With a gulp, I unsheathed my sword and the dragons already took me in their sights.
I need to remember this isn't Romania. These aren't the civilized grounds of Europe. Life and death have a simple meaning here… you kill those that try to kill you. Don't think too much. This is exactly like a game! These are mobs! Flesh and blood… mobs. I thought and then gulped again.
There was no way to think that I could kill any of them, but if I held hard on the hilt of the sword, I could literally survive a blow or two. I had higher stats, after all.
“They're coming.” Seryanna warned me.
I raised my sword up and looked at the incoming bandits. The desire to see me dead and begging for mercy could be seen in their eyes and on their smug faces. If I were to show them even a single moment of weakness, like rabid dogs, they would try to end me.
I hope I'm not going to die here… I thought and then saw one lifting his sword up.
He attacked me with the intent to kill.
Although I saw his movement, I reacted faster and blocked the first blow. There was a moment of surprise on his face, but I couldn't rejoice in my success, the others were coming. I pulled the sword up and executed a slash.
Thinking that he was the same as a lifeless an emotionless character in a game, I didn't try to control my strength. The dragon attempted to block the attack, but my sword simply cut through his weapon like it was made out of cardboard. The blade didn't stop there, and I watched as it touched his armor, pressing it down and then cutting into it. As if watching a knife go through clay, so did my sword go through his flesh and bones.
In one fell swoop, the dragon was cut in half. He looked at me as if he didn't understand what just happened and then fell on the ground. Seeing this, the others came to a halt, taking a cautionary step back. I wasn't a weakling anymore, at least not in their eyes.
For me, the emotion that struck me was similar to shock, but at the same time, the adrenaline rushing through my veins told me I couldn't stop there. It warned me that if I did, I would die.
Did those soldiers who fought in those wars back in my world felt the same thing? This rush? This need to press forward, but at the same time, did they also feel this overwhelming fear that confuses you and keeps you from moving? Strength and speed coupled with fear and terror, all washing down upon you, making you realize that the only reason you were still standing was because of your training? But I wasn't trained, so why am I still standing? Why don't I scream in fear? I thought as I saw another one from the corner of my eye.
Raising my sword up, I blocked his attack and then kicked him in the chest like a barbarian. The man tumbled back a few meters, while his other comrade tried to cut my right hand. I saw it and dodged the strike. Only one slash of my sword was all it took to kill this one. The sharp blade moved through the plates of his armor and pierced his soft flesh. Blood spurted out, touching me with a few drops.
I blinked surprised and jumped back. Looking down, I saw my sword painted in red, then I raised my head up and saw the three dead, well… one was unconscious.
“What did I just do?” I asked myself confused. H-How could I take the life another... so easily? I thought.
My heart right now was neither in shock nor in fear, it was empty of reaction, of emotion. Confusion washed over me, but I could still feel the adrenaline and the warning shouting at the back of my head, telling me the others will be trying to kill me.
Looking to my left, I saw another battle. Seryanna was taking care of all the other soldiers. Her sword was fast and showed not even one moment of hesitation. She cut through them without mercy and when the sword was not needed, she used her bare hands to crush the other dragon or simply cast a fire spell, covering them in flames. Both dragons and dragonesses screamed and tried to cut her down, but they were no match for the redhead. It was the same as putting a starving lion in a cage with a bleeding pig and hope the feline wouldn't attack.
Without mercy, without care, without doubt or fear, Seryanna cut them down and ended their pathetic lives. Suddenly, my three kills weren't that much of an accomplishment. Seeing this made me realize that her resolution was quite frightening. After something like this, I would have certainly suffered some heavy mental damage, but she was fine.
Actually, even now I was in the middle of feeling the recoil of my actions, and it confused me, bewildered me, yet... it didn't stop me. These 'things' I just killed were not humans, and I continued to think this way, to tell myself this, to convince myself that my actions held a justified purpose and a reason to repeat them. It was an inner struggle of which I was becoming less and less aware with each passing moment. I was accepting things as they were and saw them as... normal.
“That was the welcoming committee.” Seryanna said with a smirk after she chopped in half the last one.
“So, there are more to come, huh?” I asked in a surprisingly calm tone of voice, yet the hand with which I was holding the sword had an almost unnoticeable tremble to it.
“Yes.” she squinted her eyes and pointed at the mountain. “There's a cave over there. Maybe they are hiding inside?” she asked.
“Possibly. Let's check it out, although, I'm currently being told that Kleo is somewhere under us.” I pointed with my free hand in the direction I sensed her.
“Hm.” Seryanna squinted her eyes and then looked back at the mountain. “They are using the passages of the caves. They are old and intricate, but make for a good hideout” she explained.
“In other words, we need to dig down to get her?” I asked as I looked down at my sword.
The tremble finally stopped, and I took another deep breath to calm down. I was trying to get used to these sensations.
“Or simply go to the cave and climb down.” she smiled back.
I nodded and followed her. My mind and heart were still a bit troubled by the fact that I had just took another living being's life, but not so much as to hinder my ability to fight.
