362 – The Dragon Slayer -3

#2: Inside the Train

* * *

*Crack*, *creak*.

*Fshshshshshhh*──!

The train floor splintered into hundreds of pieces as the boy shot up from below. After the initial clash with the train, he’d flattened himself, lowered his profile, then sliced through the undercarriage to enter.

He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. The impact of all that hurtling metal, moving at 110 kilometers per hour, had crossed the threshold of his magic barrier, chilling him to the very bone. Considerable damage.

The boy caught his breath and thought. Why hadn’t his body moved just now?

His Fable, *Striking Things*, was the ability of impermanence, to cut anything. If he could just grasp it, he could counter any type of attack. Curses and binding techniques were no exception.

But some… technique had bound his body, one he couldn’t grasp at all.

He had been paying close attention to Hypnosis or Brainwashing, the specialties of the Tower. If it had been an attack of that sort, he would have sensed the signs and cut it down preemptively.

It didn’t seem to be sapping his muscles of strength, or conversely, stiffening them to immobility. If that were the case, he could have broken free by flicking a finger and activating *Striking Things*.

The problem wasn’t just the binding. It was the attack itself.

Suddenly, the world around the boy had changed completely, and it was still happening. He’d tasted the physical impact—no illusion—with his own body. What magic was this mad wizard wielding, then?

Dimensional magic? No… it felt different.

*Bang*──!

At that moment, the boy knight sensed a projectile fired from the end of the train and swung his sword. With a *tick*, the bullet split in half, flying off to the left and right.

He infused his eyes with mana, sharpening his sight. In the last carriage, he saw an old man shouldering a precisely crafted, elongated piece of machinery and a scientist wearing round glasses.

“Did he just block a sniper rifle round with a sword? Just how far will magic go to mock the laws of physics? Continue firing until the second shot is ready, Abraham.”

“If we’re talking about making the laws of physics strange, I think your giant robot is at the forefront of that discussion.”

*Click*.

He couldn’t understand the words, but he caught that an attack was coming. He also knew that this projectile took a little time to reload.

It would take about a minute to run down this long train and reach them, and this projectile would fly at least ten times in that span. The boy knight decided to attempt a little trickery.

He let his sword hang and settled into a stance.

*Striking Things* cuts everything. If that proposition was true, he could cut the concept of an opponent’s lifespan itself, killing them instantly, or cut the flow of time to stop it altogether.

And he actually *could* do it. However, it would take even more time and effort than directly swinging his sword and severing their head. Because those things were *tough*.

He couldn’t possibly cut someone else’s lifespan or stop time with a single stroke; they were so durable that he could barely cut them even after swinging his sword for decades.

So how was the durability of what he was cutting calculated? Even the Sword Saint, the user of the Fable, didn’t know the exact formula. He could only guess at the tendencies based on thick experience.

The durability of something acting on himself, rather than others, was generally low.

So what he was going to cut now was friction and air resistance.

*Tth*.

Just a light kick off the ground and he glided. The boy knight’s body accelerated rapidly, unimpeded.

“… … … …!!”

* * *

_Bang!_

The second shot only grazed the boy’s arm.

And before the next bullet could even be chambered, the boy-knight had closed the distance by a full step. The bespectacled scientist shouted urgently.

“He’s through! Swap out!”

And then the world turned inside out.

* * *

#3 : Stratosphere

_Whooosh!_

Wind. The boy felt the wind engulfing him. Open his eyes and he was closer to the sun than ever before. He was falling now, in empty space.

Even looking down below, the ground that should have been there was nowhere to be seen. Only a vast, pitch-black emptiness yawned open.

He calmly swung his sword, trying to slow his descent, but again, his body wouldn’t respond. Unreachable. Just what was binding him so?

The mad wizard’s voice echoed down from the sky.

“It’s a fine ability, but even omnipotence has its limits, doesn’t it? I figured it was a winning game of attrition to just have you swing that sword all day up there, wearing you down.”

“…”

“I’ve prepared an Apache helicopter. Let’s see you deflect all that machine gun fire in mid-air without a foothold.”

_Dudududududu._

Along with the deafening sound of propellers, a bizarre flying contraption approached from beyond the sky. The boy-knight calmly closed his eyes and thought.

The mad wizard was manipulating an entire world as he pleased. Where in this reality would a place exist with only sky, no ground?

If that was the case, then the restraint that had been hindering his movements from the start was the world itself, an inescapable pressure of fate. As if a giant, unseen hand was clenching the boy-knight tightly.

Like the Evil Dragon secretly manipulating the boy knight’s fate, so no one would notice.

If the world was crushing him, he had to break through the world and move forward. The boy-knight finished preparing to activate his Ascension ability. And just as he was about to swing his sword—

[Limited Operation Terminated.]

All illusions vanished like a mirage.

…

He opened his eyes to find himself standing in the same spot. There were no injuries from being hit by the train. Nor the graze from the anti-materiel sniper rifle. There was a drain on mana, but no external wounds.

