章節 3: Dragon attack [1]

Lucian looked up to the sky and noticed a large black shadow moving under the moonlight.

He was already used to seeing giant flying creatures, but

the first question he asked himself was, 'Why was a dragon here?'

Lucian had already examined the dragon from where he was. Its flying patterns. Its speed. Its size. And compare such information with the characteristics of other flying creatures that he had memorized.

However, nothing about this dragon's traits matched any of the mutated beats. That was why he was sure that it was a dragon. But why a dragon? Why here?

The answer to these questions could be key to resolving the situation. But...

"Waaaa! What is that?!!" Fil shouted. He looked like he was scared but also excited. He was under the delusion that adventure was about slaying one or two dragons. In his head, he was convinced that humans had a fair chance to beat a dragon because that was what adventurers do.

What he didn't know, Lucian thought, was that dragons had superior vision and hearing.

"Shut up! Are you stupid?" Even Dustin understood that much. He hadn't encountered a real dragon yet but, he knew that it was better not yourself be seen by a wild beast. "Don't move! Don't talk!"

His sudden change of tone surprised everyone, but it was the right thing to do.

However, it was too late. There was nothing else capable of producing the particular sound of human voice around, and the dragon seemed to have memorized human voice.

"ROOOARR!"

"It's coming! It's coming!" Vicky shouted, seeing the huge black shadow approaching. "But Dustin will take care of it, right? Dustin is strong! We can do this!"

Fire leaked out from the dragon's mouth every time it breathed, and that revealed its location, but there was no mistaking that it was approaching very fast.

However, unlike what Vicky expected, Dustin wasn't about to let himself get killed. He knew that there was a chance if he used everyone else as bait and then run. At least, he would be able to carry Rita with him. 'Why is a dragon here?! What are those hunters and knights doing?!' Dustin thought.

Dustin grabbed his sword and pulled Rita's arm forcefully. Her delicate arm looked like it was about to break because Dustin used too much strength.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Fil asked when he saw Dustin's weird behavior.

"Dustin?" Vicky was also confused, but Dustin ignored both her and Fil.

Nothing was surprising about this, Lucian thought.

He already knew that Dustin had some kind of plan in mind the moment he saw him. However, he didn't do anything to stop him. This was bound to happen sooner or later. It was time for Rita and her friends to face reality.

From Lucian's point of view, a faint red aura enveloped Dustin's body. Most humans with red aura overflowed with evil intent or were used to killing.

Dustin's eyes were always drawn unintentionally to Rita, and his behavior suggested he was hesitant about something. Why did he hesitate?

For a simple human, Rita's facial characteristics and figure were close to perfection. No wonder Dustin wanted her for himself.

Based on his observations, Lucian deduced that Dustin was not the person he pretended to be.

Gathering talented people, training them, and then bringing them an adventure. Only someone confident in their ability would do that, but...

Lucian was sure of one thing, the interpretation of the word 'adventure' that this leader, Dustin, put inside the head of these four naive young people was an embellished version of reality. Protecting humanity from monsters? How did they end up believing such nonsense?

If Lucian had to guess, it was probably because they lived in a small village and never saw a met adventurer who knew what adventuring really implied. Dustin must have taken advantage of this to alter their perception of reality. From the look of it, he gave books to Harry, trained Fil, and seduced Vicky, then kept telling them that they were ready to become adventurers, acting as if he was their mentor.

He was thorough with his preparation, Lucian thought. They all believed in his lies. What a foolish thing to do. Not that he would judge them for what they did.

In the first place, someone who possessed a relic and had challenged the Abyss would not go their way to bring newbies who didn't even possess relics with them to an adventure of any kind.

As such, he was probably one of those human traffickers, this was the only conclusion Lucian reached.

However, it looked like Dustin wanted Rita to be his personal possession so he didn't know if he should bring her to the buyer or not.

To this realization, Lucian almost sighed, but his expression didn't change.

"What are you doing mister Dustin? Let me go!" Rita cried out, but her voice was so soft, so it didn't even sound like she was angry.

"Hey, you!" Fil tried to stop Dustin, but Dustin kicked him in the chest, sending him crashing to the ground. "Kuh!"

"Move out of the way!" Dustin shouted. He was a relic holder so he was more powerful than the four of them.

"Hey, what is this? Hey? Hahaha! What are you doing Dustin?" Vicky looked like she had caught up to Dustin's real intention, and she finally began to feel scared. "Why are you bringing her? I love you! I will do anything! Save me!"

"ROOOAR!" The dragon breathed fire as it circled above the area. It was observing its prey. Dragons were intelligent creatures so it had probably known that some humans possessed relics.

"Out of the way!" Dustin said, kicking Vicky away and continuing to pull Rita's hand to force her to follow him. Vicky's head crashed on the wall and she lost consciousness.

"Stop struggling! Do you want to die here!" Dustin yelled at Rita.

"Bastard!" Fil stood up and rushed at Dustin and tried to punch him, but Dustin activated the relic that he had hidden somewhere in his armor, so his skin turned into steel.

Thud!

Fil could hear the bones on his finger making cracking noises. "Gaaah!"

Then, Dustin swung his sword to the side, tearing Fil's chest open. Slash!

"Guh..." Fil fell backward and began to bleed profusely.

"Fil!!!" Unlike his usual calm attitude, Harry became enraged when he saw that Dustin had attacked Fil. "Dustin you piece of shit!"

He tried to hit Dustin from behind with a thick tree branch but Dustin turned around in a quick motion, Then used his sword to cut off his hand.

Slash!

The difference in their fighting skill was too big.

"Kaaaaa!" Harry thrashed on the ground, holding his arm who was bleeding profusely. He wasn't used to the intense pain and was on the verge of passing out.

"Please stop this! I beg you!" Rita begged in tears, but Dustin didn't want to hear anything. He was determined to survive even if everyone else died.

"ROAAAR!"

The farmer had taken advantage of the confusion and tried to run, but the dragon saw him, so he was the first one to be scorched by the dragon's flame and turned into a lump of grilled meat.

"GAAAAH!"

Seeing this, Dustin had an idea. He looked at Lucian and said, "You! Run in that direction, or I will kill you!"

He wanted to use him as a diversion and then run in the opposite direction.

"…" Lucian didn't say anything and just stood there observing what was happening.

These people made their choice and this was the outcome that their choices led them to. It was not surprising. They were humans after all.