Leave a comment

We froze up without words at the sight of the Evil Dragon descending before us.

Surprisingly, I was the first one among us to recover from the shock.

“Tina, Ru—”
“No.”

If we remained here, we’d die for sure. That’s why, I was about to tell Cortina to escape, but she refused before I even finished it.

“I’d rather die than leave you and run.”
“Cortina, please…”
“I won’t back down on this.”

She declared decisively, but her legs were trembling like that of a newborn fawn.

It wasn’t like she wasn’t scared, after all. But still, I couldn’t ignore her decision to not leave my side again.

If I did and left her behind, her heart would most likely be wounded to the point of no recovery.

“We’ll die, you know? There’s no escaping it.”
“I’m well aware. This time, I’ll do you a favor and die with you.”
“…Good grief, what a nice thing to say.”

I wanted her to escape with all my heart. But her firm declaration to remain with me had made me happy to the point of shedding tears.

How could I possibly leave her behind and go ahead?

“Alright, come with me. We have to pull it away from the village first.”
“Got it… Maria!”

Cortina’s yell finally brought Maria back to her senses.

At the same time, Kufar also started to speak.

“Khahahahaha! Evil Dragon! Colchis! Look at them! They are the main culprit, the biggest obstacle! Don’t let them live, don’t let them escape no matter what! Kill them! Kill them so thoroughly there is no margin of doubt! Burn them, tear them, crush them… and devour them!!”
“—————————!!”

Colchis roared in glee at Kufar’s maddened speech.

For Colchis, who has been enslaved by a madman, this world was something it had to destroy. However, Kufar, its summoner, was forbidding it from destroying it as it wished.

But now, albeit in limited form, he ordered it to bring destruction, so it was natural that it was in delight.

Its roar which was beyond the human audible range shook the atmosphere around. If we kept listening to it for ten seconds, our eardrums could break.

“Maria, teleport us toward the mountain!”

Cortina yelled with all her strength to not lose to its roar and pointed her finger to the distance. It was the mountain where Lyell encountered the Devils.

“B-But—”
“We’re the ones targeted here. If we end up fighting here, the village will get rolled up in it. And— Fina’s also there, right?”
“It’s unfair to bring that up…”

Maria had no other choice now that Cortina used Fina as her hostage.

The next moment, Cortina and I found ourselves in the grasslands about two kilometers away from the village.

This was because Colchis could lose sight of us if she teleported directly to the mountain.

Thus she instead teleported us here where we were still visible.

“Okay. Now, Reid, let’s head to the other side of that mountain!”
“Huh? The other side?”
“If we get behind it, the damage shouldn’t reach the village.”

Her follow-up explanation convinced me.

Even if we separated from the village, that would still not put it beyond the Evil Dragon’s breath’s attack range.

In that case, we really needed some kind of sturdy obstacle between the fighting area and the village. If we went beyond the mountain, that condition would be fulfilled.

The Teleport spell’s transfer range was the places you’ve visited before as well as what you could see.

The reason Maria teleported us a few kilometers away was probably that she judged that if she could see that far, so would the Evil Dragon.

Urged by Cortina, the two of us ran with all our strength.

“Lord Reid!”

I felt like I heard Finia’s cry from behind, but I had no time to turn around.

A two-kilometer advantage was barely anything from the Evil Dragon’s perspective.

Though it was a small mountain, we still needed to run a few kilometers to reach the other side of it.

I lacked stamina, so I relaxed my body and instead used the thread power to move my limbs.

Kufar and Colchis also started their pursuit.

“That thing of yours feels like cheating.”
“I have no stamina so I can’t help it. I mean, I’d say your method’s more of a cheat.”

Cortina lacked stamina like me, so she was using Cargo to support her limbs in movement.

She was quite fast too, easily matching a horse’s speed.

That naturally puts a lot of burden on her body.

Most likely, by the time we reach our destination, she would have no strength left for anything else.

In the first place, combat skills weren’t part of her expertise.

Since we were being hunted, we had to change the battlefield. The rest was my job.

“Don’t leave me behind!”

But then, Gadius came chasing after us with tremendous speed.

We were the only ones being targeted, but it was reassuring to see him follow us. But that would just mean he’d face the danger of death like us.

“Are you sure about this? If you come along, you’d die, you know?”
“You fool! Like hell I can abandon you after all this!”
“Gadius…”

I became emotional and almost shed tears. I really was prone to crying ever since I reincarnated, huh?

Setting that aside…

“What about Lyell and Maria?”
“They have a plan so they remained behind. And there were many wounded in the village.”
“I see.”

Many people got wounded when we pulled Kufar into the village. Considering that, there was no way Maria could leave the place.

Lyell also worried about Fina, so it made sense for him to stay too.

Unlike us, those two had a family, so I didn’t want them to die. Well, I guess I was part of that family too.

While we were having such a weirdly carefree conversation, we managed to somehow reach the other side of the mountain.

The damages would be minimal here since it was covering the village.

“Did you think you could run, Reeeeeid!”

As we reached the other side and took a breather, Kufar and the Evil Dragon caught up to us.

Cortina was already at her limit, so she didn’t seem like she’d be able to move.

“Gadius, I leave Cortina to you.”
“Reid, what do you intend to do?”
“Well, I’ll do what I can.”

There was no chance for me to win. I didn’t even know how long I could last in the fight.

But even so, just having her behind me would allow me to overcome my limits and do my best. I was convinced of that.

“Okay, let’s end this game of tag here. Time to settle this.”

With a fearless smile, I took a step toward the Evil Dragon.