Light from the Heavens

After being slammed into the wall, I fell to the ground.

The heavy impact made me worry about broken bones, but it seemed I'd avoided that.

I stood up, brushing debris off my clothes.

My backside and lower back ached from being thrown against the wall and then dropping, but nothing was cracked. Pain alone I could endure.

The instant I'd released that spell, I'd felt something unmistakably different from before.

Excitement, maybe. Or surprise. My right hand trembled slightly.

Taking magic meant for a wide area, containing it with wind magic to give it directionality. The method had produced results far beyond what I'd imagined.

I looked toward the Dragon Zombie.

The entire head, along with the red mana, had been completely erased.

I'd blown apart the Dragon bone that had boasted such terrifying hardness.

It truly felt like the world itself had expanded. The realization that I could now do what had been impossible before.

I used the battleaxe as a crutch and pushed myself upright.

It wasn't over yet.

I'd blown away the head and the red mana, but the Dragon Zombie was still trying to move.

Undead really were tenacious.

I was close to running on empty, unfortunately, but I could still swing the axe.

The poor calibration from my first attempt was a point I'd need to address.

If I survived this, I'd make sure to master it.

The Dragon Zombie, missing its head and part of a leg, was no longer walking so much as dragging itself toward us.

I gripped the battleaxe in both hands and channeled what mana I had left into body reinforcement.

I could dodge, but the wall was right behind me.

Beyond it were the homes of people still cowering in fear.

If I didn't at least blunt its momentum, the casualties would be devastating.

(Did someone's softheartedness rub off on me?)

I laughed at myself.

The old me would have called it an acceptable sacrifice and gotten out of the way without hesitation.

I'd changed more than I thought.

It must have been… a comfortable place to be.

I exhaled and focused.

Even chipped away, the overwhelming mass difference remained.

My target was its legs.

Ideally I'd deflect it or trip it up, but I didn't have that kind of strength left.

Still, it had to be worth trying.

I could dodge after.

The vibrations and sound of the Dragon Zombie dragging itself closer grew nearer.

I swallowed, and only then noticed how dry my throat had become.

I drew the axe back and waited, timing it.

Just as it loomed right before me…

White light erupted from the ground beneath us.

I shielded my face reflexively, but the white light was harmless to the touch.

The Dragon Zombie was a different story.

Wherever the light touched, bone crumbled away like ash.

It writhed and thrashed as though in agony.

If the head had still been attached, it would have been shrieking.

That was how violently it convulsed.

Fragments of tail and limb flailed wildly, smashing against the city wall and shattering alongside it.

With the threat of collision gone, I moved clear of the destruction.

The white light closed in around the Dragon Zombie as if enveloping it, narrowing until it formed a pillar and then vanished.

The Dragon Zombie vanished with it.

As if nothing had ever been there.

Only the aftermath of its rampage bore witness to its existence.

A section of the shattered wall crumbled and fell.

(Is it… over?)

Exhaustion and relief hit at once, and I sat down hard.

"Sorry for the wait. It took a while, but thanks to everyone, the purification made it just in time."

Elza came running up.

So she'd finally activated the purification miracle she'd been preparing all this time.

It seemed we'd made it by the skin of our teeth.

I couldn't believe I'd actually forgotten about that.

Having braced myself for the possibility of dying, the belated wave of relief only now welled up in me.

"Here."

Elza held out her hand. I took it and stood.

She was usually so carefree, but when it truly mattered, she came through without fail.

That was who she was.

"Thank you. This time, you really saved me."

"You were amazing! Standing in front of a Dragon Zombie like that, most people could never."

"It's not like I did it because I wanted to."

Elza healed me.

I hadn't sustained any serious injuries, so the treatment was quick.

Azu, who'd been sent flying far away, rejoined us.

"Well… we managed, somehow."

"I'm completely exhausted."

"I'm going to go treat the soldiers, then."

Elza headed off to tend to the decimated soldiers, leaving the two of us slumped where we sat.

Energetic as always, that one.

"Shall we rest for a bit?"

"Let's. Once the tension left me, I just had no strength left."

We leaned against the wall and rested.

We'd fought for our lives. We'd earned at least this much.

The aftermath was no small ordeal, either.

Fortunately, there were no fatalities among the soldiers, though many had injuries too severe for even Elza's healing to fully mend. The soldier who'd harassed Azu was among them.

That no one had died was a combination of luck and the fruits of their daily training.

Some would need rehabilitation, but time would take care of that.

The partially collapsed wall was left as it was. The soldiers who could still move managed to patch it with cloth, but that was the extent of it.

When the viscount returned with his escort and saw the devastation, he nearly fainted, but learning that no damage had reached beyond the walls brought him back to his senses.

He'd already sent a request for aid to the kingdom, so he rushed off to send word that the crisis was resolved.

"Great work! Not bad at all."

Ramiza came back from preparing antidotes.

If she'd been with us, it would have been far easier.

Then again, if the poison had reached the residents, medicine would have been essential.

Knowing that, I couldn't bring myself to complain.

And apparently, a fair number of residents had fallen ill.

… What I couldn't make sense of was the Dragon Zombie itself.

Dragons sat at the very top of the food chain, but their numbers were extremely small.

Outside of specific regions, even sighting reports were rare.

They weren't exactly friendly toward humans, either. Not as reclusive as elves, perhaps, but encountering one was no simple matter.

The Fire Dragon we'd encountered, the Dragon the Dragon Slayer had killed, were that rare.

For a Dragon to happen to die deep in the mountains, reanimate as a zombie, cross the range, and attack a city…

Not impossible, but what were the odds?

And then there was the sudden spike in temperature and the desiccation during the fight. The black fire.

I couldn't help but sense something deliberate behind it all.