Side Story Chapter 297

“What are all of you doing? Is everyone from Thran an idiot? Wasn’t letting Swallow deceive you once enough?!”

As she was up in the air, Anna could recognize the shouting.

“Haron is here too?”

“...Haron del Killian.” Arash sighed. Haron del Killian was not only Aaron’s most trusted aide, he was also his younger brother.

“I can’t believe you would let those girls get into your heads with their honeyed words. Enough! I’ll just narrow down your choices for you.” Haron came forward. His sword frosted over as he unleashed the Killian family’s ultimate ice aura. “I won’t let you look down on me any longer, girl!”

A pillar of ice soared dozens of meters into the air, carrying Haron higher and higher until he could leap over Anna and Arash.

“Your Majesty!” Arash tried to shield Anna with her body, but Anna immediately pushed her away.

“...What are you doing? You’re too weak to protect anyone.”

“B-But...”

Anna commanded the Vaikals to take action instead of talking to Arash.

“They’re just monsters!” Haron scoffed. His sword danced in the air, creating an enormous ice tiger.

“Yeah, I like tigers too!” Anna giggled and summoned two high-class wind elemental spirits.

The two wind tigers and one ice tiger bared their fangs at each other and roared. Anna then made the Vaikals mount the wind tigers. As soon as they got on the wind tigers, the Vaikals immediately darted toward Haron.

Haron fiercely swung his sword at them. “Freeze to death!

Haron was confident about his victory. The ice tiger, which was as big as most castles, was the result of his ultimate technique and consumed seventy percent of his mana. This one attack would be enough to turn those monsters and the girls into frozen lumps of meat.

However, one of the Vaikals suddenly leaped from its tiger’s back, moving surprisingly nimbly for a stone golem. As soon as it had escaped from Haron’s range of attack, it locked its fingers together and swung its hands down on Haron’s head.

“What?!” Haron yelled in disbelief.

With a loud

boom

, Haron went plummeting to the ground. Although he had managed to block the attack at the last moment using his sword, he couldn’t nullify the force that had delivered the attack.

It made the Thran knights’ jaws drop to the ground.

“Ha-Haron del Killian is one of the ten strongest people in the Killian family, so how...?”

“It’s s-still a monster, so how in the world is this possible...?”

Anna looked down at them with a pompous smile. “It’s time for you to decide. Will you help me and my strategist? You will be able to dissolve the empire and save the continent. Or do you want to desert the Flame Emperor’s last wish and disappear into history along with those traitors?”

The area fell silent once again. Arash was amazed. Anna bel Grace was a natural-born leader and negotiator. She instinctively knew when she should use the whip even as she waved the carrot in front of their eyes.

‘It might just work.’

With that thought, Arash clenched her fists and shouted, “I swear that I shall work until the last day of my life to dissolve the empire and bring complete independence to Thran!”

* * *

‘He’ll need help...’

Isaac thought as she watched Creshua walk toward the Martial Knights.

Isaac couldn’t really trust Creshua’s ability. Maybe the Martial God could have dealt with the knights, but a dragon was a relic of the past. Despite their reputation of being supreme creatures, they had been culled to extinction by a single human—Bel.

She had seen their corpses several times, so she knew that Creshua was not even five hundred years old—and likely less than a hundred years old. By human standards, he was an infant, and the people he was approaching were the Martial Knights, personally trained by the very man who had almost eradicated the race of dragons.

‘Besides, humans use gods’ authorities now, so dragons’ magic is nothing.’

Despite her concerns, there was nothing Isaac could do about it. Numerous Martial Knights were already watching Creshua. All the other humans were having difficulty dealing with the undead, but the Martial Knights could crush them. The undead’s remains were scattered around them like the shards of a broken vase.

“He’s a dragon.”

“One of those lizards is still alive? I thought Sir Bel obliterated all of them.”

“Judging from his energy, he seems quite young...”

“He is young. In fact, he’s a baby. That’s what my god is telling me, but he’s also telling me that he sensed something unpleasant within him. We’d better be careful...”

