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「Then, I apologize in advance, but I will have to rouse you out of your sleep.」

Inglis turned to where the head of the Dragon God was supposed to be and bowed. After which, she lightly pulled her foot half a step, dropped her waist, then…

「HYAAaaaah!」

She swung her right foot upward with all of her strength.

GAAaannn!

The dragon’s scales, stronger than steel they were, made a loud, almost metallic sound when they met Inglis’ kick. However, she only made the tail sway a little, leaving not even a scratch. Far from that, the hem of her Shrine Maiden costume that slightly touched Vufailbane’s scales when she kicked instantly froze.

「……? Whoops!」

Inglis can’t let the Shrine Maiden costume Rafinha and Pullum painstakingly made for her go to ruin. She planned to bring it back to the Knight Academy safely and keep it as her treasure.

Obviously she would want to, it was Rafinha, her cute granddaughter, who made it. And, from time to time, she will take it out and wear it and enjoy it in front of a mirror when she is alone.

Inglis took a distance away from the tail. Then she looked at it closely, but it was silent, as though nothing had happened to it at all.

「Fufu……I guess something as weak doesn’t work on you, after all!」

While indeed she had undid the hypergravity sorcery that she always applied for self-training, the attack just now was nothing more than a normal attack without the use of Ether.

Apparently, in the face of Vufailbane’s enormous mass and its strong dragon scales, Inglis’ kick didn’t even amount to a distraction. But, that’s what makes it good. That’s what Inglis wanted from the Dragon God Vufailbane. It was a strong foe that King Inglis couldn’t defeat by himself.

「Then……!」

Ether Shell!

「One more time!」

KABOOOOOMMM!!!

An attack much, much stronger and greater than the previous one was delivered, releasing a thunderous roar in the aftermath. The tail folded grandly, striking the ground like a whip and leaving a mark behind.

It spoke of how overwhelming a blow Inglis gave it, and yet the Dragon God’s tail returned to its original position with no significant damage to the spot where Inglis landed her blow, as though nothing had happened at all.

There were some dents, but even then, the damage was quickly restored. Its strength, its pliability, its resilience, these qualities of it were frighteningly high.

「Fufufu…Fufufufufufu……」

A laugh cracked out of her. What a wonderful resistance. Perhaps, in all her years she lived as Inglis Eux, she had never met anything as good.

Hm, what should I do to it then…

GRAAAAAAAA!
GRAOOOOO!
GRRRRRRR!

「Mu……?!」

However, while the main body was still unresponsive to Inglis’ actions, the Phantom Dragons all around her couldn’t overlook what she had done and made their move. Dozens of Phantom Dragons went to attack Inglis at once. Just right when she was thirsty for some action.

「Thank you very much! I appreciate it greatly!」

As she said so, Inglis released the Ether Armor and returned to just her flesh and blood. After all, crushing her enemy using overwhelming power wouldn’t help her train herself. It’s only natural for her to release the Ether Armor, so that every battle she had would lead to her growth, no matter how little.

The Phantom Dragons came at her from all directions all at the same time, trying to get a bite out of Inglis with their mighty jaws. Amongst them, the three that approached from her right were the closest!

「HYAAaaah!」

Inglis kicked the ground, dashing to her right and rushed headlong. She swung her right fist at the closest Phantom Dragon and slammed it.

BAAAaamm!

The first Phantom Dragon went flying from the fist carrying the momentum of Inglis’ rush. Then for the second Phantom Dragon, a left punch!

BAam!

The second one was sent flying just as far, giving Inglis a closure to the third Phantom Dragon. Inglis’ body was lowered even further down after she delivered her left punch.

「Look at you being smashed with just a fist, so lovable!」

Inglis jumped from her low position with her punch delivering an uppercut. The third Phantom Dragon was also flung away, with her own body now in the air too. She combined her attack with a means to evade.

「「「GRAOOOOO!」」」

As right after that, countless Phantom Dragons snapped their jaws shut right where Inglis should have been, gouging out the ground with their bites. Each bite was powerful enough to chew through a human body.

