolled her eyes at her friend.

  “At least there haven’t been any traps sihat damned pit.”

  The steel dragon had been fidgeting with her broken wrist nonstop, trying to fix it as if it were a minor bone dislocation. Unfortunately it wasn’t, and she aplished little besides the occasional g noises of metal that resonated from inside her bones, which were probably signs that she was making it worse.

  Ilias g Raizel’s wrist. The occasional screeches of metal began making her bored mind wae pces.

  “You know Raizel, if you were to die, would your corpse rot? Or would it corrode?”

  “…All I know is that you won’t even leave a corpse.”

  “Huh? Why wouldn’t I?”

  “Because I would’ve thrown it into a volo already.”

  “Hey, that’s not nice!”

  “And breaking my wrist was?”

  “That’s different. I saved you!”

  “’t wait until you need some saving.”

  One would expect Ilias to at least be worried about her friend, but she’d seen her mother healing other kin who were in much worse states. She didn’t doubt for a moment that Raizel would be just fine ohey got home…although her mother may opt to beat them to barely heable states first foing off the radar the entire night.

  Meanwhile, Bruton was trying his best to stay serious and ighe girls bickering right behind him. His eyes were stantly cheg on his shadowed double that was walking some distance ahead.

  ‘Hm?’

  Bruton furrowed his gaze as he stopped the group, holding out his hand. It seemed like his double had momentarily flickered.

  “Father?”

  “Shh.”

  Bruton sharpened his gaze at his figure up ahead. In an instant, the shadoorated as something ly sliced its head off.

  “…Something’s up ahead.”

  A pure white spear had shot out from the left wall – but this time, it wasn’t an ordinary trap. The spear of light rattled like a living being, and from the wall crawled out a luminous humanoid figure, shining in pure white light much like their on in hand.

  Raizel squinted her eyes. Even with her astute experience of pig fights with things, she’d never seen anything of the sort.

  “…The hell’s that?”

  On the trary, Ilias was boldly stepping forth as she eagerly swung her arms.

  “’t you tell? It’s a monster! We finally get to fight things!”

  The glowing figure fixed its grip on the spear, turning towards the group ons as it shot its on towards Raizel.

  The dragon easily deflected it with her unbroken arm, scoffing at its audacity.

  “…Well, whatever it is, it clearly doesn’t like us. It’s been a while sinything’s picked fights with me.”

  “That’s because you pick the fights first, Raizel.”

  “Shut up, old man.”

  With its on gohe glowing figure then immediately pced its hand against the wall. In respohe ice throughout the frozen corridors ahead began to glow in a simir light.

  ‘…That ’t be good, it.’

  The dragonlord’s suspis were instantly proven true as dozens upon dozens of the glowing es began to spawn from the frozen walls up ahead, each with their own on in hand. Soon, the corridor ractically barricaded with an army of its es.

  Raizel rolled her eyes at the sight. Judging from the strength behind the light spear she’d deflected, these things were of no signifit threat to any of the dragons here.

  “Really? First traps, now this?”

  “As they say, there’s strength in numbers!”

  “…Who’s ‘they’?”

  “I dunno, I read it in a book.”

  Ilias casually replied as she held out her hand. Sparks danced within her palms momentarily before a burst of fire engulfed the corridor ahead, redug a huge number of es to smithereens.

  As soon as the fmes fully dissipated, Raizel threw herself into the fray as she drove herself forward with her unbroken arm in front. The metal dragon practically mowed dowhing in her way, ign the ons that were harmlessly bashing into her body.

  “Raizel! Slow down!”

  “Father, you know she’s not going to listen. Hurry!”

  Ilias sped after the charging dragon, smashing the few leftures into the corridor’s walls while following her friend. Serenis was about to follow suit, but stopped herself wheiced Bruton worriedly looking behind them.

  “Bruton?”

  “…Lord. Do you hear that?”

  “Hm?”

  Krrrrrr.

  ‘Something…falling?’

  Before long, both of them could feel the corridor tremble slightly. The two warily eyed their surroundings, and soon, the source of the trembling came into sight.

  A crumbling cavern was chasing the dragons from behind, threatening to bury them alive in a pile of ice.

  “The cavern’s colpsing? But even Raizel couldn’t…!”

  Serenis immediately summoned her mana wings and grabbed Bruton’s hair, pulling him forward hurriedly.

  “Talk ter! Run!”

  ? ? ?

  Meanwhile, Raizel had slowed herself down after realizing she’d charged far enough for Serenis and Bruton to escape her sight. She was only walking at this point, flig her fingers at the barrig es – which still sent them flying. Ilias was also still at her side, bsting their enemies with fire or kig away the occasional ohat mao approach them.

  “Whew! I didn’t know you could sweat in such a cold pce.”

  “You’re only sweating because you’re bsting all that fire around.”

