Laboratory (3)
Rumble—
Every time the colossal bone dragon shifted its body, a crushing wave of pressure exploded outward.
“…So what now? Do we just bail?”
I asked Baek Woohyun standing beside me. He swallowed a low hum before answering.
“No matter how skilled a necromancer may be, he cannot fully subjugate a dragon in so short a time. Even if it is nothing more than a pile of bones.”
“…So this is when it’s at its weakest?”
“If we leave it be, that bone dragon will be completely bound and become a far greater calamity.”
“…….”
The regressor had run his own calculations and concluded that fighting it now offered the highest chance of victory, but…
KRA-KOOM—!!
…even so, this still looked way above our pay grade.
“Haa….”
While I stood there stuck between fight and flight, a small tremor brushed against my chest.
The girl in my arms had begun to tremble.
Is she scared?
I lowered my gaze to soothe her—and froze.
“…?”
…What the hell is this.
Why are her eyes glowing…?
Bright light spilled past her crimson irises, swirling and overflowing as if someone had shoved will-o’-the-wisps into her pupils. My brain blue-screened for a second.
Her eyes tracked the bone dragon’s every movement with the razor focus of a cat locking onto prey—darting, sharp, alive.
Those once-dull, lifeless eyes were shining.
…Shining a little too hard, honestly.
“What’s wrong?”
I asked the girl in my arms. She stretched out a tiny finger and pointed straight at the bone dragon.
…And I’m supposed to do what with that?
You have to talk if you want me to understand.
Seeing my blank look, she waved her hand, then flung her arm toward the bone dragon and clenched her fist tight.
“…You want to grab it?”
“…….”
“Or smash it?”
“…….”
Stone silence.
…I soothed my frustration by squishing her soft little cheeks, then started a game of twenty questions.
“Do you want to touch it?”
Nod nod.
Finally her head moved, just a little.
“…Why?”
“…….”
Still no answer, so I kneaded her cheeks even more.
“If you touch it, can we win?”
…Nod nod.
After a brief hesitation, she nodded.
“…For real?”
Nod nod.
“…You promise?”
Nod nod.
“If this fails, Unni and you both get buried right here together, got it?”
……Nod nod.
Only after confirming it several times did I call Baek Woohyun over.
“Can you take her and get her to touch that thing?”
“…While it floats that high in the sky, it will be difficult.”
Ugh, what am I supposed to do with this half-baked regressor.
Sure, the bone dragon was higher than the city skyscrapers right now, but shouldn’t a regressor of his caliber just casually walk on air or something?
“What if we drag it down near the ground?”
“Five seconds will suffice.”
At that answer I looked back at the girl in my arms.
“You really only need to touch it for a second, right?”
Nod nod.
After one last confirmation I handed her over to Baek Woohyun.
“I’ll join the others, pull aggro, and somehow drag it down close to the ground. You hide, watch for the opening, and make contact the moment it appears.”
“…Is that even possible?”
“What else are we gonna do if it isn’t? Got a better idea?”
“…….”
I shoved the silent Baek Woohyun’s back and sent him off, then moved to higher ground myself.
From the center of a ruined circular building I could see Yeon Hajin and Min Haryang locked in combat with the bone dragon.
A cult necromancer piloting a giant bone dragon…
I had a pretty good idea who it was.
Karon—one of the cult figures who appeared in the mid-to-late stages of the original novel.
He had flown around on a bone dragon and reduced countless cities to rubble. He was also the one who delivered the finishing blow to the Academy, wiping out people and buildings alike.
According to the original descriptions he was a necromancer who casually surpassed S-rank, but…
the combat power I was seeing right now didn’t look anywhere near that level.
So, just as Baek Woohyun said, ending it here was the ideal scenario.
“Haa….”
I drew the B-rank sniper rifle I’d acquired last night thanks to Baek Woohyun, settled into position, and aimed at Yeon Hajin and Min Haryang.
Bang—!
Golden mana rippled; Yeon Hajin’s wounds closed in an instant.
Bang—! Bang—!
I kept firing, layering healing and every buff I had. Their movements grew noticeably lighter.
A necromancer’s dark mana wasn’t infinite, and keeping that bone dragon airborne while blasting brass breath all over the place had to be draining. Dragging this into a war of attrition put us at an advantage.
That meant their stance would have to change sooner or later.
Bang—!
I kept shifting positions while I fired. Yeon Hajin and Min Haryang, trusting me, began fighting more aggressively and boldly.
KRA-KOOM—!
A violet-black breath scoured the ground near them.
Yet with my support they took no serious damage and continued their steady harassment.
Bang—! Bang—!
