I roughly gauged the distance between us and the wall across from here. It had to be around ten meters. Could I hit anything farther than that?
"Oh my god... what is that...?"
Kallen, seeing Miya’s ability for the first time, covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide with shock.
She hurriedly fumbled at her own pocket—the one she’d been carrying Miya in all this time. Of course there was no way it could have a hole in it, but she still let out an exaggerated sigh of relief when she confirmed it was intact.
I shook my head and checked below again. I focused, straining my ears for the humans’ movements.
"Shit... Shadow, the concealment is solid, right? If you collapse, we’re all dead!"
"Ugh, I’m already barely holding it together, so shut up! If you’ve got time to nag, shoot the crossbow properly!"
"God, what a damn bastard."
Out of the seven, only one sounded like a mage.
If I took the mage out first and stripped away the concealment magic, the remaining six could be dealt with somehow.
Miya had a ranged attack, and if it came to it, Kallen and I could even start pelting them with rocks from above.
"Rami, Miya. Can you help?"
"Hiyung, hiyung!"
"Miyaak...."
Maybe they were happy to finally have something to do—two thin tails, one black and one white, swayed gently. A palm-sized lizard and a snake as thick as a finger, and yet they felt unbelievably reliable.
I softly stroked Rami’s tiny head with my index finger. Then I looked down with her.
"Rami, there are seven humans down there. Go down and block their eyes."
"Hiyuung...?"
Rami, peering below, tilted her head. It seemed the mage’s concealment magic worked on monsters, too.
"You can’t see them from here, but if you get close, you will. But don’t ever push it. If it feels dangerous—no, if you so much as make eye contact with a human—jump straight into the shadows. Come back to Dad. Got it?"
I’d asked for help, but my worry made my words run long. Sending such a tiny baby into the middle of humans sat badly with me.
Rami had been listening, her tail swaying, and then she lifted her slender neck toward the sky and cried out with all her strength.
"Hiyuuuuung!!!"
"...My baby keeps copying dragons."
Maybe a small reptile thought the giant reptiles looked cool.
After roaring like a dragon, Rami vanished into the shadows in the blink of an eye. I immediately pressed myself closer to the ground, attention fixed below.
Before long, the sound I’d been waiting for reached me.
"Hiyung, hiyung! Hiyung!!"
"Aaaah! What is this?! I can’t see!!"
The wet slap of tiny footsteps came through clearly.
Three, four, five. Two were still untouched by Rami’s shadow, but the concealment magic that had been hiding the soldiers came undone, and the humans’ forms emerged. Rami had successfully covered the mage’s eyes and neutralized him.
But I didn’t even have time to celebrate. Two men whose eyes were still clear were swinging their longswords through the air.
"Fuck, what the hell are you?!"
"Hiyung, hiyung!"
Rami sprang and bounced between the blades, searching for an opening to block the remaining eyes.
It was brave, but when I saw a longsword skim just over Rami’s head, my breath nearly stopped.
I screamed like I was about to throw up.
"Rami! Come back, now!!"
"Hiyuung!!"
Answering my call, Rami hopped into the nearest shadow. Then, in an instant, she reappeared by peeking her head out from inside my sleeve.
By completing a dangerous operation perfectly and returning without a single injury, Rami protected her title as “the number-one baby.”
"Shit, we’ve been spotted! Shadow, what are you doing?!"
"Ugh, I—my eyes... I can’t see!"
With concealment gone, the humans panicked, making a loud mess of themselves.
I put off praising Rami for later and decided not to waste this chance while the soldiers were rattled.
I aimed my right arm—Miya coiled around it—downward. When I pressed firmly into the middle of her body like before, her white mouth snapped open.
"Mlak!!!"
A muffled boom rang out, and I clicked my tongue.
The distance was fine—the rock had shattered instead of a person—but aiming was the problem.
"What the hell?! A rock just exploded out of nowhere!!"
"Up there! There’s a human up there! Kill that bastard!!"
Miya’s air bullet missing and slamming into the ground actually helped the soldiers come to their senses. They spotted me above and began rotating the crossbow frame.
Even a graze from those poison-coated bolts could critically wound a dragon. A weak human would be finished.
"Hey—hey! Wait, time out!"
Throw rocks. Call for help from the dragons nearby. Or call Varen.
