Chapter 1.4

Nozomu is working part-time at the commercial district depot the next day.

There is no companion today, and the Boss is asking him to organize and record the cargo in the depot area. After confirming the cargo that going to be transported, he reported to the Boss, the Boss has something to tell and called Nozomu,

"By the way, Nozomu, have you heard of a hunter seeing a dragon in the forest the other day?"

"Dragon ...?"

Dragon.

The strongest existence on this continent.

It is one of the spirit species and boasts tremendous power.

It seems that some people who once defeated the dragon had gained its power.

This existence called dragon slayer does not exist at present time, and it only remains in history textbooks and legends.

"But, what is a legendary dragon doing near such a city?"

"I think so, perhaps the dragon is just a misunderstanding. Well, you often go to the forest, you should consider it even if it's "Lóng" (TL: Chinese Dragon)."

When He said that, the Boss laughed with a smile.

Unlike Dragons, "Lóng"s are a type of demon beast.

Its power is not as strong as the dragon, and the intelligence is low, but it is a very big threat to humans.

Its power is definitely one of the highest in the category of demon beasts.

Certainly, no matter how I think about it, I can't win.

"I understand. I'll be careful."

I thanked the Boss and went home to go to Shishō's place.

***

Nozomu goes home, prepares his sword, and heads for his master's hut.

He uses minimum clothing of demon beast skins that don't hinder movement, a knife and a pouch attached to the belt, a set of treatment tools such as potions in a pouch, a smokescreen ball, a sound ball, and a deep charge ball.

As the name suggests, the smokescreen ball generates a smokescreen, and the sound ball makes a surprisingly loud noise, and hopefully, weak monsters can be repelled. Finally, a deep charge ball. This is a thing that shoots thunder that is comparable to the upper-tier magic around the thrown area, and the price is correspondingly high. 

Since He has such low basic ability, and the number of times he can use powerful Qi technique is limited due to his Ability Suppression, so he bought it just in case.

Even if the effects of strengthening items that affect him are suppressed in this way, the power of items that do not depend on one's own abilities is not suppressed, so he always brings it with him when he goes to the forest.

On the way to Shino's hut, the fog came out, so he speeded up a little.

The fog gradually became thicker and could not see even 1 meter away. 

"This is bad."

Nozomu muttered, and when he saw the compass that he had on hand did not point in a certain direction, he turned around.

"What does this mean." 

There are certainly many demon beasts in this forest, but they don't have the characteristics that would make the compass go crazy.

When He feels impatient with the abnormal situation, He took a deep breath and calmed down, and looked around again.

The trees are overgrown and he can use them for hiding, but it is not a place where he can rest with peace of mind.

"Is it unavoidable to stay here for the time being?"

For the time being it is necessary to secure a safe place, so he walked around marking the passing trees with a knife so as not to get lost.

After a while, he seemed to go through the forest, the trees were gone, and he came to an open place.

It seems that the fog has gradually begun to dissipate. 

As he was relieved, the surrounding scenery suddenly became distorted.

"Eh?"

The next moment, he is standing in a strange place. 

Surrounded by mountains, it is a barren land as far as the eye could see.

Definitely not around Arcazam. 

A huge shadow covered him who was confused.

The moment he wondered what was going on, Nozomu become speechless.

A huge black object covered half of the sky. 

It has 6 large wings with 5 colors and it flaps firmly. 

It has jet-black scales, and its profoundness seems to symbolize the years it has lived. 

Its eyes embraced the darkness of the abyss and stared at the tiny man on the ground.

It is all the embodiment of despair. 

"Dragon King Tiamat"

A heretical dragon among the feared heretics who even eat the dragons of the same race.

It was a legendary dragon that disappeared from the ground more than 5,000 years ago.

Nozomu stood with a stunned expression.

He can't understand his current situation.

If you think about it normally, no matter how many demon beasts appear, you never think of encountering a legendary dragon right in front of your eyes and nose in the city where you live. 

He is confused, but in fact, this space is a tentative world between the real world and the spirit world (where the spirits live), created to seals Tiamat using the continental veins. 

However, Tiamat possesses extremely powerful power, so this temporary confined world power becomes fluctuate. 

The fluctuation passes through the ley line, and due to the connected ley line, it may be connected to somewhere on the continent and make a path.

The path is much smaller for Tiamat to pass through, but most creatures such as humans can pass through it.

Nozomu passed by without knowing the way and came to this confined world. 

Tiamat faced Nozomu. In his eyes is pure joy of finding his prey for the first in a long time. As the jet black dragon folded its wings, it descended directly towards Nozomu. Nozomu shroud his whole body with Qi, kicked the ground, and left the place instantly.

Immediately after that, Tiamat descended with a roaring sound.

