Apotheosis of a Demon - A Monster Evolution Story

89 - THE BRAZEN HEROINE

Marlene? The Heroine who'd summoned Fiorfata together with Brian? What was she thinking, showing up now of all times?

At the moment, however, I found myself not quite caring about that.

"...get off." I growled.

Being trampled under her feet was the still-warm body of the wind dragon that had been fighting together with me, before they were killed by the Heroine.

"Haah?! The hell are you talking about?!" She screeched, slamming her heels downward.

The next instant, the dragons circling in the air let loose a spine-chilling killing intent. Another wind dragon dove down to unleash its rage on Marlene. They suddenly exploded during their descent, blasting off and crashing on the ground outside the city.

What happened?!

During my moment of surprise, Marlene turned the staff she was holding in a strange stance toward me. The ground below me abruptly erupted, flinging me away dozens of meters.

"Tsk, small targets are such a trouble to hit," Marlene spat out. She swiftly jammed something into the end of her staff and once more pointed it at me.

That wasn't a staff. It was... a musket gun? I'd thought it to be a staff since it looked different from modern firearms, plus it was made from wood, but on a closer look I could see the resemblance to a rifle.

I didn't feel much magic coming from the musket itself. However, the thing she'd just stuffed inside the gun was giving off a crazy magic signal.

"...what's that bullet?"

I stood up, getting out of the rubble. Marlene scoffed, her unhinged smile once more showing on her face.

"I wouldn't have thought a demihuman to know about guns. Brian's got some weird but really good ones of his own, but this thing here? We made it in Quarancinq by ourselves. It shoots monsters' magic stones that have been compressed with special magic. It can kill even you, Dark Bitch!"

As Marlene spoke, she took out another bullet from her chest. I felt an even more powerful emanation of magic from it than the one before.

"This is a bullet made out of a dragon's magic stone. As you can see, a single shot can kill even a dragon. This thing is more powerful than the magical artillery. Be grateful, animal, I've had to gather magic stones for nearly ten years for this!"

Seeing the bullet that used to be a dragon magic stone, the flying dragons all roared in rage. Marlene pointed her gun toward the sky.

"No!!" I shouted, immediately stretching out my hand to squeeze.

Marlene shrieked. But the Causality attack only bounced off her with a spark, together with something peeling off of her. It looked like a talisman.

"I've long since prepared for your tricks, rabbit! You're not so scary if I have my scapegoats!"

Marlene smugly showed off one of her amulets.

A magitool to protect her? But how much magic had she poured into the thing for it to actually be able to defend against me?

"...fight me alone. One on one."

"Fine. I'll show you the power of a Heroine. The power of the Sage!"

I told the dragons to stay back with a glance of my eyes. As I got close to her, Marlene aimed her gun at me.

"Why aren't you fighting the Unseelie Lord? Didn't you call it up?"

"...shut up. Like hell I can do anything about it by myself."