Editing Skill Tree Goddess:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 5===

The wagon stopped well before their destination.

Would it be dangerous to get any closer? Gilbezos and Seliphenia got out of the wagon with the others.

“I’m all stiff, but now I can finally get out and stretch. Hey, kid, you should do some stretches before the battle too. You’d feel pretty silly if you snapped a tendon in your leg right away.”

Riod gave some advice. Was there any end to his helpfulness?

“Shall I give you such a thorough massage you start to feeling sleepy? Rubby rubby,” said the goddess.

“Why did you even travel with us all this way?”

Once all the fighters left the wagons, there had to be more than fifty in all.

…That meant this dragon hunt would cost the crown more than 2.5 million yeno from the participation reward alone. That was an unimaginable amount. Even if they had to win to receive it, the king was being awfully generous.

Adventurers were used to dungeons where it was winner take all and rushing for a treasure chest could get you caught by a deadly trap, so having this many work together was unusual.

“Any shadow type users!? If you’re a specialist in shadow and darkness attacks, then join me over here! If you provide support or healing with light, then line up over there!”

“Fire specialists won’t have much use on the offense front, so line up in front and fortify our defenses! He’ll be blasting us with his fire type breath, so we need as much type defense as we can get!”

Apparently the other wagons had thought up their own strategies. The many people moving to take charge may have lost the initiative in their own wagon and were now trying to draw in people from other wagons.

“The dragon’s supposed to be at an abandoned casino…is that it?”

Gilbezos stared into the distance. It was half buried in vegetation and stone, but he spotted a structure that looked like a mille-feuille some rude person had smashed flat. All the obvious artwork, goldwork, and other valuables would already have been looted, but he could see some distinctive green tables inside.

“Gambling isn’t exactly rare in the capital, but they still paid out the ass to build a casino way out here. I bet they were betting on some unspeakable things,” said Riod.

It wasn’t unusual for a location of human cruelty to end up turning into a dungeon. Like strange laboratories and mysterious facilities where humans were bought and sold.

“So what strategy have we settled on?”

“Oh, mister is going around letting everyone know we have someone with Dragon Special.”

“Who’s mister?”

The nervous glasses priest (whose name Gilbezos had already forgotten) was right. It turned out having a relevant Rank 9 skill meant a lot. If they had a skill specialized for use against dragons, it would be foolish not to use it.

“Geh heh heh!! You’ve made a wise decision here, my friends! So just set the stage for me and watch me shine!”

“I’m glad he’s not very bright. Gilbezos, we should take a step back. The key to adventuring is to stay safe. If this goes south, we can run away while the dragon is munching on that idiot out front☆”

“I heard every word of that, you damn sweet girl.”

The general plan was as follows: With Riod Prominence and his Dragon Special at the center, all of their support and buffing magic was focused on that one man. The majority who couldn’t take part in that would either use fire type defense to act as a shield for the others or use magic and items to recover any lost HP and MP.

With that decided, they all approached the massive casino ruins.

They set foot in the dragon’s territory.

The dragon hunt had truly begun.

“Ugh, i-is this one of the dragon’s footprints? I-it’s huge…” nervously commented the 14-year-old plain glasses priest.

Sure enough, the black soil had been crushed down over a large enough area to gather rainwater and look like a small lake. The needlessly knowledgeable bearded man said the dragon had to be around 250 metora long to have feet that size. A terrifying thought.

They arrived at the half-destroyed casino.

An odd smell hung in the air.

It was a stinging odor, but it wasn’t quite the same as a monster’s bestial stench. What was it? This was more sour. Gilbezos also felt a slight stinging in his eyes. It wasn’t just him because quite a few of the adventurers were rubbing their eyes or holding their brow. He also noticed an unpleasant heat, like a warm breath, that felt out of place in this green area.

Where was the dragon? If it really was 250 metora, it would have a hard time hiding.

“Hey, I’ve got a bad feeling about this…”

The delinquent, who apparently wasn’t one for tests of courage, edged over toward Gilbezos. The goddess wasn’t happy about it.

Something felt off to Gilbezos too. As big as the casino ruins were, the rooms and passageways had been created for human use. A giant dragon was living there? How? It would have a hard time fitting inside, much less living comfortably there.

