Camping on the Mountain
I had a good idea of the mountain"s general shape after circling it.
It was very distinct. The top of the mountain had been carved away by wind and rain, and there was a lot of dirt and rock visible. Everything below it was covered in forest trees. A kind of jungle, really. There was even a river and a waterfall.
"So, this mountain is bald."
"Asagi. You must stop making so many enemies."
Daniela scolded me as if I were a troublesome child. But that was my honest reaction. But what was most odd was that the jungle was on the west side alone. In other words, the side we had come from was also bald. So that"s why the bandits had been visible…
"Could it be the result of some battle..?"
"A battle big enough to take out a forest? It would have to be on an incredible scale for that."
It wasn"t just a small change in terrain. They would have to redraw the map. So, what if it was the dragon…?
I was reminded of the wind dragon"s breath. It let out a stream of pressurized wind. It was an attack that cuts through everything and blew it away. What if it had been a wind dragon"s breath that destroyed the terrain…
A horrifying thought. No, I couldn"t be bothered by that. We needed to think of a way to stop it.
"…Daniela. If it really is a dragon"s breath, do you think you could stop it?"
"Unlikely. Not even with the magic I have created."
"I see… Uh, so I guess stopping the attack is just not possible?"
"There must be a way… I just cannot think of one now."
Well, if it was an easy idea to come across, then someone would have done it already.
And thinking about something and doing it were quite different. We had to think of something we could actually do.
So, we were near the mountaintop now. But the dragon was nowhere in sight. The rumors said it was a wind dragon, but something of that green color should be visible up here where it was mostly soil…
"Perhaps we should go down then. It is clearly not here. It could be in the forest."
"Hmm. That would be bad. It might see us before we saw it. I do not want to be sniped at."
And so I agreed with Daniela and we descended. As it could be dangerous if we were visible from the forest, I landed somewhere near the halfway point up the mountain.
"There really is nothing here…"
"I was hoping for some boulders to hide behind…but it is all barren land."
The brown-colored peek looked like some kind of field. The rain and wind had taken away any trees and plants that might have once grown there. It made me think of the long history of this word, but in the end, it was very inconvenient for us.
First, we would set up a base for our investigation. If there was nowhere to hide, then we could make something. And so Daniela used earth magic to make walls of dirt. We could break them down when we leave. Eco-friendly etcetera.
After setting up the tent, I took out our cups from the bag and we drank some fruit water to raise our spirits. There wasn"t much to look at, but drinking fruit water outside was always nice.
"It would be about…three o"clock now…"
"Are we going to go look for it?"
"No. It will be dark very soon. We will go tomorrow. And no bonfire tonight. The last thing we need is to be ambushed at night."
"Right. They always seem to attack when we have a fire…"
…It was incredibly bad for the heart. There was no reason to mark our spot if we knew there was an enemy lurking around.
And so Daniela used more earth magic to cover the tent. She looked quite smug and proclaimed that no one would be able to tell that it was a tent. Which meant that she hadn"t yet realized that there was no longer any need for a tent to begin with. Well, she looked cute, so I wouldn"t say anything.
Night.
I was on the first watch again. After all, Daniela did not have Nighteyes. So I was the only one who could see in the dark. But there were three full moons in the sky now. Just like on the first night I had come to this world. And so you could actually see just fine without any skill. I even deactivated the skill just to confirm, and I was able to see just fine. So, the real reason I took the first watch was because I had experience fighting a wind dragon. I had killed it quite quickly, but I still knew a thing or two about how it moved. Even if I didn"t have any time to wake Daniela up, I could use my mobility to lure it away.
In any case, I was confident that I would somehow be able to deal with it. Daniela looked a little grim, but nodded in a.s.sent.
And so I was sitting up, quite bored. Usually, I would spread out Presence Detection and stare dumbly into the fire, but as I was unable to do that, I lay down and looked up at the stars.
"What a great night…"
We had been using Presence Detection while setting up camp as well. But there was nothing in the forest and the top of the mountain that we could detect. And so we a.s.sumed that it had "gone off hunting." It was hard to believe that something that big could get pa.s.sed our surveillance. Besides, there had to be something here. Since there were rumors. So the only explanation was that it was away for now.
Perhaps if I continued to stare at the night sky, I would see it returning from its hunt. But would I really be able to see it… Hmm…
"I would have to use Presence Detection and Nighteyes at the same time…Haahhhhh…"
However, I was a.s.saulted by a wave of drowsiness. This was no good. I better get up.
It happened just as I sat up.
—oooooooo…
I heard a voice. It sounded like the distant howl of a wolf. And it was from the sky.
I frantically looked up. There was a small shadow in front of the red moon. Yes. It had wings and a long tail.
How could I forget!
"It"s the wind dragon…! DDaniela!"
I rushed into the tent and woke her up. She was wide awake in an instant and immediately grabbed her bow and came out of the tent.
"Where!?"
"In the sky!"
I pointed and Daniela looked up as she raised her bow. The shadow was much larger now. It was descending.
"What should we do? What would be the most effective?!"
I asked her frantically.
"I will shoot it with my most deadly shot. And when I have done that, you deal the final blow while using Legs of the G.o.d Wolf. How about that?"
"Short and sweet. Like always. Not bad."
"We should always go by what is familiar to us."
We had not perfected our new magic. It would be better to use something we were certain about. Even a child would know that.
"Aright. Then…"
I looked back up at the sky. But my words froze in my mouth as I saw the wind dragon.
"…Uh…Daniela. That thing…isn"t it a bit odd?"
The way it was flying was clearly strange. Its wing was spread out and its head was directed towards us. Unless I was imagining things, there was magical wind energy in the air.
"…This is bad. It knows where we are."
"s.h.i.t-s.h.i.t-s.h.i.t-s.h.i.ts.h.i.t!! It"s going to attack!!"
"Asagi!!"
I quickly sheathed my sword and grabbed Daniela before dashing away with Legs of the G.o.d Wolf. Those were the only two things I could save. Goodbye tent… We may meet again if you survive…
In the next instant, our campsite was blasted away by the pressurized wind.