  “Shouldn’t you be sweating too then? I’m doing it right beside you, you know.”

  “That’s not…huh?”

  In the distance behind them, Raziel could see the two familiar figures approag them at massive speeds. They seemed even faster than when she’d been charging in blindly.

  Ilias kicked away ahree that tried to hack their axes at the dragons, looking at Raizel with a puzzled expression.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Just the old bones catg up. Dunno what the hurry is though…”

  “Hm? Oh yeah, now that you mention it…wait, is lord flying?”

  “Looks like it?”

  When Serenis was close enough, she screamed as loud as she could at the younglings up ahead.

  “RUN!!”

  Run?

  From what?

  Soon after their appearance however, even Raizel and Ilias could feel the rumbling throughout the corridor. The colpsing hat was closely following their elders was aelltale sign of what was happening.

  “Huh. Sounds like the entire pce is falling apart.”

  “Why’re you so rexed?! e on, we o move!”

  “Pft, it’s just some ice. We crawl out if we o.”

  “Maybe in a thousand years, sure! Did you already fet how tough the walls were in here?!”

  ‘Oh yeah. That’s right, I barely left a dent.’

  “…”

  The metal dragon frowned as the gravity of the situation began to dawn on her. If the ice colpsing behind them was anything like the ones she’d tried to break, there was no telling if even a thousand years would be enough to climb their way out.

  “RUN!”

  “Tch.”

  Both girls turo face forward, madly clearing out their enemies as they began to run ahead. Serenis and Bruton soon joihe fray, doing what they could to reduce the enemies blog their way with fireballs and beams of light.

  ‘Is there o this corridor?! If it tinues like this…’

  The cavern’s crumbling speed was faster than the dragons making their way through. If they could all summon their wings, or if the waves upon waves of armed figures weren’t blog their way, things would’ve been different – as, they had to break through it all heless.

  If there was one spell the dragonkin would never learn, it was a flight spell. They were simply poio the dragons who naturally possessed wings and could summo will, morphed or not. Even Serenis was thousands of years old wheaught herself how, and that was only because she truly did not have better things to do; but now, it was the only thing that was keeping her from falling behihree kin.

  At the forefront, Ilias unched another wave of fire at the enemies ahead. Her gaze sharpened as the smoke cleared up, spotting a speck of light in the distahat became rger and rger as they ran.

  “There’s it! We’re almost at the end!”

  Serenis bit her lips as she spared a momentary gnce behind. The colpsing cavern ractically at the tip of their tails.

  ‘…We’re too sloon’t make it like this.’

  And it wasn’t just her that had noticed. While the two girls at the front were busily clearing up the way as they moved forward, Bruton’s heavy expressiorayed his ck of fidence.

  The elderly dragon faltered. He’d already tried bsting various spells at the colpse behind him in hopes that he’d be able to reduce them to dust, but even the colpsing ice still retaihe same toughness as the walls that Raizel had barely left a dent on.

  He tried to think of a way to buy even a sliver of time, but nothing came to mind. The ice ractically iructible, and he had no power to slow down the colpse.

  The elder then finally turo Serenis, hoping the dragonlord would have a solution.

  “…Is there no way to dey the colpse? Any at all?”

  Serenis nontly looked at the elder. Her human voice was calmer thauation would’ve deemed appropriate – a little too much so.

  “There is.”

  “Truly?! What is it?”

  “Keep going.”

  “…What?”

  “…???.”

  Bruton’s questioning of her answer instantly cluded as the binding took effect; she simply didn’t have the time to expin. The elder dragon tinued his way forward just like before while Serenis skidded to a halt, fag the crumbling walls that were now almost upon her human body. A determined expression crossed the dragonlord’s face.

  ‘…You do it, human body. You have to.’

  First Dragonlord. Starchild Serenis.

  The only being to ever be born with a gifted affinity to the stars.

  Unlike regur affinities such as fire htning, the dragonlord’s affinity was a plex attribute that everuggled to fully realize in her lifetime.

  What did it mean for one’s affinity to lie with the stars?

  It enpassed a level of trol over the strengths and resources tained by and within a star. Being able to take from the star’s mana reserves was one of them, which she’d made use of all too often since being a human boy.

  Unfortunately, even if Serenis could infinitely refill her mana, her current mana reserve as a human boy was but a mere fra of what she once held as a dragonkin. As such, her abilities had been severely limited, and she’d instead relied on basic authorities like her draic speech that required little to no mana at all.

  But in this moment, as humans would put it: desperate times called for desperate measures.

  ‘Work!’

  Serenis stomped on the ice beh her as the flan to bze in a burning white light. Her huma throbbed in excruciating pain as her mana reserve was instantly drained; her knees gave away and her vision began to blur, severely shaking her focus.

  The ice above her head began to give away. Moments after, giant blocks of ice crumbled out of the ceiling, plummeting down towards the human boy beh.