Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Volume 4

by Funa

  There were fourteen men in front of them, who were huddled up puking. There were twenty at their rear, gaunt and wobbling—and still reeking.

  Only the first fourteen still appeared to be in top shape. So, no one could say their battle strength was improved with the additional numbers.

  The ones who had fallen for the stink trap had probably washed themselves hard, but the smell still hadn’t come all the way out. There were even some pitiful forms among them who had shaved their fur, hoping to rid themselves of every trace of the stench.

  “M-Mile, what in the world is that…?” Reina asked.

  Mavis gasped. “Are you saying Mile did this?”

  “P-please forgive me…”

  Though their noses were nowhere near as sharp as the beastmen’s, Reina, Pauline, and Mavis were all on the brink of fainting. As was Mile, whose nose was sharper than the average human’s.

  Dr. Clairia, of course, was on the ground, vomiting.

  A shout, from Mile, resounded through the area.

  “Waaaaaah!!! Smell, go awaaaay! Destroy all the sources of this smell here and throughout the whole foreeeest!!!”

  ***

  “Huff, huff, huff… Th-thank you so much…”

  Though they were enemies, the leader of the beastmen offered Mile his thanks for ridding them of the smell.

  “Hrff, hrff, hrff… N-no worries, it was my pleasure.”

  Neither side could be considered in their best form, but there was no time to sit around and chatter; the battle was about to begin.

  Before it did, however, Mavis pulled something from her pocket. It was a small, capsule-like vessel: the gift Mile had given her. Because there were so many enemies, she had already decided it was time to use it. She gripped the capsule in her hand and uttered:

  “Let’s see what you’ve got, Micross!”

  Mile had once described the contents of this object to Mavis. “Inside this capsule is a very, very tiny object that can restore the power of your ‘spirit.’ When the going gets tough, please don’t hesitate to use it.”

  Because this world didn’t yet have a word equivalent to “nano,” Mile had elected to call it something equivalent to “micro.” It was a soup full of microscopic things. “Microsoup,” or “Micross” for short. The word that Mavis used was obviously not pronounced the same, but it carried the same meaning.

  With this prayer offered to the capsule, Mavis unscrewed the cap and gulped down the liquid.

  “True Godspeed Blade EX!”

  With Mavis’s cry, the battle was underway.

  Naturally, Reina and Pauline had already prepared their spells before the fighting even began. This wasn’t cowardly; it was no different, actually, than a swordsman gripping the hilt before the fight began.

  They let those spells fly before the beastmen could draw nearer. There was no mage in any world who would wait for an enemy skilled in close-range combat to approach them.

  “Ultra Super Deluxe Hot Tornado!”

  “Gyaaaaaah!!!”

  Following Pauline’s special non-lethal (if you didn’t count souls) hot magic spell, Reina fired her own spell.

  “Ultrasonic!”

  “Eeeeeeek!!!”

  After discussing it with Mavis, who was well aware of Reina’s frightening philosophy that “as long as it’s non-lethal, friendly fire isn’t a problem,” Mile had come up with a sort of magic perfect for fighting beastpeople—one that affected only beastpeople and not their allies. She had taught it to Reina before they set out.

  Naturally, the ones who had the highest probability of being caught in Reina’s attack spells were the frontline fighters. For Mavis and Mile, it was a literal matter of life and death.

  What flew out from Reina’s spell, though, was an incredibly unpleasant burst of sound, inaudible to humans but perfectly audible to beastmen, who could hear a much wider range of frequencies.

  The beastmen clapped their hands over their ears in pain, while the Crimson Vow, who were humans, stood calmly. Almost.

  “Gweeehhh…” Mile could feel the bile rising. “St-stop! Stop that speeeeell!”

  Her range of hearing was even broader than the beastmen’s.

  Wh-why? I was perfectly fine when we practiced this.

  Mile was utterly perplexed. During their practice sessions, Reina had only been concentrating on projecting the spell forward. Now, though, it was reverberating through the entire area. Plus, she had only timidly attempted this spell when practicing; now, she hurled it at full strength, without limits.

