The Calamity Dragon Girl (2)
Clang! Clang!
A harsh, metallic screech echoed as Dorara's magic unleashed. His spell slammed directly into the wall of ice.
"Pant, pant... Wh-what on earth is this made of? Why isn't my magic doing anything to it?"
Dorara panted heavily, swinging his staff wildly in frustration.
Princess Iris's team was currently trapped on the fourth floor. The culprit was the massive wall of ice blocking their path. Far from shattering, the ice didn't even show a single hairline crack from Dorara's desperate assaults.
It was only natural. Low-tier magic could never overcome high-tier magic. That ice wall had been conjured by Nikita using the Ancient Dragon's Magic. It wasn't something a mage of Dorara's caliber could ever hope to breach.
And it's not just Dorara's magic. Even Sharin's spells wouldn't be able to pierce this barrier.
"Damn it," Dorara groaned, gritting his teeth. His hands trembled violently. He had been burning through his mana continuously on their journey here. In his desperate bid to carve out an exit, he had poured every last drop of his energy into the wall, pushing his mana reserves to their absolute limit.
"Dorara, that's enough."
At Iris's quiet command, Dorara collapsed to the ground. He, too, finally realized that his magic was utterly useless against this frozen barrier.
In the first place, nothing can break this ice wall except the Flame of Fighting Spirit.
That was the very reason I had gone out of my way to join Iris's team. Unlike Lucas, who would eventually arrive safely to save the day in times of crisis, I had no way of dealing with that ice wall on my own.
But since I couldn't reveal that meta-knowledge, I kept my mouth shut. Sometimes, it was better to let people run headfirst into reality to understand it.
"This is... highly problematic," Yoachim muttered, his face dark with worry.
"C-could this be because of the Demon Palace upheaval they mentioned last time?" Barentia asked, her voice trembling. Both she and Yoachim were visibly anxious.
Until they bypassed this ice wall, returning to the surface was impossible. With their rations strictly limited, a creeping sense of dread was only natural.
"Dorara, use whatever mana you have left to cast body-warming spells on everyone first."
I decided to assign tasks before panic could fully set in.
"Barentia, you can cast a curse across the entire surface of the ice wall, right? Use it to engrave a distress signal. Yoachim, please bestow your blessings on Lady Iris and me. From this moment on, we are going to search for a safe place to shelter for the time being."
As I rattled off the orders, the team snapped out of their daze and began to move. They all recognized that my instructions were the best possible course of action under the circumstances.
"I let you do my job for me," Iris murmured softly.
"Not at all. It's only because you are here, Lady Iris, that everyone is managing to keep their panic in check."
Iris was the Third Princess. For all intents and purposes, she was one of the most important figures in the Empire. Once the Empire learned she was in danger, they would mobilize their absolute strongest forces to break through the Demon Palace. Knowing this gave the team the hope they needed to believe they would make it back alive.
"Let's go. This is going to be a long wait."
Nikita wouldn't just show up overnight. She was biding her time here on the fourth floor of the Demon Palace.
She will wait until everyone's food runs out, and the biting cold robs them of even the strength to fight.
Only then would Nikita bare her dragon fangs.
After receiving Yoachim's blessings, Iris and I immediately set out to search for a safe zone.
The fourth floor marked the beginning of the mid-tier sections of the Demon Palace. Unlike the upper floors, the Apostles and magical beasts here were far more vicious and cunning. It was a place that demanded constant vigilance and drained one's stamina rapidly, but even in a hellscape like this, safe zones existed.
Since the Flame Butterfly arc is based on a pixel RPG, there are naturally designated areas where players can rest and manage their characters.
The Safety Zones. These were specific locations that Apostles and magical beasts instinctively avoided. I remembered every single Safety Zone in the Demon Palace. Since knowing them was vital to clearing the game smoothly, they were permanently etched into my brain.
"Let's set up our camp here."
"What? But this place is completely wide open."
The catch was that a Safety Zone didn't look safe to anyone else. Just as Dorara said, we were standing in the middle of an empty, desolate plain. Aside from shattered ice sculptures scattered across the snow-covered ground, there was absolutely nothing to use as cover.
