Chapter 104: Trap (8)
Airos.
A Watchman and caretaker of the shrine, bound by a vow with the Saintess.
A Dragon.
An ancient dragon who had lived for countless ages.
A monster we could never hope to face as we are now.
Countless words and thoughts flashed through my mind like a revolving lantern.
‘…What should I do?’
Escape, combat, deception.
All were tantamount to suicide.
Especially when facing a dragon like that, brimming with hostility.
“Lord Airos, just a moment…”
I had to resolve this through conversation somehow.
The moment I carefully opened my mouth, having reached that conclusion—
“Savior, get back!”
Someone's urgent cry rang out, and suddenly, I was roughly yanked backward.
Only after falling to the ground did I see who had pulled me and stood in front of me.
It was Yuran.
“☐☐☐☐☐!!!”
As Yuran shouted something, a flood of charms burst from her bosom and sleeves.
Followed by a blinding flash and light that filled our vision.
And then, heat.
A heat so intense it felt like it would burn our eyes and throats.
I instinctively held my breath and shielded my face.
An instant that felt like eternity.
Eventually, the scene before me was a ruined section of the forest.
“What… is this…?”
It was a sight completely devoid of reality.
I looked around in a daze.
A portion of the once-dense forest had been entirely carved out as if cut away.
It wasn’t that the trees had burned down or that ashes were scattered.
It was simply… that part of the forest had disappeared.
“Li… Lian…”
“What on earth just happened…?”
Cecilia and Lancia, who had been behind me, were also in disbelief.
Thankfully, it seemed the two of them were unharmed.
Wait.
Then what about Yuran, who shielded us from the front…?
“Yuran!”
At my desperate cry, Yuran—who had been standing with both hands stretched out before us—flinched in response.
“…Kuh!”
With a scream that sounded like a death rattle, she suddenly coughed up dark, clotted blood.
I quickly reached out and caught her as she collapsed, powerless.
“Yuran! Stay with me, Yuran!”
“I-I’m fine…”
“Thanks to you, we’re all safe. All thanks to you, Yuran.”
“Heh.”
Yuran let out a small laugh.
Holding her properly, I quickly checked her condition.
‘…My god.’
Her body was a wreck, likely from forcibly drawing on too much power—black blood constantly dripped from her mouth.
And it wasn’t just her mouth—her eyes, nose, and ears too.
Blood trickled from every part of her face.
Both sleeves had burst open, revealing arms covered in burns and unidentifiable blotches.
At the sight, I instinctively began to pour healing miracles over her.
“A-Ah… Me too…”
Lancia, crawling over beside me, also cast healing miracles upon Yuran.
Yet, even with the two miracles overlapping, her condition remained unchanged.
She was still in ruins.
“This… counts as… one favor…”
She meant she’d repaid one of her debts with this.
Speechless at her slurred words, I could only stare.
“…”
Soon after, her head drooped powerlessly.
I panicked for a moment, but I could faintly feel her breath—enough to be somewhat reassured.
“I was going to vaporize you all before you could even speak.”
Airos muttered in a low voice.
Still seated atop the boulder, he slowly raised his hand.
Again.
Was he going to attack again?
“Hm.”
While I tensed, he merely scratched his chin a few times with his lifted hand.
Even so, his vertically-slit pupils remained fixed on us.
“What are you aiming for, coming here?”
“We…”
“Do not answer freely.”
Airos spoke sternly.
“For your past courtesy toward me, and for the woman who blocked my strike, I’ve shown you mercy—twice. Be aware of that.”
“…”
“Good. From now on, only answer when I ask. Lian Gwendil, only you.”
As he said that, Airos looked straight at me.
His attitude suggested no one else even mattered to him.
“What are you aiming for by coming here?”
“We…”
“Keep it short.”
“…We fell into a trap.”
“A trap?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of trap?”
“Those who seek our lives lured us here—to the Forest of Secrets.”
“Then why come here?”
“That…”
I quickly answered.
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t know.”
Airos moved his fingers as if brushing down his beard.
“You once asked me how to drive away a dragon. Do you remember?”
“Yes.”
