as if it was food.Perhaps Alize"s group like that was reflected as an eyesore to the dragon, but when the dragon suddenly roared, it spread its wings again and approached the girls. In contrast with the dragon who is preparing its claws and is descending, the members at that place was standing there without moving.
Alize――――――was the exception……
"U- uooooooh!"
Shaking her body that was shrinking with fear, Alize drew out the rapier she was wearing. Magic power crawled into the rapier and with a thrust instead of a slash, she fires off a flying blade.
The flying blade pushes itself straight through the s.p.a.ce and is up until now her best execution of the flying blade. That attack, which would open a hole through the average monster, surely made a direct hit to the dragon"s face.
――――――However, that is all it did.
The dragon, whose face received a thrust, didn"t show even the slightest hint of faltering and as it landed on the ground, it mowed down the closest one, Alize, like garbage.
Together with a pain that would make one lose consciousness, Alize rolled over the ground. Several trees were mowed down and when she was able to notice, she saw she was nearly 100 meters separated from the dragon.
The reason Alize could move must have been because of the upbringing of the un-Hero like Hero. When sparring, he constantly hit her with a sense of intimidation equal to that of a dragon. At first it resulted in an everyday occurrence with her waist giving out and her fainting and such, but if it is repeated she will get used to it as expected and she herself is aware that she had become stronger against that intimidating air. That was largely the reason for being able to move in this place.
Although she could move, on her own she is hardly a challenge against the dragon. Being blown off this far and receiving damage should be good proof of that. Her arm is broken and her leg as well. She is already not in the condition to move.
While remembering the anger of not having apt.i.tude in healing magic, she strongly resented her hand which is no longer able to hold her rapier. She didn"t know what she was cut with, but her shoulder had a large gash, blood flowed out endlessly. As if hitting that wound with anger, she pushed her hand clad in fire.
"Uugh……!"
While groaning, she showed bitter tears on her face.
――――――In the corner of her view, she saw one of her friends who went with her being eaten.
Although it was burned, she somehow succeeded in stopping the flowing blood.
――――――Now another one of her friends was crushed by the dragon"s arm.
Alize stood up somehow and attempted to go and a.s.sist them, but……
――――――The female warrior, who was bright and cheerful, was pierced by a giant nail.
She couldn"t put any strength in her foot and immediately crumbled down. She couldn"t put any strength in her arms to catch her body and just like that, her body was completely nailed on the ground.
――――――The cute mage, whose strong point was support magic rather than offensive magic, became a lump of meat under its tail.
"Move, move" she continued to order her whole body, but her body didn"t show any sign at all of obeying her. That was to be expected, her body instinctively refused to obey. Throwing down the gauntlet to that dragon…… acting like she"s dying before its own eyes.
Thus, the time had finally come.
"Ah……"
This day, the ones who had come to this place were six people including Alize. Currently four people have died. And then…… the last person, a kind hearted male swordsman who had always been heartily drinking alcohol and laughing, has――――――
――――――now been eaten.
In the end, the dragon returned to its den as it is and Alize was the only person who was left behind in that place. Going around inside her head was the face of the last person, the male swordsman, and her tears overflowed.
It can be seen that Alize"s eyes were clinging onto something. "Please help me" is what those eyes are indicating.
That is the source of the girl"s trauma. An overwhelming defeat due to overwhelming power, losing her group of friends. It was discovered afterwards, but the dragon they came across didn"t appear to be the subjugation target. After they left the guild, that information fell into the guild"s lap.
The dragon that was supposed to be the subjugation target was killed by a much higher rank dragon and that higher rank dragon ended up settling in that den, or so it seems. In other words, they were expected to fight a much lower rank dragon.
It seemed as if the girl was blown away from the beginning, left the dragon"s domain and in the end finished without success.
Alize, who was even unaware of that, ended up thinking she was taken for a small fry who was not even worth killing as far as the dragon is concerned.
While seeing off the dragon who killed the invaders and returned satisfied, she fainted together with fear and powerlessness.
Afterwards, the girl was sheltered by a merchant who had heard the uproar and approached it and her injuries were also healed by restoration magic. With this case, the inept.i.tude of the guild"s side took form of a small problem and Alize received a large amount of hush money.