  Following the first damaging wave of Reina’s spell, Mavis rushed into the twenty men of the original search party who hadn’t been struck by Pauline’s attack.

  I feel so light, Mavis marveled. My body and my sword feel as light as air!

  In her previous life, Mile would have been able to perfectly name the euphoric feeling Mavis had: doping.

  Thanks to the microsoup, chock full of nanomachines, the concentration of nanomachines in Mavis’s body was now leagues higher than what she would normally possess or even knowingly ingest. And so, if she used her normal “True Godspeed Blade” in her current state…

  Once more, Mavis raised her battle cry. “True Godspeed Blade EX!”

  That was the most important part, after all.

  Mile was lagging behind.

  The damage she had taken from Reina’s spell was massive. However, as the beastmen had been hurt not only by Reina’s spell but also Pauline’s, they wouldn’t be a problem. Before the beastmen had a chance to get to Reina and Pauline, Mile struck.

  No match for Mile’s true speed or power, the beastmen fell to the ground, one after another.

  Why had she gotten serious now?

  Well, there was no telling how many more “non-lethal attack spells” Reina and Pauline would be inclined to use if the battle dragged on.

  “It’s not like it’ll kill anyone, so it’s okay if your allies get caught in the fire!” Pauline had once said.

  The two of them were of the same mind.

  They would, without hesitation, rain down utter annihilation, even upon dear friends. That was Reina and Pauline’s way.

  They would never be dissuaded or deterred.

  Have I surpassed the limits of human ability? Mavis wondered, fighting at full strength just the same.

  Like this, she could even best her father or eldest brother in the blink of an eye. She knew that for certain.

  No, this isn’t really my own strength. The True Godspeed Blade I can summon with my personal spiritual power is, but this power from that special medicine is only temporary. Even so, I will accept it and fight with my full potential! Besides—

  Mavis quickly glanced behind her.

  —if we don’t hurry up and end this, I could end up caught in one of their spells!!

  With the same thought weighing on their minds, Mile and Mavis fought for their lives. However desperate, they still refused to strike with full strength. All their nervous reactions were concentrated into controlling their speed and power so as not to cause grave injury.

  But then, just as it seemed they were about to achieve victory—and without facing a second wave of spells from Reina and Pauline—it appeared.

  “Grruurrrrrrrrr…”

  Near the center of the dig site was a hole about seven or eight meters in diameter. From within it, something huge clambered out.

  “A-an earth dragon?” Though shocked, Reina immediately began incanting a spell.

  She had initially prepared a non-lethal spell for the beastmen, but such a thing would be of no use against a dragon. She immediately discarded it and began another. Pauline did the same.

  Mile and Mavis quickly struck down the remaining beastmen and turned their swords to face the dragon.

  “Firebomb!”

  “Ultra Hot!”

  The two mages fired their spells in tandem, but while Reina’s struck the dragon in the gut, it appeared to have no effect. Pauline’s spell dissipated befor
e it reached the dragon’s head.

  “No way…”

  “H-how?”

  Even for a dragon, taking a direct hit from a firebomb spell—particularly a powerful one—without any damage, or even flinching, was unthinkable. And Pauline’s spell had simply vanished. Inconceivable!

  Seeing the dragon unharmed and continuing to approach them, and that Reina and Pauline were too stunned to prepare more spells, Mile decided to step in herself. This was perhaps the first time she ever needed to use a serious attack spell.

  “Exploding Magic, Fire!”

  Pow!

  “Wh…”

  The powerful spell, fired in earnest to fell the dragon, was deflected.

  As Mile stood, taken aback, the dragon, who had been slowly thudding towards them all the while, moved with a quick and accurate strike, lashing its tail at Mile.

  “Gyaaaaaah!!”

  Helpless, Mile flew toward the stone ruins ten meters away. Her body crashed into the half-collapsed rubble.

  “Miiiiiiile!!!” Reina, Mavis, and Pauline all shouted. Before they could help her, though, they had to do something about the dragon.

