novelraw Chapter 956: Logged Off at Lightspeed
Chapter 956: Logged Off at Lightspeed
Hearing those all-too-familiar words, Gray almost failed to hold back the tears welling in his eyes.
"I told you, I’m fine now!"
"Move it!" Cana kicked Gray square in the rear.
But her strength had faded too much. With Gray, Natsu, and Lucy all bunched together, the kick merely sent the three of them tumbling into a heap.
"Screeee!"
The monstrous bird dove straight down from the sky.
Cana hurriedly flung three cards upward.
One missed completely. Of the remaining two, only one activated properly.
Even then, her reduced strength caused the card to detonate lower than intended.
The wind magic it released failed to injure the bird, instead sweeping violently across the ground.
By sheer coincidence, when the bird pierced through the gale, the wind had already blasted the four children and one cat out of the way, narrowly avoiding the strike.
"Ugh..."
Cana rolled across the ice and grimaced. "Lucky... or unlucky..."
The others tumbled a few more times before scrambling back to their feet.
"Even if we’re kids now, don’t underestimate us!"
Lucy snapped the Star River whip from her waist, the blue lash shooting out and coiling neatly around the bird.
"Nice one, Lucy!"
Natsu took a few quick steps, inhaled deeply, and shouted, "Fire Dragon’s Roar!"
At the same moment, Gray pressed his right fist into his left palm.
"Ice Make: Great Hammer!"
A puff of flame no larger than a basketball splashed harmlessly against the bird’s face and vanished in under a second.
A palm-sized toy hammer bonked the creature’s head before crumbling into frost.
Both boys stared in disbelief.
"That’s way too weak!"
"What are you two doing?!"
Lucy clutched the whip handle with both hands as the bird began dragging her along.
Fortunately, Cana followed up just in time, one card flying true.
"Lightning of Fate!"
Golden lightning wrapped around the bird from beak to tail.
A flash lit the village, and the creature crashed hard onto the ice, eyes squeezed shut.
Sensing its power fade, Lucy retracted Star River.
Then the bird’s eye snapped open.
It lunged forward, beak first, straight at the nearest target.
"Natsu!"
Happy flapped his tiny wings desperately, but he couldn’t budge Natsu’s body.
The bird clamped its beak around the arm Natsu raised to block.
Then it froze.
The thing in its mouth was getting bigger.
Its single eye flicked upward just in time to see the boy already restored to full size.
Natsu grinned.
"Like the taste of my hand, stinking bird?"
The creature recoiled, but raging flames erupted from its beak. Some poured inside its mouth, the rest engulfing its body.
"Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!"
The bird was launched skyward like a rocket, fire blasting from its beak as the flames surrounding it surged higher and higher.
"We’re back to...ugh!"
Lucy winced as her belt suddenly tightened, fumbling frantically with the buckle.
Gray had no such trouble. He glanced around calmly.
"So Erza already won? That was fast."
They straightened their clothes and looked over.
Nearby lay the burly man, his chest carved with two deep X-shaped wounds and a horizontal slash across his throat.
His body, once swollen and darkened, was already shrinking back to normal.
Erza wiped her blade.
"Sorry. He was tougher than I expected."
Flare stared at her in awe.
So this was Fairy Tail’s queen.
A terrifying enemy, defeated in just a few moves.
"Next problem is the ice," Gray muttered, glancing at the three treasure hunters, who had also returned to adult size.
"Didn’t they mention liquefied Moon Drip?"
Natsu wasted no time. He rummaged through the fat man’s pockets and soon produced a small vial containing several dozen milliliters of purple liquid.
"Got it! So... how do we use it?"
"Ask them."
Cana kicked the man’s side. "How long are you planning to play dead?"
After all, these three had tried to steal the treasure. A few extra kicks hardly weighed on anyone’s conscience.
Lala obediently sat up.
"Just pour it on the ice. That should work."
Cana cracked her knuckles.
"Should?"
"We’ve never used it!" Lala cried. "Liquid Moon Drip is expensive!"
"Only one way to find out!"
Natsu popped the cork and splashed the liquid onto a nearby frozen rock.
The results were immediate.
The strange ice vanished.
Unfortunately, only the portion that had directly touched the liquid disappeared.
With that tiny amount, they couldn’t even thaw a fingernail of a giant.
"No way?!"
The other two treasure hunters sprang up in shock, looking even more stunned than Fairy Tail.
If Moon Drip was this ineffective, their entire plan had been doomed from the start.
Dorek hoisted his sniper rifle.
"Plan’s busted. We’re pulling out!"
The other two didn’t argue, sprinting away at once.
No one bothered chasing them.
Flare knelt beside the rock, staring at the minuscule melted patch, despair crushing her chest.
She could think of no other solution.
"Since Moon Drip works, why don’t we perform the Moon Drip ritual tonight?" Lucy suggested. "Like we did in Edolas."
"That’s it!" Natsu brightened.
Cana looked lost, but Natsu and Happy remembered clearly. Back then, it had been Rhodes who suggested Moon Drip to free Gray and Erza after they’d been turned into magic crystals.
Gray shook his head.
"That ritual requires moonlight and Demon Island’s environment. Even then, the efficiency was terrible."
Lucy fell silent.
Right. That was why Lyon had moved Deliora there.
Erza made a swift decision.
"Then we question Succubus Eye. Even if they aren’t the source, they’re clearly involved."
"Right, Succubus Eye..."
Lucy spun around.
Minerva was gone.
Doriate, whom Erza had defeated, had vanished as well.
"When did they escape?!" Gray exclaimed.
Cana clicked her tongue.
"Minerva’s magic. Damn it..."
Putting raw power aside, her magic was perfect for abductions and retreats.
Even the bird Natsu had blasted away was nowhere to be seen.
Another lead had snapped.
"Don’t look so down," Erza said gently, resting a hand on Flare’s shoulder.
"Even if that idea won’t work, we still have at least three other options."
...
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