Eleonora took a breath.
It wasn’t so much because her rough movements had left her breathless but rather a sense of gathering her thoughts.
Suddenly, Eleonora realized that surprisingly, she did not feel as overwhelmed by the current situation as she expected.
It wasn’t that she had deliberately conserved her energy; she was moving just as she always did.
Seventeen.
In the prime of her growth, surging towards her peak day by day, the body of the Dragonkin girl was growing at a pace far faster than she could comprehend.
But before she could even get used to her current self, her body moved ahead of her, and before she could adapt to that body, her physical growth surged ahead once more, making it no surprise that she didn’t precisely know her capabilities.
“I’ve only recently been able to use Breath.”
That was one evidence that her growth was far from over.
However, most of Eleonora’s memories, which made up the majority of her life, belonged to a weak victim of abuse.
In her mind, she understood that she was no longer the powerless little girl she once was, yet in urgent situations, her thought patterns would unconsciously revert to seeing herself as weak.
Perhaps it was something she had subconsciously adjusted due to her past experiences.
Like a baby elephant that had grown up tied to a small stake, unable to even try to pull it out as an adult, Eleonora had firmly decided that she couldn’t do what she obviously could.
Of course, just because she recognized her own growth didn’t mean her ingrained habits would change overnight.
However, Eleonora was under a magic that made anything possible for her now.
“Please watch over me, my Master.”
The savior who twisted her fate that had doomed her to die as a human slave and the family that had taken her in when she was left alone in the world.
If it was Aria’s wish, Eleonora could achieve anything.
Habits? Mindset?
For Eleonora, who could lay down her life without a moment’s hesitation for Aria, changing the habits and mindset that were fine-tuned by her instincts for survival was no trouble at all.
She gripped the dagger tightly.
As she stared down at her opponent, a massive greatsword was swinging horizontally towards her.
“I am not weak.”
Her softly whispered words to herself were drowned out by the fierce wind.
In the next moment, a small dagger clashed against the massive greatsword that was dozens of times larger.
Eleonora’s dagger was crafted by a Dwarf.
The first dagger that Aria gifted her was still a precious treasure, but it was an ordinary item designed for a little girl, no longer suitable for Eleonora now.
That was why, while staying at Iron Grave, Aria had commissioned a weaponsmith through Bolton to make a sturdy dagger appropriate for adult Eleonora.
Screech!!!
The collision of the two swords sent a piercing metallic sound into the air.
Until now, Eleonora had merely been deflecting the greatsword, but as she finally countered head-on, Cardan furrowed his brow.
It was a simple, brute-force push with no consideration of the possibility of losing in strength.
Yet, what was pushed back by that clash wasn’t the little dagger but the greatsword, taller than Eleonora.
“I am not weak.”
The same words as before.
But this time, they carried a bit more weight and were loud enough to reach the opponent’s ears.
“Suddenly like this… No, is this the true power of a Dragonkin?”
Cardan Lionheart didn’t feel fear or anxiety.
He was confident almost to the point of arrogance in his strength, but frankly, wasn’t he already serving a cat Beastman who physically overwhelmed him as a king?
The fact that he was having a stand-off with a Dragonkin girl who had just reached adulthood was slightly less than enough to throw him off balance.
“If I can’t win in strength, then I’ll win with skill.”
Cardan relied on the skills he had honed over decades on the battlefield.
Trusting in the path he had walked as a Beastman warrior, and the decisions made by someone he trusted more than himself, the greatsword and dagger, each filled with their own conviction, clashed, sending sparks flying and melting the snow of the snowy mountains.
Suddenly, an enormous tail swirled among the clashing metals.
As Eleonora turned her back, Cardan, without hesitation, released the greatsword and grabbed Eleonora’s tail with his bare hands.
Thunk, Cardan’s fingers snapped as he faced a mass that far exceeded his expectations.
Nevertheless, Cardan succeeded in grabbing the Dragonkin’s tail with both hands.
Gritting his teeth, Cardan spun around twice before letting go.
Whoosh, without her center of gravity, Eleonora was launched at terrifying speed over the cliff.
“Huh? Eleon—”
BANG!!!
