Chapter 227
Running Dry
Zirconis leered at us after we made our resolve to fight known to him. But unintimidated, a toothy fiendish grin spread his snout.
"You know what? I've decided. I'm going to eat you all together!"
"Everyone! Please evacuate!" I heard Yukino urge the others. "Quickly!"
"Arcadios! We'll cover you while you get the princess to safety!" I heard Darton say. "It's too dangerous to stay here!"
"But I can't leave you all!" Hisui cried out.
Zirconis opened his maw as an ominous marigold shining light began glowing from the back of his throat.
"Everyone! Get down!" I yelled.
But my warning came too late. Zirconis unleashed a devastating blast of energy from his mouth, sweeping the entire courtyard and the soldiers, their howls of agony being heard. The force of his attack alone almost blew me away as I hit the ground. After a few seconds, the blast died down, and smoke and dust billowed everyone.
I looked up, staring at the cloud, horrified. "No! How could he?!"
"Those poor guys!" lamented Happy.
"That monster! He just says one thing and does another!" Lily cursed. " I guess he plans to cook us before he eats us for dinner!"
But then, a voice came inside the cloud of smoke.
"What the hell is this?! This is messed up, man!"
Then, as the smoke and dust cleared away, I saw a sight that almost made me fall over out of sheer disbelief.
Every single soldier was now naked as the day they were born, each one red in the face with embarrassment and shame as they desperately tried covering themselves.
"Humans are usually quite delicious, but I'm not too fond of their clothing," said Zirconis. "It gives me gas and ruins the flavor."
And while feeling more defenseless than before, every soldier ran for the hills like a swarm of ants while I and everyone else watched them go.
"OK… that was something I didn't need to see…" I couldn't help but say with a cringe.
"Well, that's one way to defeat an army," Mira said, just as put off. "Talk about embarrassing."
"I… don't think I'll be able to unsee that awful sight for a while," agreed Lisanna wryly.
Zirconis then hummed thoughtfully while stroking one of his whiskers. "You know, now that I think about it, I don't really have a taste for men. They're way too gamy." He looked towards us until his eyes fell upon Lucy, and he grinned gleamingly. "Now, women, on the other hand, they're quite nice and tender. Especially you, Blondie ~."
Lucy let out a shriek of fright. "I think I'd rather have Flare call me that!"
Wendy then called out to the green dragon again. "Was that your magic just now, Zirconis?"
"Of course it was. I'd like to call that my Meal Prep spell," Zirconis replied. "All dragons can use magic, you know. But mine is the kind that robs all humans of their dignity."
He then let out a small puff of smoke, aiming it in Lucy's direction. When it made contact, all of her clothes vanished in an instant, leaving her naked, too.
I couldn't help but gawk out of sheer bewilderment and embarrassment as the blonde let out a squeal of embarrassment, covering herself up.
Then, a hand slapped across my face, covering my eyes and making my vision dark. Given the circumstances, it was more than likely Mira's doing.
"Well, that may be true," I heard Wendy say. "But we've got magic of our own! And it's the kind that will defeat you!"
Then I heard Lucy shriek loudly as Mira uncovered my eyes, only to see Zirconis now holding Lucy in his claw, poking her.
"It looks like you're firmer in texture than I thought," he critiqued. "You'll do quite nicely."
"Put me down!" Lucy yelled. "Why do I always end up in these situations?!"
Immediately, my body exploded in bright blue with my magic aura and Wendy's bright green.
"Put her down, Zirconis!" I snarled. "Or else we'll make you!"
"Oh? Did I make you angry again?" Zirconis maliciously taunted. "I know. Let's see if you can make me put her down before I eat your little friend."
He then pressed his thumb on top of Lucy's head as if he was threatening to crush her, which made my blood boil even further.
Wendy then used her magic. "NOW, ENCHANT AND ENHANCE! ARMS AND VERNIER!"
At her command, I felt strength surge through my body, and my glow became even brighter.
"We will, and we'll defeat you, too!" Wendy confirmed with determination.
Zirconis then growled angrily. "You cheeky brats! Your optimism is too insolent!"
He let out a loud roar with a force powerful enough to send us blowing backward. Then, in a powerful gust of wind, Zirconis took the skies, flying several feet above the palace.
