"Then, what are you doing standing there"
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Elin was stunned for a moment.
"W-wait…what do you mean? Are you saying that there is an actual dragon here? A. Fucking. DRAGON!", Elin was stuck in place. He was absolutely flabbergasted.
"What? Did you not read the notice board in the town hall?", Francis asked nonchalantly.
"…You mean the dragon conquest one? I-I thought it was a joke. I didn't think you were the one who posted that one!"
"Did you also forget that I was the one who posted most of the requests in the town hall? Well, this one…I didn't but yea…I need to take that down soon", Francis' voice trailed off at the end, but Elin only seemed to care for one thing, she could save Miss Violet.
"I-I mean…in any case, what about the dragon? Are you seriously going to make me fight a dragon after almost killing me with a goddamned demon? Are you serious?" Elin pointed his temples as he shouted at Francis.
"I mean…you won't die…You did survive against a demon so, you'll be fine…"
"Is there no one else? Aren't you also stronger than me? Why don't you fight it yourself?" Elin began losing it.
"Well, there is one person…but I hope you understand that a mage is a bad match against a dragon. And…I can't fight the dragon…"
"Wh-What do you mean? That's the same for a warrior too. It's a fucking dragon!"
"Besides did I ever say you have to fight a dragon?"
"Oh…Shouldn't you say that sooner? Almost scared me…" Elin let out a sigh of relief.
A demon was one thing; demons were beings Elin did have a lot of information on, something that he had fought thousands of in his previous life. But, dragons were something entirely different. Dragons were beings that Rebecca rarely fought. At his current strength, Elin wouldn't even be able to blink before being killed multiple times by a juvenile dragon, let alone an adult one. So, his relief, when he realized that he did not need to fight a dragon, was justified.
"Although, you might have to prove yourself…", Francis added in his previous remark.
"You-WHAT!? What do you mean 'prove myself'?"
"Well, you will be fine…"
Francis stood still. He seemed to be standing in front of a large clearing of the forest as the light of the sun beamed from behind him. He turned around and motioned Elin to come a bit closer.
Elin slowly walked up next to him cautiously. He didn't have a coherent answer yet from Francis. He was dazed; his heart beat unusually fast as he saw the big field in front of him.
The forest itself was not very dense, however, to find such a big area with no trees was definitely eerie.
Thud!
"W-wait y-you…"
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Francis pushed Elin inside a big cleared ground inside the forest.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Elin felt his heart beat furiously. This wasn't like him. Even when he almost died facing the demon, his heart did not beat this furiously. Was even the thought of encountering the dragon so…scary to make him feel this shitty? Or, was this something else?
Thump!
Elin looked around, his eyes moved left and right, and got as much information as they could get. He took deep breadths. He calmed his mind and cleared his thoughts, but his heart did not cease to calm down. He was evidently scared.
It seemed Elin was pushed in some sort of domain, he couldn't feel Francis through his senses anymore. The ground was pretty big; it was probably more than a hundred meters in diameter. At the far end of the cleared forest, was an abandoned house made of wood that seemed to be falling apart.
Elin squinted his eyes. He focused on them to see clearer. He was deep in thought.
"I won't forgive that bastard when I get out…", Elin cursed Francis in his head.
Thump! Thump!
Elin looked at the abandoned house, as he slowly began to move towards the house. He took a big breath, his lungs filled with air, as his senses increased by two folds. He analyzed the area, and realized that the concentration of mana here was very high…but it was not high enough to be a dragon's domain.
"…Was I lied to?", Elin thought to himself.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Elin took very calculated steps as he made his way toward the house. He used the small amounts of aurum he had to conceal himself. It wouldn't work if it was a dragon, but Elin still wanted to hope this was just a shitty prank by Francis.
THUMP!
Elin was halfway through the field. He gained more confidence in himself as he quickened his pace.
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"Shit."
It was already too late.
Elin looked behind him.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
There it stood. It had three legs, and one of its legs seemed to have been amputated. It had bronze skin which had a metallic sheen that seemed to sparkle as it moved toward Elin. It had a long, slender reptilian body with a snake-like tail. As it moved forwards, it maintained eye contact with Elin. Its irises were golden in color, however; its right eye had a similar scar to that of Francis'. It had four ears that slicked back, two of which were like protrusions of the bigger ones which resembled a tree branch. It covered its chest area with its large wings which were shaped like that of a bat.
It was slowly making a circle around Elin, as it had its long snake-like tail lowered. It was probably 5 meters long from end to end and 2 and half meters tall. As it moved around, it seemingly stumbled or at least seemed to have a hard time keeping balance due to its lack of a foot. But, yet still it showed elegance, grace, and strength.
