Chapter 81: Poison Flower of Gold

Poison Flower of Gold

Clang. With that sound, the two furiously collided.

Drawing a trail of golden light behind him, Tatsumi was flying at the dragon at jet speeds, his thrust-out sword aimed at the dragon’s body.

Be it as it may, the dragon’s agility was not common. It tried to dodge Tatsumi’s attack by slipping to the side.

However, Tatsumi was faster than it expected. Perhaps the dragon felt the emotion called conceit.

His blade slashed through the dragon’s side and completely cut off all three of the dragon’s tiny legs on that side.

Those black legs with spines sprouting out in infinite number fell to the ground, spilling white blood.

The dragon made a high-pitched shriek. Without mistake, it was the sound of agony.

Newton’s First Law still applied to magical flight: Tatsumi still continued to fly with the same speed after cutting off a few of the dragon’s legs. He drew an arc in the sky, turning to the dragon for another attack.

This time, Tatsumi was already heading straight to the dragon’s head. The dragon was enraged at being wounded in its domain, the sky, and the flames of its anger burst forth.

Grinding its teeth, the dragon flew towards Tatsumi at its top speeds. Tatsumi matched it, pointing his blade forwards.

The watchers saw the two of them collide once again. But at that moment, the dragon made an aerial sidestep.

The dragon, shifting sideways, still had its head trained upon Tatsumi. It hurled flames to him at point-blank range.

Those crimson flames spread through the skies and enveloped Tatsumi’s body.

Faster than the viewers could cry out in worry, the sharp sound of something hard breaking resounded.

Tatsumi teleported out of the cloud of flames with a piece of one of the dragon’s four wings. The earlier sound came from the wing shattering.

Other parts of the translucent wing fell to the ground, and Tatsumi dropped the one he was holding.

Tatsumi disappeared among the shattered wing particles, sparkling in the sunlight.

At the next moment, Tatsumi appeared just below the dragon’s body. Inertia carried over through teleportation: he was still flying at the same speeds as before.

When judging pure forwards speed, the current Tatsumi was faster than the dragon. However, the dragon had him beat in aerial maneuvering.

That’s why Tatsumi didn’t turn in the sky. He only went straight forwards.

Tatsumi had the ability called “Instant Transition.” Teleportation could allow him to “turn” even while moving straight forwards.

Using Instant Transition repeatedly, he flew into the dragon.

The dragon’s dodging ability might’ve been good, but Tatsumi was faster and was attacking at melee range. It simply could not dodge. Nothing could.

Above the city, loud clangs reverberated.

And on the millionth blow, one final, loud clash was heard.

However.

That sound didn’t come from the dragon’s body but Tatsumi’s hand.

「──────え？」

“──────Huh?”

Flying through the sky, Tatsumi said, dumbfounded. At the same time, the blade of his sword fell to the ground, spinning.

The sound of something breaking wasn’t the familiar sound of the dragon losing a body part. It was the sound of Tatsumi’s sword reaching its limits.

Tatsumi’s sword was something that Calcedonia gave to him. Although it was definitely sharp, it was by no means a devil-sealing type.

Even the most famous of swords would break after hitting the dragon’s hard exoskeleton. Tatsumi’s sword was no different: it broke after being constantly hit against such a hard surface.

Up til now, the dragon’s exoskeleton had taken many cuts. Parts of the dragon’s wings were cut off, and it was missing three legs. But, it was nowhere near the end of its life.

Even so, Tatsumi lost the blade that he used to fight the dragon.

Should I go to Calcedonia to get a replacement? Tatsumi thought.

However, if he left the dragon to itself, it would attack the soldiers atop the wall. No, it might even fly over the wall to attack the city.

While they were battling through the heavens, the two flew to a considerably high altitude. It was because of that that they did no damage to the environs, but it was also Tatsumi’s current cause for his stress.

Tatsumi threw the handle of his blade-less sword and took out a dagger he had equipped beforehand. But even Tatsumi’s previous sword was tiny compared to the dragon’s huge body. Such a small dagger could do nary a thing.

Chasing after the dragon, Tatsumi was well aware of the sweat running down his forehead.

When she saw what fell from the sky, Calcedonia’s composed face turned pale.

“......T-This is...Husband’s...sword’s…”

With a clang and a dry noise that rang out, a broken sword blade tumbled to the ground. Everyone in the vicinity saw it, and their expressions became similar to Calcedonia’s, a lot worse.

Far above where they were standing, Tatsumi was having a battle against the dragon.

It was so high up that even Jadokh’s bow, Lyurn’s Strength, could not reach it.

“...We can’t...do anything...to help Tatsumi…!!!”

Jadokh had a vexed expression on his shapely face. He was unconsciously biting his lips, and a small trickle of blood was flowing.

Jadokh wasn’t the only one thinking such things. Miloulle was, Eru was, and Morganeich was. Taülorde and Bugarank were also staring straight up, with the same expression as Jadokh.

And Calcedonia, worry in her ruby eyes, search the blue skies for a sign of Tatsumi.

Hugging the blade of Tatsumi’s broken sword.

The knights and soldiers weren’t only atop the walls to sightsee.

