Blankon Announcement

498 The Children's Battle and the Demon Dragon

They talk about subjugating the demon dragon as if it's a simple task, but in reality, it's not something to be taken lightly. In some cases, it’s serious enough to form an entire subjugation squad with the backing of a nation.

Demon dragons are more powerful in combat than lesser dragons, and unlike true dragons, they don’t understand human speech. Moreover, they often possess unique abilities.

The only consolation is that they rarely descend to populated areas. However, just because the demon dragon doesn’t descend doesn’t mean there are no issues. Its mere presence can drive other magical beasts into human territories, causing problems such as weakening crops with poison fog like the Hydra I defeated.

In short, they are troublesome dragons. Hence, when hunting them, we should ideally approach the task with much more caution... but,

“Aah! I saw it first!”

“Finders keepers!”

“Both of you, kill them more carefully. The materials' value decreases.”

Alice and Linne were hunting magical beasts one after another, and Frey was collecting them using her [Storage].

It didn’t seem like we were heading to slay a demon dragon at all.

In the dense jungle of the Great Sea of Trees, we were noisily making our way toward the demon dragon’s nest.

“Father, how much further?”

“Hm? Just a little ahead. Once we cross the river, it’s right there.”

When I answered while checking my smartphone, Linne eagerly continued through the jungle.

Seeing this, Ende sighed and spoke up.

“The kids are full of energy...”

“Get a grip. We adults have to set an example.”

The children are Frey, Linne, and Alice. The adults are me, Karin-neesan, and Ende.

Actually, Linze, Hilda, Mel, Nei, and Rise also wanted to come, but Linze and Hilda had other matters to attend to, and Mel stayed back because Alice objected.

Of course, Alice doesn’t dislike the three of them. Alice objected to Nei and Rise's overprotectiveness. It was clear to anyone that if Alice were fighting the demon dragon, Nei and Rise wouldn't remain idle.

In some cases, Nei and Rise might defeat the demon dragon, which is Alice's goal. That would be quite a letdown.

Honestly, they didn't want Ende to come either, but we managed to convince them with the condition that he wouldn't interfere in the fight with the demon dragon. I was also made to promise the same.

Of course, both Ende and I fully intend to jump in if the kids are in danger.

A promise? True, I promised Alice that Ende wouldn’t interfere with her hunt, and I promised Frey and Linne that I wouldn’t interfere with theirs, but I didn’t promise Alice that I wouldn’t help Frey and Linne, and I didn’t promise Ende that he wouldn’t help Alice.

Kids are naive. Adults are sneaky.

Well, I’m still a minor too.

‘Guroboaa!’

Suddenly, a large boar appeared from the dense forest. Its black, shiny fur and long, straight tusks protruded like spears.

The boar was over three meters tall, and when it shook its head, the surrounding trees were easily cut down by its tusks.

The tusks were more like blades.

“A Blade Boar. It’s a red-rank level magical beast.”

Ende explained as he looked at the boar. A Blade Boar, huh. This is the first time I’ve seen one.

A red-rank means it's a formidable foe, even sought after by guilds. But here are our kids and their friends nonchalantly playing rock-paper-scissors in front of it. It’s almost comical.

“Yes! I won!”

Alice, who seemed to have won the rock-paper-scissors, raised her fist in triumph. The other two stepped back, grumbling.

Wait, is she going to fight it alone?

“Bring it on!”

‘Bururaa!’

The Blade Boar charged straight at Alice like a knight brandishing a lance.

Alice, however, swayed her body lightly left and right without a hint of fear.

The massive boar seemed poised to crush Alice as it charged, but,

“[Crystal Guillotine]!”

Crystals gathered around Alice’s right arm, forming a large machete.

The machete slashed down, cleaving the Blade Boar in two and spreading it out right there.

“Oh no…”

“The fur is ruined.”

Ende and Karin-neesan muttered quietly. Alice tends to be quite rough. She often acts like it’s fine as long as she defeats the enemy.

“Frey-oneechan, store this away. I want Aa-chan to cook it later.”

“Okay, but… Alice, you’re covered in blood. Father, clean her up.”

As Frey stored the Blade Boar in her [Storage], she asked me for help.

Indeed, Alice was splattered with the Blade Boar’s blood, which was a bit unsettling.

Using [Clean] on Alice, the blood vanished, returning her to her original clean state.

“With this strength, the demon dragon should be no problem.”

“Don’t underestimate it. Dragons and magical beasts are on different levels. Demon dragons are often tenacious and cunning. You never know what tricks they have up their sleeves.”

Karin-neesan was right. The Poison Dragon Hydra I defeated was quite tenacious too. We must not let our guard down.

As we progressed through the dense forest, we eventually came upon a large river. We crossed it by opening a [Gate] and teleporting to the other side.

Continuing straight ahead, the forest gradually gave way to rocky terrain, revealing a craggy mountainside.

Linne and the others swiftly climbed the difficult rocky terrain. Don’t go too far ahead. Oh?

“...Did you hear that?”

“Yeah, I heard it. It’s close.”

I checked with Ende, who was walking next to me. I could faintly hear the roar of a dragon. It likely already knows we’re here.

