“WOAH!” → Yuri
Both Yuri and the little girl shouted together in surprise, seeing how the peaks of the mountains were shaking and cracking while the trees were set aflame.
“Sir Yuri, Miss Jinxy, what happened?!”
A group of nine soldiers shot out from inside their tents and approached them. They looked in their direction and remained stunned. The sky was lit up by a blinding light and the cloudy sky suddenly cleaned up completely.
“What is that…?”
Four others out of the nine sleeping people woke up a little bit harder, getting out with sleepy faces.
“Why is everyone shouting so much in the morning?”
A sleeping beauty approached them then looked in the same exact place as them.
“Oy oy, why the noise when there is no beast around?…!?”
A tall handsome dragoon arrived and remained as stunned.
The other two were a wolf-man and a lion-man respectively, both of whom looked with surprised eyes in the distance.
“What is that? It looks quite far, how much do you think we’ll have to walk to reach there?”
The wolf-man asked while starring in the distance with wide-open eyes. Something like a mushroom explosion appeared in the distance behind the mountains and left them all completely stunned.
“…If we continue like before, around 5 days. But only one if we run fast enough with no pause for sleep or food.”
One soldier answered while looking seriously at the strong shine that finally started to dim. However, the peaks of the mountains were still rumbling while the taller trees from the distance lit aflame. The clouds in that direction were completely dispersed, leaving only the stars visible, together with a great pillar of smoke, dust, and ashes.
“Whatever that was, it might be the reason for our departure.”
“Yeah yeah. Whatever man. Only for some fireworks, we had to wake up, what a pain.”
The young handsome dragoon said while going back inside his tent, completely indifferent of the cloud of dust which was still raised in the distance.
“Well, whatever it is, it would go down with a simple boom.” → Jinxy
Jinxy also lost interest and left to sleep.
The other two beast-men returned to their tents while the beauty looked for a little more and then returned as well.
“…”
The nine soldiers together with Yuri looked at them return with complicated faces.
“Sir Yuri, I can’t believe the emperor chased you out but kept those ones as heroes… I can’t imagine what was in his highness’ head.”
One soldier said with disappointment.
“Awawa, please keep it down, Leorio! What if they hear you? They will start another quarrel.” → Yuri
Yuri said while looking back and forth, looking to see if someone heard what the soldier said.
“Hah! You shouldn’t care about that, Mister Yuri! Leorio is right.”
Another woman soldier said with irritation for the ten other people and admiration for Yuri.
“That’s right, sire. For us, you are the true hero.”
A little fairy of the element of lightning said with a big grin. Her light-blue hair danged in the windy night as she smiled brightly at Yuri.
“Heh. I’m not trying to be rude here but is our luck that the empire kicked you out. With a personality like yours, another title would be ‘The holy one’ for you. All you need are some more achievements and you’ll get the rank of Baronet, then you’ll get inside the nobles ranks! From there, going up through ranks shouldn’t be too hard for you.”
A young blonde human male said with a grin.
“That’s right. And seeing how her highness is fancying you, she would think about raising your rank quite fast~. After you reach the rank of Archduke, nobody will say anything if you wish to marry the queen~.”
Another young woman, which was the twin sister of the last one that spoke, said with a perverted grin and a thumbs-up.
“Ouch!”
“Please don’t tease sir Yuri.”
A huge old dragoon said with a strict tone and smacked the head of the female twin after sighing heavily.
“Well, they are right though. Her highness really has a fancy for sir Yuri, for more understandable reasons.”
A woman dragoon teased Yuri some more, making him blush and turn away from her.
“Ah, umm… well, I think you people exaggerate too much about me.” → Yuri
Yuri was bright red in the face. He didn’t know what to say or where to look so he just returned to his seat beside the bonfire.
“That’s right. I still have to stay on guard, sorry for disturbing you all. Please go to sleep, tomorrow is another long day.”
He calmly smiled back while inviting everyone to go back and sleep.
“Alright. Seeing how your companion left you, I might as well keep you company, sir Yuri.” → Leorio
Leorio said while sitting down opposite to him.
“There is no need, sir Leorio. Please go to sleep, you must be tired right now.” → Yuri
Yuri said with a worrying face.
“Wahahah~! No need to worry about me, sir Yuri. I might be old but I am still a veteran of war. I can handle myself with ease.
“Well… alright.”
While the party of heroes and elite units fell back to sleep, on the other side of the same forest, at around 4 days distance, a group of three hooded people rushed through the gigantic trees while running away from a group of 24 warriors.
“Chase them! Don’t let them escape!”
“We must get back the devil’s worshiper!”
“The high clerk will reward us good if we get the hands on him! As for the other two, kill them on the spot!”
The warriors ran and greed shone in their eyes. Even though they ran with all their might, they still couldn’t capture the three fugitives who were as nimble through the woods as tigers in a forest.
“Uuuuh~ What should we do now?”
A little dragoon girl with the hood over her face asked worriedly.
