[Author’s Opening Note: If my hand slipped, it can't be helped.]
Chapter 455: O Dragon, O Dragon! We Race Toward the End of Our Longing — O Dragon, O Dragon! Part Thirty-Two
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Siegwurm: “Go lie over there for a bit.”
His sentence to Noirlind was shockingly casual.
Noirlind: “Wha—ggh?!”
Siegwurm's hand closed around Noirlind's neck and lifted him with enough grip strength to easily crush an ordinary human.
Noirlind struggled to break free as he sensed an enormous amount of energy gathering from Siegwurm's entire golden body deep inside his mouth, but before the black dragon's huge body could escape his grasp...
Siegwurm: “Scream in my flames of annihilation... Scorching Annihilation Breath: Breath of Bane!!”
—A flash.
There was not even a scream. The vermilion breath, like red-hot gold, struck Noirlind directly in the chest and sent his massive body flying with ease.
Akitsu Akane: “Noirlind-san!!!!”
The cry Akitsu Akane let out was almost a scream.
Noirlind went flying with several players caught in his path. Akitsu Akane ran to him at full speed and found him lying weakly on the ground, groaning. The abnormal amount of damage effects pouring from his chest made her breath catch.
Akitsu Akane: “A-Are you okay?!”
Noirlind: “Ggh... grrgh...”
There was no answer. Only groans escaped his half-open mouth.
The wound was not fatal. If it had been enough to kill him, then under the game's system, his body should already have shattered.
That meant Noirlind still had HP left.
Even so, he was clearly covered in wounds and completely exhausted. As the players looked at him, voices began to rise among them.
—Wasn't this their chance?
—He was one of the clear-condition targets.
—They could kill him now.
—Kill Noirlind.
This is bad, Akitsu Akane thought, alarm bells ringing in her head.
She knew Noirlind had earned the hatred of countless people, and now he was showing them his biggest opening yet.
Akitsu Akane: “W-Wait... Um, well... I...”
The words would not come.
Pencilgon would have had the gift of gab needed to bring a crowd around to her side. Sunraku would have had the nerve to challenge that same crowd through sheer momentum.
Akitsu Akane could not produce the kind of forceful words that would get her through this situation.
Akitsu Akane: “N-Noirlind-san...”
That was when it happened.
Sunraku: “Sorry, players. This is an event scene.”
Josette: “You are in Saint-sama’s presence. Lower your weapons!!”
Gold and pure white stood between the players and the black dragon, shielding Noirlind and Akitsu Akane behind them.
Sunraku: “I understand why you want to kill Noirlind, but we've got something we want to do while keeping him alive. Think of it like PvP. You don't have to understand it—just accept it.”
His armor looked almost like ordinary clothes with protectors strapped over them, hardly suited to the tension of the battlefield. The mantle he wore over it had the exact opposite feel, carrying a solemn grandeur.
The strange “rod” he held was eye-catching enough, but the most striking part of him was his unnatural iron mask.
It was not a full-face helmet covering his entire head. It looked more like a gas mask or a restraint. Its design featured eight eyes, and although it was a mask worn by a human, it looked almost like the true face of a monster hiding beneath human skin.
Josette: “Our duty as the Shining Knights of the Holy Shield is to ward off anything that would interfere with Saint-sama’s will. Know that no one here will be permitted to lay a hand on Noirlind.”
The other member of the pair stood just as proudly, shielding Noirlind.
Pure white and unyielding. Immaculate and strong.
She was the strongest shield protecting the one and only Saint of the church that worshiped three gods. She was also one of only a handful of record holders in the game, a roleplayer who never showed the slightest embarrassment or compromise.
Josette, known as a “hardcore player,” stood beside the other iron-masked figure, Sunraku, and blocked the players' path.
Akitsu Akane: “Sunraku... san...”
Sunraku: “Come on, Akitsu Akane. You don't have time to lose your nerve. The real fight starts now. I need you and that black one to get to work, and fast.”
Akitsu Akane: “Um, but...”
Eristella: “May I have a moment?”
Akitsu Akane: “Huh? Ah—yes!”
The voice had come without warning.
