Pioneering the Apocalyptic World - Chapter 90

Chapter 25: The Suppressed Winds of the Wilderness

Seeking the source of the voice and walking forward, I noticed that there was something like stone pavement under my feet. It hasn’t been cared for at all and is full of cracks… Is this the road leading to the abandoned village?
The miasma gradually thickens and the visibility is subtly poor. It might be easier to understand if you think of it as something like a thin black fog is covering the surroundings.
I feel like the smell is getting worse even though it’s mitigated by the Holy Mist. In many ways, it’s a place I don’t want to stay too long.

“Mu, I can see a shadow ahead.”

That is reported from Uru, who is standing at the front.
When I got closer, the shadow Uru mentioned was a stone pillar that had become so fragile that it seemed like it was about to collapse at any moment, whether it was due to the miasma or just deterioration.
Judging from what looks like a wall next to it, it must have been the entrance to the village.

“Judging from the voice, we’re close…”

Does that mean that a dragon is living here after all…? Is there something important in this village, or is this village created because there is something important here?
The only way to know that is after the dragon is exterminated or driven away.

As we progressed slowly, slowly, I could see that there’s a flow in the miasma.
Is it being condensed or is it’s being emitted? I wasn’t sure if it was going to where it’s flowing to or from it’s coming from, but Uru pointed in the direction where it was flowing to, so I decided to aim there.
As we headed along, following the shadows of the remaining houses as much as possible… There was a large church towering over us.

A steeple made of stone bricks piled high up to about the third floor.
On the left and right of it, the dome-shaped roof was partially destroyed… No, it was about 80% destroyed, only a few parts remained.
And in front of it is the remains of a similarly broken stone arch, on the pedestal where the statue of a god was originally supposed to have been installed is-

A dragon was sitting there.

But.

“… Nuu…???”

In order to defeat her hated enemy, Uru was gradually putting more strength in her body, but when she came here, it suddenly felt like her fighting spirit had been shrunk.
That’s because.

“… It’s not Altair…?”

“… Apparently so?”

What was there was not Altair, who had a strange shape that looked like mixed an eagle and a dragon.
It was white… No, it was covered with mottled black scales here and there, It had wings, and had a long neck, It was indeed a standard-shaped dragon.
It is crouching, so it’s hard to tell its full length, but it’s definitely bigger than Chimera, and smaller than the trunk of an Evil Treant side by side.

…… We shouldn’t have been taking it easy.
It was an even greater disaster that even Uru was taking it easy because ‘it wasn’t Altair’.

“… Hey, Rion, Uru-nee-san, that guy… I have a feeling he’s looking over here…”

By the time Regulus pointed it out with a trembling voice, the dragon had lifted its neck and had clearly locked its eyes on us.
Continuing, he opened his mouth wide-

“Evacuate!!”

Groaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Along with my scream, a strong wind occurs, blowing away the rubble of the house where we were hiding (that I thought we were hidden).

“Rion! Regulus!”

Uru stood up and endured it, but Regulus and I didn’t have that much strength, and were stunned and rolled ten meters.
The joints of my body hurt. However, there seems to be no abnormality in the bones. Regulus is also holding his waist saying “Ouch…”, but his body don’t is bleeding out or bending where it shouldn’t.

“It’s fine here! Uru go!”

“…… Got it!”

Uru made a slight gesture as if being reluctant, but ran towards the dragon. The sound of battle soon resounds around.
Even so, I’m glad it wasn’t a heat breath…! Or rather, there is a limit for being carelessness!
Slapping out my cheeks and reinvigorating myself, I set up my bow even though I thought it would be useless due to the miasma.

“Regulus, please let me know if there are any monsters around. After that, if you notice anything else, let me know right away.”

“I understand.”

I tried to shoot an arrow while Uru was drawing his attention, but as expected, it was caught in the miasma and didn’t reach the main body.
I whispered to Regulus, “I’ll go around behind him.” and started moving while hiding in the shadows as much as possible, trying not to make any noise.
Just as I was about to come right beside him, Regulus let out a confused voice.

“Ri-Rion, please wait.”

“What?”

“I can’t say it very well, but… From a while ago, the flow of miasma?… It feels strange.”

“… It feels weird?”

I turn my gaze toward Uru.

