The Earth-san Has Leveled Up!

2-22. VS Boss Battle 2

After closing the distance to a certain extent, Meiko changes her course and moves to the side of the dragon.

The dragon, chasing the pesky insect that keeps firing magic at will, shifts its body as it moves.

Meiko desperately runs and casts magic, careful not to enter the dragon’s airspace.

The dragon raises its head, exuding a thick aura of killing intent.

Noticing this, Meiko hurriedly runs behind it.

Just as the dragon plants its front legs and prepares to bite down,

Sasara unleashes a sword technique on the dragon, whose side is exposed due to Meiko’s diversion.

“Slash Sword! That’s it!”

With two shouts, two Slash Swords are unleashed.

One strike from above, followed by an upward slash.

After delivering the two-hit combo, Sasara quickly steps back to create distance, not waiting to see the result.

Just before she lands from her backstep, the two Slash Swords tear through the left side of the dragon’s body, vertically and diagonally.

The first strike cuts from the long neck to the left foreleg, while the second strike runs from the left foreleg to the rear of the body, forming an L-shaped wound.

The slashes cut through the scales, reaching the flesh.

Purple liquid drips down.

The dragon, now unable to focus on attacking Meiko, lets out a roar of pain.

From this result, everyone becomes certain.

This boss’s defense isn’t as high as it looks. It’s not an enemy that can’t be defeated.

“Nin-nin!”

Lulu leaps onto the back of the writhing dragon.

This is a different skill from her frequently used [NINJA Art]’s High-Speed Movement—it’s the Great Jump.

Lulu, having jumped three meters high, slashes the dragon’s back with her dagger and immediately retreats.

Though she didn’t inflict a deep wound, she doesn’t linger, knowing that taking a hit is what she should fear.

Meanwhile, Meiko, who had been drawing attention to allow Sasara to deliver her two-hit combo, fires a water bullet at the dragon’s face as it roars in pain.

Meiko feels a solid impact.

Thanks to the constant magic she’s been casting throughout the battle, even her spells are dealing significant damage. The effects of leveling up, such as increased physical limits and training efficiency, are also reflected in her magic’s power.

The water bullets shatter scales, while fire bullets burn them open like fish. It’s definitely working.

Meiko keeps her eyes on the enemy’s movements while scanning the entire battlefield from the corner of her vision.

Both Sasara and Lulu are unharmed and have escaped the enemy’s attack range.

Moreover, their fighting spirit is palpable.

Like Meiko, Sasara and Lulu also feel the impact of their attacks.

They realize their strikes are effective and that this enemy isn’t invincible.

The dragon, having taken significant damage, turns its head toward Sasara and lets out a roar of intimidation.

“I’m not scared anymore!”

Facing the pressure-filled roar, Sasara raises her spirits and slashes through her fear with her saber.

Though tears well up in her eyes from the intense killing intent, the fire in her gaze never fades.

The target shifts to Sasara.

Since they don’t know the extent of the enemy’s attack power, Meiko decides she should still be the one to draw its attention.

She continues to cast magic relentlessly.

Water bullets hit the dragon’s body, causing blood to spurt from the wounds Sasara and Lulu inflicted.

However, the dragon continues to direct its anger toward Sasara.

But though the dragon turns its head toward Sasara, it doesn’t charge.

Instead, it raises its front legs and stands on two feet.

“Everyone, fall back!”

At Meiko’s sudden shout, Sasara and Lulu immediately turn and run without question.

Meiko also runs in the same direction, keeping pace with the other two. She chose this path to avoid being separated and potentially picked off one by one.

A few moments after Meiko’s warning, the dragon slams its raised front legs down.

The impact is so heavy that the dragon’s head lowers almost to the ground, and blood sprays from the wounds Sasara inflicted on its body.

The attack, which damages the dragon itself, causes a wide area around it to erupt, creating a wave of stone pavement that rises like a flower blooming.

Before the wave of stone pavement reaches them, a shockwave-like tremor hits the three.

Their feet slip, and they lose balance.

Sasara and Lulu roll with the fall, quickly recovering and standing up.

But Meiko falls flat on her back.

“Ugh!?”

Sasara and Lulu jump to avoid the incoming wave of stone pavement, but Meiko, who had fallen, is launched about a meter into the air by the rising stones.

