The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War (LN) - Volume 6 - Chapter 4

Chapter IV: Inglis, Age 15—The Ancient Dragon and the (Former) Old King (4)

The group approached Fufailbane’s territory the next day via their Flygears to accomplish their daily task of cutting off the ancient dragon’s regrown tail, but something was off about it this time.

“Huh? That’s funny.” Rafinha tilted her head as she piloted the Star Princess.

“Hmm, this is odd,” Leone agreed from next to her.

“The... What were they—phantasms? I can’t see any of them,” Pullum said as she looked out from aboard the Flygear.

Lahti’s eyes widened.

“What happens to be the matter, Lahti? Your face has gone all pale,” Liselotte asked their pilot. She was sitting next to Inglis.

“I... I dunno, but something’s giving me the chills! This can’t be good. Something big feels wrong. Let’s get outta here for now!”

“Eh?! What in the world are you—” Liselotte began.

“Chris!” Rafinha interjected. “Do you know what’s going on?!”

Inglis chuckled. “Oh, I know. I know this well.” An incredibly satisfied smile adorned her face.

“That definitely can’t be a good sign,” Leone muttered.

“Oh, but it is! I’ve been looking forward to this for so long. The habit Rani made for me is finally going to fulfill its purpose.” Up until now, Inglis had enjoyed the aesthetic of the outfit, and that Rafinha had made it with such care, but now it could really be put to use.

“Ah...! Chris, you don’t mean...”

“Yes. The dragon finally awakens...” Inglis chuckled again. She’d already gotten to enjoy the flavor of his meat, but there hadn’t been a chance for her to talk with him, much less fight him.

Now the moment she’d been waiting for had arrived.

Tension suddenly filled the faces of the others as they processed what Inglis had said.

“To begin with, I’ll go talk with the dragon. Everyone, can you just stay back a bit and watch?” she said.

“W-Will you be okay?” Rafinha asked.

“Yeah. Leave it to me. Oh, but there is one thing I’d like you all to do.”

“Huh? Like what?” Lahti asked.

“Say the word, and we’re here to assist you,” Liselotte said.

“Thank you,” Inglis answered. “The thing I made... Take it like this, and do this with it...” She mimed an action for them.

“Oh, this is the thing you were beating on bare-handed?” Lahti asked.

“So... Like this?” Rafinha checked.

“Yeah, you’ve got it!” Inglis gave them her thanks after explaining the process to everyone. “And with that, I’m off!”

She leaped from the Flygear with a smile, doing somersault after somersault before she landed. The spot where she touched down was already deep inside the phantasms’ territory, and normally they’d immediately attack. Inglis was wearing the priestess’s habit, but she hadn’t charged it with mana. As usual, she was applying gravity-enhancing magic to herself to help with her training.

If the ancient dragon were yet unaware of its surroundings, his phantasms should have instinctively attacked her. Because they weren’t around, Inglis reasoned that he was holding back.

She strode toward Fufailbane’s tail, not just perceiving but feeling the sheer intensity of his presence.

“It’s different... I knew it...” Things had progressed over the past few days. She could sense a real change had taken place here. She approached closer, feeling it in her body. This was another thing that had changed in the past few days. At this rate, she could approach him directly even without the priestess’s habit.

Inglis arrived at the dragon’s tail. “Ancient dragon Fufailbane, can you hear my voice? Would you permit me to ask you a few questions?”

As she spoke, words echoed directly in her head. “Old king, why are you here? How can you bear the accursed might of those gods in your body, yet also the energy of my guardians?”

“Ah! As I expected of you. You can sense me?” Inglis answered the ancient dragon in the same fashion. She could now communicate telepathically with the being. If that had been possible from the beginning, she might have been able to wake the sleeping dragon peacefully. This was presumably how dragons spoke and communicated amongst themselves.

“How could I forget? That might, the waves of divine energy... I had thought we’d never meet again in your lifetime, but this pleases me. Yet I sorrow for you, old king, for it seems the seal you wove was inadequate. O short-lived son of man, I return even in this momentary time.”

