Nada Volume 2, Chapter 13

Episode 13 – Aerial Sword Techniques

Nada, Serena, and Amarelo—who had sworn to kill the dragon—moved slowly toward the faint heartbeat that they could only hear if they concentrated intently. Surprisingly, Nada was the one leading the group. He walked at the front on his own initiative. The slowest among them was Amarelo, while Serena followed right behind Nada.

Nada’s face had twisted into that of a ferocious beast, yet he remained incredibly calm. Or perhaps it was because he was excited that his senses had sharpened. The dragon’s insides looked different from what they had seen before. No, more than that, his perception of the entire world around him felt different.

This was the first time he had ever focused his hearing so intensely while inside the dragon.

Until now, everything he saw had always clashed with common sense so drastically that there had been no room to pay attention to sound. The pink walls, the blue and red blood vessels glowing faintly for some unknown reason, the way the dragon’s interior was bright despite the absence of any light source—everything had been astonishing. On top of that, the parasitic creatures living in the dragon, the giant boulders bouncing like balls, and even the dragon’s stomach acid that no sane person would look at directly—all of it had overwhelmed them.

Because of that, they had never had the leisure to slowly search for its heartbeat like this.

But now, as he listened closely, Nada felt the dragon’s heartbeat pulsing slowly and heavily. Not only in his ears—in fact, he felt it through his feet, like a deep tremor shaking the earth beneath him.

The rhythm was much slower than the heartbeat he felt when he placed a hand on his own chest. Nada once heard from Dan that a heart works like a pump. So he thought, if the heart of a dragon this massive is pumping, then of course it would move slowly to push something so enormous.

“Even so—”

While Nada pondered this, Amarelo spoke in a heavy tone.

“What is it?” 

Serena reacted to his overly dramatic way of speaking.

“We are heading toward the dragon’s heart, are we not?”

“Yeah.”

Nada nodded, eyes fixed ahead.

“And a dragon is a monster, yes?”

“Pretty sure it is. I mean, it has a Calvaon inside its body.”

Of course, in the Paraiso Kingdom where Nada lived, there were creatures living on the surface as well—including humans. Many types of animals walked the land, and the forests were filled with creatures dangerous to humans. Naturally, among them were beings similar to monsters—no, beings identical to them.

Wolves, for example. Wolves lived in Paraiso’s forest,s and some people even kept them as pets, but wolf-type monsters also existed in the dungeon. Line them up, and there would be cases where you couldn’t tell which was a surface-dwelling wolf and which was a dungeon monster.

So how did they distinguish the two?

By the heart. All living creatures on the surface, humans included, possessed hearts. But creatures inside dungeons did not. They instead possessed a core called a Calvaon.

That single difference determined whether something was a monster or a living animal.

“I know hearts beat. Even my heart is pounding right now.”

“Yeah.”

“But Calvaon—does it pulsate? That thing looks like a stone.”

“…You’re right.”

Nada stopped walking and looked back at Amarelo.

He had a point.

They had taken hundreds, thousands of Calvaon cores from monsters up until now—varying in shape or color, yes, but every one of them was hard, solid, and never felt like flesh. Even when they tried to crush them, they didn’t break easily. There was no way they could move, much less pulse.

“…Then what’s this vibration? Am I imagining it?”

Nada tilted his head as he asked Amarelo.

“I hear what you call a heartbeat as well,” Serena added.

Thump… thump… thump…

If dragons didn’t have hearts, then what was this sound?

The same question rose in all three of their minds.

“Has anyone ever seen detailed research on a monster’s heart, or on Calvaon?”

At Nada’s question, Amarelo and Serena both shook their heads.

They all knew that even now, many aspects of monster biology remained a mystery. The reason was simple—monsters died almost immediately once taken out of a dungeon. For some reason, they had the trait of perishing easily when removed from it, making it difficult to dissect them alive on the surface.

On top of that, bringing back an intact corpse from a dungeon was difficult. At best, an adventurer could only retrieve the materials they deemed necessary.

