Chapter CLV - The Dragon Slayer (part 3)

I grabbed the tip of his blade with just two of my fingers, which is my thumb and my index finger. Cane turned shocked from seeing how his powerful sword that was augmented with light magic got stopped so easily. 

He destroyed tons of my shadow magic before with his sword, which confuses him how I could stop his blade so suddenly with just my two fingers.

I see… King tier, isn't it?

Cane… you have grown. But that twelve year old brain of yours is still the same.

"W-Wha--"

"That day, I did warn you on the carriage… about taking your friends to a high ranking mission. I told you it was dangerous… and yet, you felt lonely and decided to invite your friends."

I turned my eyes at him, and he couldn't look more afraid.

My retinas suddenly turned black, while my pupils turned brighter red. Marks of shadow can be seen crossing my face from the forehead to just below the eye. A pair of antlers can be seen slowly forming on top of my head, and Cane cannot look more scared seeing them.

"And now they are dead… aren't they?"

VWOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The heavy pressure was released from my chest, multiple times stronger than what Cane had emitted. 

Cane leaped far backwards, but he failed to land on his two feet. He tried standing up, but his legs gave in to the fear. His whole body shudders heavily as sweat flows down his head without pause.

"Tell me... What was the main reason for their death?"

I walked to him slowly, and Cane glared at me as if seeing death itself. My voice changed mid-sentence, while the air froze even more.

Antlers had formed completely on my head, and two devil wings also appeared but closed on my back. My hands are covered by black scales from the tip of the sharp fingers to the elbow. My black eyes are wide opened, staring sharply into his soul with anger.

"W-What is--"

"What is the 'Main' reason for their death…? Not because you invited them to the dragon party, no… But I am sure you know the real reason."

I kneeled down so I could look at him face to face. Seeing the devil just being there right in front of him made Cane realize that he would rather die with everyone else than being here.

But, I am not leaving until he answers.

"I-It's…"

There you go. He is starting to answer.

"It's… because I'm… too weak..."

He finally gave in.

I stood back up, and let him finish his answer.

"I couldn't protect everyone... When the dragon attacked, I was too afraid... They all are much braver than me, and I was always the scaredy cat…

If only I wasn't weak... I should have been able to protect them...

I am… weak."

As he confessed, tears dropped heavily as he tried to sniff back the snot on his nose. Doing this might actually destroy him, but he needed this realization if he wanted to stand back up.

But…

I let out a sigh.

"That... was not the right answer."

He snapped out from his cries and looked up, only to find a foot flying towards his left cheek at high speed.

BAAAAAAKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having kicked in the face, Cane flew far away, crashing to the sea of trees and finally stopped after crashing into a giant boulder. The entire forest was shook by that kick, and even the crash caused a massive smoke outbreak.

But he's a White ranked adventurer. He can take a hit from me.

Cane coughed a ton of blood after the crash that broke his back. He tried standing back up, but immediately fell back down because the pressure arrived on his body once again.

I approached him with anger written all over me, and every single step I took melted the ground.

"You think being weak was the answer!? Everyone is weak, Cane. Nobody is perfect.

But what is wrong is your fucking mind!!"

I arrived in front of him and picked him up by the collar, making his face merely a few inches from me. He simply stared at my eyes powerlessly as I vented out all my anger.

"You lack realization… You are too slow in accepting their deaths, and decided to throw the blame to someone else… You burned down a house in the slums just to make that statement.

You didn't even try to get better… A lack of establishment.

You, yourself, didn't even try to get better, and yet you blame others for a mistake that was done by no one other than you… 

You piss me off!!!"

BAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"GHAHAAKKKK!!!!!!"

I threw him downwards to the ground in front of me, and he created a crater from being smacked down like that. He coughed blood as he rested his body on the side of the crater.

I took a deep breath, trying to stop this form from taking over my mind even more. But the more I tried to stop it, the angrier I became.

My emotions were already bewildered from the very beginning. I was still taken aback by the sudden news of Gen and Brian's death. Then I became unstable because a child came running at me while crying about his kidnapped father. And now, the dumbass White ranked adventurer is blaming me for something I wasn't even remotely related to.

I became… very unstable.

I need blood... I crave blood.

It is too late.

