"GAAAAAAH!!"
"UWAHHHH!!!"
"GISHAAAAA!"
When we returned back to the camp, for some reason we heard a lot of scream as if we were in a battlefield.
"Eh?! That's..!"
Not too far from our place, there was a big rampaging monster. The other adventurers that had come back before us were trying to subjugate the said monster.
"Why.. Why there's a redondo dragon here?" Fer-san murmured.
"No way.. Isn't redondo dragon a S-ranked monster?!" Sig-san exclaimed.
"Ah~ It looks like if we don't do anything soon, everyone will be annihilated~" Chris-san added.
Apparently the monster was not an ordinary monster but it was an S-ranked monster.
I looked at the monster, even though there was a good distance between us and the monster, I thought the monster should be at least around 7-8 meters.
It had bright orange skin with 3 protruding horns from its head.
Its gigantic body reminded me of tyrannosaurus rex, a dinosaur from a picture book I used to read back when I was little.
The dragon was holding an adventurer in its mouth, swinging it back and forth.
The adventurer laid unconscious, probably from blood loss, judging from the huge red gash on his stomach.
"W-what should we do then?" I asked, frantically.
"We don't any choice left but to fight it. I once fought with redondo dragon before but back then I was supporting an S-ranked adventurer. He knew the dragon's characteristic so we were able to defeat it successfully but right now.. We have to fight it by ourselves.. Still.. I don't understand why there's redondo dragon in Calhea.." Fer-san replied.
"There's no other choice, is there~"
"Pretty sure we will die trying to defeat it but there's no way we can escape now, can we?"
True.
Even if we did escape, the dragon will soon break the barrier and the people in Baunov will be its next victim.
"I understand, let's do this! First, I will try to cast Sleep on him while we evacuate the other adventurers. Since the success rate of Sleep is low, I will cast Root next. I don't think I will be able to successfully hold him down but, there's only one way to find out I guess."
To be honest, I didn't think I would be able to defeat an S-ranked monster. The chance was extremely low but I didn't have any choice left.
Whatsmore, the success rate of Sleep was much lower than Root but the evacuation will proceed more smoothly if we can put the dragon to sleep for a little bit.
If I only use Root on him, even though the dragon couldn't move from his spot, the dragon could still use his tail to attack the nearby adventurer.
If possible, please let Sleep worked on him!
"Okay then! Ren if we can get out of this alive, will you marry me?"
"Eh~ If it's like that, then I want Ren-chan to become mine too~" Chri-san pouted.
"What are you guys saying… Of course Ren-kun will marry me, right?"
Even though there was a high probability that we were going to die today, the three of them were still trying to cheer me up by joking around like that.
Chris-san was complaining at Sig-san words while Fer-san trying to reprimand them in his own way.
I knew, deep in their heart they were afraid too but, they still tried to lightened my heart by teasing me.
I could see their smile was strained, whatsmore not even seconds ago, their face were pale as they looked at the enraging dragon.
But still, they still tried to ease my tension using their own ways.
Looking at them going to that extent to make me smile, my heart felt really warm and I felt myself smiling wide at them.
"If we manage to survive, let's get married together, the four of us. Well then, let's do this!" I replied while laughing.
Weird, why they looked so bewildered like that?
I was just replying to their joke in the same way, right?
"Yooosh! If it's like that, we definitely have to go through this alive!~" Chris-san cheered.
"Redondo dragon has 3 weak points, let's focus our attack on those point."
"Ren, you can't go back on your own words okay!"
Ah.
Perhaps, did I say the wrong things?
Well, let's not dwell on it too much.
The dragon had started to go on rampage while we talked.
"[Might]! [Shield]! [Haste]! Luce, forward!" I casted buff magic to the three of them and ran toward the dragon.
After there was only 10 meters left between me and the dragon, I immediately chanted,"[Sleep]!".
Please! Make it work! Make it work!
I prayed with all my might with my eyes closed shut.
After a while, I didn't hear the dragon's voice anymore. I hesitantly opened my eyes to see the dragon was indeed had fallen asleep.
"..It worked..?" I said in utter disbelief.
"You did it! Ren, you're so amazing!!" Sig-san pumped his fist into the air.
"Now is our chance! Evacuate immediately! The people who couldn't fight the dragon on proper ground will become a hindrance so please, evacuate now!" Fer-san commanded the people with expertise, as expected from a prince.