Why do I need feel alright about what I did? Is it because they weren't human? If they were… could I have killed him as easily as I did them? I asked myself and felt my heart waver about such a decision.
For some reason, I couldn't put dragons and humans on the same scale no matter how hard I tried. The latter tipped it in their favor.
Humans and dragons are different... this single yet strange thought frightened me a bit.
It felt... abnormal.
“Watch out! More are coming out!” warned Seryanna, pulling me out of my thoughts.
Looking ahead, I saw a bunch of dragon bandits rushing out in an attempt to stop us. I was seriously starting to question just how smart these guys actually were. After killing their friends with so much ease, they should have stopped and tried to come up with a plan or strategy to fight us off, not rush out like that.
I clenched the hilt of my sword and prepared to defend myself.
This isn't murder… this is self-defense… Yes, self-defense. I thought as I strengthened my resolve.
There were seven of them coming towards me and nine towards Seryanna. All of them wore simple leather armors and wielded steel swords similar to mine, but a bit more rusty. I doubted any of them had enchants on them, but I had to be careful nonetheless.
I wish I will come out unharmed, unscratched, and victorious out of this battle. I hope it will be the same for Seryanna. I thought as I took a glance at the redhead dragoness who dashed towards them.
With a gulp, I prepared for my next battle.
“Kill the Unawakened first!” shouted a bandit.
“Which one?” asked another.
“The man!” came his reply.
Apparently, they rushed out without even properly picking out a target. Maybe they weren't even aware of how fast we killed the other bandits?
“[Fireball]!” shouted one of them and then began to chant something while aiming his hand at me.
I looked at him surprised, but when he finished his chant, a huge ball of fire went straight
at me. I had but a split second to jump out of its way. If I didn't, I would have ended up as a roasted delight. The blast went by me and hit the far-off tree. It burst into flames, and the explosion caused it to fall to the ground.
With a gulp, I understood that magic could be quite frightening and destructive. Well, I took a moment to remember the dragon children playing with a small fireball in the middle of the street, then I would have realized that this part was quite obvious.
The first one raised his sword and attacked me. I jumped back and dodged it. As soon as I landed, I pushed my body forward and initiated a slash. Just like the one from before, he tried to block it, but since his weapon didn't hold any enchants, it went straight through him, giving him a deep cut wound.
The next one was to my left, I rolled to avoid his attack. Picking up a stone from the ground, I tossed it as hard as I could at him. The bandit didn't stand a chance against a projectile aimed at him like a bullet shot out of a powerful gun.
Two were down, five to go, and they didn't appear to be stopping.
While I was preparing to dodge another magic attack, a ripped off arm went flying straight into the caster's head, breaking his neck. Blinking surprised, I looked to my right and saw Seryanna covered in blood. With a furious look in her eyes and a heavy breath, she already finished her bunch. The bodies of the dragons laid all around her.
Seeing this, the remaining four felt fear rushing up their spines and decided they couldn't stand a chance against us. They all ran away as fast as they could towards the forest, scattering like bugs. If they returned to their lair, their leader was most likely going to finish off the job and split open their heads.
“Well, that was interesting…” I said.
“They were a bit stronger…” Seryanna pointed out while looking down at one of the bandits she killed.
For me, her entire battle took place somewhere in the background. I wasn't even aware of when she defeated them and how, but judging by the blood splatters, it was a messy one.
I need to remember to never get on her bad side… I thought.
“So you are the rats that sneaked into my den? How lovely… Two Unawakened brats think they can defeat me?” the one who spoke was a dragoness who flew down from the sky.
She was taller than me by almost one meter. With a pair of silver-scaled wings and a long, spiked tail, she held an impressive aura. The difference in strength was clear from the first glance. She was the one who defeated Brekkar, a level 824 draconian, with ease. Besides being powerful, she also had a bombshell body with big breasts, an hourglass shape, a cute face, and long, silver hair.
Looking up at her, I said in a whisper: “[Identificus Processus Juridicus]”
(Dragon breasts): Size DD. Real.
Seriously? I thought when I saw the text.
Closing it off, I tried again, but this time, I said: “Status of target.”
[Name]: Unknown
[Species]: Superior draconian of the Ice Spark
[Level]: 1294
[Unknown Stats]
“Well… crap…” was the only thing I could say when I saw the details.
“Who are you?” asked Seryanna pointing her sharp sword at her.
“Kataryna Greorg! Bandit leader extraordinaire, at your service!” she smirked and then made a mocking bow in front of us.
Chapter 18: A battle of Luck
Before us was a dragoness of incredible power, someone we couldn't even hope of winning against in a one on one battle. Actually, I doubted I could win even if I were to fight Kleo alone. The one thing I could be sort of grateful for was the fact that this Kataryna fellow had a nice body to look at, but ogling at the enemy's chest probably wasn't considered a priority right now.
With a gulp, I looked over at Seryanna. The dragoness took her stance, squinting her eyes at the enemy and had her sword ready to cut her down. The problem was that she was about five times lower in level than the others. Going by old RPG rules, there was absolutely no way in Hell or Heaven that we could defeat this sort of boss-type character.
