小嫂子的味道

I stumbled on the ground and rolled for a while before coming to a halt after a meter or so. I gained a few injuries and skinned myself in the process, but those were the least of my concerns.

I quickly got back to my feet and created a thick wall of both ice and water to block another upcoming breath of gleaming flames. Not waiting for wasting any more time, I flanked to the side as the flames and my defensive wall collided and released several clouds of steam.

There was no second thinking about it. I instantly hid within the steam and got close to the klauth. He wasn't able to identify me as he was confused, sniffing my smell in the steam and the water and ice I'd released.

A sword was raised high before it struck down on the dragon's left foot. The attack this time was direct, the blade connected with the flesh and smoothly sliced it completely in two pieces as I moved along with my sword.

Finally, I pulled out the sword from the other side of its foot, blood splashing behind and leaving a trail behind the tip of the blade as I did so. A moment later my ears heard a scream, or roar, or shrill, or whatever it was. But it was so loud that I had to cover my ears, or I don't doubt the possibility that they would have bled.

Then the gigantic body of the dragon bent one of its knees—the leg, I had cut, began to fall in a direction. I leaped out of the danger zone as fast as physically could before the whole klauth fell onto the ground with a loud and heavy THUMP.

The dragon went limp on the ground, but he wasn't dead, and I also knew that he was going to get up in a few minutes. After all, that is what he'd done during his fight with Leon in the novel.

Yeah, I was roughly following the strategy Leon had used when he fought the klauth. As for the reasons…well, I didn't have the least bit of experience in fighting against a big ass dragon and I wasn't, by no means, going to put my life on the line to gain some.

This was the safest plan, best for me, who always walked down the route where my victory was already determined.

I was running all along, and when I stopped it was before the Kloth's mouth. It was wide open, partly because it was showing flames aforetime I cut his leg. I used elemental magic and called forth the water element. Using it I drenched myself wet, from head to toe, as much as I could.

Then I jumped in front of the dragon's mouth, all wet. I was fast, as fast as someone with rank B could be, but it was still not enough to get out of the way before the klauth threw flames at me.

The fire it breathed surrounded me like a cloak, it was hot, really hot I should say. I mean, this was the first time I was directly in its range. Regardless, I didn't wander from the goal I had in mind. After all, I jumped in front of its mouth, knowing that it would envelop me with flames.

I threw the sword to the side hard, with a lot of force. Felt my muscles stretching and aching as I did so; it wasn't a surprising thing, I was abusing my body for a lot of days now.

The Requiem sword spun in the air as it entered the dragon's burning mouth. Just when it was confirmed that the dragon had swallowed the sword, I ran out from the fire, away from the klauth.

Its fire disappeared, and the creature stood on all fours and started moving weirdly. And it was strange…as if something had gotten stuck in its throat. Then it began suffering, smacking the ground with its feet and tail, throwing fire in every direction—the dragon was going mad for real.

A loud THUMP and silence followed afterward. The klauth lay limp on the ground, completely motionless. Seconds passed and nothing happened, minutes passed and nothing happened.

Finally, the dragon's stomach glowed before it was a slashing sound, accomplished with the sound of stripping flesh and bustling blood, a part of the dragon's stomach near its neck and heart blew violently.

It was a cut from the inside, the flesh hung and opened as if someone had gushed a curtain from the middle and made a hole for trespassing. Dark, brown blood streamed outside from the hole, along with some decapitated muscles.

I didn't flinch my eyes and kept looking in that direction until a girl with ocean blue hair came out with a sword of the same color as her hair in her hand. She was Req, of course, covered in blood—or bathed in blood would be the right word.

I slumped to the ground and took a breath of relief as she showed a thumbs-up sign in my direction along with a cheerful smile—a smile that looked strange on the lips of someone who had stabbed a dragon's heart from the inside and was dyed in red.

I sat on the ground, and then my hands gave out, and I lay there. Looking up at the ceiling that didn't exist, there were only clouds of mist and never-ending darkness. Now that the threat was gone and klauth was dead, the realization that I was in a different direction hit me.

I'd known it for a while, but never got the time to wonder about the fact. Although now that I did, it didn't feel any different. Only the scenery was different, everything else—my weight, atmospheric pressure, gravitational pull, quality of the air—was the same. But then again, maybe this was designed to be the same, I can't say.

"That went smooth and easy," Req said as she happily walked over and stood beside me.

"You're looking like shit," I stated. Then, raising my hand in her direction, I used elemental magic and dumped a pile of water on her. I did this several times until she was no longer drowned in blood.

"I didn't like the way you did that," she squeaked.

"I don't care."

After some thought, I did the same with myself and bathed in water without getting up. I mean, I was also painted with blood, even if it was my blood and not the dragons.

I felt a shiver run down my body as the semi-cold water touched and embarrassed my open and fresh wounds. My body twitched a little before I finally got up and sat straight.

I checked the pockets of my cloak just in case to see if I had any healing potion left or not, but then realized that I had no pockets left. My cloak was almost torn and was a mess of shreds and pieces of fabric. My academy uniform which I was wearing under the cloaks was also torn from the edges, mostly the pants.

I let out an exasperated sigh. A lot of money was going to get fueled. I had to buy a bunch of potions, new cloaks, a new uniform, the tax for the wagon when I'll head back, and some other minor things too.

I did have a fair amount of money in my bank account, but it wasn't like the numbers were infinite. I'll also need the money when the calamity will arrive…nothing but a headache is waiting for me.

I released another, long and deep sigh.

"I don't really wanna disturb you, but…are you aware that the time is still running out? I mean, we're still technically inside the labyrinth," Req deducted, looking at me.

"Yeah…right, I haven't forgotten," I said as I slowly rose to my feet and dusted the dust out of whatever I had left in the name of a cloak.

"But where should we get out from? I can't see any way out, there's darkness as far as the eye can see."

"Oh, that's not a problem. Now that the klauth is dead, the third and final seal should have been lifted. So it's about time I think…" Req put a finger on her lips and scanned the area with her sharp eyes.

But her eyes wavered back to our place as the space before was cracked and crumbled. Bright white light leaked from the fractured line in the middle of space itself. Then as I watched it, the area in front of us that should've been nothing but air, broke into pieces and revealed a door emitting a dazzling light.

I didn't know this way existed, because in the novel, Leon had used his system to switch the floors right after killing the klauth.

'There it is, let's go. I know you must be tired after beating the klauth. Even if that was nothing but just an infant, those things are serious trouble,' she waved at me and walked toward the door.

I stumbled behind Req and toward the light. As I entered the white, something she said clicked in my mind.

'That klauth was what!!!' I wanted to scream it out loud, but then refrained from doing so.