As a result, knowledge about monster biology consisted only of the scraps of information adventurers gained through experience. And even then, those were not about internal anatomy, but things like what gifts were effective, their behavioral patterns, weak points—information useful for combat.

“In that case, maybe Calvaon can pulse like a heart. I don’t know. Anyway, it’s pointless to think too hard about it. Besides, this is the only clue we’ve got for killing the dragon.”

Nada’s answer was thrown out carelessly.

Amarelo wanted to sigh at his reckless approach, but it was true that they had no other leads.

“…Well, if Calvaon really is the thing that’s pulsing, we just have to check it and be sure.”

“Yeah.”

Nodding to Amarelo’s comment, Nada once again advanced step by step toward the dragon’s heart.

◆◆◆

The closer the three got to the source of the heartbeat, the louder the sound grew.

As it grew louder, the vibrations felt like they were burning their skin. It was like the rumbling footsteps of a giant. They were the ones approaching the origin of the sound—yet it felt as if the sound was coming toward them instead.

But the scenery didn’t change. They remained inside the dragon—hemmed in by pink walls and ceiling. Countless blood vessels rose from them, and the closer they got to the sound, the thicker and more numerous the vessels seemed.

“Still nothing appearing, huh…”

Amarelo said suddenly.

They didn’t know how long it had been since they became just the three of them.

But it likely hadn’t even been an hour. Compared to the long ordeal since being swallowed, the time they’d spent as three felt almost momentary.

And in all that time, nothing had obstructed them.

Until now, something new had appeared every so often as they walked.

“I wonder what comes next…”

Nada let out a long sigh.

At this point, he didn’t even try to guess the next calamity. He couldn’t. Stomach acid? That he could understand. The parasites—fine. Even the bouncing boulder—they could digest that with Dan’s explanation.

But what was that thing from earlier—the floor suddenly opening and then closing again?

Did something like that happen in their own bodies, too?

“…I doubt… my floor could open into a giant hole like that,” Serena said, though without confidence.

So she continued walking with her gaze slightly lowered, watching the ground carefully.

In the corner of her mind lingered the memory of failing to grasp Dan’s hand properly.

She wanted to believe he was alive. Dan, with the Healing God’s Gift, was one of the least likely adventurers to die—but the job was still one where death was possible.

Living the rest of her life unable to save the person who once saved her—Serena couldn’t bear the thought.

“Speaking of which, there’s something I wanted to ask you, Amarelo.”

Now that there still seemed to be no danger, Nada spoke as though suddenly remembering.

“To me…? If I can answer it, I will…”

Amarelo stroked his chin, puzzled by the unexpected question.

“It’s nothing dramatic. I just want to know about your ‘strength’, Amarelo. Among the seven of us earlier, the Gift-users were Dan and Clarisse. The ones with Abilities were Bramia, Serena, and Corvo. I’ve seen Serena’s. As for Bramia’s, I’m guessing it’s either a strength-type or equipment-type ability. I mean, the guy’s running speed barely changed whether he was wearing all his gear or not.”

“…You know Corvo’s ability? I only heard it’s one of those common attack-boosting abilities. I didn’t expect you to know the details.”

Serena asked honestly.

Adventurers’ Abilities were usually public knowledge, because the better the Ability, the easier it was to attract party members.

But common abilities weren’t in high demand, so information about them tended to be vague.

Corvo was one such case.

His ability increased his physical strength. But adventurers with such Abilities were plentiful at the academy. Of course, each person had slight variations in type, but such differences were minor—and compared to Abilities like Serena’s, few adventurers bothered to actively seek information about them.

“Yeah. I’ve adventured with him before. His Ability is called ‘Ogre Slayer.’ It lets him boost his physical strength to the level of an ogre—no, even higher. When it comes to raw power among adventurers, he’s probably near the top.”

“Heh, is that so. Then you wish to know my strength, do you?”