He felt like they were making some fundamental mistake here.

He heard something beat at the air. Up past the hole-filled ceiling.

In the sky.



Balsta the S-rank Lindworm-form dragon.



He had heard that impressive name over and over by this point, but what he saw soaring down from the sky was an enormous wyvern. One of those dragons with a lizard-like body and bat-like wings.

When it spread those wings wide, the scenery vanished. No, it blotted out the entire sky, including the sun, eliminating all light. Like they were surrounded by a giant windowless dome.

A dragon that reached 250 metora with its wings spread wide couldn’t fit inside the half-destroyed casino in the first place. There was only one reason why it would hang around here where it found no shelter from the elements.

“Oh, no. This is its food storage, where it keeps all its dead prey!!”

“No, it’s letting it ferment. Intelligence on the level of a leafcutter ant is all it needs for that.”

Quite the gourmet dragon if it wouldn’t eat its food raw. That sour stench was the animals it had hunted. And if a captured human was thrown into that strange hothouse, they might end up rotting to the dragon’s taste. And for no other reason than preparing them as food.

They were already within its firing range.

In fact, spreading its wings had blocked off their escape in every direction, allowing it to crush this small prey. Just like a fisherman would cast a net and catch a school of fish without considering each individual one.

The group was captured by fear before the fighting even began.

And the dragon didn’t hesitate. It opened its great maw with light flashing within.

It was going for its most powerful attack first.

A scorching beam engulfed the world. Yes, filling the entire dome of space that left no way out.

…It used its dragon breath.

Nevertheless, Gilbezos was not dead yet. The team of fire type defense magic specialists had held back the first blast on the front line. But who could say if they could stop a second. Even if they could block more than 90% of such a ferocious attack, they could be gradually worn down and killed.

The bearded man shouted from the front line where he had a shield spell active.

“Go, Dragon Special!! If you chicken out, we’re all doomed!!”

“So I’m not even a space-filler now; I’m a skill launcher!?”

Half in tears, Riod Prominence readied his spear in desperation.

He shouted in magic language and finished with a Wisdom spell word.

'''“Wa Bu Nu Yu Mo Ya Yo Ru Ki Ki Te Re Ko Sa Sa Ne To Me Ru Gu Gu To (Gather the shadow and launch it as a fearsome attack) – Lundax!!”



'''Boom!!!



The dome of the dragon’s wings was torn through from the outside. And something the size of a bell tower dropped onto the dragon’s giant head: a hammer of dark, dark shadow measuring more than 50 metora.

It was not unharmed.

This did real damage to Balsta, the S-rank Lindworm-form dragon.

But Riod Prominence grimaced.

“Why didn’t it sink in? In addition to the major damage of the hit, that high-level shadow-type magic is supposed to stab into the target and continue to reduce their AGI and DEX. I thought reducing its accuracy would give us a chance, but not if its hide can deflect my attack!!”

“Um. You’re kidding, right?”

“Damn! This is worse than I thought. Since it breathes that fire-type breath, its weakness should be the shadow type, right? But for some reason it deflected even my Dragon Special! I worked hard to learn that skill. What in the hell happened? It’s considered a passive skill, so it shouldn’t be able to miss!!”

No, the shadow type was the dragon’s weakness and the anti-dragon special effect had worked properly.

The damage really had been boosted.

But the dragon’s HP, VIT, DEX, and other life force and defense values were so massive the change appeared minimal. As if to say that the petty tricks of mere humans made as much difference as pouring one or two drops of water onto a hot frying pan.

“I need you to listen. This is very serious,” said the goddess. For once sounding terribly cold. “I will rearrange your skills into ones specialized for escape, so you need to get out of here right this instant. As quickly as possible.”



The second attack arrived.

The merciless dragon’s breath first slammed the vanguard to the ground despite their fire type defenses.



That was when it all fell apart.

The small boy was a good distance away, but his skin still received minor burns. The unemployed maid may have imagined she had been engulfed in flames because she screamed and rolled on the ground despite being as far away as him.

It didn’t end there.

With their shields gone, they didn’t stand a chance. A third attack would slaughter Gilbezos and the rest.

Time was short.

“What the-!? What are my skills right now?”

