Kneel Before the Ice Dragon
“…….”
Petria bit down hard on her lip.
Then, slowly, the corners of her mouth split into a grin that stretched all the way to her ears.
Crack! Crrrack!
Perhaps she no longer saw any point in keeping up the act — Petria's body began to change.
Her neck lengthened first. No — it didn't just lengthen; it surged upward, shooting toward the sky.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
“Huurk!”
The onlookers shrieked in horror and scattered. Even to Simon, it was a deeply grotesque sight.
Just like that dragon-type monster we saw in the dungeon—!
Cruuuuuumble-crack-crack!
Petria's neck kept climbing as if it would punch straight through the sky, blue scales emerging bit by bit across her skin.
“Just standing there watching her transform, I'll—”
Kiiiiiiiing!
At that moment, a dazzling radiance was gathering in Lethe's right hand.
“You think I'm just going to stand here and wait for you to finish?!”
She leveled her index finger at Petria, and a line of light packed with concentrated firepower punched a hole clean through Petria's chest.
“P-Petria!”
“It pierced her heart dead center!”
A murmur of shock rippled through the crowd.
But.
Petria's transformation did not stop. She was no longer relying on a human body at all.
[Kneel before me.]
A voice like a crushing weight rolled over them all.
The endlessly stretching neck turned a bluish hue, and then scales spread to cover her entire body.
With a wet crunch, her torso thickened and swelled. Her face elongated into a reptilian snout while a mane of grey fur — like a human's hair — bristled out around it, and sharp fangs filled her gaping maw. Two forelimbs sprang from her sides, and a white crest rose along her back.
In moments, Petria's body — her chest pierced through by Lethe's light — had withered and degenerated into nothing more than a tail.
Again, the blue dragon emphasized it — kneel.
At those words alone, the bitter cold that had slackened began to rage with renewed fury.
Savage winds hammered against the village barrier. Sections of it shattered one after another, and the deadly cold came pouring through the gaps.
“Everyone, get inside the buildings! Now!”
Simon shouted.
“A Dungeon Lord is no ordinary monster! This place is danger—”
“Evacuate?! I won't be deceived any longer!”
Out of nowhere, a man came sprinting forward, right up to Karissa.
It was the middle-aged man from Eskyle — the one who had been locking horns with the Lord of Cula just moments before.
“Lady Snow Woman! It is you, isn't it?! So you truly lived!”
He was beside himself with emotion at Karissa's arrival. Then he turned to the other villagers of Eskyle and bellowed:
“Look, everyone! The Snow Woman is here among us! What is there to fear? This — this is our Snow Woman's true form!”
A chorus of stunned murmurs rose.
“The Snow Woman?”
“That... that monster...?”
Lethe's face twisted in fury.
“I literally just explained it's the Dungeon Lord! What the hell is this nonsense?!”
“Lethe.”
Simon held her back.
The man seemed beyond hearing anything now; he was prostrated on the ground, worshipping Karissa.
“O great Snow Woman!”
The mood was turning strange. The murmuring among the Eskyle villagers was growing louder by the second.
[Yes. That's it. That is how lowly mortals ought to grovel.]
And Karissa made no particular move to stop the human paying homage to her.
Emboldened, the man sprang to his feet and turned to the villagers.
“Reconciliation with the Cula scum who drove us out?! What reconciliation! Even if they have a Saintess over there, with the Snow Woman on our side there is nothing to fear! Everyone, come over here!”
“He's right!”
“You want us to just end things after everything Cula did to us? Not a chance!”
Several of the more radical-minded Eskyle villagers crossed over to Karissa's side.
Then the condemnation came pouring back from the Cula side.
“How dare you worship a monster beneath a human skin!”
“Snap out of it! That thing is a monster!”
The battle lines had suddenly redrawn themselves in a strange new shape.
The pro-Karissa Eskyle faction against everyone else. And the Eskyle villagers who had joined Karissa began roughly pressuring their former neighbors, calling them traitors.
