The Caretaker of Tenants From Another World - Chapter 116 (Patreon)

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Chapter 116

The entire dormitory raced out to see what was going on, but they went bug-eyed at the sight of the enormous dragon clawing at the barrier.

"It's not safe out here! Everyone get back inside!" I shouted.

Ange quickly corralled the tenants back inside. As she did, Thane tracked her with his piercing glare until she disappeared into the dorm.

"H-Holy shit… it's a real dragon…" Ines muttered.

"Get inside already!" Ange came back out to drag Ines inside.

Cresta stayed behind, hand over her eyes as she peered up at the dragon.

"Damn. That's a lava drake. They have enough firepower to burn an entire countryside!" she said.

Coming from the catssassin, that was worrying.

"Thane knows… it takes a lot out of me to maintain a barrier this large… I'm not sure how long I can hold it for," Mercutia warned.

The spinning blades of helicopters grew louder from a distance. Multiple armored vehicles sped across the fields, and soldiers poured out of it to fire magical weaponry at Thane. A volley of magic bullets rained down on him, but they bounced off his scales like dust against a windshield.

Thane craned his head over to them and breathed a jet of magma. Netherfolk mages at each vehicle raised a barrier of their own to block the lava-like spittle, which slid to the ground and set fire to the area around them. They then casted a spell that conjured water out of nowhere to put the fires out.

The ensuing steam, however, created a thick fog that obscured their vision. Thane used the cover to leap off the dorm's barrier and into the line of soldiers and armored vehicles. One crashed into the barrier just next to us and another flew over the dorm, liking landing in the parking lot.

"Even the task force isn't enough? Where the hell is the rest of the cavalry?" I quietly asked the professor.

As I pulled out my phone, Cresta grabbed my wrist.

"Let me and Pesha fight! At this rate, more people are going to get hurt!" Cresta exclaimed.

"No way in hell am I letting you two fight that! You have to worry for your own safety—"

Three task force operatives smashed into the barrier. Among them, a netherfolk, hastily jumped to his feet to cast a shield over themselves as they were engulfed in flames. Irapesha ran to the edge of our barrier where our guards were on the verge of being cooked alive.

"Fine! Prioritize subduing and getting Thane away from the dorm!" I shouted, then nodded to Mercutia to drop her barrier.

As soon as it came down, Thane must have noticed. The breath of fire stopped, and he tried to take into the air. Powerful beating winds blew away the dense steam, and now nothing stood between the dorm and a giant black dragon.

Nothing except a hyper assassin and yoked up dragonewt.

As Thane took flight, Cresta rushed forth to slice into the wings' webbings. The dragon came crashing down.

"Now's your chance!" I told the harpies, who flew across the field to carry their fallen and injured companions away.

Ticked off from losing his ability to fly, Thane unleashed a breath of magma at the dorm. However, his was met with a geyser of flames from Irapesha.

"It's time to muzzle this mouth of yours!" Cresta uppercutted the dragon from below, snapping shut his jaws.

Thane staggered back, dazed from the cheap shot.

"Stop this foolishness, Thane. If there is any part of the soldier left in you, then this is a direct order from your former Commander and High-King Tarcosa: stand down," Irapesha ordered, causing even Cresta and Mercutia to straighten up.

"Do you have any idea how many of us were overjoyed to hear that you were alive and well? We all looked up to you. The Bloodtalon whose claws were soaked in the bright crimson blood of the countless demons she slayed. What happened to you, Commander Irapesha? Why do you protect it?" Thane asked.

"I am not that person any longer," Irapesha began, "but a firefighter for the Vandice City Fire Department. The one whose life you're trying to take is my friend, and her name is Angeline Varcaz. This is your last warning— stand down, or I'll be forced to discipline you."

"Then you are no commander I take orders from." He growled, stepping forward to confront her but becoming confused when he didn't budge an inch.

She sighed.

"You heard him, Cresta. It's time to put an errant soldier in his place."

"Ines taught me a new slang a while back! I think it goes something like— yeet!" Cresta, who had both arms wrapped around Thane's tail, dug her heels into the dirt and flung a whole dragon over the hills.

I couldn't believe what I saw and stood there. Utterly dumbfounded.

"Mercutia, let's go." Irapesha gestured over as she and Cresta marched in the direction of where Thane was thrown.

Just then, my phone rang. It was the professor.

"Professor?" I answered the call. "Where the hell's our help? Irapesha, Cresta, and Mercutia are out here risking their necks, and people on your side are really hurt!"

"I know that, but I just received the full dossier on Thane Boldyn from Tarcosa. Thane's transformations grant him all the traits of what he becomes. I'm putting together a squad of magisters now, so hold on over there!"

The call ended.

"You can't be serious…" I stared blankly at my phone.

