Chapter 30 : I Was Saved

===A Certain Brave King Who Want To Die in Battle===

The Thunder Dragon came toward the Royal Capital.

Straddling on Ryuun’s back, I brandished my divine sword at the giant dragon that was heading toward the Royal Capital.

「!!」

「Is it just… dodging it?!」

Just before my invisible slash struck its body, the dragon rolled to the side, dodging the incoming attack.

I was really surprised upon finding that the dragon could sense the invisible slash, but I was even more surprised to realize that it could move so nimbly in spite of its giant frame.

「GROAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

But thanks to my attack, the dragon was completely focused on me right now.

It raised a raging roar as it looked down on me from above.

「HAH!!」

I brandished my next attack.

When the second slash dodged too, I fired the third slash without waiting for the dragon to fix its posture.

Even so, Thunder Dragon Emperor’s wings fluttered, and it easily dodged all of my attacks.

As I thought, it knew the orbit of the invisible slash.

Or should I say… as expected of a great disaster-class monster.

It wouldn’t fall so easily, even when I was armed with a divine sword.

Naturally, I had expected beforehand that taking it down wouldn’t be that simple.

I had been prepared for this kind of situation from the very beginning. I would bring down my opponent to the grave—even if it cost my life.

After I ended my attack, the Thunder Dragon Emperor—who had been waiting for a chance to attack—opened its mouth.

It was probably about to use the same lightning breath that destroyed the barrier that enveloped the Royal Capital.

Although my body was protected with legend-rank armor, I couldn’t imagine myself surviving if I received that terrifying lightning breath head on.

I leaped down from Ryuun, protecting my beloved horse behind me, and then readied my stance.

I sharpened all of my senses and waited for the right moment.

And then, that terrifying mass of energy was released along with a blinding flash.

「HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!」

I didn’t miss that moment and brandished my divine sword right.

The lightning breath was bisected right in half, passing by on my sides.

「GUH!」

Although I avoided a direct hit, I wasn’t completely unscathed.

My entire body was paralyzed, and I fell on my knees.

But my sacrifice wasn’t for naught.

「GROAAA??」

The Thunder Dragon Emperor lost one of its wings. Upon losing its ability to fly, it fell on the ground.

It crashed on the ground, creating a tremendous impact.

The thing I cut just now wasn’t just its dragon breath.

I cut one of the Thunder Dragon Emperor’s wings along with its breath.

The moment the dragon fired its lightning breath was its most vulnerable moment. I used that opening to cut the dragon along with its breath.

But still… I was aiming for its body, it seemed the dragon dodged right at the last moment.

「OAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

「It might feel humiliated knowing that one of its wings was cut off by puny human like me.」

I could feel the Thunder Dragon Emperor’s wrath from where I stood.

Any ordinary man would lose their fighting spirit when faced with the dragon’s wrath.

Finally, the paralysis was about to wear off.

I told Ryuun to go, and then I turned to face the Thunder Dragon Emperor.

「There’s no way it’s going to flee like that undead. This guy is the real deal!」

The dragon kept firing small thunderbolts around. As I thought, it couldn’t fire that lightning in succession.

Naturally, it was far easier to dodge the thunderbolts, even without using the divine sword.

But right at that moment, the dragon threw its thunderbolt to the ground.

Moreover, it wasn’t just one or two.

It kept firing one thunderbolt after another to its surroundings.

The exploded thunderbolts scattered around the soil, creating a dense dust cloud.

At the same time, that dust cloud covered the dragon’s giant frame too.

「Trying to hide yourself, huh! But such a gigantic amount of mana wo―?!」

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

Because that giant dragon’s presence had completely vanished.

Did that mean all monsters of a similar rank could conceal their existence in this way?

「Kuh!」

Driven by impulse, I brandished my divine sword randomly, but none of my strikes hit the target.

「GROAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

「~??!」

I turned around at once as soon as I heard the roar from behind me.

I shuddered.

In the blink of an eye, the dragon’s giant frame stood right behind me.

And then, it swung down its foreleg.

Its attack was too fast, and I couldn’t dodge it in time.

「AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!」

By the time I noticed, I’d already been blown really far away from my original position.