Zirconis then mockingly laughed from where he flew. "I'd like to see you try and get to me way down there since humans can't fly!"
"I've had just about enough of this bastard!" I snarled. "Lily! You stay with Yukino, Arcadios, and the princess! Make sure to keep them safe!"
With a roar, I exploded into Dragon Force while using my Rising Pressure and launched myself into the air using Aqua Jet while spreading my wings.
But then, Mira, in her Satan Soul: Sitri form, shot past me along with the Lisannas, each in their respective Take Overs.
"Willy, leave it to us!" Lisanna shouted. "You and Wendy get ready to attack after we distract him!"
I quickly stopped and answered with a nod. I punched my hands together while closing my eyes, concentrating on the spell I was about to use. I heard some blows landing as Zirconis laughed.
"Was that supposed to hurt me? That was nothing but a love tap!"
I then heard Mira shout. "Willy! Wendy! Go get 'em!"
My eyes snapped open at her signal as I shot toward Zirconis, clenching my right fist and gearing it up to swing.
"SKY DRAGON ROAR!"
From above Zirconis, a powerful tornado-like blast of wind courtesy of Wendy struck Zirconis right on top of his head, causing him to stagger as he grunted in surprise and pain.
I also followed up with an attack of my own.
"DRAGON SLAYER SECRET ART! AQUA LOTUS: SHARK SURGE FIST!"
While water enveloped my form, taking the shape of a giant shark, I slammed right into his abdomen with a wicked punch, which made him stagger again as he let out a grunt in surprise and pain.
"Looks like he can feel our attacks!"
However, Zirconis seemed to be all the more irritated as he glared, so much so that he threw Lucy in the opposite direction, practically turning her into a human comet.
"Lucy!" I couldn't help but cry in alarm.
But then, Happy shot in the direction where Lucy was thrown. "Don't worry! I'll make sure she's safe and sound!"
"We're counting on you, Happy!" Carla called back as she carried Wendy. "Good luck!"
Wendy let out a breath of relief as she regrouped with me. "At least now we can focus on Zirconis now that Lucy's safe."
"Sounds good to me," said Mira as she cracked her knuckles, joining us.
Zirconis huffed. "It's not very often that my food fights back. No matter. You'll all be in my belly soon enough."
"You can go ahead and try!" Lisanna spoke bravely. "You may be a dragon, but we can take you on!"
"I don't remember my past self being so recklessly brave," said Future Lisanna. "Then again, I could say the same for myself." She then called out to me. "We'll lend you and Wendy support, so you don't need to worry!"
I looked at her and nodded in gratitude. "I appreciate that! We're going to need it!" I returned my gaze to Zirconis. "Everyone, listen up! Go for the vital spots on his body!" I told everyone. "Aim for the soft parts of his body like his eyes, wings, neck, and even the inside of its mouth if possible! Focus on one spot multiple times and give it everything you got!"
"Right!" the girls acknowledged.
I punched my fists together as I shot toward my enemy, making water gush forth from them.
"WATER DRAGON: FLOWING FIST! SHOOT STYLE!"
While punching rapidly, I fired multiple shots of water bullets from my fists, showering Zirconis with them. This caused the dragon to defend himself by crossing his arms. But as he did, both Lisanna and her future version gunned for the webbing of his wings.
While in her harpy form, Lisanna briefly transformed into her Animal Soul, Cat form and started furiously swiping with her paws. While using her Chimera Soul, Future Lisanna used her claws laced with poison to rake and slash at the webbing.
But ZIirconis growled in annoyance. "Hey! Cut that out! That itches!" he complained crossly. "You bunch of insects!"
He tried swatting them away, but as they got out of the way, Wendy came diving in, raising her hands above her hand as she attacked.
"SKY DRAGON: WING ATTACK!"
With a swing of her arms, she released multiple shockwaves of wind onto his neck, making Zirconis grunt in annoyance and roar in anger.
As they continued attacking, I flew above and raised my hands above my head as I divebombed at him, attempting to strike him in the back. But Zirconis looked up and opened his mouth, which gave off an ominous green glow.
"Crap! It's a breath attack!"
"Willy! Look out!" I heard Lisanna shout.
I quickly took a deep breath and released a breath attack, but instead of aiming for ZIrconis, I aimed for the side.
"WATER DRAGON ROAR!"
