HP: Sacred Gear Chat Group (2) - Chapter 26 (Patreon)

Chapter 26 - Icy Jump

We are back to icy glares again? Well, that’s Slytherin’s Ice Queen for you.

Forgetting to cast a Silencing Charm was a big mistake on my part…

The icy-cold look Daphne was throwing at Ghislaine and me was scary, but what other choice did I have? I almost died last night. Those toned muscles are no joke!

In the end, like a true warrior, I stood my ground until Ghislaine was pleased and survived the greatest battle of my life so far.

Just how long will that last?

Oh, God. Daphne’s really pissed.

And based on the looks the others were throwing at me during breakfast, she wasn’t the only one who overheard the great war last night. Who am I kidding? Of course they all heard.

Both Astoria and Tracey were flushed and avoiding my eyes. Dad was giving me a proud look and just couldn’t wipe that dirty grin off his face.

Mom just seemed amused, even though she was trying to hide it behind that dry expression.

The silence at the breakfast table was downright oppressive.

Awkward…

“Alright… are you guys really sure you want to come with us?” I tried to break the silence by simply ignoring what everyone had heard last night.

Their looks told me that this wasn’t working at all.

“Yes,” Daphne said with a glare.

“O-okay.” Why the fuck am I so scared of her? I could burn her wandlessly to cinders if necessary, and her best Shield Charm wouldn’t be able to block it. “And did you clear that with your parents? They’re coming back early for their daughters, so at least they should be aware of it.”

“They’re coming back early because of that special grass of yours.” Astoria finally managed to overcome her bashfulness. “But yes, we sent them a letter the moment we decided to come with you, and we spoke with them over the Floo last night.”

“What did you tell them?”

“Miss Davis told them that we’re visiting a secret pocket dimension you stumbled upon. Those seem to be an actual thing.” The younger girl shrugged.

Mom nodded. “While rare, those are actually known to the Wizarding World. Azkaban, for example, was hidden inside a pocket dimension for a long time before the spell broke and the Ministry discovered it. It’s easier to explain than the truth. And it gives us an excuse for the different new plant species you brought with you.”

“Won’t that attract bad attention?”

“That would have happened either way. Completely new potion ingredients are extremely valuable. But a pocket dimension is less troublesome than you having a Sacred Gear and being a Devil.”

“I see. Alright, then. If everybody is ready and has made sure they have everything packed, I’d say we head out.” I announced, trying to sound confident that this wouldn’t end up being an annoying mess.

“Good luck, all of you! I expect you back in a month,” Dad said with a warm smile before giving Mom a kiss, since he would stay here to take care of the home and shop.

———

— Elsewhere, 4E 201 —

Familiar purple mist engulfed us as we reappeared somewhere in the middle of nowhere. An icy-cold nowhere.

As an experienced adventurer, I had my Foresight Eye active, ready to react to an attack at a moment’s notice. Ghislaine was already covering my back, securing the other side that wasn’t in my field of view.

Even while shivering in her combat leather bikini, she was ready for battle with her sword in hand.

I had to ignore the vindictive grin Daphne threw at her once she realized the cold was actually affecting Ghislaine. She had thrown even more angry glares at Ghislaine after seeing what her usual adventuring attire consisted of, and a few at me as if daring me to look at her for too long.

If I wanted to enjoy the nice view earlier, I had to be very careful.

Seeing that there was no immediate danger around us, just a lot of snow and cold, I took a closer look at our surroundings. We were in the middle of some kind of mountain, with a barely visible path below us.

I cast a warming Charm on everyone, shielding us from the dangerous cold.

“Any idea where we are?” Mom asked, her own wand in her hand as she carefully watched her surroundings.

So she felt that too.

“On a mountain in the middle of winter?” Astoria commented, finally stopping her shivering after feeling the warmth of my Charm.

“Get your wand out, Astoria.” As soon as I saw that she didn’t have her wand in her hand, I reminded her seriously, “We are not alone here. Something is here!” I warned them while keeping watch on my surroundings, trying to figure out where the presence was coming from.

My instincts were screaming at me.

But through all that snow and darkness, I couldn’t find whatever it was.

“Are you serious?” she asked nervously, quickly pulling her wand out.

