I Was Reincarnated As the Strongest Protagonist Who Would Eventually Become a Hero, But It Seems the Burden Was Too Heavy For Me - Chapter 14

Two days later.

Anita and I, fully prepared, headed for the deepest part of the cave.

The main focus of our preparations was getting Anita back into top form and planning our strategy.

Anita was not just a near S-rank adventurer for show, and she was well versed in rehabilitation methods. She fought some suitable monsters and we evaluated her fight from an objective point of view—in other words, from my point of view. I carefully checked whether there were any awkward parts in her movements, whether she spent her stamina appropriately, and so on.

After confirming that both her physical condition and senses were fully recovered, Anita’s preparations were complete.

From then on, we just had a strategy meeting. After all, The enemy we were about to face was one Anita had already lost to once, so caution was necessary.

“To be honest, it was a tough choice. I hesitated to involve you in this,” Anita said as we walked.

“But you were so strong that I couldn’t help but ask… Sorry for dragging you into this.”

“Don’t worry about it. I owe you for teaching me magic.”

“Thanks, that means a lot,”

 Anita said with a smile.

After walking for a while, a thick wall of ice appeared in front of me.

“Is this the barrier?”

“Yeah, I’m no expert, so it’s just a temporary fix. But it should have been enough to trap it.”

Anita was forced to retreat in her last battle, but that didn’t mean she didn’t succeed at all. She had worn down the monster and set up a barrier to prevent it from escaping.

[It’s packed with dense magical power… Even my flames won’t melt it easily.]

This ice wall seemed to be quite sturdy.

She called it a barrier, so it probably went beyond physical hardness and had various effects.

“I’ll remove the barrier.”

The battle was about to begin.

When Anita touched the ice wall, the ice on the surface began to crumble. The ice that hit the ground quickly melted, forming a large puddle at her feet.

As the wall melted, magical power began to slowly overflow from the depths of the cave.

Ominous, violent magical power began to leak out… and now its owner was emerging.

“Grrraaaaoooorrrr!!”

Deep green scales.

Giant wings and tail.

Ferocious, reptilian eyes.

Even before Anita told me its name, I knew what it was.

“Poison Dragon…!!”

A massive dragon stood before us.

In Legend of Spirit, dragons were depicted as the most powerful of all monsters. The dragon in front of me was no exception, and just facing it made me feel the pressure that made my skin goosebumps all over my body.

In the Adventurer’s Guild, dragons were considered to be A rank or above in terms of threat. However, Anita should be able to defeat a merely A-rank dragon on her own, so this dragon was probably S rank… the highest level of threat.

No matter how I looked at it, it was not an opponent I should be challenging right now.

If I defeated it, my magical power would increase dramatically, but the risk was far too high.

In the original story, Luke didn’t fight this monster.

So there was no need for me to take on the risk of fighting this dragon.

But the reason I decided to help Anita was—

“It has wiped out eight villages.”

Last night.

Before we went to sleep, Anita quietly told me about the dragon.

“It must have been hiding until it reached adulthood. One day, the dragon suddenly appeared from the forest and wiped out a nearby village. Many people were killed, and the Adventurer’s Guild quickly issued a formal request for its subjugation… But few adventurers were willing to take up the job because the reward was too low.”

“Why was the reward so low?”

“Because nobles were not affected.”

It was a simple answer.

“Well, technically, their territory was ravaged, so they suffered some losses, but it probably wasn’t land they cared about. …Usually, subjugating a high-ranking monster would be a request funded by the kingdom or the wealthy. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to offer a reward that matches the difficulty. But occasionally, like this time, the nobility just abandons the victims. When that happens, the monster is left to roam free for a while.”

“Leaving them to roam free… Even so, it will eventually cause trouble for the nobles, right?”

“I don’t know if the dragon is smart or not, but it’s been avoiding cities with large populations. It’s only targeting small villages. I think that’s why they’re not worried yet.”

In the original story, Luke left for the royal capital early, so there was little mention of this region. I never imagined the local lord would be so foolish.

“That’s why I decided to take on the task.”

“…You have a strong sense of justice.”

“No, it’s just for personal reasons… You know, I stayed in one of the affected villages for a while. I was just starting out and they took care of me a lot, so I want to repay them….Well, the people I wanted to repay to aren’t alive anymore.”

Anita said with a smile.

But her eyes weren’t smiling.

Her eyes were filled with strong determination.

She wanted to at least defeat that dragon.

‘After hearing that story…’

I remembered the conversation I had with Anita last night.

I gripped the hilt of my sword with all my might and faced the dragon.

‘After hearing that story… there’s no way Luke wouldn’t fight!!’

