The Golden Tree (2)
Flutter. Flutter.
The beat of those vast leather-clad wings was like the wind itself roaring in fury.
The crimson-black flames that had been devouring the Golden Tree froze solid, locked in ice, and every gaze—Estel's, the chieftain's, every soul who had been scrambling about—was seized utterly by a presence so overwhelming it stole the breath from their lungs.
Estel's trembling eyes slowly traced the form of that being.
Six proud horns crowning its head. Deep navy-blue scales, ice cladding its body like living armor. Claws and fangs sharp enough to tear apart anything in this world.
"...A dragon?"
The elder's voice shook. Estel cried out in disbelief.
"A dragon? You mean the dragons that all vanished in the Mythic Age?!"
"That form. Those eyes. This presence... Ah. A dragon. It is certainly a dragon."
A dragon—the beings once called the rulers of the Mythic Age. Estel bit her lip hard.
She had no idea why a dragon long thought vanished would suddenly appear, but the creature seemed hostile toward the crimson-black flames. At the very least, it was not their enemy.
She shook the elder's shoulders as he gazed up at the dragon with dazed eyes, snapping him back to reality. There was no time for this.
"Elder! Elder! We don't have time for this! Hurry—hurry and get everyone—!"
"Ah—ah. Yes. Yes, you're right. The dragon doesn't matter. We must evacuate everyone at once."
As if time that had stopped had begun to flow again, the elder and everyone else sprang into motion. Warriors seized their weapons; women and children carried the wounded on stretchers.
"To think a piece of trash like you would force me to come all the way here. The world has truly gone soft. In the old days you would have been cowering in some corner of the Abyss, not even daring to meet my eyes..."
The dragon soaring high in the sky spoke with cold scorn. The flames trapped in ice seemed to have their reverse scale struck by those words; they swelled massively and shattered the ice.
"———!! A d-dragon?! How are you still—!"
The flame's tongue flicked. Deeply flustered, the fire that formed its body wavered unstably here and there. The flames gnawing at the Golden Tree died down, and the spreading embers went out.
"Do not dare open your mouth. The stench reeking from your maw is rotting my nose."
With that short reply, the dragon glanced down at the ground. The only reason it had bothered conversing with that vermin was to buy time for the monkeys on the ground to flee.
Normally I wouldn't show such kindness...
As one who served the Great One, what good would unnecessary slaughter do? Iver patiently waited, stalling for time until all the monkeys had escaped.
The monkeys, at least having some sense, fled in a hurry and vanished from around the tree. Confirming this, Iver roared.
"You demon worse than vermin! Return to the Abyss from which you came!"
With that short declaration, it drew in a great breath. As if intending to suck in every scrap of air in the vicinity, a tremendous wind rushed into its gaping jaws.
Even the smallest sounds were swallowed; a momentary silence dominated the area.
Stillness.
"W-what are you trying to do—!!"
Only then sensing something amiss, the flames scrambled to flee—but it was already too late.
And then a merciless storm of ice swept forth.
KWAAaaaaa—!
A massive breath of ice erupted from the dragon's maw. Freezing the moisture of everything it touched, expanding its domain, freezing and stealing the time of all things save itself.
Even the crimson-black flames were no exception.
"——————!! Gyaaah—!!"
Crack—!
A short scream burst forth only to freeze solid. The flames thrashed and twisted their body before—crack—they froze completely. Trapped in ice in the form of fire, they halted exactly as they had been, wrapped around the trunk of the Golden Tree.
"Hmph. Daring for a mere insect."
Confirming the thoroughly frozen flames, Iver slowly lowered its body and descended to the ground. To think a vermin that could be finished with a single snort of breath had dared come this far.
Once its feet touched the earth, Iver finally began surveying the surroundings. What stood out most was, of course, the Golden Tree so massive that even Iver had to look up at it.
"...So it still remained."
Somewhere in memories veiled by the hazy fog of time, Iver gazed up at the Golden Tree, tracing those recollections.
When it lightly brushed its tail against the tree, it could still feel the pulsing divinity. Though partially eaten by the demon, leaving holes where divinity had been consumed, its majesty remained undiminished.
"This was the last remaining one—no. Now there are two."
More precisely, the Golden Tree that had been the last remaining divinity. Now there was one more in the Holy City.
Iver wandered about, admiring the Golden Tree.
It gathered a handful of the golden leaves to take back for the dwarves, and tossed ice onto the remaining embers scattered across the burning Golden Tree.
Even for an enemy sealed in ice, it was far too careless a display.
Yes.
It had let its guard down.
Lulled by the overwhelming disparity in power, it had not deeply considered the tenacity of demons and had acted arrogantly.
Crack...
A tiny sound of something splitting. A sound Iver would have heard had it been fully tense and vigilant. But Iver's attention was absorbed by the Golden Tree.
Crrrack... Crrrrack...
Slowly.
Very slowly, the ice shattered. The ice imprisoning the crimson-black fire demon began to crack, ever so slowly and gradually.
And when spiderweb-like fissures covered the ice—
BOOOOM—!!
"Gyaaah!! Ngh!!"
"Ha, haha! You lizard who licks the ass of a god, you dare—you dare! To stop me? This body that has claimed the power and divinity of my brothers—what? Vermin?!"
A massive flame slammed into Iver's side. Caught by the unexpected blow, Iver tumbled far away.
The flames freed from the ice wriggled like shadows dancing in torchlight, then gradually began to fix their form.
"Behold me! Look upon me! I have devoured divinity, and I shall devour even ■!"
