Translator: Kurehashi Aiko
CHAPTER 10: Dragon-san Goes To Help (It"s Decided!) His Friend"s Friend
This world is wider than the Earth.
Even with going at full speed thanks to my Draconic powers and body, it would still take me at least three whole days to travel around this world.
So putting Nectar into consideration, it took us two whole days before we finally reached the base of the Vishnu mountain range, where the Tree Gramps was residing.
「Hey, Gramps!!」
I decided to land right in front of him without losing any of my momentum. Then Gramps emerged from the tree"s trunk, with his long white hair and brown skin, greeting me with a gentle smile.
「Oh my, well if it isn"t the black Flame Dragon. It"s been ages since we"ve last met. And I see that you have also brought a child of man with you.」
「I sure did. And guess what? He"s my first true friend!」
「My, my, that is indeed good to hear. But wasn"t the weather intense? Wasn"t it a hard journey for a mere child of men?」
「It"s because of Ligurila, you know…… I am seriously sorry for the last time.」
It was about that one time when I was seriously annoyed with the idea of her coming after me all the time, and Gramps here had to go to her and resolve the matter.
How did he managed to do it was still a mystery to me, but ever since then my opinion of Gramps changed drastically, since it looked like he was even stronger than me.
At that time I was nearly killed.
I was being chased by other Dragons and the Demon Clan and I didn"t know what to do! Ever since that time whenever Ligurila and I had a dispute to settle, Gramps would be our referee.
It was during those times when I realized that I was quite strong myself.
「I don"t mind. You look like you"ve been having all kinds of fun, so it would be enough for me if you would only showed your face here from time to time.」
「Actually, today I am here as a mere guide. Just ask him for details.」
「Hoo, son of man. What is it?」
My face went as pale as a sheet and I held my breath when Nectar descended from my back and got onto the ground, facing Gramps. At that moment, his back shot straight like a spring from all the anxiety he was clearly feeling right now.
With somewhat nervous movements he put his right hand behind his back and his left to his abdomen in gesture of respect and lowered his head.
「I" It"s nice to meet you, oh Great Plant Spirit. My name is Nectar and I am a magician. I know this is sudden, but my friend is in trouble and I would like to go and help him, but to do that I need a new staff. I was hoping that I could borrow one of your great branches to that end. I would also love to hear your story on how you and Lava met, however our matter is a pressing one and so I would like to settle it as soon as possible.」
Oho, Gramps" eyes began to glow.
Then suddenly, the concentration of magic got denser, and it was all aimed towards Nectar.
Although he seemed shocked by this sudden development, Nectar stood his ground and didn"t even budge.
「You, who are you exactly?」
Nectar cast me a quick glance, but immediately returned his attention to Gramps, looking him straight in the eyes.
「In my homeland I was known as a Sage of Destruction. However, from now on I want to be known as a friend of the Black Dragon.」
「…… Hmmph, it is rare for someone to be so proficient in the ancient language that was lost so long ago. It is actually kind of nice. Go right ahead, take the branch that you find most suitable.」
As soon as he said that the tension that was in the air vanished. Also, the magical pressure have also returned to normal.
「Wha……?」
Although Nectar was playing it by ear, he must have also feel a whole lot of pressure coming from having to negotiate with a Spirit, and the one that would surely hold the status of a living legend in his eyes. Also, he seemed to be having rather hard time with catching up to the fact that he agreed so easily, so he could only just ask:
「I am grateful, but why have you agreed so easily?」
「What, this child didn"t tell you? Hm, I wonder is it because of the personality? Besides, this senile tree here has more than enough magical energy stored inside of it. Instead of keeping it here, we could enjoy the whole world by having our branches be made into staffs by the people from far-away lands. But now it"s been nothing but boredom for hundreds of years straight. You are going to be my window to the world, so to speak.」
Gramps laughed mightily, and in the next moment one of his branches went lose and fell to the ground, all wrapped in the magic of the Plant Spirit. Nectar accepted the gift in a hurry. It was nearly as long as Nectar"s shoulder, had still green leaves and it was so straight that we could almost use it as it was.
We obviously have received a branch of utmost quality from him. Both Nectar and I were impressed by its strong aura.
「This branch is still alive. It is connected to me via thin magical string. As long as its leaves are green, it is going to collect magical energy from around you and help you. You said that you were in a hurry? Come back again when you solve that problem of yours. Then we can talk at ease.」
「Thank you very much for such a wonderful gift, oh Great Plant Spirit. I am going to make sure that I won"t bring any shame to Lava"s name!」
「Thank you, Gramps! I have tons of stories I would love to share with you on my next visit!」
I couldn"t quite shake off this feeling that when I returned here since the last visit, the whole forest now seemed to be more quiet and had somehow lost its grace.
Nectar worked on his staff for a whole day, tuning and adjusting it, and then we flew right back to where I was sensing Kyle"s magic pattern with my Scouting magic.
