A Maiden’s Unwanted Heroic Epic
chapter-152

***Arc 7 One Who Bare Their Fang on Reason, Chapter 152 Heavenly Spear and Shield***

The light faded and the haze cleared.

What was drifting in the air around them was a crater-like heat.

The hills they crossed had already lost their original shape, and in its place were scorching rivers that flowed from the hollows.

There was no longer a single shadow in the land where the girl had been running around on.

It had transformed into an extreme region that did not allow humans to survive.

And this was not the only abnormality.

The mountain that should have been visible in the distance has been scraped away, revealing a strange outline like a chipped (wane) moon.

The ridiculous sight was unbelievable to anyone's eyes, yet only those present were forced to comprehend it.

At the end of the magma, when they looked at the dragon standing there, they felt the heat that was still scorching the air.

――When they remembered the light that was emitted from the dragon's maw earlier, it was self-evident what had happened.

"...This is, the Dragon’s Roar."

Alkierence muttered in a daze.

Before the warriors pull the reins, the griffins instinctively choose to dodge.

Perhaps because of that, it was fortunate that none of the warriors seemed to be caught in it.

Some were unable to control the griffin and fell to the ground, some were burned by the hot air generated by the roar, and some were unable to control the runaway griffin and turned their backs, but the damage was light.

Even if some were caught in it and died, it would only be one or two people.

Vinthril was also in the air holding Lira.

It was a blessing among the misfortune.

However, this did not mean that Kreisharana had escaped the crisis.

It no longer mattered whether the people here lived or died.

If everyone here gave their lives, and if that alone would have been enough to be forgiven for this rudeness, then that would have been something to rejoice over.

――Just a single roar.

With just that, the very landscape that had existed since the distant past was rewritten.

Easily changing the terrain and destroying a country, they could no longer be called anything other than a natural calamity.

No matter how one is a hero, no matter how large one army is, they are nothing but insects in the face of a Dragon.

It's not an opponent that people can fight against, nor is it an opponent that humans are permitted to point their blades at.

――Dragon is the Absolute.

Innumerable myths often speak of these beings as equal to gods.

Sometimes some people might be referred to as being like a storm.

They might be described as a monster whose blow could shatter mountains.

Much of it was an exaggeration――However when it comes to dragons, there is none.

If they wanted to destroy something, they surely must be able to destroy even an entire continent.

Possessing power turned capitals into lakes, mountains into plains, if they wielded their power to the fullest, there would be no such thing as impossible.

like a child crushing an ant's nest, like breaking down a sand castle.

It must be that easy for them.

Human activity is merely permitted according to their whims.

Everyone who was there was mad to understand it once again, and feared it.

But these prologue,

"... don't let your guard down! She's still alive!!"

――only apply if one excluded the only exception.

Along with Vinthril's cry, a roar echoed through the mountains.

It was the sound of an aberrant spear that pierced and gauged through the Absolute.

"... Really, Gururun is an idiot. It's dangerous, you know."

If it was only a mere human being, it would have been unavoidable.

Their body alone stirred the air, and what was released was something that pierced even mountains, the Dragon's Roar.

Krische considered manipulating the wind with her magical powers.

However, whether or not it can be avoided is a gamble, only by employing that she managed to bring the odds to fifty-fifty.

It was extremely difficult to create a wind that could levitate a single body and can manipulate it at will.

Krische’s magical power is fundamentally insufficient, and it was doubtful whether it can generate enough thrust to enable the evasion.

She would be able to assert that it would be possible if she used the enormous magical power around her, however it would take time to grasp it.

Unlike magic power that simply floats around, the magic power that exists there was magic power that originates from the dragon.

The time lag was too long to turn the dragon's colored magic power into something pure and make it her own, and the roar emitted by the dragon, which had already accumulated enough mana, would have been just a little bit faster.

Magic is like paint.

Each individual has a different color, and only one color can be drawn by one individual.

If it is 2qw colorless and transparent like the magic power in the atmosphere, it was enough to simply dye it with your own color――however to use paint of other colors, you need to take steps to make it colorless and transparent first.

