/
When Reito lured the Rotten Dragon to Adventure City, Nao was pushing through the crowd in the Black Tiger Adventure Guild. She was armed and trying to get outside even though she was a non-combatant.
“Let me go!! I can hear that bastard! It’s here, right!?”
“Calm down!! Princess!!”
“Ms. Bal told us to not let you outside!!”
“Shut up!!”
Nao was being held back as she proceeded toward the Guild’s doors.
The Rotten Dragon roared in the grass planes. She remembered the sight of her troops being murdered en masse.
“Princess!! Run away!!”
“We want you to live!!”
“Rinon!! Watch after the princess!!”
In order to save Princess Nao, the troops under her command who had avoided the Rotten Dragon attack were ordered to stop her from going outside. Her sub-commander, Rinon, was back in the city with her.
She was almost unconscious when she had originally run away from the Rotten Dragon. But now that she was awake, she remembered the faces of her troops. She vowed to avenge them.
Raaaaa
!!
She had a furious expression on her face, and her beloved broken blade at her hip.
“Move!! If anyone gets in my way, I’ll cut off their head!!”
“Pr-!?”
“Princess!!”
They let go of Nao. They had been ordered by Bal, who was on the protective wall now, to not let her out of her room. Though no one dared interfere knowing they would have their head cut off if they got in the way.
“You spared me the time of looking for you.”
“
!?”
A woman had appeared in front of her.
Nao made a puzzled expression at that person.
She couldn’t comprehend why she was here and muttered her name.
“Ms. Ai, ra?”
“You sound just like your cousin. Or should I say, stepbrother?”
Aira’s younger sister Maria was standing in front of her.
Even though she was in charge of defending the western wall, she had also been requested by Reito to head to the gate.
Or rather, to carry out their strategy?
Maria handed the dumbfounded Nao a sword wrapped in a cloth.
“Take this. Do you think you’ll be able to beat the Rotten Dragon with the sword you have now?”
“Uh, um
 um
”
“My name is Maria. I believe we’ve met a few times before
 You look flustered.”
“Maria
 Like, the Hailstorm Guildmaster?”
Although she was confused, Nao took the sword from Maria – her eyes opened wide. Inside the cloth was the most sacred of all the blades she knew, a sharp sword with incredible power.
“Is this
!?”
“Use it wisely. You are the one who can draw the most power out of this sword
 Okay, I’m off.”
“You’re off
 Where are you going?”
“To where your mortal enemy is. It’ll burn a lot of magic energy, so I don’t want to use it.”
She took out a crystal guild card from her pocket. There was a magic circle inscribed on the surface.
Nao was curious about what Maria was doing. She put the tool on the ground.
“It’s my precious treasure
 but, I’ll do anything for my nephew.”
“What are you
 Woah!?”
“Release!!”
The circle glowed when Maria said the magic word, and then the crystal broke. The same shape as the magic circle materialized on the floor.
“Come to my side. This is dangerous.”
“What?”
“
Or, I guess you can stand there. Stargate!”
Maria said another magic word, and the circle glowed again. Suddenly, the two were surrounded by starlight and floating in space.
◆◆◆
“What is he doing!? Is he crazy!?”
“Bro, we can’t do that!!”
“Shit!! Is he planning to take us with him!!”
The adventurers were shouting from the South Wall at the sight coming toward the city.
They saw Ullr running away from the skeletal Rotten Dragon with Reito and Kagemaru on his back. Behind them was a flying necromancer.
The humans were shouting and raising their voices in anger. Gallow was pissed off and grabbed Dain’s neck. He interrogated him about Reito’s negligent behavior.
“Hey!! What is that bastard doing!! Why did he bring that to the city!!”
“I d-, don’t know
”
“Calm down. We were gathered to repel the Rotten Dragon in the first place,” Kotomin said. Gallow glared at her.
“Shut your mouth!! This was the idea all along? To lure a hideous monster here!! We should have fought it out on the plains.”
No one tried to stop Gallow from talking.
Then, two unexpected characters made an appearance.
“All of you!! Relax!!”
“Shit
 He really did it. I was opposed to the idea, but we don’t have time to talk.”
“G, G, Guildmaster!?”
Gigan and Bal – initially assigned to the defense of other walls – came over.
The adventurers were surprised at their sudden appearances.
Gigan and Bal were holding shards of crystal in their hands and talking.
“Maria never told me she had this kind of useful item,” Gigan lamented.
“I can’t believe we teleported this far. We talked about it before, but it’s quite a wonderful tool. However, that doesn’t matter right now
 You guys!! That boy’s actions are our orders.”
“What!?”
“What are you talking about!?” Everyone was shocked at what Gigan said. Bal looked out at Reito.
“You fool
 Wait, is that person flying!?”
Gigan and Bal looked in the same direction and were shocked.
“I’m also going. I’ll show them that this city belongs to the adventurers.” Kotomin said.
“What are you going to do against that monster?” Dain asked Bal.
“Can’t you stop it with your shadow magic? We are going to hit it where it hurts!!!”
“What kind of
 Wahh!?”
“Let’s go!!”
