Ch.56Can We Actually Win This?!

“Appear.”

With Lee Seokgyu’s brief command, “she” slowly began to emerge from the widely spread shadow. Stay put.

A being that would have been called an apex predator if it existed in the animal ecosystem.

Despite being a monster, it was considered sacred, and there were even some countries in the past that feared and worshipped them.

The scales they possessed from birth deflected any human weapon of the past, and they were beings that ruled the skies of Earth before humans could conquer the heavens.

Humans unanimously called them:

“Dragon…?!”

“Yes, I am the next leader of the great Dragon clan. Lartania Amadeus Broton Hamania de Lidras Condre Kersy.”

“That name is so long…!”

The humanoid monster who proudly appeared with a ta-da! in front of Lee Seokgyu.

Except for the horns sprouting from her head, the lizard-like tail, and the two wings on her back, she was completely human—capable of conversing with people.

But because she was a noble dragon:

“Humans! Bow before me! Then I might spare your lives.”

As a former ruler of the skies, she issued commands to the lowly creatures born on land.

“Hiiieek?! P-please spare me…”

Seeing Dorothy from the Villain’s Troupe immediately kowtowing and begging for her life, she seemed satisfied and laughed even more heartily.

“Kuhahaha! Very well! I shall release you!”

“Th-thank you! Thank you!!”

“…Leader. Should I hit Dorothy?”

“No, just leave her be. Dorothy is useless except for her information extraction ability anyway.”

“Ah, yes…”

The Villain’s Troupe could only sigh because of Dorothy.

Meanwhile, there were similar sighs coming from the front as well.

Bonk!

“Ack?!”

“Hey, you. How can you decide to release them on your own? They all need to be detained.”

“R-really?! Then should I just kill them all?”

“…Not kill, detain. De. Tain.”

Looking at this innocent dragon, Lee Seokgyu couldn’t help but worry once again.

Lartania Amadeus Broton Hamania de Lidras Condre Kersy.

Shortened to Kersy, she was a truly powerful monster rated as A+ level danger even by American standards.

To begin with, the “dragon” species itself was a class where all members could transform into humanoid monsters and had such strong bloodlines that their base danger level started at A.

When Lee Seokgyu first learned that he could command her, he truly felt like he could fly to the heavens.

After all, commanding a dragon!

“Dragon Tamer” was a title that only a handful of legendary Beast Hunters in history had ever earned.

The thought that he had become one filled Lee Seokgyu with pride.

Yes, at first, he truly believed that only a bright future awaited him…

“You ate a year’s worth of combat rations from Army Headquarters?!”

“Don’t be so petty~. You were going to throw them away eventually anyway.”

“Why are you chewing on shells?!”

“Dragons find gunpowder delicious!”

“…What is it today?”

“M-master! Master! I’m in heat! In heat! Let’s do it~ Okay?”

“Sigh……”

Was his dragon just problematic in many ways?

After numerous incidents, Lee Seokgyu came to summon Kersy only when absolutely necessary.

And even when summoned, he had to give her strict instructions, leading to the current situation.

“Listen carefully, Kersy. Capture them alive! Understand? Cap. Ture. A. Live! You absolutely must not kill them. I’ll handle the woman in front, so you take care of the three people in the back. You can do that much, right?”

“Uhahahahaha! Just three people? I could handle them all!”

How nice would it be if she just followed orders.

Kersy flipped her green hair and grinned with her pointed teeth.

“Anyway, leave it to me!”

Though she was confident, Lee Seokgyu felt increasingly uneasy.

Recalling how she had mistaken American soldiers for enemies during the last ROK-US joint exercise and captured them, he could only wear an expression of oncoming PTSD.

“…Please, I’m begging you. Listen to me this time. If you do, I’ll buy you as much delicious Korean beef as you want later.”

“K-Korean beef?! Really?! Then I’ll work even harder!”

“……Right.”

With battle preparations complete for the two of them.

Their eyes sharpened as they leaped toward the ground and sky respectively. Seeing this, all four members of the Villain’s Troupe swallowed hard almost simultaneously.

Gulp gulp gulp gulp!

“……”

“……”

“Dorothy…”

“I-I’m scared! Are we going to die?!”

Dorothy in particular was swallowing saliva as naturally as breathing, almost to the point of drowning in it.

However, even though she was a “pathetic loser,” she was still part of the Villain’s Troupe!

“Dorothy!”

“Y-yes! Leader!”

Katarina smiled at the terrified Dorothy.

“Do you think we’re going to lose?”

“…!”

“Speak, Dorothy! Do you think your comrades will lose?!”

Hearing the leader’s words meant to boost morale.

“Honestly, we have no chance right now!!”

