The Villainess Defeats a Dragon

I waited for my chance.

The dragon’s attacks looked almost gentle at first glance, like a casual swipe, yet each one carried terrifying force. I diverted them with my barriers, enduring blow after blow while searching for a single fleeting opening.

One sweep of its arm uprooted entire trees and sent them flying. I timed my movements carefully, redirecting the attack before it could crush me.

(This is taking longer than I’d hoped.)

If an opportunity didn’t present itself before I ran out of mana, I would lose.

“Tch—take this!”

Three beams of dark light shot toward the dragon.

They did nothing.

Its scales were simply too hard. Inflicting damage from the outside was impossible.

I already knew that.

Even so, I had no choice but to keep attacking.

Because there was only one way I could possibly win.

Explosions erupted across the dragon’s scales in rapid succession.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

When the smoke cleared, the scales were merely smudged with soot. Not a single scratch remained.

(Come on… use it already.)

This time I fired six beams toward its face.

One of them struck its eye directly.

A violent explosion followed.

“ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAARRR!!”

The dragon’s roar thundered across the mountains.

The very air trembled.

Its eyes blazed with murderous intent as it finally turned its full attention toward killing me.

Had it become angry?

The attack hadn’t actually hurt it.

To a dragon, it was probably no more irritating than getting eyedrops.

But the sudden discomfort had clearly offended it.

(Now we’re getting somewhere.)

Just as I’d hoped, it happened.

The inside of the dragon’s mouth began glowing crimson.

The sign I had been waiting for.

Finally.

This was the moment.

I released all the mana I had been gathering.

“Binding Magic—Activate!”

Countless pillars of light erupted from the earth and wrapped around the dragon’s jaws.

Its mouth was forced shut.

But that alone wouldn’t be enough. A dragon could easily tear through restraints like these.

So I layered another spell on top.

“Sixth Sealing Art—Piercing Lock!”

Spears of light connected by chains pierced through the dragon’s mouth.

They weren’t physical weapons, so they caused no damage, but the chains tightened around its jaws, locking them shut.

“Ngh—!”

My mana was reaching its limit.

The world swayed around me.

But it still wasn’t enough.

I was just beginning to wonder whether I should retreat when a voice as pleasant as the ringing of a bell drifted from behind me.

“Seventh Sealing Art—Divine Iron Seal!”

Yua.

At the sound of her voice, the dragon’s mouth transformed into iron while still containing the breath attack that was about to be unleashed.

The jaws sealed completely.

There wasn’t even the slightest gap left.

“Yua, you saved me. But why did you come back?”

The sharpness in my voice surprised even me.

Yua shrank slightly.

“Um… I’m sorry…”

Seeing her shoulders droop, I found myself unable to continue scolding her.

Instead, I turned my gaze back toward the dragon.

It thrashed wildly, struggling to break the seals around its mouth.

Meanwhile, the red glow leaking through the gaps grew brighter and brighter.

Watching that light, I became certain.

Just as I’d suspected.

That breath attack was a form of magic.

Once magic had been activated, it couldn’t simply be canceled.

If someone created fire through magic, extinguishing it required water. The caster couldn’t simply decide halfway through to stop the spell.

The same principle applied here.

“Still… you really did save me.”

“It was nothing.”

The dragon continued its desperate struggle.

The seals held.

The glow within its mouth expanded.

Yua must have finally understood my plan.

Thanks to her final sealing spell, victory was now guaranteed.

A moment later—

The dragon’s head exploded.

Unable to withstand the power of its own breath attack trapped inside, it detonated from within.

A violent shockwave swept through the mountains.

The massive body, now headless, crashed heavily to the ground.

This had been a gamble.

A single mistake in my assumptions would have killed me without question.

A reckless, absurdly dangerous gamble.

I had forced the dragon into destroying itself.

Several conditions had needed to be met.

First, the breath attack had to be magical in nature.

If a spell that couldn’t be stopped after activation detonated inside the dragon’s own mouth, even a creature protected by such overwhelming scales wouldn’t survive.

Second, I had to make it use the breath attack.

That was the trigger.

To accomplish that, I needed to provoke it.

Monsters tended to unleash their strongest abilities when enraged.

There was no guarantee dragons followed the same pattern.

Fortunately, this one did.

My relentless attacks had driven it into a fury, causing it to prepare its breath weapon.

Finally, I needed enough mana left to use both the binding and sealing spells.

Even if the dragon used its breath attack, none of it would matter if I lacked the mana to lock it down.

Honestly, that part had been far too close.

If Yua hadn’t returned, I’d have been reduced to ashes by now.

And by “ashes,” I meant me.

“Whew… I’m exhausted. Yua, shall we head back?”