She takes almost no damage.

But as she falls, her mind goes blank for a moment.

The dragon’s head turns toward Meiko.

It charges at her, shaking the ground with each step.

“Meeko!”

“Meiko!”

Snapped out of her daze by Lulu and Sasara’s shouts, Meiko senses the dragon approaching from the ground-shaking footsteps and fires off a reloaded magic spell without even looking.

The hastily fired attack hits the dragon’s left foreleg, gouging the wound.

The dragon, losing balance from the pain, collapses and slides toward Meiko.

Meiko leaps sideways from a half-standing position.

In her line of sight, Sasara, using the tilted stone pavement as a stepping stone, leaps into the air and brings her sword down.

“Slashhh Sword!”

The Slash Sword that passes right by Meiko slices through the dragon’s head as it tries to bite her while sliding, sending it flying.

Having narrowly escaped, Meiko places her hands on the top of a protruding stone pavement and performs a clumsy cartwheel to create distance from the dragon.

As she turns back toward the dragon, she fires another reloaded magic spell.

At the same time, Lulu, who had been skillfully moving across the rubble-covered stone pavement, plunges her ninja blade deep into the dragon’s underbelly.

She deliberately leaves the blade embedded and retreats.

“Haha. You saved me, Sasara.”

“Hehe. It’s nothing.”

After a brief exchange, the two create some distance.

The dragon isn’t dead yet.

Hit by Meiko’s water and fire bullets, covered in wounds from Sasara’s Slash Sword, and stabbed deep into its organs by Lulu, it still stands.

Roaring with fighting spirit, purple blood gushes from its body.

The attacks are definitely effective.

But its vitality is extraordinary.

And with its area attacks, it’s no wonder it’s the boss.

However, the reason they’ve been able to fight this well is that all three of them started with full magic power.

If this turns into a purely close-range battle, they’ll likely take hits. And one strike from this dragon would deal significant damage.

Meiko has fired 12 magic spells, leaving her with 44 magic power.

Sasara has used Slash Sword three times, leaving her with 6 magic power.

Lulu’s techniques are subtle, so it’s hard to tell.

From a quick glance at her status, Meiko estimates that about 10 minutes have passed since the battle began.

Only 10 minutes. It feels like they’ve been fighting for over an hour.

10 minutes.

Natural recovery has allowed Sasara to use Slash Sword twice.

The enemy is also heavily wounded.

It should be over soon.

Meiko steels her resolve.

Since she hasn’t taken any hits, the effect of [First-Floor Solo Clearer] should still be active.

Even Sasara, a human, has [Auto Recovery – Tiny].

So it’s possible this dragon has a higher-tier [Auto Recovery] skill.

No, it’s better to assume it does.

That’s why she wants to deliver the finishing blow now.

Meiko fires a water bullet.

When it hits the base of the dragon’s neck, the dragon glares at her.

“Glaring at me won’t scare me!”

Meiko glares back fiercely.

Just a month ago, Meiko was just an ordinary girl.

Back then, her glare would only make boys’ hearts flutter.

But now, after adventuring through dungeons and defeating hundreds of monsters, her gaze carries enough pressure to rival the dragon’s.

The little girl dares to glare back.

This irritates the dragon. It roars, stretching its neck toward Meiko.

Meiko seizes the opening and fires a fire bullet into its mouth.

Gyaaaaaaaaah!

What a dirty trick!

But in a fight for survival, leaving an opening isur own fault!

The dragon is furious.

From the beginning until now, everything has been messed up by this girl.

Its enraged eyes are now solely focused on Meiko.

“Let’s finish this!”

At those words, Sasara and Lulu tighten their grips on their weapons.

Considering the possibility that the enemy understands human language, they don’t say much.

This has been their practice throughout the dungeon.

Especially against a boss.

So Meiko conveys her intent to the other two succinctly.

Perhaps taking her words as a provocation, the dragon roars in anger and charges at Meiko.

The distance between them wasn’t great to begin with, so the dragon’s head enters attack range in an instant.

The dragon’s head moves with snake-like speed, aiming for Meiko’s head.

Meiko, whose dynamic vision has improved to the point where she can track her own high-speed water bullets, keeps her eyes firmly on the attack.

