Sudden Return

We returned to the guild to turn in a quest for the Nuen Mines. I took these serpents as proof of completion and rewarded as promised. I looked at the the poster where it shows bounties of criminals.

I see one where it is similar to Grundel.

Veranu, huh? It's where every monster is no lower than rank D. But first, I need to return home to check on Tuya. Because, she can get lonely if we're out for too long.

"You have completed the quest and are eligible for rank promotion." said one of the receptionist.

"Also, I would like to claim a bounty who has a name of..." Ezo looked at the poster to see Grundel's portrait.

"Grundel." Ezo finished his sentence.

"Wait, you took out Grundel?" one adventurer said.

"Yeah, and his henchmen." Ezo said.

"No way...he's responsible for destroying villages and adventurers in Iron through Silver Rank. That's just him alone." another adventurer said.

"Okay, okay. Mr. Ezo, do you know where did you kill him?" said the receptionist.

"Yeah, it's at the Nuen mine entrance. His henchmen are there as well." Ezo replied.

"Okay, we'll notify the Bounty Liquidators to confirm and reward you." said the receptionist.

More voices gather as they hear about Ezo killing an infamous bandit named Grundel who was a nightmare for many lower level adventurers. Some had to run away, some had to stay home in fear of him, or in worse cases, they get killed.

"What rank are you? You must be at Gold, right?" said one female adventurer.

"I'm at Black Gold." Ezo said.

Looks like they're buying it. But I don't wanna waste time watching Ezo getting buttered up by waves of compliments.

Hyoran sees what it seems is unexpected.

"Mama's here." Hyoran said.

"Mama?" Ezo said, confused that Tuya was staying home a few days ago, but Hyoran was right, she did come.

Tuya came at a brisk, yet urgent walk to all of us. She had an expression of great concern and fear.

"Tuya? What's wrong?" Ezo said.

"I came to take the kids back. They're not safe here." Tuya said.

"What happened?" Ezo said in a serious tone. Until a door was slammed open. Everyone in this building looked who did it to see a man in a hooded brown leather overcoat, charred, torn, and faded. His face is covered in cuts, bruises and minor burns. He was rapidly breathing, assuming that he desperately escaped with his life.

"Everyone, it's an emergency! There's a Adolescent Fire Dragon! It's coming this way!" said the man.

Concern fills the air as his announcement was sudden and alarming. Dragons are possibly one of the most dangerous beings to fight against where it takes an army of 200 knights to slay a adolescent dragon. Adventurer-wise, they must have at least 20 Gold Ranks to even stand a chance. They need flying cavalry, anti-air weapons, and weapons sharp and durable enough to even injure a dragon. However, hitting them with materials out of their own kind is more effective, but it is expensive and hard to come by.

"Fire Dragon!? When is it coming!?" said one adventurer.

"It went past the Telgrin Mountains. I managed to teleport here." the brown cloaked adventurer said.

"Telgrin Mountains? That's 40 minutes from here. We need to assemble now! We need Gold adventurers or above!" another adventurer said.

Anna came out of her office to see the commotion and sees the injured adventurer in front of the door. The adventurer looked at Anna and called out to her.

"Guildmaster Anna! A adolescent Fire Dragon is heading this way in 5 hours!" he said with urgency. Anna knows what to do in case of a dragon or a powerful monster is heading this way.

"We need adventurers with ranks of Gold or above! Anyone in Bronze or Silver, fend off against stray monsters! Anyone below Bronze, evacuate or assist others to evacuate!" Anna ordered, everyone in the guild scrambled to move to slay the dragon and or evacuate the civilians.

Hyoran became scared and confused as the once peaceful guild became unsettled the dragon announcement.

"Mama, Papa, what's happening? There's a dragon?" Hyoran said.

"Yes. It's dangerous here, so I'm here to take you two home. Come quickly. Since, it is coming from southeast, you should be safe. In our house, there is a door that leads an underground network. If that Fire Dragon happens to get there, you'll be safe as that Fire cannot go through the ground for now." Tuya said.