“I see. You sense my aether and recognize me through it.” Inglis nodded deeply. As she’d expected, the dragon could sense and distinguish people by their aether. It was something no one else in this world but the black-masked leader of the Steelblood Front could do. Thus, she could expect just as much of a fight from the dragon.

She was disappointed, though. Fufailbane recognized Inglis as the old king she’d been in her past life. Not only that, but he’d managed to break free of her seal sooner than expected. Thus, his words implied that this was the first time he’d awoken after being sealed away.

“But there’s one thing you’re mistaken about,” Inglis said in her mind. “That seal was a strong one, created with the power the goddess Alistia granted me directly. This must be the first time you’ve awoken?”

King Inglis had lived on after sealing Fufailbane, just to be reborn in the far future as Inglis Eucus, and then another fifteen years had passed. All through that time, the ancient dragon had slumbered. If his sleep had been that deep, he may not have even noticed when his tail was cut off.

“What do you mean? That you still draw breath is all the—”

“Come to the surface and see me. Then you will understand. There’s no reason for you to stay buried. Though I suppose if you’re comfortable down there, I won’t interfere.”

“Such nonsense. How could I stand by when faced by you? I, slayer even of gods, humiliatingly sealed in the depths by a mere son of man. In my long life, not one other soul has come close. I will strike you down with my own claws and exact retribution for this humiliation!”

Rrrrrrrumble!

The earth swayed as a roar arose. Cracks began to spread forth from where the dragon’s tail pierced the surface, which then crumbled, pushed aside by the rise of what lay below.

The dragon’s body emerged. Near the tail, Inglis lost her foothold and fell onto his back, carried high into the air. His was a perfectly formed body, rivaling the majesty of a great castle. 

“Roooooaaaaaarrrrrrrr!”

A deep, intense roar welled up. The air itself seemed to shudder as a tornado-like gust flew forth.

This was the utter majesty of the dragon Fufailbane, an image seared into King Inglis’s memory.

Back in that past life, the king had shuddered in his presence, wondering how many sacrifices would have to be made to conquer the mighty beast. As an old man, the king could not take on such a strong opponent alone. For the country and people’s sakes, the dragon could not be left to its whims. The lives of many youth with promising futures would be lost, but if they did not go into battle... Ah, if only he were not old, the king had lamented.

Such were Inglis’s memories. However, the shudder that ran through the body of King Inglis then was nothing like the one Inglis Eucus experienced now.

“Ha ha... Ha ha ha... Here it is!”

This one was pure excitement!

“Haaah!” Inglis leaped down from Fufailbane’s back and landed directly before him. With a ladylike smile on her face, she bowed politely and said out loud, “Why, hello. It’s been so long. I’m glad to see you haven’t changed at all.”

Inglis’s dainty grin perplexed the dragon. The gigantic beast’s face wore no expression, but he tilted his head as if questioning her. “What is this?! The waves of your aether are those of the old king, but...” The voice within her head sounded confused as well.

“Yes. It’s still me. Your senses don’t deceive you, so don’t worry.”

“Yet your form... The garb which marks fresh sacrifices... What magic, what divine intervention, let you commandeer the body of that girl?”

“None at all. I lived out my life—and then, by the might of the goddess, I was reborn. I retain my memories and the powers of a divine knight. A long, long time—longer than I can determine—has passed since our fight. That is why I said the seal was a strong one. I assume this must be the first time you’ve awakened since then?”

“Hmph... That’s hard to believe...”

“As proof, I offer that Mt. Clavoid, which I sealed you under, is gone, and the land here is chilled by the power emanating from you. The world has changed. Can you not sense it? All signs of the gods are gone from the world now...”

“Truly, the energies which flow through the world have changed since then. So the gods have left the world—or found their common ruin in their contention. In either case, you humans have lost your protectors.”

“Perhaps.” Nowhere in the modern world had she sensed the divine. She had no choice but to concede Fufailbane’s point.

“But... What do you mean?”

“About what?”

“Much time has passed—because the world has changed. Are you implying our previous meeting should be water under the bridge? Just as you sent sacrifices in such garb before and told me you didn’t wish to fight...”

“Sacrifices? Those were priestesses who worshiped the ancient dragons.”

