Dragon-san Wants a Friend

Volume 5 Chapter 20: The Long Day of Dragon-san and Company Continues, Part 1

Translator: Kurehashi Aiko

Elvie was desperately running under the sky ridden with shooting stars.

As soon as Aru’s magic took effect, Elvie and company were transported right inside of the white fog, with Elvie staying close to Ligurila.

For a moment out there Elvie was afraid that the ‘Eclipse’ might still have its horrifying effect, but after a few seconds of absolutely nothing happening, Elvie could let out a sigh of relief.

Looking closely, Elvie could see that the golden particles that rained down from the sky was now covering his body like a protective barrier.

And though he could still hear Aru’s supportive thoughts inside of his head, there was no time for them to lose.

「Ahahahaha! How’s that, the fog has no effect on us! Now, let’s go, you two! Let’s get rid of this thing for good!」

Ligurila laughed cheerfully while letting her golden hair down. Her purple eyes were glowing brightly as she was already engaged in battle with monsters which were coming at them from every possible direction.

The monsters were coming at them without stopping, but they were able to march forward slowly but steadily, cutting a path for themselves.

Occasionally there would be some larger monster or demon out there trying to jump at them, but Senjiro’s spear would make a quick work out of it.

Despite slaughtering so many monsters more was still on their way, but Elvie’s group didn’t stop for but a single moment, always pushing forward.

Even though Elvie wanted to do everything he could to save Vaas with his own two hands, he was already starting to regret coming here with a pair of two monsters like Ligurila and Senjiro, since they were slicing the monsters like it was no one’s business while Elvie was having a hard time catching up to them.

「What’s the matter, boy? Try to keep up with us.」

「I’m, I’m fine! You don’t have to worry about me!」

Ligurila continued to massacre the enemies, and then she said earnestly to Elvie:

「If you’re having trouble with keeping up, want me to carry you?」

「I said I’m fine! I will run properly on my own!」

Although the other groups that were heading towards other two dragons were the size of small battalions, their group consisted of only three people since Ligurila and Senjiro’s abilities were more than adequate for the job.

The only reason Elvie was here to begin with, was so that he could deal the final blow and seal the deal.

They were heading to Vaas’s last known location before the ‘Eclipse’ covered the land.

There was also a possibility that Vaas got transported somewhere else after the fog covered the land, so from there on out they would need to search for him manually.

But since Elvie and Marca spent so much time with him, and they had a piece of Vaas’s scale with them, Elvie felt as though he could sense his friend’s whereabouts.

It was for only this reason why Elvie, the weakest link in this team’s chain, was allowed to come here in the first place.

Henceforth Elvie’s safety was of priority here. After all, it would be mission complete only if they managed to succeed and come back home alive and well.

Hearing Elvie’s response, Ligurila nodded with satisfaction. She must have expected him to answer just like that.

And while Elvie was becoming somewhat relieved, he could feel that the other two suddenly became very nervous.

There was something in front of them, something brimming with malicious killing intent. Elvie managed to withstand it, but ordinary people would most probably turn around and run for their lives by that point.

「Looks like we are getting closer……」

As the shooting stars rained from the sky, their visibility was becoming somewhat clearer, since the fog was growing thinner under the effects of Aru’s magic.

Elvie could someone understand that the ground they were walking on was rather rough, but now it turned out it was a desolated waste with no grass or any kind of vegetation.

The plants may have been gone, but the rocks were still there alrights, looking like grim monuments.

It was amongst that desolated wasteland that Elvie finally felt that the earth began to tremble.

Something was moving towards them. Something huge and massive.

Then, what emerged from behind the pile of rocks was a massive body of a dragon.

Elvie has seen this form on several occasions.

However, it was the first time he was able to witness its original size.

It looked just like the dragon inside of his memories, with strong limbs and scales the color of sand, although this time around it was way more imposing.

But the difference was that its whole body was covered in thick layer of white fog which was slowly eating away at its body.

「Vaas……!?」

Elvie called out to his friend, and the dragon turned its head towards them in response.

Its golden eyes were covered in fog, and there was hostility clearly visible in them.

Elvie felt chills run down his spine and he felt strangely empty inside.

Looking at Elvie this whole time, Vaas spread its huge wings as he began to move throughout the rocky desolation.

「Elvie-dono, shoot it!」

Elvie finally noticed that Senjiro was pulling on his arm while urging him to act. In response to Senjiro’s words, Elvie took the long rifle from his back and readied it to fire.

The spells were being engraved along the entire length of the muzzle, as well as the bullet inside of the gun, so that when fire the bullet would be propelled at the speed of the sound.

Even if aiming that thing properly, if his target was this big surely he wouldn’t have any trouble with hitting his mark.

Elvie pulled the trigger and set the bullet into motion.

Elvie felt the bullet sipping out his magic when the spell was activated, but those special anti-dragon bullets were designed as such as to not cause any backlash on the user.

However, just before the bullet manage to hit the body of the dragon, it was swallowed by the fog covering its body and got turned to dust.

「Wha!?」

Soon after witnessing that, Elvie could feel all the strength leaving his body.

Looking at Vaas, h spread his huge wings and got into the air at an incredible speed.

But before he could attack together with fog monsters, a huge amount of ice spikes began to shoot at it from the ground.

The spikes didn’t do any damage to the dragon, but at least they managed to stop him from ascending, forcing it to land on the ground.

As soon as Elvie rose his face he could see Ligurila levitating in the air, smiling elegantly and being surrounded by many ice spikes, ready to be shot again.

