episode_0114

Monsters and Humans

I was completely dumbfounded. Anyone would be stunned to see colossal dragons surrounding us, glaring with intense hostility….. But why…. Why on earth?!

“Hmm…. Should we split them, Dio V Runner-nim? Oh dear, you’re not flustered by these lizards, are you?”

“Hmm…. We’ll only know once we fight. Haven’t you learned in life that you shouldn’t judge an opponent by their appearance?”

Why aren’t these people showing any signs of tension?! Instead, they’re calmly discussing how to fight! Seeing Aria and Dio V Runner completely fearless, I was even more astonished, and the dragons, hearing their conversation, seemed enraged and started grinding their teeth.

“How dare you…. How dare mere humans…. Not only invade our territory…. but treat us as insignificant creatures?! Such dull humans who don’t even realize their own insignificance… Truly disgusting….”

“Oh, be quiet. And are you perhaps including Zeke-nim in that statement? Have you ever met Zeke-nim? You haven’t even met him, yet you’re slandering others first, what if you lose when you fight? Have you truly lived your life…. no, your dragon life, in vain?”

“Hmm…. Aria does have a point…. I don’t usually judge others carelessly…. But treating others as insignificant creatures like this… seems unlearned.”

‘You crazy humans!!!’

Aria and Dio V Runner, seemingly quite displeased with the dragons’ attitude, spoke as if they were truly pathetic, and I was utterly astonished. No, this time they’re striking back with a counter-attack?! Well…. it’s true…. so I can’t really say anything… But those words are just provoking their pride!!!

“…. How dare… humans judge us!! Roar!! If you had just stayed still, we might have spared you…”

“Don’t speak as if you were going to show mercy, when you had no such intention anyway.”

“You insignificant creature!!!”

“Aaaah!!!”

Suddenly, Aria interrupted the green dragon, challenging it by asking why it spoke of mercy when it had no intention of sparing them anyway. The enraged green dragon lifted its foreleg, intending to strike down where we stood. Seeing this, I screamed, and just as its foreleg descended upon us.

“….!! Roaaar!! Aaaargh!!!”

Suddenly, the green dragon shrieked, quickly retracting the foreleg it had been about to bring down on us. Another dragon, startled, saw that the green dragon’s attacking foreleg wasn’t just singed by fire, but also had a puncture wound, and was bewildered.

‘They wounded a dragon’s hide?!’

“Ughhh…. Wh-What…. Why is my foreleg burned…. Dragon scales don’t burn from fire…”

The green dragon was utterly flustered to see its foreleg burned. I, too, who had witnessed Dio V Runner spew fire from the flamethrower mounted on his arm and Aria stab the dragon’s foreleg with her staff, was greatly astonished.

“Wh-What…. What did you just do?!”

“Me? I just stabbed its foreleg with my staff.”

“I merely unleashed high-temperature flames from my flamethrower. Seeing that it’s effective, we can win.”

I was greatly astonished when Aria and Dio V Runner said they had simply attacked normally. Humans who can subdue dragons?! No… Aria, sure, but… was this person strong enough too?! Then, the only one here who can’t beat a dragon is….

‘Just me, damn it… Ah…. No, that’s not the problem right now!! If this misunderstanding isn’t cleared up quickly…. one of us will get seriously hurt…..’

“Roaaar!! You insolent humans…!! How dare you wound one of our kind’s hand!!”

Confused by the situation, I started to ponder how to resolve this misunderstanding. Just then, a huge blue dragon tried to strike Aria with its hand, and I, surprised, shouted to Aria.

“A-Aria…!! Danger….?”

“….?! Roaaar?!”

The moment I worried about Aria, she leapt towards the hand, swung her staff, and struck the blue dragon’s hand away, leaving me aghast. No… perhaps I should have expected it. Because Aria had already blocked even the World Tree’s fist…!! But the blue dragon, not expecting Aria’s counterattack, felt pain in its palm, clutching its numb hand with the other, groaning in agony.

“Ughhh…. Wh-What kind of human possesses such strength….?!”

“Move….!! No matter if you’re human…. can you endure fire?!”

‘….!! Breath…!!’

The red dragon opened its mouth and began to gather fire within, and I realized it was preparing a breath attack. Breath, a unique ability of dragons…. It’s a technique where they exhale a breath imbued with their respective attributes at an enemy, and its power is…..??

“….?! Wh-What?!”

I, who had read about the power of breath attacks in books, was greatly astonished when the dragon unleashed its breath upon us. But the dragons and I were even more horrified to see Dio V Runner insert a red gem into the flamethrower mounted on his arm again, then blast forth red-hot flames towards the dragon’s breath, blocking it.

‘He blocked a dragon’s breath!?’

