It was a guaranteed loss if he went into an inescapable fight shaking in fear. Zich mustered up all his courage and got ready to face the dragon. Yet, as expected, a dragon wasn’t an enemy he could easily defeat with merely self-assurance and confidence. Shaaaa!
The dragon opened its mouth again. This was its third breath, and the dragon was too close to the battlefield for Zich to hope that it would miss its mark again. Its slit pupils inside its bright yellow eyes spotted Zich.
Shaaaaa! As Zich expected, the third breath was aimed straight at him.
“You guys, evade on your own!” Zich said to his companions and jumped sideways. All of Zich’s companions could take care of themselves, so that was all he needed to say to them. Chelsea and Pina were near him, but Zich didn’t bother with them.
‘Glen Zenard’s companions can figure things out on their own.’ Zich let them be since it seemed like they no longer had any will to fight, but it still didn’t change the fact that they were enemies.
Baaam! The dragon’s breath fumed in the area where Zich used to be. Mana infused with heat burned and penetrated the ground, and Byner’s corpse on the ground turned to ashes in an instant. Although Zich managed to evade the attack, the dragon’s eyes continued to track his movements. He couldn’t let his guard down.
Boooom! The dragon turned its head, and its breath moved accordingly. The dragon’s breath left burnt cracks on the ground as it chased after Zich.
‘It’s fast!’ Even if Zich moved fast using mana, he couldn’t compare to the dragon spitting fire by just slightly tilting its head. Zich felt a burning sensation on his back.
‘Now!’ Zich focused his attention on the encroaching mana and jumped sideways. Booom! The dragon’s breath struck where he used to be and moved to the side. If Zich had been even a second late, he would’ve been struck by the breath. Yet, the crisis wasn’t over. The breath changed directions and aimed for Zich.
‘How persistent!’ Zich changed directions again and evaded the breath. It seemed like the dragon had expected Zich’s movements and swerved, but Zich changed directions once more. In the end, the dragon’s breath failed to land on Zich again.
Whoosh! The breath disappeared, and Zich was finally able to place both his feet on the ground and stare at the dragon.
‘The dragon’s lung capacity is annoyingly good.’ The way Zich thought about the dragon even in such a serious situation was remarkably like him.
“Sir Zich!”
“Are you all right, sir?!”
Hans and Snoc came running.
“I’m all right,” Zich said and looked around. Unlike before, this attack had caused considerable damage. Even when people had distanced themselves to not get caught up in Zich and Glen’s fight, they were still standing in the middle of a battlefield. Zich was only able to slightly limit the damages he directed the breath to where there weren’t many people, but there were still many casualties. Not many were injured though since those swept by the breath whether directly or by deflection died instantly and turned into a fistful of ashes.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter since they are all the allied forces’ guys.’ Zich indifferently ended his concern about the damage like that.
“Zich!” A worried voice called out to him. Leona was hurriedly running toward him.
“Hey, Leona.”
“Are you injured anywhere?”
“As you can see, I’m completely fine.”
“Didn’t I tell you? He isn’t someone who will die from just that.” Walwiss dropped to the ground behind Leona. “If he were, he would’ve died to my Inferno attack before.”
“I thought I was really going to die that time though,” Zich said in exaggeration.
“Stop joking. Besides that, I’m assuming that large creature isn’t also part of your plan?” Walwiss looked toward the dragon. The dragon didn’t seem like it was planning to shoot out another breath and instead was flying toward where Zich and his companions were. It seemed it wouldn’t take long for the dragon to arrive at their location. Walwiss noted, “A dragon’s entrance seems fitting to mark the end of a major play though.”
“I would never manage such a play nor write an act like that,” Zich replied.
“Yes, you don’t seem to have any talent in that field.”
“But I do have great talent in writing up an act to bring despair to people.”
“That sounds like a terrifying talent.”
While they joked with one another, Walwiss’ eyes strayed away from the dragon.
“Dragons…they are known to be Lords of Magic according to the legends,” Walwiss said.
“You must be greatly moved at the sight of them, sir.”
“I would’ve been if it wasn’t trying to kill us.”
Then, someone approached them with heavy, loud stomps.
“You are here, Mr. Til.”
“It looked like you needed some extra support,” Til said.
“It’s as you say. Our opponent is a dragon. Will you be all right with that?”
“I’ve already received my payment, so I have to work for my pay, sir,” Til replied.
“What a model mercenary. If all mercenaries were like you, people would have a much more positive view of mercenaries,” Walwiss said in admiration.
“That will place me in a difficult position. I wouldn’t have as much competitive value if we were all the same.”
“Haha! You sure are a mercenary with the right business mind. I’m impressed. Other mercenaries only think about finishing their work as fast as possible,” Walwiss chuckled.
“Sir Zich!” another person shouted. Zich turned and saw Lubella drop from Weig’s arms and run toward them.
“The Saintess and Sir Weig also came.”
“We have finished cleaning up the Bellid guys. We came because we were curious about the dragon that popped out of nowhere,” Weig said and looked up. “Perhaps, is this also one of your surprise events?”
