The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

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Agito, the leader of the A-rank party [Dragon's Jaw], was fighting while covered in mud.

It had been a full day since the joint forces of the knight order and adventurers began their battle against the Maguu Empire's monster army on the great plains east of the Stoania Kingdom. The battle was far tougher than expected, and casualties had begun to mount.

After all, they were facing an army composed entirely of high-ranking monsters. One-on-one battles were difficult to conclude, and a single misstep could lead to a fatal wound. There was no room to relax one's guard.

Although the mage corps provided support from the towers in the royal capital, the impression was that they were struggling considerably.

If the vanguard could hold the monsters in place and coordinate attacks, they could take down one monster without much time, but the sheer number of enemies was overwhelming. There was no time to rest.

"Hey, Agito! Don't push too far forward!"

"Yes! I'm sorry!"

Cautioned by an S-rank adventurer, Agito calmed his overeager feelings.

The defensive line was complex. They had to lure in the enemy to some extent, form a formation to surround them, and then strike. Fortunately, although the monsters were high-ranking, they seemed to have lower intelligence than wild monsters. That, at least, could be considered a blessing.

"But, my magic power is already..."

"Fall back and rest. Your companions have long since gone to take a break."

"I-I understand. I'll withdraw for now."

Agito followed his senior's advice and disengaged from the formation.

Agito and his companions, gathered for this emergency quest, were assigned positions by party unit. C-rank adventurers were in rear support. B-rank adventurers were in joint operations with the knight order, while A-rank adventurers were defending key points. 

S-rank adventurers were positioned as the cornerstones of the formation. Of course, they were still considered support units, so their role was to assist the knight order.

Only volunteer adventurers and members of the knight order were fighting on the true front lines.

"Damn it, I can't take this anymore!"

An adventurer Agito had never seen before ran past him, cursing as he fled. He was incredibly fast - probably a B-rank.

Abandoning an emergency quest carried heavy penalties, potentially including suspension or revocation of adventurer status. However, many adventurers reasoned that losing one's life wasn't worth it, and there was a constant stream of people fleeing when the situation turned unfavorable.

Of course, the strategy was formulated with the assumption that a certain number of people would desert, so it didn't have a significant impact. Agito merely clicked his tongue at the man's retreating back before refocusing his thoughts.

"At this rate, we're just going to be worn down."

Looking back, he saw a large monster charging at the defensive wall. Mages on the wall were raining down spells, but the monster rolled and crashed into the wall, causing several people to fall from the vibration.

Support quickly arrived, but the formation they had been maintaining crumbled. However, at that moment, a wide-area spell from the mage corps on the outer wall came flying in, blasting away dozens of surrounding monsters.

It was ritual magic, a tactical-level area attack performed by several people working together.

Although they were defeating monsters and using their corpses to weaken the force of the charges, they were gradually being pushed back. 

Incidentally, the first line of defensive walls had already been breached, so the second line of walls was now the front line.

Agito reached the base behind the third defensive wall in the rain.

Inside the designated tent were three women - his companions.

"Agito! You're safe. I'm so glad."

"Agito-san, your meal is ready."

"Come on, Agito-kun, take off your armor. I'll take care of it for you."

Rest time was until magic power recovered.

Agito, confident in his recovery ability, couldn't rest for many hours. Besides, resting only reduced their fighting strength, so he wanted to stay on the battlefield as long as possible.

"Sorry, everyone."

Agito thanked them, quickly ate his meal, and lay down.

He hadn't suffered any major injuries. Physical fatigue couldn't be recovered with potions, so he decided to sleep while being tended to by his companions. As he closed his eyes, hoping that the second defensive wall wouldn't be breached when he woke up--

"Message! Message! Abandon the second defensive wall due to change in strategy! Repeat, abandon the second defensive wall due to change in strategy! Everyone here, fall back to the fourth defensive wall!"

"What did you say?"

Agito jumped up.

When he left the tent, everyone around was already beginning to retreat.