“Was it for this moment?”
“No.”
“Then for what?”
“For the future.”
“The future, huh.”
He gave a small smile.
Then nodded slightly, as if he understood.
“Do you want to live?”
“Yes.”
“Then how do you think you all can survive? Go on, tell me.”
“…We’ll wait here.”
He tilted his head at my answer.
“Wait? And you think that’ll keep you alive?”
“Yes.”
“Explain in detail. I don’t mind if it’s long.”
I nodded.
“When we were caught in the enemy’s trap and hurled into the Forest of Secrets, we had already requested help from outside. Within at least half a day, someone will arrive where we are. And considering the gravity of this situation, I’m sure the Headmaster will come as well.”
“Yeriel, that fellow?”
“Yes.”
“Sorry to interrupt. Please, continue.”
“…Yes. Then I believe they’ll understand our circumstances and the injustice we’ve faced. And also that we had absolutely no intention of trespassing into the shrine.”
I exhaled deeply.
“Also, Lord Airos, I know how rational, calm, and logical you are. I don’t know your true nature. But at least the version of you I spoke with that day was like that. That’s why I believe that if we can clear up the misunderstanding between us, we can resolve this without conflict.”
“……”
When I finished speaking, he silently scratched his chin.
Airos kept fiddling with his chin for a while, then suddenly reached for something lying next to him.
“Now that I think of it, I completely forgot.”
With a grunt, he lifted something that had been sprawled on the ground, raising it high for us to see.
Only then did I realize it was a person.
“Go ahead, introduce yourselves.”
She was far away, but her distinctive outfit made it clear who she was at a glance.
She was the investigator who had questioned me and, supposedly, lured Allen here.
She hung limply in Airos’s grip, swaying from side to side.
Like a puppet with its strings cut.
“…She’s dead.”
At the sight, Lancia muttered with a sigh.
Then she quietly stopped her healing and slowly shifted her position to stand in front of me.
“She said something similar to you when she came to me first.”
He continued in a flat tone.
“What was it again… She said she wasn’t an intruder. That she was acting under the Headmaster’s orders, carrying out official duties. Something like that. She shoved a few things at me as proof. And those items bore my dear friend Yeriel’s handwriting and seal. Anyone could tell they were genuine.”
He gave a crooked smile.
Then, like tossing out trash, he flung the woman in his hand aside with a flick.
The dry thud of her limp body being discarded made my mind go blank.
We could’ve easily ended up like that.
“Take a look at this.”
He pulled something out from his robe and showed it to us again.
A crystal orb.
A communication crystal orb.
It was identical to the one we had retrieved from the man we defeated earlier.
“An amusing item. I’ve only seen these back in the day. Never thought I’d encounter one again now.”
Airos rolled the orb in his hand as he muttered.
His eyes began to sink, darkened with some unknown emotion.
“They say the best artifact is the corpse of a brilliant mage. And it’s true.”
“I didn’t think remnants of the Great War still existed. I thought they’d all been gathered and burned.”
“A human who stumbled upon a miracle… how amusing.”
Muttering to himself non-stop, Airos rolled his eyes toward us.
“But the problem for you is—I’ve already seen enough of this to be sick of it.”
“…I don’t understand.”
I finally exhaled.
It felt like someone was gripping the back of my neck roughly.
“I don’t understand.”
“Is understanding necessary? No… but if you really want it, I’ll explain.”
He lifted the crystal orb between his fingers.
With a creaking sound, cracks began to form on the orb.
“This, you see, is a medium.”
“It uses itself as a medium to emit strange waves around it.”
“You can’t detect them through normal means. And once exposed, your senses and perception become distorted. For example… thinking right is left, or accepting absurd lies and nonsense as if they were true… strange things like that.”
“The woman who came spouting nonsense had one. And the bastard who mocked me in the past carried the same thing—same function, different form.”
Clink.
The orb shattered in his hand.
“And I see one in your belongings too.”
With those words, I realized he had never intended to let us live from the beginning.
“Then tell me, is there any reason I should see you as anything other than intruders?”
Slowly, he began to rise from his seat.