  The three tried their hardest to convince themselves it was just like the time with the rock lizard, that she would be fine; it was Mile, after all. Even so, they knew the chances of that prayer being answered were slim.

  “Gaaaaaaaah…”

  An immense and unbelievable pain coursed all through Mile’s body.

  Ow ow ow ow owww! What’s with this?! That blow wasn’t any different from the rock lizard’s…

  She had never felt such pain, not in her previous life and certainly not since her reincarnation. It was as though every bone in her body were broken… No, they probably were broken. Shattered into pieces and now piercing her muscles and internal organs. The pain was all she could think about.

  Why? I thought I was supposed to have half the sturdiness of an elder dragon… Why didn’t their magic go through…?

  The dragon turned to face her. She couldn’t move a muscle, nor utter a sound from the horrendous pain, but the dragon continued to approach. It opened its enormous mouth, and…

  “Oh? I struck you, and yet you live… Just what are you?”

  “I-It spoke?!” Pauline cried, but Reina and Mavis, now realizing what they were truly up against, bit their lips in fear.

  “A-an elder dragon…”

  Yes. Not an earth dragon but an elder dragon, whose power, intelligence, magic, and strength was the greatest in all the world—and of which Mile possessed but half its power…

  Chapter 33:

  Fight to the Finish

  A-an elder dragon…

  Thanks to the dragon speaking, Mile now realized the truth as well.

  There’s no way we can beat it! Elder dragons have twice my strength, twice my magical power, and are smarter than any human! There’s no way we could!

  For a short time now, she hadn’t moved at all. The nanomachines had heard Mile’s unconscious cry of distress and were currently in the process of performing an emergency healing, but it would take a bit more time before she was able to move.

  If her bones had been merely broken, the healing would have been incredibly fast, perhaps even instantaneous. However, bone fragments had torn her muscles and organs to shreds so repairing her would take that much longer.

  The greatest problem of all, though, more painful than broken bones, was that Mile’s heart was broken.

  Since she had first learned of her own strength, Mile hadn’t once felt truly in danger. Even up against bandits or powerful monsters, she would think, If it comes down to it, I just have to get serious. I’ll be fine—and that was true. Therefore, she had always had plenty of leeway and went about her days carefree.

  But now, her life was in true, mortal peril. She was up against an elder dragon, an unbeatable foe.

  Despair and defeat consumed her.

  The wheels in her head were refusing to turn. She couldn’t think. As the creature of nightmare approached, prepared to visit death upon her, she could do naught but watch helplessly, paralyzed with unimaginable pain, waiting for the end to come…

  “Aaaaaaaaarrrhhh!!!”

  As the elder dragon plodded towards Mile, Mavis rushed in. She struck the monster with the literal limits of her power and might.

  Thwack!

  However, even this mighty blow did nothing more than scratch the dragon’s hide.

  “Oho, scratched my scales, did you? You’re a formidable one. However…” With a swing of its arm, the dragon flicked Mavis away. “Know your place, whelp!”

  Just like Mile, Mavis was sent crashing into the ruins and collapsed into a heap. Unlike Mile, however, she hadn’t taken a powerful blow from the dragon’s tail. It had been a mere flick of its hand, so her injuries weren’t fatal. Even so, she was in no shape to move.

  By then, Reina and Pauline had gotten to their feet and were preparing a second round of spells. Even after seeing what happened to Mavis, they had no intention of stopping.

  There were just some things that took priority over others. Now wasn’t the time to waste carefully incanted spells or precious seconds on futile things like calling out Mavis’s name in worry.

  Finally, their spells were complete.

  “Blaze, O flames of Hell! Burn my enemies down to the bone!”

  If the dragon was going to repel her spell, Reina would just have to surround it. For this, she used an area-attack fire spell, her specialty.

  Fwooosh!

  “Wh…”

  The dragon didn’t even look Reina’s way. The whorl of flame that was set to envelope the dragon merely vanished, as though it was nothing.

  “Rocks, show me your truest form!”

  By nature, Pauline wasn’t the type of mage to cast a powerful spell or simply pull together an incantation on the spot. So without the blessing of a surplus of time, she couldn’t use powerful attack magic.

