Fighting the Dragon God

The journey north was dull. It was a road I'd already traveled several times, so I was basically sick of the scenery along the way.

We had two carriages in total. When we first set out, Roxy heard I was a King-tier magician and even wanted to come over and discuss magic with me!

But the King-tier magic I knew all required visualizing stone sculptures before I could learn it. Roxy couldn't learn it at all.

I also didn't want to take advantage of Roxy by learning her King-tier water magic, so we didn't study each other's King-tier spells.

Instead, we turned to discussing our understanding of lower-level magic.

For some reason, though, Roxy's grasp of magic was very similar to mine, as if we'd been taught by the same teacher.

I asked her for her teacher's name. She answered:

"When I was little, back in my Devil Race homeland, there was a Long-ear Race big sister who passed near our village. She nearly starved to death at the time.

"My father brought her back home, and I learned all my magic fundamentals from that Long-ear Race big sister. I don't know where she is now. It's already been more than thirty years.

"Later, I went to Ranoa University of Magic, and there I also took a powerful magician as my teacher. That was where I learned my Saint-tier magic."

All right, I felt like I knew who her childhood magic teacher was. But I had no intention of blurting out that my magic teacher and hers were the same person just to cozy up to her.

There was one person who kept being very wary whenever I spoke with Roxy, which made things a little awkward for me.

At any rate, I had saved Lilia and Aisha, so I could be considered a benefactor to Rudeus's family. Normally, Rudeus's family should have treated me very well.

But after Rudeus learned that I could also use chantless magic, he became guarded against me.

Especially when I was talking to Roxy, he would glance over, whether deliberately or not. If we spoke for a little longer, he would pull Roxy away under the pretext of asking her questions.

Rudeus should be almost fifteen now, and he and Roxy looked like people of the same age. They really did seem rather well matched.

And I knew very clearly about the little knot in Rudeus's heart, so I stopped chatting with Roxy too much.

Human lifespans were still too short. If one paired with a long-lived race, the difference in age between the two sides would mean they couldn't grow old together.

With one side already aged and the other still young, it would probably be a very painful thing for both of them.

So I had no intention of finding someone from a long-lived race as a partner. I'd leave all these people to Rudy.

Not planning to find a partner was one thing, but constantly being taken a liking to by long-lived races was also strangely headache-inducing.

After all, we were on the road the whole way, and often didn't enter cities. Elinalise would frequently be unable to hold herself back, then come raid my tent.

This was a very troubling matter for me.

Afterward, I had told her that I had someone I liked and hoped she could restrain herself a little.

But it seemed like this had absolutely nothing to do with her. What necessary connection was there between me having someone I liked and her solving her physiological needs?

And to my horror, I discovered that after the deed had been done several times, when night came, I was starting to look forward to whether I'd be attacked in my sleep.

Every time I reflected in sage mode, I repeatedly warned myself not to indulge in pleasure, that I had to learn to let the big head manage the little head, and not let the little head manage the big head.

Unfortunately, the moment the female elf entered the tent, I couldn't remember a thing. She was truly terrifying. As expected of the strongest Juice Extractor of the current generation.

Because Aisha had already taken me as her master, she would have me teach her magic every day during the daytime.

This girl was terrifyingly clever.

For all magic lessons, she basically learned it after one try. From time to time, she could also infer three from one example, and on her own deduce many spells that could be combined for use.

And I felt she also had a particular talent for reading people's expressions and moods.

For example, at the start, when Roxy chatted with me, I discovered that every time, it was Aisha who went to notify Rudeus after seeing it.

In addition, after she discovered that I couldn't handle Elinalise, whenever Elinalise came to harass me during the day, Aisha would often step out to rescue me from the situation.

She really was a good girl. Perhaps it was the environment she'd lived in since childhood that had forged her current talents.

Although we had already taken this route once when coming here, our speed on the return trip was not fast.

After all, there were still two children under ten in the carriage.

It took us almost five months before we returned to Shirone Kingdom again.

However, this time we kept a relatively low profile and did not enter Ubon City, the capital of Shirone Kingdom.

Instead, we directly bypassed the city.

When we entered other cities to purchase supplies, it was handled by Rudeus and the others. Aisha and I did not take part.

They asked us why we were doing this.

The one who answered was Aisha. She said:

"Because my mother and I were previously imprisoned by this country's prince. In order to save us, Brother Dolin ended up fighting with that prince.

"We're afraid that if our tracks are discovered, Shirone Kingdom will retaliate against us. So we have to keep a low profile."

Another full-marks answer. It seemed Aisha's greatest talent was answering questions by avoiding the important and dwelling on the trivial without lying.

Her answer was extremely convincing. If I'd had to explain this matter, it would have been very easy for them to become suspicious of me.