Alize was told that the S rank promotion test will be put on in the future, but she was no longer in the mental condition to advance to S rank. There is no willpower remaining to face them again within Alize, who experienced the terror that is the dragon.
Alize left the town and returned to this village without mentioning this to anyone. Each time she holds the rapier, she relives the scene of that time and without being able to practice sufficiently her strength started weakening, however recently her fears was able to fade gradually. It was because she was encouraged by the man she had met called Ramell.
However, this did not mean that the fading fear had vanished――――――
"Ah…… aah……"
Alize"s leg shook in fear.
Flying in the sky above the village, a dragon is looking down on the villager with angry eyes and with the overwhelming sense of intimidation, those villagers" courage diminished. That dragon is dropping its height little by little and then it landed inside the village. The building caught under that large build was crushed and the villagers trembled with fear.
"There are still children in there who can"t move from their illness!"
Someone shouted. The other villagers panicked from the sudden dragon invasion and ran in every direction. The soldiers who were standby in the village were barely able to remain there, but there were no hints of anyone going to help move those children.
I have to escape――――――
Alize and the guards were the same. The word escape floated across inside her head. Judging from appearances, the dragon looked like it was at the same level as the one who trampled on the guy and the girls several years ago. Although the color of the scales are different, the style of physique somehow resemble the dragon at that time.
The dragon moved its neck, looking around the vicinity as if looking for a prey. And then――――――Alize was in its sight.
"Ah……"
A spiritless voice came out of the girl. What the scene looks most like is the representation of a frog being stared at by a snake.
The dragon found its prey and with its still angry eyes it moved its foot and took a step.
"The kids are still living!"
At that time, someone shouted so and faced the dragon…… to be exact, he faced the building that was being crushed beneath the dragon and started running.
"Ra, Ramell!"
The one who started running at full speed without drawing out his sword is the village soldier who has feelings for Alize, Ramell. He was always that kind of man. If someone of the village was in danger, he would come to aid them, disregarding both his abilities and position. If you look at him positively, he is heroic and if you look at him negatively, he is reckless…… he is a man you would repeat this over and over. Even so, it was Alize who was somehow able to support him up until now.
――――――however, only this time it is different.
The dragon notices him and sent its gaze towards him.
With only his movements were stopped. The always brave and reckless him is, with just one…… glare.
There is that much difference between man and dragon. The overwhelming difference in strength would first crush his spirit. His willpower, before he faced against fear like he has done until now, completely broke.
And then in this situation, there are no targets as easy as a human who stopped moving.
"Ru――――――Run away!"
Alize forgot her fear and shouted. However it never reached Ramell who was staring dumbfoundedly at the dragon, so he never ran away. The dragon mowed down once like it was brushing off dust. A sudden gust sprang forth from the swung arm and pushed Alize"s body. The girl who couldn"t open her eyes from the strong wind, covered her face with her arms and then she was finally able to open her half closed eyes.
…… Ramell"s figure was not there. As soon as the gust stopped and she finally searched for him in front of her, that fell from the sky.
"Ra…… Rame…… ll"
She didn"t know how high up he was launched, but there was a considerable time between his figure vanishing and him falling down. Fallen down beside Alize, he had his arms bent in a strange direction and there was a not so small amount of blood spilling from under his armour. Alize couldn"t approach him who did not even twitch. Ramell"s life was already gone. The fact that his magic power couldn"t be felt anymore is good proof of that. Alize was afraid to take off his armour and to ascertain it.
With this, the girl once again had a friend killed by a dragon.
However, what arose was different from that time.
" ………… How dare you."
Alize drew her rapier and took one step forward.
"How dare you…… do this to Rameeellll!"
With her face dyed with firy, Alize started running with a raging spirit. What was there was no fear, but pure anger. It"s because Ramell"s existence within her was so large it blew away her fears. She was that attracted to him.
"Aaaaaaah!"
Against the overwhelming unreasonableness, Alize fires random flames with chantless magic, which she is weak at. Unsure what to think of the attack which absolutely didn"t take any consideration in magic power distribution and the like, the dragon commences its flight while catching the attacks throughout its body.
"Don"t you run awaay!"
Towards the floating giant body, the girl kicked the ground, jumped and plunged her rapier into that face.
However――――――
"d.a.m.n!"
