"Boom!"
Thrown backward, Ais felt a sharp, searing pain explode across her chest.
But she forced herself to swallow the blood rising in her throat. If she let it out, she knew the next attack would be even more merciless.
She twisted midair, landed, steadied herself, and triggered her Magic.
"Awaken!"
The magic she had been using for defense drew inward and gathered, transforming into wind magic that wrapped tightly around her body.
But the moment she spoke the chant, she could no longer hold back the blood in her mouth. It spilled past her lips, staining the collar of her padded coat a deep red.
"Clang!"
In the next heartbeat, the dragonkin—its entire body glowing crimson—appeared right in front of her.
Taking advantage of her faint pause to breathe, it lunged. This time, Ais managed to block the ambush with her sword.
Even so, she could clearly feel her breath turning shallow, each inhale more painful than the last.
'That tail strike… it was too strong.' It had pierced her flesh and dealt heavy damage to her organs.
Because of that injury, she could no longer fight at her full strength.
The magic that normally flowed around her body had been completely retracted. The cold of the floor was beginning to pierce deeper and deeper into her.
Her breathing was ragged, her stamina nearly gone. Even her grip weakened as her body struggled to draw in enough air.
Under normal circumstances, retreating would be the correct choice.
But the dragonkin before her wasn't going to give her that chance.
Ais was certain that if she turned her back now, it would strike her down the moment she tried to flee.
Which meant she had only one choice left.
Fight with everything she had.
"...Hng…"
Ais drew in a sharp breath. The freezing air filled her lungs, numbing the pain just slightly. She forced her body to pull together every last shred of strength.
A surge of magic rushed into the Desperate in her hands.
Miniature Hurricane!
"Whoo—whoo—whoo!"
A fierce swirl of wind rose around her, forming a ring of small whirlwinds, though the effect only made the surrounding cold even sharper against her body.
The dragonkin immediately sensed the biting cold and the killing intent. It noticed the faint blue glow gathering at the sword's tip and its vigilance spiked.
Of course, it wasn't going to just stand there and watch.
If it sensed danger, it would destroy that danger before it fully formed.
Closing in would mean risking that threat.
So it simply chose not to close in.
"Haa!"
The dragonkin inhaled sharply, then exhaled with force.
After several breaths, its entire body glowed an even deeper red, and its stomach expanded with each inhale.
The flickering flames between its teeth made everything clear—
it was gathering its dragon breath.
It intended to bury its challenger with its strongest attack.
Human and dragon stood still, power building on both sides, waiting for that peak moment.
Then both moved at once.
Ais finished gathering her strength a hair earlier.
But the dragonkin had no intention of caring about such a small difference.
"Roar!!!"
Cobalt-blue flames, thick with draconic might, surged straight toward Ais as she charged forward.
Ais didn't retreat. She raised her sword and met the dragon breath head-on.
"Boom!"
Fire and hurricane collided.
The flames tried to ride the wind, swelling as they attempted to engulf the hurricane.
But the hurricane struck like a sharpened spear, determined to tear through the mass of fire.
Surrounded by flames, Ais could only force her Magic forward with every ounce of strength she had.
"Szzzt!"
Even pierced by the hurricane, the flames still burned with terrifying heat.
In this frozen land, they still carried enough intensity to melt the hardest metals. That same heat crawled along the hurricane's path and scorched the Desperate red-hot.
The hilt buffered some of it, yet the unbearable heat still traveled into Ais's hand.
In moments, her palm sizzled like meat on a grill.
Her hand gripping the hilt had already turned a blistered red, the burn rapidly spreading across her entire palm.
"Aaaah!!"
The agony was like having her heart carved open. Even someone as strong-willed as Ais couldn't help but scream.
Her right hand wouldn't last much longer—Ais knew that clearly, and hesitation was no longer an option.
She braced her left hand at the end of the hilt and forced out every last drop of the magic within her.
Go!
"Aaaaaaah!!"
Azure magic erupted from Ais's entire body like boiling steam.
Before the naked eye, her golden hair dulled to a faint, lifeless yellow.
It was the side effect of forcibly draining every bit of her magic and converting her life force into mana...
She was truly gambling with her life.
Ais had thrown everything onto the line—just to keep advancing.
By driving her body past its limits, a massive surge of magic concentrated once more at the sword's tip, granting her the strength she needed to push forward.
The clash between fire and hurricane shifted, the hurricane overtaking the flames.
The azure whirlwind closed in on the dragonkin, inch by inch.
"Boom!"
With a roar that was felt more than heard, the hurricane finally punched through the flames.
Ais's blade drove straight through the dragonkin's throat.
Dragon breath was the dragonkin's strongest offensive magic—but once its throat was exposed, that very spot became its greatest weakness.
The hurricane spiraled again around the blade, erupting violently at the point of impact.
"Bang!"
Like a watermelon splitting open, the dragonkin's head burst apart.
The headless body collapsed heavily onto the thawing frost-covered ground, cobalt-blue blood gushing from its neck.
The blood was so warm that even this frozen domain couldn't freeze it immediately.
But as the life poured out of it, the glowing red veins along the dragonkin's body dimmed, then faded completely.
"Clang!"
"Ha... ha..."
Ais could only cling to her sword with her left hand, forcing herself to remain standing.
Her entire right arm had been scorched a deep, angry red. Snowflakes that touched it melted instantly into warm droplets—clear proof of just how deadly that dragon breath had been.
In this half-ruined state, Ais could hardly hope to survive in this icy domain.
At least, not if she were alone.
"Clap, clap, clap!"
Through the falling snow, a figure stepped forward, applauding softly.
"Well done, Ais."
Bell's face carried nothing but genuine admiration. He truly felt that Ais had done incredibly well.
In such a disadvantageous situation—constrained terrain, limited skills—she had managed to kill a dragonkin far stronger than herself with a single spell. It was undeniably a breakthrough for her.
Though Bell didn't approve of pushing oneself to the brink of collapse, when faced with such a vast difference in power, using a tactic like this to narrow the gap—or even land a decisive kill—was clearly the best option.