What now? I thought.
“If you bow down to me, I promise you will be left alive… maybe.” Kataryna said with a cold look in her eyes.
“I will never bow down to the likes of you! A knight's loyalty is her life!” shouted Seryanna, pointing her sword at her.
Off goes the chance of begging for mercy… As if that ever helped anyone in this sort of situation. I thought while remembering the many movies and TV series with this sort of cliché conversation.
Technically, for me it was cliché, but this wasn't a movie, this was real life and for those two in front of me, those words were as serious as they could be, knowing full well they could even end up dead as a result of them. Basically, the silver-scaled dragoness declared her intention to fight the knight, while my redhead stated her loyalty was unshaken.
I gulped and then thought I wish Seryanna will come out alive from this battle! I want us to win! but then, I looked up at Kataryna and saw her switching her gaze towards me. A smirk appeared on her lips, and I felt a cold chill rushing down my back. I wish her next attack won't touch me or Seryanna! I shouted in my mind.
Just then she dropped on the ground, sending a powerful burst of Magic Energy below her. Immediately, a crack appeared under her feet and then spread out like lightning towards me. I barely reacted in time even with my speed. My body moved only a step forward and then two sharp earth spikes over three meters tall formed around me.
“Alkelios!” shouted Seryanna.
“Hiii!” I froze.
One or two millimeters were all that was needed for me to end up impaled by those deadly spikes. More so, I moved in such a way that I managed to avoid the one coming from under my feet and the one where I would have instinctively jumped to dodge.
“Hm? I missed?” Kataryna blinked surprised.
“I could have died…” I said and tried to move out of the way.
“Then please do.” the dragoness then said and dashed towards me.
Seryanna saw her move and also ran towards me in an attempt to intercept her, but the silver-scaled was faster. She was next to me in the blink of an eye.
I only saw her small smirk and calm, cold eyes before she kicked me so hard it sent me flying. It didn't even matter that I was between those two spikes, she shattered them like they were nothing.
In that moment, I couldn't even make a wish, everything happened so fast that all I saw was her expression, then the sky and ground began to spin very fast. My stomach lurched, and I nearly lost my meal, but then I came crashing into the ground, tumbling a few times before coming to a complete stop in a batch of hay.
“Ugh… It hurts…” I said as I felt the shock and pain spreading through my body.
My eyes were spinning, and I couldn't understand what exactly just happened, but I could hear sounds of clashing swords and thundering strikes somewhere far off in the distance.
I can't stay here… It hurts, but if I stay, I'll die… I will die… I thought as I tried to move from there.
My abdomen hurt, my chest too. Even breathing was hard at first, but then the pain slowly subsided. It was probably only the initial shock of the hit, but my instincts kept pushing me forward. If the me from before coming to this world was hit by that attack, it would have meant instant death.
I cursed a few times as I pulled myself out.
What luck to have a batch of hay here… but how? as I came out, I looked back.
It was the carriage of some poor fellow that broke down. The man was shivering and looked back at me.
“I just bring hay for the Khosinni the bandits have! They made me do it! I swear! Please don't kill me!” he begged.
The man was an Awakened draconian, his tail was coiled around his legs. Looking into his eyes, I could see only the gaze of a scared man. He was frightened by the battle and the sudden movement of the bandits. If they were under attack from the guards or the Lord of the region, then all who were
found in this area would most likely not be seen with good eyes.
“Go…” I groaned and got up on my feet.
“YES!” the man scrambled away as fast as he could, leaving behind his carriage and everything else.
For him, his life was more important.
Looking towards the other side of the carriage, I saw an old Khosinni munching on some hay. I cut his reins and set him free. To be honest, I was just copying an old quest line I remembered. The character in the game said that if I let the horse stay like that, it would end up being killed by wolves or die of dehydration.
Well, in this world, it would be death by sheep… I thought and then looked down at my hands It hurts, but I have to get back in there… or… I looked at the Khosinni munching calmly on his meal.
There was an outcome that suited my wishes. By taking the horse, I could flee from this place and return to Brekkar, then we could form a stronger force and attack them, but… what would happen to Seryanna in the meantime?
Through my mind rushed all sort of thoughts, but among them was one that truly frightened me. Seryanna could end up losing the battle and die. Or worse... she could be captured then raped and tortured by these bandits.
I gulped. I couldn't let something like that happen to her, but if I returned, my life could be forfeited.
Closing my eyes, I clenched a fist and wondered what others in my situation would do. Most of my former friends would run away. Others would condition me, asking if I'm in any sort of stable relationship with the dragoness to say she's ‘worth' saving. If I were to ask my parents, they would probably wonder why I should care when she isn't even human.
That's right… she's not human, but… I looked back.
“CRAP!” I cursed and ran back into the fight.
I wish both me and Seryanna will win this! I wish we will win! I want us to win! I want to win! I don't want either me or her to die! I don't want us to be heavily injured! I started wishing all sort of selfish and unreasonable things, maybe just maybe, one of them would trigger the insane amount of Luck I had and result in a good outcome for both of us.
Dragons Can Be Cute Too Page 18