“Ah, ahhhh!?”
Some of the evacuees began screaming like they went crazy.
Triggered by that, chaos spread to everyone like wildfire. The group which was barely keeping itself in order was now something worse than a disorderly crowd.
“Dammit, outta the way!”
“S-stop! My child!”
“We have to spread out. If we keep clustered like this, that beam would burn us all!”
<<Everyone, keep calm! Keep a level head! Keep a—>>
And then, my Magic Eye activated.
“!!!”
A Wyvern was about to swoop on the cop holding the megaphone. I quickly moved to flank it and aimed for its head. My cut was shallow, but it was enough take it out of its intended trajectory. Its large, scaled body got thrown into a clothing store, smashing the shop window in the process.
It stood back up, stepped on the shattered glass, glared at me, and let out a ferocious roar. At the middle of it though, it got stabbed by spears of water and ice.
“Gyaa!?”
As soon as both of its forelegs froze, I rushed toward it and stabbed its heart through its reverse scale.
After thoroughly twisting my blade and tearing the monster’s flesh and veins, I pulled out my sword and fell back. As I kept a careful watch of the blood-vomitting dragon in my peripheral vision, I walked toward the cop who had fallen over and looked to be dumbfounded. I reached for his hand and helped him get up.
“Are you alright?”
“Y-yeah, I am…”
“Then, please keep guiding the people.”
“A-alright. Are you going to…”
“…I don’t know,”
Resting my sword on my shoulder, I looked in the direction of the Fire Drakes.
Acting independently of each other, the Fire Drakes had already began their rampage throughout the city. It was a scene straight out of kaijuu movies. It was honestly hard to believe, despite it happening right in front of me.
Just earlier, I had locked eyes with one of those Fire Drakes. Could it have not noticed me and was simply looking at my general direction? If only that was the case, but no. Those eyes I saw were the same as the Minotaur’s. It was clear. It was intense. There was so much killing intent in them that went way beyond making me feel lightheaded.
There was no doubt in my mind that that thing was coming to kill me.
…man, I sure hope I’m wrong though. If I emptied my wallet now in a shrine’s offeratory box and pray, will that be enough to get me out of this? No way? Shit. I really don’t want this. I don’t wanna fight that thing. I don’t wanna die, man.
“Haaaaa….”
“H-hey, are you ok?”
I wasn’t. Like at all. I was so shaken that despite being in this emergency where every second counted, I still stopped moving and instead let out that huge sigh.
Of course, I fully knew that standing still would surely get me killed. But thinking about it another way, thanks to that blunder, I no longer had the spare capacity to think about unnecessary things.
“I’m going to distance myself a little bit away and fight there. Whatever happens there, it’ll surely be flashy, so please don’t let anyone near there.”
“H-huh?”
“Again, please take care of the ones evacuating. Alright, I’ll be taking my leave now.”
“Wait, wait a second! Are you intending to be a decoy for us?”
“Nah. Well. I don’t really know. But either way, I’m doing this.”
“Hey, wait!”
I gave the police officer a slight bow and then ran off.
I was then reminded of that shaved-head guy, so I looked back once and saw him running along with some people in a direction different from mine…in fact, they seemed to be going in a straight line toward the outside of the black dome.
Moving like that was a sure way of having Wyverns swarm them. But then again, maybe they were trying to be decoys. Or maybe they were just that confident that they could break through even against a swarm?
At any rate, by the look of things, not all Awakened Ones have abandoned the evacuees. Even if the evacuees were to be attacked by the Wyverns, they should be able to intercept…I was chosing to believe in them because, unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to worry about them any further.
“Master”
Layla and Yukine followed after me and also separated from the group. The 3 of us were currently lying low in a nearby place with cover. Hiding wasn’t very effective against the monsters here, but the building at least offered us protection against the falling rain.
“Why don’t we fight the Fire Drake with the other Awakened Ones out there? Alternatively, we can go back to using the evacuating citizens as decoys. Either should improve our chances of survival compared to acting by ourselves.”
“I think you’re overestimating me, Lalya.”
I temporarily removed my helmet and turned to face her so that she could see the expression on my face.
“Do you really think I can make a decision like that?”
Have a good look at my mob-face covered by sweat and tears!
“There’s just no way, you know? If I fought out there, a lot of will people die. That’ll definitely give my mental state a serious blow. Like, I’ll seriously have suicidal thoughts, you know. So, no way, just no way.”
“I didn’t realize it was that bad”
Yukine looked surprised, but what did they think of me? That I had the mental fortitude of a warrior? If so, then they were seeing things. Probably best to get them to see an ophthalmologist. I mean, seeing people die in front of me got me shaking badly. I was just a Japanese high schooler, after all. This was only the second time I got caught up in a dungeon overflow incident and that wasn’t nearly enough to get me used to seeing people die.
I was neither an unfeeling weapon nor a champion of justice. I couldn’t choose one over the other.
“And, I mean, seeing people die will dull my movement, surely. If I tried to help others in that half-assed way, I’ll just fail and end up fully protecting them, which will result in me being in a more dire situation. You think I can calmly make good judgment calls in that kind of situation? No, the only thing I can guarantee is that I’ll panic!”
I realized I was basically just ranting to her, but I couldn’t stop my mouth from moving.
And while I did for a moment agree that fighting with the Awakened Ones who were still protecting the evacuees would increases my odds of survival, that was“logic only from my perspective” and totally didn’t take into account the other Awakened Ones’ thoughts on the matter.