And he was surrounded in a triangle by the three of them. 『Subtraction』 and 『Heart-Piercing Revolving Fist』 aimed at point-blank range, and Aisha’s Punch, glowed threateningly.

The stalemate was broken. Enough to continue the story.

* * *

Completely surrounded, the boy-knight, despite the deadly attacks aimed at him, said calmly.

“Was it a dream?”

“It’s… similar.”

“I pride myself on my mental defenses being top-tier. How did you manage it?”

“It’s not you who dreamt, but this space. Like overlaying a video onto a chroma key, I layered a dream onto reality.”

Essentially, a forced session.

With a Dragonheart-level power source, one could pull off such a trump card. The skill reset any damage taken inside the moment the casting ended, which wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

How handy for such peaceful subjugation. Give ’em a solid thrashing in their dreams, accept their surrender, and dismiss the spell. No one gets hurt, and the fight is over.

Most of all, you don’t even need to drag yourself to the lab’s magic circle… The overwhelming advantage of a portable camping session.

The boy knight chuckled, a dry, humorless sound.

“Truly dimensional magic. Even if the Evil Dragon disappears, you could succeed him. Dominating everything from the shadows.”

“If I become Evil Dragon-sized, then sure, that might happen. I could manipulate the entire world… But I don’t intend to go that far. I have no desire to grow my power any further.”

“Is there a reason?”

“There are so many things that are more enjoyable as fiction.”

Why suffer tragedy and fall into despair in reality? It’s enough for such things to unfold in stories.

“I see. In that case, I’ll believe you.”

The boy knight smiled at my answer. Then he said,

“I apologize for the misunderstanding. But I’ll postpone the formal apology for later. Isn’t this a busy time for both of us? Once things are settled, I’ll visit the Ivory Tower.”

“…”

“Please overlook it for Lulu’s sake. Or perhaps, out of gratitude for the funding allocated to the Violet Magic Tower.”

…Did he just say that himself?

He was more brazen than I thought. This Sword Saint fellow.

Seeing his attitude, Aisha furrowed her brow and threw a few sharp left hooks. The punches landed cleanly on the boy knight’s side, but he didn’t even flinch.

“Hey, old man. Don’t even think about smoothing things over after starting a fight. You think my dad has a heart as wide as the sea? If you thought that, you’re mistaken. Prepare to suffer terrible humiliation.”

“…Aisha, what am I supposed to do when you say things like that?”

“I’m telling you in advance, just in case you were thinking of letting it go out of consideration for appearances. If you don’t take revenge for the sake of saving face that’s already pretty much non-existent, you won’t be able to sleep at night. Didn’t I do well?”

“This dad is so happy to have a daughter he wants to bite.”

But the rebellious spirit arose. It’s only natural to want to lie down and refuse when someone goads you so impishly. I thought for a moment, then decided.

“Yes, you can visit the Ivory Tower for the full treatment later. But here… Let’s hear this young man’s story.”

I retrieved Braveping from a safe place and brought him before the boy knight.

Braveping looked at me, bewildered by the sudden “He has something to say” I’d unleashed. He looked like a new employee dragged into a conversation between company presidents.

It might seem rather out of the blue. But to my eyes, it was obvious he had something he wanted to say. I gave him a gentle pat on the back.

Hero Ping hesitated, just a moment.

“…I have heard much of your renown. You have vanquished countless black mages, and saved just as many people, so they say. I respect that.”

“Hmph.”

“But merits are merits, and transgressions are transgressions, I believe. Good deeds are not a free pass. So… shouldn’t you apologize to those you nearly killed?”

“…”

*Heh.*

The boy knight exhaled a breath that sounded like both a sigh and an exclamation. Then, softening his gaze, he nodded readily.

“You are a hero indeed. Very well, I will apologize to them.”

The reasonable words of a common youth had bested the Sword Saint. The boy knight bowed deeply to those he had attempted to slay, and offered his apology.

Ping, while anxious the Sword Saint’s blade might fly his way at any moment, seemed relieved to have spoken his mind.

After that, an information exchange ensued. The route he had travelled, the number of black mages whose throats he had slit, the various items he had obtained while pursuing the evil dragon.

In sum:

“Old man. Are you saying you ultimately don’t know where it is?”

“A shameful result after a lifetime of pursuit, I admit. But what can I do?”

He did not know.

But sometimes, the very fact of not knowing becomes information. This man, possessing a martial prowess nearly ascended, had scoured the continent, hunting down black mages like fleas.

And yet, he hadn’t been able to find it. Therefore, it stood to reason, it wasn’t hidden in a typical place.

Empathy.

I am a Game Master. I am running a TRPG, and I want to hide an NPC whose discovery would complicate matters. Where should I place them?

Naturally, I would remove them to a place inaccessible to the players. A place where no matter how hard the players tried, they couldn’t reach, like Yuna’s erased domains, perhaps.

And on this continent, such a place exists.

The *Eastern Front*.

Where demons open portals and continuously appear, requiring the constant deployment of a portion of the Empire’s military strength. The place Elaine diligently defended. In all likelihood, a creation of the evil dragon.