The strategy of abandoning the wall while there was still room to maneuver was, if he remembered correctly, a signal for concentrated long-range attacks. According to the plan, this was supposed to happen when reinforcements from the mage corps arrived from Mataisa.

But it had only been one day since the battle began.

It was too early for reinforcements to arrive.

"What's going on?"

Although Agito was puzzled, if it was an official strategy, all he had to do was follow it.

Agito and the rest of [Dragon's Jaw] hurriedly packed their belongings and began retreating towards the fourth defensive wall.

As they ran towards the royal capital, treading on the muddy ground soaked by rain, a bright light suddenly flashed atop the outer wall.

Lights in the middle of the day? Why-- Agito thought for a moment.

Light was released from the outer wall at a speed that even Agito's eyesight couldn't follow.

Immediately after, a vibration occurred behind them.

"W-What was that!?"

Agito wasn't the only one who stopped in his tracks. Everyone around turned to look back at the area around the second defensive wall.

The high-ranking monsters that had been swarming there were almost all blown away and fallen. Those that survived were writhing in agony, their entire bodies scorched and festering.

What was that just now?

A new ritual magic?

Just as Agito was wondering this, light was once again released from the outer wall, instantly striking the battlefield and causing a massive explosion.

... Impossible.

Ritual magic takes time to prepare. It's not something that can be fired off repeatedly like that.

But no matter how you looked at it, it wasn't ordinary magic. The power and speed were on a completely different level from any magic Agito knew. Hundreds of monsters must have been blown away in a single shot.

While he was confused, massive explosions continued to occur one after another.

"H-Hey, could it be..."

"No doubt about it, that's the princess..."

Some of the adventurers who were gazing at the outer wall began to stir restlessly.

Agito recognized those guys. They were adventurers from Bargia who had recently come to Stoania.

Agito followed their gaze and squinted at the top of the outer wall.

"...A girl?"

It was a young girl dressed in a frilly black and white dress.

The torrent of light was being released from her hands. There was no mistake. It was that child's magic.

"It's the princess! The Dragon Princess has come to reinforce us!"

"Princess? Could it be... a True Dragon?"

"That's right! We can win, we can win! The strongest species has come to reinforce us~!"

The adventurers from Bargia began to raise war cries.

Their voices spread, and news of the Dragon Princess's participation raced across the battlefield at an incredible speed. The Dragon Princess was mowing down monsters with her breath. Seeing this, morale soared to unprecedented levels.

Agito's hands trembled as he watched the power of that breath.

So this is a real True Dragon...

Someday, he wanted to protect his precious people with strong, unyielding power like the jaw of a dragon. That was the thought behind naming his party [Dragon's Jaw].

With tears faintly glistening in his eyes, Agito smiled.

"...Damn, I'm still so far away."

But someday, he wanted to get even a little closer to that strength.

He would get closer.

Agito made that vow.

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"[Dragon-Slaying Bullet]! [Dragon-Slaying Bullet]! [Dragon-Slaying Bullet]!"

Seori, in high spirits, repeatedly fired her breath skill at the huge horde of monsters.

The rain that had been falling since morning was intensifying. Thanks to the worsening ground conditions and visibility, the monsters' invasion seemed to have slowed a bit. This was lucky. It would reduce casualties.

"As expected of a True Dragon. The power lives up to the rumors, indeed."

The muscular Guild Master was expressing his admiration next to us.

Originally, we were supposed to be fighting on the front lines, but with Seori's appearance, the army headquarters made a bold change in strategy. This is it, the Annihilation by Breath Grand Strategy!

I have no complaints either... or rather, I brought Seori along in the first place to act as a cannon. After all, if she used her breath normally, it would involve our allies too.

As expected, Seori greatly reduced the number of enemies on the front line in just a few minutes.

"Phew. Master, did you see my ultimate power?"

"Perfect. Well done."

"Hehe! But I'm tired. I want to rest."

Seori, who had fired about twenty breaths, seemed to be running out of magic power.

