With the boost from his Rune Armor, the blond warrior's attributes soared, but he still could not keep up with Garos. When he saw the dragon pounce toward the white-robed priestess, his eyes widened.
She was the woman the blond warrior loved.
Though she had rejected his confession outright, his feelings for her had not faded.
"Cowardly Dragonkin! Are you afraid of my blade?"
"I'll skin you, strip your bones, and mount you as a specimen in a display room!"
Thinking fast, the blond warrior shouted at the Hatchling Dragon.
Dragonkin, especially Evil Dragons, were notoriously arrogant, hot-tempered, and easy to provoke. Insults and mockery were the best way to draw their ire.
But Garos acted as if he had not heard a word.
With a gale trailing behind him, he reached the white-robed priestess in an instant.
Priests came in many varieties. Some wore armor and wielded flails or warhammers, towering over others and fighting even more fiercely than warriors. Others, like the woman before him, were poor at close combat and relied on supportive abilities to strengthen or heal their companions.
Faced with Garos's charge, the white-robed priestess stumbled backward and tripped over a stone.
Punishment!
She spread her hand toward Garos, raised it, then brought it down, casting the only offensive skill she knew.
Boom! Holy white light struck Garos's back like lightning, cracking his hard dragon scales. It seeped through the fractures and brought a searing pain.
The burning sensation did not come from heat.
Garos was practically immune to ordinary fire damage. The pain came from Punishment's holy nature, which dealt extra damage to "evil" beings like him.
That hurts! Did the skill classify me as evil?
Even skills are prejudiced these days? I'm not an Evil Dragon!
Anger flared in Garos's heart. His guillotine-like wing swept past.
Under the moonlight, a head flew into the air, its face frozen in shock and terror.
"Ah! Hedi!"
The blond warrior roared, "Damn you, Evil Dragon! I'll kill you!"
Greatsword in hand, he charged at Garos.
Now only one dragon and two humans remained on the battlefield.
There was Garos, who had dominated the fight with the Power of One Dragon; the blond warrior, so furious his hair nearly stood on end; and the Necromancer, who stood in the shadow of an Iron Fir.
As for the female Rogue, she had been the quickest to react. She had fled the moment she sensed danger, and Samantha, unwilling to let the thief who had attacked her escape, had gone after her.
The Necromancer is next.
Ignoring the blond warrior, Garos turned his gaze on the Necromancer.
The Necromancer's heart sank, and tension gripped him. Then he caught sight of the two corpses out of the corner of his eye and steadied himself a little.
With corpses nearby, especially the corpses of extraordinary fighters, a Necromancer could use skills far more powerful than usual.
I'll turn this around.
With that thought, he pointed at the priestess's body on the ground.
Corpse Explosion!
Boom!
The priestess's body exploded without leaving a scrap behind. All its flesh and blood became a swift cloud of poisonous red mist that engulfed Garos.
Life Extraction!
Boom! Farther away, the Spellcaster's corpse also exploded. A stream of blood shot into the blond warrior, and his body immediately swelled. Veins bulged across his face, while the muscles beneath his skin rose like they had been pumped full of tar and oil. His strength increased dramatically.
"Captain, now's your chance!"
"You've been strengthened! Kill that Evil Dragon!"
The Necromancer shouted.
Under the cold moonlight, the blond warrior stared blankly at him, turning his neck with stiff, jerky movements.
Hedi, the white-robed priestess, was the woman he loved.
Havyn, the Spellcaster, had been like a brother to him.
As for the Necromancer before him, he barely knew the man. They had completed a few missions together, and the blond warrior had thought him capable, so he had recruited him for this wilderness expedition.
"Why are you looking at me? Don't just stand there! Hedi and Havyn are with you!"
The Necromancer urged him on, not understanding the problem.
To him, making good use of his companions' corpses was the greatest respect he could show them. The blond warrior did not see it that way.
"You bastard! I'll kill you first!"
His eyes blazing with rage, the blond warrior turned and charged at the Necromancer.
I'm finished!
The Necromancer panicked. The captain must be out of his mind from the Evil Dragon's curse!
At his beckoning, ghostly fire engulfed the priestess's head. Its flesh burned away, leaving a skull that flew up to intercept the "delirious" blond warrior. The sight only drove him further into a frenzy.
"I'll kill you!"
He smashed the skull with a swing of his sword. Ignoring the balls of ghostly fire that struck him, he lunged in front of the Necromancer and slashed.
The Necromancer failed to dodge. The blade split his body diagonally in two.
With another furious roar, the blond warrior swung again and severed the Necromancer's head.
Meanwhile, flames burned along Garos's wings. He had already dispersed the bloody mist, but he did not intervene. He watched the scene with curiosity and surprise.
The sudden infighting was the last thing he had expected. It had lent a strange touch of drama to the fierce battle.
Still, it had saved him some trouble.
"Evil Dragon!"
After killing the Necromancer, the blond warrior turned toward Garos and rushed at him.
"Die!"
He leaped, raised his greatsword, and threw all caution aside as he slashed at Garos's head.
His sword never landed.
Garos spun and swept his tail across. Warrior and sword slammed into a rock wall twenty meters away. Stone chips flew, and the body wedged in the fractured rock twisted into an unnatural shape. It no longer showed any sign of life.
The battle was over. Silence settled all around.
The Red Iron Dragonet paced slowly, surveying the area.
When his gaze reached one spot, Garos suddenly opened his jaws and unleashed Flame Dragon Breath across the Necromancer's remains. Screams rose from the flames, then faded as the corpse turned entirely to ash.
So he really wasn't dead yet.
Garos had not known for certain. He had simply figured that someone whose profession dealt with death might have more ways to survive. Rather than take the risk, he had burned the corpse. He had not expected his guess to be right.
Adventurers really can't be underestimated.
He was cunning enough that if he'd survived and escaped, he would have brought me serious trouble later.
Garos considered the blond warrior. In case the man had been acting and possessed some means of surviving or coming back to life, Garos breathed fire again, charring the corpse in the rock face.
The surging flames lit up the night.
They also brought the battle to a close.
Before long, Samantha flew back with someone in her claws. The captive did not struggle, as though she had resigned herself to her fate.
Thud!
Samantha dropped the female Rogue in front of Garos and said excitedly, "My dear brother, I want this human as my slave! I caught her, so she's my prize!"
Garos shook his head.
"You've got that wrong. If I hadn't shown up, these people would have captured you alive—or skinned and gutted you. You certainly wouldn't have caught this human."
He spoke plainly.
Looking at Garos's bloodstained scales and powerful frame, Samantha saw the sense in his words and did not argue.
"So what do you want to do with her?"
Samantha asked.
"Kill her. There's no reason to keep her."
Garos's voice was calm.
Rogues were alert and cunning, skilled at ambushes and escapes. He did not believe this one would be loyal, could not be sure he could keep watch over her, and had no time to match wits with her. If she escaped, she might well bring more people to hunt him.
Killing her would settle it once and for all.
"W-wait!"
"Noble dragon, I'll trade all my treasure and this map connected to a Legendary Realm alchemical item for my life!"
The Rogue hurriedly stripped off her valuables and equipment, then pulled a map from inside her clothes and held it out to Garos.
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