Roxy didn't ask exactly which prince it was. She had probably already forgotten Pax, right?

But our luck was very good this time. No accidents occurred, and we soon traveled to the Red Dragon Lower Jaw. Once we passed through here, we would be able to return to the Asura Kingdom.

I didn't know whether it was the guidance of fate, or whether I had been plotted against by Hitogami.

We ran into that man at the Red Dragon Lower Jaw.

At first, we were chatting happily together. Rudeus was even bragging to his two little sisters.

"Even if the red dragons on the mountain come running down, with this many magicians, we can deal with them easily."

It also counted as easing the mood in the group. After all, roars from red dragons had been coming down from the mountain, and they had scared Norn into crying.

Just as Rudeus finished speaking, I was about to chime in and say I had beaten three red dragons to death.

Then I noticed something very out of place. Beside me, Aisha, Elinalise, and Roxy were all trembling nonstop.

Even Norn had stopped crying. She hid behind Rudeus, clutching his clothes and shivering there.

Then footsteps sounded, tap, tap, tap. From straight ahead, a man walked over wearing a wide, loose white robe, his body a full two meters tall.

White hair, white eyebrows, and yellow vertical pupils.

Although I did not dare be certain, I was almost sure who the other party was.

There was only one person on the other side. Nanahoshi was not with him. I hurriedly pretended to be terrified and walked forward with my head lowered.

After we passed within less than twenty meters of that person, just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a familiar voice rang out beside me.

"Please wait!"

Rudeus was about to start courting death.

"Ah, hello. My name is Rudeus Greyrat."

No, this time Orsted was alone. Nanahoshi was not with him. Rudeus would definitely die.

I reacted immediately and tried to stop Rudeus from continuing the conversation. But I was still too late.

"I wanted to ask about that Teleportation Incident. Do you perhaps know any information about it?"

The man in white turned around and stared at us with those naturally solemn vertical pupils of his.

Then I heard him say, "Never heard of you. Who are your parents?"

Rudeus answered honestly.

"My father is Paul Greyrat, and my mother is Zenith Greyrat."

"Hmm? Paul should not have a son, only two daughters. Hm! You actually did not avert your gaze."

"Because your eyes are scary. I really want to look away right now too."

"I do not know any information about the Fittoa Territory Teleportation Incident.

"Now I will ask you. You would not happen to have heard the term Hitogami, would you?"

When I heard Orsted ask that question, I knew everything was already too late.

I began accumulating magic power in my body and started charging magic.

"I have heard it. In my dreams, someone called Hitogami appeared..."

In that instant, Orsted moved. From where he stood, he charged toward Rudeus at extreme speed.

I made a snap decision and chose to attack Orsted with magic.

My left hand rose, and right in front of Rudeus, I directly used the advanced magic I had created myself: Bastion Guard Stance.

This magic was similar to the air stance I had previously used to delay Eris's Light Blade, except it compressed a cubic stance into an air wall only two centimeters wide.

This air wall was colorless and odorless, impossible to see with the naked eye, but inside that short two-centimeter wall, after my compression, the atmospheric pressure was one million kilopascals, equivalent to ten thousand times the atmospheric pressure at sea level.

All attacks, weapons, and objects that passed through this wall would be compressed by the pressure, and thus could not directly pierce through.

In a certain sense, this was also a kind of gravity magic.

But this was still not enough against Orsted, who possessed the Dragon God Battle Aura. Orsted vanished on the spot, and in the next second, he was already in front of Rudeus. His palm and fingers straightened, turning into a hand blade that stabbed toward Rudeus's heart.

But when it struck my Bastion Guard Stance, a tremendous Wind Gale burst out. Although the hand blade passed through my wind wall, under the effect of the pressure, its landing point was not Rudeus's heart, but his stomach.

After Orsted pulled his hand back, Rudeus clutched his stomach in agony. It felt like even his stomach had been pierced through.

I immediately used a wind tornado to suck Rudeus onto the carriage.

While Orsted was still being blocked outside by my wind wall.

I cracked the horsewhip heavily against the horse in front of me and shouted, "Run, now!"

Elinalise also reacted. She cracked her whip too, showing the horsepower no mercy at all as she fled toward the distance.

I handed the reins to Roxy to control, then ran to the back of the carriage myself.

Rudeus's blood flowed all over the carriage. Thankfully, Norn was in the other carriage; otherwise, she would probably already have been crying until her heart tore and her lungs split.

I handed Aisha a Saint-tier healing magic scroll and had her go treat Rudeus's wounds.

I used Water Saint Tier magic toward the sky: Cumulonimbus.

Then I used the advanced magic Frost Barrier on the ground.

I created layer after layer of enormous ice walls to block Orsted's pursuit.

The carriage raced wildly the whole way.