"We can keep our backs to the wall, and because it's wide open, we'll spot anything approaching from any direction."
"B-but wouldn't that just make us easy targets...?"
Barentia voiced her hesitation, but I shook my head.
"Apostles don't perceive the world the way we do. They don't rely on sight or hearing to find us. Hiding somewhere out of sight won't keep us hidden from them. If anything, a cramped space with poor visibility will only work against us."
There was nothing more dangerous than not knowing which direction an Apostle was crawling from.
"That is indeed true," Yoachim agreed, backing me up. "Besides, once I erect a holy barrier, even an open field won't be entirely defenseless."
"Let's do as Hania says."
With Iris giving the final nod, all objections ceased.
We quickly set up our temporary shelter. Yoachim erected his holy barrier, and Dorara layered a warming spell over it. The result was a surprisingly habitable campsite.
The desolate, snowy plain was quieter than expected. True to its status as a Safety Zone, not a single magical beast, let alone an Apostle, showed its face. This allowed the team to finally calm their frayed nerves. Having spent so long pushing through the third floor, the group quickly drifted off to sleep. There was a silent, unspoken agreement that we would worry about the ice wall after we had rested.
"You should get some rest too, Lady Iris."
"Yes, I suppose I should."
Iris sat down beside me, placing her sword on the ground. She stared quietly out at the snowy expanse.
"Hania."
"Yes, Lady Iris?"
"What kind of existence do you think a Third Princess is?"
It was a sudden, unexpected question. Iris wasn't one to voice such thoughts, but the sheer stress of her chronic insomnia since entering the Demon Palace must have been taking its toll. On top of that, someone had just tried to take her life. It was only natural for her to feel a fleeting sense of skepticism toward her own existence.
"A noble one."
"Noble, is it?"
"And a very painful one, from the looks of it."
Iris turned to look at me, startled by my unexpected words. Everyone around her envied and romanticized her life. She was the strongest of the imperial family, a prime candidate for the throne, and possessed a decadent, breathtaking beauty. She held everything that others desperately coveted. Because she never showed her vulnerability to anyone, she appeared near-perfect to the world. Hearing someone say she looked like she was struggling must have caught her completely off guard.
But I meant every word. From the moment she was born, Iris had never known a single day of peace.
"I've realized that no life in this world is truly easy. I'm sure you have your own burdens to bear, Lady Iris."
"Burdens..."
Iris quietly chewed on my words, then pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them.
"...Would it sound strange if I said I envied you, Hania?" after a long silence, she asked.
The person Iris knew as "me" was Hanon Airey. Though they shared many similarities, Hanon stood in a completely different position. Reflecting on this, Iris seemed to have many thoughts.
"It's only natural to envy a life you've never lived."
That was simply human nature. People always yearned for and idealized what they did not possess.
"But I doubt my life would be all that entertaining to you, Lady Iris."
Perhaps it would be for the real Hanon, but I was Vikaman. Unaware of this truth, Iris let out a soft chuckle.
"Yes, you're right. I suppose everyone feels that way."
With those final words, Iris fell silent and closed her eyes. Even if sleep eluded her, she was trying to rest her mind to stave off the exhaustion. I quietly watched over her. Iris Haishirion, the woman destined to become the final boss. She, too, was just a person who sometimes envied the lives of others.
Whooooosh—
Flurries of snow danced on the howling wind. Beneath the swirling white, Iris's team moved with urgent haste.
"Still no sign of any magical beasts, let alone Apostles today," Yoachim remarked, his expression grim.
It had already been four days since they were trapped on the fourth floor of the Demon Palace. No matter how much they searched, they found nothing but frozen sculptures. Not a single monster was in sight.
However, during this time, we had confirmed one undeniable fact.
"Damn it, even the exit to the fifth floor is blocked!" Dorara spat in frustration, lowering his staff.
Before him stood another massive wall of ice, showing only a few superficial scratches from his wind magic. Just like the entrance, a colossal barrier of ice sealed the exit. We were completely and utterly trapped on the fourth floor.