Nightmare succubi, demons, even, possess informational-entity characteristics, and are existences that suddenly manifest. What if beyond the dimensional rifts from which these demons endlessly respawn…

A normal person couldn’t reach it, nor would they even try.

A strange premonition grips me. A pull, a compulsion, that my conjecture is correct. A hunch. As if someone is whispering the answer in my ear.

“…Aren’t you jumping to conclusions? There are grounds for suspicion, but there wasn’t any decisive hint that confirms it.”

Aisha questioned with a sullen look.

“No, it’s the Eastern Front, all right.”

I said as I returned the Dragon Heart to my chest.

Beyond that dimensional gate, I felt a certainty: the corpse of a dragon resided in the Demon Realm.

—

Ping inquired,

“Um… how did you know what I wanted to say? No, more than that, why did you *make* me say it?”

“Firstly, because your words will be more effective than mine. Sometimes, the courage of the weak shines brighter. And…”

“And?”

“Secondly, to add another notch to your belt. ‘Ping, the great hero who rebuked and reformed a young knight,’ sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?”

At my words, Hero Ping wore a dazed expression for a moment, then jumped up and shouted.

“I don’t need any of that—!! Not rank, not glory, not achievements!!”

Heh heh heh.

I know. Once the Pope is all grown up, he plans to retire to some quiet place, join a mercenary band suited to his abilities, and live a simple life. I know that much.

And seeing as I practically strong-armed him into taking on this mantle when my own work became urgent, I was inclined to grant his requests as much as possible.

Niore mentioned it to me briefly last time. She said,

‘The Pope won’t let Hero Ping go,’ or something to that effect.

So, even if he does leave eventually, there’s no harm in laying a little groundwork beforehand, wouldn’t you agree?

—

Here, two pathetic, broken soldiers were gathered. The ‘Lamb’ and the ‘Corpse Flower.’ Their plans had crumbled, and they themselves were either grievously wounded or had lost years of preparation.

“Just, just because of one person… Ah, what was it? The name, I can’t remember the name. Haha, hahahahaha!”

“Quiet, shut your mouth. This is delicate work…”

The ‘Virgin’ had long since died, and Duke Redburn the ‘Snare’ had perished this time as well. The black mages’ power had dwindled pathetically. Even what remained would soon scatter.

The scales had already tipped.

They had been confident that they could stand against the Empire, but now they doubted whether they could even swallow a single kingdom. How had it come to this?

Therefore, this attempt was their last chance.

‘Nightmare Summoning.’ A grand spell of the ‘Corpse Flower’ that drew out the subject’s greatest fear. She had intended to summon a replica of the young knight with it, but…

“That blasted cleaning golem!”

That cursed moment still haunted her dreams.

There was no way to gather 300 years’ worth of accumulated magic in a short period. Especially now that the black mage community had effectively collapsed. Therefore, the success rate was extremely low.

But they couldn’t just die like this, so they wagered everything that remained. Every soul, every sliver of magic, they bet it all. They prayed fervently that the gods would look upon them favorably──.

Before them lay the corpse of a dragon.

Soul, heart, and authority had all departed, so it was right to call it a corpse. But the darkly gleaming scales had not lost their luster, and the muscles and flesh that made up the massive body were still infused with blood.

『Lamb』 stepped forward, both hands full of vials.

“Alright, I’m ready. Draw out my nightmare. Though I can’t guarantee its completeness…perhaps the most terrifying nightmares are the ones we forget.”

“Shut it.”

The plan was this: cast *Nightmare Summoning* upon『Lamb』. If the casting succeeded, in all likelihood, an Outer God would answer. He harbored a devout following in his heart for such a being.

And the summoned…thing…would be bound to the dragon’s corpse. In effect, the resurrection of an Evil Dragon.

Whether it would succeed or not, remained to be seen. Whether it could be summoned properly at all. The image within『Lamb』’s mind, half-obliterated as it was, might lack any wholeness. Even so, this was the only recourse…

“Please, please… *Nightmare Summoning*.”

“Ugh, uaa, aaahhh—!!”

A black vortex enveloped『Lamb』, ravenously tearing away at his memories. The sinister miasma formed bizarre shapes, only to dissipate and re-form.

Then, in an instant, it was all drawn into the Black Dragon’s body.

In an instant『Lamb』was haggard, his bones almost visible through his skin. he stared at the unmoving dragon corpse and asked desperately.

“Huu…huuu…Suc, Success?”

“…………….Dunno.”

Didn’t know. What had been summoned, whether it had taken root properly, nothing was certain. The preparations were half-baked, his mana insufficient!

He could only hope that something had taken hold. And pray that the safety mechanism built into the spell, the part that compelled obedience to the caster, was functioning as intended.

One hour passed, then two, then three…

As『Corpse Flower』, worn out from the tedious and painful wait, tore at her hair, agonizing over future prospects.

Flicker.

The enormous eyelid rolled upwards.