Chapter 303: Checkmate?

"You... you can talk?" Alice asked, utterly thrown.

But that brief moment of surprise was enough to make her drop her guard, and the dragon wasted no time seizing the opening.

Despite its enormous size, the creature moved with terrifying speed, twisting its body to strike her with the back of one of its claws.

Alice barely had time to react before the blow caught her full in the side.

Her body went flying, tearing through several yards of air before slamming violently into one of the village houses.

The structure couldn’t withstand the impact and collapsed on top of her, burying her under an avalanche of wood, stone, and dust.

"ALICE!" Mark and Aria screamed at the same time.

But their worry lasted only a few seconds, because the rubble started to shift.

With a sharp shove, Alice pushed the ruins off herself and got to her feet, brushing the dust off her shoulders like she’d just tripped and nothing more.

"Ugh... shit," she grumbled, wincing. "Okay, that one actually hurt."

But that was when she noticed her arm.

It was bent backward at an unnatural angle, clearly dislocated from the impact.

She looked at it for a second, with the same expression someone might make discovering a wrinkle in their shirt, and without further ado, yanked it back into place.

Crack.

"There we go," she said, rolling her shoulder and extending her arm to check it worked. "Good as new."

Then she turned back to face the dragon, cracking her neck.

"Hey, that was totally cheap," she called out to the beast, pointing a finger at it.

The dragon watched her with its good eye, something like disbelief flickering in its gaze.

"Impossible..." the dragon said, still not believing what it was seeing. "No human should still be standing after that, let alone get up like it was nothing."

It narrowed its eye.

"How are you still alive, insect?"

Alice shrugged, a defiant smile on her face.

"What can I say?" she replied mockingly. "I’m tougher than I look."

The dragon huffed a puff of smoke from its nostrils, in what could be read as a scornful laugh.

"’Tough,’ you say? HA," the beast repeated with disdain. "I’ll admit, you’re not entirely useless... for a mere worm."

"Uh, thanks?"

"You writhe and fight with everything you have, convinced you matter, just like the rest of your pathetic species."

The superiority in the dragon’s voice was impossible to miss.

"But no matter how hard you struggle... in the end you’re still nothing but a fleeting creature that dared to raise its fist against a being far above it."

Alice narrowed her eyes, but kept her composure.

"Wow, so humble," she replied sarcastically. "But, since you think so little of us, so beneath you, there’s something that doesn’t add up."

She tilted her head.

"If we really are as pitiful in your eyes as you say, why even bother attacking us? Isn’t it a little pathetic for someone so ’superior’ to waste time squashing worms?"

As she spoke, a faint light was beginning to quietly gather in the palms of her hands.

Because, in truth, Alice wasn’t looking for answers.

She was buying time.

’Master,’ she said mentally, through the link. ’Can you hear me?’

Mark’s voice reached her thoughts instantly.

’I hear you. Are you okay? That hit looked brutal.’

’I’m fine, don’t worry,’ Alice replied without taking her eyes off the dragon, keeping up the appearance of trading words with it. ’Actually, I’m lining up a miracle that, if I land it right, should end this fight for good.’

’Got it, but... please be careful,’ Mark answered, worry in his voice. ’And if anything goes wrong, fall back immediately. I’ll send Aria to heal you or load you up with whatever spells she’s got left.’

’Don’t worry, my lord, that won’t be necessary... I think.’

The dragon, oblivious to the silent exchange, huffed again.

"Because that’s the only thing waiting for you now, human... death. You dared to wound me, to defile my body with your filthy hands, and for such insolence you’ll pay with your life."

"Death, you say?" Alice flashed a fierce grin, the light growing between her fingers. "Funny... because the only one dying here is you, you overrated lizard."

And with that, she threw herself back into the attack.

Alice charged the dragon with every ounce of speed she had left, the weapons of light re-forming around her.

She struck, dodged, harassed the beast from every angle, forcing it to defend itself, to keep its full attention locked on her.

But this time, fatigue was starting to weigh her down.

The buffs were still active, but Alice’s body was already carrying the full toll of the fight so far.

Her movements, once fast and precise, began losing their edge, and her breathing grew heavier by the second.

The dragon sensed her weakening instantly, and the moment Alice took a second to catch her breath, it seized the chance to strike.

Alice couldn’t pull back in time, and the massive claws closed around her body, trapping her with no chance to escape.

She struggled desperately, but the dragon lifted her up to its face, where its one good eye studied her with a mix of contempt and satisfaction.

"It’s over," the beast said, slowly tightening its grip. "This is your end, insect."

Alice, caught, gasping, and seemingly beaten... smiled.

"You know what your mistake was?" she said, her voice ragged but brimming with triumph. "Getting this close to me."

"...What?"

"The one who lost here," Alice went on, lifting her gaze with a fierce grin, "was you."

And at that instant, the light she’d been secretly gathering throughout the whole exchange burst out around her.

"DIVINE ARROWS!"

Out of the air around Alice, dozens upon dozens of arrows made of pure golden light materialized all at once, each one blazing with a blinding intensity.

They hovered for an instant, all aimed at the dragon from every possible angle, surrounding it completely at point-blank range.

And then, they fired.

A devastating rain of holy projectiles tore into the dragon’s body from every direction at once, piercing its scales, burying themselves in its flesh, impossible to dodge at that range.

The beast released Alice and threw its head back in a roar of agony as the arrows kept slamming into it one after another.

And then, all at once, they detonated.

A colossal explosion of golden light completely engulfed the dragon, its shockwave shaking the entire village, rising into the sky in a blazing column visible for miles around.