I had options, but I didn’t have time to rebuild a plan. I had to deal with them before they finished turning the crossbow.
I pinched Miya’s tiny head between my thumb and index finger. Then I squeezed one eye shut and aimed downward.
If the output was enough and only the aiming was the problem, then I’d do the aiming myself.
"Mmm... Mlak!!!"
Between my two fingers, I felt Miya’s head jerk. I’d thought of it like an air rifle, but even the recoil felt eerily similar to firing a real shot.
"Aaaah!!"
I refocused with the one eye still open. I’d aimed for the man’s head, but what I blew off was his left shoulder.
The man collapsed, bleeding, but the last one bared his teeth and stubbornly kept rotating the crossbow frame.
I exhaled low and thin, then held my breath. To keep my aim from wobbling, I braced my right wrist with my left hand.
"Ugh, damn it! I’ll kill you!!"
The crossbow, nearly turned a full circle, lifted into a steep angle. Now it was a race—who hit their target first.
Eyes narrowed, I finished my aim and clamped down on Miya’s head again. Miya seemed to realize it was a firing signal even without me pressing her belly, and she opened her mouth wide.
"Myaak!!!"
At the same time as that piercing monster cry, there was a dull thunk.
It was the sound of something bursting, and only then did I lower my arm and look down properly.
The second shot was a hit.
As the tension drained out of me, I sat back and stretched my legs out. Then I let out a light, relieved breath.
"Haa... I somehow managed it."
It wasn’t even comparable to Varen wiping out dozens with a single strike, but still. In the Belzena war, I’d done my part as combat personnel.
Then my sharpened senses picked up a stare that felt like it could drill straight through my cheek. When I turned my head, Kallen was sitting there with her mouth hanging open, just like Miya.
"Ceryl... this—what... how—since when did you have that kind of a-ability...."
She was so shocked she couldn’t even manage a proper exclamation. I just scratched the back of my head, awkward.
Even if she asked when I’d gained marksmanship, there was no way I could answer that I was a former soldier who’d completed my service.
I decided I’d calm Kallen down later, and called the babies who’d worked so hard.
"Rami, Miya. You did amazing. You’re the best. Dad’s going to search this whole place and catch you some crickets."
"Hiyuung!"
"Miya...."
At the thought of a rare special meal, Rami and Miya’s eyes glittered and their tongues flicked.
After ruffling their clever little heads, I turned my gaze toward where Varen had flown off.
It was about time for the golden dragon—after mopping up the remaining stragglers—to come back.
I stared into the distance with a mix of anticipation and worry, when—woooong—a heavy wind-like sound passed, and a crossbow bolt scraped past right in front of my face.
"Hhu—!"
Clutching my violently pounding left chest, I dropped heavily onto the spot. Then I looked up at the bolt flying into the sky.
Looking again, it wasn’t actually that close. But it had felt like it had grazed the tip of my nose.
I snapped in irritation and leaned my head out of the cavern. The crossbow the soldier had barely managed to set before dying was being fired automatically by magic.
"For fuck’s sake, that thing fires even without a person—."
"Aaah, Ceryl! Get down!!"
"Ghk—!"
As another bolt fired without pause, Kallen grabbed the back of my neck with all her strength and yanked.
I nearly cracked the back of my head trying to dodge a bolt that was actually passing far away. We lay there for a moment, catching our breath, then got up, brushing off dust.
"Ahem. Sorry. It’s not that close."
"It’s fine. I was terrified, too."
Even as I soothed Kallen, I scowled. We’d barely dealt with the humans, and now a single crossbow was going to be the problem?
The crossbow was too big to break with Miya’s air bullet. And if we wanted to drop something on it from above, it was large enough that we’d need to roll down a boulder, not throw rocks.
I scanned the inside of the cavern for a dragon who could help. But anyone still here was either critical or a healer.
In the end, I scratched the back of my head and smacked my lips.
"Kallen, I’m going down for a second."
"What? It’s dangerous, Ceryl!"
"They’re all down, so it’ll be fine. I just need to stop that thing."
Kallen was worried, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop me. Even during those few exchanged lines, a bolt narrowly skimmed past the ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) front of the cavern entrance.
Still looking down anxiously, Kallen seemed to make up her mind and held something out from her waist.
"Just in case, take this!"
It was the sword. The one she’d refused to hand over even on pain of death—because it was a gift from Varen.
