小嫂子的味道

The ground shook rapidly as the humongous Kloth charged toward me. I picked up my almost ruined body and ran toward the dragon as fast as I could. My magiken was still on, since I was alive and had enough mana remaining to keep it going.

I took a jump, a big one. The Kloth opened its mouth and a cave as vast as a big cave appeared after me, and I was going in the direction of its mouth. I raised the sword, and a bright light flashed, enveloping me inside it.

Req materialized with her one hand holding the sword when she held mine with her other, rotated in mid-air, and threw me up from the side.

I used the ice element and created a long, big shard in my hand and drilled it inside the dragon\'s skin the moment I was close to it. It didn\'t go all the way in, but there was a way. I used my magic again and extended the little part that was inside to a greater length, causing it to automatically push further.

The dragon screamed and breathed fire, catching Req in its blaze. But when the flames vanished, she was still there, levitating in the air with the Requiem sword in her hands. Her eyes were fierce and did not carry the least bit of fear.

Here I grabbed the shard with both my hands and was hanging on it just below the Kloth\'s horns. I gave myself a push, forward and then backward. I increased it little by little then finally on the fifth try I pushed myself onward, and did a somersault, throwing my body up.

I landed on the top of the Kloth\'s horns, and I\'d to say, they were hot; I could feel the heat in my feet. Regardless, I dashed forward toward the dragon\'s nose. Firing bursts of flames at Req was keeping him busy enough to ignore my presence.

I moved my feet fast while at the same time creating a long, flat, and sharp-edged stone in my hand with the earth element.

I jumped, clenched the stone with both hands, landed over the left eye, and stabbed it with the stone in my hand. I still remember those big pupils staring at me as I jumped over them and created a bloody, liquid mess.

All the fluid inside its eyes flooded out, and the dragon cried in despair, throwing its body here and there and looking for aid. Then it spread its wings to take off in the air, I thought I had to stop him, so I was going to use my magic, but a thought communication from Req stopped me.

I hurriedly glanced over in her direction with the side of my eye, but before I could realize, something fast moved past me just after she swung the sword down. It was a dark, pure black, flying corner of a shadow molded in the shape of a vertical arc.

The shadow, cutting the air in half, collided with the dragon\'s left wing and flew through it. The result was that Kloth\'s wing was now split in half from the middle.

Disabled to fly due to the damaged wing, the Kloth wasn\'t able to take off from the ground, and that was more than enough time for me and Req.

\'What was that attack?\' I asked, this genuinely piped my curiosity; given that I\'d never seen that one in the novel.

[Dark edge.] she replied, in a somewhat low and passive voice.

\'... That\'s one cringy name I see.\'

Yeah. I mean, "Dark edge"? Only a twelve-year-old would name an attack like that, not a thousand-year-old warrior.

There was silence at first on Req\'s side, and then came the storm.

[I know that, all right!? I know it is cringy! I know your ears bleed after hearing that! I know you think only a kid would come up with a name like this! I know it all, right?! But I still can\'t change the fact that it was the only name that came to my mind back in those days! I\'m spittin\' facts here, okay? It was like the best name in the world for me at that time! However, now things have changed and I grew more aware of what I did, so you can go ahead and make fun of me all you want!!!]

I couldn\'t even begin to describe how much my head was aching because of this. She was screaming inside my mind, and I mean literally—through thought communication, or whatever it is called. I also can\'t comprehend how she was able to fend off the angered Kloth while shouting all these "facts".

\'Sigh, okay. That was just an honest thought I gave, not like I\'m making fun of you.\'

I didn\'t have time for things like that.

… Having fun, huh? I can\'t remember the last time I had fun for real, without faking it. I can\'t even recall how it felt, to have fun. The circumstances were what they were—both in my former life and here, I started to fake my smile and laughter according to the situation as I gained control over my emotions.

I can blame a thousand things and people for that, but in reality, it was just me. Gaining pleasure not by "having fun" but through other feelings…the pain, suffering, and breakdown of other people.

That was what I enjoyed…that is what I enjoy.

"Come on boy, easy, easy," I murmured reflexively as the Kloth shook its body, jumping around and moving while attacking Req.

I titled my body accordingly to not fall over, then I turned back in Req\'s direction.

\'Let\'s end this now.\'

[I would\'ve rather had some more fun, but given that we don\'t have all day. Let\'s just get this done with.]

She replied, I gave an assuring nod.

My feet slowly moved, step by step, further and further, in no moment I was running toward the Kloth\'s nose—in Req\'s direction.

I ran and reached the end of its horns. Req matched my eyes and threw the Requiem sword at me. At first, I thought I wouldn\'t be able to catch it, but ended up doing it anyway. Just as I caught the sword and gripped it with my hands, Req flashed a brilliant white smile before she vanished like usual.

I turned and jumped off the dragon\'s head, activated magiken, and drilled the sword\'s blade into the creature\'s shoulder flesh. Holding the hilt with both hands, I slid down while the sword opened the long gush in the Kloth\'s left arm—the whole scene looked as if I was hanging from a huge lever and pulling it down.

Dark, dragon blood rained over me as I landed on the ground and made a good distance between myself and the klauth as if it was now raging and going mad, likely due to the pain.

It shrieked, shivered, roared, and pounded the ground multiple times with its frontal feet. Steam and embers and sparks of fire flew out from the dragon\'s mouth as if slowly turned toward me.

Our eyes met, both of us scanning each other the ways predators do as if our lives depended on it—which they did.

It wasn\'t clear who moved first. Maybe it was me, maybe it was him. But whoever it was, it didn\'t matter. For that period, all that mattered was ourselves and the opponent before us; the rest of the world stopped existing.

This was probably going to be the last trade of blows, I was going to make it that way. Hence, there was no need to preserve my mana. I manipulated the mana flow in my body and directed all of it in my magiken and held back enough to keep me alive.

I dashed forward, and an explosion resounded below my feet, launching me forth in the air. The klauth came like a mad lizard, running all over the place. It slapped the air with its tail, I created an ice platform, used it as footing, made another explosion below my feet, propelled myself in the air, and dodged the attack.

Stepping onto its tail I jumped further ahead, reaching close to its neck I closed my eyes and concentrated. Opening them again, I delivered a great number of nonstop slashes—stopped, and poured more mana into the magiken. The shadowy mist surrounding the sword grew, enveloping the whole blade within itself.

I landed on the ground, touched the ground, and called forth a huge ice spike from the ground. It raged upward until the spike drilled itself inside the Kloth\'s stomach.

As I threw the sword upward, I saw a flashing light as Req came out, gained control of the sword, and sliced up the Kloth\'s tail that was coming toward me. After getting done, she tossed the sword back at me and I held it as I made a pillar going upward.