“Why does everyone think that I’m the one who called that dragon?”
“But…” Lubella was the one who replied, “It’s you we are talking about.”
Zich laughed dryly. “Geez, you really make me at a loss for words.” Since Zich was also well aware of everything he had done until now, he completely gave up on making excuses for himself. He looked at the people around him—every single one of them had amazing skills and thought, ‘This should be good enough.’
Zich turned his gaze toward a knight standing awkwardly at a short distance. “Sir Knight Chris Nunn.”
“Ah, young master.” The person that Zich addressed was the captain of the Steelwall’s Steel Sword Order of Knights Danny Chris Nunn. It seemed as if he had rushed toward Zich out of concern, but he had lost the opportunity to approach Zich when many of Zich’s comrades suddenly appeared.
Zich said, “Tell my blasted father to move the troops to the rear as much as possible. The war is basically over, and the allied forces can’t attack us in this situation either. Well, they don’t seem to have the leisure to do so either.”
Zich watched the allied forces running away like an army of ants escaping a flood.
“Yes, sir. Young master, are you planning to fight the dragon?”
“Since the dragon is obviously showing its hostility, I can’t just sit still and wait for it to attack.”
“Then we’ll also help. I’m sure that the best knights from the Steelwall Estate will be able to help fight a dragon.”
“Yes, that’s true. However, please come back with those at least at the level of vice-captain among the knights. If it’s anyone below that, I think they’ll just die needlessly.”
“Yes, sir!” Danny immediately began running towards the main camp.
Rumble! The ground trembled, but it was not an earthquake. Something huge fell to the ground.
“It’s here,” Til said while looking at the dragon and raised his sword. Others also prepared for battle.
‘As expected, it’s huge.’ Zich calmly thought this as he looked at the dragon in front of him. No wonder it was a monster passed down through legends. Regardless of how long ago they disappeared, stories about a monster like this deserved to be passed down orally for a long time with fear.
“I can’t believe I’m looking at a dragon. If I tell this to Grandma, she’ll freak out.” Leona’s grandma was the Lake Tribe’s shaman. As one of the oldest living beings in this entire world, she probably knew about the dangers of dragons better than anyone else. It was understandable that she’d be shocked beyond belief if she heard that her cute granddaughter and her next heir had to face an angry dragon.
The dragon opened its mouth again.
‘Is it another breath attack again?’ Even though it was now the fourth time he’d seen it, this didn’t make the attack any less dangerous. Zich’s comrades raised their guards and were on high alert. However, the dragon’s breath headed toward a completely different place.
Bammmm! The dragon’s breath cut through the ground once more and shook the earth. At the same time, the dragon’s target let out a horrifying scream.
“Ugahhhhhhhhh!” The noble Sun Hero screamed his ass off while avoiding the dragon’s breath. Judging by his position, it seemed as if he had tried to sneak away while Zich, Hans, and Snoc’s attention were all focused on the dragon.
“Woah, he really looks like a bug.” Leona covered her mouth with her arm and frowned. Her gesture resembled someone exposed to a terrible stench—that displayed the depth of her disgust for Glen.
“Yet he’s still managing to avoid everything.” Lubella looked at him scornfully. Her tone was also filled with disgust, and it sounded as if she wished he’d died instead. Ever since she realized he was a dirty Bellid collaborator who had infiltrated into the Karuwimans, she only wished him ill-will.
Zich held back his laughter. Glen was receiving the worst looks from the ladies he so desperately tried to recruit into his party. ‘I got the picture I wanted.’
Glen had fallen completely into ruins. He would never be able to become a hero or anything remotely like a hero.
‘Why did the dragon attack him though?’ The dragon didn’t seem as if it was trying to kill everyone on sight as there were still many soldiers fleeing in all directions. ‘Was I not the dragon’s target?’
On second thought, it was quite out of the blue that the dragon was so hostile to him. How did he gain the hatred of a dragon which just woke up?
‘Glen and I are the only ones that directly got attacked by the dragon,’ Zich thought of what similarities he shared with Glen. Even though just the thought of finding similarities with Glen was infuriating, he was able to barely manage to keep his disgust in check. Fortunately, no one had to see him vomiting.
‘Perhaps, does it only target regressors?’ This was his first thought, but Zich had to immediately rectify his thought.
Swoosh! The dragon twisted its heavy body, and a huge tail flew toward them. People frantically ran all over the place to escape its attack.
Baaaam! A long crater appeared where the dragon’s tail hit; this was the result of swinging its tail just once. The dragon’s enormous and powerful body was a story of legends, but it was frightening to see it in person. However, it was not the tail’s power that caught Zich’s eyes.
‘Just now, it definitely went after Hans.’ Then Zich’s hypothesis that the dragon only targeted regressors was rejected, and a new hypothesis emerged in his mind.
‘Perhaps, does it target only those who used Clowon’s swords?’ However, this was the extent of Zich’s thoughts.
Baaaaammmmmmmm! As if all of its previous attacks had been a joke, the dragon began to ferociously let out a wave of offensive attacks.