Chapter 45: Dragon in a Pinch
“B-rank?!”
First Miss actually broke through to B-rank at a time like this!
And what was with this heat? This wasn’t the kind of temperature a newly promoted B-rank could control.
Just what was First Miss’s ability?!
Various thoughts flashed through the steward’s mind. He was anxious, his hands forming a water wall, ready to release it.
However, Natsuba Rinrei’s speed was far beyond his imagination.
He could only watch as the fist grew larger and larger in his vision.
In the next moment, the violent, scorching fist slammed into his face.
His entire head was instantly ignited by the high temperature.
And he was sent flying by the terrifying force.
In mid-air, his head had already been burned to ashes. What fell to the ground was just a headless corpse.
A one-hit kill.
All the stewards present were stunned by this scene, a dead silence falling over them.
But the stewards who had come here were Natsuba Genryū’s direct subordinates, all of them considering the interests of the Natsuba conglomerate.
The previous steward’s thoughts were their own.
Losing the Second Miss wasn’t a big deal, but if the First Miss also died, they would have no way to explain it to the Kujō family in two months.
However, they had all witnessed the First Miss’s close-combat prowess.
After a moment of thought…
They instantly activated their abilities.
They began a barrage of ranged attacks. Ice shards, fireballs, and cursed energy surged towards Natsuba Rinrei.
Natsuba Rinrei ignored the attacks, continuing to walk towards the entrance at a steady pace.
She was familiarizing herself with her newly acquired B-rank power. That first punch had slightly disrupted her aura; she needed to sort it out.
She had to be in her best condition to enter the Nightmare-level Otherside.
And the more she sorted it out, the more she understood her own power.
The moment she stepped into B-rank, Natsuba Rinrei’s ability underwent a true transformation.
From the very beginning, when she awakened her ability, the image of a small red lizard had appeared in her mind. She had been heartbroken.
But then, she discovered she also had the ability to control fire.
As her ability grew, reaching peak C-rank, the red lizard’s size also expanded.
And now, having reached B-rank, she finally knew the true nature of her power.
The ranged attacks were about to hit her.
Natsuba Rinrei’s ruby-like vertical pupils shifted slightly, shining brightly. She observed the source of all the attacks, even a few from B-ranks.
And at that moment, the scattered flames, which had been like a raging sea, now gathered around her like a rainbow, prostrating themselves as if congratulating the birth of their king and offering their blessings.
The attacks from those below B-rank were melted and burned away by the flames before they even reached her.
As for the B-rank attacks…
Natsuba Rinrei’s gaze narrowed.
Intense, deep red flames gathered on her back, gradually forming a pair of massive, fiery wings.
Then, the wings flapped once.
The original flames instantly dissipated.
And what was revealed was a pair of magnificent, dazzling dragon wings, as beautiful as rubies, with a wingspan of ten meters, casting a shadow over the earth.
This was her true transformation.
Natsuba Rinrei’s true ability.
—Red Dragon!
The moment she reached B-rank, the massive red lizard grew dragon wings. Her strength, her speed, her control over fire all increased exponentially.
And now, compared to the dragon wings, Natsuba Rinrei looked like an infant.
Although their sizes were vastly different, when they were one, there was a strange, magnificent harmony.
“I’ll return these attacks to you!”
The dragon wings suddenly flapped, and the B-rank attacks were swatted away, unable to even scratch the wings, flying back along their original trajectories.
Not only that, but they were now imbued with her own flames, their power greatly enhanced.
And this was just a casual flick of her wings.
“Bang—!”
“Bang——!!”
“Bang———!!!”
Behind Natsuba Rinrei, the sound of the deflected attacks exploding echoed, followed by the screams of several stewards.
A beautiful firework display, a beautiful symphony.
Natsuba Rinrei didn’t look back, stepping into the gray mist.
Her figure blurred for a moment and vanished.
…
…
When Natsuba Rinrei opened her eyes again, she saw it.
She was standing at the entrance of a hospital. In the distance, a colossal monster, so large it seemed to reach the heavens, stood outside. The hospital was like a toy block in comparison.
It had a humanoid shape and stood on two legs. Its chest was covered in countless eyes, all blinking and staring intently at the hospital’s interior.
And where its head should have been, a massive tentacle writhed and twisted.
A violent, chaotic energy radiated from its body, crackling with white lightning.
It was very similar to the supernatural being Natsuba Hanae had imprisoned.
The first sight of it made Natsuba Rinrei’s mind feel like it was exploding, filled with a jumble of incomprehensible words, almost overwhelming her.
Her vision blurred, and she immediately channeled all her power to resist, barely managing to recover.
At the same time, information about the being flooded her mind.
—An Old God type.
A true Nightmare-level supernatural being!
Before it noticed her, she had to leave and hide. Even though she had just reached B-rank, and her combat power was comparable to a mid-B-rank, fighting a Nightmare-level being was pure fantasy.
Natsuba Rinrei didn’t dare to breathe loudly. She observed the Old God and took a silent step.
However, in the next moment…
Suddenly, the countless eyes on its chest all turned and stared at her.
Motionless.
Natsuba Rinrei: “…”
She had just reached B-rank, and she was already in a pinch?
It seemed her luck had run out after her emotionally charged promotion. Now it was time to pay the price.
But she couldn’t die here.
If she died, there would be no one left to save her sister. Everyone at the Natsuba conglomerate had practically given up.
This wasn’t a hopeless situation yet.
Natsuba Rinrei forced her usually inactive brain to work.
She looked at the hospital in the distance.
The Old God hadn’t attacked the hospital, which meant it was relatively safe inside. She was at the entrance.
A hundred meters away.
A distance she could normally cover in less than five seconds now seemed like an insurmountable chasm.
Natsuba Rinrei took a deep breath.
Her sister, an ordinary person, was in a much more difficult situation in this Nightmare-level Otherside. Every ordinary supernatural being she encountered would be like this Old God to her.
As the older sister, how could she be inferior?
She had to challenge it!
A resolute fire burned in Natsuba Rinrei’s ruby-like vertical pupils, growing more intense. She stomped her foot and charged towards the hospital!
In the next moment, tiny tentacles shot out from each of the Old God’s eyes, raining down on her.
Piercing through her protective dragon wings.
Blood splattered.