“That’s only your interpretation. To me they were nothing more than offerings—nothing more than corpses with shrouds marking them as mine. Some I ate, and some I left until their attachment to life led them to disgrace themselves before me. Their expressions of terror and despair were the most delicious of all.”

“I see... So the ones you left alive to toy with considered themselves the chosen priestesses of the ancient dragons...”

“Not necessarily wrong—though I find it amusing.”

“I suppose you wouldn’t have been able to tell them the truth.”

Inglis considered it might have been a good thing that the existence of so-called “dragon priestesses” had disappeared from history without the truth becoming known.

“The outfit itself is very cute, though...” Inglis muttered.

“Ha ha... I agree myself.”

“Oh, does it fit your tastes?”

“A girl’s body looks so much fresher than that of the withered old man you were—flesh soft and tender, delicious-looking.”

“Well, I probably am a lot tastier now than I was then. So you’re planning to eat me?”

“As I said, I will strike you down with my own claws. I will have my revenge. How delicious you look truly whets my appetite—and I’ve just woken and am very hungry. If your hope was to avoid fighting me, alas! I won’t let you escape!”

“Roooooaaaaaarrrrrrrr!”

Fufailbane roared again. The shuddering air whipped at Inglis’s cheeks and blew her long platinum-blonde hair around her face, which held a pleased smile. She chuckled. “Why, thank you. Even after so many years, you haven’t changed at all... I truly appreciate it.”

“Hmm?” 

“I’m different now than I was then. I’ve been reborn, and I’m enjoying my new life in a different way—so I have no intention of avoiding a fight. No matter what, I won’t run or hide! If you want to eat me, be my guest. That would make us even!”

She had, after all, already had her fill of Fufailbane’s delicious meat. It would be unfair, after eating so much of him, to tell him he couldn’t eat her. Maybe dragons and humans really were incompatible.

Humans were a delicious meal for dragons; dragons were a delicious meal for humans. And now she hadn’t just heard it, she’d experienced it. There was no going back. With both sides understanding that they were delicious to the other, one had to emerge as the predator with the other as their prey.

A strong, yet delicious, enemy was simply the best. Magicite beasts were strong, and a good fight—but essentially inedible.

“‘Make us even’? What do you mean?”

Inglis chuckled. “Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud.”

Fufailbane, proud and haughty, would surely fly into a rage if he were to learn that she’d cut off his tail and enjoyed his meat several times as he slept. So that much was best left unsaid.

“Anyway, you’re hungry, right? So come eat me. That is, if you can.” Inglis nimbly dropped into a fighting stance, beckoning to Fufailbane with a grin on her face.

“How insolent. Very well! Sating my hunger and avenging my humiliation is exactly what I want!”

“Roooaaar!”

Fufailbane roared loudly, raised a front foot, and slammed it down toward Inglis. Although he was huge, his movements were swift and sharp. In the blink of an eye, the claws were upon her.

Booooom!

It slammed down, making a sound like an explosion. However, despite how massive that foot was and how forceful it was, no dust rose. No dirt was scattered.

Inglis remained in place, her arms folded, meeting Fufailbane’s attack head-on. Thanks to that, the ground under her feet wasn’t blown away. But his stomp was so powerful that the earth was cracking and sinking.

“What, has becoming young again somehow slowed you down? Don’t tell me it’s because you have the frail body of a woman.”

“Of course not. But I have changed in some ways—I just wanted to see if I could withstand that attack.”

A king who bore the fate of his country and its people was right to avoid as much damage as possible. Avoiding this blow in place of a greeting from Fufailbane would be the obvious choice.

That wasn’t Inglis Eucus’s aim, though. Her motivation was growth; she had naturally wanted to take on that attack directly.

The foreleg of the ancient dragon continued to apply horrendous amounts of pressure in his attempt to crush Inglis. It felt so good that she couldn’t stop smiling.

“Hmph. Let’s see if you’re more than your pride!”

“Go right ahead. Try anything!”

“I’ll make you regret that!”

“Roooar!”

Fufailbane roared briefly, and endless numbers of phantasms flowed forth from him. All at once, they swept toward Inglis, who was enduring his foreleg.

“Gworrrr!” the phantasms shrieked.