The dragon's weight and the impact of the drop caused the ground to turn up and scatter with a shockwave.

Nozomu is knocked over by the shockwave, blown away, and slammed to the ground.

There are no visible injuries because he was taking a defensive stanceinstantly, but there are wounds in several places due to scattered stones and rock fragments.

He immediately decided to retreat. 

He throws all the smokescreen balls he had and escapes to the forest at full speed among the smokescreens that have been generated.

He thought that if he hides in the trees of the forest, he would have more time to escape.

However, the idea is too good to be true.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”

As he ran between the smoke screens, all of the smokescreens disappeared with a tremendous roar.

Not only that, he is blown away again by the shock wave that struck.

Looking at Tiamat, he isn't moving at all, it seemed just a simple roar and the accompanying shockwave has blown away all the smokescreens.

When Nozomu was dumbfounded, Tiamat opened his mouth wide, and huge black flames gathered in his mouth.

The flame is chaotic black with various colors mixed in. 

Nozomu's alarm bell instinctively started ringing at the maximum and withdraw his feet as fast as possible.

The exhaled huge flame passed by him at a very last-minute and landed in the forest.

The next moment, the sound disappeared from the world.

When he noticed, he is flying in the sky. 

Swimming in the air for the first time in his life, It felt so unreal, but seconds later, the impact of being hit on the ground forced his consciousness to return to reality.

Check the body that was injured in the fall, take the potion out of the bag, and drink it.

While feeling the healing potion heals his body, He saw the forest and the surrounding area and becomes speechless. 

The forest is completely burned down. 

At the point of impact, there is a crater that seemed big enough for Solminati Academy to enter it, and its existence had completely vanished.

The trees around the crater had been blown off and carbonized without retaining their true shape, perhaps because it was burned out in an instant.

The barely burnt trees were all knocked off of their roots by the shockwave.

Looking back at Tiamat with a stunned expression, the jet-black dragon spread its five colored 6 wings.

A photosphere colored in innumerable five colors is created on the wings.

"Spirit magic"

Magic used by spirit species that summon the power of the world. Unlike other spells used by non-spirit species. Spirit magic, that do not require a process that interferes with the outside world, is activated the moment he decides to use a spell, enabling overwhelming haste compared to other spells. 

Countless photosphere is heading his way while giving trails of light. The amount is innumerable and fills most of his view.

Nozomu cuts off the photosphere with his katana while retreating with all his might, but he is easily swallowed by the swarms of light in too large of quantity.

Still, he resists with all his might to avoid fatal injuries.

When the rain of light stopped, there is Nozomu, pierced all over the body.

He took multiple potions and drink them all at once. 

"Guuuu!"

He looked at Tiamat who slowly approached him while he moans as the potion forcibly healed his body.

It is impossible to escape if you look at the state of the forest.

The forest that hides him is burned down, even if he can hide, it will be blown away all at once again.

He only has one choice, and the battle of despair began. 

"Uhhhhhhh …………"

It's been more than ten minutes since the battle started.

No, it wasn't a battle.

A battle is only possible if there is an enemy, but for the jet-black dragon, such a thing is not in front of him.

Nozomu is just his toy dispel his boredom.

The jet-black dragon can kill Nozomu in a blink of an eye, but for the dragon, this is not a battle but a play.

Just like a cat playing with a mouse.

However, for that reason, Nozomu survived this eternal ten minutes.

Still, there is only despair await beyond that. 

He can't even injure the scale with all-out slashes and Qi technique he shoots without thinking ahead.

Even if he dodged Tiamat’s swinging arm, He would be blown away by the shockwave.

It is impossible to escape due to circumstances.

There are no tools on hand that can penetrate the scales of the dragon. 

He ran out of energy, and the physical strengthening by Qi technique has almost reached the limit.

In such a tightrope walking situation, the limit finally came. He doesn't know how many times, but the impact of being blown off and hitting the ground numb his body. The effect of Qi has expired. He swallowed the last potion with trembling hands and managed to get up.

Tiamat raises his arm like a tower again to Nozomu.

Nozomu cannot avoid strengthening his arm by Qi technique.

In the face of the inevitable death, Nozomu remembered what he has been doing like a revolving lantern.

In a vague consciousness, a magic lantern ran in front of such desperate situation, and He looked back at his own past.

The smile of his parents in his hometown.

"Come to think of it, I’m not giving filial piety enough."

They were good parents.

They didn't say anything to him for wanting to support Lisa, and even though their lives weren't good, they sent him to school.

He met Lisa and fell in love at first sight.

"Come to think of it, it was my first love, it was said your first love would not come true, but is it really the case?"

At that time, he confessed, and one day he was able to convey his feelings.

But in the end …………. 