Like when she sucked the magic out of Kreschenta, if she was concentrating solely on that alone, it would be fine, but it would be difficult even for Krische if she was both using the imaginary muscles and manipulating the wind with magic all at the same time.

The magical power that came out of the body naturally tries to return to a colorless state.

Drawing magic in the air――the most difficult thing when dealing with it is how to use it while maintaining one magical power as their own.

Create a canvas with your own magical power to substitute for the magic crystal, and engrave the desired formula on it.

The technology of magic created by Krische required such a process, and as a result, a huge amount of magic power was wasted, even if the formula was for something trivial.

A griffin can fly by manipulating the wind, using magic power far beyond that of a human to fly.

Perhaps it was the same with dragons.

With that much magical power, it would have been easy to keep its huge body afloat.

Krische’s magic manipulation is far more precise than theirs.

If she had the same amount of magical power as them, she would certainly be able to fly more efficiently even without wings.

The only problem was that Krische did not have the magical power to perform such a feat.

She had wondered whether the principle of griffins flying in the sky would give her any new ideas, but griffins do not use magic power to expand their bodies unlike Suiko.

They were only able to fly by focusing their magic power on a single thing, and as expected, it was not helpful a reference for Krische――thus the result was a situation where she had to take a fifty-fifty bet.

The one that jumped at that time was the Suiko, who should have been frightened in the corner

Gururun flew at Krische who was hoisted up in the air and rammed into her with its body.

Thanks to that, Krische managed to avoid the Dragon's Roar in the nick of time.

"Good boy, now please stay away. It's dangerous, okay."

Krische was a little surprised when she was rescued by the Suiko, who she thought was useless at first.

Smiling in the midst of the battle, she lightly patted it on the head and made it go far away.

――Even though it was so fluffy and Krische liked it

The cloak that had been scratched was in tatters, but at this point, it couldn't be helped.

Her lips pouted a little, but without any anger, she threw the spear she had grabbed.

The fact that she was able to dodge the blow just now without getting hurt was more important than anything else.

Krische narrowed her eyes, feeling the magic around her.

Several spears were caught up and disappeared.

A scorching river had arisen and the footing was getting worse.

But she could fight.

She had a general idea of most of the dragon's power with what she had just seen.

The rest was an endurance battle――whether the dragon would create a fatal opening, or whether she would arrive at her limit first.

――Diving through the storm created by the wings.

The storm whipped up the lava, creating countless pillars of fire that crushed bones and melted bodies.

Dodging fatal wounds to get through it, she grabbed and fired speer bullets.

Scraping the dragon's scales and piercing its flesh.

Simply repeating that process

The heat of the lava consumed her body. She was thirsty and her whole body felt heavy with sweat.

The change in terrain conditions drained her stamina more than she had imagined, and she could feel her thoughts slowing down.

The storm created by its wings had increased in power.

In this place where scorching heat was flowing, the flapping of the dragon's wings was now completely deadly.

With this much magical power, it was literally not difficult to fight for two or three days in a row, but before that, however, there was no doubt that she would be deprived of her physical strength here and reach her physical limits first.

It was impossible for a human body to cope with this extreme region against a dragon.

The end is near, but there’s still meaning in buying some time.

Overcome human while being human.

Capturing all spears and terrains, seize all things in creation.

Calculating all futures from everything caught in sight.

Overworking and making her brain, which even if one unite a thousand or ten thousand people still wouldn’t be enough, red hot.

The placement of the spear, the surrounding griffins, the single grain of sand and the particles of magic that the wind stirs up, capturing all of it and ruling it.

If she could imagine it, she could understand it.

If she could understand, she could even capture the future.

She, just through her wisdom, transcended even time and space.

She read and dodge the valiant Griffin cavalry approaching from behind in the storm.

She dodged the waving tails and dove through the storm of flames.

The spear always pierced the dragon's body.

She ran freely across the land while avoiding scorching rivers.

Although she had a body that could be blown away with a single hit, she is not lacking against the dragon.

"...This is a human you say."

Vinthril mutters at the sight below him, sending shivers down his spine.

――What was there was a reality that should no longer be called a myth.