As the attrition dragged on, the necromancer started scanning the surroundings, hunting for my location.
And a moment later…
I had been changing positions and staying hidden, but the terrain had its limits. Before long my eyes met the necromancer’s.
“…….”
“…….”
The bone dragon’s head slowly turned toward me.
…Hold on a second.
I didn’t actually want to tank the entire aggro myself…
Having locked onto me, the bone dragon shot forward at terrifying speed.
KRAAANG—!
Its jaws smashed the spot where I had been standing a heartbeat earlier.
CRUNCH—
Not content with that, its claws swept after me, grinding the already-ruined building into even finer rubble.
RUMBLE—!
I gritted my teeth and rolled desperately. In the distance I caught Yeon Hajin and Min Haryang’s stunned faces.
…Why are you just standing there?
Aren’t you going to protect the healer?
You saw me getting attacked—hurry up and come help!
Protect the healer!!
KRAANG—!
Thud-thud-thud—
I tumbled left and right in a frantic scramble for only a few seconds before—
“Yu Haneul!!”
Yeon Hajin’s voice rang out nearby. I veered toward it.
CRACK—
I dodged the dragon’s foot slamming down right beside me, rounded a corner, vaulted a pile of debris—and there they were: Yeon Hajin and Min Haryang.
“Over here!”
In that instant plant vines erupted from the ground, coiled around my waist, and hurled me straight toward them.
Whoosh—
Pain flared around my midsection as the scenery blurred past.
Thud—!
Min Haryang snatched my flying body out of the air.
“Urgh—”
…She had clearly tried to catch me gently, but treating a person like a baseball still hurt like hell.
Min Haryang cradled me in a princess carry and sprinted alongside Yeon Hajin.
“Please handle me carefully, Unni…. Healers are more fragile than you think….”
I know the situation is urgent, but is chucking people around really okay?
I looped my arms around Min Haryang’s neck and whined. She gave an awkward laugh.
“Sorry, sorry—things got too hectic. More importantly, where’s Baek Woohyun?”
“Ah, about that… I need to fill you in…….”
KRA-KOOM—!
The bone dragon was closing in hard from behind.
With it on our tail I explained the plan Baek Woohyun and I had cooked up. Min Haryang offered her take.
“If we can just get it close to the ground, I think I can pin it for about seven seconds. Will that be enough?”
“…That should be plenty.”
“But it’ll almost completely empty my mana. There won’t be a second chance.”
“We still have to try.”
Baek Woohyun was sharp enough; if we just locked it down, he would handle the rest on his own.
And if things went south I could always burn every last drop of my mana to heal hers back up.
KRAANG—!
Impact sounds thundered behind us.
The bone dragon and necromancer seemed low on mana; at some point they had stopped using breath attacks and were only slamming down with jaws and feet.
Luring the thing to the ground wouldn’t be that hard.
THUD—
As the bone dragon lunged, Min Haryang raised a wall of trees to block and shove it back while Yeon Hajin gathered electricity at his fingertips and launched it at the necromancer.
ZZZAP—
The necromancer summoned a bone shield to block the lightning spear.
“…Insolent little rats. How dare you.”
He muttered through clenched fury. We used the moment to put more distance between us.
Our destination was the hideout where Baek Woohyun was lying in ambush.
KRA-KOOM—!!
We brawled with the bone dragon the whole way, drawing them toward that spot.
CRUNCH—!
After how much running, rolling, and colliding, the planned target finally came into view.
Thud—
I dropped from Min Haryang’s arms and looked back. The bone dragon was rapidly closing the gap.
Seeing Yeon Hajin gather lightning once more, the necromancer wrapped himself in bone shields and plummeted toward us at high speed.
KRAAANG—!!
Bang—!
We scattered to avoid the descending jaws and feet. At the same time I triggered a blessing on Min Haryang.
Golden light shimmered around her as she pressed her palm to the concrete floor…
Whoooosh—
In the next breath the entire field of vision bloomed with vivid green light.
Rustle-rustle-rustle—!
Dozens—hundreds—of wooden vines erupted in less than a second. They twisted and crossed, surging toward the bone dragon and the necromancer.
CRACK—
The thick, rope-like vines coiled tight around both of them—
Tap—
With a light push-off, a small figure burst from a shadowed blind spot.
“Pathetic little tricks—”
The bone dragon thrashed violently; vines snapped and whipped free.
While the necromancer sneered and struggled to break free, Baek Woohyun used the remaining vines as footholds and closed the distance in a blink…
The moment he reached the bone dragon, the girl in his arms stretched out her tiny hand toward the massive bone.
Tap—
A feather-light touch.
Whoooosh—!
Light erupted, flooding the world in brilliant white.