The Evil Dragon Hecatrite (3)
In-ha was blankly looking after Elluke's kids.
I'm exhausted.
The babysitting gig she'd somehow ended up with was harder than expected. Even for someone who'd steadily trained her body like In-ha, the children's steel stamina was a lot to handle.
On top of that, they kept inventing their own made-up games, which only made things worse.
Bizarre little games whose rules changed every ten seconds. Keeping up with them demanded razor-sharp improvisation.
…Well, at least they're creative.
The twins were pretty sharp. According to Elluke, that was because they took after her.
Which only made them harder to look after.
Erina, who smiled like her mother and came at you with one request after another. Evaila, who kept her manners like her mother and still said exactly what she meant.
The two of them had split Elluke's personality right down the middle. Young as they were, that meant they were picky.
Thankfully, they were still easier to deal with than the exacting Pope herself. The TV was doing half the childcare for her.
"Wow! Evaila, look at that!"
"…Pretty."
Erina and Evaila sat side by side in front of the television.
For a while now they'd been completely absorbed in some girls' anime. They were so into it that they didn't so much as twitch until the commercials came on.
Which made babysitting a whole lot easier.
There was another upside, too: while the two of them watched their show, In-ha could catch the Tribe livestream.
So she kept one eye on Rohan and watched streamer "Your Holiness" broadcast live—right up until Elluke left the house, saying she was going to spar with Quick Eagle.
…I want to watch that, too.
Honestly, she was dying to tag along.
As an NIS agent, she was supposed to keep tabs on returnees. For the sake of managing them properly going forward, she needed to see how they fought.
But there was a bigger reason than that. Fun. A spar between returnees wasn't the kind of spectacle you got to see every day, so of course she was interested.
Elluke had said, though, that she wouldn't stream the spar itself on Tribe.
So In-ha was disappointed. Disappointed enough that the regret still lingered.
"Unnie! Can we have a snack?"
Erina came trotting over just then and asked. Ha In-ha immediately broke into a bright smile and stood up from her seat.
"I'll bring them for you."
As she headed for the fridge to grab the snacks, Ha In-ha suddenly let out a dry little laugh.
I've really turned into a babysitter…
It wasn't that she minded. It just felt strange. She had the distinct feeling she was going to keep getting put to work like this from now on.
I was in the sky over the Pacific.
Naturally, Liam was flying me around with magic. It was a shame I couldn't take to the air with holy spells alone.
"Nice view, right?"
Quick Eagle said, glancing around in every direction as his enormous wings beat in slow, steady strokes.
Seen up close like this, he looked less like an eagle and more like some massive monstrous bird. Just the beat of those wings would have been enough to cow anyone faint of heart.
His heart, though, was a lot more thoughtful than his appearance suggested.
"If we fight up here, nobody's going to get unlucky and get caught in the crossfire. No property damage to worry about, either."
Choosing the open sky over the Pacific as our battlefield had been Quick Eagle's idea.
Even after I told him I could create a safe space for us to spar, he wouldn't budge. He wanted to prepare for any unforeseen accident.
He was right, so I went along with it without complaint.
No wonder he's popular.
Honestly, I'd thought he was just a funny guy at first. The name, the whole superhero act—it all felt like pure eccentricity.
But the more I got to know him, the more I thought he was a genuinely decent person. Personality, values, purpose—there wasn't a rough edge anywhere.
Of course, the egg-laying still weirded me out a little. How exactly did he lay them? I was curious, and at the same time I really didn't want to know.
"Pink friend. You ready?"
Quick Eagle asked quietly then. His face had gone serious without my noticing.
I gave a quiet nod.
"I was ready before we even left."
"Yeah? I'm looking forward to this."
"You ought to be worried, not looking forward to it."
"I didn't worry even before I fought the evil dragon."
There wasn't a trace of tension in the easy way he answered, flashing a grin. Same as before he'd started streaming.
A personality that had built a wall against worry. It was the bearing of a battle-hardened veteran who'd spent ten years getting thoroughly put through the wringer.
He probably hadn't been like that from the start. That kind of air only came from people who'd lived through real combat for a long, long time.
I knew it well enough. I'd done my own share of hard living once.
He's probably lost a lot of comrades, too.
All of a sudden, that familiar pang of pity rose up again. Even if he hadn't been transmigrated at fourteen, he'd still been dragged into a dangerous world at a pretty young age.
It must have been hard on him mentally. And yet here he was, smiling so brightly. For some reason it made me a little proud of him—proud enough that my throat tightened.
…I'm being ridiculous.
The swell of emotion crested, and then I suddenly huffed out a laugh.
Quick Eagle hadn't even said a word about his own story, and here I was, pitying him and fretting over him all by myself. Even I had to admit it was peak ajumma behavior.
"Friend? What are you doing?"
I'd been lost in thought too long.
I shook my head hard and steeled myself. This was no time for sympathy.
"I won't go easy on you."
Whatever he'd been through in the past, I wasn't going to spare a thought for it now. You couldn't afford to pity your opponent.
"Then allow me to prepare the battlefield. Please wait a moment."
The moment the words left my mouth, I brought my hands together. Neatly, as if cupping falling rain.