A giant stream of water erupted from my mouth, the force moving me out of the way just in time for a powerful beam of green light to blast forth from Zirconis's maw. It narrowly missed me, but the force of it sent me tumbling as I tried to right myself. But luckily, Mira managed to catch me before I completely lost control.
"Thanks for the help," I thanked her.
"No problem," replied Mira. "But this is going to be harder than I figured. None of our attacks seem to be doing anything, even with you and Wendy helping us."
"We need to try and do as much damage as possible!" I said to her. Then I had an idea. "Let's try that combined attack we used during training! I don't know how much damage it'll do, but it should do some!"
"Let's do it!" Mira agreed.
She then began generating water magic in her hands and sucked in a lot of air, puffing up my chest slightly.
"Lisannas! Wendy! Get out of the way!" Mira yelled.
The three girls looked in our direction and quickly did so. Then, as Zirconis looked at us, Mira and I unleashed our spells simultaneously.
"WATER DRAGON ROAR!"
"EVIL EXPLOSION!"
I released a mighty blast of water from my mouth while Mira released a powerful stream of the same element from her hands. Our attacks merged as they were launched, increasing in power and strength and becoming an even bigger stream of water.
The attack struck Zirconis, resulting in a large explosion of water and mist that sprayed everywhere.
"Did it work?"
But to my shock, Zirconis could be seen seemingly unaffected as the mist and water cleared.
"Damn it, that not only hurt a bit, but that also got me all wet!" he complained as he brushed off his scales. "Don't you know that water's bad for my scales? You'll get them all pruney!"
I scowled in frustration. "You're kidding me!"
"Even with us doing a Unison Raid, it hardly did any damage!" Mira glowered. "And we used our full magic power, too!"
Zirconis then leered in our direction. "All right then. If you're all finished with your weak little attacks, it's my turn!"
With another loud roar, he shot towards us, his mouth open, intending to swallow us whole.
Mira and I split into different directions, narrowly avoiding him as he flew past. As he did, I generated water from my fists and was about to counterattack him from behind, but then, a familiar wave of exhaustion struck me from out of nowhere, enough to lose my dragon force and feel my wings disappear.
"Wh-What the hell?! I'm low on magic already?! Not now!"
But as I tried shooting water from my feet, I heard Wendy shriek.
"Willy! Watch out!"
I looked up just in time for a giant, scaly, green claw to clutch me, squeezing tightly, making me let out a scream in surprise and pain.
"Well, well. Looks like someone's running low on magic," Zirconis mocked as he held me in front of his face. "Too bad for you."
His rancid breath made me want to vomit as I struggled, but due to him compressing my body, I couldn't move an inch as I winced in pain.
"Wendy! Use your magic to help him break free!" I heard Future Lisanna shout.
"I can't!" Wendy shouted back. "If I do, I'll end up hitting Willy!"
"Let him go!" Mira yelled out angrily.
But Zirconis just laughed.
"Don't worry about me, guys!" I shouted at them as much as I could. "Just go on and attack him! I'll be fine!"
"You know, that senseless bravery of yours is starting to piss me off," Zirconis snarled. "In fact, I should eat you right now."
"D-Do your worst!" I defiantly grunted. "If you do, I'll give you one mean case of indigestion as I slice your insides into sushi!"
Zirconis growled in anger at my statement. "As much as I would love to see you try, but I've got something else in mind," he said."After all, the big boss did say that I have to keep you alive for what he's got planned. So I'll tell you what, I'll let you go."
But despite that, he raised me in the air, and I soon realized what he was about to do as he maliciously grinned.
"But let's see if you're so cocky when I send you flying to the ground and make you splatter!"
And before I could yell out, he threw me as hard as he could, sending me plummeting straight towards the ground.
Everything was spinning, and I was falling so hard and fast that I couldn't stop myself. The ground grew closer and closer by the second.
"Damn it! I have to try to save myself before I end up completely splattered! But I don't have much magic power left! I got to think of something fast!"
I wracked my brain, trying to think as I shot downward until there was only one thing I could think of to save myself.
"This'll probably use up the rest of my magic, but I have no other options unless I want to die!"
I took the deepest breath I've ever taken, mustering up whatever magic and strength I had, and…
"WATER DRAGON: ROAR!"