“It’s burning fiercely. Well… let’s see whose flames die out first?”

“How laughable, human!! Do you think we only breathe fire?!”

Provoked by Dio V Runner, the blue dragon, whose hand was still throbbing from Aria’s staff, roared at him while gathering cold air in its mouth. At that moment, Aria, who had leapt up the dragon’s scales to its head, punched the blue dragon’s jaw from below. The blue dragon, struck in the jaw, burst forth with cold air from its mouth and began to groan in pain.

“Gagging….!! Roaaar!!!”

‘Th-The dragons are being overwhelmed?!’

I was greatly astonished to see Aria and Dio V Runner not merely fighting on par with the dragons, but outright overwhelming them. There’s no record in this world of humans ever defeating dragons…. Just what are those two people?!

“Dio V Runner-nim, are you holding up?”

“Worry about yourself first, Aria. I’m almost done.”

“Ugh…. Aaaargh!! Aaaargh!!!”

The moment Aria worried about him, Dio V Runner increased the flamethrower’s output, making the flames even stronger. Dio V Runner’s flames began to push back the dragon’s flames, and the red dragon was engulfed by Dio V Runner’s fire. Then, Dio V Runner stopped releasing flames and looked around, speaking.

“Aria, dragging this out won’t help. They’ll just lash out.”

“Let them. They were the ones who attacked first, anyway.”

“No…. That’s not what I mean…. If those guys lash out, Zeke might get caught in it.”

“….!!! That is absolutely unacceptable!!”

When Dio V Runner warned that I might get caught if the dragons lashed out, Aria screamed that she absolutely couldn’t allow it and extended a hand towards me. Then, I found myself encased in a translucent yellow barrier, and after confirming I was inside the barrier, Aria nodded and spoke to Dio V Runner.

“It’s done. I’ve safely placed Zeke-nim inside the barrier.”

“…. You trapped him, didn’t you. Hmm…. Come to think of it, I saw you emitting an immense light in the sky earlier…. Did you have some hidden ability I didn’t know about?”

“Ughh…. I don’t want to use that again….. If I do, this hair, which Zeke-nim personally dyed, will revert to its original color….”

“These insolent creatures!!! How dare mere insignificant humans chat in front of us…!!! This won’t do…… Everyone, prepare your breath attacks…!!”

“Gasp….”

The red dragon, annoyed by Aria and Dio V Runner talking to each other, became greatly enraged and ordered the other dragons to prepare their breath attacks. Hearing that, I imagined what would happen next and was utterly horrified. Th-That dragon is crazy, isn’t it?! Just because its pride was hurt, is it planning to destroy its own nest and the entire area…?!

“Oh dear…. Hey, Aria. It’s not that I don’t trust your abilities, but…. if those guys all fire their breath attacks at once, this entire area, along with the barrier protecting Zeke, could be utterly obliterated.”

“Hmm…. If it were before, I would have told you that it wouldn’t happen due to my confidence…. but Launcher-nim might be right. Ughh…. I really didn’t want to use this again….”

Receiving Dio V Runner’s warning, Aria began to worry about her hair at the thought of having to use the Radiance of the Holy Ring again. Then, Dio V Runner scratched his head and sighed, saying.

“Sigh…. Alright… I understand how much you cherish that hair, having heard your story….. But I think saving Zeke should be the priority for now. Well…. my current technological knowledge can’t keep your hair that color, though….”

“….. Haaah…. I don’t want to put Zeke-nim through trouble…. You…. You lizards!!!”

Perhaps feeling sorry for making me dye her hair again, Aria unleashed her fury on the dragons and began to transform into her Radiance of the Holy Ring form. Then, Dio V Runner inserted a black gem into his flamethrower and aimed it at a dragon about to fire its breath attack at them, while Aria gripped her staff and charged at a green dragon with an extremely enraged expression.

“I…. I’ll never forgive youuuu!!!”

“Ughh?! Ughhh!!”

“Huh?! Roaaar?!”

Aria, having soared into the sky, struck the green dragon’s head with her staff, causing the green dragon’s head to snap sideways and accidentally unleash a poison mist breath at its fellow white dragon. The white dragon, hit by the breath, shook its head around frantically before inadvertently spewing a cold breath at its own kind.

“Aaaargh!! What are you doing!!”

“Choking sound!! W-Wait!! Ughh!!”

‘….!! My… My goodness…’

With a single attack from Aria, several dragons lost their balance and began firing breath attacks at each other. Aria, meanwhile, flew to another dragon and swung her staff, striking its jaw or mouth. As a result, around twenty dragons attacked each other, leading to their mutual destruction, and a dragon that hadn’t been hit by the attacks watched in utter horror.

“Wh-What?! Why are you attacking each other…. Aaaargh!!!”

