Rene: “We should be arriving at the Clarion Village, at least according to the map”

Arma: “You sure?”

Rene: “Between the two of us, who can read maps and navigate?”

Arma: “It’s not like I am bad at it, I just need to practice a little bit more….”

Rene: “Just like the ‘lake’ you found turned out to be a swamp?”

Arma: “It was only that one time!”

Rene: “Can’t be helped. I will help you practice and learn it properly afterwards”

Arma: “Thanks”

It has been three days since the wolf was gone. It disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared. By now, Arma even questioned whether that encounter was a dream….only to have Rene tell him she saw the wolf too.

As they and the corpses approached the village’s territory, something seemed definitely wrong.

They could hear sounds of struggle and people screaming, but were too far to see anything.

Arma took a whiff of the air.

Arma: “Dragons. They are here”

Immediately, he grabbed hold of the demon sword and rushed into the fray.

Rene: “Arma, wait!”

Her words fell upon deaf ears. She immediately cast illusion magic on corpses to hide them and ran after Arma.

Whenever dragons were involved, Arma would abandon any sense of reason.

He couldn’t care less about his wounded and mangled body; all that mattered was slaying the dragons.

There were at least a dozen low class dragons, with a single mid class dragon leading them.

Villagers were running for their lives while the dragons swooped down and feasted upon their flesh. Some of the villagers tried to fight back in vain, but their pitchforks and spears were no match against the dragons.

Killing low class dragons was not hard; a single slash to each one with the demon sword took care of the job. Though, only Arma, an experienced Dragon Slayer would have thought of that as an easy task.

As Arma’s eye fell upon the mid class dragon, he realized it was a mid-class Wind Dragon, a very familiar one.

Arma: “Burmongo”

As soon as Arma uttered the dragon’s former name, it let out a furious roar and inhaled massive amount of air before shooting it out of its mouth as a wind blast.

Wind Dragons generally shared the ability to manipulate the wind with varying degrees of proficiency depending on the class.

A low class wind dragon was already a threat to people, capable of killing a person with a single wind blast.

A high class wind dragon is said to be capable of summoning tornadoes and causing mass devastation. Akara specifically told Arma to avoid facing such an enemy in a head-on combat.

By that conjecture, the mid-class wind dragon was powerful enough to devastate an area size of a village.

Overwhelmed by emotion, Arma couldn’t react in time to the wind blast.

Luckily, he had help on his side.

A see-through barrier manifested before Arma, dispersing the wind, but still taking damage. Visible cracks formed on the surface of the magic barrier.

Rene: “You never listen do you?”

Arma: “Rene”

Yet another wind blast was blocked, damaging the barrier even further.

Rene: “It wouldn’t last more than that, I am afraid”

There were more low class dragons surrounding them.

Since Arma was facing the mid class dragon, Rene focused on fighting against low class dragons.

Seeing the wind dragon inhaling again, Arma knew this was the moment to strike. Between each attack, there is a ‘recharging’ period of variable length, depending on the type of foe.

In order to produce an attack, energy is exhausted, so naturally it takes time to recharge.

From what he could approximate, the recharging period for the wind dragon was about five seconds.

He needed to act before that time was up.

5

4

3

2

SLASH!

Swinging Akara’s sword with all his might, Arma managed to slash Wind Dragon’s throat area, damaging the organ responsible for sucking and releasing wind blasts.

Left without its strongest weapon, the Wind Dragon attacked Arma with its claws, bringing them down, only to be countered by the demon sword.

Arma: “Burmongo, this ends now”

Wind Dragon roared, trying to push Arma away, only for Arma to slip away from the dead-lock and commence an attack.

Tooth and claw against flesh and steel; clashing in a titanic struggle between a human and a dragon.

Arma: “!”

Wind Dragon’s damaged throat area managed to heal to the point of being able to use wind blasts again.

Using Akara’s sword, Arma blocked and dispersed the incoming blasts.

Blasts were weaker than the previous shots.

