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Volume 1 Chapter 36 - Collapse of the Battlefront

RAW

The ancient dragon looked around at the soldiers and adventurers. As he did, everyone couldn't even move as if they were paralyzed. Their instincts as a living being had made them acutely aware of the difference in status, and their consciousness refused to move their body.

“Fumu. It seems that some of you have quite the aptitude, but I don't think he is among you. I'm sorry, but could you guys please move out of the way?” (Ancient Dragon)

As if being manipulated by those words, the adventurers and soldiers moved away from the entrance. However, none of them felt relieved that they would be saved. In fact, some even trembled in fear that their bodies had moved on their own, even though it was not their intention to do so.

In the midst of all this, there were those who, contrary to the ancient dragon's words, did not move from their spot. Eric, Kenneth, and Iseria, these three people.

Even though they were afraid, the three of them turned their gaze towards him and showed their will to fight, and the sight of them made the ancient dragon break down into a grin.

“Fufu, good, good. The mark of a true strong person is to stand up to someone who you know you can't reach. Nn? You girl, I can feel the mana of a strong one from you, but I know not whose.” (Ancient Dragon)

“!!” (Iseria)

Iseria's body trembled when she was suddenly called, and her expression became stained with panic. Iseria didn't know what the ancient dragon's intention was in asking such a thing, but she could easily imagine that the strong one he was talking about must be either Ojii-sama or Nella.

Both are people to whom Iseria owes a great debt. But, despite her desire not to cause trouble for either of them, she was unable to hide her trembling under the pressure of the ancient dragon as he kept staring at her.

“When I look closely, you seem to be a hero egg. Fumu, very well. If that person comes to help you, good. Even if he doesn't, it'll be a good way to kill some time.” (Ancient Dragon)

After saying that, the ancient dragon raised his long neck, brought his face close to her, and opened his big mouth in front of Iseria.

“Ah.” (Iseria)

Iseria's figure disappeared into his mouth, leaving behind that small voice. At that moment, although it was only slightly, Eric and Kenneth's bodies moved to block him, but were stopped once again by the ancient dragon's giant eyes staring at them up close.

The ancient dragon, sensing the anger in the two’s eyes, narrowed his eyes in happiness.

“You brave people who are holding anger at the unreasonable. Tell this to the strong one. Time is not so long.” (Ancient Dragon)

Telling that to the two, the ancient dragon gently floated up and started flapping its wings in the direction of the 2nd floor.

““WAIT!”” (Eric & Kenneth)

The moment he floated up, Eric and the others were able to move as if their paralysis were broken, and they tried to obstruct him somehow, but they were unable to even touch the ancient dragon.

The ancient dragon completely disappeared from view, and Eric and Kenneth fell to their knees. Their expression was ghastly pale, and it was obvious to anyone that they had already exceeded their mental limit.

“I guess going to save her is completely hopeless. We’ve got no choice but to ask that ‘strong one’ guy, but I don't think there is anyone in Lilac who is stronger than us though.” (Kenneth)

Kenneth spoke while catching his breath, and Eric was about to nod in reply when he stopped.

There is no doubt that the people here are Lilac's greatest battle strength. Currently, there are no orichalcum class adventurers in Lilac, and even among the other mithril class adventurers who are away from the city for a short time due to requests and the like, there is no one who is clearly superior to Kenneth.

However, the reason why Eric still stopped was because he thought of the unidentified person who easily shook him off, even when he was one of the most powerful people in Lilac.

“Is it Nella?” (Eric)

“Nella? The one from the rumor?” (Kenneth)

“Yeah, there's no one else that seems fit. But even if he told me to call him...” (Eric)

‘We don’t have the means to do that.’ Eric was about to continue with that, but his words were interrupted by the warning voice raised by one of his comrades behind him.

“Appearance of dragon puppies confirmed. This may be the seventh wave!” (Scout)

At those words, Eric and Kenneth stood up with bitter faces.

“If you want us to call him, I wish you’d let us rest.” (Kenneth)

“This is probably a trivial thing for that dragon. Regroup. You'll die if you don’t. Get back your fighting spirit!” (Eric)

The two exchanged idle complaints, and then Eric started giving instructions to his comrades. Kenneth also called out to his fellow adventurers to check on the situation, but found that several of them would be of little use to him because of the shock of encountering the ancient dragon.

‘This is our limit’, that thought crossed Kenneth's mind. Even last time, they were just barely hanging on, and now a capable magician named Iseria was missing, and the other members were also in shambles.

