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Amidst the chaos brought forth by the enormous dragon, a young man stood forward to face him. In just the few minutes since the battle started, the other players had succumbed to hopelessness and desperation, acting erratically. But then they noticed him, standing in front of all of them and valiantly fighting the dragon. That helped them sort their thoughts, and one after another, they picked up their weapons and stood up straight.

◇◇◇

“These girls and I will keep him busy! You focus on regrouping first!!” The young man, Suzaku, shouted as he locked his sword with the buckler on his left arm to barely deflect the sharp dragon claws falling on him from above.

Bright sparks scattered everywhere before the claw dug itself into the ground below, leaving a deep gash. At the same time, Suzaku took out a dagger, plunging it between the dragon’s scales and pulling back on it to tear apart the skin.

The dragon’s roar echoed loudly through all of Wyndham.

It was not a roar of pain, but one of pure hatred. Considering the size of the dragon, the slash from Suzaku’s dagger was only like the scratch of a thorn. But the nuisance was enough for the dragon to direct its anger at Suzaku, glaring at him while trying to tear him apart with its claws.

“I’ll lure him away, don’t fire yet!” Suzaku shouted at the girl with the rifle, who lowered her gun in the distance and waited for the right moment to fire again.

‘She really is good, that sniper.’

Suzaku had seen how quickly she evaded the dragon’s breath earlier, showing she was not tied down to her sniping locations and knew how to move around. At the same time, Suzaku was so far away that it was unlikely she could hear his voice, but his body language was enough to pass on the message.

‘I’m so glad I’m not her enemy here. I can’t imagine how obnoxious it would be to fight a sniper like that.’

Suzaku grimaced as he realized he was worrying about things like that again. While he saw the sniper girl in the distance moving to a better spot, he continued running in front of the dragon, making sure he kept a constant distance from it.

He was currently heading to an area in development outside the city with many trees, which would allow him to hide better, while also slowing down the movements of the dragon.

“Watch out above!!” The voice of a young girl came from up in the air behind him. Looking up, he saw the fox girl leaping high into the air, after having somehow climbed up the dragon’s tail and body up to its neck.

Her small body was clad in lightning, channeling it into her blade while making her entire body spin. That lightning hit the dragon’s right foreleg, striking constantly and spreading around. After leaving the dragon’s right foreleg with many scorch marks, the fox girl landed next to Suzaku and ran with him.

“I only know how to fight. Please take care of giving orders.”
“…Alright! Let’s lure him to a more convenient area first!”
“I understand!”

After that lightning attack, the dragon’s focus shifted to the girl. So Suzaku used the starting Mystical Magic spell Flash to regain aggro.

Free of that burden, Hinagiku was able to turn around and unleash a series of unsheathing attacks onto the dragon’s forelegs. Her tachi was clearly a superior weapon to Suzaku’s sword, as he could scarcely pierce the dragon’s scales, but she was slicing through them like they were butter.

The two little nuisances refused to leave the dragon alone, making it roar in frustration. The two runners would constantly switch places and move from side to side, distracting the dragon and luring it out into the city outskirts.

Suzaku was so focused on evading the dragon’s attack and staying alive that he had not noticed the rest of the players. They were watching him and the girls stand against the enormous raid boss, trying to save everyone else, and filling them with reinvigorating courage that inspired them to stand up again, one after another. And the name for someone who inspired and filled others with courage was befitting of the title of Hero…

◇◇◇

Meanwhile atop Wyndham’s Central Tower…

“It’s him..!” Crim was looking at Hinagiku and the young man running with her. It was the same ‘Hero’ with the red sword she had met before, and fought the Fallen Elder Treant with.

Just in case, she glanced over to Frey, who had also been there, and he nodded in response. He also recognized the ‘Hero.’ He was not wielding the red sword this time, so maybe it was not part of his regular loadout, but he was doing his best with the sword and armor he had there.

“Oh? You’re curious about that young man?”
“He seems to be working really hard… It’s a bit unexpected, even if we factor in the boost.”
“Yes… Hm…”

Considering the nature of this raid battle, there were many participating players who were only starting to play, or who had put most of their Skill Points into Crafting Skills. So to make up for that deficiency, there was a special buff applied to them called Unrelenting Strength, which raised all of their stats up to a certain point. But the movements of that young man running ahead of the dragon and luring it away amidst the chaos could not be explained with that alone.

Earlier, the dragon had taken out dozens of tank players with a single attack, so a beginner with a boost in stats would not know how to fend off that attack and survive either. But the young man had clearly deflected the dragon’s claw, with nothing but his meager equipment.

“Just who could he be? He even did that…” Crim was starting to feel like the moniker of ‘Hero’ was more fitting than she had anticipated.

“Oh, I see. I was wondering why that looked familiar. That’s the same type of deflection you use, isn’t it?”
“Yes…”

Crim nodded, as Sorleon was right on the money.

His raw skills were the only reason why that young man had been able to continuously deflect and evade the dragon’s attacks on his own. He was matching his steps with the flow of the attacks, making minute adjustments to the angle of his blade and buckler to deviate the course of the enemy’s attack, and surviving unscathed. The thing was, such ability could not be gained simply by playing the game for a long time.

A single mistake would spell disaster when doing that, and the only way to be consistent was through arduous and punishing combat training and experience.

Crim had learned that through her countless defeats at the hands of the Master, and was a skill only those who had fought superior opponents time and time again could perceive.

“Just…who…” She felt uneasy with how little she knew about him, but at the same time, she could not stop herself from laughing heartily at the entrance of a new powerful rival.

Afterword:

By the way, the area in development is the same place that Reinhard and Shao blew up beyond recognition during the ranked tournament.