A loud explosion rang in the distant sky, and instantly everyone looked up at the sky.
"Hey, what's that?"
Count Marre, a guest of Falforia, was the first one to raise his voice. And Count Barrow uttered, ‘a wyvern?' after a short delay.
However, those with good eyesight will immediately notice that the black shadow was clearly larger than the wyvern—indicating that it was a higher-tier dragon.
While the visitors were buzzing about the appearance of a dragon, Felix calmly addressed the group.
"Please calm down everyone. As far as I can see, it doesn't seem to be approaching us. However, we should return to the rest area just in case. We can't keep the ladies getting anxious for long."
Felix's composure seemed to bring a bit of reassurance to the group. However, its appearance gave Monica a bad feeling as she clutched at the chest of her robe.
The explosion noise she heard earlier was definitely the result of an offensive fire spell. It was probably Glenn's doing since Nero can't use that kind of spell.
Monica quickly calculated their current position and distance to the rest area, followed by their direction.
The explosion rang in a different direction from the rest area… was Glenn acting on his own? What's Nero doing now?
As if in response to Monica's question, a servant of Duke Rehnburg's household came from the direction of the rest area, galloping on horseback. He expressed his apology, "please excuse my conduct in this urgent situation," still riding on the horseback, and raised his voice.
"I have a message from Lord Bartholomew Alexander! He says, "Something terrible is approaching!"
It was indeed a message that Nero'd say.
Considering its imminent danger, it will end up with Monica being compelled to make up an immediate decision.
Felix grimaced as he spoke to the messenger.
"…did Mr. Bartholomew say anything specific about what was approaching?"
‘Well, it's most likely a dragon,' added Felix in a whisper, and the messenger replied with a confused look on his face.
"…he said it was "something" that looks as close to a dragon."
These statements gave Monica an uncomfortable feeling.
Nero possesses excellent sensing abilities. If it was a dragon, he would have said it was a dragon. However, when his message was ambiguous as like ‘Something that looks as close to a dragon as possible,' it only gave Monica a growing uneasiness in her chest, so she tugged at the hem of Felix's dress and pointed toward the rest area.
Perhaps sensing what Monica was trying to say, Felix nodded firmly.
"Yeah, we should go back to the rest area for now."
＊ ＊ ＊
A huge commotion was already taking place when they arrived at the rest area. The servants were in a panic, Eliane was sobbing, and Glenn was lying on the ground, pale and limp, unmoving.
In such a situation, the Duchess of Rehnberg was calmly giving quick instructions to the servants as her usual conduct.
"Send an urgent messenger to the capital. You may mention my husband's name if necessary. I will take full responsibility for it. As for you, return to the mansion at once, make arrangements for a doctor, and request reinforcement from the knights… And my daughter Eliane, how long will you keep crying? The situation will not change even if you continue to cry. And if there's nothing you can do, at least stay in the carriage and don't get in the way of others."
At the Duchess's harsh and sharp words, Eliane finally broke down and cried aloud.
Duke Rehnberg, who is usually kept in low profile, rushed over to his wife in a panic.
"W-What on earth… is going on here?"
"A cursed dragon appears, my dear. To protect Eliane from the dragon, Lord Dudley caught in its curse."
The atmosphere was frozen at the word ‘a cursed dragon.'
A cursed dragon, it was something akin to a legend, and nobody, at least no one in this room, had actually witnessed it in person. However, stories about how several cities were destroyed by that cursed being are still passed down to this day. Considering how rare is the case of the curse appeared, they still haven't clarified what is the cause of the ‘curse' itself until today.
Speaking of the curse, there are people called witch doctors that can use the art of ‘witchcraft' to create artificial "curses" through the application of magic, although few, they do exist. As a prominent example, the family of the Abyssal Shaman, one of the Seven Sages, is adept in using it. While fundamentally, witchcraft is regarded as a semi-prohibited art.
Sometimes, with the permission of the government, it was used to prevent the escape of detained criminals and as a measure to prevent the recidivism of some released criminals, but such arts were not something that anyone could use.
——When it comes down to it, even Monica, one of the Seven Sages, has very little knowledge about it.
"Oh, you're back?"
Nero, who had been watching Glenn, came running up to Felix's horse, on which Monica was riding.
From atop his horse, Felix asked, "Many thanks for alerting us of the danger. How is Dudley's condition?"
"His condition is so bad. If it were a normal person, he'd be dead already. However, thanks to his abundant mana, he can barely resist the curse. It's better not to touch it, or you'll get infected."
"…how did you manage to carry Dudley here then?"
"I can handle it without a problem. Though if you ask the details, it's ‘secret'."
As she listened to the exchange between Felix and Nero, Monica desperately racked her brain to comprehend the ‘curse'.
It's not only capable of parasitizing dragons, but also the human body? No, rather than parasitizing, it was trying to consume Glenn as food, but Glenn's mana was just barely preventing it from doing so… which means mana has the ability to prevent curses to some extent. But a mere defensive barrier probably is unable to prevent it completely. If I were to incorporate it into a magic formation, it would be similar in nature to dark spells…
"Lady Everett?"
Felix called out worriedly from behind but Monica's entire attention was focused on the shadow that was eating away at Glenn's body.
But her thoughts were interrupted by Peter's shrill voice.