“O Snow Woman!”
The middle-aged man, first to swear himself to her, shouted with his mouth split wide in a grin.
“Please, destroy the Cula scum, the traitors, and that blasphemous Saintess and the outsiders!”
Sssssshhh—
Karissa slid forward and coiled her long body around him, as if in an embrace.
The man preened as if he'd been granted supreme power, spreading his arms wide. Simon and Lethe screamed something at him in horror, but he heard none of it.
“It's too late for all of you now! The Snow Woman will—!”
CRUNCH!
Blood sprayed.
Squelch. Squelch.
Amid the sound of flesh being crushed, a rain of blood poured from Karissa's jaws in a steady stream.
“Huuurk!”
“Wh-why...?!”
The Eskyle villagers who had flocked to her stumbled backward in shock.
[Insects. Mere mortal insects.]
Karissa's eyes had gone ice-cold.
[You dare give orders to me?]
The ice dragon Karissa opened her jaws and began drawing in cold for a breath attack.
<Cloud>
Simon instantly flung out his arm, snaring the people who had gone over to Karissa's side in emerald vapor and yanking them back.
<Divine Barrier>
Lethe followed without a moment's hesitation, kicking off the ground and rocketing skyward. In the same instant, the breath was loosed.
KWAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
A bone-deep chill came flooding down. Lethe's protective magic took the breath head-on.
Shards of ice, deflected off the holy shield, rained down like hail.
KHAHAHAHAHA!
Letting out an enormous laugh, Karissa went stomping through the village. As she swept her thick, serpentine body along the ground, the flimsy buildings crumbled like sandcastles.
“What are you doing?!”
Simon shouted as he ran. He'd already begged the Lord of Cula to get his people to safety.
“Those are the humans who worshipped you!”
[They are all useless mortals now.]
The blue dragon's eyes gleamed.
Just as the Mizzenaci clan had tried to use the dungeon anomalies — and Karissa herself — to take their revenge, so too had Karissa merely been using the humans.
Decades ago, when the distortion in space first appeared, Karissa had been flung onto the continent along with the dungeon in an extremely weakened state.
And as it happened, the Mizzenaci mages — driven out of Cula and fleeing into the snow mountains — discovered the dungeon, entered it of their own accord, and offered to serve her.
The Mizzenaci fabricated the legend of the Snow Woman to conceal the dungeon, and provided Karissa with human sacrifices — the flesh of men, and monsters from beyond the snow mountains.
As the years passed, Karissa's power grew steadily whole again, and the unnatural winter she unleashed grew ever more savage.
Had she endured just a few more years, she could have ascended to rule the world at full strength — but a variable had appeared: outsiders poking their noses in.
[The timetable has moved up. It makes no difference! I am the one who will reign over this world!]
Karissa's jaws gaped wide.
[I will kill every last one of you who knows my secret, and with this eternal winter I will make this world mine!]
Lethe, dropping back down after deflecting the breath, looked at Simon and shouted:
“No point talking to something that doesn't listen! Let's take it down fast before—!”
Her words cut off.
SHRRRRIP!
Karissa's tail burst up out of a crack in the ground and lashed at Lethe like a whip.
<Goldenization>
In the same instant, buildings of solid gold surged up to block Lethe's path. With a crack, Karissa's tail slammed into the golden structures and recoiled.
“Lethe! You okay?”
Simon hurried over to her.
In his hand was a single wand.
[Been a while since I made an entrance! Kahaha!]
At Herseba's cry, Lethe's eyes went round as saucers.
“...A talking wand?”
“I'll explain later. Focus on the fight for now!”
Because it drew on jet-black-based power, its use had been restricted — but now that everyone nearby had fled the cold and taken shelter in the buildings, it was worth a try.
TUWANG!
Simon slammed Herseba down into the ground.
<Goldenization>
The earth itself turned to gleaming gold and lifted into the air.