THUMP!
Elin observed the being. It was definitely an adult. It was definitely weakened, and injured. However, even in this state, Elin needed to be extremely careful, as the dragon seemed to coil around Elin. It faced Elin again.
Its golden irises faced Elin head-on, its reptilian face and its metallic sheen were close to Elin's face. Elin felt suffocated at its presence. He felt all the blood rush to his head. His heart was beating unbelievably fast, he felt as if he was going to have a stroke.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The dragon looked at Elin's eyes.
"…Interesting", the deep rough voice sounded in Elin's voice.
"…", Elin slowly lowered his hand and gripped the hilt of his sword.
THUMP!
"…Oh?", the dragon became curious, it looked at Elin's hand as he reached for the hilt.
"You think you can kill me with that? Truly wonderful, interesting…"
"…", Elin began to sweat profusely. His mind was an absolute mess; he couldn't even hear his own voice over the sound of his heartbeat.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
"Hahaha!", the dragon laughed, "Try it then…"
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The air in the atmosphere changed. It was fundamentally different. It was oppressing.
Elin slowly pulled out his sword. He needed to be ready, he had to be.
THUMP!
Elin pulled out the little aurum he had, he felt his body freshen up with vigor. But, no matter what exercise he did, he couldn't seem to calm his heartbeat down. He tried, and tried, but nothing he did seemed to work. He could only ignore it for now.
THUMP!
He lifted his sword up, the sword felt heavy. He pointed the sword at the dragon; it seemed to stay still. It seemed to be in some deep thought as it stared at Elin.
Elin struck first. He sliced vertically downwards.
Clang!
The dragon opened its large wings which blocked Elin's attack. The wings blocked and deflected Elin's attack, which caused Elin to be pushed back.
THUMP! THUMP!
It lowered its body and lunged forwards, it seemed to attack Elin. Elin quickly brought his hands up to block the attack, but that attack never reached him.
The dragon was close to Elin's face, it seemed to be observing something.
Elin, who had been pushed back, quickly rotated his body and tried to attack the dragon's chest area.
The dragon seemed to have some previous injuries as it had long scars along its body. It seemed to be covering its scars through its wings.
"…It's weak points?", he thought.
The sword's trajectory seemed just right. It was going to hit.
THUMP!
Suddenly, Elin felt as if his heart was going to jump through his chest.
CLANG!
The sword hit the dragon's chest area, but it lacked any aurum or energy as it bounced off.
THUD!
Elin's hand felt numb. The sword on his palm fell to the ground with a weak sound.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Elin clutched his chest.
Something seemed to have changed in him, something that had been happening to him all throughout this week. It felt like his heart was about to fall out his mouth as it began to thump even faster and faster.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
His heart beat uncontrollably. He began to sweat even more profusely. He fell on the ground with a weaker dull sound.
Thud!
He clenched his teeth; his heart was not calming down.
It was painful.
Elin was drenched in sweat from pain; he could barely open his eyes. Amidst the pain, he looked at the eye of the dragon.
The long slit irises of the dragon looked back at him. He seemed amused.
"F-fuck…"
Elin managed to utter in a small voice.
His consciousness began to fade. His eyes began to become heavy.
But he couldn't give up yet. The aurum in his body kept destabilizing.
He dug the sword into the ground. He was going to prove himself and get out of this predicament.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Thump! Thump!
thump!
Elin slowly managed to stand back up. He sheathed his sword. Blue flames began to rage from his hands as he grabbed the hilt of the sword.
"Huuu~", he let out a big sigh.
The dragon seemed interested in the situation as it stood still like before.
[Sword slash: Type 15] Crescent draw; the sword flew out of the sheath like a bullet. The dragon was surprised at the sudden increase in speed of the attack, as it backed away.
The sword lightly grazed the dragon's chest and seemed to put a mark on the area. Elin did not miss this moment.
[Vicero], his speed doubled in the split of a second. The fire of aurum which seemed like a small flame began to rage as if they were being emitted by a burner. They were like a concentrated flame, as Elin's movement made it seem like a streak of light. His movements continued as a huge amount of energy began to be stored in his sword.
[Sword slash: Type 14] Truth blade; the sword made a straight diagonal path through the air as Elin moved just a bit further so that the attack would land. The dragon preemptively blocked the attack with his wings as the sword struck them with immense speed and by proxy strength.