The moment I activated this form, be it purposely or not, it was bad news for everyone. I can't turn it on and off like I thought I could, and now I am stuck at being angry…

Shit… this is bad. Please tell me there's not a village nearby…

Just when I was starting to panic, Cane whispered again from the ground.

"What... would they want... from me...?"

Cane muttered from the ground. His voice is weak, but I can hear him very clearly.

For some reason, all of my attention was turned to him. My emotions suddenly became colder, and I can feel the rage disappearing.

I turned to see him again, and my form is slowly disappearing.

"They… would want you to become the best of yourself... someone who you wanted to be the most.

Someone that protects the weak from the evil endangering them… Someone who can be looked up to by others.

A hero."

As I answered, the devil form slowly disappears. I looked at my hands to see that the black scales were no longer there. Seeing that the form has now disappeared made me question how the hell did that happen, but I kept on talking.

"… If you can't protect them, then you can recompense with protecting other people. That… is what I believe is something that they would want."

After saying that to him, he let out a chuckle. Not because of how stupid I am for telling him all this, but because of how stupid he has been acting for the past year. 

He closed his face with both of his hands, and he cried heavily.

"Gen... Brian... Selina, Silica... I'm sorry... I'm so pathetic..."

He cried while closing his face. I simply stood there, watching the sadness of a man who lost everything.

That day must have been the heaviest day that he can ever imagine happening, and I don't even want to imagine it happening to me. Losing your teammates… was already very painful. It is worse when you are the strongest among them, and the fact that they died was in fact your fault… that destroys you completely.

I can understand why Cane wanted to push the blame to someone else. He realizes that his friends wouldn't want him to kill himself, so he can't suicide and was forced to live with that pain. Which means, the only way for him to avert his attention from the pain, is to shove that guilt to someone else.

A survivor… that is what you are, Cane.

To live, all while bearing that pain in your chest… I salute you.

If it was me… I wouldn't even last a single day without trying to suicide. So I understand, Cane was by no means weak. Both mentally, and physically.

And just when I was about to approach him, an explosion occurred on the ground to my left.

The Lindworms came out from the ground, and they are out for blood.

"Fuck off."

I threw a mini firebomb at it, and it exploded into pieces instantly. The whole that the Lindworm came from quickly got closed by the dead corpse.

"I forgot this is a mission location."

I said as I turned my gaze back at him. His eyes are still widened from the scene he just saw, how I killed the Lindworms just by throwing a marble sized magic attack.

"Now, are you still going to try to kill me? Or have you finally snapped back to reality?"

Hearing my question, Cane took a deep breath and slowly stood back up. It took him a long time, but he finally overcame it and moved on. His eyes are no longer brimming with hatred. Instead, it is brimming with courage.

Woah… H-He became normal very quickly…

Maybe there are some perks of being an airhead…

"If they wanted me to become a hero and help other people, then so be it... If they wanted me to stay sane, then so be it. 

If they wanted me to kill you..."

He glared at me, and I quickly released a slight bloodlust.

"... I would never agree to do that."

A grin formed on my face and I clapped my hands.

"Great! Now that we have come to an understanding…"

I lifted my right hand and casted healing magic on him. The King tier healing magic quickly envelopes his entire body and heals him instantly.

Cane looked at his entire body. Every single wound, including the broken back, has been completely healed. He looked back at me, trying to believe what happened, but I simply turned my back at him and faced behind me.

"I still can't believe you would throw the blame to me just like that… after all, I wasn't even related to their deaths whatsoever."

BAAARRR!!!!

Three Lindworms are coming at us from under the ground, and possibly even more are on the way down there. One by one, they came out and blasted through the surface of the forest, throwing trees everywhere. They screamed at me as they got ready for the attack.

"… But I won't be dwelling over that fact anymore… and neither should you dwell on blaming other people.

You can only move on… and move forward. I too lost everything once, so I understand why it is incredibly hard to keep on moving forward."

Hearing that last part, Cane stared at my back wide-eyed.

I turned my eyes to the left to see him with my left eye, while my right hand is forming a giant claw made out of shadow magic.

"Maybe you are indeed an idiot, Cane… but you are still very strong. If you fall down now, the world will be in danger. The Dragon Slayer… must keep on moving forward.

So… shall we just finish the mission?"