I pulled out my smartphone to track the demon dragon's location. Oh, it’s heading our way.

“Everyone, hold on. The demon dragon is flying toward us. Let’s move to a more open area to fight.”

“Got it. Linne, Alice, head over there where the view is clearer.”

“Understood.”

“Okay!”

Following Frey's instructions, the two took positions on a gentle slope with few obstacles.

Linne and Alice equipped gauntlets, and Frey readied her spear, preparing for battle.

“Listen, Father and the others are just watching! No interfering or unnecessary comments!”

“Got it, got it.”

Well, if it gets really dangerous, we’ll step in. We sat on the largest rock around, waiting.

This feels like cheering at a school sports day. I should record this to show everyone later.

As I thought about this, Ende also took out his smartphone. Seems like he had the same idea.

“Oh, is it coming?”

From afar, the sound of wings flapping grew louder and louder until a single dragon appeared in our view.

Its color was black, and it was quite large. It had four legs and bat-like wings sprouting from its back.

It had large horns, and a red dorsal fin ran from the back of its head to its tail. The tail was long, ending in a spiky burr.

Its eyes were red and bloodshot, exuding a menacing aura. It was clear it wasn’t friendly, intending to eliminate the intruders in its territory.

“A dragon I’ve never seen before. It’s definitely a demon dragon, but…”

“That’s Nidhogg. It’s a man-eating dragon that loves to devour human corpses.”

Karin-neesan answered my question. Nidhogg... a man-eating dragon. What an unpleasant opponent.

‘Gogaaarrrrr!’

Nidhogg roared to the sky. It sounded more like a triumphant roar upon finding its prey than one of anger.

“Alright, go for it!”

Holding a spear far too long for her height, Frey threw it at Nidhogg.

Nidhogg easily dodged the flying spear with a slight side step.

“Too naive.”

With a swift gesture from Frey, the thrown spear halted mid-air and was pulled back. On closer inspection, the spear had blades on both ends.

The spear, changing its trajectory, pierced through Nidhogg’s wing.

‘Gugya!?’

With its wing membrane pierced, Nidhogg lost its balance. At that moment, Linne used a [Shield] as a stepping stone and leaped into the air like ascending stairs.

“Take this!”

‘Guga!?’

Linne’s double-fisted strike hit the base of Nidhogg’s wing, completely throwing off its balance and causing it to crash into the rocky terrain with Linne.

“[Crystal Guillotine]!”

Timing her attack perfectly, Alice’s crystal machete slashed down, shredding Nidhogg’s wing membrane and rendering it unable to fly.

“So far, they’re attacking by the book.”

I muttered as I watched the three of them fight, and Ende nodded slightly.

“The first step is to prevent it from flying. It’s the same with wyverns.”

Nidhogg, fallen on the rocky ground, raised its head and opened its mouth wide. Hm, that’s…

With a roar, Nidhogg breathed out flames like a flamethrower. A fire breath attack.

“There!”

Freya stowed her spear in her [Storage] and took out a large, blue-white shield instead.

The fire breath Nidhogg spewed hit the large shield head-on.

When the flames touched the shield, they split left and right, avoiding Freya. That thing is some kind of magic artifact...

"Sei!"

"Go-buh!?"

The fist of Linne, who wore gauntlets, struck Nidhogg’s cheek as it continued to spew flames. Ouch, that looks painful.

"Gaaaah!"

Nidhogg opened its mouth towards Linne again, this time unleashing a series of fireballs in quick succession.

Linne dodged swiftly, and the fireballs struck the rocky ground, shattering it into pieces. The fragments of the exploded rocks rained down around them.

"Whoa!"

A tail swung like a whip towards Alice, who was in the rear. Alice ducked to the ground to avoid it and escaped the tail's reach.

Freya stowed away the blue-white shield and now took out a large battle axe from [Storage], moving towards Nidhogg, but the dragon, sensing her approach, unleashed more fireballs to keep her at bay.

"Uh, is it just me or is that dragon changing color?"

"Now that you mention it..."

The scales that were as black as pitch before now had a reddish hue. Gradually, they turned from a dark red to a glowing orange, resembling molten lava.

"Gaaaah!"

With a snap of its jaws, sparks flew from Nidhogg's mouth, and flames rapidly spread across its body.

"Gruuuurgaaaaaaah!"

Nidhogg roared towards the sky, covered in flames. The intense heat was palpable even from a distance.

"Well, let’s see how those kids handle a fire dragon Nidhogg," Karin-neesan muttered while observing the blazing dragon. Hmm, this will be interesting.

The flames now make it difficult to approach. If Elna or Kuhn were here, maybe water or ice magic could have helped.

"So hot! Freya Onee-chan, do something!"

"Even if you say that this is really tough!"

Freya responded to Linne's request while dodging Nidhogg’s claws.

"Uh, do we have any good water or ice weapons..."

Freya rummaged through her [Storage], pulling out various weapons and then putting them back. Even if she organized her usual weapons, it seems she was sloppy with those she rarely used.

Hey, if you keep doing that during battle...

"Gaaaah!"

"Whoa!"

