Chapter 27: No Complaints, Right?

“Uooooooooh!!”

“VUEXIIIIIIIIII!!”

The dragon’s razor-sharp claw swipe tore up the ground, and a giant tree, uprooted with its roots still attached, spun through the air.

Takeru caught the tree mid-air, leapt, and hurled it toward the dragon’s flaming maw.

“VAA Vuaaa!!”

The thrown tree pierced into the roof of the dragon’s mouth, and the force made the beast rear its head to the sky.

The spewed flames were launched into the sky, casting a crimson light over both armies.

“...Haaah... haaah... haaah...”

After half a day of nonstop battle, the dragon was in tatters.

Its right wing was snapped and bleeding, and several of its scales had been stripped away.

Parts of its face were caved in, some fangs were broken, and a tree was impaled in its right eye.

“It’s still not going down...?”

There was no doubt—Takeru had the upper hand in this fight.

But just as clear was how utterly exhausted he was.

...He had underestimated the dragon’s resilience.

He never imagined it would be this tough of a creature.

“...”

Takeru briefly glanced over his shoulder.

Far in the distance, atop the walls of Byuredesto, the beautiful Princess Rishali watched him with worry, clasping her hands in prayer.

“Gotta push through... yeah.”

This battle with the dragon—every second of it—was a first for Takeru.

Never once before had he been so out of breath in a fight.

He had never even imagined wearing himself out in a slugfest until his stamina gave out.

“Damn, this hurts.”

The skin on his right fist was torn, with blood dripping freely.

He’d kept punching the dragon’s hide—harder than steel—and it had shredded his hand.

His left arm was bent at a wrong angle, dangling limply as he endured the pain.

Earlier, he’d failed to dodge a claw swipe and it had snapped clean.

“What a disgrace. Strength is my only redeeming quality, and look at me now.”

He’d heard the stories—his ancestor had slain a dragon.

So naturally, Takeru figured he could defeat one too.

But strictly speaking, his great-grandfather The Foolish Clown Foolish Crown hadn’t defeated a dragon.

He’d only pushed it to the brink—its body shredded, its breath ragged.

In the end, he couldn’t deliver the final blow. The dragon pretended to be dead and tricked him.

Because of that, the glory went to the first Lord Spio, who swooped in and stole the credit, and his great-grandfather died bitter and unfulfilled.

...It was less a victory than a mutual downfall.

“So this is what it feels like... for your body to get this heavy.”

The wounded dragon swung its tail again, sending a rain of rubble flying.

The falling stones were deadly. Even a pebble could tear through Takeru’s organs and be fatal.

So he instinctively leapt back to create distance.

“...?”

Dodging the stony downpour, Takeru watched the dragon carefully.

Oddly enough, it averted its gaze from him and stared intently toward the walls of Byuredesto.

“You’ve got time to look away, wretched dragon!?”

This is my chance, Takeru thought, and charged in with all his might.

He didn’t know why the dragon was distracted, but now was the time to land a solid hit.

“VOOO Voooooh!”

But the dragon didn’t even glance at Takeru as he closed in.

“VAX Vahhh!!!”

Fully prepared to take a hit, the dragon—

—hurled rubble not at Takeru, but straight toward the walls of Byuredesto.

“...Ah!”

Takeru quickly changed course and sprinted toward the city walls.

A dragon who had lived for centuries—its intelligence wasn’t far off from that of a human.

“Eek! I-It’s aiming this way now!?”

“Lady Rishali!! Please, behind the wall!!”

“Y-Yes!”

The dragon had sensed that Takeru cared about Byuredesto.

Among the crowd, the dragon’s gaze was clearly fixed on one figure above all—the exceptionally beautiful princess.

“────Lady Rishali!!”

The rain of stone shards was closing in on Princess Rishali as well.

She was a woman of very delicate health.

If one struck her directly—or even if the shock passed through the castle wall—she could very well die from the trauma.

“Uooooooooh!!”

With a spray of dust, Takeru slid into position, placing himself in front of Rishali.

He stomped the ground with force and shaped a shield hardened with magic.

“O-Oh my. Takeru, thank you ever so much!”