The ferocity of their jaws meant a bite on anyone would surely result in injury—except to an ancient dragon, of course, it would be nothing more than a minor distraction.

Inglis couldn’t let something like that tear her outfit. It may have been just a burial shroud to an ancient dragon, a way to designate sacrifices to it, but it was very important to Inglis as something Rafinha had made for her. Besides, she also liked how cute it looked on her.

“Haaaah!” Inglis shouted her battle cry as she thought, Aether Shell! The waves of aether around Inglis turned back the phantasms’ fangs, leaving both her and her outfit untouched.

“Ugh! That accursed divine might...”

“There’s more than that!” Inglis had blocked the dragon’s blow without Aether Shell up until now, but now that it was active, she could do more than endure.

“Haaaah!” Inglis’s contest of strength with the dragon, which had been at a stalemate, suddenly tilted in her favor. She pushed straight into the pressure and repelled it. The massive foot no longer blocked her vision, and as the full form of the ancient dragon came into sight, so did something else.

A shimmering, icy shine was already spiraling around his mouth.

“Ah!” You really can’t get anything by him! This was a dragon’s breath, condensed from Fufailbane’s power to freeze. If a human body were exposed to it, it would be frozen and then shattered by a follow-up strike. When she’d fought the ancient dragon in her past life, she’d seen many succumb to such icy assaults. It was probably one of Fufailbane’s most powerful attacks.

Whoooooooosh!

A blast of extreme cold accompanied yet another roar.

“I’ll meet that straight-on!”

Aether Strike! Inglis smashed a blast of aether directly into the shimmering breath.

Blammmmmm!

The dragon’s breath and Inglis’s Aether Strike collided, straining against each other for a moment—but the Aether Strike won out, pushing toward the dragon.

“Gah?!” Fufailbane grunted.

“Aha!” The slight pause required after using Aether Strike had already passed. Now it was time to follow up with Aether Shell for an Aether Breaker!

Inglis formed her Aether Shell around herself and leaped to catch Aether Strike’s slow advance.

“Gwuhhhh?!” With startling speed, the ancient dragon swung his gigantic tail forward.

Claaang!

It struck the Aether Strike, sending it off on a different course, meaning Inglis wouldn’t be able to detonate Aether Breaker as intended.

“Not bad! But you’ll have to do more than that!” Inglis immediately changed her angle midair and placed herself in the Aether Strike’s new trajectory. “Please accept this humble gift!”

Smaaash!

Her kick once again redirected the Aether Strike toward the dragon.

“How impudent!” Fufailbane showed no sign of the slowness his huge body might imply. He reacted swiftly to the Aether Strike sent his way once more.

Claaang!

Once again, his tail sent it flying off in a different direction.

“I’m not done!” This time, she caught the light above Fufailbane’s head and sent it down with her fist.

“How obstinate!” The dragon’s treelike tail flexed and cracked like a whip. It was strong enough to deflect even divine light, yet it only whooshed through the air this time. “Gah?!”

The Aether Strike had changed its course midair, out of the way of the tail swipe. Inglis had redirected it preemptively, and Fufailbane had taken no notice of her move.

With that, he was convinced. There was no mistaking it—this reborn girl was stronger than the old king.

A long time had passed since then, but the battle with the old king was still a fresh memory for Fufailbane, who had slept all that time. Back then, the king hadn’t been able to move faster than the dragon could follow—Inglis had been a manageable opponent for Fufailbane, which was why the decision to seal the ancient dragon away had been a necessary one to spare other soldiers.

But the girl before him now was different. Completely different.

Unlike the old king, Inglis did not confront the dragon with grim resolve and a sense of duty weighing down on her, but instead with a small grin on her face as she approached him joyfully. Fearlessly. Insolently. With a speed that exceeded even his reactions. It was the first time he’d ever experienced such a thing. He felt an indescribable sense of bewilderment.

A moment later, the Aether Strike slammed into his back.

“Gwah?!”

“All right!” Inglis wasn’t going to let that opportunity pass her by. A quick follow-up⁠—! She dove toward the point of impact, but before she could reach it, Fufailbane twisted his body and spread his wings, soaring high into the sky. He truly was agile for his size. But that’s what makes this interesting!

