小嫂子的味道

Our attention shifted when we heard a loud flapping sound of wings, looking all around I saw that the source of this sound was not visible. Through the dim light, I could see the blurry details, wings, and tail, but I couldn't see the entire body.

I already knew what we would be facing since his fight with Leon had been shown in the novel, but knowing that what was is the reason I was more cautious than ever.

"Be careful," Req warned. I nodded.

Since it was difficult to call her by her pronouns, for now, I decided to call her Req, short for Requiem. It wasn't the best name in the world, but I can make the changes once we're out of here.

Another sound fell onto our ears, we went stiff and raised our guard. They were not precisely clouds, but I was able to see something of a similar sort. More like mist…or steam? I wasn't quite able to put my finger on it, but that was the thing blocking our view after the lack of light in the room.

As I was narrowing my eyes and trying to get a clear view, my pupils suddenly enlarged as a crazy amount of light fell on them. It was bright, too bright, in fact; red with a tinge of orange and yellow. It was also hot. I was standing at a good distance and the fire erupted in the sky, yet I was able to feel the warmth on my skin.

And talking about the fire itself, it was not the type of fire you get with a campfire, or a matchstick, not like the burning human body at a funeral…it wasn't similar to the fire that causes whole towns to burn either.

It was like, like the eruption of a volcano, like the anger of nature, like the solar flares from the sun. It was bright, hot, terrifying yet beautiful.

It was the breath of a dragon. A Kloth to be precise. It was a creature found only in history, yet it was here, as real as anything could be.

Right after the fire, I saw the creature behind it. I knew him from the novel; it was a Kloth. Its enormous body faded out from the mist and roared into the never-ending sky of this dimension.

Its skin was true-red, like flames; and the size of this creature was just…colossal. I can't even guess how big it was, it was just colossal; that's the only word to describe it. Even for a dragon, it was too big.

Its limbs were like a sphinx, almost human-like, its wings spreading wider than the sky, its tail dancing at its back was so long and humongous that it would've destroyed mountains if the creature had flown through valleys.

The scales on its body were large enough to be considered a small range of mountains, ranging from the top of its head to the end of the tail. It had horns, curved behind, giving it the look of a crown. Fire dribbled from the corners of its opened mouth as it drifted proudly in the air far above our heads.

"Well, that's a dragon for you," Req mumbled from the side as she eyed the Kloth. It flew past us and then again vanished into the mist.

"How do we defeat it?"

"We will fight it!" she said as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

I let out a disappointed sigh, somewhere deep inside I had let my hopes rise too high. Maybe she wasn't the ancient warrior I'd thought her to be, maybe she wasn't the fearless destroyer people had feared and sealed inside her sword, maybe she was none of it.

It was not like I didn't have a plan, I was just…expecting something, maybe?

"Just kidding, I know its weakness," she said, patting me on the back and bursting out into a nasty smile like one of those mischievous kids makes.

"Oh, I see! You know its weakness! Then, will you do the favor of telling me what it is before that dragon comes and gobbles us up," I said, sarcasm overflowing in my tone. One might say my words indicated that I was scared of the Kloth… I was not. I was irritated at her.

"Come on, don't be that guy. I'll tell you, fine. You see over there," she pointed up in the sky, just a moment later the Kloth emerged out of the mist and crossed the area where she was pointing. "The heart. The heart is the weakness," she stated.

I calmed down more or less after I had some information to work with. The plan I had in my mind was just about right, I still had to do what I was originally going to do. There will be some minor changes here and there, but that's it.

"Have you fought one of those before?" I inquired, just to be on the safe side.

She looked perplexed for a second, probably confused by the fact of how I guessed that she might have fought this thing before. But we both knew this was not the right time and place, and questions can wait for later, hence she focused on the present.

"I haven't, actually. I don't know about now, but these Kloths were rare to find back in my time, and folks usually avoided fighting even if they came across one of them. You can guess why," she shrugged.

Yeah, it wasn't hard to guess. These creatures only attack when someone invades their territory or lands the flight blow on them, in short, they are passive until you go and poke them. I would also have preferred to just walk by and not disturb the guy, however, in our case, things were not that simple.

This dragon was trapped or rather placed in here solely to stop whoever released Req from the seal. This also means that he had lived in this dimension, wandering alone in the depths of the mist for thousands of years, it was not strange that he sees this as his territory and the fact that we are now invading it.

It's just a matter of time before he notices us, and then the brawl will start. I won't even call it a brawl, given that if I'm not prepared or slacked off just a little, it'll only be a one-sided massacre.

"What does it eat? I mean, there ain't no animals in here. How was it alive all this time?" I appealed. It was something I found interesting, and it certainly won't hurt to know the answer while I go through the plan once again in my mind.

"Mana. This place has enough mana for it to live on for many years, even more than a thousand. When creatures live off of mana they don't take the same quantity as food, so it is like more profit in less investment," her eyes didn't stop tracking the Kloth while she explained it to me.

"Hold my hand, I think our friend has noticed that it has some visitors. It might not be good for you to stay unarmed," she said, holding out her hand for me.

By this time I was also done going through the plan in mind, it was based on Req's powers I've seen here and in the novel, my magic, and how much we can coordinate as a duo—the last part was the most important.

I held her hand, our palms touched and fingers interlocked. Her hand was soft and delicate, but certainly not fragile. How long has it been since I touched a girl? It certainly has been quite a while, it was back in my former world I think…not like I want to remember.

I sensed a faint, strange feeling rising deep in my heart before it was crushed by the logical and rational side of my mind. Those types of things will only prove to be a distraction, after all.

Then the softness faded, replaced by the touch of cold metal and wood. I turned to look and what I had in my hand was not a girl's hand but a sword with a dark, ocean-blue colored blade. She'd transformed.

[Don't doze off like that!] a voice cried out in my head, it was familiar; the same as Req.

'What is this, telepathy?'

[No, certainly not. Don't tell me you didn't know, our souls are combined, so we can talk no matter where we are.]

'And what exactly does that mean?'

[Sigh. From the moment you released me from the seal, our souls were combined. Mine, the swords, and yours. Now the three of us are bound with each other by the very roots of life, we can exist in different bodies, but our core is the same; we are a single entity.]

[You get it now?]

Why didn't I hear anything of this in the novel? But well, it wasn't that strange that things were different here from the novel, I'd stopped being startled by it a long time ago. I can't say I understood the whole of this soul thing right now, but one thing was clear.

If we can talk directly through our minds, then the coordination as a team wasn't going to be a problem. Yet, there was this one thing tickling me.

'Since we are a single entity, does it mean that I will also get sealed in this labyrinth if we're not out before the timer of thirty minutes is over?'

[Yeah, you're right about that. You will also get sealed here with me, and Requiem.]

Ah, well…dang… I guess.