He stopped it just in time. The barrage of rubble didn’t reach the wall.

The magical shield Takeru produced in the nick of time had protected Rishali.

“...Ah.”

“D-Don’t worry, Lady Rishali.”

But there was a price.

Takeru had taken a direct hit to his leg and had dropped to one knee.

He had used all his focus to form a shield for Rishali, leaving himself wide open. The debris struck him squarely.

“Healers! Get to Takeru—!”

“Lady Rishali, please get to cover! A second strike is coming!”

The dragon, seeing the opportunity, didn’t hesitate.

It began charging up another blast—a massive inferno forming at its jaws.

“Uooooooh!!”

The dragon was desperate. It truly intended to obliterate Takeru.

That fire—it was hot enough to melt not just the earthen shield, but the castle wall itself.

“I won’t let you lay a finger on Lady Rishali!!”

Takeru sprayed blood from his wounded leg as he sprinted through the incoming flames.

His body turned bright red from burns, but even so, he shielded Rishali with his frame and launched a kick square into the dragon’s face.

“T-Takeru!”

“Uaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

From that blast of dragon fire, the walls of Byuredesto melted like lava.

Even Takeru, cloaked in absurd levels of magic, suffered devastating burns.

For an ordinary person, even brushing against it would have meant instant vaporization.

The only reason Rishali remained unharmed—was because Takeru had taken the flames in her place.

“Please, get medical attention! You can’t go on like this!”

“A wound like this is nothing!!”

“Takeru!!”

Still, he didn’t back down.

If the dragon aimed at the princess again, she wouldn’t survive.

Now that the dragon had chosen to target Rishali, Takeru had no choice but to end this fast.

“Gaaaaaaaah!!”

Half-mad with fury, Takeru charged in and unleashed a brutal assault.

He drove his elbow into the dragon’s gut, then grabbed its tail, trying to snap it.

There was no thought for dodging or defense—it was a reckless, last-ditch onslaught.

“VAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

“Don’t you dare touch Lady Rishali!!”

…No doubt, the dragon—

—had been aiming for this moment all along.

“Takeru!!”

Takeru’s desperate assault had delivered decisive results.

With his flurry of full-powered blows, the dragon’s tail bent and snapped.

Its wing was torn off, its claws cracked, and it groaned in visible agony.

“VUHHHHHHH... Bufuuuuuuu...”

“D-Damn it...”

But Takeru’s injuries were even worse.

After all, he had charged headlong through a sea of flames, brawling without dodging a single shard of stone.

There wasn’t a single uninjured part left on his body.

His skin was scorched and peeling, his legs bruised a deep purple, and his entire frame looked like a ragged, beaten cloth.

“S...Sorry... Risha────”

Takeru had reached his limit.

It was like reliving the tragedy of the Fool all over again.

With a heavy thud, he collapsed, all strength drained from his body.

“VAAAAAAA... Vaaaaaaah...!”

The dragon looked down on the fallen Takeru with a triumphant sneer.

Both were battered and near their breaking point. It had been a battle on the edge.

But now, with Takeru utterly unable to move and the dragon—though gravely wounded—still standing,

the outcome was clear.

“R-Rouga! Get to Takeru now!”

“Please wait, Lady Rishali! Even our elite muscle squad couldn’t—”

“Takeru! He’s going to be killed!!”

If nothing was done, Takeru would die.

And all because I asked him to slay the dragon...

“Berka, isn’t there anything you can do? Even just to buy time for him to escape—please!”

“...It’s too far. But if it’s just to draw its attention, I might be able to...”

“Worry not, Lady Rishali.”

Though I was panicking, pale in the face, General Rouga remained surprisingly calm.

In this situation, if Takeru lost, the Saripa army could be annihilated too—so how could he be so composed...?

“For this expedition, I requested support from the Royal Knights. That’s how I secured Takeru’s company.”

“Y-Yes, of course Takeru would come... But what does that matter now?”

“He wasn’t the one I originally asked to accompany me.”

“Our army, as you can see, is overwhelmingly male.”

“And?”

“Princess Rishali, you were abducted, after all.”

