“UWAAAAH!” [Random citizen]

“D-DRAGOONS!” [Random citizen]

“OUT OF MY WAY!” [Random citizen]

All over the east side of the city, the heroes were heading straight for the dragoons in different teams. About three of four were assigned with a number of knights to help them. Cain, worried about them, had suggested to having no heroes on his team so that as many of them could be grouped up together.

Having been woken up way too early in the morning, they had been informed of the situation and were asked to fight the monsters. Truth be told, they were afraid. The event at the ruin forced them to see things differently.

Moreover, the high schoolers were all feeling queasy. Running on the rooftops in the opposite direction of the fleeing crowd, they headed straight for the dragoons. Fire, dark smoke, buildings in ruins and corpses decorated the scenery that they had gotten used to seeing for the past few months.

“S-so many dead…” [Random hero]

As they got closer to their target, the number of corpses littering the streets increased, or at least the body parts that weren’t eaten and that were still recognizable. Of course, they had seen blood, they had seen dead bodies and they had killed as well. However, those were all monsters.

“How could this happen…?” [Random hero]

Their experience couldn’t completely get them ready for what was right in front of them. They remembered the sight of the three dead knights in the ruin, how they were systematically killed by that white monster.

“Ohhgm…! Uggh…” [Random hero]

Many felt like throwing up, but somehow managed to endure it. The ghastly sight of collapsed buildings and burnt bodies covering the streets of the city they had been living in since coming to this world was shaving away at their sanity. This horrifying sight was something they had only seen in movies.

Except for a few strong-hearted ones, all of the heroes in every team were feeling the same way. As a team of heroes struggled to keep their bodies moving, they came across their designated opponent.

“RAWWRR!!” [Dragoon]

The domineering dragoon made the high schoolers forget that they had faced off against monsters as strong, if not stronger, than the huge reptile in the ruin. They shivered in fear, but did their best to keep up their pretense of courage around the knights accompanying them.

“UWAAAAAH!!!” [Random citizen]

Among the fleeing masses, a man fell down, injured his knee and was now at the mercy of an approaching predator. Seeing this, a person in the rescue team ran like a bullet, leaving everyone behind.

“Wait! Dan!” [Random hero]

One of the heroes frantically said to his fellow classmate that suddenly increased his speed. The high schooler called Dan bravely charged at the dragoon that had opened its jaw and was about to swallow the victim whole.

“STOOOOOOP!!!” [Dan]

The skinny black-haired man with glasses screamed as he readied his sword. In response, the dragoon stopped moving and turned its four eyes to look in his direction. The blade collided with the red scales. Blood spurted from the freshly inflicted wound on the side of the dragoon’s face.

“GET BACK, YOU MONSTER!!!” [Dan]

It tumbled backwards and cried out in pain, crashing into and destroying a building behind it. Dan was holding his ground in front of the man he just saved. His hands were trembling and his breathing was erratic. Turning around, he urged him to get moving.

“Hurry and evacuate!” [Dan]

“Y-yes! Thank you very much!” [Random citizen]

Dazed at seeing someone slash away a dragoon, he remembered the danger he was in and quickly thanked him with teary eyes. The knights that caught up helped him on his feet and escorted him to safety, nodding in gratitude to Dan. Knowing they would only get in the way, some of them stood at a distance and would act as backup.

“That was reckless! Were you trying to get yourself killed?!” [Sasha]

The girl with short blonde hair and brown eyes asked Dan as she stood next to him with a spear in her hands. Her two other classmates were slightly behind and, just like her, got ready to face the invading monster with trembling legs.

“It can’t be helped. After all… we’re heroes.” [Dan]

Dan said in a strong tone of voice. His brown eyes were observing the dragoon that was picking itself up off the ground and a confident grin was on his face. Hearing him, the others looked at each other, sighed and smiled.

“Yeah… We’re heroes right now.” [Sasha]

Sasha pointed the shaking tip of her spear at the enemy and spoke for the other two boys that felt like her. A hero would stand his ground and take down the monster, protecting the innocents. As such, forcing down their fear and with renewed vigor, these four took down the dragoon in their area of operation under the leadership of Dan.

A woman with long blonde hair and red eyes jumped from rooftop to rooftop, avoiding the crowded and chaotic streets below. She had no problem moving at high speed in her black dress and high heels. She only had one goal in mind: killing the dragoon that was currently fighting four heroes who were struggling to keep up.

