Chapter 14: Chapter 13 – Sudden Mock Battle Part 3

What makes a person ‘human’?

What makes humans different from beasts?

Those questions have lingered for far longer than we could expect. Be it now and then, the answer has always been one and same old ‘sentience’.

The same rule cannot apply to animals and magical beasts, fortunately. No matter how strong and organized a pack of wolves is, a group of people with enough knowledge and proper equipment is always more than enough to be able to eradicate them easily.

Then what about dragons? Are they the same?

Dragons, creatures of legends adored, revered, and feared by many. They excel in aerial fights, and won’t lose to most races in magical prowess. Hard steel-like scales, complemented with the ability to breathe their prominent elements. A calamity that is designed to stand on top of the food chain; that’s what a dragon really is.

And the answer to the question from before is…

Yes, they are. They are indeed strong, disastrously, but that’s just it. Once their hunger is satiated, they’ll return to their nests, waiting for the time they need to hunt for prey again.

In conclusion, beasts are acting based on their instinctive behavior, not intelligence. They kill when they need to. They run when they have to. And they enrage when they are cornered.

But what if…

What if somehow a being as disastrous as a dragon was given intelligence? Was given ‘sentience’? What is the answer to that?

 

Right now, I am being taught that question, where the answer is also so clear and pristine to the naked eyes.

A catastrophe possessing sentience was just born before my eyes.

 

“Ahahaha! This is so fuuuuuuuuuun!”

As her shriek of joy howled, Orinda launched a barrage of tens of fireballs in my direction. Every single one of them was fast and deadly.

By frantically twisting my body and sliding to left and right, I could barely avoid them by a hairbreadth. My white dress was tattered and slightly burned as a result. It was too close, and as soon as they made contact with the ground behind me, they didn’t dissipate.

They kept burning as were.

“C’mon! Stop evading and use your magic, Elise!”

Whipping her tail on the blacked ground, Orinda did something again. Just like before, I sensed an enormous amount of mana being pulled to her along with the tremor that followed right after.

And as I braced myself for another lava eruption…

My prediction was incorrect. What protruded from the thick layer of black stony ground wasn’t fountains of burning orange liquid, but numerous red crystals the size of small chairs blooming like flowers in a garden surrounding me. Each contained a dense amount of mana, and exploded one by one in a succession.

“Kuh…!!!” Panicking, I tried to keep the damage to the absolute minimum by casting a magic barrier over my body. “Barri—”

However, it was too late. The heat wave and raw force caused by the explosions already struck my abdomen, as my sight grew blurry. My body got blown away and hit the invisible layer with a loud thud.

Sharp stinging pain emerged in my chest area when I came to my senses a moment later. It made me lower my head and the supposed to be white dress was now smeared red. Several fragments of red objects were also stuck there, mingled together with my blood.

My head went dizzy. My ears were losing their ability to hear, and all I could smell was burnt clothes and my bleeding wounds. Nothing but my clouded eyes that could still move and serve their purpose, albeit limited. It was vexing, but I had to admit that this body was at its limit.

Before, it was thanks to her continuing to chant the long invocation after casting her first spell that I was given enough time to think and come up with the salt rain. Now, unfortunately, she didn’t even need to chant at all, while at the same time keeping on absorbing mana around her infinitely.

Her transformation into that dragon-like being may have given her the ability to use no-invocation magic.

Also, it was my fault for one-sidedly concluding that the fight had ended and let my guard down. I was the one being negligent all along.

In the corner of my eyes, I could notice Orinda approaching me while summoning countless fireballs above her horned head. She was preparing for the final blow. I wasn’t stupid enough not to know that.

By the strange fiddle of fate, I accidentally laid my gaze upon Risa outside the ring. She, all while moving her mouth to form unhearable words to my ears, kept pointing at Orinda.

 

What… is she trying to tell me? I know I’m wounded in my chest! You don’t need to tell me that!

 

Clenching my fists and using them to support myself to stand, I wobbled. The pain grew even stronger as I coughed out blood from my mouth. And after all this time, my eyes kept being forcefully directed to Risa. I strangely couldn’t take my eyes off her.

She was still pointing at Orinda with her free arm. I couldn’t hear her voice. In fact, I couldn’t hear anything except the buzzing sound that had been deluding my judgment. In the midst of those disheartening occurrences, my eyes were gradually able to read what she was trying to tell me.

 

In… her… chest…? In her chest?

 

At that sudden guidance, I turned my head to look at Orinda’s chest and spotted an object which was so familiar to my eyes; the dragon’s reverse-scale.

As mighty as they are, dragons still possess some weaknesses. They are said to be weak of their own greed over something. Some were greedy over wealth, but most of them were intoxicated by knowledge. To know and experience something new.

And Orinda was definitely the latter.

However, what she was interested in was my magic. Nothing else. If I were to exert this body by using magic once again to at least distract her attention… there was a high chance that I wouldn’t be able to recover from the internal damage in my mana circulatory system.