“Black Orb.”

Just as the black dragon was greatly astonished to see the other dragons destroying each other, Dio V Runner flew into the sky with devices attached to his boots and attacked the black dragon by spewing black flames from his flamethrower. Meanwhile, Aria grabbed another dragon’s tail and swung it like a weapon, knocking away another dragon, and I, watching from the ground, let out a hollow laugh and thought.

‘Ah…. This is hopeless…. How can I stop them….. Is it already too late to resolve this with dialogue….’

And so, I could only let out hollow laughs at the sight of the two humans overwhelming what looked like forty dragons. The two humans were mercilessly subduing the dragons. Punching them…. batting them away with a staff…. burning them with flames….. even using a dragon as a weapon…. It was pure chaos, utter chaos….

“Groaning…. Groaning….”

“Groaning….”

Had about an hour passed like that? There were some dragons that tried to counterattack the two, but…. in the end, all the dragons, pushed back by their overwhelming power, fell. Now, somehow, the dragons…. seem a little pitiful….. Hmm….

“Waaah…. My hair color again…. My hair color…!!”

“…. Is it that precious, Aria…. Hey, Zeke…. I think you need to help her….”

“….. Yes. Yes…..”

In this dreadful situation, Aria was weeping over her hair color returning, and Dio V Runner, seeing her, sighed and called out to me. I, still dazed, began to dye Aria’s hair. I never imagined they’d subdue all forty dragons… At this point, I’m starting to wonder who the real monsters are…. But wait… How is Dio V Runner this strong too…? Hold on…. Could it be…

“Mr. Dio V Runner…. I have a question.”

“Hmm? Ask anything.”

“Perhaps…. the war you experienced…. what was its scale?”

“Ah…. you mean the scale? Well…. for one, the one who started the war tried to turn all living beings in the world into his own kind…. and there was the process of defeating someone who was going to destroy the world.”

….. No wonder. The war this person experienced boasted such an enormous scale…. It’s only natural for someone who survived that war to be this strong….!! But if Aria is just as strong as this person, then….

“Waaah….. Zeke-nim, I’m sorry…. Next time, even if I become the Radiance of the Holy Ring, I’ll definitely try to find a way for my hair color not to revert….”

“Uh…. Uh-huh…..”

Just how strong is Aria, then…? After learning what Dio V Runner had gone through, I couldn’t help but be stunned by Aria’s strength once again. Truly…. the more I think about it, the more endless you seem…. With Aria’s hair dyeing finished, I discarded the gloves I had used for it and spoke.

“There, it’s done.”

“Thank you, Zeke-nim…. And I’m sorry…. Next time, I’ll be careful….”

“You don’t have to be, just save your life first…. So…. what now?”

I looked around and sighed deeply. Fallen trees, a destroyed forest, and…. even dragons lying defeated on top of it all…. Truly…. it’s a sight to behold, a spectacle…. I’ve never seen such a sight in my life. Phew… What now…

“Ugh…. Groaning… Groaning….”

“Hmm? Hey, Zeke. Looks like a red dragon woke up here?”

“…. Haaah… We can talk now, right…? Or is it already too late…”

When the red dragon groaned, Dio V Runner heard it and told us that the red dragon seemed to have regained consciousness. Then, I took Aria’s hand, sighed, and walked towards the fallen red dragon’s head. I don’t know if it will understand words, but…..

“Are you alright, Dragon-nim?”

“You…. You cursed humans…. How dare you beat down a dragon… Do you truly wish to die…”

“Seems like your pride is still deeply entrenched. If you truly don’t want to die, stop being so stubborn. Honestly, it looks so pathetic it’s disgusting.”

“….. Wh-What did you say?!”

As the red dragon continued to be stubborn, Dio V Runner, unable to tolerate it, finally retorted that it looked pathetic, and the red dragon became greatly enraged. He must have hit a nerve… seeing it get so angry… Still, it’s probably best to resolve this with dialogue first….

“Didn’t all this happen because you invaded our proud territory!!!”

“Dragon-nim… Please listen to us. This is a misunderstanding….”

“How dare humans dispute our words!! You inferior beings…”

“…. Still have some stubbornness left, you reptile.”

“How dare you speak rudely to Zeke-nim… This won’t do….”

The red dragon, failing to grasp the situation, was stubborn again and yelled at me. Dio V Runner and Aria both sighed deeply, then loosened their hands and slowly began to approach the red dragon’s head. The red dragon, finally understanding the atmosphere, said in surprise.

“W-Wait!!”

“Ah…. I don’t know anymore….”

In the end, Aria and Dio V Runner were completely enraged by the red dragon’s attitude, and I ultimately decided to give up. And so, late afternoon, screams of dragons began to echo near the dragon’s nest.