"I-it's here!"

Reacting to these words all five of us get up from the sofa.

Phil opens the door and finds several people there.

Claudia, the receptionist who was in charge of my registration, along several other people.

Those people were one of the scouting groups.

"Sir! We have spotted a black object flying in the sky to the east."

"When we focused on it with our telescope, we saw black winged creature, presumably a d-dragon..."

"I see."

"East huh..."

"So the dragon came from the same direction you did."

Phil glances at me before giving out his command.

"Evacuate everyone from the port."

"Claudia, contact the other scouting teams and tell them to help evacuate."

""Yes sir!""

The people disperse at his words leaving us behind.

"Looks like it's time..."

Everyone nods to Phil's words.

Belion then puts on a blindfold.

It's a countermeasure for phantom presence.

I tried using it on everyone to make them get used to it.

And he was the only one who couldn't fully resist it in the end.

"Let's go."

|= A quick trip to the port later =|

"Where is it?"

"There."

I point to the dragon far away in the sky flying toward us.

It appears that my five senses are also more advanced than normal people's.

Especially my sight.

"So how do we do this?"

"We can't really do it on the ocean."

"And the city is a big no as well."

"...I will lure him outside."

I point north of the port at a nearby forest.

"...alright, you do that and we will prepare."

Everyone nods at Phil's words and starts moving.

[Air blast]

I jump outside the city with one leap and run to the forest.

When I get there, I climb up onto the tallest tree I can see and search the skies again.

After spotting the dragon, I start gathering mana.

Let's hope he will go for me and not the city...

[Fire missile]

A flaming projectile shoots out of my hand.

However, this one leaves behind a long trail of mana connecting it to my hand.

With this, I should be able to adjust the trajectory so I won't miss even at this distance.

When the dragon notices it, he tries to dodge it, but I curve the spell's path and hit him from the side.

He staggers in the air a bit from the impact but soon stabilizes again.

Then he lets out a roar and locks his eyes on me.

Opening his mouth, he shoots out a big ball of flames.

[Phantom force]

I bounce back his attack and he dodges it.

He speeds up as he starts charging at me.

As he gets closer, fear starts creeping into me.

[Phantom presence]

After countering his intimidation I draw my sword and stare back at him.

As he charges down from the sky, he readies his claw.

I also start gathering mana and prepare to counterattack.

[Phantom will]

I jump back as I hear a loud screeching noise.

My clothes are torn and all the trees behind me are cut.

But my actual body is without wounds.

[Phantom annihilation]

I swing down my sword with the dragon almost next to me and he gets hit by it head on.

He crashes into the trees as he lets out a scream.

I don't wait for anything and dash right at him.

After getting close I cut into his skin and a little of his blood gushes out.

I pull a bottle of my own blood from my storage and open it.

[Blood flow]

Before he has a chance to react, I mix both of our bloods and start drawing a magic circle with them.

He tries to swing his claw at me again but finds that he is stuck in the ground.

Good work, everything is going as planned.

He then opens his mouth and tries to shoot me with fire instead but is interrupted by an icy wind blast hitting his face.

It's done.

[Blood seal]

Light gushes out of the magic circle and hits both me and the dragon.

When that happens, both of us get our movements sealed.

"D-did we do it?"

I hear Belion's voice behind me.

"Don't let your guard down!"

The dragon forcefully tries to break it but I'm using all my power to hold him down.

Bob keeps reinforcing the ground in which the dragon got stuck while Blizzard starts gathering mana.

She attempts to freeze the dragon's jaw with some spell several times and finally succeeds.

Finally, Belion starts getting ready with us three still restraining the dragon.

"Do it!!!"

On Blizzard's scream, he finally fires off his spell.

A big explosion flares up at the dragon's neck and he lets out a painful cry.

A strong surge of wind hits me, but I still concentrate on holding the dragon down.

Something like that won't kill him.

When the dust finally settles down, we see the dragon with severe burns on his neck.

But he isn't dead, he isn't even unconscious.

"W-what monster...!"

"Keep doing it!"

Belion is astonished for a moment, but is brought back to reality by Blizzard's yell.

After gathering some more mana, another explosion appears on the dragon's neck.

There is now a severe wound on his neck, but his powerful glare indicates no sign of giving up.

"DIE YOU STUPID OVERSIZED LIZARD!"

Belion finally lets go of his fear and releases a war cry.

Three more explosions hit the dragon's neck and his head is finally blown off.

The head rolls on the ground and the rest of the body stops resisting.

...

"W-we did it...?"

"It's dead!"

"We did it!"

"Yeah!!!"

Belion takes off his blindfold and looks at the dead monster.

His half opened mouth soon turns into a smile as his eyes start to tear up.

"I...did it..."

"No, you didn't!"

"WE did it!"

"Together!"

"...you are right..."

"I see what you tried to tell me now."

"Alone, I may be weak."

"But with comrades by my side..."

"Nothing is impossible."

...

Belion's words somehow resound inside my head.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

...

First try...?

I tried so many times to defeat this dragon and always failed...

Is it really because I was alone...?

