Ah, and there was also the one who shot the arrow. Realizing this, a possibility came to mind. Just then, Ava shouted out the warrior's identity.
"Bijin-san!"
Could this warrior truly be Bijin? Standing about 170 cm tall, her slender figure, though clad in armor, gave her an elegant appearance. Despite her beauty, her expressionless face made her look like a dashing woman disguised as a man.
"GAAAAAAAAA!!"
Wounded, the fire Drake turned its fury towards Bijin, taking a deep breath to prepare its next attack.
It was the precursor to the fire breath.
Wait a minute! If it's the fire Drake's breath...!
Roar!!
The fire Drake unleashed a massive fireball toward Miba.
With a jump that easily surpassed human limits, Miba soared five meters into the air, dodging the fiery projectile.
The fire Drake, clearly waiting for this moment, swiped its claws at Miba still airborne. But—
In an astounding feat, Miba kicked off the air, launching herself above the fire Drake, then swung her sword down with the force of her descent.
"...Hmph, Gōsen."
Her blade struck true, severing one of the fire Drake's horns.
But wait— the fireball that missed had slammed into the ground, gouging the earth and igniting it, transforming the area into a sea of flames!
Of course, using fire among all these trees would result in this chaos.
Isn't this battlefield disadvantageous for Miba and her team?
Yet in the next moment, just before the flames could spread, a spell was cast, dousing the fire.
"Diamond Mist!"
A chilling fog enveloped the area, momentarily obscuring vision, but it quickly coalesced toward the flames, extinguishing them one by one.
Turning to the source of the voice, Miba saw a man clad in a white robe pointing a staff toward them.
Beside him stood a woman ready with a bow.
These two must be Miba's allies.
Are there really just three of them facing the Fire Drake? No matter how skilled Miba is as an S-rank, a dragon is not something one person can easily take on. This means the other two must also be high-ranking adventurers.
As if to prove this, the female archer nocks three arrows and fires them at the Fire Drake. "Christopher's Exact Shot: Triple Star!" The arrows pierce the Fire Drake's left eye, left wing, and left front leg, each inflicting the effects of fire, lightning, and ice.
It seems each arrow carries the power of 'magical arrows' rather than just regular ones.
"Hey, you three! It's dangerous here! Leave at once!" The male mage shouts, seizing the moment while the Fire Drake is momentarily stunned to warn us to evacuate. Meanwhile, Miba and the archer continue to attack, diverting the creature's attention away from us.
I appreciate the warning, but our priority is Miba. I hesitate, wrestling with doubts, but then Ava looks up, sensing something new in the air. Following her gaze, I see something green rapidly approaching us.
It's targeting the archer and the mage. Without a second thought, Ava and I spring into action, dashing down from the Running Drake and sprinting toward the two of them.
Ava unsheathed two swords—one sky blue and the other deep blue—and stood ready before us, crossing her blades against the green beast looming above us: a Wind Drake.
I sprinted forward simultaneously with Ava, tackling both of them to the ground. The archer woman shot us a glare for interrupting her attack, but when the Wind Drake's claws whisked past where her head had been, she subtly conveyed her gratitude with a nod.
Ava deflected the Wind Drake's claws with her crossed swords, shielding us from being slammed into the earth. The thwarted creature landed behind us, its head raised threateningly.
"GRUURURURURURU...!"
While not as intimidating as a Fire Drake, this Wind Drake exuded a considerable aura of menace.
"I'll keep the Wind Drake occupied. You two focus on taking down the Fire Drake quickly," I commanded. Though surprised, they nodded in agreement and rushed to aid Beauty.
"Well then... it's time to face the Wind Drake. I've fought a rabbit, a wolf, a chimera, and a Flying Drake, and now I'm up against a real dragon. My track record isn't typical for a beginner."
"True, it's quite an unusual record for a novice," she replied. "But remember, a Wind Drake is essentially just a feathered Flying Drake. That should make it a bit less daunting, right?"
"Now that you mention it, I guess you're right."
Ava and I joked back and forth as we prepared for battle against the Wind Drake in front of us.
"Trinity, take the running Drake and hide!"
"Hey! Don't treat me like a useless newbie! If Suzanne can stand on the front lines, there's no way I'm running away!"
Despite my urging that she should retreat rather than face a real dragon, Trinity, for some reason, was fueled by a competitive spirit and joined our ranks. Her pride as an adventurer seemed to outweigh her fear of the dragon.
◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇
"Alright... first things first. Let's ground that Wind Drake."
"—Infinity Ava Sblade!"
As Ava swung her blue sword, dozens of icy blades appeared above the Wind Drake. The ice swords rained down on its wings, piercing them and rendering the creature unable to fly.
Seriously, what are those swords? They're like a cheat weapon! Is this what blessed gear is capable of?
Awed by Ava's power, I began to chant my own spell, preparing for my attack. But before I could, the Wind Drake, furious from its damaged wings, unleashed a barrage of fist-sized wind blasts toward us.
Strangely enough, even though wind is invisible, I could see the impending projectiles. We dodged the approaching blasts with quick reflexes.
Ava gracefully evaded the attacks, twirling her dual swords as she deflected the wind projectiles. Trinity wrapped a rope around the nearby tree branches and, with a swift motion, propelled herself upward. I dodged the wind projectiles using the swift steps of the Gale Dance style, blocking the ones I couldn't evade with my mithril-wood round shield strapped to my left arm.