With that, General Rouga gave a slightly mischievous smile and pointed toward Takeru.

“We had to prepare for the worst, regardless of your condition.”

“...Huh?”

“That’s why I specifically requested a female knight—someone capable of providing escort, and also healing magic...”

Just then, a loud explosion rang out across the battlefield.

All eyes turned toward Takeru, and a dense white smokescreen had enveloped the area.

“Va!? Bwah!?”

The confused dragon inhaled and blew away the smoke in a single breath—

But by the time it cleared, Takeru’s body had vanished.

---

“Ugh, seriously! You idiot!”

The dragon, having lost sight of its prey, thrashed about in confusion.

Just a few dozen meters away, behind a rock outcrop, a young girl knight was shouting furiously at Takeru.

“You told me to leave it to you, so I stayed hidden—and now you’re on the verge of dying?!”

“S-Sorry…”

“Shut it! You’re trying to impress her, right!? Then get it together already!”

A warm light radiated from the girl’s hands, bathing the hero’s body and healing it.

The burns that had reddened his torso vanished. His shredded wounds knit themselves closed. Smooth, unblemished skin regenerated in their place.

“So? Can you move your arms?”

“Yeah, good as new.”

“Thought so.”

The girl knight, Paulie, had been running just behind Takeru when he charged out.

Since the battle with the dragon began, she’d been hiding the whole time at Takeru’s instruction.

“Jeez. The rest is on you now.”

“Thanks, Paulie.”

“I’m going back into hiding. I’ll heal you again anytime—just keep fighting!”

Though still a girl in age, Paulie was already the nation’s most skilled healer.

She had received elite training since childhood from the Knight Commander, Paulik—a purebred prodigy raised on relentless effort.

Her talent was widely known. If not for Takeru, she would have been hailed as the “next strongest of the next generation.”

“…You’re really something. The perfect partner.”

“Wh—!?”

──With her healing, no wound was beyond repair.

Takeru’s eyes burned once more with fighting spirit.

“VA… Va?”

“Alright, let’s pick up where we left off.”

The dragon, still confused after losing sight of him, now saw Takeru standing once more—and visibly flinched.

“Sorry it’s not a one-on-one anymore. But you’re the one who dragged other people into this first, when you went after Lady Rishali.”

“VA… VAAA… Vaaaa…”

Takeru’s clothes were still in tatters—but not a scratch remained on his body.

His renewed form radiated energy, and his eyes gleamed with fierce light.

All around him, an ominous surge of magical power sizzled through the air.

“No complaints, right?”

This wasn’t just “healed.”

All pride and carelessness had been burned away. Fueled by Paulie’s scolding, Takeru had come back even stronger.

To the dragon, this was the nightmare: the boss it had barely survived—Takeru in his final form—now fully healed and powered up.

…This was phase two.

“Vaaaaaaa… Vaaaaaah…”

The dragon must have realized it.

With a pitiful, broken-sounding cry—as if its spirit had snapped—it began backing away, dragging itself slowly.

“Vao vao… vao vao…”

“…Sorry, but I have orders. I can’t let you get away.”

Eventually, the dragon turned its back to Takeru.

Dragging its broken leg and tail behind it, it began slithering away like a lizard, desperately trying to flee.

“You’re a dragon, aren’t you? That means you eat people too, right?”

“Va… Vaaah…”

“It’s survival of the fittest. So if we Saripa are the ones hunting you, that’s just nature taking its course.”

Takeru leapt after the dragon, which was flailing in its ugly attempt to escape.

And then—he swung down his hand like a blade.

“…Sorry.”

──The whistle of slicing wind echoed across the battlefield.

The writhing dragon convulsed violently, and with a sharp, cracking sound, it jolted upward.

“Ohh… Lord Gurdebakh…”

“A-Ah, no way…”

Amid the murmurs of stunned soldiers, a spray of vivid crimson gushed from the dragon’s neck.

And its head—thudded heavily to the ground.

“...The wicked dragon has been slain!”

Takeru, with his small frame, gripped the massive severed head with both hands.

Then, lifting it high overhead so even the Yaiban forces could see, he presented the dragon’s head in triumph.