Chapter 498: Not Adventurers in Name Alone
"Someone, wake Eric immediately! I don’t have much magic left!" She yelled, partially buried in the ice prison that restrained the violently thrashing beast.
Her voice was strained, desperate, and one could see the tremble in her arms as she fought to maintain the spell.
The mages nodded, already doing their best for the Elf, and seconds later, he was up.
But his sword was broken.
The blade that had served him through countless battles lay in pieces across the grass, its light extinguished, its power spent.
Eric stared at the hilt in his hand, the jagged remnants of metal that remained, and felt the weight of defeat pressing down on his shoulders.
"Is... Aria and Maria okay?!" He said, looking at the squirming Amazon and Dwarf near him on the ground.
His voice was hoarse, desperate.
"We will be fine, fool!" The Amazon yelled, her voice carrying through gritted teeth as she clutched her broken ribs. Blood still trickled from the corner of her mouth, but her eyes blazed with defiant spirit. "Yuki... has given her all into this quest. Kill the beast already..."
Time that was running out.
The katana-wielding lady immediately gave her blade to Eric, urging him to fill it up with the holy light that affects monsters so thoroughly.
She pressed the hilt into his hands, her fingers lingering for just a moment longer than necessary.
Her dark eyes met his, and in them, he saw trust, faith, and the desperate hope that he would not fail them.
WHHHEEEEEE!!!
A sound like the screaming of a thousand dying stars erupted from the dragon’s body.
Its scales began to glow, a deep and terrible blue that pulsed with each beat of its massive heart.
The light grew brighter, more intense, until the beast itself seemed to become a beacon of destruction.
"GASP! It... It’s too late..." Yuki, the witch binding the dragon, watched with dilating eyes as the dragon glowed blue, as if gathering energy to explode.
Her ice prison was cracking, the magic she had poured into it being slowly overwhelmed.
The others also felt weak from seeing the beast behave that way.
The mages stumbled backward, their faces pale with fear.
The Dwarf, still recovering from her injuries, clutched her axe with trembling hands. The Amazon tried to rise, but her body refused to obey.
"I’m... so sorry..." Eric bowed his head and apologized to his crew.
The words tasted like ash in his mouth, bitter and useless. He had led them here, led them to this moment, and now they would all pay the horrible price.
For normal dragons, it was possible when they find themselves in inescapable danger, they gather all the magic inside their core and explode, taking their enemies with them.
It is a desperate act, a final gambit, the kind of thing that happens when a dragon feels it has nothing left to lose.
But it was different for a mature dragon: they normally don’t have many enemies and usually lack the need to self-destruct.
They were the apex predators of their domains, feared and respected by all. They don’t normally flee, surrender, or sacrifice themselves for anything.
But the scary part was, if they DO meet enemies worth it, they could explode...
More recorded cases imply they don’t die as well—they basically just expel magic from their body and stay intact.
The dragon would survive its own explosion, maybe weakened but alive.
And it would emerge from the blast to feast on the charred remains of its enemies.
If you survive their explosion, they’ll eat your weak body.
It was the kind of thing that made even the bravest warriors hesitate, the kind of thing that sent nightmares creeping into the minds of those who faced mature dragons.
"R... Run! I shall attempt to withhold as much explosion as possible. But please, run away!" Yuki yelled, a rebellious glint in her eyes as her ice rushed and began to cover the entirety of the glowing beast.
Her body trembled with effort, her magic pouring out of her in waves that she could barely control.
C... C-C-RACKKK!!
The ice prison shattered, and the dragon’s light burst forth like a newborn sun.
A bright blue and white light engulfed the entire area of about 200 meters.
The world disappeared behind a wall of blinding radiance, and for a moment, there was nothing but light and warmth.
And then it settled down.
The light faded, the heat dissipated, and the adventurers found themselves still standing, breathing and alive.
The explosion had been contained, somehow, by a power that none of them could understand.
Heka smiled and sighed in relief, "Thank you very much, Benjamin."
Her voice was soft, grateful, and she turned to look at the man beside her with eyes full of adoration.
The Adventurers and the dragon were very confused as to why no one was dead yet.
They looked around, searching for the source of salvation, but finding nothing but the empty plain.
However, they weren’t adventurers only in name!
They had survived, and that meant they still had a chance.
Eric gathered holy light energy into the katana and burst over to the dragon in seconds, quickly piercing its soft neck and accessing its brain in an instant.
The blade glowed with golden radiance as it sank into the beast’s flesh, finding the vulnerable spot that the shattered sword had failed to reach.
Yuki used ice to hold on to the beast, as it gave its most violent but last struggle, clawing Eric’s side and back... scarring him for the last time.
The witch’s ice held the dragon’s limbs, keeping them pinned to the ground.
And with a soft growl, it relaxed and stopped moving. The tension left its massive body, and it lay still on the blood-soaked earth.
The ice turned to mist and Yuki collapsed. Her body hit the ground with a soft thud, her magic finally spent, her consciousness fading.
She was still breathing and alive, however. But the beast was finally defeated.
"..."
"Ahhhhh! That was like a real epic fantasy show playing out before my very eyes! I want to be an adventurer now!" Benjamin giggled and sighed satisfied, his eyes shining with genuine delight. "Okay, let’s make ourselves known now. Heka, you can use healing magic too, right? Let’s help them."
The moment Benjamin released the invisible, non-existent barrier, Yuki opened her blue eyes instantly and shot a straight human sized ice lance at him.
Her reaction was instinctive, the response of a warrior who had been trained to attack anything that appeared unexpectedly.
The speed was excellent and it reached him the moment she threw it. The ice lance flew through the air with deadly precision, aimed directly at Benjamin’s heart.
Heka moved Benjamin out of the way just in time for it to hit her instead, shattering on her body as the impact knocked her backward, and she tumbled across the grass before coming to a stop.
"Chill out! I, uh, don’t mean any harm." Benjamin raised his hands to show he was safe.
His palms were open, his fingers spread wide, a universal gesture of surrender.
Yuki wasn’t convinced, and was still trying to stand up while trembling like a fawn.
Her legs shook beneath her, her body barely able to support her own weight. She had pushed herself too far, given too much, and now she had nothing left.
Her blue eyes remained fixed on Benjamin, wary and suspicious, ready to strike again if he made any sudden moves.