“Senior! Put me dow—”
Before he could finish, Emil ruthlessly tossed Ain onto the ground.
With a sharp look in his eyes, Emil raised his wand. As he chanted a series of spells, the ground beneath them cracked open, and massive, curved earthen walls rose up, deflecting all the sharp metal shards raining down from the sky.
Soon after, Emil grabbed Ain again, using his immense arm strength to sling him back over his shoulder.
Being carried and bounced around like this made Ain feel so off-balance that he couldn't construct a precise magic circuit at all.
“Where's your wand?”
“What?”
“Your wand! Look at the situation we're in! Even if you only know Tier 1 spells, you should at least cast a few!”
At this moment, Emil didn't even know what to say.
How could a mage not even pull out a wand in the middle of a battle?
But he didn't scold him further. Instead, he focused entirely on running toward the harbor.
He had also seen the dragon being knocked down just now.
As long as they could run to safety before that dragon stood back up, that would be enough.
As for why that dragon had appeared here, or who had cast that holy light spell...
Who cared about any of that right now!
“Hey! Senior, look behind us!”
“What?”
Emil turned his head and saw an abandoned dock hovering in the sky, carrying countless wooden crates and cargo, hurtling straight toward them.
Emil threw Ain onto the ground again, causing the latter to let out a cry of pain.
This time, Emil's chant was longer, and the magic circle at the tip of his wand expanded continuously.
Just as the heavy objects were about to crush them, countless earthen spikes erupted from the ground, blocking the falling debris.
However, when the massive abandoned dock crashed onto the spikes, a barrage of cracking sounds echoed. In just a moment, the earthen spikes could no longer withstand the weight of the dock and shattered.
Countless clods of earth and metal plates falling from the dock mingled together, raining down on them like a meteor shower.
Emil clicked his tongue, a flash of determination in his eyes. Chanting another spell, he conjured a towering stone pillar that shot straight up, slamming directly into the falling dock.
With a violent crash, the dock's descent slowed slightly, and its trajectory veered off to the side.
One part of the dock slid along the ground, scraping right past Emil's side. The metal sheets screeched loudly against the ground, plowing a deep trench.
Just as Emil was about to breathe a sigh of relief, another massive shadow loomed over him.
It was yet another abandoned dock that had been flung into the air by the out-of-control mana field.
And this one was even larger than the last!
Horror flashed in Emil's eyes, and the hand holding his wand began to tremble slightly.
There was no time.
The previous earthen spikes and stone pillars had already consumed more than half of his mana.
No, he couldn't let Ain die here!
He had a girl waiting for him to go home!
As his senior, how could he let him perish in a place like this...
A voice cut through his thoughts.
“Senior.”
“What...”
“Step aside.”
After the voice fell, Emil turned around. He was about to say something, but when he saw the magic circle Ain's right hand was constructing, his pupils dilated instantly, leaving nothing but sheer shock in his heart.
“Y-y-you, where's your wand?!”
“I don't need such a thing.”
“What?”
Emil blinked.
Someone who casts magic without a wand?
Soon, Emil snapped out of it. Realizing something, he spoke up again.
“No, wait, that's not right! That's not right at all!”
Emil was completely dazed.
The complexity of the magic circuits displayed in the magic circle in Ain's hand was absolutely not Tier 1.
For Emil, who was well-versed in magic and had advanced to a Tier 4 Mage six months ago, he saw through it instantly.
“Holy crap! You're a damn Tier 4?!”
“Are you kidding me...”
Ain calmly stared at the dock that was about to crush them, and another magic circle materialized in the air beside him.
Emil was startled.
Multicasting?
Although I can do that too...
But...
“Y-y-you! You can construct f-f-five at once?!”
Emil stared at the magic circles beside Ain in disbelief.
“No, seriously?!”
And all five of them were Tier 4 spells.
Emil was utterly dumbfounded.
The shock in his heart was beyond words. It felt like a dimwitted little brother who failed every exam and played dumb suddenly leaped up to become an elite student on equal footing with him—or even completely surpassed him.
