บท 4: Dragon attack [2]

"Why are still standing there, useless bastard?! Run, or I will kill you!!!" Dustin shouted in rage, but Lucian didn't move an inch.

He couldn't tell what Lucian was thinking. 'Why is this bastard not moving? Why is he not panicking in the first place? Is it because he can't see the Dragon?' Dustin thought.

If Lucian didn't move, he wouldn't be able to run and hide somewhere in these ruins. As long as the dragon couldn't find him, he would be able to escape this dilemma. And, now that all of the stupid brats were dead, he could at least enjoy Rita's body even if he didn't get the money. 'Tch, why did it end up like this?'

He was doing this job for years, earning a lot by taking some risks, and using his cunningness to survive in this world. No one could blame him. Not everyone had powerful relics and could become adventurers.

But…

"Guh! Bitch—Guh!" Seeing that Dustin had focused his attention on Lucian, Rita used this opening to kick his thigh and then punched him in the face. Dustin didn't expect such a thing.

"Take this chance and run the opposite way, Lucian!" Rita said, and she didn't run to save herself or asked Lucian to protect her, instead, she ran to the Dragon. She looked like she tried to buy time for Lucian. What kind of self-sacrifice was this?

"Stupid bitch!" Dustin shouted, seeing that Rita was attracting the dragon.

"ROOAR!" The dragon rushed down in the direction of Rita and Dustin, breathing fire.

'This may be for the best,' Rita thought, closing her eyes. 'At least, my life would be worth something.'

"Huh?!" She clenched her teeth, thinking that she would feel a lot of pain, but nothing happened. "What's happening?"

Rita realized that she was floating in the air, and a glowing chain was wrapped around her hips. "Lucian?"

Lucian was still as calm as ever. He just saw the upper half of Dustin's body being swallowed by the dragon. Dustin didn't even have the time to scream. The Dragon's teeth turned his body into a meat paste.

His ability didn't save him because the dragon's teeth were tougher than his skin even after into turned still. It was just a low-level relic after all.

Seeing this, Lucian didn't even move an inch. He didn't want his clothes to get dirtied by Dustin's filthy waste.

Fortunately that it was dark, so Rita didn't see the horror that had become of her friends, as the dragon began to scorch them.

"ROAAR!" But the creature was still not satisfied. It wanted to enjoy its meal in peace, so it planned to take care of Lucian and Rita first.

It saw the chain that glowed in the dark and roared.

Again, it charged in the direction of Lucian and Rita.

"Lucian! Run!" Rita shouted but her voice was weak. If Lucian had a relic, he should at least save himself, she thought.

However, Lucian didn't even look at the dragon and untied the item and the cords that were attached to his wand. With a thud, the sack containing the item landed on the ground. The sound it made as it landed indicated how heavy it was.

"GROOOOAR!" The dragon began to breathe fire as it approached, but the chain of light stretched out vertically in front of Lucian and began to spin rapidly, creating a circular shield.

"BWOOSHHH!" The flames slammed against the shining circle and dispersed in every direction, leaving Lucian and Rita unscathed.

Looking at this, Rita's eyes widened. 'H-he is strong!'

Now, Rita felt a little a bit ashamed, thinking about the comments of her friends.

"ROAAR!" Seeing that Lucian was still standing and that its attack wasn't effective, the dragon opened its mouth wide and charged at Lucian intending to swallow his body in one go.

"…" Lucian didn't move, and instead, the chain of light rushed like a snake at the dragon and wrapped around its neck.

Then, Lucian pulled the chain along with the dragon toward him with a single hand, and…

"THUDD!"

…Lucian hit the dragon in the head with the black wand from below, sending its body flying backward before crashing onto the ground.

"BOOOM!" The dragon's massive body landed violently on the ground, and the impact created a smoke of dust.

'Who is he?' Rita didn't even know what expression to make. Even if it was dark, she could see that Lucian sent the dragon flying with his physical force alone.

There was no eye-catching explosion or surge of power coming from him. He wasn't even moving that much, to begin with. It was just one clean hit.

Rattle! Rattle! Rattle!

The sound of horses galloping could be heard, coming Lucian and Rita's way. Rita turned and looked in the direction where the noises came from.

"What happened here?!" When the smoke of dust dissipated, a group of men wearing shiny armor and riding armor suddenly appeared on the scene. "We were too late!"

They were some kind of knights, Lucian thought. Seeing them, he also understood why the dragon was there and he already knew what he had to do.

"GRRR!" The dragon gruntled and tried to stand up.

"There are two civilians here," one of the knights said.

"Leave immediately!" The leader of the knights ordered Lucian and Rita and rushed at the dragon with his men. "It's weakened! Now is the time to finish it off! Charge!"

These knights were relic users, Lucian remarked. There were also fifty of them, so they might be able to kill the dragon after it was struck down by Lucian.

However, Lucian didn't have the intention to kill the dragon in the first place.

"Silence," Lucian said. He wasn't shouting, but everyone heard him, and the knights along with their horses fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

Rita looked at the fallen men confusedly. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the knight but now they all lost consciousness. "Eh? What?"

Lucian approached the dragon not caring about the knights.

"Grrr!" Its instinct told it that Lucian was too powerful for it to beat. It sensed Lucian's power when Lucian rendered these men unconscious.

Lucian looked at the dragon. It was covered with wounds and weakened.

He knew why this dragon was there. It was the last of the original dragons, one of the creatures that used to inhabit Earth before the appearance of the Abyss.

Most of the creatures that inhabited Earth thousands of years ago didn't survive the phenomenon generated by the Abyss and had already gone extinct, and even those who survived were annihilated by the mutated beasts. It was just another natural selection.

As a species, it had already reached the peak of its evolution, but unfortunately, things had changed.

More powerful beasts were now in control of the wilderness. As such, it didn't have any hunting ground, and when it ran from these beasts, humans also treated it as a threat and tried to hunt it down.

With the appearance of the relics, humans had enough power to easily take down this dragon who was once one of the most dangerous species living on Earth.

"Unlike humans, you did everything you could to survive. This is just your limit. You deserve to live." Lucian said. His voice was serene, and the dragon was appeased. Despite how it looked, the creature was still young.

This was the first time Rita saw Lucian speaking this much. But she had misunderstood something. Lucian didn't have any hard time expressing his thoughts or emotions.

He had complete control over his emotions, and only let them show when the time was appropriate and in front of those who were worthy.

In Lucian's eyes, there was nothing wrong with the dragon's behavior. Unlike the humans who had failed to evolve because of their stupidity, this creature fought to the bitter end despite its limited intelligence.

Lucian decided that he would allow this creature to live. However, the way it was now, its chance of survival was zero even Lucian spared it.

So here was the question, was it possible for a dragon who had already reached the peak of its evolution to evolve further?

To answer this question, Lucian reached his hand toward the item wrapped inside the fabric next to Rita. The item reacted to Lucian's summon, and the cords that sealed it unfastened unnaturally, then an ugly-looking helmet appeared.

The helmet was shaped like a bell. It looked very old and covered with rust, like the short chain. It had three holes in it, probably for the wearer to see and breathe while wearing it.

The ugly helmet was attracted to Lucian's hand by an invisible force.

Rita was confused after seeing the helmet. Was the helmet a relic? She knew that a normal person could only possess one relic, and even the individuals who were said to possess two were figures of legends. She began to get more curious about Lucian's identity.

But for sure, the way Lucian stood in front of the dragon as if he was not seeing it as a threat showed how powerful he was.