Evidently, the dragon’s organ did not heal completely.

And the recharge time was still the same.

This was his only chance to put it down; otherwise, it will be back to top shape within minutes.

Arma: “Burmongo…I am sorry”

His voice may have been calm, but his body was trembling.

Not so long ago, this dragon was one of his fellow Dragon Hunters, a trusted friend.

But now, he was nothing more than a mindless beast, corrupted beyond recognition, bent on destruction and murder.

Killing Burmongo as he was now was an act of mercy.

As the last surviving member of Akara’s Dragon Hunters, it was Arma’s duty to put an end to Burmongo’s miserable existence.

With all the strength he could muster, Arma brought the blade down on the wind dragon’s neck, severing its head.

For a few seconds the separated head and body were squirming in place before standing still.

He was dead. Burmongo was now dead. Killed at the hands of the one he once thought of as his friend.

It may have been his duty to kill Burmongo in this horrid state, but Arma couldn’t help but feel guilt deep down inside. This man was once his comrade, a friend, a family….

He cursed the Dragon Lords for making him go through such peril.

In his rage, he slashed, smashed, and destroyed each and every low class dragon. His body hurt, but his heart hurt far more.

If he could trade the pain he felt on the inside for the agony of flesh, he would have done so without a second thought.

A young girl was about to be eaten by a low class dragon, only for Arma to plunge his sword through the dragon’s skull.

Arma: “Are you all right?”

“AAAH!”

The young girl’s reaction was understandable.

Arma’s face was covered in bandages, but the heavy burns were still visible. He was covered in body fluids of countless dragons. His left eye being blood-shot red from rage did not help the matters.

Since all the dragons in this location were slain, there was no longer a point in staying longer, but the village chief insisted on thanking Arma and Rene, which they reluctantly accepted.

They were planning on buying food and water, but were given them for free.

Rene: “What’s got you so down? We got food and water for free”

Arma: “That kid was scared of me”

Rene: “Well duh, anyone would be afraid, have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?”

Arma: “Is it that bad?”

Rene: “There is no sugarcoating it”

Arma: “You are not afraid though”

Rene: “Because I know ya”

Arma: “Oh”

Rene: “Cheer up, here, I made you this”

She handed him a strange object. It was shaped like a human face but its surface was non-reflective.

Arma: “This is…”

Rene: “A magic item created by yours truly”

Arma: “A cod piece?”

Rene: “It’s a mask, damn it! Just how dense are you?!”

Rene: “Here, put it on!”

She slapped it on his face.

Unlike what Arma expected, he still retained his sight even with this non-reflective mask on his face. And it was strangely breathable. The mask had no straps, but it was not falling off.

Arma: “Amazing”

Rene: “It is a magic item, so of course it will defy common sense!”

Rene: “It is probably for the best if you wear this in public from now on”

Arma: “Thank you”

The villagers were burning the bodies of the dead dragons.

Strangely, when they were alive, they were unaffected by flames, but when dead, their immunity would disappear and they would be nothing more than corpses.

Arma suspected that was because all of those dragons were originally humans. Their shape was still draconic and Arma was not sure if they still retained any draconic properties after death.

For so long he thought of dragons as unfathomable monsters, but after witnessing his friends transformed, he was not sure what to believe in anymore.

What he knew was that he needed to be the one to burn what was left of Burmongo’s corpse.

Setting a large bonfire, Arma dragged the mutilated body of the mid class wind dragon to be burnt.

Without needing to ask, Rene cast a simple spell, igniting the wood and hay beneath the dragon’s corpse.

Steadily, the flames consumed the dragon’s body.

Rene: “He was one of your friends, wasn’t he?”

He already told her of the fates of Magna and Burmongo, and judging from his reaction, she was certain this dragon was one of them.

Arma: “He was…family. They all were”

Rene: “You don’t need to fight alone. Let me help you”

She offered him her hand.

In a moment of weakness, he grabbed hold of it, wishing more than anything else that he could hold on to her, before she would disappear just like everyone before her.