A figure so massive even an ogre would seem laughable—just standing there, he radiated overwhelming pressure.
And his true form… was a dragon.
I swear, I had never felt such pressure before.
Not in my past life, nor in this one.
“Tell me, Lian Gwendil.”
“Is there any reason I should let you live?”
Airos.
The dragon asked me.
“You’ve already shown me hostility.”
* * *
In that moment, I moved as if under a spell.
I pulled Lancia back, who had stepped forward as if to shield everyone.
Then I moved to stand in front of Cecilia, who was tending to the unconscious Yuran, and immediately unleashed a Miracle of Protection.
A flash exploded just in time—by a hair’s breadth.
It was the very same force Yuran had previously blocked.
Because I intercepted it head-on, the pressure and heat were incomparable to before.
‘…I’m going to die.’
Again.
That thought ran quietly through my mind.
Whoosh!
Something began to ignite from the Miracle of Protection I had cast.
A white flame.
The very same flame I had seen during Professor Windy May’s class in the past.
“This is…”
To my astonishment, it blazed fiercely as if to counteract whatever Airos had fired.
Like a backfire quelling a blaze, it devoured my energy completely to burn and block Airos’s attack.
“Huh.”
I heard Airos let out a stunned laugh.
Then, in a voice filled with disbelief, he muttered,
“What trick did you pull? Mana rebounded. That stung a little.”
A chilling sensation shot through me.
I instinctively raised both arms to block in front of me.
Because of that, the hand Airos meant to clutch my throat with only managed to grab my forearms.
Though, could I even call that fortunate?
Crack!
“Grrgh…!”
An involuntary groan escaped me from the pain in both arms.
Despite the overwhelming agony, I didn’t take my eyes off Airos.
On top of that, I imbued my legs with the Miracle of Enhancement and fiercely kicked his abdomen and groin in succession.
“That hurts, you know.”
Yet, he didn’t even flinch.
Instead, he clenched his fist and aimed precisely for my head.
“Get away from him!”
Then came a sharp cry, and Lancia charged at Airos.
The blade of her sword—never drawn from its sheath before—gleamed with a deadly edge.
“Hrgh!”
As her strike aimed for his wrist, Airos yanked me toward him.
He was using my body as a shield by Lancia’s own hand.
But instead of slicing through me, Lancia twisted her wrist deftly and pierced Airos’s wrist.
“Hm?”
Perhaps surprised that his wrist had been impaled, Airos dropped me.
No—he must have let go on purpose.
With one arm restrained and the other pierced, he couldn’t continue fighting effectively.
“Not bad.”
Airos murmured.
Lancia said nothing.
Then came a deafening sound, like a hammer striking red-hot iron.
One thunderous crash after another.
A muffled groan.
The sound of blood spraying and bones shattering.
‘I have to… somehow…!’
My arms were destroyed—I couldn’t move them properly.
I had to hold on to consciousness, no matter what.
Just as I managed to steady myself, I saw Airos towering above, looking down at me.
His body was scraped in a few places, but that was all.
“Ugh…”
Below him, Lancia lay collapsed, clutching her broken sword.
In that brief moment of combat, her body was in even worse shape than mine.
“……”
Airos slowly reached toward me without a word.
That was when—
“Don’t.”
Cecilia.
She stepped in front of me.
At her movement, Airos paused his hand and looked back and forth between her and me.
“…Don’t touch him anymore.”
Her voice, unlike usual, trembled with emotion.
Even so, Airos only looked down at us with a still, indifferent gaze.
“Blood of Everglenn, even if you are worthy, it does not mean you can escape my hand.”
“……”
“Step aside. Unlike Lian Gwendil, your worth is not fleeting but eternal. To kill one such as you is disquieting, and I’d rather not be the one to twist your neck and end you myself.”
Cecilia did not move.
“…No.”
She simply said a single word.
Airos nodded.
“Then so be it.”
He slowly began to raise his hand.
Still, Cecilia did not move.
“…Come forth.”
Only—
Her lips parted.
“Taranis.”
A single name was spoken.
The name of the Spirit King of Fire.