“Yeah. We have no idea what’s waiting for us ahead. Sometimes just knowing another person’s Abilities can be the difference between living and dying.”

Hearing that, Amarelo seemed convinced and nodded with a cheerful grin, showing no sign of displeasure.

“The power I possess… is an Ability. As for the details—well, I’ll just show you with the enemies that are about to arrive.”

The moment Amarelo looked ahead, they saw them—three insects larger than any the trio had encountered so far.

They looked almost like knights.

No… they looked more like a species of monster one would find in the dungeon—centaurs.

Their metallic, silvery-white carapace was so well crafted that it resembled a full suit of plate armor. Their bodies were swollen and massive, and the rear half was supported by four slender legs like those of an armored horse.

Their humanoid upper bodies had two arms that ended not in claws, but in scythe-like blades—no, they looked more like twin swords.

The armor-like headpiece was designed so magnificently that it resembled a heroic helm, and its two thick antennae looked like twin horns. Deep within that helm, a jewel-like red stone gleamed.

“What do you think? Need help? Those things look pretty strong.”

“No, I am quite all right. This seems like a fine opportunity for you two to finally witness my true skill. Despite my appearance… I am rather strong, you know?”

With a cocky grin, Amarelo stepped out ahead of Nada, crouched low with one hand gripping the sheath at his waist, and charged straight toward the three insect-knights.

“You sure? Aren’t you worried?”

Serena couldn’t help fretting over letting Amarelo handle them alone.

“He’ll be fine. For all his quirks, that guy’s swordsmanship is seriously impressive. Better than yours or mine.”

“Urgh… well, that’s true, but…”

Hit where it hurts, Serena pouted as if sulking.

She knew full well she wasn’t particularly skilled with the sword.

While the two exchanged idle chatter, Amarelo had already closed in on the enemy.

With his body lowered almost to the ground, he dashed in and performed a quick-draw slash at one knight’s shin. The insect immediately brought down its blade-like arm to counter, forcing Amarelo to pull back to regain balance.

At that instant, one knight swung low, trying to sweep Amarelo’s legs out from under him.

Amarelo immediately leapt high—only for the two scythe-arms to come sweeping in, just as if they’d waited for that opening.

Even Nada and Serena wouldn’t have been able to dodge that attack.

But Amarelo simply smirked—then kicked off the air itself.

As though there were an invisible platform beneath him, he stepped upward and vaulted even higher.

He soared over one knight’s head.

As he passed overhead, he twisted like a cat and slashed down, but the strike was shallow. Only a little green blood spattered out.

Seeing his blow had barely penetrated, Amarelo kicked off the “air” again before hitting the ground, using it like a wall, and with both hands on his blade, he cleanly severed one knight’s head.

Without missing a beat, he landed lightly atop the headless knight’s body and stared down at the two remaining foes.

From there on, it was one-sided.

Amarelo danced through the air with fairy-like agility, bewildering the knight-insects as he flitted around them. In moments, the remaining two corpses lay sprawled on the floor.

“Hmm. Quite sturdy, those fellows. How troublesome…”

Looking at his blade before sheathing it, Amarelo sighed wearily—its edge was chipped from striking their hard armor, and he seemed on the verge of tears.

“That air-jump just now—your Ability is that, isn’t it?”

Ignoring his distress, Nada approached and asked.

“That is correct. Its name is ‘Koher LibertadSprint to Freedom.’ Of course, it doesn’t allow me to kick the air forever, so there are limits… but in battle, it’s a highly convenient Ability.”

“No kidding. I’m counting on you when it comes time to kill that dragon.”

“N-no promises on that front,” Amarelo replied with a wry laugh.

Serena followed just behind the two.

Nada, too, ended up fighting several more similar insect-knights afterward. Serena took her share as well.

Their bodies were warmed up.

Their resolve was set.

Their hearts had already hardened—

—hardened with the intent to kill the dragon.

Suppressing the beast-like thrill roaring inside him, Nada pushed forward.

And at last, they reached the place that could only be the dragon’s heart.

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