He was the strongest being, that was what he used to boast about when he destroyed cities and burned villages. Living for over 1000 years, until now no one has been able to subdue it.
People nicknamed him as Demonic Dragon, Rodan. He liked that nickname, it seemed to testify to his power that was equated with doom.
The more he got carried away with that name, the more often he demonstrated his power to the world. All this for the sake of accumulating fear in him.
However, one day he meets a being far stronger than him, a being who has stood at the apex of the world order. Tasting a little taste of that pinnacle of strength, Rodan immediately bowed loyally to it.
It was the first time he had tasted defeat and fear.
After that first defeat, he finally realized, that there was still a sky above the sky. But, despite all that, he still felt that he was still able to reach the same sky with that creature.
Thus, for the sake of making it happen, he would be willing to do anything and spread even more fear.
"Hmm, I smell the bugs. I know you're there, come out! Or I'll burn you all!" Rodan shouted intimidatingly.
"…."
But there was no response at all from the enemy.
Knowing that he had been belittled, he became even angrier.
"Okay, if that's what you want! I'll burn you all!" Rodan roared, and started preparing with his fire breath.
"Die!!" he screamed.
At that moment, sparks started to appear from within his mouth cavity. However, just as he was about to spit out his flames, an arrow suddenly shot straight into his eyes, and Roden reflexively dodged it. Thanks to that, his [Dragon Breath] failed to activate, and that made him even more irritated and irritated.
"Impudent! You little bugs! Show your forms!!" shouted Rodan.
At that very moment—
'Crackle crackle'
"Finally you came out." Rodan chirped when he saw a male Elf walk out from behind the bushes and stand in front of him with a fearless look.
"Fine, I'll commend your resolve for daring to stand before me, but do you think you can win against me? Know your position, lowlife!"
"…."
The elf didn't say anything, instead he just smiled. Seeing that, Roden looked surprised, he frowned and glared at the Elf.
"What's so funny, you bastard?! Are you underestimating me?! If so, then you're making a big mistake!!" Rodan screamed with the intention of using his dragon breath again, but the Elf's smile still didn't disappear.
It made him angrier and angrier,
"I'll make sure you turn to ashes, low class!!" shouted Rodan and then breathed his fire in fury.
But, then again, just as he was about to open his mouth, someone shot an arrow at him from a different direction. However, this time Rodan managed to notice it.
"Do you think the same trick will work again?!"
Before the arrow hit him, he used his tail to block the arrow.
But, just as he was about to block the arrow with its tail, it suddenly turned its bow and avoided Rodan's attack.
"—?!" That surprised Rodan.
Unfortunately, it's still too early for a surprise.
Using this opportunity, the Elf who was below threw something at Rodan, and the object he threw exploded as the arrow that had previously avoided Roden hit it.
"Khh?! What is this?!"
When it exploded, green smoke scattered everywhere, blocking his vision. However, it was not meant to blind him, when Roden inhaled the smoke, he felt his body feel very heavy, and he immediately realized that it was too late to escape the effects of the smoke.
"This?!"
It was the negative status of exhaustion, which reduced all of his strength states for 30 minutes.
Of course it surprised Roden, making [Debuff Powder] which can give a negative effect for 30 minutes, such items should be classified as rare items which are myth grade.
"How could an Elf like them have it?!" snarled Rodan, wondering inside.
He looked at Elf who threw the powder. There, still wearing a disdainful smile, he raised his middle finger and said.
"What's wrong, you stupid lizard? Didn't you say you wanted to burn me, why are you suddenly silent— Oh, is it possible that all you can do is talk big? In the end you're still some kind of lizard that can only scuttle on the ground huh."
Rodan didn't know what the middle finger meant, but he still knew that right now his pride as a dragon had been trampled down.
His brain began to burn with rage, and he roared very loudly.
"DAMN INSECT—!!!"
Then, filled with rage, he started to chase the Elf who had run away earlier with great agility. He really was so agile that even Rodan had a hard time keeping up with him.
"What's wrong? After your attack was successfully broken twice, now you can only scream incoherently? Why don't you just change your name to stupid lizard? Ahahahaha! Chase me if you can, stupid lizard!" shouted the Elf in a high pitched voice while grinning broadly.