Bal picked up Dain’s body and jumped down onto the plains. Then, they saw two objects shine like shooting stars in the sky.
“Tsk
 The princess is here too. I guess we won’t be able to do anything.” Kotomin said.
“A shooting star
 I want a bunch of fish to eat.” Kotomin wished. Bal smiled ironically.
“If that’s your wish, I’ll make you all the delicious fish dishes you want when the battle’s over. Unfortunately, that’s not a shooting star at all.”
“Then, what is it?” Kotomin asked.
“A poorly behaved elf,” Bal muttered in reply to Kotomin.
The two shooting stars descended from the sky onto the grass plain. They came between the Rotten Dragon and Ullr.
Nao was enveloped in light and was holding a glowing golden blade. Maria had her hands out toward the Rotten Dragon.
“Overmagic – Proto-Aiges.”
“Raaaa
!?”
A glowing white light emanated from the magic circle in Maria’s hand. The Rotten Dragon collided with the magic circle and was repelled. In addition, its cursed armor completely vanished.
Taking advantage of the time bought for him, Reito made Ullr run toward Maria.
She looked at the ring on her finger and sighed.
“I guess I can’t use this anymore. I really liked it.”
“Auntie!!” Reito called out. Maria had mixed feelings.
“Call me, young lady. Okay?”
“I’m the young lady here
” Nao said.
“Woah
 It’s Nao!”
“Master
 I apologize. I wasn’t able to take down the necromancer,” Kagemaru said with a deep bow. Maria put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
Nao looked at the Rotten Dragon and was confused.
“What is that, Reito?”
“Raaaaa!!”
It was totally different from the Rotten Dragon she knew. She didn’t even realize it was the same dragon.
“Is that woman the necromancer controlling the dragon
 by chance? She has some really fairy-tale-like wings for a necromancer.”
The Rotten Dragon avoided the massive Proto-Aegis magic circle and soared toward Reito.
“Roooooar!!”
“It’s coming!?”
“Nice try!”
The Rotten Dragon attacked with its front claws. The magic circle moved like a shield to repel the attack.
The Rotten Dragon’s cursed armor came off further. The magic circle had holy magical properties.
“Raaa
!!”
“What are you doing! You worthless creature!!”
The Rotten Dragon roared at Kirau, flying above him in the sky. She was about to cast a spell, but Maria interrupted with a spell of her own.
“Shut up, you fly! Thunderbolt!”
“Ahhhh!?”
A bolt of lightning was released from her ring and hit Kirau square in the chest. Reito noticed it was more potent than the “Thunder Lance” ballistic magic.
“Did you just!?” Nao shouted, but Maria shook her head.
“No, not yet. It’s going to take more than that, it looks like.”
“Sh-
 This elf!!”
Kirau crashed to the ground but got back up like nothing happened. She took off her cloak to reveal that her clothes had sustained some burns, but her body was unscathed.
Maria looked at Kirau. She was impressed, “You just took that hit and lived to tell the tale
 I shouldn’t have underestimated my fellow elf.”
“Shut up!! We’re not in the same category!!”
“I don’t mind, but maybe you shouldn’t be looking at me? Are you good?”
“!?”
Kirau turned around.
The Rotten Dragon, which had been her servant up until then, had raised its right arm. She had been negligent, and her control of the dragon had grown weaker.
“Raaaa!!”
“Stop!!”
Right before the Rotten Dragon swung its arm, it froze at her order.
She took a sigh of relief and then looked back at Maria.
“You’re getting on my nerves
 I’m gonna kill you!!”
“That’s weird. I’ve never met you before, so why do you hate me so much?”
“Don’t look at me with your disgusting face!! Don’t get close to me!! Don’t look down on me!!”
“Rooooaarrr
!!”
Kirau was screaming as if she had lost her sanity. The Rotten Dragon’s cursed armor regenerated, matching her fury.
The Rotten Dragon attacked the magic circle again. This time, it wasn’t repelled, but it managed to dig its claws into the surface of the magic circle.
Maria frowned and aimed her hands at the magic circle.
“I’ll keep the magic circle in place for now but, I don’t think I’ll be able to hold out for too long, so please do something.”
“Something?” Nao asked.
“Nao, use the sword!” Reito shouted.
“Whiiiine~”
Ullr whimpered.
Nao was spaced out before Reito pointed to her sword.
Nao had the real holy sword Caledwflch in her hand.
The longsword Reito used against the Rotten Dragon wasn’t a holy sword but a copy he had made using his alchemy skills. When he repaired the Caledfwlch, he analyzed the material of the holy sword so he could reproduce it. He gained the ability to turn the ordinary knife he always used into a Caledfwlch replica.
Although it was a replica, it had the same abilities as the real thing. There was the chance that Reito could copy other holy swords if he had the opportunity to see more of them.
Nao was confused at what Reito was saying.
“Use this? Is this really that sword? Why does it—”
“I don’t have time to explain!! Get ready!!”
“G-, Got it.”
“If you could get ready quickly, I’d be happy
” Bal said.
“Raaaaaa
!!”
The Rotten Dragon was encroaching on the magic circle. As it wore away at the cursed armor, it was only a matter of time before it would vanish entirely.