The goddess clenched her fists near her chest and tilted one of them. She seemed to be miming pouring water from a pitcher into a cup, which caused golden light to draw out a pattern. The boy glanced over at the Skill Tree.

'''Acceleration

:'''0 Stamina Usage

::'''Type Defense – Shadow Type Halved

:::'''Shadow Type Attack Magic – High

What was this? Gilbezos felt like he was losing his grasp of the situation, leaving him with only questions.

He had a mix of skills to let him run away and shadow type magic to strike back at the dragon. Didn’t she know attacking here was a waste of effort? This was more of a mess than usual when the goddess removed his skills, returned the LAW to him, and gave him new skills. Had she panicked? Besides, when would he need shadow type defenses against a dragon with the ultimate fire type attack?

“…?”

No.

Wait. Hold on.

This combination of skills let him use this magic!!

'''“Ke Zu Ka Ri Ya Wa Bu E Re Au Ne To Sai Sai Mu Na (The folded shadow slices into the distance) – Laznide!!”

He held his index and middle fingers together, picturing himself making the smallest possible gap between them.

…Think of Riod’s hammer. Just like other types of magic, shadow and darkness were something that existed independently. So whether it behaved like particles or like liquid, applying pressure to it would cause it to rush toward the exit. Which meant it could be controlled!
He summoned an ultra-pressurized shadow and swung that around.

In an endlessly straight line.

The sharp shadow blade left through a seam in the dome and extended past the casino ruins and even beyond the horizon. The he sliced off the top of a distant mountain and swung that into the dragon’s face. With a deafening crash, the dragon staggered back.

…Simply put, he first created shadow magic, compressed that between two shadow type shields, and accelerated it to create an ultra-pressurized blade. Add in the 0 Stamina Usage and the force of the ejected shadow would not deteriorate, allowing it to extend endlessly.

Riod Prominence’s eyes widened.

“Wh-what the hell’d you do!? Did you just do more damage than I did with my Dragon Special!?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care!!”

He still couldn’t deliver a finishing blow. There was a chance Gilbezos could win eventually if he continued fighting with help from the overpowered goddess, but ''then no one other than him and the goddess would survive.

But even if he couldn’t defeat the dragon, knocking it off balance fully eliminated the domed cage, allowing the sunlight to shine in.

Now was not the time to use the goddess’s power to fight. Gilbezos raised his voice so the others could survive.



“Run!!”



Chaos reigned.

They rushed outside. Had it been a mistake for humans to try and challenge a dragon? They weren’t arranged in ranks and they had no plan. Even when running away, they didn’t all run in the same direction. They scattered in every direction, only trying to get as far as possible from the center of the blast.

When the next thick beam flew in from behind, it passed over Gilbezos’s head.

The dragon breath detonated far ahead of him, but the shockwave alone knocked him and the others to the ground.

(Where’s the edge of its territory? How far do we have to run to escape!?)

A boulder was lying nearby, but hiding was meaningless. Running away was the only real option.

Yet Gilbezos saw someone curled up right next to it: that delinquent.

“What are you doing? If you don’t get out of here, you’ll be burned to ashes along with that wall!!”

“Oh, I’d love to run away…”

Gilbezos realized Riod Prominence was making no attempt to stand up. His tone of voice and his breathing suggested he was enduring excruciating pain.

Nothing at all would remain if he had taken a direct hit from such a powerful breath. Had the explosion launched a piece of stone or broken tree into him?

He seemed to be holding his right foot.

Had he sprained it?

No, he may have broken the ankle.

“Lady Seliphenia!! Is there anything I can use? Like the toughest defense magic that can repel any attack, or the ultimate healing magic that can reattach a severed leg!?”

“Sigh. Gilbezos, is there any real reason to rescue that living baggage?”

He wasn’t going to abandon someone to die because it was more efficient. Gilbezos lent Riod his shoulder.

Riod himself widened his eyes in surprise at being rescued.

“Your tiny body can’t support me. Leave me! Besides, there are plenty of people you should be helping first! Like any kids, or women, or the elderly, or the injured, or the sick, or…well, anyone really!!”

…Even with his life on the line, the Great Riod Prominence remained a good person through and through. This settled it. There was no way he was a delinquent. He was the kind of guy who would take in a kitten on a rainy day and who took great care of his parents, but who wanted to make sure no one knew. Was this what it was like to have a big brother?