  However, the elder dragon was utterly ignoring both her and Reina. It had deemed them non-threats, unable to harm it and unworthy of its time.

  Therefore, there was a spell that Pauline could use.

  Judging by what had happened so far, it was clear that any magic would vanish before it struck or deal no damage even if it did. However, Mavis’s sword had damaged its scales, even if only to the faintest degree. Thus, this was the only spell she could use.

  It was one Mile had devised especially for Pauline, who was weak when it came to combat magic:

  “We need to think of a special move for you, Pauline! In case you’re in a spot where ice magic, which is your specialty, doesn’t have enough physical strength for what you need to do. This is a last-ditch magic, for when your chances of victory and survival are at zero. Let’s call this ‘Zero-Zero Magic’!”

  Mile had taught her rock sculptures weren’t made by humans. Rocks held whatever forms were within them all along; humans merely came along and chipped away the excess parts, to reveal what was hidden inside.

  Therefore, she just had to request the rock to reveal its true form.

  “Zero-Zero Magic No. 1, Rock Reveal!”

  Suddenly, rubble began to tumble from a two-meter-high slab amongst the ruins. Bit by bit, its form changed. Beneath the rubble was…

  A structure two meters in length. It resembled a spear but was the same thickness from tip to end. It spiraled and twisted, much like a screw.

  Were someone from Mile’s previous life to view it, there was no doubt they would have uttered to themselves, “Oh, a drill…”

  “Turn, turn! As a wagon axle turns, as a cyclone swirls! Use your power, and pierce my enemy! Shoooooot!”

  Ka-shunk!

  “Graaaaaaaaarrrh!”

  Granted ballistic stability from its rotation, just as Pauline directed, the drill shot straight into the elder dragon’s flank. The hard and sturdy rock of the ruins withstood the initial shock of striking the dragon’s mass. Combined with the kinetic energy of its own mass a
nd the rotational force, it pierced the dragon’s scales, buried itself inside, and then shattered.

  Even if the section that had been struck was relatively close to the surface, and even if the makeup of its body made it invulnerable to pain, even the elder dragon couldn’t withstand countless stone shards exploding within its body.

  Normally, no one would be stupid enough to challenge an elder dragon, and even if they were, such a fool would never be able to wound it. Even if they knocked it down or struck its little toe with a tree, they would never cause an elder dragon to feel pain.

  Which meant elder dragons were unaccustomed to pain. Weak to it. This particular one was exceptionally so.

  “H-hyou bwastaaaaaards!!!”

  The dragon bellowed in pain and rage at the humiliation of being wounded by a lesser life-form.

  Then it took a deep breath.

  Without a doubt, it was preparing a specialty of all its kind: Dragon’s Breath.

  There was no time for Pauline, who had just finished firing a spell, or Reina, who was on the verge of finishing her next, to prepare any protection magic. Even if they had, any spell they could muster would be as tough as wet tissue against dragon fire.

  The moment they saw the crimson flames blazing in the dragon’s wide-open mouth, the two knew death was coming for them.

  “Father, everyone…I’m so sorry…”

  “All I wanted was to be with Alan and mother, and together we could…”

  “Magic Shield!!!”

  Dr. Clairia stepped into the fray. She had prepared her strongest protection spell and held it in waiting. Now, she channeled all her magical energy into an expansive shield. Even so, it wouldn’t have held back an elder dragon’s breath at full strength. Thankfully, this attack had been weak.

  And of course it was weak. No matter how angry the dragon was, you wouldn’t use a bomb to kill a mouse. There was also the fact that the dragon was unaware that amongst its opponents was an elf, a race far more skilled with magic than humans.

  However, though the shield protected against the core of the breath attack—the flames and the heat—they still took the force head-on. The three of them were sent flying. Thankfully, they weren’t blasted into the ruins as the two before had been but still soared an impressive distance. They plummeted to the ground, unlikely to rise again soon. The elder dragon, having already lost interest in them, ignored the three ladies and began to stalk toward Mile once more.