The woman, Evelyn, remembering her father’s teachings, evaluated the situation as she got closer. She observed the roaring dragoon, the heroes engaging it and the knights standing by.

“(Going into battle with no information is foolish.)” [Evelyn]

From what she saw, the four humans were moving poorly and unnaturally. They were too stiff, too slow and too weak. Despite being S rank, none of them could bring out their power and they looked like rookies on their first battlefield. Those that were in the middle of casting a powerful spell were interrupted by a jet of flames.

They yelled and rapidly moved away as they tried to put out the fire by shooting water magic at themselves. If their body strengthening wasn’t so impenetrable, they would be like roasted pork right now. Judging them to be useless, Evelyn leaped off the building she was on and drew a parabolic arc, heading straight for the dragoon’s neck.

Having hidden her hostility, it didn’t notice her because it was too preoccupied with the heroes. The second she got close enough, she unleashed a powerful strike with her sword at its long and thick neck. The blade released dark smoke that dispersed in the air and cut through its scales.

The dragoon that had the advantage just moments ago bellowed in pain from the surprise attack and blood quickly leaked from its wound. Landing gracefully, Evelyn didn’t pause for a second and attacked once more, jumping in the air and slashing it again.

With a huge cut both in front and behind its neck, the monster was staggering from blood loss and pain, but its misery soon ended. A third attack was let loose as a black flash appeared and its neck was severed from the body.

Having attacked three times from its blind spots, Evelyn managed to cut its head off before it could even react. She swung her sword once to the side to get the blood off. With the job done, she turned around, leaving the decapitated corpse to bleed on the ground, and got ready to look for her next opponent.

“… You…” [Suzie]

Hearing someone speaking to her in a weak voice, she looked at the small, black-haired girl that had her eyes opened widely like saucers. The heroes and the knights that witnessed the short fight also had similar expressions.

“… Weren’t you… A merchant?” [Suzie]

Suzie uneasily asked the woman that she only met yesterday. She couldn’t believe the power she just displayed.

“Young hero, I never said I couldn’t fight.” [Evelyn]

That was all Evelyn said before she dashed off and left them dumbfounded. It hadn’t even been a few minutes before she found her next prey. However, someone already got to it. The mighty dragoon was bleeding profusely on its chest and especially its face. Its scales were cracked from immense, blunt force trauma and the perpetrator was bouncing around it.

Unable to catch its opponent with its jaw, it breathed fire at her. But, the animal-eared woman came out of the raging infernal like it was nothing and jumped straight at its face. With a powerful kick to the left side of its face, the dragoon’s skull cracked, caved in and one of its eyeballs flew out of its socket. It heavily fell down, raising a cloud of dust.

“Mhhh~ it would have been easier with Master’s Artifact.” [Maya]

Landing nimbly after slaying her foe, Maya complained as she remembered the magic gauntlets that Ryner lent her. She should have asked for them before splitting up.

“Looks like you’ve killed one.” [Evelyn]

Evelyn approached Maya and the beastman greeted her with a grin and a wave of her tail.

“It was easy~. What about you? Did yours cause any problem?” [Maya]

Maya asked teasingly, fully believing that the woman in front of her had already killed a dragoon.

“Of course not. If you can’t do this much, then there’s no way you can follow Ryner.” [Evelyn]

The blonde vampire confidently spoke, remembering the stunts that Ryner pulled back when he was a dhampir living in their world. If she wanted to stand by his side, she needed to be able to exterminate some slightly gigantic pests.

Nodding to each other, the two’s short conversation ended and they wordlessly returned to seeking out their opponents to slaughter them in cold blood.

The dragoon prepared itself to breathed fire. Its chest swelled up and it pulled its head back. The young humans that were trying to kill it would soon turn into deliciously roasted chunks of meat with crunchy bones, sizzling fat and slightly burned flesh. It could already smell the savory aroma and feel under its teeth the crispy skin.

But, before it could barbecue them, a figure leaped off the top of a building and was heading straight for its head. He easily wielded a large, single-edged sword that had a red handle. The white blade was gradually larger as it got near the handle and its back was red as well.

“I’ve got my own Fire Breather.” [Ryner]

Ryner muttered as he stabbed his sword deep into the dragoon’s eye and released intense flames from the blade.

“RAAAAWWWWRRR!!!” [Dragoon]

Feeling the agonizing pain of having its head slowly burn from the inside, the winged reptile trashed about while roaring. It desperately tried to fling the human off its face, but it couldn’t succeed no matter what.

