Chapter CLXII - All Out War (part 4)

Everyone watched in awe. They know Emily has grown amazingly in just a span of a week, and only now, up close, have they seen it. She went toe to toe with a dragon's fire breath and won. How is that possible?

And seeing how their weakest member suddenly becomes that strong… definitely riles them up.

Fran and Cane move in for a close combat while Rath shoots some deadly powerful arrows from behind. His arrows pierced through the dragon's skin and stunned the dragons with its lightning trait.

After the dragons got stunned, Fran and Cane moved in and sliced the heads of the dragons away.

SHRESHH!!!

The head of the dragons fell to the ground. Both Cane and Fran stopped and studied the situation.

"Killing them is really that easy if you know their weaknesses."

Fran said while clearing her blade off blood. Cane chuckled when the dragons fell to the ground, headless.

"The White ranked regular dragons won't stand a chance against that kind of barrage attack."

"Oh hey, you guys are done?"

A voice came behind Cane and he quickly turned around. I landed next to the two while everyone else was walking here.

"Rize? What happened to the rest of the… dragons?"

Fran stopped her question because they got answered as soon as she turned to look around. 

The skies… are clear and beautiful. 

There is simply nothing flying in the skies. The trees in the forest suddenly became red from false photosynthesis using the bloodbath that rained from the skies. Corpses of lesser dragons, nearly evolved lesser dragons, and White ranked regular dragons are simply everywhere and anywhere in pieces.

The stench of blood was brought by the wind coming from the forest, and everyone was too stunned to close their noses.

"R-Rize… You… killed them all??"

Everyone was too stunned by that fact. After all, I killed all of them, and not a single wound or scar was seen on me.

"Trust me, the scene on that side where I came from is much worse than this, so you totally do not want to check them out."

Fran and Cane couldn't say anything while Brod, Emily, and Rath just came from the back side.

"Rize!! Did you kill all those dragons??"

"Yeap. Why?"

"W-Why?? Rize, you are insane!"

Rath looked really impressed, but I don't do this to impress him or anyone. The village was about to be devastated. The only choice is to kill the dragons.

"You said the scene at the place you came from was pretty much like this… How many dragons were there in your spot?"

Fran asked, and I lifted two fingers.

"Around twenty. Most of them are lesser, but I think nine of them are regular."

"Insane… that word shouldn't even be enough to describe you…"

Fran muttered what Rath said, and Cane continued with the worst nickname of all.

"How about the Devil?"

"Good one, Cane."

And somehow Fran agreed… Wait, how?

Ah… damn it. I just figured out something rather dumb.

Fran will only agree with Cane… when the topic is related to either mocking me or teasing me. I hate knowing that fact.

I was about to tell them that calling me the Devil now is simply too early… but then Emily stepped forward.

"Rize, Rize!! I mastered all the things you told me!"

"Yeah, I saw! That fire blaze was mad!!"

"Please teach me more! I want to be much stronger!"

"T-That, it's not that easy, Emily…"

Emily chuckled, and the others quickly began to grow restless. They all barraged Emily with questions, as to how she got so strong so quickly. She kept on turning to me to help her answer, but I simply looked away.

After turning my face away, I immediately noticed something.

While everyone was talking, my senses picked up something really… really horrible. 

Something… extremely powerful.

My face turned towards the west, and Emily was the first to notice the change in my expression.

"Rize? What's wrong--"

VWUNGG!!!

A few seconds later, a blast of pressure was emitted. 

VWUUUUUNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

It continued. The pressure did not stop and continues to become stronger every second.

Looks like everyone felt it too, because their faces quickly turned stone cold and worried. It was so powerful, possibly three times stronger than the strongest dragon that came today.

"What… was that…?"

Fran said as she turned towards the west, exactly the spot where I came from. It was at that moment that a memory came to my mind.

"Dragons, they… the more they eat, the stronger they become…"

"And… how does that correlate with this?"

"There are plenty of dragon corpses there that I left… He must have eaten them all…

and evolved…"

Everyone understood what I meant, and turned their gazes towards the west.

The grey dragon that went there… he didn't run away. 

He came there to feast… 

And evolve.

"ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A loud roar suddenly sounded and shook the world. 

A very loud one.

The loud roar nearly destroyed our ears, and everyone quickly covered their ears. The ground below our feet literally shook from the vibration caused by the roar that is kilometers away from our position, so it shows exactly how powerful that roar was.

The adventurers and the villagers on the other side of the village were quite far from the source, but it's still very deafening for them as well.

Meanwhile at the capital of Mazino, the sound reached them like a noise from far away. The adventurers on the Office stood up from the diner and quickly ran outside when they heard, and so many other people were also standing on the main street as they tried to figure out what sound that was. 

All of them are turning their gazes towards the source, the direction where the roar came from. There are plenty of giant black smokes from that direction, so they know that the roar definitely comes from there.

Obviously, that was the scream of a dragon, and everyone became very worried hearing something that loud from that far away.

Keila who also ran outside simply cupped her hands together while praying. With enough breath, she let out a long sigh and prayed.

"Please... Let them be okay."

.

BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!

After the loud roar, an explosion can be seen far on the western side of the village.

Aside from the smoke, it can be seen that the explosion throws something into the skies… 

Something… gigantic, winged, and black.

The giant black item in the skies somehow turned its direction sharply and flew towards the forest near us at high speed. 

The moment it was coming, I immediately turned to Emily.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It crash landed on the northern forest, destroying simply everything at a radius of fifty meters. The explosive landing flattened the entire area off trees, throwing tree logs and giant rocks everywhere.

It was still far from our position, but Emily still had to create a wind barrier to protect us from the wind force and the giant tree logs flying towards us. And during all that havoc, the pressure finally arrives to our senses.

VWOOOMMMM!!!!!!!

This…

This is…

Everyone is wearing the same frightened expression. Whatever just landed on the forest, it is not something they can stand against.

As the dust cleared, it showed us clearly what just landed at the center of the forest. Thanks to the forest completely wiped out, we can see exactly what that thing was, right at the center of this large field that it just created.

The first thing that was shown is the gigantic black wing that was opened widely and being lifted upwards, and then the long neck that is slowly lifting itself upwards while being connected to its body.

Behind the dust and slowly rising from the crater, is a single black dragon. The size alone is easily five times the size of a White ranked regular dragon, over thirty meters tall with wings spanning over sixty meters. 

The neck is glowing blue as it charges flames to its mouth, and the air shook like crazy the moment it shoots blue flaming blaze to the skies.

"RHHOOOAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

VWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The skies turned blue and black from the fire and smoke. It was beautiful and blue, but now it is fully covered in black clouds hundreds of meters wide and thick in our airspace.

The pressure alone is already telling that this dragon is already at the Black rank. A rank that was simply impossible for any being to reach. A level so much more powerful than a Yellow ranked dungeon boss. A power that… can destroy the entire kingdom very easily.

The gigantic black dragon turned its fearsome glare at us who is only tens of meters away next to its gigantic feet. In an instant, the air around us turned thin and hard to breathe from just the pressure force being focused on us.

Without a doubt…

This thing… 

is an Elder dragon.