Chapter 71

〈 Episode 71 〉 Fierce Battle

The man seemed taken aback by Eva’s unexpected question, pausing slightly before answering.

“…Strong, you ask? It’s been a while since I’ve heard that question.”

“Why has it been a while?”

The man shrugged as if asking the obvious.

“You need someone to ask, to hear such a question, don’t you think?”

“That’s true… So, the answer?”

The man frowned slightly at Eva’s persistent questioning.

“I don’t particularly want to say it myself. Are you always this bothersome?”

Eva smiled and bowed her head slightly.

“Ah, I’m not usually like this. But I can tell. Honestly, I’ve been quite bored since I got stronger lately, but I didn’t expect to meet someone like you.”

Eva, who already had no equal, found life in the village pleasant but rather dull. The thought of meeting an opponent she might never encounter again consumed her, blinding her to everything else.

“Actually, weren’t you bored too? You came running so quickly when I called.”

The man fell silent, seemingly struck by Eva’s casual remark. Seeing this, Eva drew her Iron Spear.

“How about it? Want to have a match if you have time?”

Soon, the air around the silent man began to freeze.

“If you wish, I’ll entertain you. Don’t regret it.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for. Please, make me regret it!”

A flame-like Mana surged around her, distorting the surroundings. The man’s eyes showed a hint of interest as he looked at Eva, but he didn’t betray his feelings and waved his hand. He didn’t say anything, but following the trajectory of his wave, a huge ice blade was created and rushed towards Eva in an instant.

Whoosh-!

“Hmph…”

It was an imposing attack, but with a single swing of her spear, she split the blade in two, and it passed by her left and right.

Thud!

The sound of the earth shaking as the halved blades collided with the ground echoed, but Eva wore a bored expression.

“I want to see a real attack, not this kind of feint. Surely this isn’t your full power?”

“So, you’re no ordinary person… It seems difficult to fight while maintaining this form. Release.”

His surroundings filled with light, and the ground began to shake.

Rumble–

The ice mass on the cliff collapsed, and he, who had been just over 2 meters tall, swelled up in an instant with the light, growing dozens of times larger. Finally, with the light subsiding, a giant appeared. Seeing his body covered in radiant silver-white scales and his huge wings, Eva shouted with a bright face.

“Dragon! They really exist!”

The Dragon spoke with an absurd tone to Eva’s voice filled with joy.

“Hmph… You’re the first person to say that after seeing my true form.”

“If you’re a Dragon, then ordinary attacks probably won’t work! Hahaha! Here I come!!”

Eva disappeared from her spot and swung her Iron Spear with the force to split a peak. As a terrifying sound rang out and a Sword Aura the size of the Dragon’s torso flew towards him, he immediately created dozens of layers of Barrier, but Eva’s attack shattered the Dragon’s Barrier like bursting bubbles in an instant.

Crash!

Only after the Dragon swung his tail, creating a small storm, was the Sword Aura negated.

“You’re not even a mage, so how can you wield that much power with that small body? I’ve lived for hundreds of years, but you’re the first being like you I’ve ever seen.”

“There’s no need to worry about the source of power when wielding it!”

Once again, she launched a Sword Aura parallel to the ground, but the Dragon disappeared from his spot as if fading away. Eva, looking around, saw a huge shadow covering the ground and raised her head to the sky.

“I don’t think this is the time to talk about size! It’s even more absurd that you’re floating in the sky with that size!”

“It’s perfectly possible if you have enough Mana…”

Even as she frowned at the sunlight reflecting off the white snow, Eva’s heart fluttered with the future of experiencing something new.

‘Hmph… As expected, simply swinging wildly like hunting a giant beast won’t work. More precisely…’

While Eva pondered how to catch the Dragon, he began his attack.

“Impale!”

At his shout, huge ice spikes rose from the ground within a radius of hundreds of meters around Eva.

“Ha!”

