Book 1: Chapter 25
Book 1: Chapter 25
When I leaned over the roof and screamed, everyone looked up with shock.
「Reiji!!! Expected arrival time!!!」
「Less than a few minutes!!!」
「!」
…Fast. Too fast. That speed would be well over 100 kilometers per hour. I don’t want to keep observing it from up here. But observing it is my job.
「Adventurers!! Evacuate the citizens!」
The adventurers returned to their senses due to Joseph-san’s voice, and started to move.
「Soldiers! Evacuate the staff in the building!」
「B-But… Isn’t it safer to stay in the building?」
「Reiji! How big is the dragon?!」
「Much bigger than this building!」
「Dammit!!! You heard that, right?!! You’ll get trampled in there!」
「Wha!?」
「The only thing those who can’t fight can do is to escape! Hurry!」
「B-But the city is wide…」
「This is the most dangerous place!! Just hurry up already!!」
「Kuh… I understand!」
Joseph-san finally got through to the soldier.
The soldier moved quickly. He rushed into the building, and began to call out to the staff.
「Err… What should I do?」
My gaze met the soldier’s on the walkway on the 3rd floor.
「Well… why don’t you join up with the people inside the building?」
「A-Ah, I’ll do that. You should come down from there, too.」
I returned to the top of the roof.
…Damn, it’s getting closer and closer.
The dragon was right about to reach the outer wall of the city.
However, when I leaned over and took a look, the soldiers who were stationed on the outer wall were in turmoil.
Looking at that, the worst-case scenario popped into my mind.
…What would happen if the dragon fired the long-range attack I saw that night from the outer walls of the city? Rather, isn’t that the most probable scenario? After all, if the dragon has intelligence, it’ll survey the situation from a distance and shoot a long-range attack.
「I- I have to get its attention! Um, err…」
The premise that the dragon can detect skill orbs.
What kind of skill orb would a dragon be interested in?
「Ah…」
…What if the dragon can sense a skill orb strongly the higher the number of stars it has?
While I was thinking about that, the air around the dragon seemed to distort.
…Is it going to start using magic or something?
「Eh, there’s no time to lose!」
I put my hand on my chest and formed a strong image of the skill orb of 【World Ruler】. It felt as if power was slipping away from the center of my body – no, it isn’t just the feeling, my body is actually losing power!
A black skill orb came out from my chest. I lost the power of 【World Ruler】, and at the same time, all the skills I had learned so far disappeared.
…Damnit. How am I going to survive without this skill?
I went down to a knee on the roof, and in my hand, there was a black skill orb – in its center, a rainbow-colored light swirled around like a whirlpool.
《OOOOOOOOOOOO……》
I heard the dragon’s roar.
…It seems that my guess was dead on. The dragon is facing me. No… it’s staring right at the skill orb of 【World Ruler】.
With one flap of its wings, the dragon started flying straight towards me. It flew over the outer wall without hesitation, and each time the wings flapped, it accelerated.
「Oops! Gotta run!」
I absorbed 【World Ruler】 back into my body. At the same time, the malaise that had wrapped around my body disappeared, like a fog clearing away, and the feeling of omnipotence filled my body.
…Aah, this might become a habit! No, I absolutely can’t let this become a habit! Even if I have to use skills, I absolutely can’t let myself be controlled by it.
Thankfully, when I returned 【World Ruler】 into my body, all the skills I learned returned as well.
I ran across the rooftop using 【Sprinting Technique】 and jumped. The neighbouring building was a two-storey building, so I landed on the roof with both hands and feet. I saw Dante-san and the others from above.
「It’s coming!!」I shouted.
Dante-san didn’t ask “what” or “how”.
「Understood!!」he replied.
…He completely trusts me. It’s only been a few days, but this person… he’s just too good-natured.
But that wasn’t a very good time to be feeling touched.
《OOOOOOOOO!!!!!》
A thunderous roar rang, and the creature of tremendous mass crashed into the dull building of the “Skill Administration Bureau”. Even though the building was made of stone, the stone fragments of the walls were blown away like jenga blocks.
I was still on the roof of the second floor at that time and was blown away by the shock wave and got thrown off the roof. I was convinced that I was going to fall straight onto the hard ground, but someone caught me right before that.
「Good job, you damn brat.」
Raikira-san rushed over at a tremendous speed, and braked immediately after catching me.
And while lowering me, his eyes were focused straight on the monster that reigned over the rubbled building.
「The rest is our turn. We’re gonna kill that dragon.」he said.
The dragon’s presence was overwhelming. It trampled an entire building underfoot, and as though that wasn’t enough, it destroyed two other adjacent buildings.
Due to the mana covering over the yellow scales, the dragon bore not a single scratch from that hard landing.
The surroundings were in chaos. Most people ran away screaming, and some became paralyzed with fear and started crying.
Half of the adventurers had completely lost the will to fight. They just stared at the dragon vacantly.
However, two people at the lead were different.
「Those who can’t fight, help the citizens evacuate!」
「Soldiers, go call for backup right now!」
It was Joseph-san holding a two-handed axe, which looked too large even for a two-handed weapon, and standing beside him was Dante-san, holding a large sword which looked like an iron plate.
「…Are you really going to use that large sword instead of your greatshield?」
「My movement is too sluggish due to petrification. I can’t wield both a weapon and a shield.」
「Can’t be helped then.」
「Tell me about it.」
The two did not take their eyes off the dragon even for a second. Not sure if the dragon recognized them as enemies or what, but its gaze was fixed on them.
「Let’s go, greatshield!」
「Yah!」
Joseph-san ran to the right and Dante-san to the left. Even though his body movement was sluggish, Dante-san was moving much faster than I could while using my skills.
Light shone from the dragon’s mouth. At that moment, Joseph-san leaped forward. Immediately afterwards, a yellow flame was exhaled from the dragon’s mouth, burning the place where Joseph-san was a second ago. The dragon then directed the flames towards Dante-san, like a leg sweep.
「Father!」
Non-san’s cry rang out, but Dante-san thrust the large sword on the ground, and nimbly dodged over the sweeping flames by using the sword as support.
…Amazing. He can do that even without an acrobatic-type skill. And survived it with only his natural reflexes.
「Tsk, guess you won’t let us draw close that easily, huh!」
Joseph-san distanced himself while shouting at the dragon. The dragon looked at its feet, as though holding no interest in neither Joseph-san nor Dante-san.
…There is only the collapsed building of the Skill Administration Bureau. Hmm…? There is something shining under the debris. Is that a… skill orb?
「…No way.」
The dragon opened its mouth and exhaled. It wasn’t a breath of flame, but a glittering golden exhalation. As it permeates into the skill orb, the skill orb broke as though exploding.
「Ah! Wasn’t that a 4-star red skill orb!? Such a waste!」
「There are several blue orbs broken over there!」
The adventurers’ screams almost felt like cries. The colours are unique to the characteristics of the skill orb. “Body characteristic” is “red”, “magic characteristic” is “blue”, and “unique characteristic” is rainbow-coloured.
I saw some kind of energy which resembled mana disappear into the air when the skill orb broke – perhaps it was because I had 【Eyesight Enhancement】.
After breaking the skill orb, the dragon then looked around the surroundings. As though looking for something.
…What are you looking for? Wait, now the dragon is looking straight at me!
…Yeah. You’re looking for me, aren’t you?! Of course! I was the one who stood on the roof a while ago, after all! Are you targeting me because you want to destroy my rare skill orb? Well, too bad! I already absorbed it into my body!