103. Battle with the Guard Dragon

The dragon realised that I am responsible for defending against the breath.

And it must have decided that I should be crushed first.

As expected of a dragon, it chose me instead of the ones who were relentlessly attacking it.

The less intelligent demon beasts are those who want to crush the things that attack them more violently first.

In other words, this dragon understands the importance of defence.

It also knows that humans are more fragile than dragons.

This might not be the dragon’s first time to fight a human.

As I tried to calm down and respond to the fireball,

「HAAAAAAA!」

Tina shoots the enormous ice block that she had prepared at the fireball.

The fireball flew down at me from above.

Inevitably, Tina’s ice mass took a trajectory from down to up.

(But I told her to leave the defence to me though…)

Nonetheless, I can’t say that Tina’s decision is wrong.

If Tina hadn’t made this decision, there would definitely be a casualty, assuming that I wasn’t present in the party.

In a general party, this is likely a natural or an essential behaviour of the mage.

While I was thinking about that,

「HAAAADAAAAAAA!」

Tina raised a war cry befitting an imperial princess and immediately changed the trajectory of the ice mass right before hitting the fireball.

From ascending to descending; Acceleration in a horizontal direction is added to the free falling ice mass.

The ice mass hits the dragon at a tremendous speed.

The dragon decided that the ice mass would hit the fireball and had just begun to prepare a new fireball.

Currently, the dragon’s magic resource is divided into the storm breath and the fireballs.

Therefore, almost no resources remained for defence.

「GAAARAAAAAAA!」

The ice mass that flew at high speed hit the dragon and shattered its scales.

「Not yet!」

When Tina shouts, the ice mass changes form.

The ice mass instantly dispersed, and while whispering a humming sound it froze the dragon’s whole body in place.

Even the mouth which was shooting out storm breath is frozen.

This stopped the storm breath.

I was completely surprised at Tina’s quickness and skill in converting her magic.

The ice mass was converted into magic with pure cold effect in a very short time.

「As expected of Dion’s disciple」

While praising Tina, I wiped out the fireball that was flying towards me with my left hand clad in magic.

「GU……」

The dragon stared at me rather than Tina.

And while vibrating its body incessantly, it emanated magic.

The dragon shook off the cold magic.

Tina’s attack broke one scale on the dragon.

But even that doesn’t seem to have caused much damage.

A dragon’s vitality is terrifying.

「guuu…」

As the dragon groaned softly, it slowly turned into a supine position.

It is the cue for giving up.

Right now, Arti, who was trying to follow up with her sword, suddenly brakes and stops.

However, Rosetta does not know the meaning of the pose.

She shot an arrow towards the dragon who had already admitted its loss.

When I tried to move to stop the arrow,

「That’s enough」

Dion, who is serving as the referee, was standing at the halfway point between Rosetta and the dragon.

It was spontaneous as though he was there right from the beginning.

He was grasping the arrow Rosetta shot a moment ago.

「When did……」

Rosetta was flabbergasted and astonished by Dion’s movement.

「Rosetta-chan, supine position signals the declaration of defeat. The attacks must be stopped」

「Sorry」

「Well, I am sure you didn’t know. Please be careful from now on」

Dion eyed Regina instead of Rosetta.

「I forgot to inform her. Sorry…」

Regina seemed to reflect a little.

Once again Dion took a deep breath.

「Victor, Humans!」

Dion’s voice echoes through the mountains.

「GRAAAA……」

The dragon got up from the supine position.

Rosetta heaves her shoulders, nocking an arrow to the bowstring.

Tina is still glaring at the dragon while readying her cane.

Both were at the peak of tension.

Arti sheaths her sword into the scabbard and turns towards Rosetta and Tina.

「It is all right now」

「Thank you」

As the tension wears down, Rosetta slumps to her knees.

And her master, Regina, catches her from falling.

「It is over for now… So, calm down」

While saying that, Regina removes the arrow from the bowstring.

On the other hand, Dion smiled at his disciple, Tina.

「That was a good move. The last attack was especially good」

「Th-Thank you」

Dion held the tip of Tina’s cane and slowly lowered it.

It’s discourtesy to continue to assume a battle stance even after the contest is over.

So the masters calmed their disciples and released their battle stance.

And then, I approached the dragon.

「That was a good fight」

「GRRRR…….」

The dragon quietly groaned. It is likely saying something in dragon language.

As I tried to explain the exact part which I thought was splendid, another dragon descended from the skies.

It was more than three times bigger than the dragon we just fought.