I unleashed a mighty spiraling torrent of water from my mouth, aiming it at the ground. Because I did, my descent slowed down, but it wasn't enough to stop me from hitting the ground with tremendous force.
I now lay on the ground, feeling sore all over and exhausted, but I was still alive.
"D-Damn it! That was way too close…!" I winced as I sat up. "I should seriously start considering my life choices as a wizard with all the near brushes of death I've gone through up till now."
I looked around at my surroundings, hissing with pain a bit, trying to see where I landed, finding myself surrounded by rubble and partially collapsed buildings.
"It looks like I got thrown to another part of the city. And as far as my magic goes, I guess I used up more than I figured, considering everything that happened before now. I would have at least thought that I managed to recover, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Zirconis must have thrown me down here to separate me from the others, lousy little jerk."
I then stood up, testing my arms by clenching and unclenching my hands while moving them around, and also moved my legs.
"Thankfully, I can still move, so I should be able to run. But I need to find some water to recharge pronto. Once I do, I can head back to Mercius. I'm unsure how long Mira and the others will hold out, with Wendy being the only dragon slayer there. Now, I think there's a canal somewhere around here…"
As I was about to start looking, something flashed in the corner of my eye, causing me to look in time to see a beam shoot out from behind a pile of rubble. I ducked just in time to avoid it as I looked in the direction it came from, and several more beams shot out, forcing me to jump back and avoid them, too. I then saw a swarm of strange-looking creatures.
They all looked like miniature dragons but lacked eyes, wings, and teeth. Their hides all looked metallic, and they also had sharp-looking claws.
"Oh, great! As if there weren't enough dragons around here!"
The mini dragons continued to fire beams at me with their open jaws as they charged at me, but I leaped into the air to avoid them, generating water from my hands and raising my arms.
"WATER DRAGON: GEYSER RUSH!"
While slamming my fists to the ground, I made numerous geysers erupt, blasting all the mini-dragons away while destroying them. But a few more mini-dragons came at me as they shot their beam attacks at me no sooner than I did, causing me to jump back from surprise to avoid them. As I did, one of them grazed across my hip, nicking a hole in my shirt and causing me to wince. It didn't hurt, but one look and I could tell that if it hit its mark, I would have been breathing through a hole in my stomach.
Realizing this, I turned on my heel and took off running.
"I don't have time to waste with these things, nor can I afford to! If they surround me, it'll be game over!"
I then closed my eyes and started using my Aqua Sense.
"Despite having low magic power, I can still search for water using Aqua Sense. I won't be able to expand it, but it should be enough. Hopefully, I won't get killed while I'm using it."
While sprinting, I did my best to sense my surroundings to look for water while watching for any mini dragons. There were some, but I managed to maneuver past them, avoiding any unnecessary battle.
"Come on! Come on! Water! Water! There's got to be some water around here!"
Then, I heard the sound of an explosion followed by the deafening roar of another dragon that sounded close by. I opened my eyes and looked up, and, much to my displeasure, I saw it.
It appeared to be made entirely out of rock, its back covered completely by large, spikey stones while the underbelly was yellow and rough, and it also had a giant club-like tail.
At first, I thought it was targeting me, but then, a large explosion of a strange maroon-purple-like fog imploded on the dragon's back, causing it to roar in pain. From it, a person jumped into the air. When they did, the dragon snarled as it raised its paw and promptly swatted him down, sending them straight toward me.
I moved out of the way just in time for the person to slam into the ground a few feet away from me.
I tried to rush over to see if they were all right, but then I heard them speak in a male voice.
"Geez. I didn't think I'd have this much trouble against a dragon. Damned lizard."
The person was a young, tan-skinned male with pointed ears, spikey maroon hair, and a scar on his right eye. His clothes were also tattered from his battle, consisting of a shirt and a pair of pants.
The moment I laid eyes on him, I couldn't help but gasp as my heart jumped from the shock, and memories of the past began to fill my mind, particularly when I was jailed by the council and the Infinity Clock incident. I knew who it was.
"I-it's you!" I couldn't help but say as I glared. "You're one of Oración Seis! Cobra!"
The man in question looked at me and couldn't help but scowl. "Well, well, well. If it isn't my former colleague, Shark. Or rather, Willy Falconer, the Traitor of the Barem Alliance. Fancy meeting you here."