“Yes.” I nodded quietly while activating my Magic Power Eye, then immediately gave instructions. “Daphne, Tracey, protect Astoria. Mom, look after the three of them. Ghislaine, with me.”

Of course, we couldn’t find anything on the mountain because it was coming from above us. Up there in the sky, I found a high concentration of primal, almost wild-looking mana.

“Above us!” I warned them.

Thanks to my Magic Power Eye, I could see through the snow, and I finally made out what the shape of the mana actually was. Something was rapidly descending right toward us…

“It’s a fucking Dragon!” I shouted, barely having enough time to create a wall of earth in front of us to protect us from its incoming fire breath.

“YOL TOOR SHUL!” echoed through the world as the flames melted my earth wall.

Luckily, it was strong enough to endure the impact and the heat.

While I hadn’t fought a Dragon yet, my instincts were still sharp enough from living half a year as an adventurer and fighting several different types of monsters. I used the moment when it was at a low enough altitude to shoot several earthen spikes at it, letting them spear into its wings.

The damage was enough to force it into the ground before it could fly higher again. I had managed to punch several holes through its wings.

Ghislaine, a Swordswoman who deserved the title of Sword King at this point and another experienced adventurer, was already on the move. As fast as light, she had closed the distance to the Dragon, her sword flashing through the snow as it cut into its side, ripping open what I assumed was its stomach.

As the Dragon let out an earth-shaking howl of pain, I was already prepared to use the opening Ghislaine had created for me, my next spell already formed. With an upward motion of my wand, the stone beneath the Dragon began to shake and reshape before bursting into a large number of earthen spikes, most of them piercing into the Dragon’s flesh.

That’s the advanced spell Earth Hedgehog for you.

Yet it wasn’t enough to finish off the Dragon. It kept struggling, staring right at me with pure hatred.

“YOL TOOR SHUL!” Once again, the air vibrated with pure power as a massive fireball flew right at me.

If I hadn’t seen the fireball a second earlier through my Foresight Eye, I would be dead right now. It was far too big for me to dodge, and the impact alone would have killed me.

But with my fair share of battles behind me, I reacted calmly and logically.

With a wave of my wand, I used the terrain to my advantage, gathering the existing element around me to make use of the one-second advantage I had. I created a thick wall of ice between myself and the fireball with the spell Ice Fortress.

The ball of flames crashed right into it, breaking my protective wall apart into thousands of wet splinters. But it was enough to protect me from the heated attack while giving me the space to cast another spell.

A spinning spike of stone formed right in front of me, its rotation heating it up into a deadly projectile as I looked directly into the Dragon’s eye. With a loud, booming noise, my Stone Cannon pierced straight through the Dragon’s head, killing it without resistance.

Moments later, the body was engulfed in flames as its skin and flesh began to burn away within seconds. A short while later, all that remained were its bones.

After making sure it was actually dead and watching the magic power dissipate from its body, I took a deep breath and turned around, looking right into the astonished faces of Astoria, Daphne, and Tracey.

Even Mom, who had conjured some kind of strong-looking, half-transparent golden shield around all of them, looked at me with visible shock.

“I told you it would be dangerous,” I growled at them.

I was met with silence before Tracey finally spoke up.

“That was amazing! You have to teach me how to do that!”

I gave her an annoyed look. “The books are now in our Family Library. Learn it yourself. And don’t change the topic!”

“What do you expect me to say, son?” Mom shook her head. “I didn’t expect your Sacred Gear to position us right in front of a Dragon. I have to admit, you handled that admirably. Your display of Elemental Magic is impressive. Even I would have a hard time harming a Dragon like this.”

“Nah, you probably would have been able to handle it if you had gotten over your shock. I guess you’ll manage that during the month we’re here. This won’t be our last battle. That one doesn’t have the magic-resistant hides our Dragons have. While they are more powerful and varied offensively than our Dragons, their defense is weaker.” I explained while taking a closer look at the Dragon, clearly recognizing it.

“Wait, you recognize it?” Daphne asked, confused but having calmed down. “Didn’t you say that you don’t know what kind of world we would land in?”

“I didn’t know. But now I do. It’s actually a world from a video game in our world.” I explained with a confident grin. “I’m a hundred percent certain that we’re in the Elder Scrolls universe, a world full of magic that’s still at a medieval level. And we should be in the region of Skyrim, a cold northern land.”