"Damn it, I will definitely burn all of you without even a trace of your ashes!!" shouted Rodan, and he immediately breathed his fire towards the Elf while chasing after him desperately.
***************
While on the other hand, in a different place.
Currently, together with the Elf, I was observing the condition of the Elf village which seemed to have been burnt down and only the Sacred Tree remained unaffected by the fire in the slightest.
Seeing the size of the Sacred Tree, I held my breath in amazement.
It's really a very big tree, it's almost the same as the tallest skyscraper in my world, maybe the Eiffel tower, although I've only seen it from pictures.
At the bottom of the Sacred Tree was a hole large enough to accommodate hundreds of people, and now that the hole was being protected by a magic shield, it was likely that all the remaining Elf were inside.
However, I'm sure it won't last long either, outside of the magic shield there are also monsters trying to destroy the shield.
"Alright, let's go according to plan. Most likely the Vampire has realized that if she's attacking, the dragon sure is making an unnecessary fuss," I said in a low voice, and everyone nodded.
Now we are hiding in the bushes. Our team's goal is to save the Elf who are taking refuge and then join the fight against the dragon with Mila as our ace.
Since we need to do it as fast as possible, we don't have time to continue hiding here, so I immediately signaled the ten Elf soldiers to split up and get into their respective positions.
They quickly and quietly left following my orders. Now in that place only me, Alicia, and also Elvy.
"Nee, Riku, how did you provoke the dragon to stay away from this place? Exactly what did you teach those Elf?"
"Calm down, Alicia. They are absolutely perfect, there are no gaps in my teachings. It's a powerful way to provoke people with high self-esteem. I've done it many times on social media just to waste time," I replied with full of confidence.
"You really are. Couldn't you live your life better?"
"Riku-san, you are really great! That dragon is really very angry!"
When the goddess who was just being lazy said something unclear, only Elvy complimented me.
As I thought, only she understands me.
"Okay, enough talking here. Let's go," I said seriously.
Hearing that, Alicia just let out a long sigh and Elvy nodded vigorously. Then, after confirming that everyone was ready, I quickly walked forward out of the bushes confidently.
Behind me, Alicia and Elvy also followed.
When we blatantly announced our presence, the monsters that saw it immediately marked all of us as their targets. However, before they managed to get close to us, they were immediately gunned down by the archers who were already preparing to protect us from the monsters.
Seeing that, I gave them my thumbs up, and they also gave me theirs too.
The Elf race has expertise in hunting, so I purposely placed them in a suitable position in order to optimally utilize their talents.
If I blatantly brought them along, it would be a waste of their talent. So this is the best.
"Okay, let's do this," I said with a big smile. Then, I signaled Alicia to start it. "Alicia-sensei, the rest I leave to you!"
"You didn't do anything, so why are you acting like you did?" said Alicia with a sigh.
Geez, she really couldn't read the mood.
"Hurry up and do it, isn't this your specialty?"
"Yeah yeah, I got it, I'll do it. Can't you be a bit polite when you're asking someone for help."
While saying that incomprehensible thing, Alicia stepped in front of me with a reluctant look on her face.
She really is a troublesome person.
Standing in front of us, Alicia took a deep breath.
After that—
"[Holy Aura]!"
'Boom!'
The air around it exploded.
Instantly Alicia's body was immediately enveloped by a dazzling pure white light, and her golden hair glistened brightly as it fluttered like a wave.
Seeing her like that made me think once again, that she really was a real goddess. It felt like the surrounding atmosphere suddenly changed and became slightly hotter, it made me gulp my saliva spontaneously. In fact, beside me, Elvy also saw it with twinkling eyes.
However, this is still not finished.
Closing her eyes while spreading her arms wide, Alicia spoke again, in a louder voice.
"[Sacred Turn Undead]!"
"Kyyaaaaahhhhhhhh—!!!"
At that moment, there was a loud screaming sound from behind me, and as I quickly turned my gaze towards the sound.
What was there was a beautiful woman with long, blood red hair and wearing a beautiful tight red dress. She lay down with hers body emitting burnt smoke.
Wait, was she right behind us?