It turned out someone else had been left behind in the chaos. The nervous 14-year-old glasses priest was slumped down nearby. Yes, Gilbezos remembered now. Her name was Rachel Vibrato, wasn’t it?

He was already lending a shoulder to someone bigger than himself. So…

“''Lady Seliphenia''!!”

“''Why should I''?”

The boy didn’t have time for that overly simple rejection. Why did that stupid goddess care so little about any human other than him? In the end, the thief with the baggy sleeves happened to be fleeing this way, so he got her to help Rachel. He couldn’t abandon the injured or those who had lost the will to fight. And with that taken care of, he fled.

He saw several dark objects approaching from the horizon. They were wagons. A lot of wagons. The capital may have sent a rescue team after Gilbezos’s group didn’t return.

There were a lot of injuries, so the more vehicles to carry them back safely the better. Gilbezos began to rejoice, but then he froze.

“What…the hell?”

This wasn’t an emergency rescue.

The many wagons traveling leisurely down the center of the large road were far too defenseless for that. This was simply a second group of adventurers approaching. With no understanding of the crisis before their eyes.

Balsta raised its large head and looked into the distance.

“Hey, wait…you’re kidding, right!? No, run away!!”

His voice couldn’t reach them at this distance.



A massive breath blew away everything on the horizon.



It swept from right to left and triggered a massive explosion. The scale was hard to judge at this distance, but the dust cloud thrown into the air was far taller than the towers visible here and there. Even from here, Gilbezos felt a stinging pain across all his skin, like he was being pricked by tiny needles. He was receiving minor burns.

“…”

Simply watching it blanked his mind.

His tears evaporated.

So much tragedy for nothing more than fighting and losing.

…How many had been killed in the second group that was blown away before they could even hope to prepare? How could they have been ready or even accepted their fate?

Gilbezos mentally counted beyond ten before he could get any words out at all.

“Dammit!! Why all this? Goddammit!!!”

There must have been hints. Saezuri had called it “this recent” target. That meant the job hadn’t been posted at the guild today and it was so horrifyingly difficult no one had managed to complete it yet.

A flapping sound rang out.

Had they moved too far from its territory? Balsta spread wings larger than a small park, took flight, and returned the way it had come. Ignoring a group it could have killed at any time.

Gilbezos did not feel relief. Even though he had avoided the worst fate where he was captured and fermented in a strange hothouse to match the dragon’s tastes. This was no more than the monster’s arrogance. It didn’t see them as a threat or even as food.

“What is the king thinking? If you’re going to post this job, you need to at least give us some hope of winning. Endlessly throwing people into this inescapable dead end will just lead to more and more groups being wiped out!”

“He doesn’t care if it does,” said someone nearby. The bearded man was bloody and unable to get up. “Unlike official agencies like the knights or the army, amateurs like us ''don’t require any records or statistics''. He probably doesn’t care how many people die if it will keep that troublesome dragon busy.”

“…!!”

True.

That had been the idea behind the job being posted at the guild. But taking advantage of that with a job that had zero chance of victory was malicious on another level entirely!!

If nothing was done, another group would show up.

Maybe later today, maybe tomorrow. But adventurers who had seen the job posting would gather together, show up, and be beaten down by that scorching breath. It would keep happening. For the world, for the kingdom, for the national interest…but really for the king who had posted the job from a position of safety.

Some people screamed in anger. Some sighed in resignation. But most sobbed, their voices distorted by tears.

Rachel Vibrato was a priest. That healing magic expert had crumbled in despair in the face of such an unthinkable number of severe injuries. Her knowledge of healing magic probably let her know her MP was nowhere near enough to heal them all.

The colossal dragon could not be defeated. This tragedy would continue just to hold it back.

“No…I can’t take it anymore… Won’t someone break this chain!?”

He had no obligation to respond.

Nothing at all required him to take on this burden.

But…

“What do you want to do, Gilbezos?” whispered Goddess Seliphenia.

Silence.

Then the small black-haired boy spoke.

“''I will.''”

He had made a promise.

So he couldn’t back out now.

“''I will break this chain.''”