‘There is no way we will be able to survive the seventh wave like this.’ He calmly made his judgment.

Kenneth looked at Eric. Although the two were not close enough to be good friends, they had a stronger connection than acquaintances. Their relationship was one where they both recognized the other.

Knowing Eric's personality, Kenneth was confident that no matter how hopeless the battle was, as long as there was something to protect called Lilac City behind him, Eric would continue to fight.

‘No matter how foolish I try to tell him it is.’ (Kenneth)

“Eric. My brave and foolish friend. I'll make sure to watch over your moment of death and let people know. I now have a reason to retreat that is to ask for help from the strong one anyway.” (Kenneth)

Kenneth murmured as if praying and took his gaze away from Eric.

Then he called on his party members to gather together. To tell them in advance to fight with the assumption that they will retreat.

.

.

.

Soon after, the seventh wave arrived. The monsters that appeared remained the same, but the battle had changed completely.

Shortly after the start, two people were swallowed by a breath due to a mistake in coordination, and from then on, the situation became hopeless as the number of people who could fight dwindled one by one.

Most of them were not dead, but were sent off due to injuries, but their injuries were still serious enough to prevent them from returning to the front immediately.

The situation worsened at an accelerating pace, to the point where there were not enough soldiers to carry the wounded.

“Right front, Breath!” (Eric)

Eric continued to raise his voice on the battlefield, where even the soldiers responsible for observing and issuing warnings were already gone. Despite his warnings, he heard the screams of a soldier who was unable to avoid a breath of flame and had one hand burned off as he sprawled on the ground, and he clicked his tongue.

It was not against that soldier. It was against this hopeless situation, and against his own worthlessness in being unable to break out of it.

Eric thrust his sword into the brain of a dragon puppy as it was spitting out breath, defeated it, and immediately ran to save his comrades.

There were very few soldiers who could fight properly. The adventurers were still better off, but they were half destroyed. The only one that still functioned as a party was [Homura].

However, the enemy's momentum showed no sign of abating, and Eric sensed that the footsteps of complete collapse were close at hand.

(Maybe you thought you could retreat if I died, but sorry, Kenneth. There are many important people behind me. Please stick with me until the end and slaughter as many dragons as you can.) (Eric)

Eric glanced over at Kenneth, who was fighting with strength to spare even in this situation, and gave a small laugh. However, his thoughts were diverted only for a moment, and Eric quickly immersed himself in the battle.

As the number of people decreased, the number of monsters that one person had to deal with increased.

The heroic sight of Eric, whose whole body was dyed dark red in blood of his enemies he was unable to even avoid as he continued to fight, would have been terrifying to an ordinary person.

Eric was already in a state in which he had no proper consciousness, and his body was being forced to move by his unconsciousness, which had been etched into him through training.

Eric avoided the flame breath of a dragon puppy, which he had already slaughtered an unknown number of, even while the surface of his arm was lightly burned, and then thrust his sword into the dragon puppy, who was unable to move due to its breath. And at the same time a sound was heard.

Snap

The sound of metal breaking, signaling the end.

“ERIC!” (Kenneth)

Staring at the broken sword in his own hand and hearing Kenneth's screams from behind, Eric regained consciousness for the first time in a while.

Eric watched in slow, seemingly drawn-out time as the dragon puppy he couldn't kill tried to turn its breath toward him.

(I'm sorry, Julia. I don't think I can keep my promise to return home. And sorry, Aniki. I couldn't repay you until the end.) (Eric)

Eric looked at his own broken sword and smiled. It was strange, and somehow funny, that he felt calm, even though he had nothing but regret.

And when the heat from the flame breath finally began to burn Eric's skin, it happened. A gust of wind blew across the battlefield. It was...

“What the hell are you doing to my precious little brother, you damn dragon?” (???)

Due to the sudden appearance of Nella, a clown man who crushed the dragon puppy to the ground with his stick while saying such a thing, right in front of Eric's eyes.

────

(T/N: the ancient dragon spoke in archaic grammar or something like that, but I don’t know how to sound like that, so I used standard English. Another reason is because archaic grammar is hard to understand though.

Also, I just noticed, ‘Nera’ should be ‘Nella’. I think it’s supposed to be ‘Allen’ spelled backwards, well, I guess I can change ‘Allen’ to ‘Aren’ instead, but I’ll stick with ‘Allen’. Sigh, I’m so stupid to not notice that.)

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