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“Damn it, how annoying.”

I’ve driven away over a hundred of them already, yet there was no sign of the number of wyverns decreasing. It felt like building a castle out of sand. It would be easier to wipe them out with repeated chants, but that would kill the wyverns.

“Sigh… What to do…”

Ignoring the Saint’s selfish demands would be satisfying, but it was irritating to reveal my hand too soon. However, these feathered lizards showed no sign of fear, no matter how many non-lethal threats were thrown at them.

This wasn’t caused by hunger or temperament. It was something abnormal. There was a desperate ‘something’ driving them to the point of madness.

“GYOOOOOOO!!!”
“Oops, a red scale. It’s no ordinary situation if a higher-ranked individual shows up.”

The wyverns’ scales changed color and grew stronger with age. Young wyverns were mostly gray-green, but those who survived for many years turned reddish. The amount and quality of the magic power contained within their bodies also became refined, so even their breath alone could easily snuff out life.

The red-scaled wyvern, having pushed aside the younger ones, appeared with heat spilling from its mouth.

Its release of magic power was crude and primitive, without even the accompaniment of a chant, yet the flames unleashed by its vast reserves of magic power were capable of reducing everything to ash.

Whoever came up with the term Dragon’s Breath? Despite the sleepy-sounding name, its destructive power was immense.

“…But you’re still inexperienced. When you leave yourself that open, it makes me want to play a little trick on you.”

――Bang!!

“Gaugh!?”

Just as the flames capable of melting iron were about to be unleashed, an air bullet struck the wyvern’s lower jaw. The mouth snapped shut, and the trapped heat swelled rapidly before exploding with a burst of black flames.

The wyvern’s vitality would prevent it from dying, but it would be reduced to swallowing nothing but bread porridge for a while. Poor thing.

“Gugyaaaaaa…”
“Now, who’s next?”

The red wyvern, writhing in pain, plummeted from the sky. The Saint was discreetly casting a healing spell as it fell, but I chose to ignore that.

As for the younger wyverns gathering around, they seemed somewhat intimidated after seeing a stronger one fall. However, it was like tossing a pebble into the ocean; the ripples were minimal. This level of intimidation wasn’t enough.

“…I could use some help here. There’s a limit to what I can do alone.”

――――――――…………
――――……
――…

“ANGYAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!”
“What the—!? Miss Roche, it’s dangerous here! Let’s retreat!”
“No, if we move from here, I won’t be able to cover the entire ship.”
“Hmm, in that case, I suppose we have no choice!”

Even with Miss Roche guarding us, the wyverns attacking one after another were nerve-wracking. Even for Master, handling this many was tough. The ones she couldn’t take down kept attacking from all directions.

“Miss Momose, please stay a bit closer. If you get hurt, Miss Laika will be furious with me.”
“I-I understand! But what about you, Miss Roche?”
“Hehe, to be honest, it’s a bit challenging.”
“So it is challenging!”

Miss Roche maintained her usual smile, but if you looked closely, you could see a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead. Since the wyverns started attacking, she had used that barrier countless times. She must be getting tired.

“Miss Momose, magic consumes less mana than magecraft. This is because it borrows the necessary amount from outside.”
“H-Huh…?”
“However, asking God for help repeatedly is very impolite, isn’t it? So, if this continues, we’ll soon be out of favor.”
“Isn’t that a big problem!?”

Every time Miss Roche used the barrier magic, she made a gesture as if praying. In other words, she was casting magic just by praying. To the gods, it must feel like being repeatedly asked to hurry up and do it.

“M-Master! I know it’s tough over there, but please hang in there!”
“I suspect she doesn’t have much leeway either. The numbers are overwhelming, and they show no signs of decreasing.”

Even though Master was doing an amazing job flying around and blowing away the wyverns one after another, the number of enemies was overwhelming. For every one she defeated, another appeared, like an endless bowl of noodles. This couldn’t go on forever.

“We need more manpower and more attacks. If we had just a bit more strength on our side, we might be able to manage…”
“Manpower and more attacks…”

At that moment, a light bulb went off in my head.

“…Miss Roche, I have a request!”

――――――――…………
――――……
――…

The ship shook, over and over, each jolt making it feel like our lives were being cut short. After all, we were stuck in a sturdy cage that barely allowed for the use of magecraft. If the ship crashed, we’d all be dead.

“B-Boss… Do you think we’ll be okay?”
“Shut up and stop whining. There’s nothing we can do anyway.”

That was the truth. There was nothing we could do in this situation. From the occasional inhuman cries and sounds of battle, it was clear something terrible was happening. But so what? We were criminals. Crying and begging wouldn’t open this cage.

“Boss, but isn’t this a chance? If we escape in the chaos, we could take over the ship…”
“Are you an idiot? Have you forgotten what kind of people are on this ship?”

Just thinking about it gave me goosebumps. They were hordes of monsters in human form. We wouldn’t stand a chance. No matter what we did, death awaited outside this cage.

Break out, we die. The ship crashes, we die. Even if we reached our destination safely, we would be executed. There was no future for us.

“…Man, I don’t wanna die.”

The words slipped from my mouth, surprising even me with how pathetic they sounded. I was captured so miserably, and as someone who prided himself in being a wizard, even after I saw what was above… no, it was because I saw it, that I didn’t want to die.

I didn’t want to lose. I learned that there are still higher heights to reach. I glimpsed the pinnacle of nonsensically refined magecraft. I didn’t wanna die. I wanted to crawl and survive despite the garbage I was.

If there was still a chance for me to start over…

“Boss! Are you and your men okay!?”

…I’d probably do anything in exchange.