As the fangs close in, Meiko shifts her body half a step.

But the dragon, with its beast-like reflexes, adjusts its trajectory precisely.

“Fire.”

At Meiko’s whisper, a water bullet strikes the dragon’s face from the side.

In the empty air, the dragon’s mouth, filled with vicious fangs, closes.

At that moment.

“Slashhh Sword!”

Sasara’s Slash Sword cuts through the dragon’s eye, which is slightly shaken by the water bullet’s impact.

The dragon lets out an unprecedented scream.

Meiko immediately fires a fire bullet into its mouth.

The attacks don’t stop.

Lulu, having performed a Great Jump, lands on the dragon’s back and runs up its neck.

She plunges her dagger deep into the base of the dragon’s head, hooks the remaining small sickle into its intact eye, and twists it out as she spins and leaps off.

Oaaaaah… Aah…

The dragon, now blind in both eyes, howls toward the sky.

The voice coming from its throat, which has taken two fire bullets, is a fittingly ragged death cry.

Meiko fires a water bullet at the dragon’s left foreleg, which reflexively jerks up in pain, and simultaneously tosses her saber to Lulu.

Sasara also moves, slamming a Slash Sword into the dragon’s hind leg.

The left foreleg, which has been persistently targeted since the start of the battle, gives way, and combined with the weight of its head and body, the dragon fails to lift itself and collapses again.

But this time, unlike before, the dragon’s head is blind.

It flails aimlessly, no longer a threat.

However, they can’t afford to wait for natural magic recovery. They could win by spamming Slash Swords and magic, but only if the enemy’s body doesn’t recover.

So, seizing this perfect opportunity, the three press their advantage.

The dragon thrashes wildly, refusing to go down without a fight.

Its short legs slash through the air, and its tail pounds the ground.

Each time, blood spurts from the ninja blade Lulu embedded in its side, staining the ground purple.

Sasara slashes at its neck.

Lulu, after a Great Jump, lands on its side and plunges Meiko’s saber into the charred flesh at her feet.

Every time the dragon senses their locations and moves its head, Meiko’s water bullets hit its snout.

The trio’s relentless attacks overwhelm the dragon, and finally, the moment arrives.

At the last moment, Sasara’s magic naturally recovers enough for her to unleash a Slash Sword at point-blank range.

The blade cuts perfectly into the neck wounds Meiko’s fire bullets and Sasara’s slashes have created, severing the head completely.

The massive body, which had been thrashing wildly, goes limp and collapses to the ground.

But the three don’t let their guard down.

Even a doll could show terrifying tenacity and attack.

The severed head might still crawl around.

Agaaaaah!

And indeed, it happens.

The severed head moves aimlessly, coincidentally charging straight toward Meiko.

“I’ve seen enough of that fromur minions!”

Meiko fires water and fire bullets, knocking the head back.

Purple blood flows from its mouth, and it stops moving.

As they all catch their breath and brace themselves, the first change occurs in the purple blood scattered around. Then, the fragments of shattered scales scattered everywhere.

They turn into particles of white light and rise into the sky.

The blood clinging to the trio’s bodies also turns into light particles and flies upward.

Then, the dragon’s two-part body transforms into a massive pillar of light.

Witnessing this phenomenon, the three finally realize.

Meiko, Sasara, and Lulu have defeated the Long-Neck Dragon.

As the torrent of light subsides, the dim sky is replaced by a beautiful blue.

“We… we did it…”

Meiko, unable to resist her weakening body, sits down on a tilted stone pavement in the rubble.

“We managed somehow…”

Sasara, forcing strength into her nearly broken legs, walks through the rubble and sits beside Meiko.

Being far away would be a waste—she wants to savor the joy up close.

“We did it…”

Lulu, feeling the same, joins them, leaning on them from behind and hugging them.

“You’re heavy, Lulu.”

“But, but, I’m so happy… sob”

“I see. Well, then, it can’t be helped, sob.”

“Meow.”

“Sasara too, hic.”

“Hic, sob!”

Meiko twists her body to hug Sasara and Lulu.

Sasara also hugs the other two.

Feeling the warmth of her companions, Meiko laughs and cries tears of joy with them.