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Even though it was not as powerful as his usual breath attacks, my barrier was unable to resist it for a long time. A hole appeared in it, and his breath entered inside, starting to burn my body. It was close to ending with me being left half-dead like before, but I was different now.

The barrier had broken, and his breath was burning me, but my own healing power was also stronger, instantly healing all the damage the instant it happened. That was the true power granted through a prayer to Fertila, healing. I was recovering at a rate that would leave even a vampire in the dust, surviving Tiamat’s breath unscathed.

“What?!”

My clothes had been largely burned away, leaving me almost naked, but Tiamat was surprised seeing there was no wound on my body. My friends were so shocked they could not utter a word.

Next I offered a prayer to Trod, God of Trade. An instant later it felt like Tiamat became blurry.

“What’s happening?!”

I got closer to Tiamat, and the blurriness seemed to separate, forming two images of Tiamat. One looked solid and clear, the real Tiamat, and the other one…

“Ah! I see now!”

The blurry Tiamat attacked, and I moved out of the way, a moment later, the real Tiamat repeated the same action. This was Foresight! I could see faint visions of the near future.

Tiamat looked bewildered, having his attack read perfectly. Then I prayed to Arti, and instantly knew what I could do. I ran to one of the crumbled columns, reaching for the rubble. Tiamat swung his tail at me, and I jumped over it while I imbued the stones I grabbed with magic. The stones quickly began morphing in shape, and a sword appeared in my hand. Its blade was blue, with a beautiful ornamented hilt and guard. It felt familiar in my hand, getting me excited to try it out.

It was a replica of my beloved sword from old, the Holy Sword Lazlight. Arti’s power was to manipulate materials, allowing me to produce weapons and armor even from rubble. It truly was a power suitable for the god of artisans. I firmly held the fake Lazlight in my hand and charged towards Tiamat, dodging his movements and swung at him.

“Wh-what?!”

The blade cut through Tiamat’s body, creating a large wound. Destroyed scales flew away, blood pouring from the wound and quickly soaking the temple floor with blood. At the same time, the fake Lazlight turned back to rubble in my hand. Apparently it was only usable for a short time.

Now I only had Gael’s power left to test. The moment I offered the prayer, I felt my body grow far stronger than it ever had with magic. Maybe…this could work!

Trying to change the course of battle, the wounded Tiamat turned around and charged at me, the ground shaking under him. His weight was no joke, the shaking feeling like a castle wall was falling on me. Usually I would run from him, but now I had Gael’s strength. I stood my ground, not running, and instead stopping Tiamat’s enormous body right there.

My feet began sinking into the ground, the momentum pushing me back many meters while I went down all the way to my hip into the floor, but I completely stopped Tiamat’s momentum.

“Wha-?!”
“Gugheeee..!”

He had probably never thought a far smaller creature than him could stop him like this, as he groaned trying to move. I used that opening to let magic course through my body and fully lifted his body, throwing him away with force.

“B-But how?!”

I could not tell if that was a cry or a question as he flew through the air. Karin, Selene, and the others watched incredulously. Even I would laugh off a story about a human that could launch dragons like that, not to mention the strongest of them all, Tiamat. But that was me now. The entire temple shook violently as Tiamat landed.

“Hah…hahah… That was incredible… Now, I can finish this once…and…huh?”

I stepped out of the hole I was pushed into, ready to strike again, but then my vision suddenly went black while my body turned limp. I struggled to stand up again, and as I crawled on all fours I tried to rearrange my breathing, but somehow I could not recover like usual. What was going on..?

“You probably used up all your mana. That was truly too reckless.”

I did not notice her, but Selene had walked up to me at some point, her hand on my shoulder. Using up all my mana? I remembered doing that while I was training, but that was centuries ago. Was it really such a heavy burden to borrow the power of gods?

“That was a shocking power, but it doesn’t seem to be something you should use for long.”

I somehow managed to raise my head, after much struggle, and saw Tiamat in human form standing in front of me. He seemed to have undergone healing already, as I could not see any wound on him. Even using all my power I had not been able to wound him severely.

“Still, I had not expected you’d borrow the power of gods like that. I don’t remember you being able to do that back in the day. No…you probably were able to, you just never thought of relying on the power of others. This way of fighting is something only your current self can do.”

Tiamat commented calmly, his arms crossed. He was probably right. I was used to fighting alone, taking the blessing of the gods for granted and not thinking much of them. But having gotten these friends, I learned to lean on others. If I could rely on them, I could also rely on the gods’ powers too, and that brought forth a valuable tool for future fights. In other words, this was a power I only found thanks to my friends.

“You were able to wound me, so I guess it’s fair to call your training complete?”

Hearing Tiamat say that made me realize what had happened. He was right, that was the goal I had set for myself, I would train until I could wound him. The others had also gotten strong enough to stand their ground against Selene, and I had obtained a strong power. There was little more to gain by staying here.

I glanced at Karin and the others, and they nodded silently. Well then…

“Yeah, this is about it. Sorry for bothering you this long. Thank you, Tiamat and Selene. We’ll take our leave now.”

I had been gone from the guild for more than a month now, if we did not return soon I would really get fired. I was also curious to know the movements of the demons. We had to hurry back home and catch up. But before that…

“Well, we’ll be heading back soon, but I’d like to rest a bit first. I can barely stand up.”

I relaxed all my limbs, resting flat on the floor, its coldness strangely comforting. There had been many issues, but overall it had been a very fruitful month. Thinking back to these short days packed with action, I slowly dozed off.