Gem Wings (2)
｢Me｣｢Savior?｣｢Cannot｣｢Understand｣
Adhai found it hard to believe what Ham Ort had told her.
｢Me｣｢Body｣｢Small｣｢Strength｣｢Weak｣｢Savior｣｢Impossible｣
She had been born with a small, runty body. Good fortune had brought her the right companions and allowed her to grow, but her frame was still tiny. Her strength was one thing, but her body was smaller than even a Hatchling's.
And yet she was supposed to be a savior. It simply could not be.
｢You｣｢Are small, true｣｢But｣｢First Mate｣｢Taught me｣｢Saviors｣｢Connected to｣｢Power of the Star｣
｢First Mate?｣
Just as Ham Ort had become the third mate, there had been females who bonded with the Black Dragon before her. The very first of them had been an Ancient Dragon ranked fifth in the pack.
｢First Mate｣｢Where is she now?｣
｢Dead｣
｢!｣
｢Oude Grad｣｢Feared the truth｣｢So｣｢Killed her｣
At those words, Adhai was struck dumb with shock.
Though age had dropped her rank considerably, the First Mate had been the eldest of their kind in the entire pack. In terms of reverence, she had commanded as much respect from her kin as the Great Oude Grad himself.
And yet he had killed her. It made Adhai almost suspect that Ham Ort was lying.
Adhai stretched her every sense to its limit and examined the pure-white female. Her psychic powers reached out and brushed against Ham Ort's body. Ham Ort was well aware that her daughter was probing her, but she remained still.
What Adhai confirmed after the long inspection was, at the very least, one thing: Ham Ort truly believed it herself.
The First Mate's death grieved Adhai deeply. Of everyone in the pack, she had been the only one who had ever been kind to her.
Even kinder than Ham Ort, her own mother.
But the words the First Mate had left behind were a separate matter from whether Adhai truly was something special.
Ham Ort claimed she carried the power of the star, but none of it resonated with Adhai. If she truly possessed such a power, she would never have been captured and dragged to this place in the first place.
｢Daughter of the Shooting Star｣｢Savior｣｢There is more proof｣
｢?｣
Ham Ort pointed a foreclaw at her grass-green scales.
｢Growth｣｢Faster｣｢Than even kin｣
｢Me｣｢Hunted by myself｣｢Ate much prey｣
She tried to object, but Ham Ort shook her head.
｢Not wrong｣｢But｣｢Too fast｣｢Kin｣｢Growth and strength｣｢Need much, much prey｣
Exiled at such a young age, Adhai did not know—but Ham Ort did. When she had discovered the traces her daughter left behind after leaving this star and returning, she had felt it: the Daughter of the Shooting Star was growing at an abnormal rate.
Among those born alongside her, quite a few had already shifted from a sandy hue to grass-green scales. They surpassed Adhai in both size and the strength stored within their bodies.
But Ham Ort could feel it. This small daughter standing before her would soon don the same scales as she—would soon clothe herself in pure white.
The Daughter of the Shooting Star had grown this far without receiving a single benefit from the nest, steeped as it was in the dragons' power. What did it mean, that an exile was growing faster than all the kin who had enjoyed every advantage?
The answer was simple.
Before she died, the First Mate had said it: the savior looked pathetic, but carried within her a monstrous potential. If only the conditions to unlock that potential were met, the Daughter of the Shooting Star could blossom into a being known only in legend.
｢Daughter of the Shooting Star｣｢Needs special prey｣
｢Special prey?｣
｢Flesh of kings｣｢Needed｣｢Follow me｣
Having shaken her body out thoroughly, Ham Ort rose from where she lay. As she emerged from the cave, Adhai hurried along behind her.
From the day she had brought the Daughter of the Shooting Star back, Ham Ort had hunted without rest. All to find prey worthy of feeding her.
And at midday today, she had finally succeeded in bringing down a monster that dwelled very far away. Even though it had not yet fully matured, its body was enormous—so massive that she alone could not lift and carry it. The whole pack had to bear it together in flight.
｢That is?｣
Adhai, who had entered the forest alongside her, swept out a wave of thought-sense. Before them lay the carcass of an enormous beast. The creature's body had been torn into many pieces, and a single piece was larger than one of the white-scaled kin.
