303 Chapter 303: To Slay a God (1/2)

While I helplessly lay there like an idiot, waiting for readers to condemn me as useless and weak, I could only watch the two torrents of hellfire sweep toward me. Of course, I tried to scramble to my feet and summon Scutum Sobiescianum to defend myself, but I knew I wouldn't be able to evade in time. At the same time, my Constellation shield got blasted into bits.

Seeing the magnitude of firepower, I realized that even Black Tortoise's water barrier wouldn't be able to protect me from such a powerful spell.

Before I could fully rise to my feet, however, someone tackled me. I found myself hurled out of the way, crashing several meters away from the hellish stream. Even from that distance, I could feel the intense heat from the flames, and my skin began to blister.

I managed to catch one final glimpse of Anastasia before she vanished in the flames. At that moment, I understood what just occurred. Ana had just saved me, shouldering me out of the way, and in doing so she ended up bearing the full brunt of the two-headed dragon's attack.

”Ana!” I yelled, my voice drowned out by the crackling roar of the hellfire. Not that she could hear me.

The two-headed dragon ceased its spell. It glowered at me murderously, but before it could unleash another horrifying spell, Draco recovered and charged into it, knocking the Blood God aside. The two gigantic monsters crashed into the ground, razing another crater in the already weakened earth. Geysers of soil and clouds of dust rose from the tremendous impact.

Leaving the two-headed dragon to Draco and Kagutsuchi, who had just gotten up to rejoin the fray, temporarily, I rushed over to Anastasia's side even before the flames fully died down. She was lying on the ground, incredibly still in one piece and mostly unblemished. I was relieved to see that she hadn't been completely burned to ash.

Actually…aside from soot here and there, I didn't see any signs of burns. Er…what was going on? Even then, Anastasia was lying motionlessly, as if she was on the verge of dying.

Dropping to my knees, I tried to help her without aggravating her injuries.

”Are you all right?”

”Do I look like I'm all right?” Anastasia snapped, barely able to open her eyes, her voice a soft croak. Yeah…stupid question. I decided to focus on checking her for injuries, but surprisingly enough I didn't see any wounds except…

…except for a small cut on her side.

”…huh?”

I stared at the cut on her side, and even though I didn't waste any time stemming the bleeding and dressing it with emergency first-aid (no healing magic, I'm afraid), I couldn't help but be bemused by what I had just seen.

This made no sense whatsoever. There were no other injuries except a…cut. How the fuck did Anastasia get cut by the two-headed dragon's firebreath!?

If she had ended up a charred corpse, I would understand. If she suffered from horrendous third-degree burns all over her body, I would understand. If there was nothing left of her but ash, I would understand.

But…what the hell?! A single small cut on the side of her waist? From a two-headed dragon's firebreath? How…?!

”…you're kidding, right?”

”Do I look like I'm in any condition to joke?” Anastasia snarled, wincing. Then she coughed out some blood. Seriously? How did you get internal hemorrhaging from getting roasted by the two-headed dragon's fire spell? Could someone explain to me what the hell was going on here?

”Is she all right?”

Lilith had hurried over, and then she stopped when both Anastasia and I shot her a bewildered look. Crossing her arms, she scowled.

”What? Why are the both of you looking at me like that?”

”No, I didn't expect you to rush over and check on Ana's condition. I figured you would be standing uselessly some distance away, watching her die or something.”

”Yeah,” Ana agreed. ”Giving me a weird reason to think, 'oh, my feelings are one-sided.' And then dramatically die just like that.” she snapped her fingers.

”What on earth are the both of you talking about?!” Lilith demanded furiously.

”An anime adaptation based off a badly written light novel,” I replied. A roar then drew my attention back to the two-headed dragon, who was busily dueling with Draco and Kagutsuchi. Gritting my teeth, I drew one of my swords and pointed it at the Blood God. ”Crater!”

A colossal cup-shaped cannon materialized in the air, its rim pointed toward the flailing two-headed dragn. Azure light began to gather within the hollow of the cup-shaped cannon, superheated plasma that swirled violently and causing the very air around the Constellation cannon to shimmer from the extreme temperatures.

”What the hell is that?!” Lilith cried out, her jaw dropping.

”The Constellation, Crater. It depicts a cup that belongs to Apollo…and hence it contains the caged fury of the sun.”

Taking a deep breath, I finished the incantation by murmuring the name of the stars in the Constellation.

”Crateris.”

The massive plasma beam streaked from the Constellation cannon and slammed into the two-headed dragon while it was thrashing about. Both Draco and Kagutsuchi instinctively jumped away in time to avoid the devastating plasma strike, and the two-headed dragon vanished in a blinding explosion of blue-white thermal energies.

”Is that your nuke spell?!” Lilith asked, shielding her eyes from the incredible display. I shook my head. Already Draco was gathering mana to complete his Thuban spell. As for me, I summoned Cygnus and heaved the wounded Anastasia atop the white swan.

”No. that's coming next. So we had better get out of here while we still can.”

Lilith hopped onto Kagutsuchi, who took off in the direction of the hovercraft. Once I made sure Anastasia was secure, I also jumped on top of Cygnus, who launched himself into the air at high speeds.

”Hey! Be gentle! You know I'm on the verge of dying, right?”