“Hehehe. So dragons can love their family, after all. A dragon hatchling, the last of their race... He seems to be the star of the show—in some way. Who’s up?”

Their responses showed how humans perceived dragons now and were also an indication of how confident the Martial Knights were in their skills.

“Captain, let me do it.” One of the Martial Knights came forward. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to try out.”

Isaac frowned.

‘This is bad. Out of all the people, it had to be him...’

Regardless of her thoughts, the Martial Knights were eagerly chattering among themselves.

“Hey, Liper. Is today’s drink on you then?”

“Since we own this country, you guys are just going to barge into another pub and empty their liquor bottles anyway ... Besides, I thought that it was my turn to have fun this time.”

Having successfully fended off his colleague’s attempts to fleece him, the knight turned to the boy, smacking his lips.

“Well, I’m Liper.”

“I’m Creshua.”

“You’re a dragon, right? I happen to have an authority that I want to test out, so help me out.”

“An authority...” Creshua stared at Liper, sensing a dense energy of death around him. “...I wonder what authority it is.”

“Among the Ninth Circle spells you dragons use, there’s a spell that lets you kill your target with your willpower, isn’t there?”

Creshua nodded.

“It’s similar to that spell,” Liper kindly explained. “Humans are puny, so they can’t endure my authority and go mad instantly. But I want to know if it’ll also work on a supreme dragon.”

“That’s rather interesting.” Creshua grinned. “Then I’ll also try out a similar ability of mine.”

“...You’re one arrogant dragon hatchling, aren’t you?” Liper chuckled. He infused his aura into his sword, drawing an ominous darkness onto its tip. Liper smiled slyly. “I’ll let you try your skill if you manage to hold out for more than ten seconds, boy.”

The moment Liper pointed his sword at him, Creshua’s pupils turned vertical, indicating that Dragon Fear was active.

“Dragon Fear is so old.” Liper shook his head in disbelief but then stiffened. Although he was shielding himself with his aura, his hands trembled. “What...?”

“Dragon Fear isn’t normally an ability that can be used on a specific target. It’s like a beast’s roar; it instills fear in creatures around me, rendering them unconscious or forcing them to flee.”

“How...?”

Liper was too preoccupied to listen to Creshua. For some reason, his authority was also not working at all. He should have infiltrated his target’s mind and started breaking it down, but his energy only went around Creshua harmlessly.

“But I’m certain that I’ll be able to maximize its efficiency if I can direct my Dragon Fear onto one target.”

“Ugh...!” Liper groaned through tightly clenched teeth.

Something had gone wrong. The god in him had warned that someone else was also in the dragon, someone so great that they could resist a god’s authority.

“You people smell thickly of the person who murdered my kin,” Creshua said, his brow deeply furrowed.

Liper’s legs gave out, dropping him to his knees covered in sweat. He couldn’t have met a worse opponent than Creshua. It looked like this fight was going to be Cresha’s victory.

The Martial Knights also realized that they couldn’t underestimate Creshua, so they quickly surrounded him; their swords altered the situation dramatically

“...I guess this is expected from humans, since they live in groups,” Creshua muttered.

“This is how humans have been hunting dragons for ages until we had Sir Bel.”

“That is true.”

“Withdraw your ability, dragon hatchling. I’ll deal with you myself,” the knights’ captain declared.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

“Is that so?” Creshua slicked back his hair.

“I think you’ll find it quite favorable for you if you want revenge for your kind. You don’t stand a chance against all of us.”

Creshua smiled crookedly. “Don’t use your human standards for me.”

“...What?”

“Revenge? My kind wasted time without making any progress, which is why they were weak enough to be killed by the humans they looked down on. Those pathetic creatures don’t deserve any honoring from me.”

Most of the Martial Knights gaped blankly, stunned by Creshua’s response.

“You people are becoming a nuisance, so I’ll get rid of you as quickly as possible.”

Creshua narrowed his eyes. He was certainly different from other dragons; he didn’t really look down on humans and knew his limits, which was why he didn’t hesitate.

-You have my permission to use my body, Joshua Sanders.