My body tumbled around numerous times on the ground. By the time it stopped, I was already an inch away from death.

It felt like the attack just now had broken all the bones in my body.

It was already a miracle that I survived from that attack.

In my dimmed consciousness, I tried to force my hand to move and grab the potion, but my hand refused to follow the orders from my brain.

The dragon didn’t miss such an opening and closed in to finish me off.

So this was the power… of a great disaster-class monster.

Definitely not the kind of opponent I could face with just my measly human body.

But I still had my trump card.

Although I certainly would die once I used it, I could at least drag this dragon wi―

「?!」

At the moment I thought so…

I noticed another presence coming closer to my side.

That white-haired undead.

No way, he returned?!

Oh crap…

I couldn’t fight this guy in my current condition.

When I was wondering desperately what the white-haired undead wanted to do, he took the potion that I tried to grab a moment ago.

Oh SHIT!

I couldn’t use my trump card with this tattered body of mine.

Because the first and absolute requirement to use that trump card was for me to drink that high-grade potion.

And now that potion was snatched…

I grit my teeth in frustration.

「… WHAT?!」

Somehow, I felt the effects of that potion coursing in my entire body.

What was the meaning of this?

My body had… recovered?

I was too bewildered by what happened to me just now. By the time I snapped back, the Thunder Dragon Emperor had arrived to finish me off.

「GURUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The white-haired undead and I probably looked like the same human. The heck, it might even have mistaken us as the same species.

It swung down its foreleg, trying to crush him.

To the dragon, us humans most likely looked no different from rats due to a simple difference in size.

Everyone who saw this scene might have already imagined the future in which the white-haired undead turned into a mushed lump of meat.

GAN!

「… Eh?」

But such a future didn’t come to pass.

The undead’s feet sank into the ground, and a sound like metal clashing on metal rang out.

The undead stood motionlessly there, tilting his head lightly. However, his posture remained unchanged, as if he only received a light kick from a toddler.

It was just like the scene of hitting a nail with a hammer.

「GRRR?」

The Thunder Dragon Emperor couldn’t hide its surprise either.

On the other hand, the white-haired undead caught the Thunder Dragon Emperor’s foreleg with one hand.

BWOSHBWOSHBWOSH!

He swung around the dragon by its leg, as if that huge mass was as light as a feather.

IMPOSSIBLE?!

I mean, that giant dragon should be really heavy, right?!

As I was blown back by a gust of wind, I tried to make sense of the unreal scenery before me—the undead tossed the giant dragon’s body.

「GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR?!」

The Thunder Emperor Dragon, who was tossed really far away, raised a pained scream as its giant body bounced numerous times on the ground.

「S-Such power…?!!!! Where is he?!」

When I snapped back, the figure of the undead had already vanished.

He was chasing after the Thunder Emperor Dragon at a terrifying speed.

「His superhuman strength aside, is he also capable of moving so quickly?!」

Even though I received one surprise after another today, I strained my eyes to look at the end of the battle between those two great disaster-class monsters.

Even though the Thunder Dragon Emperor was tumbling around on the ground, it stood up immediately, raising an enraged cry as it made preparations to counter the undead.

The dragon fired its powerful lightning breath toward the approaching undead.

To think that the dragon used that of all options; the undead wouldn’t be able to dodge in time.

Thus, the undead was swallowed by lightning breath head on.

「??!!」

And then, I saw an unbelievable scene—something leaped up from that breath.

Although I couldn’t see clearly from this distance, he didn’t seem to be injured by that breath attack.

The undead leaped toward the Thunder Dragon Emperor, whose mouth was still wide open after firing that lightning breath.

For a moment, I thought that undead was going to attempt a suicide attack, but I recalled the first and foremost information about that undead.

That undead was swallowed by a Tarrasque Lord, but he escaped by destroying the tough Tarrasque Lord’s shell from the inside.

Getting out of the dragon’s stomach was probably not a big deal for that undead.

In addition, the Thunder Dragon Emperor couldn’t do anything about attacks that came from inside it.

「AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!」

Just as I thought, the Thunder Dragon Emperor let out an extremely loud scream a moment later.