In the end, letting one final cry to the sky, its head burst into flames. Bright red lines appeared underneath its scales that were falling off like lava under the earth’s crust. Fire was being released from its opened mouth and eyes. Its brain was completely fried to a crisp.

Pulling his Heaven’s Blade out, Ryner jumped off from the carcass that was falling on its side and landed on the ground without issue thanks to his sword’s enchantments.

“… Wait! What!? You had another Artifact?!” [Jayce]

Jayce, who was part of the team in charge of this area, asked in a loud voice after finally managing to close his mouth. The rest of his comrades were also unfreezing themselves after the shocking spectacle. While they were in the middle of a life-and-death struggle, Ryner appeared out of nowhere and easily killed the dragoon with a flaming sword.

“Huh? I didn’t tell you?” [Ryner]

Ryner lazily answered his question with his own, not caring at all that they saw one of his trump card. He was more focused on killing the rest of the giant lizards at the moment. Besides, he still had plenty of cards to play, though the Avalon was out until it was fully repaired.

“NO! What the hell, man?!” [Jayce]

“Well… About that…” [Ryner]

Before he could come up with an excuse to calm down the obviously shaken hero, something caught his attention. A dragoon, quite close to them, was fighting someone and rampaging about. The next target was decided.

“Sorry gotta go see ya don’t die!” [Ryner]

“Wha-!? Oi! Ryner!” [Jayce]

Rapidly shooting out a string of words, Ryner ran off with amazing speed, supporting the red sword on his shoulder. Jayce, frustrated, clicked his tongue, but he knew his priority. He went back to clearing the citizens from the area he was in charge off.

However, he took another look at the dragoon that was trying to burn someone up. If that man was joining the fray, then things would probably be alright. After all, there was a possibility that he might have been summoned to protect the Holy Wings, not to mention that he took on his best friend with no magic and killed that insanely strong creature in the ruin.

Honestly speaking, he thought that man was plain ridiculous. But, he was still worried.

“Ryan should be in charge of that place…” [Jayce]

He muttered with an anxious look on his face. His best friend that had been down in the mud lately was fighting for his life as well and meeting Ryner might not be such a good thing for him right now.

Ryan was engaging the dragoon by himself, having told the other two heroes as well as the knights to not interfere and to take care of the evacuation. His sacred sword glowed brightly, releasing a blade of light ten meters long. After dodging its claws, he swung it down, cutting a good chunk of the leg off. Fresh blood spilled out as a result.

The dragoon roared both in pain and anger. Ryan steadied his sword for the next bout, but the tip was shaking. He was breathing hard and his expression was dark. His feelings were high and useless thoughts dulled his movements.

“(I… I have to win!)” [Ryan]

He remembered what happened just yesterday, how he was repeatedly told that he was too immature to be a hero. He remembered what happened before, how he was easily defeated by a white monster that Ryner and Maya won against. He remembered what happened before, how Ryner beat him in a one-on-one match without magic.

Ever since Ryner showed up, things had been going badly for him. His wish of being a great hero suddenly seemed to disappear like smoke in front of his eyes. He couldn’t fail anymore. It was something that rarely happened to him back in his world. He didn’t want to fail anymore.

These stray thoughts made him lose focus and he didn’t notice that his fight dragged on for too long. He had been jumping around the dragoon and playing it safe, keeping his distance and gauging the right timing to attack. Caution had been forcefully beaten into him ever since Ryner became their training instructor.

However, because he moved around too much, others were about to get caught up in his battle. The red-scaled monster, having lost its foreleg, stubbornly stayed to fight for some reason despite the clear threat to his life. That sword was not a normal Artifact for it was the hero’s sword.

But, refusing to retreat, the dragoon noticed two targets near it and suddenly charged at them. It was a black-haired woman stuck under a broken wooden pillar and her little girl who looked like her and was trying to get her out. But, no matter how hard she tried or how much she cried, her small hands couldn’t lift such a heavy object.

With these helpless pieces of meat in its sight, it lunged at them with speed one wouldn’t expect from its stature.

“This-! Oh no!” [Ryan]

Finally noticing the trapped mother and the crying daughter, Ryan, greatly flustered, abandoned caution and went in for the kill, but he was flung away by a tail swipe and crashed into a burning building. Being an S rank, he could take something of this level, but he wasted precious time picking himself up, time that could have been used to prevent a tragedy.

