Blood sprayed out of the wound.
“Dammit! Too shallow!”
“Me too!”
It’s scales were quite thick, so their attacks weren’t very effective. The dragon, enraged, took to the skies and charged at them.
“”
Shuri’s water magic managed to protect them. However, the dragon fired off another . Shuri’s magic was dispelled and the two in the rear were sent tumbling.
“Shuri! Shinobu!”
Taishi cried out, but
“Focus Taishi!”
Chika warned him, this time the dragon slashed at them with it’s claws. Fortunately, they managed to scramble away in time.
“Shit! Eat this! !”
A blast of lightning flashed toward the dragon. Hitting it with a loud crackling sound. The dragon cried out in pain.
“It looks like magic is more effective than our swords!”
“Oh! Then next is this! !”
“Me too! !”
The two spears combined into one and hit the dragon, burning it.
“Gaaaaaaaaaaa!” (Dragon)
Crying out in pain, it tumbled onto the ground.
“Alright! Now!”
The two rushed forward to deal the finishing blow. But the dragon opened its mouth.
“Crap!”
At that moment,
“!”
“!”
Two shouts came from behind them. Shuri and Shinobu. The girls’ magic succeeded in stopping the dragon.
“Guys! Attack now!”
Taishi and Chika nodded at each other. They focused their magic on their hands. And…
“!!!”
They thrust their fists forward, letting out of a burst of light which turned into an arrow. The arrow pierced through the dragon’s body. After letting out a shrill cry, the dragon died.
“Whooooo!”
Taishi and the other three cheered. Though they weren’t hurt, the release of tension from their battle caused them to sit down.
Though they had certainly gotten stronger, it was inevitable to receive high damage front a direct attack. Thanks to their experience, they were able to continue fighting.
“Though there were a few close calls, you performed magnificently!”
Vale was quite ecstatic.
“Alright, let’s get the drops and head back.”
When they approached the body, a shadow fell upon them.
“What?!?”
When they looked up, they saw a shadow descending toward the dragon. Vale’s face paled.
“W-who are you?!?”
Taishi shouted. The figure crossed his arms, and opened his mouth.
“I’ll be taking this.”
With that, the man unfolded what appeared to be his wings. He couldn’t be human. He was clearly a birdman.
“Wait a second! We’re the ones who defeated it!”
The person stripped the dragon of its scales and tossed them their way. He glanced at them, as if saying ‘With this there should be no complaints.’ His attitude filled him with the same rage he had against ‘that’ classmate.
“Aaah, argh! Anyways, don’t just do as you please! Give us a reason, you!”
When Taishi raised his finger, Vale calmed him down.
“Taishi-sama! Stop!”
“W-what are you doing, Vale!”
“It’s fine! We got what we wanted. Don’t mind him.”
Seeing the two arguing, the bird-man grabbed the tail of the dragon and lifted off. Flying away with the entire dragon.
“A-amazing. The dragon’s massive.”
As Shuri was saying, he was holding the dragon in one hand. In addition to his vice-like grip, the strength of his wings was spectacular. Everytime the wings moved, a gale could be felt below.
And like that, the birdman disappeared into the sky.
“…Hey, Vale, he’s gone, but are you okay with that?”
“I-it’s fine. Right now, you wouldn’t stand a chance against him”
Seeing Vale sweating bullets, Shinobu asked.
“By any chance, is that Bird-san strong?”
“… Yes, that was Bird, and as you can see he is .”
“Well, anyone would be able to tell at a glance that he was a Gabranth”
“Why didn’t we fight him? Wasn’t it 5 on 1?”
Taishi’s question was natural. They had managed to defeat the S-rank dragon. In addition, Vale was with them, they should be able to defeat Birdo. However, Vale shook his head.
“There are many factors. The beastman is unlike any other.”
“What do you mean?”
“He is one of Passion’s . He serves directly under the King. If we fight, the Gabranth will not stay silent.”
“Th… that guy was from the top brass?”
“Yes… and I’m afraid his power exceeds ours… He should be at least Rank-SS. I’m sorry, but we wouldn’t last a minute against him. And besides…”
“Besides?”
Vale put on a difficult expression and closed his eyes, as if hesitant to say it. Then, he slowly opened his mouth.
“The fact that he’s gathering monsters means… the war has started.”
They were stunned. Finally, Shinobu asked.
“W-war? Are they going to attack us?”
“When I first saw him, I thought so. However, he didn’t show any signs of aggression.”
Vale looked up.
“If they were waging was on the Humas, he would have finished us off here. There’s no reason to let us live.”
“So you’re saying…?”
“Yes, their enemy is the Evila. They are moving faster than expected.”
Taishi was told that the Gabranth would soon be waging war against the Evila.
However, the King had said that there was still some time. But in fact, it would start soon.
“C-couldn’t this be a misunderstanding, Vale?”
Taishi asked. But Vale shook his head.
“No. Do you know why he’s gathering monsters?”
Everyone shook their heads.
“They have a method for reanimating demon corpses.”
“How come?”
“Doctor Yuhito. He is said to have researched the , , and even the . There are rumors that he’s been working on a method to turn dead demons into zombies.”
Taishi and the others shivered at the thought of zombies.
“However, it doesn’t last too long. And I’ve heard that the corpse must be fresh. I guess that’s why he’s been collecting them.”
“War…. huh”
“Yes. They seem to be gathering dead demons to increase their forces.”
“That’s pretty serious… are the humans safe?”
“…Most will probably stay as spectators.”
“We won’t participate?”
“Yeah, since we aren’t allied with them, if we went and messed up, we’d be attacked by both parties.”
“I see…”
“Besides, we’re still in the middle of training right now! It’s not like we’ll send you off to your deaths.”
Hearing the word ‘kill’, the four paled. They had clearly been preparing to fight, but hadn’t really given it much thought.
Suddenly, they didn’t feel like it was their problem anymore. As Vale had said, if they joined now, they’d be killed immediately. The heaviness of the thought left their throats dry.
“If it’s you, Hero-samas, you’ll be able to become stronger than anyone else. Now is the time to train.”
The four looked at each other and nodded.
“We understand, Vale. We know that we can’t take it easy anymore.”
“Yes! Let’s get stronger than anyone else!”
“Yeah!”
The four had once again regained their motivation. Vale looked up at the sky, to where Birdo had disappeared.
(However, no matter who wins, the world will definitely fall into chaos.)
Thinking of the fate of the world, he too, vowed to become stronger.