Inglis kept going, not dropping any momentum. Fufailbane may have fled to the safety of the air, but the Aether Strike hadn’t dissipated yet, and she wanted to catch it before it hit the ground and disappeared. She planned to kick it up for another attack, so long as she reached it in time.

However, Fufailbane wouldn’t make that so easy.

Whoooooooosh!

A shimmering torrent of air shot forth to envelop the point of impact.

“Ah⁠—!” Inglis gasped, watching the Aether Strike finally lose its power, dissolving into mist from that immense wind pressure.

“You won’t be able to do that again!”

“Not bad!”

The dragon’s breath, having neutralized the Aether Strike, next headed for Inglis. If she took a direct hit from that, not even Aether Shell would save her. Dragons drew power from their very existence and were able to manipulate supernatural phenomena with it. They were beings with a unique, biological source of power.

In the days of King Inglis, those who studied dragons had referred to that power’s structure and principles as “dragon lore,” a force separate from mere magic with its use of mana. It was also separate from aether, the elemental root of all physical matter. In other words, it was fundamentally independent of the laws of nature. It was something entirely different.

There were various theories on how to interpret this. Some proposed that the dragons came from another world; others believed the dragons were created by entities other than the gods humans knew; and some argued that dragons had served a god before slaying it and taking its power for their own.

Inglis didn’t know which was correct. However, she was sure that the power of dragons was mighty enough for the third theory to be plausible. The innate qualities of dragon lore were a match for aether—especially that of Fufailbane, one of the strongest dragons.

Inglis dodged around, continuing to avoid the dragon’s breath. The densely compressed sparkling chill almost instantly turned to ice when it struck the ground, creating obstacles. “This is incredible! Precisely what I hoped for from an ancient dragon!”

Blocks of ice, shining like gems, rose all around her. Inglis was astonished at the sight. Such intensity, sustained for so long, represented a tremendous amount of power—yet it showed no sign of weakening. If she had burned through that much power for that period of time, she’d have already completely exhausted herself. Endurance wasn’t the whole story of a fight—but her own was easily outmatched here. She couldn’t deny it was a weak point of hers. And it was something that only more practice would fix; she’d have to make sure to make time for that if she wanted to be able to keep up. There was no other way to make up the difference.

“What’s wrong? You’re merely scurrying around!”

“Or am I?!”

Her foe was in the air, and she was on the ground. And the high ground held the advantage. To counterattack, she could either leap up into melee range or fire an Aether Strike⁠—both of which were essentially linear. With such a gap between them, the dragon could simply use his agility to either counter or dodge. And she didn’t have many shots of Aether Strike left in her.

Even if she tried to change the trajectory of an Aether Strike by striking it after firing it, the lack of footholds in the air would make that difficult to pull off. Considering Fufailbane had far more endurance than her, she wanted to be sure that any blow struck true. So for now, she could only evade and wait for her chance. And that would come soon.

Fufailbane’s breath attack was endless. “You can’t run away forever!” he threatened, and swung his foreleg downward. Since he was not swooping toward the ground, it should have been only a threatening brandish, unable to reach Inglis⁠.

But the gigantic limb suddenly doubled in her vision. A dragon’s foreleg with pale, translucent tinge like a phantasm’s, following the trajectory Fufailbane himself had set. Not a phantasm itself, but a phantasmal dragon’s leg⁠.

“Ah⁠—!”

Flying all the way down to the surface, it loomed down on Inglis. It felt far too powerful, even for Fufailbane.

Bammmmm!

The leg punched a hole in the ground with a rumbling sound, shattering the ice crystals where it landed and sending shards flying. Inglis was hit with the impression that she was standing in the middle of a fantastical starfield.

This was an attack based on the use of phantasms. By manipulating the flow of his energy and focusing it on a single point in his body, Fufailbane could manifest entire phantasmal limbs, capable of destructive power equal or greater to that of the dragon himself. Just as the phantasms were able to function at some distance from the dragon, so could this.

