NBAA Vol. 8 Chapter 5 Part 4
A white dragon, its entire body covered in silvery scales and with its huge wings spread, appeared, with a dignified appearance despite being a monster.
It bore no resemblance to the corrupted dragon Reito remembered. It was a silvery dragon that shone so beautifully.
Its appearance reminded one of a Western dragon, but unlike the Rotten Dragon, this was a real living dragon, and its overwhelming presence intimidated Reito and the others. Even Shizune looked up at White Dragon’s magnificent appearance with her mouth wide open, and White Dragon looked down at them.
“…UGAAAAAAAAHH!!”
White Dragon let out a terrible roar that could be heard throughout the entire level, its face contorted in anger at the intruder who had trespassed into its territory.
The sight of this made Reito and the others’ bodies stiffen as if they were being held in place by a magical spell, but if they didn’t move now, they would surely be killed.
“AAAAAAHHHH…!!”
“…it’s the Dragon’s Breath!!”
White Dragon opened its jaws wide, its mouth shining as it turned its head toward Reito and the others. Shizune, who had witnessed this, let out a panicked cry. The other humans regained their senses at her words and tried to move quickly, but the white dragon was already preparing to attack.
“———!!”
“It’s coming!”
“Ugh… I’m counting on you!!”
White Dragon’s eyes widened, and just as a torrent of light resembling a ray of light was about to be released from its mouth, Reito instantly held out his palm and created space magic.
A huge black vortex appeared before them, and another black vortex of a similar size appeared on White Dragon’s back.
The next moment, a light breath was released from White Dragon’s mouth, but the black vortex created by Reito swallowed the ray of light.
“…Gaah!!”
“Did it work…?!”
“No way!!”
The black vortex of space magic successfully swallowed the ray of light released from White Dragon’s mouth, and the ray of light absorbed from the black vortex that was born in another space was released, piercing White Dragon’s back perfectly.
The unexpected counterattack caused White Dragon’s huge body to fall, sending tremors through the rocky mountain. Honemin took advantage of the opportunity and pointed to a building at the top of the mountain.
“It’s over there! If you go inside that building, it won’t be able to attack you! Run over there!”
The direction Honemin pointed to was the temple where Excalibur was sealed. The building itself was a resting spot, so even the mighty White Dragon couldn’t attack, and everyone ran off. The original plan was for Honemin to take Mina and run into the temple, and for the others to distract White Dragon and buy time, but Reito’s counterattack using space magic caused White Dragon to fall.
“You guys hurry up! I’ll buy you some time!”
“What are you planning to do?”
“This is what I’m going to do!”
Shizune pulled out her Four Seasons. While holding the sword in both hands, she stabbed the blade into the ground. Immediately afterwards, cold air surged from the blade, freezing the ground over a wide area and freezing the feet of the white dragon as it tried to get up.
“Gaah!”
As the white dragon tried to get up, its body slipped on the icy ground and it ended up lying face down. After seeing this, Reito and the others quickly ran towards the temple, approaching within a hundred meters.
“AAAAAH!!”
“Then I shall use… ‘Dark Night’!”
Hanzo released the black mist from her palm that she had used on the Goblin King’s horde earlier, against the white dragon, who had just risen up by digging its claws into the icy ground. The mist was sticky, so if it could be successfully attached to the face, it would have a blinding effect… but the white dragon shook off the black mist with a snort.
“Hmph!”
“What?!”
“Whoa?! It’s coming this way?”
“‘Wind Pressure’!”
Reito unleashed a gust of wind from his palm to disperse the repelled black fog. White Dragon didn’t miss the opportunity to get up and swung its huge tail sideways.
“Aaaaahhhhh!!”
“Not good!!”
“Gonzo!!”
Gonzo tried to block the approaching tail. However, he was unable to hold it back by himself, and Dain instantly launched a full-powered blow.
“Dammit!! Shadow Slip!!”
“!!”
“Whoa!!”
Dain’s shadow transformed into a whip, and the tail approaching from the front lifted up from the ground, slipping through Gonzo’s head. White Dragon was confused. Reito did not miss the opportunity and activated the magic of “Earth Block” with “Enhancement Boost”.
“Fall!!”
“Whoa!!”
The ground rose under White Dragon’s feet, and White Dragon fell spectacularly. Reito tried to move quickly, but it seemed he had used more magic power than he expected, and his feet got tangled.
“Whoa…”
“Reito!!”
“Oh…thanks.”
“It’s fine, just run away!!”
Gonzo picked up Reito, who was about to fall, and ran towards the temple.
White Dragon’s movements were slow, probably due to its large size. It tried to get up but couldn’t.
Honemin had already arrived at the temple carrying Mina, and the others followed.
“We’re almost there!! Please get in!!”