"Where are you going?" Hyoran said, regarding to Ezo and Tuya.

"To slay the dragon." Tuya replied. She then gave us a piece of engraved metal to us. "This will let you teleport to Olken's place immediately."

A dragon in the adolescence must be no lower than A rank, but that doesn't mean it's a sure win to those who are at least S rank. Dragons are not just mob monsters, hell, even child dragons are pseudo-boss monsters.

For dragons, they have at least these following skills: Dragon Ward to weaken enemy magic, Dragon Pierce* to enhance their power and pierce ward, and Dragon Scale* to defend.

Right now, I don't have the means to step up to a dragon now even if I had brought all my four monsters with me, or even if brought 20 or 30 more on my side.

Also, I can't afford to lose either Ezo or Tuya because...I finally got a caring family and Hyoran will be sad if either of them die. Last time I checked, Ezo is in A+ and Tuya is in S.

"System, check Tuya's stats."

[Checking...completed]

"I will rank her up."

"If it's to increases the chances of survival, do it."

[Acknowledged.]

At that moment, Tuya's body began to emit a frigid cold aura around her. The wood around her feet began to form frost and the people who are shoulder to shoulder to her began to feel the cold.

"Is it me or this place has gotten cold?"

"It's gotten chilly all of a sudden."

Tuya hears the clamors of people noticing the cold and shortly, it faded away.

[Tuya is now rank V.]

[New skills acquired for Tuya. Ice Magic-VII.]

"What was that? It felt like I've gotten stronger." Tuya said.

"Kain, did you just...?" Ezo said.

"Rank Ezo up too."

[Proceed?]

"Do it."

[Acknowledged.]

Ezo soon feel a surge of power coming inside him and his ears and tail spiked. The sensation upon him is that he is a battery being rapidly charged to full capacity.

[Ezo is now Rank S.]

[New skills acquired for Ezo. Water Magic-VI.]

There goes my 1.5 million EP and down to 85 thousand. I'll be fine for now as my four monsters are strong enough to watch my back. Especially when my monsters can give me the EP back when they finish hunting.

"Kain...you..." Tuya said, but I cut her off.

"Come back alive, mom, dad. Please?" I said not for the EP, but for Hyoran and the caring family I truly wanted. Tuya looked at me and Hyoran who is holding my arm, and Gris who whined for her to come back as well.

Tuya smiled and hugged us tightly. Ezo as well.

"We'll come back for you. We promise." Tuya said.

"We'll be back before you know it." Ezo added.

Not me though, I'll know it when they kill the dragon.

*GONG!* *GONG!* *GONG!*

A bell is rung in the distance that the dragon is en route to Noltia.

"The dragon is heading this way, come quickly." Tuya said. We started running outside the guild.

As we went outside, we see the citizens are evacuating in a orderly fashion. The lower ranked adventurers and the guards are also assisting the citizens. The higher ranked adventurers are equipping weapons that my longsword couldn't compare.

I see a spear that has a red metal shaft and a blade that is shaped of an arrow head. In the blade's center, it has a red and blue gemstones. I give it an appraisal.

As a result, it showed me a purple display.

Oh, not bad. That spear can cover bases against those weak to Fire or Water. That Fire Ward skill can come in handy. That Dragon's Bane skill allows them to deal extra damage to specifically Dragons, not Dragonoids. Wyverns, Drakes, and Wyrms fall under Dragonoids. If it's a material out of Dragons, it'll be much stronger and be well within the Epic rarity. If done right, it'll reach Legendary.

We continued to move towards the center of the Kingdom where it has multiple teleportation devices large enough to carry a family or two. However, it is reserved for kingdom officials, adventurers, or emergencies that involve destruction of said kingdom.

We reached to the teleportation device and it glowed a bright blue around me, Hyoran, and Gris.

"Remember, the underground passage is in our house if the Dragon moves towards the village." Tuya said. "Be safe, my children."

Tuya then kisses us on the foreheads and pets Gris. The blue glow around became brighter and Gris howled for good luck.

And then, we disappeared.