When I Was Reincarnated, All the Heroines Were Stolen by the Fake Hero ~ The Guy Who Dominated With Original Story Knowledge, and Me Who Dominated With Talent. It Seems the World After the Ending Is My One-Man Stage ~ - Episode 46

Episode 46

The distortion in space settled. And the sensation of my feet gently touching the ground returned.

When I opened my eyes, what leapt into view was an endless expanse of green.

“We’re heeere!”

Next to me, Ulrika cheerfully raised her voice.

It seemed we were deep within a thick, overgrown forest. Not far from us stood a towering mountain. It had jagged, rocky surfaces exposed.

She must have teleported us here relying only on the vague information I gave her—“near the eastern mountains.”

It was reckless to the extreme. But it was also very like her.

I remembered the stunned expression of Sebas that I caught a glimpse of just before we left. I then quietly put my hands together in my heart.

Sorry, Sebas. We’ll probably be back by the end of today. So please forgive me.

Unaware of my inner turmoil, Ulrika was already fully in adventurer mode.

“So, where should we start looking? I guess we should head toward the mountain, right?”

Saying that, she lightly straddled her staff.

She floated gently into the air. And like a witch, she glided smoothly through the pathless underbrush.

I sighed internally. Wait a second—I don’t even have Aegis with me, not even a sword for self-defense…

But complaining wouldn’t help now.

If I got separated from Ulrika in this unfamiliar land, I’d never be able to make it back.

Determined not to lose sight of her, I desperately pushed through the thick foliage after her.

The underbrush was deeper than I expected. Branches and leaves were smacking into me and getting in the way.

I couldn’t catch up to Ulrika. I swung my arms mindlessly. I was forging ahead through the unmarked path.

＊ ＊ ＊

After a while, the view suddenly opened up.

It seemed we’d made it out of the underbrush.

A little ahead, Ulrika was sitting on her staff. She was glancing around curiously.

“Ulrika… Wait up a second…”

I called out, panting.

But she seemed not to hear me and instead pointed ahead. She raised her voice.

“Look, Yutaka! Doesn’t that look suspicious?”

Where she pointed was a gaping cave mouth.

But no matter how you looked at it, it was just a cave. We were still some distance from the target mountain. And there was zero suspicious atmosphere.

If I had come here alone to investigate, I would’ve definitely passed right by it.

Ulrika might be incredibly proactive. But her intuition was… questionable.

“There’s nothing here…”

Just as I started to say that, she cut me off again.

“Let’s go, Yutaka!”

With that, she had already dashed into the cave. Good grief…

Please, let this be just a normal, empty cave…

Reluctantly, I followed her and stepped into the dim interior.

Ulrika lit up the inside with a soft glow from the tip of her staff.

Inside was a much larger space than one would guess from the entrance.

*Drip… drip…* — the sound of water dripping from the ceiling echoed strangely loud.

But instead of feeling at ease, I felt an uneasy stillness.

In a space this big, it wouldn’t be surprising if small monsters like Goblins had made it their den.

And yet, there was no sign of anything at all.

That alone set off my danger-sense.

Just as I was about to warn Ulrika—

“Ah.”

She let out a short sound.

“What is it?”

I asked, looking in the direction she was staring.

There, a thick purple sludge spread out like a swamp.

And at the center of it… crouched a massive shadow covered in the same toxic purple color.

Because of the darkness and the liquid, I couldn’t clearly make it out. But the color, the faint shape of the large head, the long tail, and the folded wings—

No mistake. Constantly radiating deadly poison from its body and turning its own toxic swamp into its territory—this was a Toxic Dragon.

Now I understood. With such a powerful monster around, no smaller monsters would dare to come near.

The Toxic Dragon seemed to notice the light we were emitting. It slowly opened its eyelids and began rising with a low rumble.

But there was no way this hot-headed mage would let it fully wake up.

Before I realized, Ulrika was already pointing her staff. Its tip was intertwined with complex magic circles.

“Calamity Fire!”

With a short chant, she released an inferno from her lavishly adorned staff—the Staff of Mabinogi—enough to scorch the entire cave.

The blazing flames engulfed the Toxic Dragon in an instant.

From within the fire came a bone-shattering death cry that echoed throughout the cave.

Eventually, when the screams stopped, Ulrika cut off the magic sharply.

What was left was the blackened, burned-out remains of the Dragon—nothing but bones.

In this world, there probably isn’t a single enemy—past or future—besides the Demon King who could withstand even a portion of Ulrika’s enormous magic power. And even more so when it is combined with the low-MP-consuming Staff of Mabinogi.

Slaying a Dragon is child’s play for her now, huh?

Looking at the jet-black bones before me, I quietly thought so.