Suddenly, I feel a sense of betrayal spreading all over my body.

Are you telling me that we've been wasting our bullets and magic on the wrong lizards the whole time?

''Suuu~ Phew...'' I close my eyes and take a really, really deep breath in an effort to calm the steam rising in my head.

Let's think about something else for a moment, yes... Coc-

-no, wait, let's think about my lovely fiancés, yes.

''Hah...'' I breathe out one last time and open my eyes to observe the situation again.

It seems like Emy, Fox Saint and my grandparents are dumbfounded as well, judging from their silence and resigned face.

GRAHHH

Looking down, the illusion dragons are quite convincingly overpowering the real ones, probably because we've depleted most of the latter's stamina already.

Uwah... They're going straight for the necks, how brutal. The scene can only be described as cinematic, with four unscathed dragons chasing and biting the more ragged ones, all the while screaming profusely. Of course, I did put a sound barrier to protect our ears from those idiots since the fake one spawned, so now I'm just assuming it from their gaping jaws.

''Either way, it's a good chance, let's go down the hole first.'' Fox Saint speaks up after a sigh.

''Alright.'' Grandpa simply nods, and we begin to descend while dodging the dragon and magic hell in the sky. I feel like we're playing Touhou.

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

Some minutes later, we're at the bottom of the dark and deep hole that I made using explosives.

''Here we... Go...!'' I grunt, using my telekinesis to throw the dragon's corpse out of the hole, which ain't easy, mind you, this is 150 meters underground, and the dragon is not a feather either.

''Phew...''

''Good job, love.'' Emy gives me a back hug, stroking my head gently.

Ah, this is all worth it now.

(´◡` )

''I told you to leave it to me.'' Grandpa shakes his head.

''I can't let a 1400-year-old man lift that heavy, can't I?'' I shrug. ''And I got this, so it's all worth it.''

My grandparents each lets out a satisfied sigh as I nuzzle myself into Emy's embrace even more, feeling up her warm body heat and nice smell.

''It's strange.'' Fox Saint suddenly speaks up, rubbing her chin with her hand gently. ''Why can't I feel any mana...''

If I had to describe the orange surface that we're standing on, I would say that it feels more like metal than anything else. It's extremely thick, not to mention the strange... Membrane? Right outside the metal part that I can vaguely sense as well.

KENG

Fox Saint slams one of her indestructible ice spears down the surface, causing a loud noise that echoes through the hole.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

'''' ... ''''

Not to mention piercing it, the surface is totally unscathed, and do I see the tip of the ice spear bending a bit...? Wait, can this withstand a nuke...? How about mana nukes?

''Yeah, no. I don't think we can get past this.'' Fox Saint sighs. ''Let's go up again.''

''Maybe capture one of the dragons and interrogate it?'' Grandma tilts her head cutely.

Elves are amazing, to think a 1400-year-old hag can look this good.

''I was thinking about that, too. Grandpa, please.'' I reply.

I got Emy's praise already, so I won't do it anymore.

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

When we reach the surface above, the battle is already near its end. All four illusion dragons, albeit a bit ragged, are still alive and kicking, while the only remaining real one is looking super dead.

A game of four cats and one mouse, and the cats won't even let the mouse run away, their AIs are really good, I'd say.

In the first place, what is the spawning and despawning mechanism here, really? I'm so confused. We still haven't found the medium for summoning either...

''I remember that one.'' Emy behind me speaks up. ''It talked before.''

''Perfect.'' I reply, pulling out my Hecate again, my bullets... ''Grandpa, can you restrict that running one's movements?''

clack

skrrt

He can't hold it for too long, but it'll do if I join in afterward.

''No need.'' Fox Saint stretches out her hand, and immediately, four giant ice chains burst out of her palm. It's absurd, really, like I'm seeing Doraemon taking a giant machine out of his little 4D pocket, almost.

The chains fly with unparalleled speed toward the ragged dragon and warp themselves around it, with a simple yank from Fox Saint, the dragon is helplessly pulled from the sky toward us.

KIEEK

It only takes a few seconds for her to bring a giant dragon down right before us.

''Wow~'' Grandma exclaims, clapping in approval.

Shit, she's not a Saint for nothing, huh. Either way, this looks like a job for me now.

BOOM

skrrt

So I start to rapid-fire my .50 cal. Exactly four shots later, all of them are goners.

'''' ... ''''

So they won't spawn anymore? Eh, whatever. I don't want to think about it anymore.

We approach the chained dragon, who appears to be having a hard time. There are scars all over its body, short and pained breaths, eyes closed tightly.

''Morph into a humanoid shape, at least I can freeze the wounds for you.'' Fox Saint says calmly.

GRRR

The dragon grunts and turns its head away, but after just a bit, it seems to have understood the situation that it is in.

Its body glows a rather dim light as it shrinks in size, gradually shaping into a male- no, female? Human.

''Oh.'' Grandma hurriedly covers her confused husband's eyes.

The dragon is a redheaded futa, and she's naked. However, that's not the main focus. The wounds all over her body look pretty bad.

''Let's freeze her wounds and get back to Anna.'' I speak up.

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

''So. Name, age, and occupation.'' I knit my hands together on the table and put my chin on it.

Surrounding the lone and shivering dragon girl kneeling in the middle of the room are us - The Saint party, the former Saints, my grandparents, and Sara.

''U-Um...'' The girl speaks up with a tiny voice and seems to be on the verge of tears.

I had Anna heal her, and I gave her some clothes as well.

''Name, age, and occupation.'' My voice turns a bit chilly.

''Hiii...!''

'''' ... ''''

Did she get PTSD or something? Why is she curled up to a ball already...

''Hah...'' I sigh in frustration and use telekinesis to pull the girl closer to me, untangling her as well. ''Last time, name, age, and occupation.''

I crank my intimidation factor to the max, staring straight at her teary red eyes.

''C-Courage, it's Courage!'' She tries to struggle, but it's not really possible when she's in human form.

''And?''

''4-403-year-old, a knight...''

Her name doesn't fit her at all. But okay. Wait, her name is Courage and she's cowardly, isn't this copyrighted? Eh, whatever.

''What was the objective of the earlier attack?''

Instantly, moisture seems to evaporate from her eyes, and on her face is a look of determination.

''I can't talk about that, even if I... Were... To...'' She trails off, mostly because I'm pointing my Hecate at her face.

gulp

''W-Will you forgive me if I talk...?''

''Depends on what you say.'' I lean back to my seat. ''Just know that you are not going anywhere if you don't talk.''

'''' ... ''''

''It's... I was tasked with leading that bunch of stupid ones to stall for some time before the main army could gather and arrive...''

Ah yes, there's more. Hah...

''Why are you guys obsessed with that thing?''

''I don't know.'' Courage shakes her head.

'''' ... ''''

''W-What?! I really don't know... sob... They wouldn't tell a young one like me...''

''You know what? Fuck it.'' I stand up with a frown on my face.

''??''

''I'm going to nuke their territory.''