It was equal to battles in myth where dragons and dragons vie for supremacy.

The ultimate product of human history, the crystallization of a warrior force that was no less than a dragon, was taking shape.

The sun shakes from its zenith.

By that time, even the men who had turned their blades toward her revealed unmistakable reverence.

As if they were worshiping a Dragon, a being with the power to be called a God.

Or perhaps even more than that.

They were in awe of her, the embodiment of the ultimate they were aiming for in human flesh.

Diving through raging firestorms, and pointing her blade at the embodiment of Providence.

Even the impossible, even the reckless and meaningless things, the girl will change them to something significant

Their reason only wanted to kill her, but at the same time, their emotion refused her death.

That contrary things raged in their hearts, and they only hoped that she would stop――but the end was near.

The Dragon's body was covered with countless spears.

Its blood stains the earth red, but as compensation, there were only three spears left thrusting at the ground.

It would be impossible to finish it off.

The girl breathed heavily, and blood-red sweat dripped from her chin.

The tattered cloak――and the one-piece dress underneath it, bleeding red could be seen.

Even if she avoided direct hits, there was no way she could dodge all of them.

Countless flying debris and small wounds piled up, and she was about to reach her limit.

Still she moved, moving her body to the new spear.

Vinthril, with a variety of emotions in his heart, raised his voice.

Twenty warriors responded to his voice and alighted in the distance to surround the girl.

Each dismounted from their griffin and took up a curved sword.

The spear, her only weapon, was left with the young warriors remaining in the sky.

The other two spears were already about to be recovered.

――That was her bottleneck.

The dragon soared into the sky in response to them.

Its maw raised to the sky, where it accumulated a vortex of unimaginable magical power.

Vinthril opened his mouth as he felt the sun-like power gathering there.

"...As a warrior, I admire your power from the bottom of my heart."

The Dragon's Roar from earlier――if one looks at its power, it's over the moment you can't prevent it from going up into the sky.

No matter how strong this girl was, the dragon will make her disappear along with this terrain.

The ones here were the suicide squad for that.

If he thought of the aftermath, he thought it might be a good idea to help her and point her blade at her spirit, but that would not be permitted.

Kreisharana had once been allowed to live by the Holy Spirit.

Even if it was a long time ago, it was unforgivable to return that favor with harm.

For the tranquility of Kreisharana had been preserved by the mercy of the Holy Spirit.

Such was faith, even if there was ruin ahead.

"Such a despicable act against you, who alone confronted the Holy Spirit. I do not ask you for forgiveness. We have oaths to keep and favors owed to Yagernaus-sama."

The girl turned her gaze behind her.

When she saw the Suiko and the horse, she smiled and nodded to herself.

"Krische is not angry, and Krische doesn't think it’s despicable."

The girl put her left hand above her head as she said that.

Pointing it at the dragon soaring in the sky.

Before he could ask what are you, an enormous amount of magical power swirled around her.

It was concentrated and released, creating countless blue lines in the heaven.

The blue light intersected between her and the dragon in the sky, bends, and began to create a multitude of geometric patterns.

"...!"

What was accumulated there was the residue of the roar released by the dragon earlier.

Magical powers that failed to convert into pure energy gather at the girl as if seeking an owner.

From a dragon's point of view, it's a trivial magical power.

But to a human being, it was an enormous amount of magical power.

"...the conclusion of the battle, start now"

Throwing spears and running around, what the girl had in her hands was power.

Using the Dragon's magic power to build the heaven――a huge canvas covering the sky.

What was drawn was a geometrical pattern, a canopy against the dragon.

Stunned by the scene beyond their comprehension and they looked up at the sky in a daze.

They intuitively understood that she was the one who created it.

They also knew what she was going to do with it.

However she, was going to face the dragon head-on,

"Because, Krische’s victory, still hasn’t disappeared"

She was trying to counter the Dragon with pure power.

What was there was after all, nothing else but pure madness.

As the dragon roared, it directed its power like the sun toward them.

As if countless thunderclaps bursting forth..

――The light that was emitted as a light that pierced even a distance of a thousand ri.