"H-hasn't it... gotten much colder than the first day?" Barentia shivered violently despite Dorara's warming magic.
Just as she said, the temperature on the fourth floor had been plummeting steadily over the past few days. Consequently, Dorara had to cast his warming spells more and more frequently.
"...My mana is going to run dry at this rate," Dorara muttered, his staff trembling in his hand.
As the temperature continued to drop, the snowy ground froze solid as iron. Moving around became an ordeal in itself. Ultimately, to avoid wasting precious body heat, we spent more time resting in the Safety Zone. Having found nothing after four days of searching, exhaustion was written clearly on everyone's faces.
"Will our food hold out...?" Barentia murmured, checking their remaining rations with a worried frown. The supplies they had brought were slowly running dry.
"...O Lord, why do You test us with such trials?" Yoachim prayed quietly, seeking solace in his faith. With no other options left, turning to the divine was his only comfort.
"Damn it! I'd rather just blast that ice wall with everything I've got!" Dorara shouted, refusing to die sitting down.
But without his warming magic, we would freeze to death in minutes. Wasting his strength on a futile endeavor was a terrible idea. After the rest of the team held him back, Dorara slumped back down to the ground.
"...Hania," Iris called out to me in a quiet whisper.
It had been over a week since she had last slept. Among us, her condition was by far the most critical.
"Yes, Lady Iris?"
"You have a way out of here, don't you?" Iris asked, keeping her voice low so the others wouldn't hear.
I did. I wouldn't have let myself get trapped like this without a safety net.
"...If things get too dangerous, take the others and leave."
Before I could even answer, Iris spoke. She was telling me that if anyone had to die here, she would rather it be her alone.
"Lady Iris." I gently brushed aside her disheveled hair. "There is no way I would ever leave you behind."
At my words, a faint smile touched Iris's lips. She probably couldn't tell whether those words were spoken by Hania, or by me.
Time marched on. By the time a week had passed, the biting cold had grown too intense for Dorara's magic to keep at bay. Unable to endure it any longer, Dorara had desperately flung a few spells at the ice wall, but they fizzled out uselessly, leaving him as the first to collapse from exhaustion.
Barentia had cast a curse upon herself to enter a state of hibernation. She had reasoned that this was better than continuing to consume their dwindling rations. She had offered to cast it on anyone else who wished, but everyone had declined, leaving her to take the plunge alone.
Yoachim's prayers grew less frequent. Instead, as if he had achieved some sort of epiphany in this dire situation, he sat with his back straight, eyes closed, lost in deep contemplation. I left him undisturbed so he could focus.
As for Iris...
She finally fell asleep.
Though she would undoubtedly be tormented by nightmares, the agony of sleep deprivation must have finally overridden her fear. She had slumped against my shoulder, fast asleep. I could hear her soft, rhythmic breathing. Though she frowned occasionally in her sleep, she showed no signs of waking. Her body had simply reached its absolute limit.
Crunch.
And then, at that very moment.
Crunch.
The long-awaited footsteps finally began to echo through the silence. I slowly lifted my head.
Through my frost-rimed eyelashes, I saw a figure walking out from the darkness.
A long sword was clutched in her hand, dragging along the frozen ground. The chill radiating from the blade was colder than anything I had ever felt before. Plumes of white, frosty breath escaped her lips.
Her silver hair fluttered, revealing two white horns protruding from her forehead. It was the mark of the Ancient Dragon's Magic—the most dangerous magic in the world, once sealed within the Marquisate of Cynthia.
Beneath those horns, two reptilian eyes glowed with a brilliant, icy blue light. With every step she took, the surrounding frost grew even more violent.
The Calamity Dragon Girl, Nikita Cynthia. The boss of Act 3 had finally made her appearance.
I gently laid Iris down so as not to wake her, then slowly stood up. Shards of ice that had frozen over my body shattered and fell to the snow.
"You're finally here."
Nikita's gaze locked onto me. From the looks of it, she had expected everyone to be completely incapacitated by now.
"Senior Nikita," I said, stepping forward to greet her alone. "Your junior's fist might sting a little."
It was time to knock some sense into her.