(Rudeus POV)
It's been a week since we've left Rosenburg.
Before me were cut up pillars and targets of black stones. The cuts they got exposed to were clean enough to make the cut areas smooth as a polished marble table.
Arrows, kunais and shurikens are scattered behind them after our little game of target practice, I have been doing with Sara ever since we received them.
"I gotta say, I was skeptical at first, but this is actually more fun than I thought." Sara said, a bit of competitive teasing in her tone.
"... This would be more fun if the targets were moving."
A not so expected function of my throwing weapons has been discovered after just a few uses with them.
Depending on the amount of mana you put into them, their mana blade can extend. What is surprising, however, is that the scales need very little mana. Enough for a beginner class spell.
That fact makes it even more so terrifying about how strong the Sea Dragon was with its rows of scales at each tentacle. The alignment of each swing wouldn't have to be perfect for it to give out severe damage.
Sara, who was surprisingly one of the people that managed to achieve the ability of chantless Magic, uses the only element she can use, Wind Magic, to give her arrow shots an additional boost. This, paired with the defense penetrating arrow heads, has made her archery more lethal than ever before.
As I inspected the results of our little target practice, there was a clear difference as to who hit which.
Sara's arrows went through the targets and left an opening on them, while my weapons made it look like someone swung a sword against them.
Due to my condition of overcharging my spells, the shuriken and kunai had more slicing power than they should have. It's difficult for me to lessen the input of mana to below beginner, and so they end up getting too much, turning the blades as wide as a plate or disk.
If I had more practice with them, I could be throwing more than one to divide the mana input, but as I have trouble throwing the shurikens properly, that will have to wait.
'The anime made it look so easy. Well, in that story, they are professionals. I'm the amateur here trying to copy them.'
Sara was already picking up her arrows while I grimaced about the severity I could cause once I perfected my throws.
The kunais aren't much of a problem since throwing knifes already exist in this world. 1 out of 5 times, my shurikens miss the target and fly off in an entirely different direction.
Thanks to Wind and Gravity Magic, that can be prevented to a certain degree, but needs more precision as the shuriken isn't that big as the giant one I have. Even trying to use [Specter Force] kind of risky since the arms get cut off.
I recently found the origin magic of [Specter Force]. It's a spell that's rooting from Barrier Magic.
Only when I held my mana arm close to my skin did I notice the similar feeling it has when I cover myself with Barrier Magic.
My guess is that [Specter Force] only manifests the barrier on the palms once I intend to grab something with it while the rest of the arm just stays solidless.
This has led to an idea that turn it into a substitute for Touki.
By enveloping myself in a full-body [Specter Force] armor, I can enhance strength, speed, and defense at once, just like Touki.
That, unfortunately, still has to be patched as I need to synchronize my armor to my movements perfectly. I could make it seem like the armor has become a part of me and move freely around.
But for now, I can form gauntlets and boots for myself.
"Still, I can't believe that even I could use magic. When I asked you to try that method of yours out on me, I didn't have my hopes up high it would be successful." Sara said while holding up one of her arrows.
As I picked up one of my kunais before giving her my theory.
"I think it's because you understand how the wind works. As an archer, you consider how it can affect the trajectory of your arrows before you shoot them. That knowledge gives you the last requirement that can overshadow basic talent, which is why Patris hasn't been able to use his Wind Magic without the chant."
"You sure sound like you gave it a lot of thought."
"Of course I did. "
We both now picked up all our weapons, and I was about to tidy up this place we had damaged.
Just because this is a medieval world doesn't mean we can just freely destroy nature. I already decimated a large chunk of a mountain range, burned a forest, and left the glacier I made just there.
"Why don't you go ahead to the others? I need to clean up a bit first."
"Not happening. Who knows what you will encounter next after that whole Red Dragon dilemma."
"... That's fair."
My trustfulness stat has decreased by a lot since she had to see me nearly die from that I attack I got hit with once the after effects of my curse kicked in.
But since then, we have spent a lot of time together.
Her archery gave me the idea to perhaps use it myself and combine some magic into it. I never would have believed just how devastatingly strong Touki can be when applied onto a bow.
One arrow shot from my overpowered Touki and the arrow went straight through five tree trunks before stopping from losing the applied Touki it had gotten.
Thankfully, Sara didn't lose confidence in her archery like Anastasia did when she saw my magic. The reason was I missed the placed target by two feet to the left. And so did the next ten too.
It was kind of nice to see that there is a type of profession I'm terrible at besides swordsmanship.
Speaking of which, I did manage to get a little improvement on that as well.
As I made myself a poison sword, training in that department had to be done as well. Practice swings, running while wearing it or using it, and a bunch of physical exercises.
In those three months I had trained, my body showed signs of development in muscles.
