THE OGRE AND THE ICE DRAGON
Flames course out of the katana in my grip.
Hellfire that consumes every living thing.
But right now, it amounts to only a paltry flicker that barely serves to warm my body slightly before fizzling out.
Instead of the usual blazing fire, my katana is currently engulfed in thick ice.
“Nngaaah!”
Nevertheless, I bring the blade down on the giant creature before me.
A clang echoes, and sharp reverberations run through my hand.
The blow broke the ice around my blade, but instead of cutting through the enemy, my attack was repelled by the creature’s powerful scales.
They’re so tough and my movements so dull.
The bitter cold is slowing me down, making it impossible to use my full strength.
“How sad. Truly pitiful.”
The dragon, which hasn’t bothered to dodge my attack, sends a scornful telepathic message.
Ignoring it, I swing the sword in my other hand.
The lightning-wreathed blade strikes the scales, scattering purple sparks.
However, as I feared, it doesn’t leave even a scratch on those diamond-like scales.
“It won’t work, no matter how many times you try. You may possess rare strength, but you cannot hope to defeat me. I possess incredible toughness, though perhaps not as much as my earth brethren.”
The dragon speaks in a slow, old-fashioned manner.
Despite the grand way of speaking, its voice sounds like that of a young woman in my mind.
This dragon is a female, then.
The dragon is beautiful, her body cutting an elegant curve, covered entirely in quartz-like scales.
And she commands ice.
Her mere presence causes the temperature in the immediate area to drop to freezing cold.
I coat my sword in fire yet again.
The flames go out almost immediately, but I have to do this every so often to keep my body from freezing.
What temperature could this wretched cold possibly be?
It must be in the negatives; that much is for sure.
Even Hokkaido in the winter never got cold enough to freeze your body like this.
I’m constantly buffeted by thick bursts of snow.
Clinging to my skin, the snow saps away my strength and body heat.
Since they froze over, wearing clothes actually made the cold worse, so shortly after the battle started, I threw away all but the most crucial coverings.
From a bystander’s perspective, I’m fighting half-naked.
It might sound funny, but I’m fighting for my life.
…Why am I fighting this dragon anyway?
I don’t know.
I try to remember, but I can’t think straight, as if the snow has even piled up inside my head.
I know I was trying to get somewhere.
But where? I can’t remember.
I wanted to go somewhere, to go home to a particular place, but I can’t remember where that was.
All I can do now is try to defeat the enemy in front of me.
“GRAAAAAH!”
“Most pitiable, indeed. Is the desire to fight the only thought that remains in your mind?”
I keep attacking with both my swords.
My hands are too numb to move properly, and my frozen body is painfully slow.
With attacks like this, I won’t be able to put a scratch on this dragon’s scales no matter how long I keep at it.
But as I continue these stubbornly straightforward swings, the dragon finally draws back as if in annoyance.
“It would be a simple task to slaughter you. I would certainly like to do so, as thanks for laying waste to our mountains. But our lord has ordered us not to lay a hand on you so-called reincarnations, so sadly, I cannot put your mind to rest.”
The dragon flaps her wings, taking to the air.
I feel like she’s saying something important, but I just can’t seem to understand.
I hear its voice, but the meaning of the words doesn’t come through.
“…Still, if the cold was to finish you off, then that would only be an accident, not any fault of mine.”
The dragon’s mouth curls slightly.
I don’t know how to read a dragon’s expression, but she seems smug, almost mischievous.
That expression basically vanishes immediately, though, leaving only a cold light in the dragon’s eyes.
It’s a look befitting the ruler of this glacial hell.
“May you fall to ruin in this frigid land. It would be best for your own sake, as well.”
Finally, with a pitying glance, the dragon flies away.
The immediate threat is gone.
But the blizzard around me doesn’t relent.
I can feel my life force draining away just by standing in it.
I have to hurry.
…But to where?
I know I was trying to go somewhere.
Why can’t I remember?
I know it was a very, very important place.
But try as I might, I can’t seem to remember.
I want to remember, yet part of me doesn’t want to at all.
Because that place doesn’t exist anymore.
I lost everything.
My family, my pride, everything.
I have no right to go back there.
Not after I a?e my own sister…
“Kill.”
That voice gave me an order.
I felt myself squeezing a small, skinny neck.
“Eat.”
Another order.
My fangs tore into skin, and the taste of blood filled my mouth.
…Did I just start to remember something I shouldn’t have?
I don’t know.
Maybe it’s better that way.
Either way, if I don’t get away from here, I’m going to freeze to death.
Where should I go?
As I stand there thinking, I see something go flying into the air from the ground.
Was it magic?
Well, I have no other destination.
Might as well go take a look.
Forgetting my initial destination entirely, I start walking toward the first thing that catches my eye.
Capitulo ok ok okkk!1!