Chapter 83

Once again, I charged at the dragon with full acceleration.

However, this speed was incomparably slower than the initial one.

It was different from when I could accelerate as much as I wanted without being noticed, taking the upper hand in the sky.

Even so, the distance was such that the dragon looked like a bean, but considering the speed of sound, it couldn't be called long, and I couldn't even use the slight gravitational pull.

It would have been very helpful if the dragon had just watched this opportunity, but of course, that wasn't going to happen.

Even if it was slower than the beginning, it would take only a few seconds for me to reach the dragon.

Judging that there was no time to use a breath attack, the dragon launched a large number of fireballs with almost no motion.

It was more like a massive flock of birds I had seen on the news rather than a shotgun blast.

The speed was supposed to be less than the speed of sound, but because I was approaching the dragon, the relative speed was several times higher.

It wasn't like a bullet curtain shooting game, and I had no intention of diving into such a situation.

Naturally, I had to decelerate and make a wide detour to avoid the cluster of fire.

The surroundings were just the sea and a ground with no grass, and it would have been easier if the dragon had just used a breath attack, creating an opportunity.

However, the dragon, knowing that I could reach it with a straight acceleration even if I decelerated, just kept firing similar attacks.

The fortunate thing was that the dragon wasn't using predictive shooting (a technique of predicting the enemy's future position and attacking there) at the moment, so there was no problem with approaching it in a circling manner.

Moreover, the closer I got, the narrower the spread of the fireballs became, making it easier to avoid them, though the damage increased when hit.

When the distance to the dragon was about one-fifth of the initial distance, I could almost fly straight toward the enemy.

"Roaaaaaar!"

The dragon roared.

Unlike the small dragon, it was a rough, earth-shaking roar.

It made me feel that this was a different league from any monster I had faced before.

Perhaps irritated that I wasn't being hit by the fireballs, the dragon changed its attack.

This time, it scattered fireballs about a meter in diameter in all directions.

There was no way to circle around, and it would be difficult to retreat and put away my weapon at this distance and speed.

The density of the fire curtain had dropped significantly, so I tried to dodge as much as I could.

Since continuous firing was impossible, I had to keep my course almost directly toward the dragon, which also increased the relative speed of the fireballs.

The few seconds until I reached the dragon felt like several minutes.

The distance was closing, and the intermittent fireballs were impossible to dodge calmly.

Since a wide detour was meaningless, I mainly accelerated toward the dragon, slightly accelerating in a direction that seemed less dense.

At first, I was lucky enough to avoid them, but of course, such luck couldn't last forever, and I was hit consecutively just before reaching the dragon.

The fireballs exploded immediately upon hitting me, or rather, my magical armor, significantly eroding it.

The power, as I perceived it, was equivalent to one breath attack from a lesser dragon for two fireballs.

With my current magic power, it wouldn't be broken, but if it were like the last mini-dragon battle, it might have been completely eroded, and I would have been hit directly.

Despite being eroded, I reached the dragon and thrust my sword with momentum.

The result was disappointing; the dragon was hardly damaged.

I hadn't been concerned about it before because I had enough acceleration, but even with the magic sword and magic power absorption, the dragon wasn't particularly vulnerable. It was only as effective as a regular sword against other hard monsters.

In any case, my attack hardly affected the dragon.

The magic sword, which should have been in tatters, only had a slightly larger chip, confirming that it was not a real attack.

Now, I had lost speed at close range to the dragon, and it was the dragon's turn.

I was knocked off by the dragon's tail, and the first attack was a fireball.

It was the same type as before, a high-density fireball aimed in one direction.

I tried to avoid it by putting away my weapon and accelerating in the direction of retreat, but I was inevitably hit by a cluster of fireballs.

Due to the close distance, the fireballs detonated, reducing the number of direct hits, but the magic power I lost was more than ten times what I had lost on the way in.

I had become quite tough to withstand this much.

Just as I was trying to accelerate and gain distance, the dragon's movements changed.

It was a familiar prelude to a breath attack.

I immediately gave up on retreating and started to circle around the dragon.

The breath attack was released in the direction I had predicted, as I had seen with lesser dragons and small dragons.

However, I was shocked when I saw the breath attack.

It was incomparable to the breath attacks of small dragons and lesser dragons.