Watching Adhai tilt her head at the corpse in confusion, Ham Ort explained with unmistakable pride.
｢Serpent King｣｢Immature one｣｢Ham Ort｣｢Hunted it｣｢Catalyst｣｢For Daughter of the Shooting Star's growth｣
She had hoped to see her daughter astonished. Adhai's reaction was nothing like what she had expected.
｢Me｣｢Ate one before｣
｢?｣
｢It was tasty｣
｢?｣｢?｣
Ham Ort stood there, utterly flustered.
Paying her mother's reaction no mind whatsoever, Adhai licked her lips at the sight of the Ice Horror's corpse.
-
Crystalwing staggered back at the sight of my changed form. I suppose it was only natural to be rattled—a creature that hadn't even been half his size now appearing before him, larger than he was.
After a single roar, I charged straight at him. Thanks to the effects of Stealth Maneuver, my footsteps made almost no sound at all. The only noise was the trees splintering as they broke against my body.
Then Crystalwing and I collided.
"Kuaak…!"
Too flustered to dodge properly, the creature shrieked. Even when my body had been small, my horns had shredded his wings. Having slammed into a body larger than his own wingspan, there was no way he'd come out unscathed.
One wing left in tatters by my charge, the creature opened its mouth. A split second before it could fire its particle beam, No. 26's support came flying in.
"Kuek?!"
A tree, ripped out by its roots, slammed into the creature's open maw. While it gagged and sputtered, the Erosion Tentacles burst from my back and coiled around its wings.
Like a serpent that had ambushed a bird in mid-flight, the tentacles constricted with blinding speed. The broad wings tore apart, shards of bone bursting free.
I spread my lower jaws wide to finish him off. My jaw split in two as I moved to swallow his head whole—and then he counterattacked.
He had chewed up and swallowed the tree in his mouth, and now he fired his particle beam down my throat.
Searing heat scorched the roof of my mouth, forcing me to snap my jaws shut in a hurry. My hide might be tougher than a warship's hull, but the inside of my body was another matter entirely.
Having survived the crisis, the creature raked its particle beam across the wing my tentacles still held.
"Kuaaaaak!"
Astonishingly, the thing had fired a beam to shred its own wing. Sacrificing its wing to break free of the tentacles, it scrambled backward at full speed.
Full regeneration, huh.
And here I'd thought it had only just reached adulthood. Impressive. This thing understood its own abilities inside and out.
In the blink of an eye, a fresh wing sprouted from the creature's wounded side. Spreading its newly regrown wing wide, it soared up into the sky.
It must have realized it was at a disadvantage in close combat. The creature had shifted its strategy to aerial bombardment—Crystalwing's specialty.
But bombardment isn't your exclusive domain.
I had already predicted he'd come out like this. I'd been preparing for a ranged exchange, too.
Hovering above the forest, the creature began charging its particle beam.
At the same moment, the tentacles running down my neck and jaw came alive.
My black-glossed carapace flushed violet. The energy latent in my body converted into psychic power and gathered at the tips of the tentacles.
The dragons' power: Psychic Breath. Pure, unadulterated—without the Color of the Abyss activated.
The instant the male Crystalwing fired its particle beam, the Monster's Tentacles along my jaw and neck spat out their power as well.
Above a snow-covered peak black with storm clouds, teal light and violet light collided head-on.
A thunderous boom like lightning cracking through a tempest rolled out, and the entire mountaintop shuddered violently. Before the sound even faded, a roar of collapsing sky rose from below the peak—an avalanche had torn loose from the mountainside.
The clash between him and me was shaking a whole mountain to its roots. And then No. 26 inserted herself into our contest of strength.
Trees, boulders, ice, earth—a host of debris rose into the air and began spinning like a colossal drill. It was the very technique that had left the Ice Horror mortally wounded.
Seeing it, Crystalwing hastily cut off its beam and twisted aside. My Psychic Breath skimmed just over the crest of its head.
The instant our duel broke apart, No. 26's Psychic Drill launched at the creature. The mass of formless energy tore through the air and blew away one of its wings entirely.
"Ku—kuaaaak!"
