NOVEL NEXT Chapter 70
Chapter 70 The Wizard and the Ancient Dragon
I rode Femm as I got closer to the ancient dragon.
Slowly, and without rushing it.
I told Moofy and Vi-Vi to follow me from behind.
Of course Moofy was back to her smaller size.
While I was riding Femm, I stepped up close to the dragon.
From up close, its size really made it look fearsome.
I wonder how many horses long it would be. It was so huge, I had no idea.
「ｒｙａａａａ」
Even though it was a huge ancient dragon, it was sleeping so quietly.
We humans and wolves were like a bug to something this size. So it didn’t wake up.
『You’re going to wake it up?』
「…no, wait a second.」
Any beast gets angry when it’s awoken. And I didn’t want to fight a pissed off ancient dragon.
But if I had to fight it, I would.
However, if I could avoid fighting something like this, I would.
「ｒｙａａａ……」
『Are we still waiting?』
「Yeah, not yet.」
We spoke to each other softly.
Our opponent would be an ancient dragon. I don’t think normal speech would wake it, but I was careful.
Femm was nervous. Even though I was riding it, I could feel it shake.
At least Femm didn’t have its tail between its legs, but I could still tell it was scared.
Seeing this dragon from up close…it was so beautiful that it made you hold your breath. Its whole body was white as freshly fallen snow.
Looking behind me, I could see Moofy a ways away with a small Vi-Vi riding on her.
Moofy was sniffing the air.
She was a cow that had no knowledge of fear.
「ｒｙａ……」
The ancient dragon was still asleep. Its breathing was almost enough to blow you over.
I stood and waited there for almost 10 minutes.
「ｒｙａａａａａａ…………ｒｙａっ！」
It opened its eyes.
It looked at Femm and I in front of it and jumped a bit.
「You’ve awoken, great dragon.」
「…」
I spoke respectfully to the beast.
The dragon simply watched me as I continued to speak.
「I am a man from the nearby village of Mulg. I was curious as why a beast as powerful as a god, an ancient dragon, would be in a place such as this?」
「…」
「We’ve had creatures that had fled in fear of your voice approach our town, and this had made things difficult.」
「…」
「I would like to request that you refrain from crying out with magic power so as to prevent this from happening.」
It was a respectful request, but the ancient dragon didn’t respond.
Perhaps it didn’t have words for a lowly beast, such as a human.
I’m sure that a creature like an ancient beast thought of humans as lowly beasts.
Even so, I wasn’t going to retreat.
「Oh, great dragon. Could you hear the request of a creature far lower than yourself.」
「……ｒｙａ」
The dragon breathed out a soft response.
Just as I was about to lean in to hear what it was saying,
「ＲＹＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡ！！」
I was blown away by its cry, filled with magical power.
「!!」
「Kween!」
I gulped and Femm squealed a strange sound.
My heartbeat started pounding faster. It felt like my stomach dropped to the bottom of my chest.
I struggled to keep myself from vomiting.
「Blooooowwweehhh」
But, Femm DID throw up. Femm’s tail was between its legs.
And it was only because of the cry of the ancient dragon.
Even a magical wolf king couldn’t stop an ancient dragon from affecting it so.
Even though Femm was scared, it stood its ground, and didn’t move.
It was a matter of Femm’s pride.
「Moo Moooo」
I heard Moofy mooing behind me.
When I looked back, Moofy was holding Vi-Vi in her mouth.
Vi-Vi was completely unconscious. She had fallen off, and Moofy was now holding her.
A very good cow.
I guess I could entrust Vi-Vi to Moofy.
I rubbed Femm…who had finished vomiting.
「Femm, are you okay?」
『I’m…fine.』
「Tell me if you need help.」
As all this was happening, the ancient dragon slowly rose.
It slowly turned its neck.
「ＲＹＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡ！！」
As it cried again, it blew freezing breath at me. I put up a magic barrier instantly.
Even though it was instant, it was a very strong barrier. Not something you could just break.
—-CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK
The barrier creaked with a inauspicious sound. The magical force of the cry, and not so much the freezing force, was too much.
I put up another barrier and got behind it.
Moofy had somehow dodged the breath with Vi-Vi in her mouth.
Even though it was mid-summer, we were suddenly surrounded in white. Almost like being in a blizzard.
—-CRAAAAACK
This barrier began to crack. I put up another barrier inside.
Just after that, the first barrier broke. Just in time.
The dragon swung at us with its claw. Femm dodged it easily.
As we jumped in the air, the dragon swung its tail. The force of the wind it made would be enough to knock us into the sky.
Instead, I made five barriers. It broke through three.
「Terrifyingly strong.」
I couldn’t just stand there in awe. I had to fight back.
I struck it with magic spears over and over.
The magic defense of an ancient dragon was exceptionally strong. Not easy to break through.
I broke through its magic defense and shattered it. Some of it dropped and smash on the ground below the dragon.
As soon as the dragon reared back to breathe on us again, I hit it with some gravity magic.
Not to make it lighter, but to make it heavier.
The rock below the dragon gave away and it fell into the gorge. Its breath spewed out in a scattered direction.
Since this was a dragon with ice breath, fire would hurt it.
I repeatedly shot it with magical fire.
10 shots. 20. 30.
The heat of the shots rose, from red, to yellow, to white.
The color of the fire changed as well.
With the magical barrier gone, I was directly hitting the dragon.
「ＲＹＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡＡ」
It cried out with no magical force. A cry of terror.
I used gravity magic to press it to the ground.
The dragon struggled to run, but I couldn’t let it.
After struggling for a little bit, it finally stopped and became calm.
Looking at the silent dragon, I felt relieved.
Femm breathed out a gasp, and,
『Al, are you always so overpowering?』
「…simple is better, right?」
『I guess we can talk about that later.』
Femm looked at me a bit distrustingly.
Good looking magic is only useful for games. Simple and strong magic is good for deathmatches.
That’s why all-purpose magic is best.
「You only say that because you don’t know much about magical battles, Femm.」
「Ruff?」
Then, Moofy came to us, in her big size.
「M…Moo.」
「We’re okay!」
Moofy was still biting onto Vi-Vi’s collar.
Vi-Vi was embarrassingly flailing around.
Her lower half was wet again. I pretended not to notice.
「Moofy, thanks for caring for Vi-Vi.」
「Moo!」
Moofy let Vi-Vi down, and happily nuzzled me with her giant nose.
I patted the end of it.
And after a big sigh, I descended into the gorge and faced the dragon again.
「Well, about that sudden attack. What was that all about?」
「ｒｙａ……」
The dragon cried out softly. It seemed very scared.
But for some reason, this dragon looked quite odd.