“Hurry!!”
“Dain!!”
“Whoa!! He’s fast!!”
Dain ran past Hanzo at a speed that overtook her. Hanzo looked shocked that she had lost to a magician, even though she was an assassin.
Gonzo, the slowest and carrying Reito, was desperately chasing after him. Behind him, White Dragon stood up and approached.
“GAAAHHHH…!!”
“Argh…!!”
“Oh no, it’s catching up to me!”
Reito, who was being held by Gonzo, looked at White Dragon approaching from behind. Then, judging that they would be crushed before they reached the temple, he activated space magic and took out Excalibur.
“Gon-chan…stop when I give you the signal!!”
“What?”
“Trust me.”
“…Got it!!”
Gonzo saw his expression and sensed his strong will.
Reito turned his gaze to the approaching White Dragon. He held Excalibur, and recalled his conversation with Honemin.
~
“The name of the magic stone that draws out Excalibur’s power? What are you going to do by asking me that?”
“Just tell me.”
“Oh…well, never mind. The name of the magic stone embedded in the holy sword Excalibur is the Holy Light Stone. It’s the most valuable magic stone among the holy magic crystals.”
“Holy Light Stone… right?”
Airis had previously told him about the holy sword. Reito had been entrusted with the Holy Light Stone by Nao, which only members of the Baltros royal family were allowed to possess.
Though he felt bad for Nao, Reito took out the Holy Light Stone from his space magic and embedded it into the hilt of Excalibur.
“Ugh…!?”
“Wh-What’s that!?”
At that moment, a silver light was emitted from the blade of Excalibur, and a pattern appeared on the blade.
Reito recognized the shape of the pattern. It was the magic mark that was engraved on Caledfwlch that had been used to defeat the Rotten Dragon. It was engraved with a magic formula that ordinary humans could not use.
“Don’t defy me!”
However, Reito pressed his palm against the blade and tried to erase the magic mark that had appeared on the blade using his alchemist abilities. As if resisting his actions, Excalibur’s blade grew hot.
But still, Reito didn’t let go, and even with blood on his palm, he erased the pattern that had appeared on the blade.
~
“Now!”
“Whoa!”
“Gaaahhh…?!”
The moment Gonzo stopped, Reito faced White Dragon with his back supported by Gonzo.
He gripped Excalibur tightly.
Seeing them like that, White Dragon looked shocked, and Reito brandished the holy sword, which emitted a silver light from its blade.
“Nuuh…!!”
“Aaaaahhhhh!!”
“Wooooooohhh…?!”
Supported by Gonzo, Reito took Excalibur and swung it in one go. At that moment, a crescent-shaped blade of light was released.
It seemed that while Caledfwlch emitted electric shocks, Excalibur produced slashing attacks of light. The light collided with White Dragon’s face.
“Aaahhh…!?”
White Dragon’s body tilted as if it had received a strong blow to its face.
Gonzo had a look of joy on his face as he confirmed this, but Reito frowned. When Caledfwlch was used, all of his magic power was taken away, but this time, he had not lost much.
“I see… We’re running away, Gon-chan!!”
“What?”
“WOOOOOO…!!”
White Dragon had been about to fall backwards, but it regained his balance and slowly got up.
Reito grabbed Gonzo’s wrist and started running. It was true that he had done some damage, but this holy sword couldn’t defeat White Dragon.
(Is it only as powerful as the magic power sent into it… How troublesome!!)
Caledfwlch forcefully absorbed all of his magic power and released a lightning bolt of tremendous power. On the other hand, Excalibur could only transform the magic power poured into it into a slash of light. And above all, there was a limit to the magic power that could be sent in.
Reito had intended to use it in the same way as when he defeated the Rotten Dragon with Caledfwlch, but compared to that time, he had only used about one-tenth of the magic power.
“Run away!”
“Wait…!”
“Ahhhhhh…!”
The angry white dragon approached from behind, opening its jaws wide and preparing to breathe out a breath of light.
Reito quickly readied Excalibur and swung his sword down before it could attack.
“Keep your mouth shut!”
“Gaah…?!”
The white dragon was hit by a slash of light before it could attack, so it hastily avoided the attack by dodging its neck. It seemed the white dragon couldn’t shoot the breath of light without concentrating, as the light in its mouth disappeared.
In the meantime, Reito and Gonzo slipped into the temple.
“Come on, hurry up! Hurry up and get inside!!”
“I-Is it really safe here?”
“Probably… probably, definitely…”
“It’s really okay, right?”
“There’s no escape now…”
Turning around, the White Dragon was furious but silently stared at the temple before opening its half-closed mouth.
Reito readied his holy sword, but White Dragon just kept its mouth open and didn’t move… and then it let out a frustrated roar.
“WOOOOOOOOAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
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