“And, you know, I don’t think those Awakened Ones can cooperate well enough when the Fire Drake comes. We can’t expect any working leadership. Especially so if I’m right in thinking that they and the evacuees are locals of the area.”
As mentioned, even now, there were still some Awakened Ones fighting to protect those evacuating. My guess for why was that they knew each other. Whether they were simply neighbors, or friends, or family, my point was that they shared a bond where the Awakened Ones couldn’t just abandon the evacuees.
I wasn’t saying that was the case for each one of them. For all I knew, there were still some who were wielding their weapons to protect the people purely out of the goodness of their hearts.
“When the Fire Drake charges into the scene, I’m sure those Awakened Ones will prioritize protecting those they want. With their objectives not in cohesion, I doubt they can cooperate with each other.”
“Indeed…”
“…also, sorry. I know I’m being hardheaded here, but well, I can’t change my course of action after deciding on it. I’ll just get confused more.”
I tightened my grip on my sword and looked at our surroundings. No sign of the enemy yet. Pretty much what I could see were the Wyverns flying in the distance.
“At most, I can change my course of action once, but after that, no. I’m not flexible enough for that. So, to save as many as we can to the best of power while escaping, is still what we’re going to do.”
“…Understood. I shall act as you command.”
Perhaps to demonstrate her compliance, Layla smiled and bowed.
“Dear. I have no problem with our course of action either way, but take a look. Aren’t the Wyverns moving oddly? There’s so few of them now too.”
“Ahh…so it’s really like that then.”
I had a feeling that was indeed the case.
Even though there was major panic and chaos when the Fire Drakes showed up, there was actually less Wyverns that approached us. In fact, I only fought and killed that one Wyvern since the Fire Drake’s arrival.
When I glanced in the direction of where they were earlier, I saw them gathering there again. In other words…
“They’re not going to steal the prey their boss is after. But can those monsters really reason like that?”
It would seem like I really wasn’t just imagining it when I thought that Fire Drake was aiming for me.
“…I don’t know when that monster is going to get here, but turning our backs to something with that range and power in an attempt to escape is nothing more than an act of suicide.”
As I looked at the distant sky that was ablaze, I told myself those words, more to convince myself that this was the way to go than anything else.
“Let’s come up with a plan to crush that shitty dragon.”
“Yes!”
“Certainly!”
After saying that, I turned to look at Layla.
“So, with that in mind, can I ask you for some good vibes?”
“Huh?”
“Well, I’m so tense and scared that I feel like I’m going to throw up, so if you don’t mind, please lend me your wisdom…”
I put my helmet on again, closed my mouth tight, did my best to keep myself from throwing up. If I threw up now, I would only be opening myself to openings in the fight.
I turned my back to Layla who had a troubled smile on her face, and scanned our surroundings once more.
Man, I sure hope the JSDF or something from outside comes soon though.
“—OOOOOOOO!!”
A booming roar shook everything in my field of vision. It was a resounding proof that the dragon wasn’t so far away anymore.
* * *
In the end, we only had less than 5 minutes of prep time. I wanted to ask for an extension but that miser of a dragon was already here.
As if to show its majesty, the dragon leisurely stomped on the ground as it approached.
The falling rain evaporated before the water could wet its deep-crimson scales. And the concrete under its foot melted and lost form in no time at all. It used its 4 strong limbs to move, not a sign of wavering. It looked as though it was doing nothing more than surveying its domain.
I stood before this flame dragon from legends and—
“Hey, you shitty lizard!”
I stood in front of it and blocked its path.
We were in the middle of a road, not a national highway but it was still plenty wide. And there, the Fire Drake looked smaller than the impression I got when I saw it in the distance.
Is this one weaker than the other Fire Drakes? Nah, surely not. It must have only looked larger earlier because of its extreme heat and overflowing magic power. And heck, even though I say it looks smaller, this guy’s already about 6 and a half meters tall.
But as big as it was, it wasn’t an invincible enemy. Nor was it the embodiment of a calamity. Even in most legends it appeared in, it was a dragon that could be defeated by man.
I assumed a hassou stance—one where the hilt of my zweihander was in front of my right shoulder—and glared at the dragon’s golden eyes. To be completely honest, I wanted to beg for my life right now.
In terms of rank, this dragon and I were rated the same: B+. We were supposed to be an even match, but I was intimated still. The reason for that was simple, really. It was its size. One’s size affected one’s power. So, even though we were of the same rank, the gap in our fighting strength was exarcerbated by the gap in our sizes.
The Minotaur was also of the same rank, but it could be argued that that guy’s real threat was in its ability to alter the labyrinth’s structure. It just wasn’t fair to compare it to the gigantic dragon that was focused solely on its might.
“Come!”
I uttered only one short word but that was almost enough for my heart to explode. It was unclear if the dragon understood human speech, but it did exactly what I expected of a haughty dragon who got disrespected by somebody it considered prey.
“—OOOOOOOO!!”
The dragon’s roar rumbled to the skies, and even acted like a weapon to violently shatter the glass windows of the nearby buildings. There was another loud noise when the glass shards crashed to the ground but it was almost drowned out by the dragon’s still-ongoing roar. With its fangs showing out of its large mouth, the fire dragon glared at me.
For a moment, my breathing seriously stopped. There was so much killing intent directed at me. With golden eyes that glowed as though they were burning trained on me, I tightened my grip on my sword.
And with a sound from under its feet serving as the opening bell of our match, we began.
TL note: I honestly don’t know what “good vibes” Kyotaro is asking Layla, so I translated it rather literally. My guess is that it’s some sexy time, but the way it’s put is just way too vague for me.
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