“Isn’t it simple? Just drop me somewhere, like this you won’t risk of being captured and tortured, right?”
An indifferent and cold voice resounded from a young man with the race of wolf-men. His clothes were tattered and full of blood stains. Even now there were places where blood was still dripping but he didn’t care as if he couldn’t feel the pain. The girl who just asked was holding him by the shoulder and helped him run with speed past his limits.
“Stop with the nonsense! How could we let you and run on our own when you’re the main reason we came for? We will get you out from this Hell, just you wait!”
A woman’s voice resounded from the person in front. She wore the same hoodie and was of the dragoon race.
“…It’s not like anything will differ after I get out from this…”
The wolf said with indifference and coldness. One would be able to tell just how little trust in people he had only from his voice.
“…Sigh.”
The woman simply sighed and didn’t say any more. She tried to explain to him many times that nothing will happen to him, only to get looked down at with the same cold eyes as if he was looking at a murderer.
“Here! Let’s hide in here!”
Suddenly, the little dragoon girl said while jumping inside a well-hidden cavity under an old tree, dragging the wolf-boy with her.
“Good job!”
The woman said after jumping right beside them inside the den. The tree of them stood there and waited for the pursuers to leave, hearing the wind being cut from the outside. 24 shadows shot out in the dark, still believing they are chasing someone.
“Is it clear now…?”
The girl asked in a hushed voice, her hand grabbing the boy without thinking.
“Seems so, I see nobody.”
The woman’s eyes shone with a purple shine while starring around. After looking in the distance, her face paled as she shot out from the little cavity in a hurry.
“Woah?! Miss Bonny? Where are you going?”
The little girl chased after her with the wolf right behind. After she got out, the tall mountain peaks started to crack and rumble as the trees were set aflame. The ground shook for a moment and the sky lit up behind the already flaming mountains.
“… What is happening there…?”
The little girl looked with worried eyes toward a thick cloud of dust which rose in the sky, as if a volcano just erupted in the distance. The fact that it seemed to be around three days distance with a normal carriage but still feel the destructive power until here so strong, made her feel a cold wind down her spine.
“Just why is that happening…?”
“…”
The wolf looked with indifference at the all-too-familiar mushroom cloud in the distance. He glanced at the faces of the two women and thought with indifference.
Are there their homes? That explosion can be compared with a Nuke from Earth. If not for the mountains, we would have got the same fate as the trees. Not like I care, though…
“You two, let’s hurry.” → Bonny
Bonny then rushed toward the explosion as she also helped the wolf-boy to run faster.
Back to where the explosion took place, everything around was deserted with the ground completely cracked. Because of the strong pressure, even the space bent, making for a strong gust of wind appear right after.
The gust of wind wasn’t strong enough to clean the thick cloud of dust, but it was still good enough to be able to discern one silhouette on the incandescent and glowing-red ground.
[Gargh… Gach!]
It was a black dragon with both wings destroyed and his tail turned into coal. He was full in cuts and bruises and most of all, his scales were burned black. He was the Legendary Dragon Thanatos which fought off against three Ultimate Spells on his own.
Thanatos looked around and saw only a land of fire and magma with no sight of someone something else to have survived the explosion.
[Ha… Woahahahaha!!!]
He started to laugh out loud with a wild glint in his eyes, blood still splitting from his bloody mouth.
[I told you! This will be the day both of you will die together-!] → Thanatos
However, unable to even finish his sentence, an energy beam was shot out right from the front.
[What?!] → Thanatos
Thanatos was perturbed but he still slapped away the beam with ease. Then from behind him, a wave of killing intent made his senses tense up.
[Like I would let you!] → Thanatos
He turned around and grabbed a claw that almost penetrated his heart from behind.
[Ugh! How are you still alive?!] → Thanatos
Thanatos shouted out in rage as he stared at a burnt and badly injured black dragon.
[Oh but I’m not even the only one.] → Ryu
Ryu said with a cold voice while he was ignoring the burning pain all over his body.
[What?!]
[ROAAR!]
Thanatos heard a thundering roar as he felt a burning sensation from above. A golden light suddenly lightened up the surroundings and made him feel his scales raise from the pressure.
[I won’t permit it!- GUAAAH!] → Thanatos
Right when Thanatos wanted to send back his own dragon breath, he felt a strong stab toward his rib area which made him cancel the strike. He glanced downwards he saw two sharp mana swords penetrate his strong scales and cut in his lungs, making him unable to shot out the breath even if he had enough time for a second try.
[You… cursed soul…] → Thanatos
Thanatos glanced with rage and malice through Ryu’s eyes, as if staring not at Ryu, but at someone else entirely.
[He said he loves you too.] → Ryu
Ryu answered with a mocking smile then he fled with all the power he still had, away from the upcoming deadly fire. Right after Ryu left, a pillar of golden flames covered Thanatos and made him completely lose consciousness, falling limp on the ground.