Simon re-gripped Herseba and swung with all his might — the golden ground split into a dozen shards and came raining down on Karissa.
[Pathetic!]
At Karissa's roar, every flying golden shard froze solid mid-air and clattered to the ground.
[Mortals! Your fate is to perish one day — why do you thrash against it instead of accepting your doom? I, who shall claim all things—!]
WHAM!!
Something struck Karissa squarely on the head. Simon looked up to see a streak of pure white carving across the vast sky.
“Fuck.”
Lethe stood with her palm turned skyward, index and middle fingers pressed together.
She had just called down a meteor.
“Don't underestimate a Saintess, you bastards.”
KOOOOOOM—!
Head reeling from the impact, Karissa crashed down into the village.
The meteor that had struck her hurtled on for a long while before plunging into the midsection of a distant mountain.
Then, far away, a light as blinding as a rising sun erupted skyward — and Simon doubted his own eyes.
[What...?!]
Karissa groaned and pushed herself up.
[Why does a mere mortal carry the power of an immortal within her?!]
Lethe lowered her two fingers.
FWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!
Once more Karissa's body was slammed into the earth by a small comet fallen from the heavens.
The village buildings were smashed to pieces far worse than anything Karissa herself had managed.
“I'll say it again, since your ears seem to be stuffed full of wax.”
In both of Lethe's pupils, the sigil of a star burned more vividly than ever before.
“Don't get cocky, reptile.”
Watching all this, Simon let out a hollow laugh.
I always figured Lethe as a Saintess would be one for the history books... but still.
[Kid. That woman scares me.]
Herseba quietly added her own two cents.
CRACK-BOOM-BOOM!
Just then, pillars of ice erupted one after another all across the village.
Simon and Lethe froze. Trapped inside those pillars of ice were fleeing villagers.
[I've sealed them in ice, wrapped in my mana.]
Karissa heaved her massive body upright again. Astonishingly, she was standing after taking two meteors head-on.
[If you use that technique in the village again, other innocent mortals will be caught in it. Won't they?]
Lethe bit her lip.
As the Saintess of the Stars, her power wielded devastating force and range — and that very devastation was its one flaw.
It was ill-suited to a fight where she had to avoid catching allies or civilians in the blast.
Which meant—
“Lethe! I've got a good move. When I give the signal, run to me no matter what and grab my hand!”
“...What are you scheming?”
When Lethe asked with narrowed eyes, Simon flashed a grin.
“You'll see when we get there!”
Karissa's freezing breath came pouring down. Simon and Lethe kicked off the ground at the same instant, splitting left and right.
Tadadadat!
Sprinting at full speed, Simon tapped the empty buildings around him with Herseba as he passed.
<Goldenization>
TUWANG!
Then he slammed Herseba into the ground, and the goldenized buildings erupted skyward, hurling themselves at Karissa.
[Foolish tricks!]
Merely moving her long body, Karissa whipped up gale-force winds.
As she blew the building wreckage away, Simon closed the distance with her all the more.
Thwack.
In response, Karissa planted her tail against the ground—
FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!
—and swept it around like a broom. The surrounding buildings were cleaved in two, and Simon leapt skyward to dodge the tail.
[Farewell!]
Karissa had been waiting for exactly this. Her jaws spread wide and she lunged, swallowing the airborne Simon whole in a single bite — then slammed her head into the ground.
“Simon!!”
Lethe screamed in horror. A wet, grinding sound came from inside Karissa's mouth.
-KEEEEEEEEH!
Then Karissa flung her buried head up and shook it violently in agony. Blood was streaming down between her gums and teeth.
“You really shouldn't just put things in your mouth.”
Simon was slipping back out of the dragon's maw. He caught a glimpse of Overlord's blade, drenched in blood, returning to its subspace.
Then, sliding smoothly down the length of Karissa's neck, he leveled Herseba at her.
Third Authority!
FWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!
Golden sand began swirling around Simon and Karissa both.
