The battle between us and the Ice Dragon began in earnest.
I had Kumayuru and Kumakyu returned just in case.
The ice dragon came down to the ground, probably because it realized that it could withstand my flames.
Then, it roared and threatened.
The air was shaking, stirring fear.
A normal person would have stood there, unable to move, and would have been attacked by the ice dragon.
But neither I nor Kagari-san were normal.
"Shut up"
Kagari-san casted fire magic at the ice dragon. She hit the ice dragon's body, but that's it. A small mark remains, but something like a film of ice quickly covered it, protecting the skin.
I knew that their body was always cold.
So, with normal fire magic, it's water instead of burnt stone.
It was the opposite of my original word.
If you throw fire into the sea, it will turn into stone and water.
If so, I used a huge flame.
I collected mana.
A huge tornado of flames, big enough to cover the ice dragon, appeared in front of me.
A fiery tornado melted the surrounding ice.
The surrounding area, which was once a sheet of ice, quickly turned to water and evaporated.
The fiery tornado moved towards the ice dragon.
When the ice dragon's mouth opened, it spat out cold air towards the tornado.
When the fiery tornado and the cold air collided, the flames and ice mixed, creating a red and white tornado.
It was pushed by the cold air that continued to emit. Not to be outdone, I released additional bear flame.
The cold air exhaled was stronger.
However, the amount of cold air it exhaled was not infinite.
The cold air breathed out by the ice dragon stopped.
The tornado became a fiery tornado.
"It's my win." (Yuna)
A fiery tornado attacked the ice dragon, which had stopped breathing cold air.
I thought it would do some damage, but the tornado's color changed.
The flame tornado weakened, the red flame disappeared, and turned into a tornado of dancing ice.
A fiery tornado had taken over.
Not only that, but it was turned into an ice tornado.
When the ice dragon roared, an ice tornado began to move.
This time it started moving towards me.
It must be a joke.
There's an egg behind me.
I protected the egg by surrounding it with earth magic.
But I didn't know if I could protect myself from that tornado.
I created another tornado of flames and somehow offseted it.
The surrounding ground was hollow and rough, as if a storm had passed. The egg was safe. I didn't have to fight with the ice dragon of the mountaintop later.
"Girl, are you okay!" (Kagari)
"Yeah, I'm okay. I never thought the fire tornado would turn into an ice tornado." (Yuna)
From then on, the battle between us and the Ice Dragon continued.
Bear kick!
My flying kick hit the ice dragon.
The ice dragon's body swayed.
As expected, even a bear kick didn't blow away the giant body.
But I was able to lose its balance.
I went around and hit it with flames, but it freezed immediately.
Firepower was weak.
After all, attacks from outside couldn't do any damage.
In accordance with the basics, it seemed effective to destroy the body of large monsters through the mouth.
I thought I could win against the ice dragon by shooting flames into its mouth.
However, looking at the current battle, I was not sure if I could defeat it.
Cold air was constantly overflowing from within its body.
Also, its head moved, and I couldn't put magic into its mouth.
If I got even closer, the ice dragon's hand would get in my way.
It didn't keep its mouth open.
Everything was going wrong.
It's difficult to see from the front.
In the end, I might have to stick in its mouth with the intention of being eaten.
That would be fine if it was a normal monster, but the opponent was an ice dragon.
It had a huge mouth that couldn't be compared to a black tiger's, a mouth that looked like it could crush anything, and strong jaws that wouldn't let go once it bit.
If I couldn't defeat it, I might be bitten and frozen, including my bear equipment.
Of course, there was a possibility that it would be okay.
For now, let's see what we could do.
"Kagari-san, please provide support!" (Yuna)
I ran away.
Just by standing up and flapping its wings, the Ice Dragon created a gust of wind that hindered our movement.
But I, wearing bear gear, ran through the gusts of wind.
And in my right hand I was holding a Kumayuru knife.
I left my left hand free so I could use magic.
I ran around the ice dragon.
Kagari-san released fire magic and helped me approach the ice dragon.
I closed the gap from its blind spot and slashed at the ice dragon's body with my mana-filled Kumayuru knife.
I cut it.
However, only one streak appeared on the ice dragon's body.
Then this was it.
Kumayuru knife was engulfed in flame.
Fiery mithril knife.
Normally it would be too hot to hold, but with my bear puppet it didn't get hot.
A bright red mithril knife attacked the ice dragon.
It cut deep into the ice dragon's skin. It carved a wound into the ice dragon's body so that it melted with the ice.
Alright!
The moment I thought about attacking.
"Girl!" (Kagari)
At the same time as Kagari-san's screamed, I was blown away.
Did I get hit from the side?
At the moment of impact, what was faintly visible was the ice dragon's tail.
I didn't notice the attack from my blind spot.
My light body rolled on the ground.
It must have been blown away from the wrong place, and I fell down the slope.
"Girl!" (Kagari)
Kagari-san came flying.
"No, I'm okay." (Yuna)
"Well, you're at the ice dragon's tail..." (Kagari)
It looked like it was the tail that got me after all.
I stood up to prove that I'm okay.
Kagari-san looked relieved when she saw this.