“Oh, I know which one you’re talking about!” Tracey perked up. “Wasn’t that the game you begged Mom and Dad for a computer to play? The one with the Viking on the cover? I saw you fight Dragons on there several times. We couldn’t properly talk to you for weeks when that game came out!”

“That’s the one, but that wasn’t a Viking. It was a Nord. I guess they’re inspired by Viking culture a bit? But it’s a real world now, so who knows?” I said awkwardly.

Being able to experience the release of Skyrim a second time, especially after forgetting the details from my first life, had actually been a lot of fun. I may have gotten quite engrossed in it.

“Elder Scrolls?” Mom repeated the words with uncertainty. “And you really know it from a video game? So this is really another world that exists as some form of fiction in ours?”

“It does.” I nodded.

“Fascinating…” Mom muttered before taking a closer look at the Dragon. “It has two legs just like ours, and its shape reminds me quite a bit of a Hungarian Horntail, just spikier. Are there different races of Dragons in this world too? And are they common?”

“They’re not really common. In fact, they were actually extinct, or rather absent, for thousands of years. We seem to have arrived at a time when they have reappeared in the world. Dragons are usually immortal, and this one will be reborn after a while. The only person who can kill a Dragon permanently is a Dragonborn: a person who can absorb a Dragon’s soul.”

Shouldn’t I be able to do the same? With my ‘Magic’ Ability, I should be able to learn the innate Magic of the Dragonborn.

But where should I start?

“Dragons in this world all look quite similar and only differ by color and size. The bigger the Dragon, the more powerful it is. Bigger ones are called Ancient Dragons or Legendary Dragons and have different abilities based on their color, but they’re technically all the same race. In a way, you could say they’re all the same being.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“They’re all aspects of the Dragon God Akatosh. Basically, their souls are smaller parts of his soul, making them effectively immortal. While their mortal forms can be killed, they can be revived again.”

“So there’s no danger of it waking up soon?” Tracey wondered while nervously looking at the Dragon’s bones.

“Not as long as there isn’t another Dragon around to bring it back. If Alduin were here, we should flee immediately. He’s the most powerful aspect of Akatosh and is responsible for the Dragons returning in this era. Alduin, the World Eater.” I explained seriously, though I had no idea how powerful Alduin actually was.

A game has limits on what kind of power it can portray. But lore-wise, he’s an actual God who can end the world, while the Dragonborn is pretty much a demigod.

“World Eater? Not ominous at all,” Daphne muttered.

“Well, the name is the truth. There’s a prophecy that when he reappears, he’ll end the world,” I clarified.

Astoria pointed right at my face. “You jinxed us! We really ended up in an apocalypse world!”

“No, we didn’t. Not yet, at least. I hope so, anyway. If we arrived during the time of the game, it’s not the end of the world yet. The major plot is about Alduin and the Dragons returning, until the Dragonborn eventually handles it.”

“That’s a relief to hear.” Mom nodded. “Earlier, you said they’re usually immortal. It sounds like there’s a way to kill them.”

“Kinda. Their soul belongs to a God and is indestructible. But the Dragonborn is a Dragon in human form with the same kind of soul. He has the Ability to absorb a Dragon’s soul, effectively stopping it from being revived. But they’re not really dead, just a part of the Dragonborn now.”

“So I can still cut them?” Ghislaine spoke up for the first time in a while, having calmly guarded us.

“Yes, that will kill their mortal body just like Magic does.”

“Alright, Dragons aside. What are we going to do now? Does your game knowledge tell us where we are?” Tracey asked after hearing enough about immortal, world-ending Dragon Gods.

“Somewhere in the rather northern parts of Skyrim. While I don’t remember the exact name of the place, I know what it is.” I pointed at the set of stairs built into the mountain, leading up toward a small platform with a wall on it.

“We’re at a Word Wall. Those carry the language of the Dragons, a language they use for their Magic. Basically, if two Dragons fight, they’re arguing, except their words are also Spells at the same time. We should check it out first and make a copy of it. We should also take the bones with us. Those are valuable materials. And after that, we should head north. That’s our best bet!”

“Why north and not south?”

[-- End of Chapter --]