We live in the foothills of Dragon Peak.
Strategy Meeting and the Sky of the Treacherous Forest
“So, about this trial.”
“It’s too difficult, isn’t it?”
“What part of that is easy?!”
Arriving at the water’s edge, we quenched our thirst with boiled and cooled water as we discussed our future.
“There’s definitely something fishy about this trial.”
“Of course there is. Otherwise, it would be too difficult even for veteran warriors.”
“Then, what’s the secret?”
“If only we had canteens, we wouldn’t have to search for water sources every time,” I thought as I listened to the dragonkin warrior candidates’ discussion.
“Taking a dragon’s egg sounds hopeless.”
“What about from a gentle dragon race?”
“No matter how gentle they are, I doubt there’s a race that wouldn’t get angry if their eggs were stolen.”
“Shall we annihilate a small dragon’s nest and take it?”
“You can die once.”
We threw out various ideas, debating this and that.
“It would be nice to carry water around, wouldn’t it?”
At Priscilla-chan’s casual remark, a woman resting nearby stirred. She tore off several large leaves from nearby and folded them repeatedly, creating a watertight container.
“That’s amazing!”
“If you’re going to be a warrior, you need to be able to do at least this much.”
The woman gently taught the method to Laira, who was impressed. Afterward, the woman and Laira stepped away from the discussion and began making water containers for everyone as practice. Meanwhile, as Laira mass-produced the water containers, the discussion continued.
Apparently, they were trying to reach a solution here. The dragonkin men and women sat down for a serious talk. Midway, two men left. It seemed they went hunting for food. Silently, the two men, carrying bows and arrows, disappeared into the depths of the treacherous forest.
“Anyway. If we bring a dragon’s egg back to the village, won’t it put the village in danger?”
Oh. It seems you’ve noticed something important, young lady. I was the only one not participating in the discussion, tending to Priscilla-chan and Ares-chan. The dragonkin and Ruiseine seemed to notice that I was somehow leading to an answer, but they didn’t readily ask me for it, maintaining an atmosphere of trying to overcome it with their own wisdom. This is a good thing, right? They don’t rely on others for everything. Of course, it’s different in emergencies or when things are beyond their control, but since they have the luxury to discuss carefully now, their choice isn’t wrong. And I, too, refrained from the foolish act of butting in with the answer.
While playing house with Priscilla-chan and Ares-chan, I was suddenly struck by my own growth. Since entering Dragon Peak, I’ve made countless mistakes and nothing has gone as planned. I haven’t been able to be of much use in the incident at the western village so far, and I feel I haven’t contributed as much to Laira’s aid as Mistral or Ruiseine. However, it’s not just me struggling every day. Even the dragonkin, who are close to the wise dragons and far superior to humans, are now troubled and perplexed like this. By comparing myself to such people, I could finally objectively realize my current strength and growth. Ah, this isn’t about superiority.
“Meow.”
Many failures, and a few successes. But, I am confident that I have accumulated more experience than any of the dragonkin men and women here. And I feel the difference in experience is now clearly manifesting.
“Both success and failure become valuable experience points, nyang.”
“Even with strength, you’re weak without experience, yo.”
Nimia and Ares-chan are right. I gained strength, but lacked experience points. However, by experiencing various things on Dragon Peak, I may be beginning to gain the knowledge and thinking skills befitting my strength.
“If we bring the egg back to the village, it becomes dangerous. So what should we do? Isn’t that truly hopeless?”
“Right. We can’t bring danger to the village.”
“But they know that, and they’ve set it as the topic, haven’t they?”
“Then, there must be a way around this problem.”
“Perhaps figuring out the way around it, the back alley, is related to our qualifications as warriors.”
The discussion continued, and the two men who had gone hunting returned with some butchered and roasted beast meat and a few fruits.
“Wow, I was surprised to find an Earth Dragon’s nest ahead.”
“Was it dangerous?”
“No, it was the docile one.”
“I see.”
We distributed the meat and fruit, and while eating, we reconfirmed the surrounding situation.
“Elnea-kun, you seem to have it easy.”
Ruiseine, who couldn’t reach a conclusion, pouted and took it out on me.
“I’m also confident about this trial.”
Laira provocatively boasted with her bountiful chest, taunting Ruiseine.
“What?! Laira, you’ve also found a breakthrough for the trial!?”
Ruiseine was stunned. And so were the dragonkin men and women who had been listening.
“Hey, hey, aren’t the humans more capable than us?”
The dragonkin men and women looked at each other and frowned. We humans apologize for finding the answer first. But, both I and Laira have special conditions. We wanted to say that it wouldn’t be of any help to you all. However, we had to say something different.
“Everyone, Wyverns!”
Above us, where we were relaxing, the shadows of several Wyverns passed at high speed over the dense canopy of the treacherous forest. The shadows of the Wyverns passed directly overhead in an instant. And one of them made eye contact with me. I’ve been spotted! The Wyvern had definitely seen us. A war cry echoed from the sky.
