“What are you all doing!? I’m telling you to get to it quickly! Stand up straight and do your jobs! Stop wasting time and seize Hagen! Are you all even listening to me!?”
The hero angrily shouts, ordering the surrounding soldiers. However, not a single one follows his orders. A nervous vein pops in his forehead as he desperately looks around.
The way things are going according to plan is almost disappointing. Adofu revealed himself, exposing the hero’s lies, and Hagen pressed him for answers until we hit this point. The result: the hero seems to have completely lost the trust of the people.
Though the hero is ranting and raving as much as he is, no one appears to defend him. Looks like he’s at the end of his rope.
I turn my eyes to where the crucifixes are lined up. On the first one at the end, I see Nina bound to it. By the looks of it, Nina doesn’t know what’s going on as she has a confused air about her, but she still watches attentively at the unfolding situation with hope glimmering in her eyes.
It’s over. With trust in the hero having been lost, Nina should be freed. Afterwards, in accordance to the laws of this country, the hero will also be judged. With all the crimes he’s guilty of, there’s no way he’s getting away with an acquittal.
Adofu’s wrongdoer will finally… wait, hold on, if that hero runs away, is there a single person who can catch him? I mean, sure, Nina and Adofu’s relatives will probably be rescued, but in the end, won’t it be impossible for Adofu to avenge his fiancee and his younger brother?
“I’m telling you to get out of the way! I don’t feel well! Don’t look at me like that!”
The hero forces his way out of the execution site. He’s going to run away, just like that…
“O-open a path! Out of the way! Get out of the way!!”
Hagen chases after the hero and grabs hold of his shoulder.
“Hey! Do you think you’ll get out of this by running?”
“Get your filthy hands off of me!”
The hero drew out his sword and swung it wildly. Hagen stumbled back and fell over on the spot. Hagen twisted himself around, his back now facing the hero, and tried to run away while getting up. With Hagen’s back now facing him, the hero turned his sword toward it.
This guy’s going mad. That’s not a threat, his eyes are serious. He’s out of his mind. At this rate, Hagen’s going to be killed.
I took Ball Rabbit, who was in my arms, and put them on the ground. I then kicked off the earth and jumped forward. With that, I cancelled my [[Humanization]] in midair.
Within an instant, my body swelled up, returning to its original size. From here and there, screams flood in from all directions.
Some people may get injured while escaping, but it’s Ball Rabbit’s job to treat their injuries. According to Adofu, many people used to keep them as pets as they’re smart, not prone to violence, and they look adorable. Aaand it seems that most of them are immediately let go due to mounting food expenditures. So, Ball Rabbit shouldn’t have to be too wary around humans.
“GwooooooOO!”
When I roared, the hero turned the tip of his sword from Hagen to me. I caught the swinging blade, firmly clamping down on it with my fangs. The hero tried to pull the sword out, but I clench down with my teeth. I can’t afford to let go at this point.
His movements stop. I ask Partner to take care of the rest.
“GaaaAA!”
Partner rushes headlong into the defenseless hero. The hero takes his hand off the sword and nimbly jumps back.
I raise my foot. It looks like he’s planning to kick off of Partner’s head to use the momentum to get away. The hero’s foot makes contact with Partner’s head. I thought he’d be able to dodge my foot, but in the next moment, the hero’s body is violently pummeled into the ground.
It’s probably because I overwhelm him in strength. Getting a solid level increase has paid off. While he’s lost among the crowd of townspeople, I went and checked the hero’s status; confirming that I exceed him in all stats.
…However, the hero has skills that have the ability to physically strengthen him. I took away one of his swords. However, he has two sheaths on his waist with another sword still sheathed. I don’t think he’ll be going away quietly like this.
I perform a twisting throw with my neck and hurl away the sword that I held in my mouth. The sword ended up stuck deep into the ground.
For the sake of Adofu, I can’t let this guy run free. I might even be the only one in the whole country who can fight this guy. I’ll kill the hero. This guy isn’t someone I can let run free to do whatever he wants.