The sound of ice shattering rang out behind us. The ice walls I had made were no use at all. Orsted's speed did not drop, and in the blink of an eye I saw him break through the final layer.

I remembered my plan and said to Elinalise and Roxy, "You two hurry and go. I'll hold him off.

His target is Rudeus. I can use flying magic, so I can escape his pursuit."

After that, I generated a huge expanse of Frost Barrier on the ground, blocking Orsted's route as he chased after them.

Seeing that I could fly, Elinalise and Roxy also knew this was no time to hesitate. They swung the reins and drove off into the distance.

I used Invisible Wings and flew into the sky, facing Orsted in midair.

I continuously used Wind Blade, unleashing saturation strikes in Orsted's direction.

I did not fire them toward the others, but instead launched Wind Blades along the path he would take to charge toward Rudeus and the others. The effect was excellent. My Wind Blades successfully hit him, and I saw a clear flush of red appear on his forehead.

As if drawn by my attacks, Orsted gave up pursuing Rudeus and came after me instead.

During that time, he also cast Disturb Magic at me, perhaps intending to interrupt my flying magic with it.

However, because I was continuously casting Wind Blade, at most he only interrupted one or two of my Wind Blades and did not affect my flying magic.

I attacked while retreating, and after opening up a slightly farther distance, I flew toward the lakeside in the distance.

After reaching the lakeside, I cast Abyssal Eternity and compressed the water element in the lake. Although this time, without the infinite magic power I had when holding the Silver Flow Spirit Pivot under the sea last time, the compression was not as thorough.

But this time, I still used up a large amount of my magic power. A small lake of roughly over one thousand square meters was compressed by me into a sphere about one meter in diameter.

White light erupted inside the cube. As long as I threw this cube out, it would probably count as the damage of a miniature sun exploding.

Before long, Orsted caught up.

"You are very impressive. This is the first time I have seen someone who can use flying magic so proficiently and block my attacks.

What is that glowing white sphere in your hand?"

Orsted actually did not take the initiative to attack. Could it be that he thought he already had me in the palm of his hand?

"This is a small sun. Do you believe me? As long as I release it, it can unleash an explosion of solar energy."

Orsted did not refute me. I only saw him say:

"Is there something you were waiting here for me to discuss? Also, I have yet to ask your name. Would it be convenient to tell me?"

"My apologies, Lord Dragon God. Please forgive my attack on you just now. This spell in my hand right now is only to make sure you do not attack me immediately. I have no intention of becoming your enemy. I was waiting here for you in order to cooperate with you. My name is Dolin Prodia Greyrat."

I fired the small sun in my hand toward the distance with magic power, to prove that I was extremely sincere.

I saw a mushroom cloud a hundred zhang high rise from the small mountain in the distance. Half of the mountaintop vanished, leaving only crimson magma at the edges.

I could not give Orsted time to think. I had to gain his trust as quickly as possible.

"I know your circumstances and your goal. I will not be affected by your curse. I can become your ally and help you deal with Hitogami.

And what I need is your protection to shield my family, as well as an item that prevents Hitogami from being able to view my fate."

Hearing that I needed an item that prevented Hitogami from viewing fate, Orsted's eye twitched. He looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze and said:

"I have never heard your name before. Who exactly are you? Where did you learn that I have such an item? Did Hitogami teach you to say this?"

Seeing that he was getting a little anxious, I hurriedly replied:

"Don't get worked up. I'm Nanahoshi's fellow countryman. I come from the same world as her, so of course you wouldn't know my name.

Do you know of magic that can send someone back to the past? When I was born, I had a certain memory.

In that memory, Hitogami would continuously give me hints, allowing me to gain what looked like enormous benefits, but after his final little request, he caused my family to be ruined and my loved ones to die.

In order to find a way to kill him, I wandered everywhere in search of it and went to many ruins.

In the end, in a dragon race ruin, I learned that to reach the place where he was, one needed the secret treasures of the Five Dragon Generals. But my lifespan could not support me living until Laplace's resurrection.

In the end, I exhausted all my magic power and sent my memories back into the mind of the me who had just been born.

In my memories, I knew that you had also always been fighting Hitogami, and that you had a way to block Hitogami's future sight."

This explanation of mine was basically copied from the experiences of Rudeus's diary world, which would make it seem more real.

Sure enough, Orsted hesitated. He himself was constantly looping back into the past. He was very clear that this kind of magic existed in the world.

And the dragon race ruin I mentioned really did exist. With Nanahoshi's existence, he also clearly knew that people who did not belong to this world would not be affected by his curse.

So he accepted my proposal.

After placing some kind of technique on me, he handed me the bracelet he wore on his body.

After that, I told him that I still had to head to the Northern Continent. If there was anything he needed my help with, he could find me in Sharia on the Northern Continent.

He did not say anything else, and soon, he left.