“No, we’ve been spotted! Run!”
The peaceful discussion session turned into a frantic escape. We hurriedly stood up and quickly left the place. Immediately after. Balls of fire rained down from above onto the spot where we had been relaxing. Explosions and heat waves struck the treacherous forest, and the place where we were instantly became a sea of fire. I held Priscilla-chan and ran, just like everyone else. Ares-chan followed me in flight, and Ruiseine and Laira ran a little distance away. The dragonkin scattered and fled through the treacherous forest.
“Damn it, why did the Wyverns suddenly attack!?” a man yelled. Wyverns are indeed ferocious. But that doesn’t mean they attack humans without question just because they find them. Haphazard attacks were only characteristic of the tyrant from the past. But we were now in chaos due to the sudden Wyvern attack. Running, I looked up at the sky and saw nearly ten Wyverns circling overhead.
“Wh-what is that?” A man next to me, who also looked up at the sky, stopped and stood there in a daze.
“You can’t stop now. Run!” I grabbed the arm of the man who had stopped and forcibly pulled him along, making him run. I, too, was stunned by the sight of the Wyverns. But that’s precisely why I can’t afford to stop. I have to run! A swarm of Wyverns, circling in the sky and looking for an opportunity to attack. All of them were Wyverns clad in ominous black Dragon Energy. “No way,” I thought to myself. Wyverns exuding an ominous, visible black Dragon Energy. I could never forget it. They were the same Wyverns that Orta had controlled. Orta said he controlled Wyverns with evil power. The ominous black Dragon Energy is proof of being controlled. Those Wyverns must be attacking us under control. But I never heard that he could control nearly ten of them at once! In the face of the approaching ominous Wyverns, we fled in confusion through the treacherous forest. Fireballs rained down mercilessly from the sky, and the treacherous forest quickly turned into a forest of flames.
“Ruiseine, be careful!” One of the Wyverns that dived down approached Ruiseine, its sharp leg claws flashing. Ruiseine narrowly dodged by activating her high-speed movement sorcery. The Wyvern, unable to finish off Ruiseine, flapped its wings violently close to the ground and ascended rapidly, returning to the sky immediately. Nearby, the ground rumbled and an impact spread. Another Wyvern dive-bombed a dragonkin man who had fled in a different direction. The man managed to evade and fled into the shadow of a tree. In another location, the fiery breath of a Wyvern flying low, mowed down trees, raged with great force. And this time, we were stunned and stopped in our tracks. What is this sight! Not only I but many dragonkin widened their eyes in disbelief at the impossible scene unfolding before them, standing frozen. Wyverns clad in an ominous, visible black Dragon Energy. On the back of each of them, a person clad in black armor was mounted. “No way!” Laira, who had seen a black-armored magic sword user at the western village, gasped. But I was even more shocked. The combination of black armor and Wyverns was the same as when I encountered Orta with the tyrant.
Was the answer the dragonkin had inferred wrong? Was the one I saw in the past not Orta, but one of their comrades? I was confused. But there was no time to stand around in bewilderment. The Wyverns that failed their assault ascended and targeted us from the sky. A rain of countless Dragon Arts fell from the backs of the Wyverns. I used Spatial Jump to fly next to Laira and Ruiseine and erected a barrier with all my might. Immediately, a black rain of arrows filled my vision. The black rain of arrows shot down the trees of the treacherous forest and pierced the ground. The barrier I had erected screamed. Nevertheless, Laira’s additional barrier and Ruiseine’s sorcery somehow held it back. The rain of black arrows subsided. The power was terrifying. The Dragon Arts that we managed to block. Would the other warrior candidates have survived? As the dust settled, I checked my surroundings while keeping an eye on the sky. But before that, another Wyvern dived down. They don’t intend to give us time to recover! I prepared myself, intending to unleash my Dragon Energy and fight back. Just then. A Dragon Lance fired from the depths of the forest struck the Wyvern directly. The Wyvern fell to the ground, letting out an ear-splitting scream.
“Are you alright?”
“Buy us time. Run now.”
They were the dragonkin warriors acting as bodyguards. The fleeing warrior candidates were protected by skilled warriors. However, with that power, there were no uninjured dragonkin, and some had sustained serious injuries. But Zan was not among them. Zan, who was still hiding, took advantage of an opening and took down a Wyvern. The Wyvern, struck by Zan’s Dragon Lance, screamed and crashed to the ground, then stopped moving. The other Wyverns were driven back into the sky by Zan’s pursuit.
“I’ll handle the sky. You take care of that guy.” Zan appeared next to me and indicated with his chin. From behind the fallen Wyvern, a man in black armor slowly emerged. Fully black armor. In his left hand, a black shield, and in his right, a magic sword exuding a malevolent aura. He was identical to the magic sword user I faced at the western spring of Dragon Peak.
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