“STOOOOOOP!!!” [Ryan]

Pushing the debris off himself, he yelled desperately and leaped at the dragoon with his hand stretched out, but he wouldn’t make it. The monster fiercely ran with its head positioned low and its chin was scraping the ground. It was going to scoop up both humans in one swift movement.

Seeing the charging giant reptile coming at them with its jaw opened wide, the mother abandoned all hope and hysterically told her daughter to run. But, the girl’s legs went limp and she could only stare at the maw of death as her green eyes filled with fear.

Out of nowhere, a beam of light punched through the building on their left and went right in front of the dragoon’s mouth. Then, it began to cut through the monster’s flesh because of its speed. Its tongue was slashed off and it looked like its jaw was being widened.

Reacting to the pain, the dragoon grabbed onto the earth with its claws to stop running to its death, but the beam moved in response and began to cut it horizontally. Blood uncontrollably sprayed everywhere and the poor creature was completely bisected all the way to the base of its tail.

The two halves slid forward on the ground because of the momentum and stopped a few meters away from the pair of frightened humans.

“… Tha… That was…” [Ryan]

Stunned and with his hand still raised in front of him, Ryan snapped out of it and ran towards the ones that he was trying to protect. Carefully lifting the wooden pillar so as to not hurt the woman using his herculean strength, he offered her his hand.

“Are you alright?” [Ryan]

“Y-yes. I’m fine… I’m fine… Thank you for saving us! Thank you!” [Random citizen]

The woman grabbed onto his hand and thanked him multiple times, overwhelmed by the fear of death from a moment ago and from her deep gratitude after being saved.

“*Sniff* thank you for saving my mom, Mr. Hero!” [Random citizen]

The pair thanked him as tears spilled from their eyes. Ryan smiled unnaturally and told them where his companions were waiting at. He regretted having come alone. They could have escorted them to safety if he had let them follow him instead of telling them to stay put and to help the citizens.

The mother was hurt, but she could still move and there weren’t any dragoons in the area. Bowing deeply one last time, the two made their way to safety while tightly holding each other’s hands. Ryan saw them off without following them. He needed to go and kill all the dragoons as quickly as possible because he was the leader of the heroes.

But, the real reason was not because the place was safe for now, so they would be alright on their own, but because he was feeling deeply conflicted. When he saw those grateful smiles, his body felt heavy. He couldn’t follow them.

“Those smiles… I didn’t deserve them…” [Ryan]

“Pretty much.” [Ryner]

Ryan muttered in a pained voice and someone answered him. Standing behind him was the man that he expected to see.

“Ryner…” [Ryan]

Ryner was looking at him with his sleepy-looking expression. The White Wing was in his right hand. It was the weapon that had just bisected the dragoon. Ryan stared at his feet and wordlessly waited for what would come next.

He thought Ryner would rub it in his face. He might even punch him again. But, the black-haired man was actually about to leave to continue his pest extermination. However, after seeing the young hero’s expression, he simply scratched his head and tapped his sword on his shoulder a few times. Looking up at the sky and sighing, he finally opened his mouth.

“Remember this, kid. You’ve been summoned to another world and named a hero straight out like in stories. But, this story isn’t a fairy tale. Sometimes, you’ll make it in time to save them and sometimes… You’ll make it in time to see them die.” [Ryner]

Ryner said the last part in a heavy tone of voice and with a distant look in his eyes as he remembered the other mother-daughter pair, another two of the many victims.

Having said what he wanted to say, the black-haired man didn’t waste any more time and proceeded to hunt down the remaining dragoons, leaving a downhearted Ryan that was gritting his teeth and tightly clenching his fists, causing his gauntlets to creak.

“… But, even so…” [Ryan]

The few words he uttered in a small voice were lost to the wind.

Thus, the dragoon subjugation and one of the greatest crises that befell the city of Elura ended thanks to many courageous people. The rest of the monsters were dealt with by heroes that managed hit hard enough to cut its scales or stayed away long enough to cast powerful spells.

The army also played an invaluable role by guiding the citizens to safety and the knight commander was very active in the annihilation of the opposing forces.

Furthermore, the capable adventurers staying in the city had banded together to take on the threat. They would later boast about how they survived this day in bars and taverns. Truly, a lot of different forces solved this deadly disaster.

There had also been reports from eyewitnesses of three unknown and prominent figures that had been immensely helpful in this great battle.

However, the danger wasn’t over yet for many shadows were standing outside of the city, unmoving like statues, waiting for their turn.