Although she was pushed back and rolled several times by wind magic that was immediately activated without chant, she immediately got up and struck the dragon with her fists and kicks.
After confirming that she still seems to be okay, I stop and observe the surroundings.
Just like when we first noticed it, the miasma was slowly heading towards the dragon… But when I looked closely, it seems to be swirling around the dragon.
A part of that flow changed direction…….

“-!!”

Goooooo!!!

Feeling a strong chill, immediately after setting up a wall of stone blocks, an invisible object??A mass of wind lashed against it with ferocious force.
Regulus’s face was twitching as the storm split left and right around the stone block and large pieces of debris scattered.

“Wh-what… Huh?”

“It’s using the wind to sense our position!”

Because the miasma was visualized, I had the illusion that the miasma was wriggling.
Actually, it was just the wind blowing around.
It was probably using the wind as a sensor to perceive the surrounding movements.

A dragon with white scales that manipulates wind. That is——

“One of the four wind dragons, the white dragon of the west—Zephyrus!”

Guooooooaaaaaa! !

As if responding to my voice, the dragon??Zephyrus roared.

I was late in noticing it because the scales were mottled with black and white…!
But why? Zephyrus should have been a monster unrelated to the miasma… No, let’s switch thoughts, I’m thinking like I am in the game again.
Everything that happens here is real.

“What should I do!?”

“Either way, because the miasma attacks from a long distance doesn’t work, so we have no choice but to get closer…”

Fortunately in the midst of misfortune, the miasma makes it easier to activate wind magic. Well, it’s still very fast and I’m afraid it will fly from all directions.
But just sitting here like this, won’t make the situation better. I was spinning my head frantically wondering what to do.

“This little-!”

Guruaaaah!

Uru had been fighting Zephyrus head-on from earlier (my senses were paralyzed, but just that is surprisingly enough), but the tide changed here.
After Zephyrus blew Uru away, he fluttered his wings and flew up into the sky.
Uru threw the rubble that here and there trying to prevent his escape, but this was also blocked by the miasma and couldn’t penetrate the scales.
Then Zephyrus fired wind magic such as Wind Breath and Wind Cutter from the sky towards Uru that on the ground.

“Kuh…!”

Uru has the Hard Skin skill and doesn’t seem to have suffered any major injuries, but she’s frustrated with the fact that she can’t hit it and is constantly being attacked.
Throwing rubble many times, sometimes running up the abandoned church and jumping on the top of the spire to try to attack it directly, but it was shot down by a gust of wind, and unfortunately the distance didn’t closed even after a while, so no progress was seen. In the end, Zephyrus’ attack gouged out the tip of the spire and Uru was forced to give up using that hand.

Hmm……? That’s strange.
Zephyrus should be able to fly higher. Wind magic attacks from high altitudes were his mainstream.
While avoiding attacks, the players were challenged to control how to accurately shoot a distant target. Well, there were some players who used wide area attacks, but since it was a ranged attack, the power weakened and it became a long-term battle.
Why is it so half-hearted, at a height that could easily be counterattacked… Hmm?
I once again observe Zephyrus.

The miasma stretches from below to Zephyrus flapping his wings, covering every part of his body.
… I always thought that it was a monster covered in miasma.

But looking at it from another perspective… It does look like the miasma is wrapped around it like a chain and is holding it… Isn’t it?

That Zephyrus… Can’t fly any further than that?

Putting aside the reason for staying in this abandoned village, That’s why he didn’t attack Bartle Village?
In any case, I have no means attacking it even at that height now. If it weren’t for the miasma, it wouldn’t be hard to defeat it at a long distance… No, it seems that a natural wind barrier has been created, so it’s more difficult now than the game when it was possible to snipe it?
In any case, I was going to wait and see at first, so let’s withdraw as we know the identity of the dragon and work out a strategy.
If it was Altair I would have chosen to run away, but if it’s Zephyrus, the weakest of the four wind dragons, I still can be able to do something about it… I hope. If it seems to be impossible, I feel bad for the people of Bartle Village, but they can just stop coming here anymore…

“Uru, we’re retreating!”

“Mm… But can we even escape…!?”

“It’s probably okay! He can’t move from there!”

As expected, Zephyrus couldn’t get away from the pedestal part more than a certain distance, and by having Uru and Regulus read the wind and move while guarding the wind magic with stone blocks, we were able to safely withdraw.