Clang!
The impact from the projectile startled me; my left arm tingled from the force. If I took a hit directly, it could lead to serious injury. Keeping my focus on the wind projectiles, I unleashed the spell I had been preparing.
"Ava Split!"
Ava Split was a basic ice magic, similar to a water ball. Naturally, it wouldn't deal damage to the wind Drake in its current form. So I concentrated. In this world, the "Image Effect Theory" allows for considerable application of creativity. I visualized a ping-pong ball sized chunk of ice transforming into an oval shape, like a bullet, adding a spinning motion to it, and then I launched it at the wind Drake.
Whoosh!
The ice projectile pierced through the wind Drake, carving into its body.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"
Wow! I couldn't believe a basic spell could inflict that much damage. Taking advantage of the distraction, Trinity leaped behind the wind Drake and unleashed her dagger techniques.
"Backstab!"
Trinity's short sword pierced through the back of the Wind Drake, inflicting damage. As she prepared to follow up with another strike, the creature thrashed violently, trying to throw Trinity off its back.
"Trinity! Attack and get away immediately!"
At Ava's command, Trinity extended her rope and swiftly disengaged. Ava then summoned her blue sword, the Infinity Ava Sblade, creating platforms of ice in mid-air. Using them as stepping stones, she dashed up, leaping high over the Wind Drake's head.
"Dual-wield technique: Cross Slash!"
Ava's strike hit the Wind Drake squarely on the head, and without missing a beat, she unleashed the ice swords used for her ascent directly at the creature.
"GURAAAAAAAAAAAA――!!"
Even while taking the hit from the ice swords, the Wind Drake targeted Ava as she landed, swinging its tail in a powerful swipe.
"Ugh!"
Ava, unable to maneuver in the air, crossed her two swords to block the tail strike but was still sent sprawling from the force.
"Ava!"
After knocking Ava aside, the Wind Drake turned its attention toward me, charging forward with its massive maw open wide to bite. Just then, Trinity's throwing knife whizzed through the air, but it merely bounced off the creature's tough scales, failing to inflict any damage.
In a split second, as the wind Drake's attention momentarily shifted, I dodged its massive maw with lightning speed, striking it with a slash from my sword as we passed each other.
"Ha! Take that!"
"GURAAA!!"
My blade sliced into the Drakes's eye, blinding it in one swoop. The wind Drake, now cautious after the attack, couldn't fly but used the wind to create distance between us.
Seizing the opportunity, I began to chant a spell for ice bullets, ready to follow up. Yet, I should have reflected a bit more on why the wind Drake had pulled back.
"Suzanne! Dodge!"
Ava's shout alerted me to the danger. I noticed the wind Drake taking a deep breath and closing its mouth—the sign of a breath attack. My focus on the ice bullets had made me too slow to react.
"GOAAAAAAAAAAAA———!!"
The wind Drake unleashed a breath of howling gales, ripping through the air and dragging me into its tempest.
"Gwaaaa?!"
I was caught in the storm, my body twisting and being battered against the trees before I slammed into the ground.
Gaaahhhh?! That hurts, like hell!?
What kind of pain is this? It's as if it's far beyond the pain threshold set in VR!
Grimacing against the pain, I caught sight of Wind Drake, its expression almost smug as it looked at me. That little bastard...
As if to mock me, Wind Drake unleashed a gust of wind bullets my way. Ava and Trinity jumped in to disrupt the attack with ice swords and throwing knives, but Wind Drake, seemingly incensed by the assault on its eyes, ignored its own injuries and kept targeting me.
"Gah!"
Caught in the violent storm, I was mercilessly battered by the wind bullets, unable to evade them. Damn it... Is this how it ends? Even as the relentless barrage fell upon me, I felt my life slipping away.
Though there were some unknown variables, AIWOn wasn't a death game, meaning dying here wouldn't mean dying in real life. But if I died now, I'd be banned from logging in for a month. That was equivalent to leaving Yuki alone for an entire month.
Hell no...!! There's no way I can wait a month...!!
Summoning whatever strength I had left, I managed to stand and aimed my sword at Wind Drake. It looked taken aback, halting its wind bullet assault.
"Come on, bring it on, you lizard bastard...!"
Startled by my provocation and realizing that I had managed to intimidate it, Wind Drake's fury boiled over. It took a deep breath, preparing to unleash its breath attack once more.
If I were to face the storm's fury twice, I would undoubtedly die. Yet, at that moment, I had no intention of succumbing to death. I wasn't counting on rescue; I was determined to defeat the wind Drake despite my condition.
Well, in the end, I was rescued. Just as Ava rushed over to help me, beautiful Haiba suddenly stood in front of me, blocking the wind Drake's breath with her presence.
"That's the spirit. Leave the rest to me," she said, her confidence radiating.
I glanced at the fire Drake and saw a male magician and a female archer delivering the final blow.
"Mode: Sword Flash - Crescent Moon
— Sword Technique: Iai Ichi Monji: Ren!"
Haiba drew her sword from its sheath in a flash, sending a cutting arc that sliced through the wind Drake's breath. Without hesitation, she sheathed her blade again, then unleashed another slash in a single fluid motion.
Draw, strike, sheathe—she executed this sequence in the blink of an eye.
Kikikikikikikikikikikiiiiin!
The cutting force easily obliterated the breath attack, slamming directly into the wind Drake's head and taking its life with startling ease.