「Hmph, even with your sanity lost, your draconic abilities still stay the same. In the meantime…… Since we won’t be able to hit it properly unless we get rid of that layer of ‘Eclipse’ first.」

Elvie saw Ligurila smile in a really terrifying way.

Suddenly, her slender and curvy frame began to elongate and expand.

After the light covering her body subsided, what remained in place of Ligurila was a huge jellyfish-like monster.

Her appearance may have changed, but still there was something elegant and beautiful about it.

However, it was still a fact that her size was smaller than the dragon’s.

Still, even though she knew that Elvie could feel an even bigger fighting spirit coming from her than before.

As soon as the dragon saw Ligurila, it raised the nearby rocks which began to fly around just like a raging storm.

With the sandstorm about to take his vision away from him, Elvie put on the googles he prepared in advance, and then he heard Ligurila’s passionate voice.

「Boy, I hope that you do have some bullets left?」

「Y, yes! About three more!」

Since even a mediocre sorcerer was able to use magical guns with ease, for Elvie, who was more accustomed to them than anyone else, it would be probably easy to fire even a few more shots than that. However, he mustn’t waste his magic in vain.

「For now, stay close to Senjiro. I will make an opening for you, so be sure to be ready when the time comes!」

「Right!」

Elvie responded like that, knowing full well that if he separated from them even for a minute it would surely spell out his death.

Ligurila then turned towards Senjiro.

「Senjiro, I’ll rip you to shreds if you try to get in my way.」

「Umu.」

With that exchange being over, Ligurila shook her tentacles and jumped right into the sandstorm.

「Senjiro-san do you really think it’s wise to let her do this!?」

Elvie asked Senjiro a question like that, but Senjiro hardly even reacted to it. He only cocked his head slightly while observing Ligurila.

「Yes, because we’ve promised that to one another since the very beginning. Besides, it’s been a while since I last saw Ligurila having so much fun.」

Was that envy in his voice!? But before Elvie could clarify that, Senjiro was already gone.

Then, with a loud impact, the bodies of monsters that were about to attack Elvie were send flying all over the place.

Elvie was trying his best to keep up with Senjiro, but for every single monster he took out another two or three were coming in its place.

There wasn’t any hostility or kill intent emanating from them either. It’s just like they were coming after them automatically, just because they were here.

「Elvie-dono, you must be prepared to fire at any time. I shall protect you all the time, so please worry not about your safety.」

Elvie wanted to tell him that this was madness, going against monsters like that all alone, but he decided to keep those words to himself.

Looking at Senjiro’s profile Elvie could see that he was focused to the maximum, but the corners of his lips were lifted in a smile of satisfaction.

Looking at his waist, Elvie could see that Senjiro’s tail was wagging.

Strangely enough, he seemed to be enjoying this situation more than anything else.

「We Guardians are accostumed to these kind of dangerous situations. It is in times like this that we can utilize our abilities in order to protect the things we love. Elvie-dono, your job is to strike whenever the opportunity presents itself. So please trust me in the same manner as I trust you right now.」

Feeling Senjiro’s stern gaze upon himself, Elvie swallowed hard.

If all this time that Elvie spent as a Hunter taught him something, now was the time to use that knowledge and experience.

「Leave this to me!」

Both Ligurila and Senjiro had more magic than Elvie to shoot the gun, but they weren’t able to operate it properly.

So it was Elvie’s role to deliver the finishing blow.

This was his current task. And as a true Hunter, he must accomplish this task no matter what.

Once Elvie began to load another bullet into the gun’s firing chamber, Senjiro raised his spear again.

「Take that!」

His hair shook slightly and in the next moment Senjiro disappeared. From the way he went to battle the monsters, Elvie understood that he wasn’t a mere First Class Hunter. He was something else…… A partner of this golden demonic jellyfish. Its equal.

They trusted each other with their lives, knew the way in which they were fighting and could easily read their next movements and tactics.

That is why Elvie felt the connection between being especially strong, one that no one would be able to break that easily.

There was nothing else that Elvie could say. The only thing he could do now was to do his job, just like these two.

So, ignoring all of the commotion that was happening right now, Elvie took a specially made bipod from his backpack and set in on the ground. He then proceeded to install it onto the rifle.

Enhancing his vision with magic, Elvie could see two giant shadows clashing with one another in the distance, with occasional mighty blows reaching his ears and flashes of magical energy blinking right before his eyes.

Magical guns which were specified for being able to shoot targets that were far away had a lot of recoil to them and were thusly hard to operate with both hands.

That is why Elvie thought that adding the third point might prove to be helpful.

Remembering the situation from just before, Elvie couldn’t help it but to feel anxious when he targeted Vaas again.

Could he regain his sanity after being thrown into such a condition? He must help him. He had to bring Vaas back with the next shot. Each consecutive shot was using tremendous amounts of magical energy, therefore making it increasing harder to land a hit with each shot.

I can do this, he kept on saying that to himself.

When his anxiety was beginning to overtake him, Elvie could feel the warmth of the magic that was surrounding him.

“If it is you, El-senpai, you will reach him for sure.”

The image of Aru came to Elvie’s mind. Suddenly, his heart became all warm.

「That’s right. That kid is also doing his best!」

Elvie locked his sight on the gigantic dragon and put his finger on the side of the trigger, ready to fire anytime.

He practiced that many times now. He felt as though he would be able to do it for sure.

「VAAS!!!」

He shouted the name of his dear friend with everything he had.

But,

「I am your friend. So I am definitely going to save you!」

Even with its enhanced visibility, the dragon’s movements were becoming more and more sluggish.

Maybe it was because of its mind, or maybe it was because something else.

Whatever the cause may have been, Elvie was waiting for his moment to strike, with his finger resting upon the trigger.