"I-It's a dragon! A dragon! Aaaaaah!"
Peter pointed to a black shadow in the sky. Soon, the shadow was swooping down at a frightening speed towards them.
The Green Dragon, whose entire body was consumed by the black shadow, let out a tremendous roar as it flapped its wings. It created a strong wind that can easily blow away a human being, but just before it strikes the group, Monica cast up a defensive barrier without chanting.
But while her defensive barrier could prevent the dragon's attack, it could not prevent the ‘curse' following it.
Just as Monica feared, the shadow that crawled across the Green Dragon's body flickered and then changed its shape into a sharp spear and rained down from above. The black shadow easily penetrated Monica's defensive barrier.
While the guests of Falforia and the people of Duke Rehnburg screamed in despair, Monica invoked the magic formation she had just thought of.
Please be working…!
To counter witchcraft, Monica had improvised her own defensive barrier.
In general, Monica would never use a technique that has so many flaws in its theory, let alone a spell that has not even been tested in an actual battle. But now she couldn't afford to worry about that, she only hope that her defensive barrier would activate correctly and repel the black shadow. From the looks, it's working and managed to deflect it.
Realizing that they had just survived a deadly situation, people started to rejoice, however, Monica's expression remained grave from the hopelessness of the situation.
We can't keep staying like this… we should take an offensive.
Monica can only cast two spells at once. Since Monica currently was invoking two defensive barriers: the regular defensive barrier to prevent dragon attacks and the curse defensive barrier to prevent its curse—so now Monica could not perform another spell to attack.
Although some people around were carrying hunting rifles, trying to shoot it would end up as a useless act because the regular defensive barrier would obstruct the bullets. Under this situation, they could only attack it by launching offensive spells from outside the barrier. And perhaps only Glenn was capable enough to use offensive spells to deal a fatal blow to the dragon. However, Glenn had lost consciousness.
We need more hands to launch attacks!
Rather than weakening its momentum, the black shadow seemed to be slowly eroding Monica's barrier. Naturally, the curse defensive barrier, which was improvised, still had many flaws. At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before it was crushed by its sheer force.
Louis could have combined the two barriers into one, and he even could improved it to make it much stronger…
As a specialist in defensive barriers, Louis Miller the Barrier Magician is known for his genius in adding multiple effects to a single barrier. If it was him, he would be able to combine the defensive barriers Monica was using into one and use his available hand to cast an offensive spell.
The strength of Monica's chantless technique lies in the fact that it can be activated immediately. As such, it can be extremely powerful when taking the initiative but will lose its advantage if she falls behind and ends up on the defensive. And this situation was precisely the case.
Still, I have to do something… I must do something because I am one of the Seven Sages and also the Silent Witch…
At the very least, she wanted to let everyone escape from this place.
However, Monica's barrier was shaped like a dome. So while the people in this place are protected by the barrier, they are also prevented from escaping.
Should I widen the range of the barrier to the rear and have them move away even a little? But if I expand the range any further, the strength of the curse defensive barrier won't hold out… How about canceling the regular defensive barrier for a moment and using offensive magic afterward? But it will only cause casualties if the Green Dragon's wind blade is not defended against…
She felt almost as hopeless as when she was stuck in a chess game. She considered each move she came up with, but inevitably she couldn't find a way to checkmate her enemy.
To make matters worse, the horse that Monica and Felix were riding was starting to get agitated. Up until now, Felix had been able to keep it in check, but the fear of the giant creature looming over it must have become too much to bear.
If the horse started to rampage, Monica would be thrown off the horse, her concentration would be broken, and the barrier would vanish at the same time. If that happens, the jet-black curse will pour down like rain and take the lives of everyone present.
I need to do something… I need to think some way…
In this seemingly hopeless situation, Felix, behind Monica, made a suggestion.
"Lady Everett, is it possible to partially cancel the regular defensive barrier? I only need you to make a hole of a fist size."
While saying this, Felix held up the hunting rifle he was carrying on his back.
Upon realizing what Felix was planning, Monica gulped at his recklessness and nodded at his request.
Even in this situation, Felix was still maintaining the same calm smile that he'd shown in the student council room.
"Lady Everett… please excuse me if the noise is too loud."
Felix readied his hunting rifle and took aim.
"…I will aim at its middle forehead."
Monica instantly calculated the trajectory of the bullet based on the angle of the hunting rifle and made a hole in the barrier just a fist size for the bullet to pass through.
Felix held his breath and put his finger on the trigger.
Bang, such sounds rang close by, and Monica cowered for a moment. The smell of gunpowder tickled her nose.
Once Monica looked up above her head as she maintained her barriers, the dragon had already stopped its move.
Having been shot at its vital point in the middle of its forehead, the Green Dragon was letting out its last cry of desperation.
…huh?
Hearing the green dragon's cry, Monica opened her eyes wide to look at the Green Dragon again. But by that time, the Green Dragon had already fallen to the ground as a lifeless husk.
The black shadow that had been crawling around the Green Dragon's body also stopped moving with the death of their host.
As the smoke from the muzzle of the gun almost covered Monica's face, Felix huffed and blew on the muzzle.
"Thank you for believing in me. Lady Everett."
At this time, neither Felix's sweet voice nor the cheers of the people reached Monica's ears. Only the ‘words' left by the dragon in his last moments rang in her mind.