Didn't his file say he was a Tier 1?
Wasn't this guy supposed to be a slacker?
How the hell does this look like Tier 1?
If the reality weren't staring him right in the face, Emil wouldn't have dared to imagine this scene even in his wildest dreams.
He really wanted to drag out the bastard who wrote that ridiculous file and give them a good thrashing.
And here he was, worrying so much about this guy's safety!
You should have said you were a Tier 4 earlier!
Of course, constructing only five magic circles was simply because Ain believed the power of five Tier 4 spells would be more than enough.
If he dumped all his mana at once like he did when fighting Wesley—not to mention he no longer had the Scale of Astral Judgment on him—he was afraid the mana from Lillian wouldn't survive such reckless squandering.
Just as Ain was about to unleash his magic, another sudden change occurred.
The massive dock came to an abrupt halt, as if stripped of all velocity, hovering in midair.
“Eh?”
Faced with such an anomaly, both of them spoke in unison.
In the next second, Ain felt himself lose gravity. His body left the ground, floating lightly in the air.
He couldn't help but complain.
“What is it this time?!”
Soon, the colossal beast on the sea answered Ain's question.
The dragon, which should have sunk to the bottom of the sea, surfaced once more. Countless purple-blue magic particles surged around it, and sea water along with all objects on the shore began gathering toward it at a visible rate.
This included both Ain and Emil.
Could a living creature really cause such immense destruction just with its passive mana field?
Ain was completely caught in the mana field, pulled into midair. He wanted to use magic to anchor himself to the ground, but before he could fully construct the magic circle, the previous dock suddenly slammed into him, dragging him along as it flew toward the dragon.
No, if he got dragged all the way to that White Dragon, he would be completely finished!
Suddenly, a sharp whistling sound shattered Ain's thoughts.
Three beams of holy light drew beautiful golden arcs across the sky, their powerful aura blasting toward the dragon once more.
A dragon's roar shattered the sky. The dragon wanted to use her aerial advantage to dodge the attack, but with half of her wing already in tatters, she couldn't maintain her balance in the air at all.
Accompanied by a series of violent explosions, the dragon's white scales were heavily scorched. The previous wound on her underbelly had not yet healed, and now she suffered severe burns all over her body.
At that exact moment, the mana field around the dragon vanished again. Ain and the countless floating objects regained gravity, plunging down toward the vast ocean.
Ain took a deep breath before hitting the water, falling into the sea with a loud splash.
Staring at the shimmering sea and the heavily wounded dragon above, only one thought remained in Ain's mind.
Where did the plot go wrong this time?!
If the Church is hunting the White Dragon, why is this happening before Episode One even starts?!
Whatever, forget it...
This dragon is going to die anyway.
It's fine if she dies. At least in the original plot, Grace was put in danger precisely because of this dragon's interference.
In fact, this massive White Dragon was one of the indirect killers of Grace.
Without this dragon as a variable, there will be one less distraction in the upcoming main storyline.
It's just a pity. If I were a bit stronger, maybe I could have tamed her as my mount...
Ain once again fantasized about riding on the dragon's back, soaring freely through the sky.
In the original game's plot, this seemed to be the only dragon, right?
What a waste...
Suddenly, as if seeing something unbelievable, Ain's pupils dilated instantly.
A petite, white-haired girl appeared before his eyes.
The pupils in her eyes reflected the marks of judgment magic, and her figure was shrouded in waves of golden light, making it impossible to discern her clothing.
More importantly, only sorrow remained on the little girl's face, and tears streamed uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes.
She slowly approached Ain, gently cupping his cheeks with both hands, her ethereal voice echoing in his mind.
“Please... save her...”
Ain't heart skipped a beat, filled with shock.
Previously, after saving Lillian in the Echo Forest, when he was unwilling to face her inner heart directly, the Goddess of Light had repeatedly spoken a sentence in his mind.
And back then, it was this exact same voice!
This person is... the Goddess of Light?!
Without answering the guess in Ain's heart, the little girl before him left only one sentence.
“Please...”
“Save my child.”
Rate on N.U.