The other three were nowhere near me anymore. Fires raged like an inferno in their direction and smoke was filling the skies.

"Baaa!" Rakka bit and tugged on my pants.

"Rakka? It's not safe out here. You have to go inside," I urged.

"Meeh, meeh!" The sheep flew to the fighting against my protest.

"Rakka!" Tamara rushed out no farther than the porch until Ange caught her. "Rakka! Is Rakka out there?"

I clicked my tongue and chased after them. The instant I crested over the hill, a burst of hot air knocked me off my feet. This entire stretch of the hill had been set ablaze. Trees were burning like a torch, no grass was left standing, and the skies had taken on a shade of hazy gray and orange with all the ash in the air.

Cresta , Irapesha, and Mercutia were a little singed, but otherwise okay. Thane, on the other hand, had been roughed up. He did more damage to the surrounding area than to the three. Rakka vainly flew from fire to fire in an attempt to put it all out.

"Why?" Thane asked. "Why do you protect her? No one was there to protect my wife and son when the demons attacked our village!"

"Thane, don't!" Mercutia gasped.

The ridges between Thane's scales glowed brightly like the color of flowing lava. He unleashed a torrent of sludge that combusted as it left his jaws. Cresta threw herself on top of me, and both of us went rolling behind a tree stump. A shield draped over us as the fires licked at my heels.

"Akira, what are you doing here?!" Cresta cried.

"I was looking for Rakka!" I shouted over the roaring flames.

When it was over, all who remained standing in the sea of fire was Thane. Irapesha, however, was crouched over, protecting both Mercutia and Rakka. They were both badly burned. Although her clothes had all but burned off, the dragonewt didn't so much as waver and stood to face the much larger dragon.

"I'm sorry I cannot empathize with you, Thane. To lose your family is a terrible thing. But I have tasted the flames of your resolve and found it flawed. Your warpath has harmed innocents. I will not allow that to stand, and…!" Irapesha boomed, charging to meet Thane head on.

The dragon swiped at Irapesha with a massive talon, but she stomped down on it with her own foot, then grabbed a horn on his head to twist him into the ground.

"I don't tolerate insubordination." Irapesha growled back.

"Yeesh… I felt that in my soul." Cresta shuddered.

"They took your arm, your wing… our home!" Thane bared his teeth.

"Being crippled doesn't define me, Thane. And this is my home now," she said.

The dragon's form began to shift, and Irapesha lost hold of the horn. A giant fist knocked Irapesha back as he became something like a four-armed wolverine beast, then made a run for the dorm. When Cresta lunged to intercept, he swatted her away like a fly.

"Shit, not the dorm!" I leapt from my hiding place, too, and put myself in front of the charging creature.

A block of ice suddenly entombed Thane's hind legs, followed by a loud pop from afar. The two pairs of arms were frozen next, and again, another pop from afar. An elven mage, clinging to the back of a flying harpy, landed next to me and smiled. He fearlessly walked up to the raging beast, struggling to break free, and raised both hands just inches away from the fangs.

In the next moment, a tether of bluish mists formed, flowing away from Thane and into the elf. Whatever parasitic spell it was began to sap away both his energy and fury. Soon, the shapeshifter lost the wolverine form and was reduced to a lupine man, much like a werewolf with a human face.

The harpy pressed a button on her vest and said, "Target secured. Requesting medical staff and a containment unit."

I walked up to Thane, who could no longer struggle. Well, his body didn't struggle. The furious demeanor showed otherwise.

"Harboring a demon will only bring you ruin," Thane snarled at me.

"Look around you, Thane." I waved an arm across the fiery destruction that looked like a wildfire had torn through. "Did a demon do this? Or did you?"

As the harpy and elven mage lifted Thane to his feet, he took stock of the hellscape that was once a lush and verdant green. Maybe because he couldn't process that it was his own doing, he hung his head.

More special military personnel arrived on the scene to take charge of the situation. The Vandice Fire Department, with the help of netherfolks, pulled out all four of their firetrucks to stem the fire from spreading.

They were in the process of escorting Thane into an anti-magic truck when Mercutia caught up to ask for a moment.

"It was Captain Clarissa, wasn't it?" Mercutia asked.

Me, Cresta, and Irapesha immediately snapped to her.

"Clarissa? You're telling me she has something to do with this?" I asked.

Thane nodded. "Two months ago, Captain Clarissa reached out to me. She said our battle against demons doesn't end until every last one is rooted out."

The guards shoved him into the back of the armored car.

"I'm beginning to wonder, Thane… If maybe she was wrong," Mercutia said.

"She was never wrong. Some just didn't want to change. At the very least… I hope you find peace here, because the rest of us never could," Thane said before they shut the door and drove away.

"What was that about a message?" Irapesha asked.

Mercutia frowned.

"May I speak with my caretaker first?"