Jin's lecture was still going on.

Barriers can be made into geometric shapes such as spheres, hemispheres, and rods, but they are not yet able to change their shape freely.

However, if the leather of <> has a property that allows free magic element (ether) and magic element (mana) to pass through easily and does not leak.

"...... I see what you mean, Jin."

Saki's eyes lit up and she looked at the piece in her hand.

"Let's give it a try."

Jin also picked up one of the scraps and tried to put some mana into it. Then...

"Oh!

The wrinkled piece stretched out and became like a thin steel plate.

When I played it with the tip of my finger, it made a cracking sound. It felt like a thin steel plate.

"This looks amazing!

Elsa and Saki, who were watching from the side, were also looking at it with wide-eyed amazement.

"Yeah, I didn't expect it to be this good. ......

"Yes, I agree. No wonder this is the strongest material.

"...... we want to secure a big shell at all costs."

Jin reaffirms his purpose.

Jin!　Come here!"

Then Zion called out to him.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Well, ......, I have a feeling that there is something over there..."

Zion pointed to a direction about 15 degrees to the right from the direction of travel.

"What do you mean?"

"Something is something. I don't know what else to say.

"Hmm. ......"

Zion is a demon born and raised in the north, albeit a young one. Jin decided that he might have some kind of special intuition.

"Okay, Land 1, change course."

Roger that.

Jin, you believe me?

Zion looked incredulous even though it was his idea.

"Yeah. I don't know which is the right answer. I'll trust your intuition for now.

"Oh, thank you ......."

Zion blushed a little and looked down.

We continued on for another 30 minutes. Mt. Gielze was approaching.

Then Zion's voice came again.

Jin!　Oh, that's ......."

She points out the window. The rock face of Mt. Gyaltse is just before it rises.

"Wow! ......"

There was a huge ivory-colored mountain ......, or rather a dragon.

"And it's huge......."

Unlike the Japanese and Chinese dragons, the terrestrial dragons are more similar to the Western dragon.

The abdomen of the Komodo dragon, which can stand erect, is probably inflated.

"It's a monster from a special effects movie. ......"

An honest comment escaped from Jin's mouth.

"Tokusatsu-giga?"

Zion heard the word and questioned it.

"Yeah, no, I just thought it was huge."

"Really. I've never seen one before either."

The dragon is not pure white, but a warm ivory color, and is quiet as if asleep.

"...... do you think it molts?"

"What?"

Elsa, coming up next to me, speculated.

"Because, you know..."

There was a crack in the raised back.

Jin looked at the scene, thinking that although he did not know the process of reptile molting, it did not mean that ancient dragons belonged to the reptilian family.

Slowly, the cracks on its back grew larger.

"You're lucky. We're going to get some freshly caught shells."

Slowly he brings Capricorn 1 closer. I kept a distance of about 500 meters, though.

Half an hour later, the crack that had started on its back reached the base of its tail.

A wet, shiny, pink-ivory skin was peeking out from under it.

"...... Maybe it will molt in the clearing of a blizzard."

Another guess by Elsa. But she may be right.

The sky is still mostly blue, 60% cloud and 40% blue. We should be okay for a few more hours.

The ancient dragon was slowly shedding its skin.

Master, we're getting close.

What?

It's probably a frost dragon. There are more than one.

They're here to eat the freshly shed skins. ...... I'm going to make sure I get my hands on this one.

I don't know how many ancient dragons live here, but I'm going to make sure I have enough shells for this one.

"Father, shall we leave?"

For Reiko, too, it was the material she had come to collect for herself.

"Okay, please. You'll use the transfer gun, right?

"Yes, I know."

Jin held out his own gun as well.

"Apparently there is more than one Frost Dragon. I can shoot four in a row with this. Be careful.

"Yes, thank you."

Reiko nodded and went out through the airlock.

Since she would dive into the snow if she stayed there, she used the force field generator and went toward the Frost Dragon while levitating.

"You can fly too, Reiko?"

Zion's face lit up with astonishment when she saw this. However, it soon subsided and he let out a murmur with a small sigh.

"That's just like Jin, isn't it? ......"

Reiko deploys < and jumps over the Ancient Dragon to intercept the Frost Dragon.

Although they are still several kilometers away, they choose to repel the Frost Dragons early so as not to threaten the Ancient Dragons.

"Four ......?"

One large one, two medium ones. A smaller one was approaching at about 20 kilometers per hour.

Kicking up the snow, they looked like a russet truck.

"For your father's sake and mine, ...... I won't let them get too close!"

For this purpose, I prepared a . It's a cartridge type gun that can be used to transport even large dragons.

First, Reiko aimed at the medium-sized one in the lead.

"Fire!"

With a body length of 25 meters and a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, it is impossible for the rifle to miss the target.

The leading Frost Dragon disappeared as if it had been drowned out.

This time, the destination is 50 kilometers to the east, which should buy us about two and a half hours of time.

The remaining three Frost Dragons suddenly stopped, startled by the sudden disappearance of one of them.

We took advantage of this opportunity and fired one more shot. The smallest of them was scraped off.

The transfer gun fired two shots in a row, and the cartridges had to be replaced after two shots. But Reiko had prepared two guns, so she switched them immediately.

But, as one would expect from a dragon species.

Although she could not see him, he turned toward the direction Reiko was, and spewed out cold air from his mouth, which seemed to freeze everything.

"...... Is this the Frost Dragon's weapon?

Reiko evades. However, this caused her to miss the aim of her transfer rifle.

"One more shot for now!

With the remaining one shot, the medium-sized one is transferred.

The largest one remains. It was about 30 meters long.

Reiko jumps up high, and when she is far enough away, she changes the cartridge of her gun.

At that moment.

The cold air from the Frost Dragon reaches Reiko's position in the sky.

"E......!

In our haste to exchange cartridges, we had momentarily neglected our vigilance, and we were caught in the middle of it.

The exact location may not have been known, but the cold air was spat out toward the approximate location of Reiko, perhaps by detecting magic, or whatever.

It snatched Reiko's left half of her body and froze her.

"...... Is this cold air magic? ......"

Because of the use of a transfer gun, it is impossible to put up a magic barrier to prevent magic. Therefore, he had put up a physical barrier (solid barrier), but it could not protect him from the cold air.

The clothes, skin, muscles, and even the skeleton of the left half of the body froze. The temperature was estimated to be as low as -250 degrees Celsius.

Reiko's movements slow down. The control core in the innermost part of her body, which is insulated by magic power, is intact, but her magical muscles are immobilized.

"You can decompress ...... later ......."

Reiko holds up the transfer gun, having barely finished replacing the cartridges, since she can fire it with her right hand only.

She takes careful aim and fires.

The target is too big, but she hits it without a doubt. The Frost Dragon has vanished.

"......<"

The heating mechanism for generating body heat was not enough, so Reiko heats up the frozen left half of her body with engineering magic <>.

The thawing is completed in a few tens of seconds.

"Now we won't be disturbed for a while."

Reiko looked around to make sure there were no more Frost Dragons, and slowly returned to Capricorn 1 so as not to startle the Ancient Dragon.