In the moment the rapier struck the scales, it broke at the center. It was Alize who lost her weapon, but as a result of moving out of anger, she left it to her instincts and grasped the floating tip of her rapier and thrusted it into the dragon"s eye.
"Gugyaaaaaaa!"
For the first time the dragon"s shriek was heard. Rather than being pleased about crushing one of its eyes, Alize started plunging the remaining part of her rapier in the other eye.
"Gaa!"
"Tch!"
However, the dragon defended against it by shaking its head. Thrown out into the sky, when Alize rearranged her body position in the sky and landed, she simultaneously
"Uoooooh!"
kicked the ground once again and jumped before the dragon"s eyes. When she held the rapier as to thrust into the other eye again, it ended in a failure with the dragon swinging it"s arm this time.
The girl who got a.s.saulted by the large arm, flew horizontally like that and finally stopped after penetrating several houses.
"Gah…… haah…… haah……"
Inside the house where the citizens already ended up taking refuge in, Alize breathed out blood. "How dare you not dying, me" she says as showed a bitter smile.
(I know I am no match for it…… hah, it"s frustrating, isn"t it)
The difference in fighting power was clear, she knew she could not win. Even so, before she noticed she moved at the instant her special someone was hurt. It can"t be helped that she held fear when her friends were done in, but this time it was different.
(So I was…… this drawn to that man)
It seems that the girl"s heart was stolen by Ramell to the point it painted over her fears. Therefore――――――she was filled with frustration. Towards herself, who could not even take down her loved one"s enemy.
"So I can…… still move"
Fortunately, the girl"s body was not broken. She could barely move her body, but several of her ribs were probably broken……
"If I can move then……!"
She whipped her aching body and started running. This degree of injury was an everyday occurrence during the time Alize was with Setsu"s group.
Jumping out of the house, she ran towards the still floating dragon. The dragon turns one of it"s eyes dyed in anger, but Alize disregarded it and continued to run.
The dragon fluttered its wings, attempting to blow away the girl with the occurring wind. However, the girl did not stop. She frantically moved her feet strengthened with magic and approached towards the front of it.
Feeling more and more irritated from that, the dragon it filled its mouth with magic power. Their race"s characteristic weapon, it is the appearance of . Some breathes out fire and there are various individuals who can fire devastating beams, but it"s said that a superior dragon has the power to partially destroy a city.Thus this dragon is that kind.
"Hah…… Breath is…… as intense as one would expect"
Energy is acc.u.mulating into its mouth, which can even be seen at a distance. The dragon"s magic power is comparable to several times that of the girl"s.
I won"t make it in time, I will be struck before I approach it. Alize had such convictions. Once she completely believed that, she herself stopped running. It was an att.i.tude of resignation.
"But…… Just the village――――――I will protect"
What made her become strong was for the sake of this village. It was for the sake of protecting this village. It was for the sake of giving the village that is threatened by the strength of the monsters in the vicinity, a peace of mind. Perhaps when the breath is fired, not only the girl, but also this village may vanish.
"Only thaaaat!"
Alize circulates her remaining magic power in her whole body. The dragon"s breath is aiming at her. In that case, if she could stop the whole breath……
(Well, that would be impossible I guess)
She knows how much is her remaining amount of magic power――――――That"s what she thought. As a matter of fact, it was as she said.
However, if she could be a shield even a little bit, a part of the village may possibly remain.
She already overcome her fears and the dragon is no longer something to be afraid of.
(If I have to say my regrets…… it would be not being able to give the mead to master, I guess)
“What am I thinking at this time” Alize unintentionally smiled.
"Forgive me master, for being a weak pupil."
"Yeah you really are, you idiot pupil"
"――――――eh?"
"Goaaaaaa!"
Simultaneously when Alize let out a stupid like voice, a torrent of energy was fired from the dragon"s mouth.
"Have you forgotten the adventurer"s rules of my school? I should have told you those, shouldn"t I? Giving up is strictly forbidden――――――is what it is!"
The main current of energy, the beam suddenly altered its course to right overhead. What vanished into the skies, extinguished just like that as the energy coming from the dragon"s mouth was running out.
"Aw man, I"m a bit too often late in making my entry these days……"
"Ma, master!"
Standing there was Setsu, the man farthest from being a Hero in this world, and now the one closest to it.