This strike was much stronger than it should've been as the wings seemed more damaged. The dragon was stunned, no attack should have been able to even graze its hide, but this was the second time it had been proven wrong this day. However, the dragon did not counter just yet, it wanted the human to show some more interesting things.
Elin did not stop his charge.
[Sword slash: Type 13] Illusionary blade; Elin seemed to attack upwards from the last position of his blade, as such the dragon moved just a bit outside of the trajectory of the blade. But, that attack seemed to be a feint, as Elin rotated his blade into another position to attack at a frightening pace. The dragon barely dodged this second attack, as the attack barely missed the dragon that was pushed back.
The attack continued as another strike came at the dragon that was in a bad position after dodging the last feint. The strike came vertically down at immense speed due to the effect of [Vicero]. The dragon brought its wings near to block the attack, however unlike last time, the attack managed to carve into the dragon's tough hide.
The dragon suddenly knew that this swordsman's skills and the sword arts were different. This wasn't something that could be explained with auxiliary skills or weapon skills. The dragon looked at the sword arts, it seemed familiar to him. He seemed to be reminiscing amidst the battle.
Thump! Thump!
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Elin on the other hand felt numb. His head felt like it was about to explode, his arms felt like they were going to fall off from his torso, and mainly his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest. But, he couldn't stop yet.
[Robur], along with the concentrated flame from [Vicero], the flames grew and grew until they encompassed Elin's entire arm and feet. It looked like he was on fire.
The dragon was even more impressed at the young swordsman in front of him. He willingly braced for the next attack from Elin.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
[Sword slash: Type 12] Whirlwind slash; Elin put all his strength on his arm as he pulled the sword upwards; the dragon who had braced for the attack realized that the attack could be easily dodged or countered from behind as he suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind Elin, where he was suddenly hit by the attack.
The flesh around the dragon's chest was grazed, as it began to bleed. The dragon was surprised as it instinctively attacked Elin.
[Sword slash: Type 11] Counter; Elin immediately blocked the attack. However, Elin's appearance seemed different. The flames covered all of his body from head to feet; his entire torso seemed to be covered by the blue flames like armor, [Fortis].
Elin blocked the attack and rotated his body; the attack was redirected sideways as it tore up the ground at Elin's feet.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Huge amounts of energy were condensed in Elin's sword as it began to descend on the dragon.
The dragon saw the attack coming and thus it was sure. It was sure this attack was familiar to it. It was also sure that it would incur light injuries from the attack if it took the attack on itself. Of course, light injuries might not mean much but, this was something that was going to be experienced by a dragon that had immense defensive capabilities.
The arm of the dragon which had been amputated suddenly began glowing. The glow began to solidify and formed a complete arm. In a split second, the trajectory of the blade was intercepted by the newly formed arm of the dragon.
[Sword slash: Type 10] Star-fall slam; the attack came down as if it were to shatter the heavens and struck the dragon's arm.
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Nothing seemed to happen. It was quiet. Suddenly the dragon's arm began to crack.
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BOOM!
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A loud sky-shattering sound resounded in the forest. Huge amounts of light began to pour out of the dragon's newly formed arm.
The ground around the two opponents was crushed under the sheer force of Elin's attack.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
"That was quite the amount of energy stored in that one attack.", the dragon finally spoke up.
The dragon had its arms crossed as it looked at the side with its eyes shut.
"…"
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
"…Is everything all right?", the dragon asked as it did not receive an answer from Elin.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
Elin was drenched in sweat. His eyes were bloodshot. He seemed to be gasping for air. His hands felt numb. The silver armor stumbled around a bit, he was unable to grasp his balance.
Thud!
Elin's sword fell to the ground.
"H-Hey…HEY!", the dragon quickly came closer to Elin and reached his hand out.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
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THUD!
Elin fell to the ground beside the dragon. His eyes felt much heavier. He felt as if someone was constantly hammering his head and tugging on his limbs. He felt like his body was on fire. It was in too much pain.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
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THUMP! THUMP!
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THUMP!
He closed his eyes.
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It was dark. Eleanor was floating. She was drowning. She felt light and heavy at the same time. It was a familiar yet unfamiliar feeling.
"P-Please. Please. Please."
Eleanor frantically began praying. She hoped that this feeling was just some prank from the dragon.
"Plea-Don't do this to me…please…", her voice was weak.
Eleanor's eyes felt heavy. She did not want to open her eyes.
It was hard for her to open her eyes. It was too painful.
Eleanor finally opened her eyes.
It was as she knew. It was just the void.
Empty. Cold. Lonely.
She was back…again.
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Dead.