Sadly, though, the problem with my Touki still stays. On the upside, there is a special function I have achieved after all of that. It will stay as a last option as it is short time-limited, but powerful.
Anyway, after cleaning up the pillars I had made as practice targets, Sara and I went back to the carriages.
***
Three more days have passed, and we have still not encountered any monsters.
It came to the point where I went to the caution on concentrating on my detection to see if I could find anything at all.
We are halfway through our route to Sharia, so we need to be careful as we don't know how strong the other mutations might be.
"You think he might find something?"
"Probably. His range is superb. If anything should come near us, he will know."
"What kind of technique could do that, though? It doesn't sound like it's purely magic."
"Maybe a part of his curse? Like an animalistic instinct?"
"But what would that make him? A monster with the hide of a human?"
"That would explain his strength. But what about- oh."
I stared at Kaleb and Ingolt with a blank expression while they were still in their gossip about me. It's weird being talked about while you're right in front of them.
"I'm not going deaf while trying to concentrate, and it's not like I can focus much on this bumpy ride. And to answer your question, it's not really a technique. After having nearly died from my first [Bright Sky Wave], my body simply became sensitive within and outside my body and after a while it turned to something akin to the Superd's third eye."
They both looked at me skeptical. Of course, that wouldn't be enough for them.
And I can't exactly tell them that I have died and resurrected from the dead after my soul had left my body. That would include me having to explain to them who the self-proclaimed god is.
"You are one weird kid, you know that?" Ingolt remarked.
"Thanks for telling me something I already admitted since my childhood."
Both of them raised an eyebrow at me.
"Hahaha. You're even creepier If you openly admit that." Susanne, our silent comrade, said while laughing.
I couldn't help but roll my eyes. You kill off several overpowered colorful dragons and this is the kind of respect you get. Damn. It's harder to be famous than I thought.
I then went back to closing my eyes and making it comfortable in my seat. This time, my audience stayed silent for the duration of the ride.
Minutes passed by and all I could sense was the ever so subtle feeling of trees, dirt, snow, a monster…... A MONSTER?!
"Stop the cart!" I said while jumping up from my seat.
"What is it?" Soldat yelled from the driver's side of the cart while it stopped.
I didn't answer him and jumped off the passenger seat and stood on the road and concentrating on the signal.
There! On the left side of the road. Something is over there. And that something is unbelievably familiar.
"Would you tell us what's going on?"
Susanne asked.
"The Red Dragon that attacked Rosenburg is close."
Once my words had reached their ears, everyone who'd been listening to me had fear emitted from them.
I pulled out my black sword from my pocket dimension and turned to the others.
"It's not moving. If we get close enough, maybe we can distract it enough for me to poison it with my sword."
"Why not attack it with one of your King class spells? We don't have to get close to it." Sara suggested.
"It must have some kind of magic resistance. My [Bright Sky Wave] was a pure mana explosion that was enough to be an Emperor class spell. If that didn't kill it, then poison is our only other option here."
How it even survived my [Bright Sky Wave] in the first place was a mystery to me.
It certainly wasn't on the level of the second one, but it sure was devastating.
"Let us do that then." Soldat agreed.
We then went into a proper discussion on who would go with me on this and who stay with the subordinates.
Soldat, Kaleb, Sara, Ingolt and Ingolt would go with me, while Timothy and the rest stays here to prepare for any emergency.
We slowly advanced to our target to see if we could ambush it. It wasn't a solid idea as the possibility of the dragon noticing us from afar was a factor we had to consider.
And it just so happened to be true. However…
"What's wrong? Did it flee?" Soldat whispered.
I relaxed my body and looked at the direction the Red Dragon was at.
"No… it noticed us, or rather me… but it isn't moving at all."
I can feel its emotions flowing towards me, it's having right now. It's… humiliation.
"Wait, what are you doing, idiot?" Sara exclaimed in a hushed voice, but I wasn't paying her any attention as I ran towards the spot.
Four minutes later and I found it.
"So that's how it is."
Laying before me was the remnant of the once elegant and mighty dragon I had seen before.
Most of its body had some dried up blood, the majority of its feathers were gone or burned to a charcoal color, not the phoenix like coloring. The right side of its head severely injured, just like it did to me.
With its left eye, it looked at me, heavily and slowly breathing in and out.
The fire of pride it had in its eye was gone, and nothing but utter humility was to be seen.
Soldat and the others reached this place too, shocked as well about the dragon's state.
It's astonishing yet mysterious how it managed to survive those three months in this state. There doesn't seem to be any signs of it having eaten while it was going through unsuccessful recovery.
Once the dragon saw the others gather here as well, it moved its body despite the damage it still suffered from.
Everyone, except me, was falling back a bit and readied their weapons, but I knew what it was about to do.