“Agreed. But are you really alright? Your mana seems almost completely depleted…”

“I’m fine. Ah—”

My legs gave out for a moment.

Yua’s small arms caught me before I could fall.

“Thank you. Sorry. It seems my mana tank is finally empty.”

“It really does. Lady Vina, would you like some of my mana?”

“No, I still have enough to use flight magic—”

Before I could finish saying I’ll be fine, a small voice interrupted me.

“Gau!”

“Huh?”

That sounded like a dragon.

I turned around.

And there, hovering in the air, was indeed a dragon.

A tiny one.

Its little wings flapped frantically as it struggled to stay airborne.

What is that?

It’s adorable.

The little dragon toddled toward us without the slightest caution.

“Gauuu.”

Apparently Yua had the exact same thought.

“L-Lady Vina…! What is that?! It’s adorable!”

She was practically vibrating with excitement.

“Yua, calm down. From the looks of it, this little dragon is probably the reincarnated form of the one we just defeated.”

“This is that dragon’s…? Do you think it’ll grow up to become something like that?”

Yua carefully reached out toward its head.

I immediately stopped her.

“Don’t. It’ll bite your hand off.”

“There’s no way.”

Ignoring my warning, she gently patted its head.

The little dragon offered no resistance whatsoever.

If anything, it seemed eager to be petted.

An unusually friendly dragon.

“Lady Vina… can we take it home?”

Before I knew it, Yua had already scooped the dragon into her arms and was looking at me hopefully.

We had been fighting for our lives against that very creature just moments ago.

How she could switch gears so quickly was beyond me.

Still…

Leaving it here wasn’t exactly an option.

“…Fine. I suppose we can.”

“Yay!”

Yua hugged the little dragon tightly and rubbed her cheek against it.

The sight was unexpectedly heartwarming.

“Then let’s return. There are quite a few things I’d like to discuss regarding how the dragon came to be released.”

“Understood!”

And so we began our journey back to Takras.

As for the dragon’s corpse, I had Yua store it inside her spatial magic.

An S-Rank monster’s remains were bound to be useful.

The trip back was long.

Without mana, I couldn’t use flight magic, so we were forced to walk.

Even when I told Yua she could go ahead without me, she stubbornly refused.

Carrying the baby dragon in her arms, she carefully made her way down the rugged mountain paths beside me.

There was no chance of finding transportation out here.

At this hour, nobody would venture this deep into the mountains.

Whenever we encountered steep cliffs, I used what little mana remained to strengthen my body and climb down safely.

We walked for hours.

Exhaustion weighed heavily on me.

Sleepiness threatened to overwhelm me countless times.

The only thing keeping me awake was the meaningless, pleasant conversation I shared with Yua along the way.

By the time the sun rose, we finally reached Takras.

“I’m… so tired…”

“Y-yes…”

As soon as we entered the city, people rushed to greet us.

With the dragon lured away, the evacuation order must have been lifted.

“W-Welcome back! What happened to the dragon?”

A trembling resident approached us.

Yua politely answered.

“We defeated it.”

The man released a long breath of relief.

(The baby dragon, meanwhile, was hidden from ordinary people by magic.)

“W-Wait, you defeated that dragon?!”

One person spoke up.

“No way… That’s incredible…”

Then another.

Before long, people emerged from every direction.

The streets erupted into excitement.

How noisy.

“I feel like we’re witnessing history.”

“Yeah.”

“That dragon was an S-Rank monster, wasn’t it? An immortal designated for sealing. How do you even kill something like that?”

“Maybe it wasn’t immortal if it died.”

“…Fair point.”

“But still. If nobody could kill it before, who exactly are those two?”

“No idea.”

The crowd’s excitement grew by the second.

Words of gratitude poured toward us from every direction.

I appreciated it.

I truly did.

But could everyone please save it for later?

My mana was gone.

I felt awful.

“Lady Vina, are you alright?”

“Gau?”

The two worried faces staring up at me—

or rather, one face and one dragon—

made me smile faintly.

“I’m fine.”

At last, we made our way through the cheering townspeople and returned home.

I was completely spent.

I can’t do this anymore…

The moment I stepped inside the house, all tension left my body.

I collapsed.

“Lady Vina, if you sleep here, you’ll catch a cold.”

I vaguely felt Yua shaking my shoulders.

Her voice sounded distant.

Very distant.

The overwhelming pull of sleep swallowed her words before they could reach me.

“Besides, the mayor wanted to—”

Ah.

That’s right.

The mayor had summoned me to personally thank us.

But that was impossible right now.

I’d go after resting for a little while.

So for now…

Just for a moment…

I let myself drift away.

And quietly fell into a deep sleep.