Chapter 236: 15-year-old Inglis, the Dragon God and the Elder King (9)
Chapter 236: 15-year-old Inglis, the Dragon God and the Elder King (9)
VWOOOM——
WVOOOOMM……!
Two flygears, each carrying three people, soared in the air.
「Here we go! Everyone ready?!」
Leone, who was at the helm of the Star Princess unit, called out to everyone.
「「「Yeah!!」」」
As everyone nodded, the two flygears accelerated together and plunged into the territory of the Phantom Dragons.
「「「GRRAAAAAOO!!」」」
The countless Phantom Dragons reacted immediately and swarmed at them. As long as they were moving at high speed with their flygears, they wouldn’t be easily surrounded, but they still needed to intercept the chasing Phantom Dragons in case they managed to block their flying path.
「Miss Pullum! Please do your thing!」
Liselotte called out to Pullum who was aboard the Star Princess unit as well.
「Yes! Leave it to me!」
Pullum’s Artifact was not in the form of a weapon, but rather a Harp gleaming in silvery light. When Pullum plucked its strings, producing a tone, the Artifacts of Leone, Rafinha, and Liselotte were wrapped in a thin film of light in response. The sound of her harp enhanced the performance of the Artifacts around her——such was the Gift of her Artifact.
「I shall go and intercept!」
The power of Liselotte’s halberd Artifact, the pure white wings that usually appear on her back, now had a light golden glow as they resonated with Pullum’s Gift.
Liselotte’s wings flapped mightily and, in a flash, her body flew into the group of Phantom Dragons that were waiting for the flygears in front of them.
「HYAAAaaahh!!」
Her halberd pierced multiple Phantom Dragons at once. The rest of the Phantom Dragons scattered into all directions after her initial attack in the heart of the group and approached her from all other directions but the front.
If she didn’t tread carefully, Liselotte’s life would be in danger, but Inglis wouldn’t intervene.
Inglis would take individual action later, and in the meantime, the Phantom Dragons needed to be crowd-controlled by someone else. There shouldn’t be anything to worry about, but she couldn’t let anything bad happen to Rafinha and the rest. So, Inglis should take this as some sort of a rehearsal and leave the Phantom Dragons to them, letting them hold off the Phantom Dragons until the last minute.
「Slow!」
Liselotte’s wings once again flapped powerfully. The trajectory of her flight was a beautiful arc like the full moon as she reared her halberd in pursuit of her enemies.
「Oh?」
As far as Inglis knew, Liselotte’s Gift only allowed her to fly in a straight line. And yet, she showed such a beautiful circular orbit.
That would be effective against enemies that were spread out. Rather than bull-rushing into each and every enemy in a straight line, losing momentum every time she changed directions in betweens, it would be faster to encircle her enemy in a curvilinear movement, giving them no room to maneuver out.
With one fluid blow, the Phantom Dragons that scattered left and right were cleaved away, and her next blow annihilated the enemies above and below her.
The flygears’ path was now open and clear. The two flygears flew straight through and overtook Liselotte, who was flying a little higher up.
「Nice going, Liselotte!」
Rafinha cheered.
「Don’t go too far ahead and leave her behind! Slow down a little!」
Lahti called out to Rafinha and the two others who were on the Star Princess unit. He wanted to pick up Liselotte safely. And he didn’t want to be left too far behind when he picked her up.
「Sure!」
Leone, at the steer, replied.
「No, there is no need for that. Don’t worry about me.」
Already, Liselotte had caught up with the flygears, and attached herself to its hull.
「So fast?!」
「The enemies might come out and swarm us again if we’re too slow, right?」
「Your skills have grown, Liselotte.」
「It is all Miss Pullum. Usually I’m not as powerful or fast.」
「But you wouldn’t be able to fly in a circle without practice. That wasn’t because of Pullum’s Artifact, but rather your skills, no?」
「Fufu. Thank you very much. If you think so, then so be it.」
When Liselotte flashed her smile, Lahti raised his voice.
「More incoming!」
They were definitely getting closer to the tail of the Dragon God, but once again, a swarm of Phantom Dragons stood in the way.
「No matter how many times they come!」
「Hold on! Let me do it this time!」
Rafinha called out to Liselotte to stop her, then leaned forward from the Star Princess unit. At the same time, she drew her trademark bow Artifact, Flowing Radiance. A large arrow of light, twice as large as usual, converged on Rafinha’s hand.
「I’m starving here! Get out of my way!」
Rafinha unleashed her light arrow. The speed of her arrow was much faster than usual thanks to Pullum’s Gift. It rushed into the crowd of Phantom Dragons and swallowed several of them in an instant.
The Phantom Dragons reacted quickly and moved to spread out to limit the damage, but Rafinha knew of this and already had means to deal with it.
「You’re not going anywhere! Burst!」
The arrow of light bursted into a rain of light arrows that tailed off and spread out. Each one of the light arrows pursued the scattered Phantom Dragons, piercing and consequently eradicating them.
「Good going, Rafinha!」
「You’re on a roll, Rani. That was amazing.」
「…………」
But Rafinha, even after Leone and Inglis praised her, showed not much of a reaction. Normally, she would have puffed her modest chest up in pride when she was praised.
「What’s wrong, Rani? Does your stomach hurt?」
「It doesn’t! It just really feels different when Pullum’s Gift is helping. I feel like I can do much more! That feels solid!」
Rafinha’s eyes gleamed.
「More of ‘em incoming! Damn they’re persistent!」
Lahti looked ahead and raised his voice.
「They will keep coming as long as the dragon is alive! Isn’t it nice to have someone to keep up with literally forever?!」
「It’s no time to be giddy!」
「Don’t worry, I got this! No matter how many of them coming out!」
Rafinha then drew back the string of the Flowing Radiance and unleashed the light. This time, the countless, spread out arrows of light flew out from the beginning of her attack, and began to circle around the two flygears as though to wrap it. It was as if a barrier of light arrows had been deployed.
「Ooh……?!」
In the past, Rafinha had released the countless arrows of light in a trajectory around the enemies to use them as a blind.
The fact that she used them as a barrier now means she was now capable of releasing enough of them to act as a wall of continuously revolving, high speed arrows. Within it, the flygears continued to move forward.
It should require a much more difficult control for the arrows to follow the flygears than just using them to go around a stationary target.
「Look! Now we can advance without worry! Let’s go ahead!」
「Understood!」
「All right, let’s go!」
Leone and Lahti nodded as they gripped onto the controls. The flygears, with the light arrow barriers deployed around it, plunged straight into the swarm of Phantom Dragons.
「「「GYAaaaaaann!」」」
PSHOOooo! Pshoo! Pshoooooo!
The Phantom Dragons that were touched by the arrow of light were blown away and vanished. This meant that Rafinha and the others would be safe inside. They could just move on.
「It’s amazing, Rani. This is pretty useful!」
「Fufu. Didn’t I say so? I felt like I could do more! Well, it’s all thanks to Pullum, though.」
This time, finally, Rafinha puffed up her modest breast, looking smug.
「Yup, yup. But that’s not all. You’ve grown too, Rani.」
Inglis, personally, was pleased to see the growth of Rafinha. Her cheeks relaxed and her face beamed with delight.
If they were this competent, then even if Inglis goes off for her individual act, there wouldn’t be a problem. The tail of the Dragon God was already in front of them. Just the right time to make her move.