Although they were more vulnerable than Magic Stone Beasts as mere physical attacks harmed them, their offensive ability seemed to far surpass Magic Stone Beasts of their size.

「But, even better than that……!」

Shhrrrkkk——!

In Inglis’ palm, mana that had been converted from Ether began to concentrate and before long, an ice sword made of sorcery appeared. Practicing the sword every once in a while isn’t that bad an idea. Then, with the momentum of her fall, Inglis delivered a series of thrusts to the Phantom Dragons that had huddled together in one spot.

Fwish fwish fwish fwish!

With the thrusts of the sword raining on them like a hail, all the Phantom Dragons that had attacked Inglis were all torn apart and dissipated. However… more Phantom Dragons immediately appeared again out of nowhere, surrounding Inglis once again.

「An enemy that keeps appearing endlessly! Aren’t you all wonderful!」

She couldn’t find that quality from Magic Stone Beasts. Those beasts could only be born during Prism Flow. Phantom Dragons, on the other hand, weren’t restricted by natural phenomena like such.

So long as the Dragon God was still alive and well, one could fight Phantom Dragons as much as they wanted. There’s no opponent more convenient than them. Ideally, Inglis prefered if each Phantom Dragon was a little bit stronger than they were now, but she had rooms for experimentation. Who knows, maybe they would combine into one giant body if Inglis gathered enough of them in one place.

Either way, for Inglis, they were indubitably a great sparring partner. Inglis was so happy her cheeks were lax.

「Come, accompany me a little bit longer!」

Inglis took a running start, leaped up, and delivered a kick to a Phantom Dragon that was in a higher position.

「HYAAah!」

The Phantom Dragon was blown away. Inglis used the recoil of her kick to jump even higher. And as the way the Phantom Dragons worked, always trying to replenish their numbers and surround Inglis, it was as if Inglis was provided with constantly appearing footholds in the air.

Inglis kicked away the Phantom Dragons one after another, and she kept using the recoil of her kicks to stay in the air. As she leaped to the highest she could reach, she landed after two summersaults just outside the range of the Phantom Dragons.

「I’m back!」

In other words, she landed where Rafinha and the others were.

「W-, welcome back… You sure looked delightful on your rampage there~ Honestly, Glis!」

Rafinha let out a heavy sigh.

「Y-, your movements were amazing, Inglis! You were so fast that I lost sight of you even though I had my eyes glued on you!」
「I know I shouldn’t let myself stop at just watching you, but… You are the best role model we should aim for, Inglis.」
「A-, although, the more I see, the less confident I feel to be capable of enacting that level of movement……」
「You’ll be able to do that if you practice with them everyday!! They’re amazing, I tell you! You can fight them as much as you want since they’ll keep springing up, and they pose quite the challenge too! They’re just the best to have as training partners!」

Inglis spoke excitedly, but Rafinha chided her from the side.

「No, no, honestly, hold on, Glis. It’s good and all that you’re excited, but that’s not what we’re here for, right? Did you get to talk with the dragon? Why did I see you kicking the tail?」
「Aah, you see, I figured that it’s probably still sleeping, so I kicked it to wake it up, but it didn’t seem to work at all. And then, the Phantom Dragons reacted, then…」
「You lost yourself in the fun of the fight?」
「Yup. Opponents that keep fighting forever are the best, aren’t they?!」

Inglis affirmed strongly, her eyes gleaming.

「……No, well, I guess different folk, different strokes there. So, that means we made zero progress so far?」
「I won’t say that. Now we know that the Dragon God is likely to be in its slumber. There is something that I need all of you to help with.…」

After all, that’s the reason she went back to the rest of her platoons.

「? What are we doing, Glis?」
「Of course, our next objective.」
「Next objective?」
「Yeah. Securing food.」

Inglis showed a wide grin.

「I’ve been waiting for this! So, what do we do, what do we do?!」

Now, Rafinha’s eyes were gleaming just as bright.