Lavina’s startled scream was completely engulfed by the explosive sound that erupted from the sky.
Breath.
This unique and destructive magic that only Dragonkin could wield vaporized all the falling snow around.
The force of the Dragon’s breath managed to change the direction of the power impacting the girl’s body tossed into the air.
WHOOSH!!!
With the rebound of the explosion, Eleonora fell back down at an incredible speed, crashing behind Cardan.
The mountain shook, reverberating loudly, and cracks spider-webbed across the ground. However, the ruggedly raised Eleonora surged back immediately, swinging the dagger she held backward.
A fierce determination not to let the enemy take control under any circumstances.
Cardan clicked his tongue at her toughness, which clashed with her calm and cold exterior.
Though appearing indifferent, Cardan himself was starting to feel anxious.
Things had gone too awry.
If everything had gone according to plan, the hidden archers would not have even discovered the real identity of the Suwang, but considering that, he should not have been tied up fighting against just one girl.
“This kid is still growing stronger.”
Her growth speed was far from normal.
No, more accurately, it was as if she was finding her true place.
Though Cardan still had the advantage, the momentum of Eleonora, breaking through her limits and relentlessly pursuing, showed no signs of waning.
The grip on Cardan’s greatsword tightened.
In that moment, for the first time, he completely excluded everyone else from his mind except Eleonora.
He recognized that this girl was not an opponent he could easily defeat while paying attention to the surrounding situation.
The greatsword glittered white as it came down at a speed difficult even to follow, yet Eleonora dashed forward instead of backward.
Like lightning, Eleonora burrowed into Cardan’s embrace, and as she opened her mouth wide, Cardan, sensing the Breath, twisted his body.
It was only a moment, but he revealed his first gap.
But in the next moment and the one after that, there was no violent flame spewing from Eleonora’s mouth. Instead—
Pook.
Eleonora’s horn poked Cardan’s shoulder.
Before a disaster occurred that would leave a hole in his shoulder and tear his arm off, Cardan desperately grabbed Eleonora’s horn.
At first, he thought to break it, but realizing his strength alone couldn’t budge it, Cardan put all his effort into pushing the horn away and delivering a kick to Eleonora’s abdomen.
“Gah—”
Eleonora, bent in half, swallowed her scream as she rebounded.
Now was the time for opportunity.
Cardan, reaching for the greatsword again, was pierced in his wrist and thigh by two arrows that had flown from out of nowhere.
“…Elf.”
“Well done, Eleonora.”
Standing beside the gritting-tooth Eleonora was Lavina, who had landed as if she had always been there.
Only then did Cardan realize that all of the Suwong Kingdom’s archers had been neutralized.
He hadn’t noticed.
Focused entirely on the Dragonkin girl who pursued him with her overwhelming presence, he had disregarded all other enemies, which was a grave error.
Of course, given the circumstances, it was understandable, but that justification didn’t solve the problem.
‘This is the worst situation.’
He hadn’t even finished the one-on-one battle easily, and now he was questioning whether there was any chance of victory.
In a situation where he should have joined Shete, he had wasted too much time.
However, Cardan’s thoughts did not linger long.
“Quite boring, isn’t it?”
As he reflexively lifted his sword at the voice that suddenly came from a very close distance, Cardan hurriedly let go of the greatsword and braced his body to take the incoming object.
Thunk! With a dull, squishy noise, the Suwang Shete landed squarely on Cardan’s chest.
“Eleonora, are you okay?”
“Yes, Master. Just a little kick… is all.”
The short conversation between the irritated Dragonkin and the Queen passed by, but it didn’t reach Cardan’s ears.
Conscious but battered, the Suwang.
Knowing better than anyone how powerful a Beastman could be as Shete Raselo serving as her counterpart, Cardan could only feel utterly astonished.
“…That’s totally a monster.”
Shete, who staggered down using her spear like a staff and spat out the blood pooling in her mouth, murmured.
However, neither Shete nor Cardan could continue to resist.
“You’d best not move.”
Cool, taut sensations touched their necks and limbs.
Seeing the faint red glow reflecting off the pure white snow, Shete and Cardan finally recognized the countless threads of blood spider-webbed around them.
“If you don’t want to die right here.”
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