"Those of you who could still stand, help the others who couldn't!" Chris-san helped the injured people to safety.
Usually Sleep would've lasted for about 10 minutes but my opponent right now was an S-ranked monster so maybe the effect would wore off sooner than expected.
But at least, while the debuff was still in effect, no matter how loud we were, the dragon won't wake up so this was our last chance to get everyone to safety!
—————————————-
"Roger! Hold yourself together! I will get someone to cast Heal on you so please, hold on for a little bit!"
"Zhanna! Roger is done for! You have to evacuate yourself now!"
"No! Roger is my party member, I won't leave him be! You guys go first, I will follow you guys later with Roger!"
Turned out, the male adventurer that had been swayed by the dragon was Zhanna-san's party member.
Zhanna-san was trying her best to give first aid to the male adventurer but to no avail.
I ran up to them and said,"I can use heal! We need to get away from the dragon soon!"
I grabbed Zhanna-san's shoulder but she immediately brushed her shoulder off.
"I don't need any help from you!" She yelled at me.
"Which is more important to you? Your comrade or your pride?!" I asked back.
"Ugh…. Please help Roger!" Zhanna-san shouted with all her might, her tears started to flow down from her face.
"[Heal]!"
I casted heal and from the palm of my hands, fluttering light started to engulf Roger's gushing wound.
Zhanna-san held onto my body so strongly as if I was the last line of her hope.
I sincerely hope I could properly returned her hope! I wanted to save Roger-san!
"Ugh..Wha-.. I?"
After 10 seconds, Roger-san finally regained his consciousness.
"Ahh! Roger! Thank god! Roger!"
More tears started to flow out like a river from Zhanna-san's eyes.
"We have to leave now before the dragon wakes up!" A member of Zhanna-san's party shouted.
"Let's go! Zhanna! Roger! Even though I'm an A-ranked adventurer..But I can't do anything much.." Another member of Zhanna-san said, he gathered Roger-san onto his shoulder and started to run.
"I will settle this debt for sure so I won't forgive you if you really die! You hear me brat?!" Zhanna-san yelled at me as she started to follow her party member.
"I understand. Can you please guide the adventurer that just come back from the subjugation to safety please?" I shouted at her retreating figure.
"For now, we've successfully evacuated the nearby adventurer." Fer-san came up to me with the other.
"3 people have fallen because of the dragon.. We have to make sure that we don't increase the death toll anymore than that." Sig-san said.
"Ah~ Looks like the dragon is about to wake up~ Let's go!~"
"Yes!" I replied.
The dragon started to sway around drowsily, in a few more seconds the dragon would fully awake.
We were only 3 meters away from the dragon, if the dragon were to wake up earlier, I would've been plummeted to death along with Zhanna-san.
Well for now, I need to bind the dragon using root!
"[Root]!"
Yosh! The dragon was locked in place!
With this, we could defeat it by using hit and run tactic!
"Ren-chan! Nice job!" Chris-san, being the fastest of the three started to run and slashed the dragon's right leg.
Though Chris-san's swords couldn't penetrate the dragon too deeply because his swords were too thin. It was a sword suited for nimble and agile Chris-san after all.
"Ugh, only small wounds huh.. Fer! What do we have to do?!" Chris-san said exasperatedly.
"Let's see..Because of his hard scale, we need to find a leeway by aiming at his soft stomach or eyes instead." Fer-san replied as he jumped high into the air, his sword stabbed the dragon's left eye.
He pulled his sword immediately, resulting in a burst of dragon's blood splattered onto his face and onto his body but Fer-san seemed to take no notice of his soaked body and jumped back to us.
"[Clean]!"
I casted clean on Fer-san because I thought it would be bad if Fer-san vision got distracted by the dragon's blood.
"Thank you very much, Ren-kun!"
"ORYAAAAAA!"
With a loud voice brimming from the top of his lung, Sig-san held his big sword with both of his hand and cut the dragon's right forefoot off.
"GGYAAA! GAOO!"
The dragon roared tremendously, he flung his tail toward Chris-san who received the blow directly.
Chris-san flung about 5 meters into the air, landing on top of a nearby boulder.
I confirmed that the dragon was focusing his gaze on Sig-san before I rushed over to Chris-san side.
"O-ouch.. It hurts.." Chris-san said weakly.
"Chris-san! [Heal]! Don't worry, you're going to be alright!"