Not panicking at the sudden attack, she jumped, stepping on the edges of the spikes. As she rushed towards him, the Dragon shouted once more.

“Burn!”

“Oh, crap!”

Dozens of fireballs suddenly appeared in the sky and plunged towards her, causing Eva to sweat for the first time in a while. Each sphere felt terrifyingly powerful, and even a graze would result in serious injury. The fireballs fell towards her, who was floating in the air to avoid the ice spikes rising from the ground.

Boom!

The quiet highlands were engulfed in flames and exploded in a series of explosions. The Dragon was dumbfounded as he watched the area where Eva had been, not to mention Eva herself, being completely devastated.

“Was that attack too much? Oh dear…”

At that moment, an attack he didn’t even notice flew like a ray of light. The strike, which had reflexively pierced through the Barrier he had deployed, shattered the scales on his chest.

“Ugh! You were still alive!”

“Hap!”

Eva emerged from the dug-up ground, swinging her spear. Using the repulsive force of the initial explosion when the spheres flew in, she bounced off the ground and dug into the ground, then launched a surprise attack. The Dragon groaned, knowing that her already threatening attack had become even faster.

“You’ve gotten stronger? It’s beyond common sense…”

Even among the strong Orcs, Eva was an exceptionally powerful being, but her strength had grown inefficiently without proper training. Eva was learning in real-time how to handle her power more efficiently by meeting an opponent stronger than herself.

As blood flowed from the tens of meters tall giant, it was as if a crimson waterfall was pouring down below. Eva avoided the blood droplets the size of her torso.

“Yikes… You still look lively, don’t be so dramatic.”

In fact, his wounds were healing quickly, making her attack seem insignificant. An ordinary person would have lost their will to fight just by witnessing that sight, but Eva still wore a joyful smile. Holding the spear in her right hand, she stretched out her left hand, and a beam of light stretched out, distorting the surroundings.

“Rise!”

Crack!

At his shout, huge stone pillars rose from the ground, blocking Eva’s attack, but the beam of light emitted from the spear relentlessly shattered the pillars.

Thud!

“Hup!”

He was able to avoid her attack only after flapping his huge wings and gliding downwards.

‘The problem is the density of the attack. My attacks are not focused, while her attacks are threatening one by one, so there’s no point in just floating here.’

Having made his decision, the Dragon continued to fly beyond without stopping his glide. Eva was flustered as the huge body disappeared into a dot in an instant.

“Huh? You’re not running away, are you???”

Her question was answered shortly after.

Whoosh-!!

With a tearing sound, he approached again and began bombing from the air.

“Fall!”

Boom!

Hailstones the size of people formed around the high-speed flying Dragon and began to plunge towards the ground in an instant. The hailstones targeted Eva below and shattered the surroundings. She couldn’t dare to directly face the hail with her spear and intercepted them with Sword Aura, breaking the hailstones approaching her.

“It’s getting more and more interesting!”

Eva muttered, glaring at him as he disappeared again into the distance.

The Dragon’s revised strategy was much more effective. By constantly moving, he reduced his exposure and made it difficult for Eva to attack with his fast movement speed. Eva, who couldn’t fly, avoided his attacks twice more helplessly and gritted her teeth.

“It’s a big mistake to think that I can’t attack just because you’re up there…”

With the Iron Spear on her back, she created a long spear made of Mana alone on her hand. As he approached again with his wings spread wide, Eva jumped several meters into the sky for a moment and threw the spear like lightning.

“Haaap!”

Swoosh!

“Break, ugh?!”

He was about to attack as before, but he was greatly surprised by the sudden attack, but he couldn’t avoid the spear throw because of the spell he was preparing, and was directly hit on the wing.

Thwack!

The spear that Eva threw was the size of a toothpick compared to the Dragon’s size, but her attack tore off one wing.

“Kuaaaaak!”

Unable to maintain flight, he lost his balance and crashed to the ground.

Thud!

Eva smiled as she felt the vibrations flowing through the ground.