Chapter 266: Nostalgic Feeling

[What…?]

Fafnir growled as he absorbed Fenrir’s attack.

Although the hit dealt basically zero damage, it wounded his pride. After all his boasting earlier, he had let her slip through and land an attack on his back so easily! If it had been a more effective strike, he might be in serious trouble now instead.

But that’s just speculation at this point.

The dragon, with scales darker than black, swung its massive arms around, almost as if swatting a fly. Fenrir, having boosted her Overdrive to 100% output, couldn’t even see the arm approaching before it landed squarely on her face.

A palm, a dragon claw, that was about twice as wide as she was tall!

Unable to guard herself, she was sent flying across the cavern, crashing through the ceiling and continuing upward. She was mercilessly ejected from the battlefield!

“Tsk!” Axel clicked his tongue.

He was worried for Fenrir, but he couldn’t change the plan now.

Thankfully, Fenrir’s reckless stunt had distracted Fafnir, allowing Axel to reach the dragon’s leg. He waved his sword—a different one from the melted blade he had used against Bella before—and slashed.

Fafnir saw the attack coming but didn’t even bother to dodge.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

The dragon’s scales were impervious to any attacks, so he wouldn’t suffer injuries even if he were struck. Additionally, a blow to the leg is not as dishonorable as one to the back. Therefore, while he concentrated on Bellachrona, who was preparing a more powerful assault, Axel’s sword struck—

SLASH!

—And cut one scale open, drawing blue blood easily.

GROOOOAAAAAAAH!

Fafnir didn’t expect to get injured, crying out in pain— a sensation he hadn’t felt in hundreds of years since becoming a dragon!

Axel grinned, pleased that his attack had worked, and prepared to land another.

This time, he boosted his Overdrive to 1000% all at once.

His new sword, the Legendary Dragon-slaying Broadsword—Gram (Replica), managed to slash through a couple more scales, creating a ten-meter-long, one-meter-deep gash on the evil dragon’s twelve-meter-thick leg.

“HAAAAP!”

But that wasn’t all.

As Fafnir reeled from the long-lost sensation of pain, Arianne sprang into action. Her body strengthening was pushed to its limits as she leaped toward the dragon’s face. Her sword, similar to Axel’s, struck true.

While her swing didn’t have the same force as Axel’s attack, it landed across the evil dragon’s blood-red eyes.

It penetrated about a tenth of the depth of Axel’s strike and barely covered the eye, which was roughly two meters across. Still, given the sensitivity of that organ, her attack likely inflicted more “damage” than Axel’s had.

Two attacks landed in quick succession.

Fafnir’s mind was overwhelmed by the long-lost feeling, causing his reactions to lag several beats. This delay allowed Bellachrona to make her move… though it was hardly a significant attack.

She didn’t strike with full force.

She didn’t unleash a breath attack or a concentrated beam like the one she had used against Fenrir earlier. Instead, she merely touched the dragon’s thick thigh and then backed off.

At first glance, nothing seemed to have happened.

However, everyone who witnessed the encounter quickly understood her intent.

“Alright, now!”

And with Axel’s command, Fenrir suddenly appeared by the dragon’s leg. She was covered in dust and stones but still looked ready to fight—completely unfazed and unharmed.

“HRRRRGH!”

Fenrir wasted no time.

She quickly concentrated, opening a rift directly beneath the dragon. It was so large that it took a few seconds to fully form—an eternity for beings of their power.

Fafnir noticed this and realized he had to act. Despite the pain dulling his thoughts, he managed to move. He spread his grand wings, which were twice as long as his body, preparing to take flight when—

“Time, heed my command: STOP!”

Bellachrona’s brief chant reached the dragon’s ears.

As soon as it did, his body stiffened, almost as if frozen in time. He wanted to move, but he couldn’t; his body refused to obey his commands. The reason for this was the glowing emblem etched on his thigh.

[…!]

The evil dragon realized, without needing to think, that it was Bellachrona’s doing.

A sigil had caused his body to stop temporarily.

Though his consciousness remained intact, he was completely immobile.

If he forced himself, breaking free from the binding wouldn’t be difficult. However, it would be too late to escape from Fenrir’s rift by then. With no other option, he had to surrender to it while quickly working to free himself from the temporal lock.

Axel watched as the evil dragon fell into the rift. At that moment, his expression turned serious. Their plans had been progressing well up to this point, but the next moment was crucial.

Fenrir had to act quickly.

As soon as the evil dragon landed in the center of the weakening curse formation created by Nina and Ria, it activated. The curse, more potent than the one used on Bella earlier, swiftly attached itself and reduced the dragon’s stats by 50%.

Noticing the curse taking effect, Fenrir opened another portal to a location several dozen kilometers away—a desolate wasteland devoid of life.

“Let’s move!” Axel commanded urgently, leaping into the rift that Fenrir had left open.

Only he, Bella, Arianne, Nina, Ria, and Eve followed him.

Maria and Cherry were the only ones who remained behind, tasked with a different role than the others. As the dragon was drawn away, the fallen dwarven kingdom finally fell into a state of “peace.” This meant…

“As planned, let’s collect everything that’s in here!” Maria commanded.

It was time for them to scour the entire place.

Their main target was the giant goblet of fire, about three times as tall as Maria and with a base wider than her span—the Hearthfire of Nidavellir. They initially believed that, despite its size, placing it in the inventory would be a simple task.

“Huh…?”

However, the goblet, despite being an object, refused to be stored in the system’s inventory. They tried again and again but were met with failure. The goblet simply wouldn’t get stored!

“W-What’s going on…?” Cherry asked, her confusion evident.

Maria placed a hand to her chin, thinking long and hard, before arriving at one conclusion.

“Sir Axel mentioned that living things can’t be placed inside the Inventory… Could this Hearthfire be… alive?”

“A lick of flame? Living?”

Cherry gasped, as if she had just heard the most unbelievable news. But given the circumstances, she soon began to believe it could be true.

Their task had shifted from an easy heist to a difficult one.

“Alright, leave this to me. You all should collect everything else that can be looted from this place as we originally planned!”

Maria added, pulling up her sleeves.

“I… will carry this goblet by hand!”

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