The creature's body is barely a foot above the ground, but it's still capable of bending its neck by inclining its head.
"Is it about to attack?" Ingolt asked.
"It is… giving me an opening... to end its life."
I can only imagine this thing having the desire to end it all, considering the way it was closing its eye and showing me its vulnerability.
The others may think that It's for the purpose to end the pain it was going through, but I knew better than that. The dragon asks of me to end what I was beginning just like how I told it back then.
But that just made me feel angry.
How he laid there brought back my memories of the day I got humiliated at my school. Every part of me exposed and nothing but lights of those cameras were sent at me.
No one even dared to help me, or they were too afraid of getting laughed at for helping the naked fatty.
This dragon was overconfident in his strength while I was overconfident in people standing next to me. Albeit, his mistake was simply at not finishing me off properly.
But what connected us in this world is that we were being guided by that shitty god, and I have this sudden urge to foil his plans even more.
With [Specter Force], I pulled it by the chin and slammed its head on the ground.
Soldat and Sara scolded me for wasting this big opportunity, but ignored their yells and stomped over to the left side of the dragon, standing right before its eye.
As it looked at me with its golden slit eye, confusion was written all over it.
"You can understand me, don't you? Well then listen here. Sure, we fought to death and each of us had our moments where we got careless, but you won't get your ending just because you feel humiliated by one single fight."
Pointing the tip of my sword at its eyeball, I continued with an ultimatum.
"I'm giving you two choices here since you have enough intelligence to know what I'm talking about.
The first option is to lay here, get your other eye cut, and die a miserable and bitter death by the poison of your kind.
The other more suitable option, you obey me as your lord and master and become my pet, proving to me that you are truly worth the strength you have shown me.
This power and might of yours, it can still prove itself to be useful since so many monsters have fled from you. And that mess, should be cleaned up by the one who caused it."
It angered me. It angered me that seeing someone apart from me get used by that shitty god only to end up like this.
I felt sympathy for this creature despite the damage it has done to many people and their home. Yet, it didn't care to hurt anyone else, it solely wanted to fight me.
While I talked to the dragon as if it were a person, the others were flabbergasted that I would even consider taking this powerhouse under me.
This has a hidden motive to it.
I can't continue fighting those mutations on my own, and my party does not have the necessary strength to keep up with me or handle them without me.
Using this Red Dragon's power is an option I have to consider an option.
"So what will it be? Death from being a little weakling? Or determination to life and showing me that fierce pride I once saw you gleam in? Are just gonna let that fire of yours demolish before it could burn to its full potential? Come on, show me that you still have that mighty flame burning inside you!"
For a long while, the eye of the Red Dragon was analyzing me from top to bottom before stopping at my face again.
Soon after, the fire of living was igniting in its eyes again, so I went over to stand in front of it.
It was standing up again, having more strength than the previous time.
This time, it was bending it head again, but pointing the top of its head to me while closing its eye.
The gesture of showing its obedience.
"So, living it is."
Charging my hand with a tremendous amount of mana, I touched its head and healed the majority of the damage it had succumbed.
The feathers didn't regenerate at all, probably since they are top class items that need a higher level of Healing Magic than King.
All the open wounds have been sealed, and the right eye was fully healed now.
"What the fuck are you doing?! How do you know that thing won't betray you soon?"
I turned my head to Soldat and looked at him with an emotionless expression.
"You saw how it bowed before me. Even you must have noticed how it basically ignored you guys while taking in your attacks back in Rosenburg. This monster has pride and honor like a warrior."
If he has even a fraction of the sense of pride like Ruijerd does, then there is little to be worried about. Unless the hope that he doesn't is just a coincidence.
"Rudeus, look out!" Sara shouted.
All of them started pointing to the dragon.
When I turned back to it, the right wind with claws was raised. However, there was something odd about it.
As I waited to see what it will do, the Red Dragon slashed its face, injuring its right eye again.
It looked back at me with the same intensity of pride it had shown me when we first looked eyes with one another.
"Do you need more?" I said to Soldat, his jaw dropped at the sight of the bleeding dragon's face.
I placed the tip of my sword on the ground and put both hands on the tip of my hilt.
I was looking at the dragon and thought of a name for it, but before that-
"Raise your left wing if you are a female and raise your right if you are a male."
Understanding me, the Red Dragon then raised its right wing. So male it is.
I looked at his body and mostly saw scarlet red, with a bit of the other colors his feathers had.
A few seconds later, I came up with a simple yet fitting name for it.
Pulling the tip of my sword out, I pointed it at him and spoke out the name I chose.
"Now onward your name shall be the Phoenix Dragon, Hiryū."
With a strong puff, the dragon accepted its name.
So, this is how I acquired my pet dragon.
…
…
…
Is it weird that I want to test if I could ride him while he is flying through the sky?
///