I Was Reincarnated As The Brother Of A Villainous Young Lady, But I Couldn't Use Magic, So I Used My Sword To Slash Down The Doom Flag - Chapter 17

Inside the dungeon, the space was very strange. I entered through a gap in the mountain, and the first thing I saw was an all-black sky. It was not a night sky, nor was it completely dark. That sky gave me a strange feeling. Under my feet, the ground was solid, and a wide grassy plain stretched as far as I could see.

Everywhere on that plain, goblins stood like sentries. When they saw us—rude intruders—they immediately started to move.

“They’re coming. Kid, kid, hide behind your back!”

I assumed that “kid” here meant that one was for Like and the other for me. I nodded at Ain’s odd way of addressing us and followed his advice for now.

The goblins began to swarm toward the three knights standing in front of us. These little creatures, with dark green skin and nearly the same height as Like and me, held clubs and stomped toward us.
“These goblins are so slow,” I thought.

“Fireball!”

Of course, with their slow legs, the goblins coming straight at us were not a real threat to the knights. First, Ain cast a flame spell that blew the goblins in front of him away.

“Air Cutter!”

Next, Zwei sent out a series of green, shining wind blades that took out the goblins that Ain’s fire had missed. Still, a few goblins managed to slip past the barrage. That is when Dry, the third knight, stepped in.

“Rock Hammer!”

Suddenly, a chunk of rock appeared in the air, and Dry swung his arm so that the rock flew around freely. Of course, any goblin hit from the side by that rock would not stand a chance. Even those goblins that were close to starting a melee were wiped out by that attack.

“Wow, great teamwork. Amazing!”

In the game, there were enemies like an evil knight who stayed loyal to the Majester Duke Family until the end, but few fought with such strong teamwork as these knights. They were definitely elite. Even in the game, they would give even the best players a hard time.

“These are our loyal knights who have served since my father’s time. Of course, they are the best,” Like said proudly.

As I had mentioned before, it seems that our force consists of only these three knights. It appears that my role as backup was real. But what bothers me is that at the start of the game, Like had never attacked a dungeon even once.

I can think that I only dared to move forward because I had backup. Yet, in the game when the heroine first entered a dungeon, she had no party members at all. No matter how much this world is like the game, it is not a game world. Some things may be different, but I still feel uneasy.

“No problem. Shall we move forward at this pace?”

“Yeah, please do.”

So, while the others celebrated our first victory and moved ahead confidently, I kept watching our surroundings. I held my hand on the hilt of my sword, ready to act if something unexpected happened. Because of that, I was the first to sense its appearance.

“Up there!!”

At my shout, the knights reacted a beat too late. In the dark sky, I saw a huge shape coming toward us. A legendary magic beast— a dragon with a pair of wings and black scales all over its body—charged at us like a falling meteor.

“That is… could it be a Black Dragon? This is bad!!”

“Lord Like, please run away!!”

The knights tried to get at least Like away from the landing area. However, at this speed, Like might be saved, but it was doubtful whether the knights could escape.

I thought, “I have no choice but to act.”

“Majin-ryu Sword Art, Form One… ‘Ice Wolf Flash’!!”

I drew my sword and performed a swift iai strike to cut the Black Dragon. My slash was so powerful that it could freeze the air and split rock in two. It was meant to cut the Black Dragon even when it was still far away. But the dragon’s scales were too hard, and my blade could not get through. Instead, my arm went numb from the impact.

Still, I managed to deflect its falling path, and the Black Dragon landed smoothly right behind us.

“Gosh… I’m still not trained enough…!!”

The Black Dragon was like a mid-boss from the early part of the game. It was very strong and was even called a “beginner killer” on strategy sites. Its strength came from the toughness of its entire body. It was so hard that, in the early game when its powerful attacks were not all available, most blows were ineffective. Yet its attacks were wide and hard to dodge, and if the battle dragged on, we would run out of strength first.

I remembered shouting, “This is not an enemy from a shoujo game!” after finally beating it on the tenth try in the game.
“But… unlike in the game, we can’t just retry this!” I thought.

We could not use magic skills like in the game. Even my trump sword technique was only as powerful as a basic early-game skill, and it did little damage to the Black Dragon. Normally, I should probably run away, but at this point, I had to admit that my hypothesis was correct. If we could not defeat the Black Dragon, Ain and the others would die here.

“Kid, kid, take the little one and run away quickly. We’ll handle this here!!”

These were people I had just met today. Whether they lived or died might not matter much to me, but if they died, Like would be filled with sorrow and would have to bear the burden of those lost lives for the rest of his life. If that burden led him to one day ruthlessly punish Tilti without a shred of mercy, it would be a terrible thing.

“No… I will finish this one here.”

I shouted that I would take care of this enemy myself because he was worth risking my life to protect.

“Are you sane? I saw nothing of what you did, but your arm went numb from that hit; there is no use hiding it.”

“You watch well. But, I’m fine.”

With my numb hand, I hit my trembling leg to shake off the shock. When my leg moved properly again, I quickly sheathed my sword and took a stance.

“I’ve got the technique. I will definitely finish him off.”