Eight villages were destroyed.

One of them was an important place that Anita had a connection with.

If Luke had heard that story, he would have definitely helped defeat the dragon.

That was why I was here now.

Risks didn’t matter. What was important was what Luke would do.

“Luke! Just like we planned, we’ll start by gauging its strength!!”

“Got it!”

The Poison Dragon, which lived in the depths of forests and caves, had excellent night vision. In the dark, we would be at a huge disadvantage.

So, I’d start by lighting a fire on the wall of the cave to ensure our visibility.

“–Ice Lance!!”

The moment we got a clear line of sight, Anita unleashed an ice spear.

A single hit of this magic would be fatal to an average human—five of them slammed into the ground at the poison dragon’s feet at the same time.

The dragon screamed.

Seeing its massive body stagger, I prepared my spirit arc as well.

[Noble flame!!]

“Ride the gale and pierce the sky!!”

Twisting my waist, I drew my sword to its limit and thrust with all my might.

“Blaze Strike!!”

A flash of fire hit the dragon’s skull.

It couldn’t penetrate the deep green scales, but the dragon still let out a pained cry.

[This guy’s weak!!]

Salamander shouted in my head.

[As expected, it’s nearly starved from being trapped in the barrier!!]

Anita and I came up with two plans.

Firstly, we assumed that the dragon probably had been weakened by being trapped inside the barrier. So, depending on how weakened the dragon was, we came up with two strategies.

First.

If the dragon seemed significantly weaker, we’d attack all at once.

Second.

If the dragon didn’t seem too weakened, I would stall it while Anita re-established the barrier.

In other words, we were prepared for a third round if necessary.

Originally, Anita had trapped the dragon in a barrier as a last resort, but she later realized that this was a more logical strategy than she had expected. There was not much food in the cave. Anita had unexpectedly starved the dragon.

If starving it was working, there was no need to rush. 

We’d defeat it if possible, but if not, we’d just keep weakening it.

The key to the strategy was to accurately determine how weakened the dragon was.

That decision was up to Anita, who had already fought the dragon once.

“Aqua Wave!!”

Anita unleashed a wave of water.

The dragon was swept away by the wave and was unable to move.

We were inside a cave. The space around here was spacious, as expected of a dragon’s dwelling, but it had a low ceiling so the dragon could not spread its wings and fly.

In that case, if we could just crush its legs, we could completely block its mobility.

“It’s going to use its breath!!”

The dragon’s mouth glowed a poisonous green.

In the next moment, a huge mass of poison was spat out.

The target was… me.

This poisonous breath had forced Anita to retreat in their previous battle. 

The attack’s power was immense, and a direct hit would ruin our entire plan.

So… I must avoid it at all costs!!

“Blaze Armor!”

Crimson flames covered my body.

I dodged the blast with blinding speed, slipping into the dragon’s blind spot and launching another Blaze Strike.

The dragon screamed again.

It turned its back on us and tried to move away, but…

“I won’t let you get away!!”

Anita, who had gotten there first, stopped the dragon in its tracks with an ice spear.

We already knew the entrance the dragon had used to enter the cave. We had also predicted that the dragon would try to escape from there if it wanted to gain an advantage.

“Blaze Edge!!”

“Aqua Hammer!!”

I let out a slash of flame. Immediately afterward, Anita hit the dragon’s body with a huge hammer made of water.

The dragon reeled back.

“Keep attacking!!”

Anita shouted.

It seemed she had decided to go with the first plan. After checking the power of the breath and how easily the dragon flinched when we attacked, she had probably determined that the dragon was considerably weakened.

‘Salamander, let’s go!!’

[Yeah!!]

Crimson flames engulfed my entire body. At the same time, sparkling flames enveloped my sword.

It was a combination of two spirit arts that I had been practicing.

The power of the fiery slash was powered up even further by the physical strengthening effect of Blaze Armor.

“–Blaze Edge!”

The scorching slash dug into the dragon’s body.

A hot wind blew through the dragon, strong enough to burn its entire body.

But in an instant, the surrounding air froze.

“Countless spirits here… Please, lend me your strength!”

Anita’s earnest wish must have reached someone.

A huge amount of magical power gathered around her, and a large-scale spell was cast.

“Pseudo-spirit art—-Crystal Lance!”

A giant spear of ice appeared above Anita’s head.

It was incomparably larger than the regular magic known as Ice Lance. A spear of ice larger than the dragon’s height was now released.

A huge amount of blood splattered from the dragon’s body.

The blood froze in an instant.

Soon the green monster’s entire body was covered in ice and it fell silent.