All the monsters near the defensive wall had been blown away, so we probably eliminated about 5,000 of them. Well, that's still less than a tenth of the total, though.

As I gazed at the horde of monsters stretching to the horizon, I said,

"There should be a command tower somewhere. Karmarike, I guess you can't see it from here?"

"That's impossible, even for me."

Oh, and by the way, I brought Karmarike along today too.

The reason I brought her was the same as Seori's:

"Tch. Then shall we just defeat them normally and level up?"

"Thinking about leveling up in this situation, Ruruk-sama is as expected."

"You're not praising me, are you?"

"I am praising you! I might fall for you even more for things like that. Oh, I already have, haven't I?"

Exchanging such jokes, Karmarike nocked an arrow to her bow.

Today, it's a normal arrow, not a boomerang arrow.

"[Instant] [Blessing] [Heavy]"

After invoking spirit summoning to add effects, she immediately began firing arrows into the sky in rapid succession.

Without missing a single shot, she pierced the vital points of the monsters that were charging into the aftermath of the bombing. Karmarike, who had struggled so much to defeat B-rank monsters just half a year ago, was now using [Heavenly Eye] to see through weaknesses and take them down in one shot.

Or rather, hasn't the power of her normal arrows increased too?

"This bow is amazing. The shooting power has increased, so the range has extended too."

"...It's incredible that your accuracy hasn't dropped with that."

I'm a bit dissatisfied with how good her skills are.

I've practiced archery once or twice too, you know. I thought it might look cool if I could use it.

But it was no good. I didn't have a shred of talent, so I gave up.

While I watched with envious eyes, Karmarike continued to fire without missing a single shot until she had used up all the arrows she brought, finishing in just a few minutes.

"Alright! I did as you instructed, Ruruk-sama!"

"I have nothing to say. It's amazing."

"Why are you using polite speech?"

"I'm showing my respect."

Now for a level check.

Karmarike... wow, impressive. She's risen from level 38 to level 49. Perhaps an expected result since they were all higher-ranked opponents.

And Seori, having defeated about 5,000 high-ranking monsters, had risen from level 29 to an astonishing level 69. I thought it was too much of an increase, but conversely, considering she only reached 69 after defeating 5,000, it's surprising. If she were human, it wouldn't be strange to have maxed out with just this much.

As expected of a naturally superior being, the experience required to reach the level cap is terrifyingly high.

"Well, I guess it's pretty close to perfect as far as leveling goes."

"Master... my head is spinning. I feel sick..."

"Your status increase must be affecting your body. I guess we raised it too much at once. You can rest now."

"O-Okay."

Seori turned pale.

Karmarike immediately began rubbing her back.

"Well, our goal of leveling up is complete."

"Hey, Ruruk. Don't tell me you came here just to level up your companions?"

The Guild Master glared at me.

The surrounding soldiers were taken aback by my leveling comment.

I shrugged and said,

"It was just a bonus. Our dragon princess can't fight properly in dungeons, so she rarely levels up. Without opportunities like this, it's hard for her to level up."

"...Well, it's true that we've been helped."

"Then, let me level up a bit too."

"You? What more do you intend to do by raising your level further?"

The Guild Master's eyes flashed as he looked at me.

Come to think of it, this person was a holy magic user who could use appraisal, wasn't he? Then he probably knows that I'm close to the level cap. I haven't concealed my level with perception interference either.

"Well, I'd like to max out while I have the chance."

"...A minor reaching the level cap is unprecedented."

"So, I'll help reduce the number of monsters a bit too."

Saying that, I teleported from the top of the outer wall to the third defensive wall.

The soldiers on the wall were surprised, but I paid them no mind as I began to form a magic circle.

At times like this, for someone like me who doesn't have area-of-effect attacks, there's only one thing I can rely on.

A story I've loved since my previous life.

The power of myth that transcends worlds.

...Now, I wonder how powerful it will be.

"[Mythical Manifestation -- Keraunos]"

The world trembled.

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Author Notes:

  [Next time, the birth of the strongest creature.]

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