When Akitsu Akane looked up from where she sat beside Noirlind, a girl was standing there with a gentle smile. Akitsu Akane had no idea when she had arrived.
Eristella: “My apologies. There is something I wish to ask him...”
Akitsu Akane: “Um... You mean Noirlind-san? Go ahead...”
The girl's smile carried a strange presence that made Akitsu Akane feel no desire to resist—almost as though resisting her would be wrong. Overwhelmed by it, she stepped aside.
The appearance of Eristella, the Saint, seemed to stop the surrounding players as well. An unbelievable silence spread across one corner of the battlefield.
Eristella: “Black Dragon Noirlind, one who looks up to Siegwurm the Sky Ruler and reaches toward him... May I ask you something?”
Noirlind: “Ggh... grrgh...”
Eristella: “No, words are not necessary. Simply answer from your heart... I will understand you that way.”
The dragon's eye glared at the Saint.
Eristella did not waver. With a calmness so complete that it almost seemed emotionless, she asked him a single question.
Eristella: “──────?”
Noirlind: “...”
Only Akitsu Akane, standing right beside them, was able to hear the question.
It was the kind of question that might easily have made the black dragon lash out in rage and tear Eristella apart with his claws.
Instead, Noirlind answered through silence and closed eyes.
The girl known as the Saint of Love simply smiled.
Eristella: “I see. Hearing that has allowed me to make up my mind as well...”
With a soft tap, Eristella placed a hand against Noirlind.
The fragile air that made her seem as though she might vanish at a touch seemed never to have existed. Firm resolve filled her eyes as she spoke.
Eristella: “Please... Please rise once more. Let strength return to that wounded, fallen body... Fact Alteration: As I Will.”
Eristella's hand glowed with a soft white light.
A torrent of light wrapped around Noirlind's entire body, like the process of a seed sprouting and growing played at high speed.
When the light faded, Eristella let out a breath as though she had finished a difficult task.
Noirlind rose beside her in perfect condition, as though the damage from moments ago had never existed.
Noirlind: “O-Ooooooh...!!”
Eristella: “I have heard your true intentions clearly... May fortune favor you in battle.”
Noirlind: “Ggh... Hmph. That was always my intention. I shall defeat Siegwurm and prove that I, Noirlind, am the true Dragon King...!!”
Akitsu Akane: “Noirlind-san! Um, are you all better now?!”
Noirlind: “Why are you standing around, Akitsu Akane? If you mean to defeat Siegwurm alongside me, then do not disgrace yourself like this!”
Akitsu Akane: “Y-Yes!”
That was when surprised cries rose from the players fighting a short distance away.
A moment later, an enormous mass landed directly beside Noirlind and the others.
Siegwurm: “...Oh? You... No. If you live in the present, I will not ask too much. But... you would stand before me?”
Eristella: “Great golden Dragon King, who burns the world out of love for humanity... Even someone like me can stand here as an ordinary human.”
Siegwurm: “...I see. Tonight is a fine night. All the long ages I have lived are being fulfilled...”
Siegwurm's gaze fixed on the one human standing before him—and on the black dragon behind her.
Siegwurm: “Then know this! If you stand before my B.o.B.—Breath of Bane—everything before it will be wiped away!!”
The same annihilating blast that had torn through Noirlind's chest only minutes earlier was unleashed once more.
The black dragon's body went rigid as the blast struck him head-on. The nearby players fled to escape the damage, but Eristella smiled.
It was not the distant smile she had worn until now. It was a playful smile that suited a girl her age.
Then Eristella sang out her “scream.”
Eristella: “I might die... you know?”
Josette: “No, Saint-sama. As long as I stand here, no destruction will ever be able to harm you.”
A single Holy Radiant Knight stood in the path of the breath of destruction aimed at Eristella.
Her bearing was exactly that of a guardian statue—Paladion.
Josette: “Siegwurm, I will show you why I am known as Maximum Defense: Defense Holder.”
Paladion, the Holy Radiant Knight, was the highest-tier Job in the Knight line, branching from Holy Knight.
Josette, the player with the greatest defensive power in SLF, faced the breath of destruction with a fearless smile...
And thrust out her right hand.
Josette: “My blood burns hot.”