Inglis’s Aether Shell protected her from the fangs of the phantasms. Therefore, the dragon had focused his biological energy to increase his attacks’ raw power. Inglis didn’t need to take a hit to know that it was mightier than the dragon’s own blows. In melee combat, where the dragon himself could also reach, his offensive potential would be more than doubled.

Inglis would have loved to take that on head-to-head⁠—but the current situation didn’t allow for it. The combination of the dragon’s breath from a distance and this phantasmal foreleg in pursuit had made it more difficult to continue evading.

She leaped out of the path of the falling phantasmal forelimb, then thrust a blade of ice into the ground to abruptly stop her movement and avoid the freezing breath aimed ahead. Fufailbane’s dragon breath immediately changed direction to chase after her, but she rushed ahead before it could catch up.

Inglis had no time to rest, though. Fufailbane’s right forelimb loomed over her. Sensing its presence, she nimbly twisted left and continued on. The left forelimb struck down as if to block her path, crushing not her but a gigantic ice crystal.

The blow fell near me, but not on me. He can chase me, but he can’t catch me. That means I can keep evading, but⁠...

“Take this!” Fufailbane swung his massive tail as if in response. If his forearms weren’t enough, he’d use his tail too. The phantasmal tail sprung from the ground, swinging in from Inglis’s right, closing in on her as it swept away the ice crystals on that side.

Krrrshhhhh!

The tail struck the crystals, which then struck each other.

The tail that possessed the finest meat she’d ever enjoyed also embodied the finest destructive power. That this attack from the phantasmal tail was even stronger went without saying.

She leaped up to avoid it, but the loud noise and the hail of ice shards scattering made it hard to grasp the situation. And Fufailbane showed no inclination of not taking advantage of this.

“Now I’ve got you!”

“Ah?!”

Slam!

Something suddenly struck Inglis in the side—a blow from the right phantasmal forelimb. It sent her flying, and she hit the ground hard, bouncing a couple times before she regained her footing. “Ah, you’re ruining my clothes!”

“I’m going to crush you into a pulp!” The phantasmal left forelimb swung before her.

“No thanks!” Inglis shouted with passion. Rafinha had gone through all the work of sewing this outfit for her. Inglis wasn’t going to let anyone ruin it!

Thuuud!

Her right fist caught the limb. The shock of the impact blew away the ice shards raining down. Her struggle with the focused dragon lore power was nothing like when she’d fought the phantasms, and the two fighters’ limbs strained at each other in a stalemate.

Inglis gasped, then chuckled. “You put up such a wonderful fight!”

She slowly began to win out, pushing Fufailbane back⁠—but she did have to admit that the phantasmal leg’s strength was very close to that of her own punches with Aether Shell active. She couldn’t help but smile at the numbness in her arm from when the two had collided. Here was a fight she could enjoy for a long time, working up an appetite for that delicious tail meat to enjoy afterward.

Ancient dragons were so wonderful—not a single thing was wasted.

“Tch! But as long as I have wings⁠...!” Fufailbane must have meant that his positional advantage was unassailable.

“Not necessarily!” Inglis ran forward at full speed, then leaped up⁠—but not on a direct course for the dragon. Her destination was one of the ice crystals Fufailbane’s tail had swept into the air. The ferocious might of his attack had sent them flying so high that they were still raining down.

“Haaaah!”

Using it as a foothold, she leaped again. And again and again⁠—jumping from ice crystal to ice crystal, she ascended into the sky. If she’d jumped straight up to attack, she still wouldn’t have closed enough distance between herself and Fufailbane, meaning he would have had time to react and counter. However, by leaping from ice crystal to ice crystal, keeping herself hidden and taking a complex trajectory, Fufailbane couldn’t keep up with her. The tail sweep had been how he’d caught her, but it was also a golden opportunity from her perspective.

“What?! You miserable hopping⁠—” 

“Thanks for putting me on even footing! And one other thing: don’t assume that being up in the air is always an advantage! Because⁠—!”

Slammmmmm!

The loudest sound yet rumbled as a kick by Inglis, aimed straight as an arrow, plunged into Fufailbane’s abdomen.

“Guh?! Gwahhhhhh?” Fufailbane’s gigantic form twisted in the air.

“Because your belly doesn’t have those hard, hard scales⁠—see?”