"Blew away" was no figure of speech. Halved in a heartbeat, the creature plummeted toward the ground.
Meanwhile, I activated the Color of the Abyss. The tentacles, which had glowed a vivid violet, draped themselves in a garment of mingled hues—green and purple, and other complex colors that defied description, shimmering across them.
With the colors readied, I activated Gaze of Horror.
Energy bled out from my tentacles and clumped together in midair, glistening. The liquefied mass of energy roiled ceaselessly, like something being heated over a flame.
The shapeless blob squirmed without rest, as if possessed of a will of its own, until it gathered itself into one enormous bubble.
Bigger than I expected.
The bubble gleamed with an ominous iridescence, easily five meters in diameter. I couldn't tell whether it was an effect of the Paragon of the Hunt's enhancement, or simply because my body had returned to its original size.
Soon, the great bubble began to drift toward its target.
It aimed for the creature's torso. The bubble that promised nightmarish agony to every living thing cleaved through the air.
"Ku—kuak! Kuak! Kuaak!"
Seeing the incoming Gaze of Horror, Crystalwing let out a cry laced with raw terror. Its wild instincts must have warned it just how dangerous that bubble was.
Rather than counterattack, the creature threw its body sideways to evade the bubble. Had it fired its particle beam from that position, the bubble would have burst right there and showered down on top of him.
Already accounted for. Next play—
This attack had been nothing but a feint anyway. Just as I was reaching for the move I'd prepared next, something astonishing happened.
The massive bubble split into dozens of smaller ones, then shot toward the creature at a far greater speed.
No. 26?
Hanging from every single one of those bubbles, without exception, was a slender violet thread. The threads belonged to No. 26, right behind me.
Thanks to her assistance, the bubbles—hurtling forward at tremendous velocity—burst in front of Crystalwing's belly. The moment they popped, their contents engulfed the creature's head.
The colors spread outward like pigment dropped into clear water. The instant they touched him, the creature froze rigid in place. The agony was so extreme he couldn't form a single thought.
Now, while he couldn't move—this was my chance. Deactivating the Color of the Abyss, I fired my second Psychic Breath. The violet heat beam lanced through the swirling snow and punched straight through the creature's heart.
"…Ku."
Lost heart and drowning in maddening pain, Crystalwing staggered and then toppled into the snow. As if protesting the injustice of it all, the creature heaved one long sigh and moved no more.
The hunt had gone far more smoothly than I'd anticipated, but what mattered more was what had just happened. Something entirely unexpected had occurred.
Didn't think it would end this easily.
The original plan had been to subdue him through disruption tactics built around the Color of the Abyss. But No. 26 revealing a brand-new power had made it unnecessary to bring out the moves I'd prepared.
I knew she was skilled with psychic power, but—
I never imagined she could reach into the psychic techniques I myself used.
From the look of it, she can only interfere with techniques affected by the Color of the Abyss.
Otherwise, she would have been backing me up from the moment I fired my first Psychic Breath.
Or maybe it's tied to the attack's form?
Perhaps she could only control attacks that were small like bubbles and slow to launch, whereas dense energy masses like heat beams were beyond her.
…Either way, a tremendous achievement.
Even if she couldn't interfere with every one of my psychic attacks, it hardly mattered. If she could control the empowered Gaze of Horror alone, it opened up far more ways to apply it.
I found myself turning back to look at her. Meeting my face, she wiggled one of her tentacles playfully.
｢It seemed like it would work, so I tried it!｣
Such a confident remark. There was only one thing I could say in return.
[Zzz zzzzzz(Very well done)]
｢Yeah!｣
This Crystalwing hunt had, after all, been for the sake of testing my improved mobility—and I'd walked away with an unexpected gain.
I wanted to scoop her up right then and there and shower her with praise, but enemies still remained. The compliments for No. 26 could wait until we'd dealt with the female as well.
[Zzz zzzzzz(Shall we go, then?)]
｢Yeah. Let's help Middle Baby and friend.｣
Carrying her along with me, I raced off to aid the others still fighting near the peak.
Roughly five minutes after the male's death.
On the summit of an unnamed peak, two pairs of gem-bright wings fell side by side, shining brilliantly.
After two days of waiting, we had succeeded in hunting down both Crystalwings.