Welcome to the Great Forest
"Welcome to the Great Forest~~!"
"Sorry. I just wanted to look a little cool…"
"I get it, so stay still. I'm scared of getting smacked by your tail while drawing the circle and ending up with a crooked magic array."
Tene, sitting on the ground in her true dragon form with all four legs splayed out, mumbled dejectedly. Around her, Felix was carefully drawing a massive circle meant to envelop her completely as he answered.
"Hah… ughhhhh—! That's it. All that's left is to stick this on."
"Oh… so this is a magic circle or whatever it's called?"
Felix straightened his bent back with a groan and announced that the work was finished. The others who had been watching from a distance immediately crowded in to take a look.
"It feels… not as dense as the ones you see in movies? Why does it look so sloppy?"
"Yeah, did you just draw it roughly?"
Darian and Rosaria were complete illiterates when it came to the runes used in magic, but the pattern of the circle Felix insisted was a magic array was nothing like what they had expected.
They had imagined it packed densely with cool runes and countless intricate patterns, yet the finished array only had a perfect outer circle. Everything inside looked like something that would come out of an elementary school art class.
"I just left out the formulas that aren't necessary for activating the magic, and since Tene isn't an ordinary human, I jammed the essential parts in a bit more roughly. Anyway, I set it so that Tene will handle the mana herself. It'll only activate a transparent magic that can refract and cover this huge body of hers."
"In the first place, whether it's math or science, the most beautiful equations are the simple ones that don't need complicated proofs, right? Look at Euler's identity! I don't get why you'd need complicated things like mana connection lines or casting times and all that."
"Euler's identity? What kind of kerosene are you talking about? Oil? A stove?"
"Sigh."
Felix, flaring up at the criticism, launched into his own theory of magic complete with examples, but Darian's blank response that failed to grasp even the example made Felix end the whole thing with a sigh.
"Anyway, bring your belly a little closer."
"Like… this?"
"Wait wait wait!? Are you trying to crush me to death?!"
"Aigoo, I couldn't see well! Sorry!..... Hehe, looking at it like this, humans look just like ants—"
"Quit the chatter and hurry up."
"Hiiing…"
In the end Felix gave up on explaining. He told Tene, who was still curiously eyeing the magic array drawn around her, to bring her body closer, then stuck a piece of paper covered in writing straight onto her massive belly.
And then.
Ziiing—
"Uh, uhh…?! My body is glowing!!!"
White light began to pour out centered on the patterned paper and in an instant completely swallowed Tene's enormous form.
Fully consumed by the light, Tene twitched, and finally a tremendous radiance—as if a sun had been born right there—enveloped everyone remaining.
And then.
"Ow my eyes…! Uh, uhh?! She really disappeared?!"
"Tsk… what? I can't see well… huh? For real? Whoa, shit, that's awesome!"
"Oh my, it really is?"
The landscape that greeted them was one in which the massive form of Tene had completely vanished.
"I'm right here!"
"I can hear her voice, though?"
The voice floating out of empty air confirmed that she had not truly disappeared; Felix's invisibility magic had simply taken hold successfully.
"Hmm. As expected of me. Success on the first try, right?"
"But if she's transparent like this, how are we supposed to ride her?"
"Don't worry. It's a transparent membrane covering a three-meter radius around Tene. If you step inside that, her original form becomes visible."
"Oh, for real. Right here it appears and disappears depending on where you stand."
Just as Felix said—shrugging his shoulders while thoroughly intoxicated with his own success—Darian took one step forward and immediately saw the original bulky form of Tene with his own eyes.
"Shall we head out now, then?"
"Alright, lower your tail. We can climb up from there."
"Ehh… I feel like I've become a ride at an amusement park…"
"Isn't it closer to a taxi than that?"
"If you keep teasing me like that, I'm going to start charging for real?!"
"Hey, let's wake those guys up too and get them on board."
With departure preparations finished, the Evergarden party woke the still-unconscious elves, climbed Tene's tail, and settled onto her back.
Whoosh—whoosh—
Her wings spread wide, and the black dragon began to soar into the sky.
"Wow… I can't believe I'm actually riding on a dragon's back and flying through the sky!"
Shalle, who had climbed high enough that she could almost touch the clouds just by stretching out her hand, peeked her head over the side of Tene's back and looked down, eyes sparkling as she cried out.
"You're not fainting anymore?"
Rosaria had fully expected her to still be trembling or completely passed out even while riding a dragon. The sudden complete lack of fear and pure excitement made her wonder what kind of mental shift had taken place.