Scales carpeted Fufailbane’s head, his neck, his back and tail⁠—but not his abdomen. Flying in the sky, looking down on her, meant that from her angle, his soft underbelly was exposed. It wasn’t as much of an advantage as he assumed.

“Gah! It’ll take more than that!” Fufailbane righted himself in an instant. It had been an effective blow, but he was certainly quite sturdy. And even with the blood rushing to his head, he was still a calculating fighter.

He quickly descended to the ground, so as to protect his abdomen. Even then Inglis still had to crane her neck to look at him.

“So⁠, shall we melee now?”

“I’ve come to a realization. Reduce this to a struggle of whole strength, and I win!”

Fufailbane’s assessment made sense. The power of his phantasmal tail or forelimbs conjured by dragon lore alone was a match for her own direct attacks with Aether Shell. Furthermore, the strength of his physical body was fearsome, adding additional strength behind the phantasmal attacks. That added advantage would let him pressure her—crush her⁠. Once that kind of pressure was applied, a frail human body could easily be obliterated.

Based on their battles up to now, Fufailbane was correct in such an assessment. No doubt.

But he was wrong here!

“Rrrrrrrrrraaah!” 

“Haaaaaaaah!”

Slammmm!

Fufailbane’s gigantic, brutal spiked foot and Inglis’s pale, delicate hand collided head-on with a thunderous noise.

The one pushed back, falling flat on his back, was the ancient dragon Fufailbane.

“Wh-What?! Impossible!” Fufailbane shrieked uncontrollably. It is unfathomable. Absolutely unfathomable. How, how? he must have been asking.

But his confusion did not stem from the result. He understood clearly why he had been pushed back in a head-on clash of fists: another force was driving this young girl, the reincarnation of the old king. It was a force Fufailbane knew better than anyone else.

A pale, translucent dragon’s foot had appeared overlapping Inglis’s hand, pushing him back—the same phantasmal limb he’d used. Its addition had outmatched him, flipping him onto his back. He knew such a strong supplement in offense would break the stalemate in her favor⁠—but how could that have happened?

“How?! How could you⁠?!” he roared without losing focus on the fight. Flipped over, his abdomen was exposed. Expecting he’d be struck during the opening, he braced himself as quickly as possible while focusing his dragon lore on his belly. Thanks to his swiftness, he succeeded in regaining his footing before the attack struck.

“My dragon lore! How?!” Fufailbane turned his gaze to Inglis—but she was gone. “Gwuh?! Where are you?!”

“No matter how hard your scales are, you’ll still feel the impact inside!”

“Above me?!”

Fufailbane looked to the sky. There Inglis was, twisting into a kick. Her legs, so shapely and delicious-looking, were clad in a phantasm of his own tail manifested through dragon lore.

And that was the last thing Fufailbane saw, for now.

“Haaaaaaaah!”

Booooooooooooooooom!

Inglis’s kick, powered not just by Aether Shell but also by dragon lore, exploded into Fufailbane’s head. No matter how strong his scales were, the impact shook his brain inside. The divine dragon’s body, struck by Inglis’s full force, wavered, then collapsed with an earthshaking rumble.

Inglis, still poised, watched for a moment. Seems he’s not getting up anytime soon. I think I’ve knocked him into a stupor.

She took a breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead, allowing herself a moment to relax. “Phew... Ah, that was fun.”

He truly was the ancient dragon Fufailbane, slayer even of gods. His might was exceptional, far outpacing that of any other foe Inglis Eucus had faced.

The only two who might rival him were the black-masked leader of the Steelblood Front, and Yua, who seemed to have advanced in mysterious, unexplained ways by absorbing the power of the Prismer.

“I’m elated. Even though you’re gigantic, I was able to overpower you.” Inglis giggled, bunching up her fists and smiling cutely. This result was something old King Inglis would never have thought possible. Even if it was something only she could do, it was a great feat.

She had now clearly surpassed the old King Inglis. Knocking out the ancient dragon Fufailbane on her own was proof. Even if only she knew why this was so important to her, it was something to be happy about.