Freya narrowly avoided another burning claw that came crashing down. She kept dodging the rapid successive strikes with a hair’s breadth.

"Ha!"

"Gafu!?"

Nidhogg's movements stopped momentarily. Linne had fired a ki blast into its side.

"Gaaah!"

"Tsk!"

Nidhogg fired a fireball at Linne, who had drawn its attention. Using [Shield] as a foothold, Linne jump up into the air, evading the attack.

"Found it! 'Iceblade Icebringer!'"

Freya held up a transparent sword that looked like a crystal blade. Even from here, I could tell the sword emitted an intense cold.

"This sword was made from magic ice carved out of the eternal ice wall in the Elfrow Kingdom! Five hundred years ago, the elf magic swordsman Cradle Stone used this to defeat the magical beast Vokalramble..."

"Never mind the explanation, just do something!"

Alice shouted while dodging the constant stream of fireballs from Nidhogg.

Freya pointed the icy sword towards Nidhogg.

"[Freezing Ice]!"

The ice particles in the air began to cling to Nidhogg, cooling its body. The flames enveloping the dragon weakened, and its scales returned to a darker shade.

However, it seemed to be temporary, as flames started bursting out again like cracks in the rocks.

"It won't last long, so do it now!"

"Got it! [Rose Crystal Thorn Prisma Rose]!"

Alice created a rose vine made of crystal from her right hand.

"[Shining Guillotine Prisma Cleaver]!"

At the end of the rose vine, she conjured a large cleaver. Using centrifugal force, she swung it like a whip towards Nidhogg's tail.

"Gyuaaaaaaaa!?"

With a thud, Nidhogg’s thick tail was cut off. The dragon lost its balance and fell forward, crashing headfirst into the ground.

Linne then darted towards the fallen giant like an arrow. Using the [Shield] as steps, she ran up into the air. At the peak, she spun her body and aimed her feet at the dragon.

"Ryuuseikyaku!"

"Gafuaa!?"

Linne's kick, enhanced by gravity magic, struck Nidhogg's back. That was a nasty crack. Did it break?

"This is the end!"

"Gofuh..."

Before anyone realized it, Freya had already closed in on Nidhogg and stabbed the Icebringer into its head. The fire dragon began to freeze from the head down, and in no time, its entire body was encased in ice.

"Finishing blow!"

"Ah, Linne, wait!"

Before Freya could stop her, Linne’s powerful strike smashed into the frozen side of Nidhogg.

From the impact point, cracks spread like a spider’s web, and the dragon’s massive body, unable to withstand the weight, shattered and crumbled just like when they defeated Phrase.

"Aaah..."

"Knew that would happen."

As Nidhogg collapsed, Ende and Karina-neesan let out such comments. They hadn’t learned from the last time. The valuable dragon materials were ruined. Now it was just frozen meat. Well, maybe they could salvage some materials from the severed tail.

Though the goal was the hunt itself, not the materials, there was no need to get too upset...

"I shouldn’t have frozen it..."

"It's fine! We defeated it!"

"I wanted to land the final blow too!"

Freya grumbled while opening her [Storage] on the ground to collect the shattered pieces of the magic dragon and its tail. Frozen meat might still be edible after thawing.

Dragon meat is generally delicious, but what about magic dragons? The poison dragon Hydra was inedible due to the poison.

"Father! Next! Where's the next magic dragon?"

"Wait, wait. Let's take a break here. Let's eat the bento Luu and Asia made for us."

I didn’t want them to get hurt from overexerting themselves, so it was time for a cooldown.

I took out several chairs and a large table from [Storage] and set them up. On top, I placed the handmade bento boxes from Luu and Asia, stacked four layers high.

"Wow, it looks delicious!"

The first layer was packed with rice balls. The second layer had fried foods like karaage, shrimp fry, croquettes, and fried chicken. The third layer contained tamagoyaki, sausages, hamburgers, meatballs, and cherry tomatoes, while the fourth layer had sliced fruits.

It sure looked tasty, but it seemed like food kids would love.

"Itadakimaaaas!"

The three kids washed their hands with the water ball I produced and immediately grabbed the rice balls to start eating. They were quick.

Well, we should start eating too.

I picked up a rice ball from the bento box and took a bite. The saltiness was just right. The filling was tuna mayo.

"Mm...! This one has umeboshi... Father, you can have it..."

"Huh!? Well, alright..."

Alice handed Ende the partially eaten rice ball. She didn’t like umeboshi, I guess. She really is still a child in that sense.

As I smiled at Ende's plight, Linne, sitting next to me, suddenly offered me her half-eaten rice ball.

"Father, eat this."

"You too..."

With no choice, I took a bite of the umeboshi rice ball she handed me. So sour...! Eishen's umeboshi are really sour.

As we slowly enjoyed our bento, I noticed something stirring in the forest.

"What is that...?"

The sound of birds flapping, the high-pitched cries of what seemed like monkeys, and a distant rumbling noise... Oh no, could this be...!

I took out my smartphone to check for nearby magic beasts. The screen showed a wave of red pins rapidly closing in on our location.

"A stampede of rampaging beasts...!"