According to Nectar, there was a big town not too far away from the place where the ceremony was about to take place, said to be the country"s last defense line.
As expected, looking at the bigger picture from the sky we could see a large group of people ー probably the country"s army ー forming the barricades in front of the town, as to stop the advancement of the approaching demon army.
But the results were not all that good.
Even though the number of people capable of handling the monsters was rather scarce, they were still managing to hold their ground around the local shrine. But, the monsters advance was slow but steady, constantly pushing humans to switching from melee tactics to ranged ones.
Oh, but it looks like the monsters already managed to break through their defenses.
Even the magicians that were stationed throughout the barricades were no match for the monsters, falling down one by one.
「There he is! Kyle!」
Yelled Nectar in ancient language, trying to get through the wind"s howl.
I was also able to detect his slight magical waves. I was glad that Kyle was alive, but he was in serious trouble. I couldn"t believe that he was in the middle of this whole mess.
I can"t just carelessly drop Nectar right into the monsters, so what should we do?
While I was thinking about that.
「Lava, that"s close enough! Thank you, but I"m going in!!」
「Huh!? Wait, what!?」
As soon as he told me that, Nectar suddenly straddled his cane and slid off my back, gliding through the air towards Kyle"s location.
What the h.e.l.l!? You could also use your staff in such a way?
Oh, I guess it cannot be helped!
I let out a sigh, and then shouted as loud as I could so that the surrounding people could hear me.
「You guys out there should back away for now! Don"t get too close if you don"t want to get yourself involved!」
I channeled a small portion of magical energy, confirming not to target those of the small shadows that stopped moving with the corner of my eye, and started to cast the spell.
The spell completely omitted the magicians, only targeting the monsters and igniting them all at once and burned them to ashes ー thanks to the incredible amount of heat.
After making sure that none of the human magical waves were caught in the blaze, after the flames disappeared, together with Nectar we took a moment to discuss the current situation with Kyle.
「Then I"ll go ahead and scout the area. I think I"ll do a few rounds, so it should take me a few hours. Stay vigilant, guys.」
「Thank you, Lava!」
「Hey, Chaos Dragon and Nectar! What the h.e.l.l was that about, huh!?」
Kyle"s shaken thoughts were mixed with Nectar"s steady consciousness, I was somehow getting accustomed to them.
With my Far-Seeing Vision, I watched as Nectar managed to reunite safely, got kicked soon after by Kyle. I laughed a bit and then headed towards the town"s center.
The plains in front of the town were completely devoid of any form of greenery, covered in swarming ma.s.s of monsters that put the previous wave of monsters to shame.
Looking carefully, there were tree-type demons among them, as well as the types that were constantly sucking up the magic from the atmosphere, using their branches and roots to tap into the leyline.
There seemed to be new demons being born at the center of the swarm every few minutes, eating away at other lesser demons.
They may have been small, but their ability to adjust was incredible. If they were born anywhere else, in just a few months they would become the dark deities worshipped by the people.
It also seemed that thanks to the distance between us, they were unable to detect me yet.
「…… It"s time to put the knowledge I have learned to practice.」
I set up the barrier across the one kilometer radius from the center of the swarm of monsters, and then added a few more layers to it just to be sure.
The monsters noticed their confinement and started to press on its boundaries, piling on top of each other in a grotesque way.
Now, let"s bake them to a crisp.
I pumped the magic formula inside of the barrier, transforming the raw magic into large amounts of fire, which were then amplified further by the words in ancient language.
「Flare Burst!」
At that moment, the torrents of flames started to rage inside of the barrier, burning all of the monsters that were inside of it to dust.
Still, the force of the fire was so great that it broke the upper part of the barrier, causing huge pillars of flames to rise up from it.
Ugh, did it went out of control because of the concentration of magic particles in the area was too high?
Oh well, call it a silver-lining. Thank you for teaching me how to control my magic power better, Nectar.
I watched my own work as I got closer to the center of the barrier, the insides of which had become barren and blank.
That being said, it is troublesome that there are monsters like that constantly draining the leylines, even someone completely green in the matter would be able to conclude that.
But wow, what a great success. The technique that I used wiped them out without leaving a single trace.
At the same time, the monsters that were outside of the barrier managed to break it to pieces, yet again converging in the center and beginning to create new demons. To that, I used a special kind of barrier to cut of the supply of magical power to the demonic ma.s.s at their center.
It was not suitable for long use because it would break the circulation of leyline in the area, the effect would be just like people who miss use its powers. But, for now it was a perfect solution as a temporary measure.
And now that their supply of magical energy was gone, the weaker monsters would simply willow away and die. Nectar"s team would be able to handle the rest of the situation much easier.
I finished my preparation, and laughed in the direction of the remaining monsters.
「Come right at me. I"ll send you all back where you came from.」