Ais and I leaped toward the beast. I parried the claw thrusting toward Asfi while Ais's winds burst forth, driving the dragon back.
"About time you showed up," said Asfi as she chased after the monster, several bombs already flying toward it.
"Ais, you are back!" Ryuu shouted amidst the battle, smiling to see her friend return.
"I… I am sorr—"
"Ais! How many times must I tell you not to lose yourself?!" Riveria's voice echoed from behind as she glared at Ais, all the while keeping the dragon's legs trapped in ice. Ais, hearing her voice laced with rage and worry, quivered in place, envisioning the punishment she would receive.
"Glad to see you back, Ais!" Alise—ignoring everything—simply cheered at her safe return.
"Hey! All of you, if you're done with reunion hugs, then help us out here, this thing won't kill itself!" Kaguya barked, playing a hit-and-run tactic on the dragon, keeping its attention toward herself while we all regrouped.
"Sorry about that." I said, "So, have any of you figured out how to destroy its shield?!" I lunged at the monster, massive lances of flame and wind I'd conjured rushing past me before they, too, like all other magic attacks, dissipated.
"From what we understood, there are only two ways to destroy that shield: either we kill the dragon itself, or we overload its shield capacity," Ryuu answered, lunging from place to place so quickly she appeared to be flying.
"Both impossible, you mean," said Alise, crimson flames wrapped around her arms, legs, and sword. At least it's not reflecting them at us, like the Juggernaut. I thought as I jumped onto its back and stabbed at the base of its left wing.
"GRAAAAW!!" The dragon roared, shaking its whole body to throw me off. I remained firm, gripping the hilt of my sword tightly with bloodied hands. The beast, realizing I wasn't going to let it go, planted all four of its limbs on the ground and lunged backward, intending to crush me between its colossal body and the boulder.
While I wanted to at the very least cripple its wings, I had no intention of colliding with a hard surface again. Making a split-second decision, I hurriedly withdrew my sword and conjured winds to propel myself to safety.
"It's thinking!" Alise spoke in wonder, her eyes shone through the desperate battle.
"That's terrible, Captain?!" Asfi cried, desperately keeping tabs on the battle.
"Yes, but it makes things interesting!" Alise shot back, deflecting a claw strike that would have taken her head off. The impact sent her skidding backward, her boots carving trenches in the ash.
"Interesting?! We're getting slaughtered!" Kaguya barely rolled away from the dragon's tail sweep, the appendage crashing where she'd stood a heartbeat before with enough force to crack stone.
"How long until reinforcements?" I gasped between strikes.
"At least another hour!" Asfi called back.
An hour... We just had to survive another hour. "Ryuu, take the left flank. Asfi, keep bombing!" I commanded, closing in from the right.
"Understood!"
"I'm running low on explosives!" Asfi complained, but still threw several explosive knives at the dragon's face. Its head snapped toward me through the explosions, those ancient, malevolent eyes locking onto my position. It opened its mouth and rushed at me, flicking its tail at Ryuu in the process. Ryuu rolled to the side, an enormous crater forming where she'd stood. I vaulted over its head and drove my boot down on its head, forcing the maw shut.
The dragon's head banged against the earth, and the impact created a cloud of ash blocking the dragon from our sight. I released a burst of wind, clearing away the ashen cloud. As the dragon's head appeared, its eyes filled with rage as it opened its mouth not to breathe fire or to chew on us, but to release a shockwave that broke our balance for a split second. And it seized the opportunity and lunged at Riveria, who was still mid-cast.
"Riveria!"
Ais moved faster than I'd ever seen her move, her enhanced winds propelling her like a missile. She intercepted the dragon's claw with her blade, the impact sending sparks flying. But the force was too much—she was driven into the ground, her boots sinking into ash and stone.
"Tempest!" Her winds exploded outward, buying her just enough space to escape the follow-up strike that would have crushed her skull.
"Damn it!" I forced my failing body forward, every movement protesting, the adrenaline potion keeping me functional but not invincible. I conjured a large spear of compressed wind and fire, pouring everything I had into it, and hurled it at the dragon's exposed flank.
CLANG!
The spear shattered against that anti-magic shield like glass against steel. The dragon's shield flickered, a sign that we were wearing it down. But the creature itself remained mostly unharmed.
"We need to hit it with everything at once!" Ryuu called out, her breathing labored. Blood trickled from a cut on her forehead. "Overwhelm the shield completely!"
"Easier said than done!" Kaguya snapped back, narrowly avoiding another tail swipe. "In case you haven't noticed, we're barely keeping up!"
She was right. We were losing ground.
No choice. I thought as I gave another command. "Riveria! Activate your Alf Regina skill. Everyone, buy me 2—no—1 minute."
"Are you insane?!" Kaguya's protest was automatic, but she was already moving into position.
"Don't have a better idea!" I admitted. "Everyone, give it all you've got left! Ryuu, Asfi, Ais—cover flanks! Kaguya, Alise, keep it distracted! I will tear off its magic shield!" Riveria started chanting, and a beautiful circular green circle glowed, covering us both in its brilliant light. I started circulating both flame and wind magic around my blade, compressing and compressing it further. Riveria's Alf Regina accelerated our magic recovery. I felt the ambient mana flooding into me.
The dragon sensed the surge of our magic. It reared back, wings spreading wide. Spreading its large wings wide open and ignoring all the attacks raining down on it by the girls, it took flight at lightning-fast speed.
"GRAAAAAAW!" Asfi, who had been positioning for another bombing run, was caught in the sudden updraft. The resulting shock waves pushed Asfi aside, and she landed near us.
"Incoming! Something massive!" she shouted, her eyes wide.
