Chapter 131: I’m Getting Tired of Shaking It All the Time

“Aaaaah!?”

Fafnir, the corrupted dragon, let out a roar of agony as Sarassa’s lightning strike slammed into him head-on.

“–! Here it comes!”

But even that powerful strike was only enough to halt him for a moment. Fafnir lunged again almost immediately.

Bang!

He collided violently with the barrier. Did we… manage to block the attack somehow?

Still, it was shocking—Sarassa’s full-strength lightning, a strike that had seriously injured the Red Dragon before, seemed to barely leave a scratch on this abomination.

“Ei!”

Sena sent a slashing projectile flying. It struck Fafnir squarely on the snout.

Her ranged slashes—her flying blades—could cut an orc clean in two. But even wielded with a mithril blade, would they actually affect a creature of this size?

“~~!?”

Wait… was he actually feeling pain?

Thanks to the garden concealment, Fafnir couldn’t see us. From his perspective, lightning and slashes were raining down from some mysterious void. He could sense an enemy presence somewhere, but the attacks themselves remained a mystery.

“Let’s keep going!”

Sena unleashed blade after blade. Each one struck the dragon’s head, forcing Fafnir to raise his forelegs in frantic defense. Clearly, her attacks were more effective than anyone had expected.

And because she could keep launching them endlessly, he couldn’t drop his guard for even a second.

“My full-strength lightning was… completely outclassed…”

“Sarassa, don’t think about it too much.”

“And Sena… she’s in a league of her own, isn’t she?”

Still, Fafnir seemed to realize that just guarding wouldn’t get him anywhere. He charged, head first, against the barrier.

Crash!

Crack…

Uh-oh! The barrier is starting to fracture!

Even a single collision from this massive dragon could be catastrophic. If the barrier shattered completely, it would be the end for us. Yet Fafnir kept charging repeatedly.

Shatter!

Finally, the barrier reached its limit and exploded into fragments. Fafnir’s massive foreleg came down toward us, a terrifying shadow over our heads.

Bang!

Well… it was okay. We had double-layered the barrier.

…?

Fafnir paused, surprised. He had clearly felt the impact, but neither the miasma nor our attacks seemed to have broken through.

“Hey… can I just go in and slash him directly? I’m getting tired of swinging from a distance.”

“Wait, wait! The outside is a sea of miasma! It’s dangerous out there!”

I lunged to stop my reckless little sister.

“But if we just keep this up, who knows when we’ll finish him? This is exhausting.”

Her impatience was incredible. The blades were effective, but clearly not lethal. She was ready to charge in herself.

“Hmm… with the master’s enchantment, and after dousing myself with holy water, it should be fine?”

“It won’t be fine!”

While we argued, Fafnir struck again, attempting to destroy the barrier. Thankfully, I had already created a second one, so we were safe… but we still lacked a decisive attack.

The corrupted dragon’s miasma continued to seep into the forest. Stopping Sena’s reckless strategy had worked, but I didn’t want this fight to drag on.

“Hey, can’t your golem do something?”

“That thing only works inside the garden!”

“Useless, then!”

Harsh words. Those golems were meant to protect the garden; it’s not their fault they couldn’t go outside.

“Um… maybe we could just expand the garden?”

“Exactly!”

“Oh… I see…”

Sarassa-san’s suggestion had us clapping our hands in relief. How had we not thought of that sooner?

I expanded the garden at once.

!?

The ground beneath us transformed instantly into farmland, shocking Fafnir. Now that he was inside, he could probably see us as well.

The barrier was confined to our immediate surroundings, keeping both miasma and attacks at bay.

〈Create Giga Guardians?〉

“Five, please!”

Five massive golems, each fifteen meters tall, materialized around Fafnir’s enormous body.

“Take him down!”

“――――”

At my command, the Giga Golems all struck simultaneously.

Aaaaaaaaaaah!?

Good! It’s working. Fafnir’s roar of pain echoed as the golems pummeled him from all directions.

Of course, he didn’t go down quietly. He retaliated with miasma-laden saliva and other attacks. But the soil-made golems were barely affected, only crumbling slightly at the surface.

〈Create Giga Guardians?〉

“Yes, please!”

Even if destroyed, we could simply create more.

Shraaaah!

Realizing he was losing, the corrupted dragon tried to topple the golems with a tackle and flee.

“Not a chance!”

“Stop him!”

“Lightning!”

I quickly summoned new golems to block his escape, aided by Shifa-san’s [Empress’s Authority] and Sarassa-san’s lightning strikes.

“But he’s tougher than I thought…”

Even after repeated assaults from the Giga Golems, Fafnir was still raging energetically. In fact, his miasma seemed to grow thicker, wrapping his entire body.

“Maybe he’s using the miasma as protection.”

“I’ve heard he can even heal himself with it…”

“Wait, if that’s true… we could never beat him!”

A self-healing ability too… This is truly a danger-level S monster. I shivered at the thought, but then Sena spoke up.

“Hm… then why don’t we just pour holy water directly on him?”

“That’s it!”

“Huh?”

Even coming from my little sister, that was… actually a good idea.