novelraw Chapter 53 : Chapter 53
Chapter 53 : Chapter 53
Chapter 53. Nox (2)
‘Keuk! The injury is more severe than I thought.’
Red blood was still gushing from his right leg, which had been pierced by the opponent’s magic.
The bleeding wouldn’t stop even after applying pressure.
He thought he had dodged it, but the magic that shot from the opponent’s hand was faster and more powerful than expected.
It was powerful enough that if the person on the spot had been a double-digit agent instead of a single-digit one, they might have died instantly.
He knew the opponent was formidable when he made his move, but,‘To think he would react so swiftly. I must report this to the Master as soon as possible.’
But if he returned to the hideout, there was a risk of being caught by those who were chasing him.
If that happened, the opponent would figure out their identities through the crystal ball.
Even if he had to die alone, he couldn't cause harm to his comrades.
Despite having cast a stealth spell, the wolf-like monsters relentlessly pursued him, as if they had caught the scent of his blood.
‘The ones controlling the Lombard Kingdom from behind are definitely the Demon Tribe.’
Number 3 deliberately changed directions here and there in an attempt to confuse the enemy,but they did not give up on him easily.
If his leg hadn't been injured, he could have easily shaken them off, but that was already a meaningless assumption.
‘Taking my own life here is an option, but in that case, I won’t be able to deliver this information to the Master.’
Then, suddenly.
He remembered that Frank's domain was not far from here.
Frank was the Master’s legal guardian.
The Master didn't seem to like him very much, but hadn't Number 7 left these words?
“It is troublesome to be at odds with the Hero Frank any longer. He is as good as one of us.”
Number 3 mustered all his remaining strength and focused on escaping.If he could just reach Frank's domain.
He thought he might be able to deliver the information he had seen and heard to the Master through him.
Even as his vision grew increasingly blurry from how much blood he had lost, Number 3 did not stop his feet for a single moment.
***
As it grew dark and the sun set in the western sky.
\
The sound of groans did not cease in the dragon's paradise.
“Keu-eung. I’m about to die. I can’t do this anymore.”
Adel, the lord’s daughter, glared at the dragon who had dropped his sword with a fearsome face.
“What are you doing?”
Damn it. Normally, he wouldn't have had to hear such words from a mere human girl like that.
He was a dragon, the apex predator among all living beings.
He was not one to stay still after suffering such humiliation.
But swinging a sword thousands of times while maintaining a human form was by no means an easy task Adel approached him and raised her voice.
“If you have a complaint, come fight me with a sword and win. Then I will exclude you from the next training.”
The spurred-on dragon immediately picked up a wooden sword and rushed at Adel.
“I’ll cut you down in one blow!!”
“How foolish.”
Hwik-
Adel dodged the stabbing blade with a slight movement, and then,
Tak!
“Keuak!”
She instantly struck the dragon's hand and snatched the wooden sword.
“All zeal and no skill, it's just like watching my old self.”
Adel then pointed the sword at his neck, subduing the dragon.
“You’re going to avenge your dead comrades in this state? Not a chance.”
The dragon raised both hands high in the air and muttered to himself.
“To think I was this powerless……”
But Adel shook her head and offered these words.
“Your strength does not end at this level.”
“But didn’t I lose?”
“It must not be easy to maintain a human body. If you continue to train, you will surely be able to achieve better results than now.”
It was a simple remark, but these words boosted the dragon’s morale.
“Fine. I will definitely defeat you even in a human body!”
“Hmph, a good attitude. Then let’s resume training.”
The dragon who lost to Adel stealthily glanced at the training ground on the opposite side.
While this side was engrossed in swordsmanship training, that side was busy with magic training.
“Dragons are inherently highly resistant to magic, but that’s not the case when they transform into humans. So, from now on, you need to gradually increase your magic resistance.”
“What do you want us to do?”
“It’s nothing much. You just have to keep enduring the magic I shoot. Easy, right?”
As soon as those words ended, a thunderbolt of fire suddenly struck down from the sky.
“Kuaaak!!”
“Crazy! What kind of training is this!”
“Hahaha. Dragons certainly have good stamina. Good. This time, I’ll raise the firepower a little more.”
The human wizard pushed his comrades even harder.
The tactical lesson being conducted on another side seemed just as difficult.
The dragon gulped down his dry saliva and thought to himself.
‘This side is much better.’
Adel, who had seemed like a tiger instructor until now, looked like a fairy to the dragon.
***
Adel conducted swordsmanship training.
Rude conducted magic training.
And as Noemi conducted tactical training,I watched this scene silently from a high place with Anonymous.
“The training results are good.”
“Of course. Dragons are fast learners.”
“But this isn’t enough. The enemies are not just humans, but also a mix of the Demon Tribe.”
Anonymous tilted her head and parted her lips.
“Can’t I just train them? They would show results much faster than now.”
I was horrified and told her that was absolutely not allowed.
“Are you planning to kill all your people? That’s absolutely not happening.”
At that very moment.
Anonymous and I simultaneously looked in the eastern direction.
“Something is approaching.”
“One human. Seven from the Demon Tribe. What could they be up to?”
“From their forms, it seems the human is being chased. Let’s go.”
Anonymous immediately transformed into a dragon and bent her back so that I could easily climb onto her back.
I climbed onto her back and flew through the sky.
Shuuuuung-
“This is refreshing.”
“You might fall. Sit down quickly.”
When my power had returned, I didn’t feel that flying with Anonymous was difficult at all.
I could even maintain my balance while standing straight with my arms crossed.
‘This high is really something else.’
Before long, I was able to see the opponent’s face in detail.
Their whole body was covered in black, so it was clear at a glance that the one being chased was one of the Unseen Ones.
On the other hand, the wolf-shaped monsters looked like mid-tier Demon Tribe members.
