Chapter 27: Leader of the Heroes of Salvation

Author: Kurohitsuji
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n2086fk/28/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

◆ Viewpoint: Katsuragi Arei ◆

The air shakes with a dragon’s roaring.
One cry, and the mana in the atmosphere runs wild.
I throw an arm up to shield my face, but the wind pressure pushes my body back a little.

He takes that opening and spreads his wings. Bad. He’ll escape into the sky.

“Renju!”
“Here we gooo!!”

Renju bursts from cover, long, soft black hair streaming, and in an instant shears off the dragon’s right wing.
It loses its balance and goes down where it is.
A terrific sand cloud rises with the rumble of the earth.

An opening.

“Wake up, God-Forged Iron Stake!”

My partner manifests on my right arm, wrapped in blue mana-light.
A silver gauntlet. A giant iron stake linked to a revolver jutting from elbow to the back of the hand.
Thrust ports lined from the shoulder across the back.

God-Forged Iron Stake.
The most inconvenient blessing the goddess ever sent.

“Let’s go…!”

I blast the verniers on my back and leap into the air.
Full speed, wide open, nothing held back.

The scenery blows away behind me at a terrible force, hard to even see.
The dragon, building-huge, closes at a rush.

——”Load”

The dragon opens its mouth and starts sucking in air. A precursor to breath. Bad.
I kick the boosters and bounce straight up at a right angle.
Immediately after, flame fills everything below.
If that hit, there wouldn’t be a scrap left.

But.

——”God-Forged Iron Stake : mana compression complete”

Breath is powerful, but once it’s been spat, it takes time until the next.
I explode-accelerate diagonally down and drive in as if flung.
Sorry, but I don’t have room either.
I’ll finish this now.

——”Judgment Stake : Ready?”

“Here, take it! Take it with you!”

My partner sounds a roar that beats even a dragonkind’s cry.
It punches through the base of the dragon’s wing, the middle of its back, and opens a huge hole.

I’m flung by the recoil.
I take a fall, but I can’t kill the momentum and I roll on the ground.

“Guh… that hurts, oi.”
“Hey Arei, you all right!?”
“Ou… I’m alive.”
“Come on, come on!! The next one’s coming!!”
“Damn it… no time to rest even…”

I kick the boosters to get away from a flying fireball and leap out into the air.

They’re smart.
They understand that if they fly they can attack one-sidedly.
For oversized lizards, they’ve got some nerve.

“Renju, the ground’s yours! I’ll hit the sky!”
“Aye aye!! Don’t die, okay!!”
“You neither! All right, let’s do this!”

The northernmost end of the Demon Kingdom of Gernika, Dragon Valley.
Past here is the herb that will save that child’s mother.

I shouldn’t have taken it.
I’m scared. It’s been a while since I even saw a dragon, and just the size is terrifying.
On top of that they fly and spit flame breath.
I’d rather not get involved with monsters like that if I can help it.

But a child was crying.
A little child, saying they wanted help, holding out every copper they could give.

I had a reason I couldn’t back down.
Then I have no choice but to drive straight on.

The ground I can leave to Renju.
That one is one of the strongest in the world. Dragons are easy for her to subjugate.
“Idaten.”
A blessing that accelerates every time she kicks the ground, and can nullify friction at will.
There’s no one who can catch Renju when she exceeds the speed of sound.

The problem is the sky.
To take flying dragons, I have to fly too.
However fast Renju is, if she can’t fly, the attacks don’t reach.
Then I have to do it.
I, the weakest among our group, have to try.

Damn it. I’d like a slightly easier way to live.

“Arei!! I found the herb!!”
“Leave the gathering to you! I’ll… shoot, through this one!”

A roar. Whether it’s the dragon’s or the God-Forged Iron Stake’s, I can’t tell anymore.
I don’t even know how many I’ve brought down.
Just straight ahead. This is all I can do anyway. I won’t hold back.

“This one too… take it!”

A roar. Another one falls to the earth.
But it’s about to be bad. My mana was less than an ordinary person’s to begin with.
I’ve been saving it, but it’s about to hit bottom.

Well, I only planned for the trip out from the start.
Natural, I suppose.

“Renju, take that herb and go back first. I’ll hold these.”
“Haa!? Arei, you’re about to run out of mana, right!? How are you getting back!!”
“Please. I promised.”
“……I’ll come back at full speed!! You absolutely stay alive, okay!?”
“Ah, it’s a promise. Promises, I keep.”

I put up a front. My injured back burns.
A promise. That’s something you have to fulfill.
Then I’ll struggle until the brink of death.
My life is cheap, but a promise is heavy.
I can’t die easy.

Steel yourself, Katsuragi Arei. Survive.
To keep a promise.

I clench my teeth and stand, and then.

“…Older brother? Melodrama, in a place like this?”
“You two really don’t change.”
“Fuhahaha! Ancient lizards! Prostrate yourselves before my dark mana!”

Familiar voices, suddenly from behind.
I look, and in the backlight, three familiar figures.
The Heroes of salvation were there.

My strength leaves. My body tips.

“…Ha. What, you do like me after all.”
“Arei!? Hey, oiii!? You can’t sleep yet!!”

Unsteadily. My body tipped.
As my awareness recedes, I hear my companions’ familiar voices.

“Renju, I think it’s a coma from mana depletion.”
“…Uwah!? Kanon!?”
“I won’t let you get away this time.”
“Kyousuke too!? How did you find us!?”

“Fuhahaha! Come, brand of grudges! That which is eternal purgatory! Meteor Faaaaall!”

“Uoh!? Kaede, you’re in top form today too!! The dragons are dropping like bugs!!”
“Anyway, don’t you have something you ought to do? Why not finish that first?”
“Don’t you do anything weird to Arei while I’m gone, okay!?”
“As if I would!”
“Then I’m off!!”

After the noisy exchange, someone holds up my upper body.
In thin awareness, I feel it.

“Really… it’s been a while, older brother.”
“We looked for you quite a bit, Arei.”
“Wake, soul-sworn ally of mine! Let us share the joy of reunion!”

You people, shut up. Let me sleep a little…