A dragon, Ruler of the Sky. That kind of enemy was engaging with humans in a fair fight. Furthermore, the dragon had a huge advantage from the start, flight.

Human and dragon were engaged in a never before seen battle, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that all of the remaining people in the kingdom were watching this battle.

At the royal castle. At the four churches. At the nobles’ residences. At the houses of the commoners.

From terraces and balconies. From the houses’ windows. From the doors that led into the streets.

The people silently looked into the sky, watching the battle unfold.

Tatsumi lost his weapon and had to resort to running away.

If he were to withdraw at full speed, then he would be able to shake off the flying dragon. But Tatsumi didn’t take that choice.

Drawing a huge arc in the sky, Tatsumi maintained his distance from the dragon.

Tatsumi had already mastered this flight magic completely.

From the start, Tatsumi had a perfect flight magic. Right now, Tatsumi’s mobility in flight was leagues above the top swimmers from Earth.

The dragon could not catch up to Tatsumi, so it spit flames out in frustration. Tatsumi just dodged all of them with Instant Transition.

Thus they danced through the skies, Tatsumi searching for some kind of opening to make his counterattack.

He could not compete with the dragon with the dagger he had in hand. Though Tatsumi did have another weapon available.

He glanced away from the dragon to his right arm. On his arm was a gauntlet made of tiny scarlet-gold chains twined around his arm.

What was once the Grand Mage’s favored weapon. “Amaryllis” was its oxymoronic name, and it was still silent on Tatsumi’s hand.

─Might as well put some mana into this and attack the dragon?

Mana Strike, a move where one poured mana into a sword to attack. It didn’t have to be used with a sword, though.

Amaryllis was a gauntlet that extends almost to the elbow. This weapon made from a strange golden metal might be better to fight with than the dagger. Out of desperation more than anything else, he poured his mana into his right hand.

It was as if his mana was responding to him─no, there was no mistake that his mana was reacting to him.

“......Amaryllis?”

Responding to Tatsumi murmuring its name, the chains loosened around his arm.

It looked like a flower bud blooming.

The blooming chains held a golden light─the light of Tatsumi’s mana─and it slowly revolved around his body.

And then, the awoken Amaryllis poured its knowledge into Tatsumi.

“...I see. To become complete...you need more mana.”

The first time Tatsumi equipped Amaryllis, the chains responded to him. That was because of the reaction to the mana contained in the spell, Instant Transition.

However, it wasn’t enough mana to unlock the Grand Mage’s inheritance. That’s why Tatsumi only learned of the weapon’s name. If Tatsumi had used more mana to activate the spell, the weapon might have already awoken.

Right now, Tatsumi was pouring huge amounts of mana into Amaryllis in preparation for Mana Strike. That was a trigger for the Grand Mage’s inheritance to recognize its new user.

“............I see. It’s something like a fuse.”

Tatsumi learned how to perfectly use the cute yet dangerous weapon.

Tatsumi slowly dropped his flight speed. In the open sky, there was no need to fly quickly with a partner like Amaryllis.

“Okay, let’s go, Amaryllis. This is our debut stage.”

Seamlessly halting to a stop, Tatsumi stared at the dragon coming after him.

He pulled at the golden chain floating around him and heaved the weighted end, the anchor, at his enemy.

It was a sunny day with no clouds.

In that cloudless, blue sky, a shining flower of gold bloomed.

Without being suspicious of Tatsumi’s actions, the dragon headed straight towards Tatsumi.

Tatsumi looked straight at the dragon. He did not avoid it, nor did he run away.

He did just one thing.

Tatsumi slowly moved his right hand up and pointed his index finger at the dragon.

Mana poured into the golden chains, and they became an extension of Tatsumi. With but a thought, he sent the chains soaring through the sky and had the pointed tip disappear.

The next moment, the chain materialized right under the dragon’s stomach and went straight through the shell.

Crimson Gold, a metal that only the dwarves can temper. A metal of its caliber could easily penetrate the dragon’s exoskeleton.

Originally, it would have been impossible for Tatsumi's "Instant Teleportation" to teleport only a part of an object. However, this did not apply to "Amaryllis." Having been used by the Grand Mage himself, this legacy was indeed special.

And it didn't end there. It wasn't over with just this.

Tatsumi, sensing the feeling that had pierced the outer shell through the chain, immediately poured more magic into it and caused a magic explosion inside the dragon.

The tough exoskeleton of the dragon had the strength to withstand even Tatsumi's "Mana Strike." However, the explosion of magic directly poured into the interior – into the inside of the shell – rampaged within the dragon, confined by its tough outer shell.

Once again, a distressed roar echoed from the dragon's mouth.

A golden thin chain extended from Tatsumi's right hand.

In reality, it was only about 7 to 8 meters long, but combined with "Instant Teleportation," it became a formidable arrow with infinite range.

Moreover, this chain made of Crimson Gold had perfect mana transmission.

The golden chain released from Tatsumi's hand once became a fuse that extended anywhere, even crossing space, and undoubtedly destroyed the target Tatsumi had aimed for.

The formidable poisonous flower that once wielded its power to the fullest by the Grand Mage had begun to unleash its reign of terror once again under the new master.