They were about 2 meters tall, and they were so agile that I couldn’t even see their feet moving.
“What should we do? Should I subdue them with a breath attack?”
“No. If you do that, there’s a risk of hurting the one being chased as well. I’ll go.”
I lightly leaped from Anonymous' back into the air.
“D-Dangerous, Master!”
I heard Anonymous' scream from behind me, but I wasn’t scared at all right now.
‘Right now, I’m overflowing with the confidence that I can do anything.’
Koong!
I didn’t even feel any pain.
After landing on the ground, I ran towards the opponent at a high speed.
Closing the distance in an instant, I drew the sword from my back and threw it forward.
Shuaak!
Ragnarok flew with tremendous force.
The sword grazed past the Unseen One and then lodged itself in the head of the demon who was chasing him.
The startled demons immediately stopped in their tracks and shouted at me.
“Who goes there!”
“Hmph. You can’t even get a single line right.”
“What did you say?”
“I’m saying you’re just a bunch of small fries.”
In the blink of an eye, I moved, pulled Ragnarok out of the fallen demon’s head, and swung it at them.
I just swung it lightly, but three demons collapsed at the same time.
“Keoheok!”
“Kuaaat!”
“Uuk!”
The surviving ones immediately turned their backs and ran away, but I wasn't one to let them go.
As I focused my magical power into the sword, the tip trembled and soon a blue flame was created.
their main weapon.
“Lightning Strike!”
The blue flame shot from the tip of the sword wrapped around the entire body of the rearmost demon, and then, as if electricity was flowing, it pierced through the torsos of the second and then the third one.
“Eueoeoeoeo.”
The opponents trembled and then limply dropped their heads.
The foul smell of burning flesh wafted through the air.
In the game, it was a skill that could electrocute up to 10 enemies at once if you leveled up, and to think I could use it with my own hands.
‘This feels awesome.’
I barely managed to hold back the corners of my mouth that were trying to ascend to the sky and spoke with a solemn face.
“Your mouth is fine, but you don’t know how to say thank you.”
The Unseen One flinched and said weakly.
“Th-Thank you.”
“What number are you? It’s hard to distinguish you Unseen Ones since you all look the same.”
“Number 3. Are you perhaps the lord of this place, Frank……”
Thud.
With those words, he fainted on the spot.
It seems he had used up all his remaining strength running away from the demons.
“Damn it. I was trying to look cool, but the opponent is in this state.”
I shook my head and gestured towards the sky.
I needed to treat him immediately.
I couldn't allow him to die like this after I had gone through the trouble of saving him.
“What do you think?”
“The wound is deeper than I thought. I’m sorry, but it’s beyond my abilities.”
I called this village’s only doctor, old man Hugo, to examine Number 3,but he lowered his head, saying it was impossible with his skills.
“It can’t be helped. You may leave.”
“I am truly sorry for not being of help.”
I dismissed old man Hugo from the room and looked at Number 3, who was hovering between life and death.
If Isabel had been by my side at a time like this, she would have used healing magic in an instant, but that was impossible.
After long deliberation, I went down to the basement.
‘I don’t know if it’s right to use that on a guy like him.’
Potions also existed in this world.
The so-called red potion and blue potion.
The former restored health, and the latter restored magical power.
The problem was that they were not common items.
‘This isn’t something you can just drink whenever your health is low. They are hard to obtain and impossible to craft, so you can only get a few by clearing ancient ruins.’
The reason why you can't continue playing without a healer in the party.
But if you raised your daughter as a Saintess or a healer, the difficulty would become too high,making the game difficult to play.
Even if you get a B-class healer, you have to raise your daughters as damage dealers who are in charge of firepower to clear the game quickly, but anyway, this was a very momentous decision for me.
After rummaging through the treasury, I managed to find one last remaining red high potion.
“Tsk. It seems there’s only one left.”
There were dozens of regular potions, but this was the only red high potion.
This was the highest-grade potion I owned, so was it right to give it to him?
In the game, I wouldn’t have had such useless worries.
But this was reality.
‘If I don’t use this, he will die soon.’
How long did that Uncomfortable feeling last when Alvarez died in my house.
“I refuse to go through that a second time.”
Having made up my mind, I left the treasury and fed the high potion to Number 3.
Seeing that, Anonymous opened her mouth with a surprised look.
“Isn’t that a high potion?”
“It is.”
“To feed such a precious thing to a guy like this. As expected of you, Master. How can you be so kind.”
She clasped her hands together and looked at me with a loving expression, the pressure was a hundredfold.
It wasn't something I had given away willingly either.
Even now, my stomach was aching to death.
After feeding every last drop of the high potion into his mouth, I silently waited for him to wake up.
Before long, his wounds began to heal, and his breathing returned to normal.
This was the majesty of a high potion, which could revive a person who was on the verge of death at once.
An elixir that could even revive the dead, what more could be said.
The problem was that obtaining it was harder than plucking a star from the sky.
“Why don’t you just lie down now?
“Ugh. Wh-Where am I?”
Number 3 struggled to sit up and looked me straight in the face.
“Did you save me?”
“Yes. I used a high potion.”
“A-A high potion? You used that for me?”
“Yes. I used every last drop.”
Number 3 stared blankly, unable to close his mouth.
It seemed he now had some idea of the resolve with which I had used such a precious item.
“Why would you use something like that on me, a stranger?”
“Because life is precious. Enough about that, tell me what happened.”
He nodded with a heavy face and revealed the full account of what he had experienced.
But the identity of the man in the crystal ball he was talking about somehow seemed to resemble someone I knew.
I’m talking about the final boss of the original version, Nox.
Having killed him over a thousand times, there was no way I wouldn't know his appearance.
I finally felt like I had grasped a thread of the story.