"Don't make the elderly worry too much." (Kagari)
She called herself old.
That's all she was worried about.
"So what are we going to do?" (Kagari)
What should I do?
Bear fire didn't work.
Mithril Knife could cut, but it didn't do as much damage as I expected.
I was not saying it didn't work, but rather that attacks from outside didn't work.
After all, internal attacks were the only option.
"Kagari-san. I'll try to attack inside its mouth somehow." (Yuna)
"It's dangerous!" (Kagari)
"That's the only way to defeat it." (Yuna)
"...Promise me. You won't overdo it." (Kagari)
"Yeah. Life is important to me too." (Yuna)
The ice dragon moved faster than I expected.
Its mouth was like jumping into the heart of the opponent's attack.
However, the inside of the mouth was also a weak point.
There was a saying that if you didn't enter the tiger's den, you wouldn't get the tiger's cub.
You couldn't defeat it without taking some risks.
First, it needed to be able to exhale the cold air.
That cold air was the most dangerous.
If it's time to vomit, its mouth would be open.
Kagari-san and I ran down the hill.
There's an egg on top. There was no one you could fight without worrying about the egg.
Also, it would be unbearable if the timing was bad and there was the egg at the end of the cold air being exhaled.
This was not an opponent we could defeat while protecting the egg.
Kagari-san and I walked down the slope, trying to attract the ice dragon.
We ran through the forest and used the trees as a blind spot to attack.
The trees hid from the ice dragon, but when the ice dragon moved, the trees fell. When it swung its tail, countless trees were blown away.
And the snow got in the way.
However, I found out something. The bear shoes allowed me to walk on snow as well as on water.
I always rode Kumayuru and Kumakyu when moving through the snow, so I didn't realize they had such an effect.
I run on snow
I descended from the mountain and come to a place where flat land spread out.
After all, it's more flat than hilly.
There was a flat area near the top of the mountain, but it was narrow so it was difficult to fight.
So, I ended up hitting the tail and falling down the mountain.
I started walking and stood in front of the ice dragon.
The ice dragon seemed irritated, growling and letting cold air leak from the gap in its mouth.
The timing of the attack was after the cold air was exhaled.
I didn't know what would happen if the cold air was exhaled the moment I shoved in its mouth.
"Kagari-san, if the ice dragon releases cold air, I'll rush in, so please provide support." (Yuna)
"……Got it" (Kagari)
Kagari-san and I ran out.
I ran around the ice dragon. Kagari-san flew.
Cold air leaked from the ice dragon's closed mouth.
I measured the timing.
I could see that the ice dragon was also measuring the timing.
The ice dragon's eyes moved.
She tried to attack its eyes, but its arm deflected her.
The troublesome thing about ice dragons was their skin, which was tough against the cold they exhale. A tail that attacked from a blind spot, and strong arms that protected its face. Wings that stir the wind. Even its wings got in the way of attacks.
It didn't attack from the air to show that it could win on the ground.
Perhaps it came down to make sure we were killed so it wouldn't let us escape.
I'd like to say that's naive, but the Ice Dragon had the power to do that.
I ran around the ice dragon. Went behind it, dodged its tail, and jumped upwards.
The ice dragon's wings moved as if it had eyes behind it.
Its wing hit me as I jumped.
There was no damage, but I fell to the ground.
The moment I stood up and looked at the ice dragon, the ice dragon's mouth was open.
I avoided and attacked.
The moment I thought that, I realized where I was. There was a city behind me. Although it was far away, the cold air might reach them.
No matter how dead the town was, it was still the town of Lise-san and her people.
I couldn't avoid it.
I released the mana I had stored to release it into the ice dragon's mouth.
A wall of dirt made up of three large bears appeared in front of me.
It was in time.
The ice dragon emited cold air.
I heard Kagari-san shouting somewhere.
I kept pouring mana into the earh bear.
The cold air was blocked by the earth bear barrier.
The cold air subsided.
The earth bear was frozen.
But they protected the city. Then, the ice dragon breathed out cold air. It should be opening his mouth now because it exhaled cold air.
Minimum distance.
I erased part of the frozen earth bear and ran towards the ice dragon.
Its mouth was open. It's a chance.
I jumped toward the ice dragon's mouth.
My hands were filled with mana.
I changed mana into bear flame.
A bear flame appeared before me.
Just stick it in its mouth.
Cold air began to gather in the ice dragon's mouth.
Rapid fire!?
Right in front.
Close range.
It could not be avoided.
"Girl!" (Kagari)
Kagari-san blew me away from the side.
The scene appeared to be in slow motion.
Kagari-san remained where I was.
The ice dragon's cold air was exhaled into the remaining area.
I had heard that the world went into slow motion when you sense that your life was in danger.
It seemed as if the world had stopped.
Kagari-san was enveloped in the coldness of the ice dragon in my place.
Author's Note
Fight scenes are difficult to write.
I finished writing 10 minutes before posting.
Ordinary writers probably accumulate their writing.
When I have time, I work on books and play games, so I don't have anything to write about.
Therefore, when an urgent confirmation request comes from a publisher, the author is in trouble.
...
*Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Please note that some kanji have been revised to match the book, so some may not have been revised.