With a range measured in kilometers and a thickness that didn't change even at that range, the firepower at the base would vaporize me instantly.

The dragon wasn't moving much to attack, but I didn't even want to think about what would happen if it entered combat mode.

...But now wasn't the time to think about such things.

The breath attack was a big move for the dragon, and its movement was fixed.

Since it wouldn't matter if I didn't get hit, it was a good opportunity to gain distance.

By the time the dragon released additional fireballs, I had already exceeded the speed of the fireballs.

I managed to escape.

It was a reset, but the situation wasn't good.

After all, if I charged straight, I would be hit, but if I slowed down to avoid the attack, it wouldn't be effective.

It wasn't like a game where the boss was designed to be beatable; it was understandable that even the ancient civilization that mass-produced magic swords couldn't defeat it, but it was unreasonable.

There was no option to retreat; considering the damage from a single breath attack from a small dragon, the consequences of letting this dragon run wild were obvious.

However, there was a hint for a strategy.

I had just discovered it: chain explosions.

There was only one strategy.

Given the possibility that I couldn't catch up to the dragon, the worst scenario would be if it lost sight of me and attacked elsewhere. Therefore, the distance I could take was limited.

To gain speed within that range, I had to take a straight path.

To avoid being hit by all the fireballs, I would have to cast magic directly in front of me to intercept them.

Naturally, the magic I cast had to be faster than me, so I would hold two magic swords and a staff blade.

To make up for the insufficient speed, I would continuously infuse magic power into the staff blade, but it would be a minimal consumption now.

This strategy was more a matter of elimination than a well-thought-out plan, and it wasn't a good one, but I had no choice.

With my resolve, I prepared for another charge.

While I was preparing, the dragon was gathering magic power from the surroundings, but it was helpful that it didn't close the distance to attack.

As soon as I was within range, the dragon launched fireballs as before.

I countered with a continuous stream of rock spears.

The first wave of fireballs and rock spears collided, causing a series of explosions.

The fireballs were dispersing due to the distance, and there was no large chain explosion.

There was no visible hole in the cluster of fireballs, but it was too late to turn back.

I prayed to avoid being hit and continued flying straight.

Surprisingly, I wasn't hit at all.

Perhaps because I was launching rock spears directly at the dragon, the fireballs were avoiding me.

Now, the fireballs couldn't reach me.

The dragon might have noticed this, but I was already close enough to reach it before it could use a breath attack.

I used multiple acceleration magic items in succession, activating three before impact.

I put away the defensive staff blade and aimed precisely at the same spot I had cut before.

The effect of the acceleration magic items was significant, and I felt the magic sword cutting into the dragon's flesh despite being damaged.

I pushed harder, driving the sword in.

Crack!

Judging that resisting would stop my movement and make me a target, I let go of the magic sword.

The magic sword was completely destroyed, and the wound revealed a metallic-like bone.

Given the hardness of the armor or bone, it was impossible to sever the neck.

Feeling somewhat hopeless, I managed to escape without wasting the speed I had maintained by letting go early.

However, bad things come in threes.

"Roaaaaaar!"

The dragon roared and pursued me with its wings, at an incredible speed.

This meant that the dragon, which was already a significant threat as a stationary cannon, had entered combat mode.

With its speed and power, I was helplessly blown away, spinning for several kilometers.

It was very painful. I felt like my body was broken in many places.

I could heal the injuries with magic, but my magic power was almost depleted.

Moreover, even if I had magic power, I had no proper means of attack left.

Given its hardness, it was physically impossible to cut it, even with the dragon's bones, and magic had no effect on the dragon.

There was no physical example in the ancient texts, and since the neck couldn't be cut, it was an impossible game.

I had to find another weakness...

I hadn't attacked it before, but could the magic stone be a weakness?

In manga, such a clear core is often a weakness.

I recalled that the magic stone of the small dragon was on its head.

Looking at the dragon, it seemed to be preparing a physical attack, circling toward me.

We seemed to be on the same wavelength.

I took out the giant main cannon of the Dragon Killer from my item box and fired a shot. I hoped it would really kill the dragon.

I had 10 and a few acceleration magic items left, all of which I would use for this acceleration.

If this didn't work, my magic power would be depleted, and it would be game over. It was a clearance sale of magic items.