“What the hell is this? Did you…”
While the hero stands up, he readies his second sword, the sword that gave me quite a blow the first time we met. This sword likely means that he’s going to get serious.
“GwooooO!”
“GwaaaaA!”
Partner roars at the same time as I do as I leap upon the hero.
“[[Quick]]!”
When the hero shouted, light wrapped around his body. Speed enhancing magic?
“There aren’t many dragons with the same name as I. So you evolved, did you? That was truly unexpected. Furthermore, you’ve brought me quite the terrible souvenir.”
The hero points his sword at me.
“However! If I kill you here, then I can still fix this! Haha! How enormously unlucky I am for you! Seems that you went through quite a bit of trouble to help that slave, but you couldn’t have timed your entrance any worse! You are a claw-brained fool of a dragon!”
Sure… if I didn’t go out, that hero would’ve lost all of his reputation anyways and Nina probably would’ve been released without a hitch. It’s very likely that by me having come out that the series of events that both Adofu and Hagen just risked their lives to pull off will now be up in the air. Those two are men who could’ve done it if they were given the chance to tell everyone of all the wicked things that the hero has done so far.
But then Hagen would’ve been killed and in addition to that, the hero himself would’ve also made his slip. Hagen would die and Adofu would fail to avenge his relatives. I just can’t throw someone whom I’ve been cooperating with under the bus like that. As long as I beat the hero, everything will come full circle.
“GwoooOOO!”
I swing my forefoot down, aiming for the hero’s sword. The hero catches my claws with the body of his sword and parries it off to the side.
I open my mouth wide and go to chomp down on the hero.
“[[Lucent Luna]]!”
Countless orbs of light fly out from the hero’s sword. I brave through it and push on with my attack.
The light bursts into my face. I endure one on my forehead, two inside my mouth, one on my cheek, and one on my neck. Sharp pain shoots through every spot they hit. That’s more damage than I thought it would be. Did I underestimate it?
“Haha! How do you like that!? This sword is specifically designed for killing evil dragons like you!”
Seeing me recoil back, the hero repositions his sword. There it is! Using my willpower to endure it, I continue on with my attack.
“GwooooOOO!”
“Wha-!?”
I succeeded in plunging my fangs into the hero’s shoulder. My fangs bore into his flesh and blood gushes forth, spilling into my mouth.
With that, I lift the hero’s body up into the air
My fangs don’t pierce all the way through his body. The inner flesh feels more tough and solid the farther my fangs go into it. When experiencing it like this, it’s just as unexpectedly strange as his status. Even though there is such a huge difference between our physiques, I can’t even bite through his human skin.
I twist my neck and violently slam the hero against the ground, literally using my head. The surface breaks into pieces as sand is thrown up into the air.
“Damnit, you…”
I twist my neck back and continue to pummel him into the ground.
“Gaah!”
This hurts me as well, but my HP far exceeds his. I’m top class when it comes to enduring injuries.
Just when I was about to pound him into the earth for a third time, my fangs flew off into the air. The hero, who had now dislodged himself, jumped back. He landed on his feet while staggering.
“[[Rest]]!” “[[Rest]]!”
The knights who were around where he landed yell out to him.
“A-Are you alright, Sir Irushia!?”
The knights seem puzzled as to how to deal with the hero, but they don’t really look like they’ll turn their swords on him either. There’s quite a bit of commotion coming from all around, but even so, exterminating a dragon takes top priority. It seems certain that if I lose this, then everyone from here on out is going to be deceived.
However, it won’t be good for them if they interfere with this fight. No matter how many ordinary people come at me, it won’t be a challenge. Just like when Hagen came and attacked me, I can easily incapacitate them while being careful not to take their lives.
But this time, things are different.
“Thanks for your help.”
The hero said so in an unnatural manner, then turned his face toward me with a sly grin curling up on the edges of his mouth.
He’s going to use his own knights and companions as meat shields. It’s going to be difficult to attack the hero without getting the knights dragged into this in some way.
That hero got a nice, hard look at my skills. He’s probably making preparations based on what he’s seen of my personality.