Simon flung out the hand that wasn't gripping Herseba.
“Now! Lethe!”
Tap!
Lethe leapt toward him with everything she had.
[DIEEEEEEEEE!]
The instant the blue dragon loosed her roar of fury—
FLASH!
—the bodies of all three vanished, swallowed by the sand.
“...Ugh.”
Lethe, sprawled on the ground, opened her eyes to a strange stillness. She could feel grains of something gritty against her legs.
Sand?
And directly in front of her stood Simon, his robe-hem fluttering, his back turned to her.
He looked over his shoulder.
“Well?”
The environment around them had changed entirely.
From a snow mountain gripped by deadly frost — to a desert at night, nothing but sand stretching in every direction.
Lethe rose unsteadily to her feet.
“H-how did this happen?”
“I sealed the two of us in here together with Karissa — inside yet another dungeon.”
Just as he said, on the far side Karissa was shaking her head, glancing around in confusion.
[A lowly creature dares—!]
“Alright, then.”
Simon clapped his hands once.
“The curtain rises on the counterattack.”
GRUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!
GRUMBLE-RUMBLE!
Lethe jumped back with a start.
Out of the empty, desolate desert, countless golden structures began surging up from the ground on every side.
-GYAGYAGYAGYAGYAK!
And from within them, the city's residents — mummies — began popping out one by one.
Herseba! Think you can call the Ancient Undead in the dungeon here for a bit?
[Of course I can! But those friends of yours are in another dungeon right now, so they're far away dimensionally. Calling all of them here would burn through a lot of my power?]
If Herseba's power drained, the dungeon's duration would shrink.
How many she called mattered. And of course, there was no need to call all four.
With Lethe here, one is plenty.
[Who?]
Simon smiled.
Pier, please.
The moment the words left his mouth, a frigid chill flowed through the air, and the surroundings transformed into silent grey tile and stone walls.
Herseba had recreated Pier's Ruins.
And upon the altar revealed at its center stood a tall, caped skeleton, grinning.
[Khehehe — calling me at a time like this, boy!]
“Sorry to interrupt, Pier. How's the dungeon clearance going?”
[Smooth enough! Ah — we'll catch up on that later.]
Simon stepped forward and took Pier's hand. With a shhhk, Pier's body broke apart into hundreds of pieces and reattached itself across Simon's frame in the form of Bone Armour.
Pier's skull came down over his head like a helmet, the cape billowed at his shoulders, and the Sword of Ruin settled into his right hand.
[Whatever you're scheming, vermin!]
Karissa's jaws spread wide as she spat out a freezing breath.
[Begone!]
A murderous cold dyed the world blue as it came surging in.
Simon lowered his stance and tilted the greatsword.
Through the very space itself—
He drove his legs down, planting his feet firm against the ground. His shoulders and arms followed.
And last of all, his hips turned, and the white greatsword swung, tearing through the air.
The feeling of cleaving it apart!
SHRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
A single slash of pure white split the freezing breath cleanly in two.
And from a short distance away, Lethe watched it happen. Shards of ice came drifting down across the golden city.
...So this is the power of a Dark Alliance Legion Commander — the equal of a Saintess.
This was her first time seeing Simon's 'Pion' transformation as well. She bit her lip, just slightly.
Snap.
A moment later she snapped her fingers, and a vast holy subspace yawned open. Something white emerged from within, scooping Lethe up in its arms and soaring into the sky.
“Whoa.”
Simon's eyes went wide.
“Ran! When did you get so big?!”
Lethe's main summon — the white dragon Ran — roared with Lethe perched atop her head.
“I won't fall behind you!”
Lethe grinned down at Simon from above.
“Just what I was hoping for.”
Lethe stretched her hand toward the heavens, and the stars began to glitter.
Simon swept his arm down toward the ground, and the undead mummy legion raised a war cry of the fallen.
[You...!]
Karissa stumbled backward, step by step.
[Are you truly mortals?!]