Worst case scenario, this body would no longer see the light of being able to conjure even the smallest and simplest spell at all. And I don’t want that…

 

— No! Everything is aligned perfectly! What I want is to live normally, then why is it a problem if I can’t use magic? That’s a blessing, in fact! That will also release me from the burden of ‘destroying the world’s order’ or whatever! My survival is far more important than any of these shits! This place isn’t suitable for my grave!

 

At those thoughts, a sudden burst of adrenaline rushed up to my brain. Realizing that it was my only chance, I raised my voice and called Orinda.

“Hey, Orinda. You want to see more of my magic, don’t you?”

My words seemed to stop her from advancing to my direction, as her eyes began to sparkle even brighter.

“Oh! Yes! Yes! Please show me more, Elise!”

I didn’t know if it was me just being lucky or her letting her guard down, the fireballs above her head ceased to multiply. Either way, it worked in my favor as it didn’t fail in raising the corners of my mouth.

“Then…” I immediately galloped in the direction of my short-sword while provoking her. “Don’t stop attacking me!”

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Pulling out one of the red crystal fragments that was stuck in my chest, I grimaced a little, but it didn’t stop me from grasping it tightly. With only one objective in my mind, I poured all the remaining mana in my body into it and tried my best to also absorb some from my surroundings. Obviously, the pain only grew stronger as I coughed out more blood in the process. And as heartless as one could be, Orinda began her machine gun-like barrage of fireballs on me by the time I laid my hands on the sword.

 

It’s now or never…! Move, legs! Do your best!

 

As my brain told me that, I tightened my grip on the crystal injected with my mana and threw it to her. With a displeased look on her face, she caught the crystal and groaned.

“Didn’t you say you’d show me more of your magic?”

“... That is… also… magic!” I yelled while miraculously avoiding her fireballs and charged myself at her, at a snail’s pace.

“Hmm? Wait… Don’t tell me…!?”

She exclaimed as she realized the strange mana flow from the crystal. It was too late for her to throw it away, though.

 

*Kaboooom!*

 

By forcibly injecting mana into a substance and bringing it to the point where it almost explodes, one can produce enough energy for a small bomb. In short, I just imitated her own magic against her.

However, the effect was far much weaker compared to the original, since my body was already beyond its limit. Still, that was enough to distract her attention as my main goal wasn’t to end the fight by using that only.

It was only a means for me to achieve my real goal.

The energy inside my body was long gone, especially after throwing the crystal. Driven by willpower and spirits only, I compelled my body to slowly approach the still confused Orinda with a sword in my hands. It was merely a pathetic and desperate attempt of someone who wanted to survive, really.

The smoke created by the explosion quickly dissipated, giving Orinda her perception back. Ultimately, her eyes quickly caught me already in front of her, ramming my short-sword into the ‘reverse-scale’ on her chest.

“Wha…!”

She couldn’t react in time. To my eyes, everything was moving in slow motion. No matter how hard a dragon’s scales are, the reverse-scale won’t be any harder than most steel. Orinda’s figure then collapsed, with my sword plunged deeply into her chest and fresh blood spurting out like a fountain.

It was a critical hit.

 

“Th… The winner is the Prophetess, Miss Elise!”

 

The announcer’s words woke me up. Perhaps I was just too absorbed in the fight, or maybe my brain was too preoccupied by thinking on how to survive, I completely forgot that this was just a mock battle.

Along with the loud clamors and screams from the audience, my brain tingled and raised a question.

 

Why didn’t they stop the fight…? I just killed someone… What a waste of talents… and reso—

 

I fell on my knees, out of breath, with my eyes faintly noticing a big window full of characters popping up before everything darkened out. My consciousness faded so quickly that I could only read the first phrase.

 

***

 

[Congratulations! You have accomplished the impossible feat of defeating one of the blessings’ holders, Orinda Ir’Logi, the [Ruler of Inferno - Laevateinn].]

[Níðhǫggr is pleased in you fulfilling its wish to punish the insolent individual.]

[Congratulations! The Innate Talent: [Elemental Extremity] has reached Lv. 2.]

[Congratulations! The Innate Talent: [Magic Extremity] has reached Lv. 2.]

[Congratulations! The Innate Talent: [Vitality] has reached Lv. 4.]

[You will be granted the Unique Trait: [Blessed by Níðhǫggr] as reward.]

[Warning! Due to the acquirement of [Blessed by Níðhǫggr] and the possession of [Níðhǫggr’s Hunger Aura], the said Unique Traits will be merged into one…]

[Merging in process…]

[Merging complete!]

[Congratulations! You have acquired the Unique Talent: [Níðhǫggr’s Exalted Presence]!]

[The Essence of Yggdrasil system is now unlocked!]

[Warning! Due to your target being resurrected, Níðhǫggr cannot collect your offerings.]

[Your vitality will not be recovered.]

[You will not gain Essence.]

[Due to the severe damage in your mana circulatory system, you will not be able to use magic anymore.]

[Please check on your status for further details.]

…

…

[Warning! The blessing holder, Annette Schadelt, the [Banner of Resurrection and Origin - Skidbladnir] is reverting the damage you have suffered.]

 

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