A vortex of overwhelming violence that wipes out a city, a mountain, distorts the terrain, and mows down everything in front of it.

What stopped it was the beautiful moon mirror floating in the sky.

Its enormous power was blocked by the girl's geometric lens, and the light bursts, dissipates, and scatters.

"What...is..."

The afterglow bounced back, piercing only the sky and clouds.

The Dragon's Roar, which was supposed to annihilate the surrounding area, did not cross the canopy created by the girl――the gap that should be called the world, and vanished as if reflected in a mirror.

The girl did not stop there.

She reached out her right hand as if thrusting it out, accumulated magic power in it, and carved a circuit.

Again, a geometrical pattern that was beyond their comprehension was created on the spot.

As if it was the wrath of the heavens itself, bringing forth thunder itself.

――What she held in her hand was a gigantic spear of light bursting in the atmosphere.

Once she stopped the Dragon's Roar, the girl leaned forward while holding up a giant spear of light.

Her run was short, but the speed of the spear was nothing compared to what it had been before.

What she unleashed was truly the roar of a small dragon.

The wall of the atmosphere, the distance was nullified.

The spear, which pierced the dragon's body like a flash, burst with a furious roar.

The sky was covered with light for a moment, and the huge flame generated scorched even the heaven.

Like a bird pierced by an arrow—the Dragon covered in flames and fell.

Its gigantic body crushed the magic crystal cliff, and ore-like scales splattered around it.

The dragon's giant body was swallowed by the crumbling rock wall,

"...Just, like this."

Seeing that, Vinthril put his hand to his mouth and let out a voice.

So did the other warriors.

A gap in the rubble――the burned body of the dragon billows smoke.

Its graceful wings were tattered, its scales mottled.

Stunned, they drop their swords.

――Dragon Slayer.

Despite being human, she twisted reason and logic itself.

Seeing what the girl did, some even kneeled down.

"............"

But among them, only the girl who breathed hard never loses her fighting spirit.

The wings swayed and the rubble stirred.

It was buried in the rubble of the magic crystal, but it raised its sickle like a neck.

Its abdomen looked scorched and gutted, and its wings were pierced.

Its scales were shattered and peeling here and there, but its majesty was still there.

Its reddish-purple eyes still carried a certain light.

The pressure didn't even fade, and she couldn't see the bottom of its enormous magical power even after letting out such a roar twice.

Even though it's covered in scars, it's a monster that reigned over the heavens.

――That was the existence called Dragon.

Krische her brow and once again produces the thundering spear in her right hand.

What she had in her hand was, after all, the remnants of the magical power released by the dragon.

It's like fetching water from the lake, it would not make up for the difference between them.

There was still an absolute difference in power.

How many more times can she block that roar and release this magical spear?

Would it be possible to kill this dragon?

Even after all this, victory was still not in her hands

How to kill this dragon?

Krische only thought of that and organized her thoughts.

Once again, silence fell over the place, and intermittent waves of magical power distorted the surroundings.

It was a fluctuation that resembled human’s laughter.

Krische frowned slightly, and the dragon narrowed its eyes slightly.

*"…I see, I see. It seems I’m the one who looked down on you."*

Inorganically.

*"I can't believe I feel death from that small body."*

But it uttered amusedly in a voice that was not a voice.

The girl thought about piercing its skull right there, but unlike its belly, the scales there were thick.

It wouldn’t be killed with one blow.

It was not a bad idea if it wanted to have a conversation.

Time was of the essence to her, so she could gather the magic power.

At least the surrounding warriors didn’t look like they're going to attack her now.

*"Name yourself, little one"*

Krische hesitated for a moment and then opened his mouth without moving.

"...Krische Christand."

The dragon shook its head in satisfaction and looked straight at Krische.

*"My name is Regalave of Arbyagel. ...good, Krische."*

The intimidating, yet somehow intelligent eyes looked at the girl's small body.

*"There is no lie in your words. Despite your diminutive size, you, solely through your wisdom, possess power to equal mine. Thus, you are equal to me――"*

As if laughing, the magic waved intermittently.

*"――If you wish, I will give you the right to call my true name."*

Everyone present there, gasped when they heard those words..