A thick, long torso grew. Sturdy hind legs and a whip-like tail formed. Wings that could cover the heavens unfurled, and a face appeared at the end of a long neck.
It was... the form of a dragon.
As if announcing that the flames had changed shape, it boasted black-and-crimson scales, with eyes flashing with madness and endless greed—a dragon.
"Krrraaaah—!! ——————!!!"
Seeing it, Iver roared in fury. A resonance that could not even contain meaning filled the sky.
"You filthy lump of filth worse than vermin—!! You dare—you dare mimic the form of a dragon!!"
Bones were exposed in the deep gouge in its side, blood flowing freely. The surging crimson-black flames extended a tongue to lick Iver's wound, ceaselessly delivering pain.
Yet even so, Iver's rage made it forget all that agony.
KWAAaaaang—!
Iver's claws charged at the crimson-black dragon. Flesh clad in scales should have collided, yet the sound was like a great mountain exploding.
The blue-light dragon and the crimson-black dragon bared their fangs at each other and fiercely tangled.
One thrash split the earth; two swings tore the mountain range. Their massive bulk itself became a mighty weapon, and the dragons' battle resembled a natural disaster.
"What... on earth is this..."
"That... a dragon...?"
"Ah, aah... Five Gods, please watch over the Golden Tree and look after us."
The battlefield was clearly visible even from afar. The ground flipped and cracked; everything around shattered.
Estel and her kin watched the dragons' fight with trembling eyes.
The two dragons fought without yielding an inch, but the blue-light dragon, wounded in its side, gradually fell on the defensive. At this rate the blue dragon would die, and the Golden Tree would be burned by the crimson-black dragon.
Clench.
Estel bit her lip hard, then lifted her head and rummaged through her pack. In the deepest place, a bracelet she had never dared even hang on her hand for fear of losing it or scratching it.
The sacred relic in bracelet form she had received at the Duel Festival.
She felt the holiness imbued in the bracelet. Without a moment's hesitation, Estel slipped it onto her hand. Vitality and power spread through every corner of her body.
...I can do this.
The grace her race had received from the gods long, long ago.
To live freer than anyone atop the trees, and...
To use the bow as if it were a hand...
The fallen grace had reversed and become chains that bound her race, but with this bracelet, she felt she could do it.
She could.
Sss— Hoo...
She drew a deep breath and took the bow from her shoulder. With trembling hands she picked up a branch and nocked it on the string. A sturdy branch of straight and proper form.
Left hand gripping the bow, index and middle fingers of the right hand drawing the string with all her might. The sacred energy of the bracelet enveloped her.
"E-Estel?! You're drawing a bow right now..."
"H-how? How did you do that?!"
"She drew the bow...?"
Surprised voices from those around enveloped Estel. But her keenly honed mind shut them all out, focusing solely on a single target.
The bow that had endured long years creaked and screamed, and the holiness in the bracelet rapidly faded as cracks formed.
The time given was not long, but she did not rush.
She steadied her breathing, her gaze fixed on the dragon's eye.
One point.
One chance.
"Hoo—"
...Now.
Twang—!
She lightly exhaled and released her hand.
A light, crisp string-thrum struck the air, and the branch that left the bowstring flew like an arrow.
Like a bird, the branch soared through the air, swimming upward—
"——————!!"
It buried itself deep into the red dragon's eye.
Blood flowing from one eye, the red dragon screamed in agony and thrashed its body. A huge opening.
Iver did not miss it.
"Die, you vermin-like bastard!!"
It swung its thick, threatening tail and smashed the red dragon's torso. A crunching sensation traveled up the tail.
A fatal wound. Iver was certain.
KUKWAAAAANG—!!
"...Guh, huuuh! Gyaaaaah!"
The red dragon, knocked far back, had a caved-in chest. Red blood trickled from its mouth.
Pain was clear on the red dragon's face. Bloody foam rose with each breath it drew.
Iver's strike had landed true, but it was not enough to finish it.
Yet with that single blow, the tide of battle had turned. Iver felt it, and the demon sensed it as well.
If they continued fighting like this, it would lose.
"Krrh— Stupid, krrup! Lizard! If you wanted to kill me, krrup! You should have aimed for the head!"
"...! What is that bastard plotting—!!"
The red dragon scooped a handful of blood flowing from its shattered chest and scattered it into the air. The demon's blood fluttered in the sky and ignited. The burning blood linked tail to tail among themselves and became a massive circular flame that blazed up.
Fwaaash—!
And then it became a great gate. A gateway the demon had created using its own blood as a medium, folding space upon space to travel.
Beyond the gate, snow fell. An endless snowfield. Realizing the demon's intent, Iver lunged.
"Where do you think you're running—!!"
KWAGAGAGAK—!!
Iver unleashed a breath of ice. The merciless ice that froze all things flew toward the demon—but
"Krrup— I will not give up like this..."
The demon was a little faster. As the red dragon passed through the gate, the blood-forged flames immediately began to vanish.
The ice breath, having lost its target, passed through empty air and froze an entire unfortunate forest solid.
Only scattered embers remained to prove the gate's existence.
"The demon..."
The fierce battle faded in an instant, and silence settled over the forest.
Estel, breathing hard, stared at the completely cracked bracelet.
Iver, staggering from excessive blood loss.
And her kin, watching it all in silence.
An eternity-like instant passed.
"...Ugh."
"Great... One... Forgive me..."
Thud—!
Iver, deeply wounded, and Estel, whose mental strength was spent, collapsed almost simultaneously.