Is having teammates such a big advantage?

Even if my teammates are so much weaker than me...?

I really don't get it.

"We did it Reiza!"

"...yeah."

After releasing the seal, I turned around at them but for some reason...

They all seem...surprised?

What?

What happened?

"..y-you smiled?"

What?

I touch my face in confusion.

"Haha...so even someone like you can smile."

They all started laughing...

I don't get it...

Is smiling something special?

Did I never smile before?

Am I weird after all?

"Well, we did it!"

"Let's go back and call someone to dismantle this beast."

"I'm certain it will all be worth a fortune!"

"...yeah."

Status screen: open.

...

Wait...

Why...

Why is it not completed?

Didn't I kill the monster?

He is dead, right?

I hurriedly look at the dragon...

But it's still lying on the ground motionlessly.

...

Why?

Is there another monster?

But what mon-!?!

Suddenly, I feel rumbling under my feet.

The ground is shaking...

No, this entire forest is moving.

"W-what?!"

"...it's...not over."

"What do you mean?!"

"First, run."

We quickly run back to the city and meet up with Phil.

"What's going on?!"

"Why is the earth shaking?!"

"...another...monster..."

Everyone paled once I said that.

I look back toward the forest.

The entire forest is...rising up.

After a while, I finally see what's happening.

There was a giant monster sleeping under that forest.

Just like the quest said.

It was sleeping there long enough for a forest to grow over it.

It raises its head and looks at this city.

It's...a giant turtle?

But it's too big.

It's like that purple slime back in the dungeon.

"I-impossible!"

"I thought it was just a myth!"

"What?"

Phil takes a step back while paling even more and everyone else looks at him with a questioning face.

He looks down and slowly opens his shaky mouth.

"There is a myth, that a giant tortoise sleeps beneath this land."

"And if anyone were to disturb its sleep, its wrath will swallow the entire city."

"But..."

He looks away and closes his eyes.

"I thought it was just a fairy tale meant to scare children..."

Blizzard clenches her teeth and fist.

"Dammit, what do we do now?!"

"I'm...almost completely out of mana."

"I used it all up on those explosions."

...

I also used up a considerable amount of mana.

I made an armageddon scroll in advance and stored it away just in case.

But now I have barely enough mana to finish the spell...

And even if I did that, it would probably destroy the city as well...

The turtle finally cuts us off as it lets out a deafening cry.

It was so loud, we all had to hold our ears.

I could even feel my insides tremble.

Most of the dirt and trees fall off of its shell revealing its massive figure.

Right after that, it opens its giant mouth and a green ball of mana starts gathering in it.

"Acid magic?!"

"Quick, run!"

"We can't handle this anymore!"

I can't run.

If I run, the city will be destroyed and I will have to start over.

I have to do what I have always done.

Fight to the death.

When they start running away, I start running toward the monstrously giant turtle.

"W-wait! Reiza!"

"I can't run!"

The turtle shoots a huge wave of acid toward me and the city.

[Phantom mimic: long blade]

Using phantom magic, I extend my swords blade massively and then swing it.

[Phantom force]

The entire wave of acid instantly changes direction and flies back at the turtle.

The turtle however, hides its head inside its shell and the acid only hits the shell.

The shell looks too durable...

Damn how do I...

...

That's it!

An enemy with strong defense...

[Air blast]

I jump up high and land on top of the turtle.

I hear it roar as it extends its head back out.

But I can do this.

I grasp at the air and pull out the armageddon scroll.

Pressing it against the turtle's shell I start gathering every last bit of my mana and inserting it inside the shell.

[Armageddon!]

----------------------------------------

Bonus:

Fun fact time.

Fact no. 1:

Chapter 10: The solution is just an illusion

In this chapter, she makes a replica of the key and unlocks the door with it.

What wasn't said, is that the real key was made of special material.

And the key she made, was made of fake iron (transformed mana).

But it worked anyway...

"Hey it was just a normal door lock."

"She could probably unlock it with a pair of big hairpins as well."

Fact no. 2:

Chapter 12: The final battle?

In this chapter, she takes the dragon's phantom annihilation head on using the mysterious 'phantom will' and receives no wounds at all.

But a little later, she uses phantom will again to jump through a wind barrier and gets cut.

So why is that?

Well, phantom will was something she developed in order to fight against other phantom magic users.

The effect it has is to turn an enemy's magical attack back into pure mana in real time, making it mostly harmless.

However, this effect can only be really seen against other phantom attacks.

It has very minimal effect against other magic.

"Whaaa?"

"So it's not a cheat spell that gives you 100% damage reduction?"

Side note: she totally forgot she can use it on her own magic, when she tried to cancel her spell in chapter 15.

Fact no. 3:

Chapter 15: Human interaction

In this chapter, she nonchalantly blows up a pirate ship without giving a single damn.

What she wasn't aware of, was the fact that the pirates had some captured women jailed under the dock.

Of course, they didn't survive, which means she killed several innocent people...

"Hey why are you bringing this up?"

"It makes me feel bad."

"And the readers probably too..."