The monster chest began to glow—not the usual orange-red of normal fire, but a deep, terrible purple-white that hurt to look at directly. The light grew brighter, more intense, magical energy condensing in its throat with such density that the air itself seemed to warp around it.
The dragon's maw opened wide, and for a split second, everything went silent that terrible moment before catastrophe when even sound itself seems to flee.
Then it unleashed hell.
A huge column of purple-white fire erupted from the dragon's throat, a torrent of destructive energy easily five meters wide. The sheer heat made the air scream.
And it was coming straight for us.
"Damn it!" I snarled, my attack not nearly ready. The magic around my blade was still unstable, still building, but I had no choice.
If I didn't act now, everyone would die, and so I swung my blade with everything I had.
The compressed fire and wind magic erupted from my sword, a gigantic spiraling vortex of flame and cutting wind, green-white and blue twisting together. But it was incomplete and unstable. I could feel it even as it left my blade, the magic threatening to tear itself apart.
The two attacks met in midair with a sound like the world breaking.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The collision was apocalyptic as both attacks produced so much brightness that, for a moment, it overshadowed the sunlight. My magic crashed into the dragon's breath attack, and for one impossible moment, they were evenly matched—my spiraling vortex drilling into that torrent of purple-white destruction, each trying to consume the other.
But only for a moment.
My incomplete attack began to lose ground almost immediately. The dragon's breath pushed forward, overwhelming my magic inch by inch, meter by meter. I could see it happening, could feel my hastily-prepared attack crumbling under the pressure of the monster's full power.
"Everyone gathered behind Riveria!" I shouted as Riveria completed her defensive magic spell.
"VIA SHILHEIM!" Riveria's voice rang out, clear and commanding even over the apocalyptic clash of magic.
A large barrier of shimmering green light erupted in front of us, easily the strongest defensive magic I'd ever seen her cast. The barrier expanded, encompassing our entire group in a dome of protective energy.
Just then, my magic shattered, unable to hold any longer. The dragon's breath attack surged forward unopposed, crashing into Riveria's barrier with the force of a collapsing mountain.
The sound was beyond deafening, a continuous roar that I felt more than heard, vibrating through my bones and soul. The heat was unbearable even through the barrier. I could see Riveria's shield cracking, fractures spreading like spiderwebs across its surface, her face contorted with effort as she poured everything she had into maintaining it.
"...!" She gasped, sweat pouring down her face, her jade eyes blazing with determination.
Finally, the torrent of destruction ceased. The dragon's breath cut off, leaving behind only smoke, ash, and the acrid smell of scorched earth. Riveria's barrier flickered once, twice, then, with a sound like a crystal cathedral collapsing, it shattered. Fragments of emerald magic exploded outward, each piece dissolving into motes of light before being drawn back into us through Alf Regina's skill effect.
For a moment, silence. Then Riveria swayed, and Ryuu caught her.
"I'm... fine," Riveria managed, though her hands trembled. "Just... give me a moment."
"We don't have a moment," Kaguya said, eyes on the dragon.
"Everyone, status report!" I called out, my voice hoarse. Every nerve screamed. My muscles burned with something beyond exhaustion, the adrenaline potion struggling to keep me functional.
"Mostly intact," Alise reported, though I could see blood running down her arm.
"Bruised but functional," Ryuu said, still supporting Riveria.
"I have a few more explosives with me, and some other magic items!" reported Asfi.
"I can still fight," Ais said quietly, but her hands were trembling. Whether from exhaustion or leftover emotion, I couldn't tell, as my eyes started to give up entirely. Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision.
Not good. The potion was failing, and my damaged eyes were giving out entirely. I could barely make out shapes anymore, just blurs and colors.
I squinted up at the dragon, barely making out its massive silhouette circling above despite the immense fire breath it released. The dragon remained unbothered. The only good thing was that, at the very least, our mind reserves weren't depleted that much and were being recovered by Riveria's skill.
"Even after all that, this annoying lizard is still fine? Is it even possible for us to defeat it?" Kaguya snarled at the dragon. While the other didn't voice it, I could feel that everyone except Riveria had started to lose hope.
Wait. They think we're supposed to win this? I questioned and turned to address them. "Girls, it seems you have forgotten something." Hearing my voice, they all looked up. "We aren't here to defeat the dragon; we are here to buy time until the rest arrive."
"...Ah! It completely slipped my mind since the battle was so intense." Ryuu replied, and Alise nodded.
"Yup, yup! We just need to hold it back," she said, while Kaguya shook her head.
"That doesn't matter since, till now, we were just holding it back with the intention to kill it."
"That's not very encouraging," muttered Asfi. "But at least it will reduce the mental pressure we were having."
"Finn and others will be reaching any moment now," Riveria spoke, turning everyone's attention towards herself. "All we need to do is just hold it off till then. Everyone, from now on, we will adopt defensive and evading tactics, …Arin, can you continue?" she asked. I could feel her jade eyes staring into my own bloodied ones.
"Yes, I can." I replied, "I will keep it from flying away like this time, …and if possible, cut off its wing."
"Understood, just don't push yourself too hard."
"GRAAAW!!" the monster that was circling the sky till now roared again. Preparing to release another fire-breathing attack.
"Riveria, take command. I will stop it and bring it down!"
"Understood! Ais, Kaguya, attack from the side, Ryuu fills the gap wherever needed. Alise, Asfi, after Arin brings it down, keep the dragon grounded no matter what, don't let it take flight."
"Um!" Understood!" "I understand." "Roger!" "Got it." came the prompt reply as we all threw ourselves into another round of fighting with the king of beasts.