"Ehehe… I just decided to think of this moment as a dream. When I think of it that way, it's more exciting than scary, you know?!"
"Doesn't look like your companion feels the same way."
"Guhhk…?! Glurk…! Guh…!"
Darian pointed a finger at Shalle, who had completely reframed the moment as a fun dream, and at Lio, who was still writhing and foaming at the mouth.
"Still, that's a relief. We can't have the person guiding the way out of it, right? Since one of them is fine, no need to force the other awake."
"Indeed. I'm glad we probably won't need to use those things."
"...Waaah! Clouds! I grew up reading fairy tales that said clouds are super sweet—is it true?!"
Even so, since one of the elves who would guide them to their destination—the Great Forest—was in good condition, the couple whispered to each other that there was no need for the tools they had prepared. Shalle, who overheard every word with the elves' superior hearing, decided to pretend she had heard nothing.
"Still, it really is a spectacular view. A landscape hard to see in our world."
Looking down, Rosaria suddenly murmured in admiration at the scenery unfolding beneath her.
She had never gotten to sit in an airplane seat and watch countless cities and endless seas the way they had originally planned. Instead, gazing from afar at the endless beautiful natural landscapes and the sparse rising smoke from chimneys felt exactly like the scenery from movies, filling her with a fresh wave of emotion.
"Teneee—!! How about you?! Are you okay?!"
"I'm flying through the skyyyyy—!!!!! Yahoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!"
"...Heh, she's having fun. Well, I'd be the same."
Rosaria, eyes sparkling as she engraved those landscapes deep into her heart, shouted loudly enough for Tene to hear. Tene herself was already excited, flapping her wings and shouting with pure joy.
"Ah, over there. That forest over there."
"There? You mean that dense forest? But why can't I see the World Tree?"
Shalle stretched out her hand and pointed to a forest visible in the distance. Rosaria tilted her head and asked.
If it was the elves' stronghold, there should definitely have been a massive tree—the World Tree—growing lushly and flaunting its presence. Yet the place Shalle indicated looked like nothing more than an extremely ordinary forest, no different from any other.
"Elves carefully hide their identities from other races, right? So they put a higher-dimensional illusion magic over the entire forest so their stronghold can't be easily recognized—something a bit more advanced than the magic on Tene."
"Ohh… I see."
"You know a lot about elves? Have you researched them separately?"
"Ah, no, well…! Those kinds of stories are pretty common."
"Ah… yes, they are a bit. Hehe."
At Rosaria's question, Felix—the hardcore fan of Starlight of Dawn—reflexively answered, then barely managed an excuse when Shalle looked at him curiously.
Basically, there was nothing good about revealing that their world was a story turned into a novel in another world, so Felix wiped away the cold sweat dripping down without letting it show.
"We're already here… so the elves are gathered in there."
Riding Tene, they had flown from the Evergarden Territory to the Great Forest in less than half a day. Rosaria stared blankly into the forest where the Great Forest was said to be, marveling at the sheer speed.
"But wait a minute—to the elves, Tene is an extremely terrifying being, right?"
She suddenly seemed to have a thought and began questioning Shalle.
"That's right. It's not just that she's scary… she's simply an indescribable higher-dimensional and powerful existence. There are legends of Dragon Slayers passed down from the past, but Lady Tenebrix Nox's notoriety has been vividly passed down from long, loooong before those legends."
"Aha… so in a way, right now we're leading a being widely known for that vicious notoriety straight into the elves' territory and approaching the elves' main base?"
"Yes. That's right. Hihi, Mom would be so surprised if I told her."
"............"
"Hehe...he...... huh? Wait."
As the questions continued, Shalle, who had just been giggling, also seemed to realize something. Her face gradually hardened, and she turned her creaking head to look at Rosaria.
"...Just asking to be sure, but you contacted them in advance or something, right? Right?"
"I didn't… do that?"
".......Then isn't the Great Forest side in complete chaos right now?"
"...It wouldn't be, would it?"
"............."
"Uh… well, still! If we just get there quickly and explain the situation—"
"Uh, uhhh??! Hyung?! Noona?! Wh-what's flying out of the forest?! Huh?! Fireballs? What is that!!??"
"...We're fucked."
Just as Shalle opened her mouth as if to make excuses to Rosaria, whose ominous imagination was already racing, Tene's urgent voice rang out. Rosaria craned her neck and looked down.
Countless magic circles appeared in the air above the forest, and soon dozens—then hundreds—of spells came flying straight toward Tene, filling her field of vision.