The dragon hit Chris-san stomach really hard but thankfully Chris-san didn't bleed so in a few seconds Chris-san was perfectly healed.
Chris-san immediately jumped back in to attack the dragon once again.
The three of them were attacking the dragon from all directions so the dragon would have a hard time focusing on one person.
I also casted buff magic and immediately rushed over to heal anyone that got hurt but still wary of my distance.
Before the subjugation quest started, everyone told me that a party would often failed a quest because the support magician didn't pay enough of his surrounding and got injured instead.
That was why I tried to keep my distance while still supporting them with my healing and buff magic.
But it had been 30 minutes, we still kept the hit and run tactics but we couldn't inflict any serious wound to the dragon.
The longest fight we've ever had during the subjugation quest was about 20 minutes.
Anymore than that, the party member will start to lose their concentration and focus.
If we were to prolong this fight, the one losing would be us.
I kept on thinking what a support magician like me could do to help..
I've already did my best casting buff magic and healing magic to anyone injured..
But it still was not enough!
"For now, thankfully no one sustained any serious injuries but the dragon still standing proud even though he only has one eye and one hand left.. Is there any way to weaken the dragon… Ah! Right!"
That was right !
There was something I could do to help!
I pointed my hand toward the dragon and casted,"[Darkness]!"
If the dragon didn't have his eyesight, the attack would've been able to land more effectively!
Fluttering light wrapped around the dragon for a second before it disappeared.
The dragon was about to sink his fangs into Fer-san but he stopped abruptly and started to look around relentlessly.
"[Deodorization] [Soundless]" I continued to cast another magic that came up to my mind.
Since I've ripped the dragon's eyesight from him, if there was no smell and no sound from my party, the dragon wouldn't be able to know what was coming to him.
In short, the dragon had lost his 3 most important senses.
Sight, smell and sound.
"Now the dragon wouldn't be able to detect where you guys are! We roughly have 10 minutes so please, give it your all during that short period!"
This was our last chance, I knew everyone's stamina was at their limits already.
If we failed here, the dragon will continue to rampage to Baunov.
More people will get killed, we couldn't let that happen!
"Woooh! Die you motherfucking dragon!!"
"Attack his horn! I will aim at his right horn!"
The dragon was swinging his head back and forth, trying to search for us but to no avail.
Fer-san took his chance and jumped onto the dragon's right horn and swung his sword.
A loud sound echoed through the vicinity, Fer-san had cut ⅓ of the dragon's horn.
"Understood~ Then I will aim his left one!~"
"I will aim his middle horn then!"
Sig-san charged through with a loud voice.
The dragon was still trying to regain his footing after the attack from Fer-san.
Sig-san swung his huge sword with all his might, the dragon's middle horn crumbled from the impact.
Pieces of dragon's horn fluttered away to the ground.
The dragon grew even more unstable thanks to the relentless attack from Fer-san and Sig-san.
"Geez~ You two! You have to properly cut the horn up to the roots!"
The left horn was the only one left.
Chris-san jumped into the air but instead of directly attacked the horn, Chris-san decided to stabbed into the flesh around the dragon's horn and gouged the horn off.
The dragon then let out a roar so loud, he even shook the ground.
The intensity of the voice made all of us speechless, we could only watch as the dragon kept on thrashing around until the dragon finally went limp.
"…Did..we did it?" I said.
The dragon was laying still, we couldn't know for certain whether we've defeated it or not.
Sig-san then cautiously approached the dragon's body and poked the dragon with his sword.
"Fuuah….."
Seeing there was not any movement from the dragon, Sig-san let out a big sigh and like marionette that had its string cut, Sig-san flopped to the ground.
Both Fer-san and Chris-san also followed suit, the three of them were heaving heavily, trying to catch their breath.
Their body had been pushed to their limit, they couldn't even stood properly.
"We did it…I'm so glad.." I panted out.
Somehow, the four of us managed to finish the dragon off.
The adrenaline had finally wore off, I finally felt my fatigue catching up and my legs grew weak as I helplessly crashed to the ground as well.
From the distance, I heard the other adventurer started to cheer and yelled triumphantly.
———————————————————–
Monster Introduction!
Name : Redondo Dragon
Rank : S-rank
An aggressive and carnivorous dragon, it had bright orange skin with 3 large horns protruding from its head and had the appearance like a tyrannosaurus rex from Earth.