Only fifteen years old, and she’d already come this far. She was not yet aged and infirm. She could aim higher and higher. She couldn’t be satisfied with just this—she wanted to push herself ever harder toward mastery.

This time she’d relied on the dragon lore she just acquired⁠—next time, she’d try to win with only her own aether. Without that dragon lore, the results would have been much more unpredictable. In that respect, Inglis had gotten lucky.

As for why Inglis had dragon lore, shocking even him⁠—there was only one reason she could think of.

She’d consumed him—his tail meat.

Even in the time of King Inglis, there had been legends of dragonslayers, warriors who killed a dragon and gained its supernatural power. She’d never seen an actual example, thus writing it off as an unreliable rumor. She assumed any warrior able to kill a dragon probably had supernatural power themselves, and thus it’d be difficult to tell the difference.

However, this seemed to confirm the rumors. She quite obviously was imbued with Fufailbane’s dragon lore. She hadn’t killed the dragon, of course, but it seemed that cutting off his flesh and eating it was equivalent. It was a little bit different from the legend, but since that had been vague enough to begin with, she couldn’t see any choice but to accept it.

And there was another difference from the legend⁠—apparently, not everyone who ate Fufailbane’s meat was imbued with the dragon lore. Rafinha, Leone, and the others didn’t seem to have that power. It might have been a question of how much meat, but Rafinha had kept up with Inglis’s appetite, yet showed no signs, so there went that theory.

The legend said that anyone who slew a dragon gained its power, but that wasn’t true. There was a question of compatibility with an ancient dragon’s dragon lore, and only those who were compatible could receive a dragon’s strength.

What exactly “compatible” meant was unclear, but Inglis was glad to have it. Dragon lore would let her aim higher and higher. She’d have to train hard to master it and make it her own.

When controlling the dragon lore at this point, the ancient dragon’s own limbs and tail appeared for her. She could assume that it was obviously just borrowed power. If she made it her own, the dragon lore which converged with her body would likely match her own hands and legs.

From that perspective, she still had a long way to go. Having gained the power of dragon lore before she’d even mastered aether made her want to scream with a mix of joy and frustration at the added distraction.

That new power required more training. And fortunately, she had the perfect partner right here. She hoped she could fight him over and over. Coming all the way up north to Alcard had paid off.

“Chris! Are you okay? Can we come closer?!” Rafinha’s voice rang out from above. She was aboard the Star Princess. The rest of the group was with her and had brought a certain thing with them. It was long, heavy, and resembled a chain.

It couldn’t fit aboard the aircraft, so they had tied the ends to the hulls of both Flygears to carry it.

“Yeah. I’m fine, Rani! Thanks, can you drop the chain for me?”

“Okay! Here goes!”

Jangle, jangle, jangle!

Inglis grabbed it deftly as it fell from the sky with a clamor. It felt secure in her hand. The chain was rough, spiky, and distorted, but its strength was extraordinary. After all, it had been braided from Fufailbane’s own scales. She’d worked hard to make it with what was available locally on the outskirts of their camp for just such an occasion.

Even Fufailbane wouldn’t be able to break a chain made from the hard scales of which he was so proud. He was still needed to provide food and a sparring partner, and he wasn’t the type to accept being told to do so. They were going to have to force him to comply.

“Sorry, but... Stay still for me for a second, okay?” Inglis looped the dragonscale chain around Fufailbane’s body. Once she had finished, she bowed politely to the still unconscious dragon. “I had a great time today. Thank you very much.”

“You sound awfully polite for someone who gave it a beating,” Rafinha commented.

“Y-Yes... I feel a bit sorry for it,” Leone agreed.

“Indeed,” Liselotte said.

Rafinha and the others were all stunned.

“Really? He’ll be fine. I’ll just apologize when I come to fight him again tomorrow,” Inglis replied.

“Wait, you want to keep going?” Lahti asked. “Try not to get the base caught up in this.”

“Please be careful, Inglis!” Pullum pleaded.

“Sure. Anyway, let’s head back. That fight left me starving.”

All that remained at the site of the battle was Fufailbane, his tail lopped off and cooked, as he rolled back and forth, wrapped in a chain of his own scales.

That night, his reproachful roars echoed through the camp.