Then I slowly drew the holy power from within my body.
A low hum rose as pink light gradually filled the bowl of my hands.
"O blazing sun, guide me."
With that short prayer, I scattered the gathered holy power upward. The pretty pink light drifted out into the air like a gentle wave.
Before long, it began to take a definite shape in the sky.
"Whoa…"
While Quick Eagle let out a murmur of admiration, the holy power completely enclosed us. It formed a rectangular space as wide as a gymnasium.
"It's ready."
Holy spell: Glorious Battlefield.
This was a space made for combat alone. An original holy spell of my own creation, built on an idea the Goddess herself had given me.
"Inside here, allies are healed and enemies suffer. Of course, I've set it to recognize you as an ally, Quick Eagle. That way you won't get hurt."
"Thanks, friend."
Quick Eagle looked around with open curiosity, then grinned, teeth flashing.
"Shall we get started?"
"Let's."
I touched down on the floor and slowly loosened up. Then I called over to Liam, who stood some distance away.
"Film us properly. This has to go up on Itube."
This spar was going to be uploaded to the Itube channel I was about to create. Seoyun had messaged me on KakaoTalk while watching the stream and told me to do it that way.
If I won, I'd upload the full video under a clean title like "Pope VS Hero." That would look cooler.
If I lost, on the other hand, it would go up as an edited clip. Something that made it look like I'd "lost, but fought well."
Not that there was much chance of the losing scenario actually happening.
"Quick Eagle. Even if you cry after you lose, I'm uploading it to Itube as is."
I was going to win either way.
"…Do whatever you want."
That last jab must have gotten under his skin; Quick Eagle's face twisted slightly. Then he lightly clenched his fist in midair.
With a soft hiss, a dark-colored arrow suddenly appeared in his closed hand—as naturally as if it had been there all along.
An artifact, huh.
That had to be one of the weapons the evil dragon had forged before her fall. The ominous energy rolling off it made that obvious at a glance.
"Friend. I'm going all out from the start, so brace yourself."
Quick Eagle fixed me with a heavy gaze. That wasn't a taunt. He meant it.
"Then I'll go all out from the start as well."
I hadn't planned on playing around anyway.
Even in the one-in-a-million chance I lost, I still had to prove how powerful holy spells were. That was how people would come to believe in the Goddess.
This spar wasn't just about settling who was stronger between the Demon King and the evil dragon.
The reason I'd invited Quick Eagle onto my personal broadcast—and my real goal—was the expansion of the faith.
"O noble sun, may your will take root upon this earth."
I murmured the words under my breath and spread holy power around me once more. Thicker and denser than before.
Before long, a translucent hemispherical barrier enclosed me.
Feeling the sacred energy pouring in from every direction, I curled the corner of my mouth upward.
"Please, attack."
Holy spell: Solar Barrier.
Standing at the center of the hemisphere, I crooked a finger at Quick Eagle.
"Here I come!"
Without a second's hesitation, Quick Eagle hurled the arrow in his hand straight at me.
Throwing an arrow by hand instead of using a bow didn't seem all that threatening. The thought had barely crossed my mind when the arrow split apart in midair.
From one into thousands.
"…Good heavens."
They weren't illusions. Every last one of them was real—each arrow a genuine physical attack.
It was a spectacle like a black rainstorm. And they were fast; in the next instant they were hammering furiously against my barrier.
Thud-thud-thud—the sound rang out like bullets slamming home.
Hairline cracks were starting to spider across the barrier. The power behind them was incredible. Thousands of attacks, each one dangerous on its own, were pouring in at once.
And so I smiled lightly.
"Fear not. For sunlight shall evaporate the torrential rain that cowers the seedling; rise up without fear, and bloom with pride."
I was reciting a verse from the scripture I myself had written when it happened.
The Solar Barrier, still weathering the arrow barrage, began to glow a deep red. Then flames surged up across its surface, writhing and flaring.
It was time for the counterattack. An instant later, countless fireballs generated by the barrier all rushed Quick Eagle at once.
Exactly as many as had hammered me—thousands of them.
"Holy—!"
Quick Eagle spat a short curse and shielded himself with his massive wings. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—a chain of explosive roars shook the holy-power space hard.
If I'd had a teammate fighting alongside me, I would have had them pile on more attacks right then. But I was fighting alone, so I waited calmly inside the barrier.
"…That stung a little."
A moment later the folded wings opened, and Quick Eagle came back into view. Outwardly, at least, he looked fine.
He was clutching his midsection like he'd taken a hit, but he seemed like he could keep going.
Well, Solar Barrier was an all-in-one offense-and-defense spell, but its attack power wasn't that high. For a returnee to go down from something like this would have been stranger.
"You just gonna keep standing there?"
Quick Eagle asked quietly, an arrow already back in his hand. I brought both hands together in front of me and smiled sweetly.
"Why would I move? You can't hit me while I'm in here. Go on—try and break through."
The so-called "come and get me" strategy. A fighting style inspired by fighting games.
"……"
Quick Eagle stared at me for a long moment, then finally spat it out.
"You fight like absolute crap."
The highest praise you could hear from an enemy.