…Dorothy had zero tact.

She completely deflated everyone’s morale with sincere, depressing words straight from her heart.

“I-it’s a dragon! And that National Authority-Level guy is way stronger than we thought! W-we can’t win! We’re going to lose!”

“…Should I just knock her out, Leader?”

“……No, Paul. It’s Dorothy after all. Let’s try to understand.”

“Sigh…”

Dorothy continued to wail and cry for help.

Paul, Katarina, and Riverine could only sigh deeply watching her.

And then it happened.

Whoosh!

Clang!

Katarina blocked Lee Seokgyu’s fierce hand strike aimed at her neck with her suicide dagger.

Paul also faced the dragon that rapidly descended at almost the same timing as her master.

He managed to draw the black sword from his waist and meet Kersy’s attack with perfect timing.

However, he didn’t cut her—he merely blocked.

“Kuhahaha! A dragon’s scales are mighty!”

Despite being forged from good steel.

The black blade was caught in the forest-green dragon’s palm, on the verge of breaking despite the surprise attack.

But at that moment.

“Paul! Hold her there!”

Riverine shouted not to give up.

Simultaneously, she began creating magical threads on her fingers and manipulating them.

Bam!

“Urgh?!”

Something rushed out of the abandoned factory at frightening speed and kicked Kersy’s side.

“Kersy!”

“I-I’m fine! …No, honestly, it hurts! My scales! My scales are broken!”

Spitting blood, Kersy turned to see who had dared to injure a dragon.

And seeing its identity, she trembled for a moment.

“…God?”

“Riverine! Can you control it?!”

“Huff… I can do it for about 3 minutes!”

Answering the leader’s question, Riverine began moving her fingers like typing on a keyboard.

Following her control, the lower half of an angel’s corpse ran forward again and kicked Kersy.

“Does it hurt?! It hurts! Ugh… it hurts!”

Dragons are generally rigid.

They’re also known for being hard and tough.

That’s why dragon combat methods typically involved simple, brute force attacks using overwhelming physical abilities rather than techniques.

But even that changed when facing a National Disaster-Level being.

“I-I’ll escape to the sky…!”

Feeling threatened by the angel’s lower half that was crushing her scales like Couque D’asse cookie crumbs, Kersy tried to ascend to the sky.

However, the moment she jumped slightly.

“Hup!”

Paul was already above her head, having bent his knees in preparation to jump at precisely this moment.

Clang!

“Eek?! You guys are really! So unfair!”

Though it didn’t hurt, Kersy was slashed from behind and fell back to the ground.

And after that, well.

Thud thud thud thud.

“Aaaack?! It hurts! Ugh! It hurts!”

“Riverine! Keep stomping!”

“Yes!”

“R-Riverine, I’ll help you!”

The angel’s lower half began kicking Kersy continuously to prevent her from getting up, and Dorothy(?), who had somehow joined in, also started stomping on her.

It looked like a scene of school violence.

“D-don’t get up! Don’t get up! Don’t get up!”

“B-blue human! Are you betraying me?! Y-you liar! You just said you’d stay still!”

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry-!!”

And so Kersy was losing despite seeming like she should win.

Riverine was drenched in sweat from controlling a National Disaster-Level being for over 2 minutes, while Dorothy couldn’t stop kicking out of fear for her life.

Finally, seeing Paul scratching his head not knowing where to fit in, Katarina thought the situation had become a complete mess.

And Lee Seokgyu felt the same way.

“How long… do we have to keep this up?”

“Until I capture all of you.”

“Mister, can’t we just back off at this point?”

“If you surrender quietly, we could do that.”

Lee Seokgyu already had various minor wounds all over his body from Katarina’s dazzling dagger techniques, though none were fatal.

However, the next moment, he grabbed the dagger blade aimed at his abdomen and shattered it with sheer grip strength, then urged surrender.

“Surrender.”

“Tch! One dagger isn’t enough. In that case, I’ll try again next time…!”

Having lost one of her weapons, Katarina immediately tried to commit suicide, but.

Boom!

At that very moment.

“?!”

“W-what is that?! What is it what is it what is it?!”

“Something fell from the sky…”

Something punched through the clouds and fell in front of them as they were fighting.

Like a meteor.

The figure that appeared causing powerful tremors that shook the entire flattened mountain.

Neither on Lee Seokgyu’s side nor the Villain’s Troupe’s—a third force, whose identity was:

“Give me my mom’s body back.”

“…!”

“I need to bring it back so my human mom will like me again!”

The baby monster who, without permission, entered “combat mode” to soothe Lee Jin-ah’s anger and flew here from the Hunter Association branch by releasing energy.

It was Eve, who was very, very angry.