He wants to support Lisa's dream. With that oath in his heart, he knocked on the door of Solminati Academy with just that thought. 

"I want to support Lisa's dream. I hope so ... but still ..."

Ability and grades did not grow as expected, impatience was solicited, and although he struggled, the path was closed due to the manifestation of ability suppression.

Lisa suddenly said goodbye and He was isolated from the school.

"I was ... bad, why, why ... I wonder why she didn't tell me anything ..."

His heart is still hurt even now. 

He wonders if his existence was such a big deal for her.

He met Shishō, and a little light flashed.

"I'm glad to have met Shishō. She's a wild woman, but she is clearly a good person." 

It was a hellish day of training, but she definitely thought about him.

At first, She wanted to ignore him, but she helped him while complaining of being attacked by the Wild Dog.

When he thinks about it now, He was able to return to his former self. 

To himself when He was laughing and angry honestly. 

The next moment, a shock struck him, erasing his memories with his awareness.

Tiamat's arm reached the ground in front of Nozomu. After that, he is thrown and rolled on the ground unsightly. 

Tiamat is clearly playing. His expression looks amused and completely doesn't pose a threat. 

Tiamat opens his mouth wide. Chaotic flames gather inside. Is it tired of playing with him, or Is it trying to see how much he can tolerate?

In any case, he had no way to resist now.

"Gugu, Aguje ..."

Nozomu already raised an indescribable voice and stared at the flame.

Almost unconscious, he could no longer even think of the past.

The magic lantern has passed, and only a dense, cold sign of death wrapped around him.

"Die"

He faced the dense of death and became rigid.

"Die"

It is more "death" than when one person was attacked by a Wild Dog in the forest.

"I don't want it"

He almost has no ability to think clearly, and develops his instinctive thinking.

"I do not want to die"

It becomes a strong thirst for life and burned the last life in him.

“I don't want to give up”

It is a manifestation of the strong will to live that Shino once saw.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

The next moment, he screamed insanely and roared at the giant dragon who played with his life. 

Nozomu steps towards Tiamat with a roar that burns his last life. Its speed is so fast that it's hard to believe it's a dying human.

However, it was slower than when it was fully recovered, and the flames were released without being able to get close to Tiamat by half the distance.

"Slow"

Nozomu's thoughts are focused only on eliminating the threat in front of him in order to live. His extreme concentration extends his sense of time many times over. In it, he was frustrated by his slow movement.

“Why am I so slow !!”

With this, the huge flame of death approaching in front of him cannot be avoided.

When He looked at his body, suddenly a chain that he had never seen before tied him up.

"Is it because of this !!"

He is convinced that this chain is his shackle and touches this chain to tear it apart.

If you think about it normally, you can't easily tear the chain apart. But he was confident that he would break the chain for some reason.

"It's in the way ... Aaaaaaaaaaaaa !!!"

He pulls the chain by force and the chain break with a collapsing sound.

The next moment, he accelerated in an instant and passed under the huge flame.

Tiamat lost sight of him for a moment due to too much acceleration.

Nozomu puts all his energy into this opportunity.

At this time his body vitality and blood are not yet recovered, but his body reacts instantly to his thoughts.

His physical ability is clearly jumping above the state at the time of full recovery.

He draws the katana out while running. Send his energy to the drawn sword.

Extremely compressed the energy he sent. Pulls out the katana with his screaming fighting spirit.

Qi technique "Phantom"

Qi, which is thinner and sharper than the hair, flies at the same speed as the drawn sword. He cut both eyes of Tiamat with a single slash. 

Tiamat roars and lifts his neck in response to the unthinkable counterattack.

"Phantom" is a simple technique that shoots a slash with the compressed ki of the blade, but it is difficult to see the extremely compressed ki, it flies at the same speed as the high-speed drawn sword, and if it is within 10 meters range, it is very difficult to avoid because it lands almost instantly.

Moreover, this extremely compressed Qi is a technique with extremely high killing ability, there is no denying it is difficult to defend against whether it is a steel shield or a magic barrier as it landed in both directions. 

However, since it is necessary to extremely compress the Qi, it is necessary to prepare for half a second to several seconds, and in a situation surrounded by multiple enemies, it exposes a large opening.

As he rushes toward, Tiamat lifts his forefoot and slammed it into the ground many times.

The huge forefoot hit the ground over and over again, and each time the ground shook, causing a local earthquake.

Nozomu hurriedly breaks away and moves away from the last-minute forefoot, but is overwhelmed by the shockwave.

He can't move as it is. However, the next moment, the ground collapses, and the giant Tiamat entered the hole.

Apparently, Tiamat has stepped through an underground cavity.

Tiamat is trying to get out, but it doesn't work because his eyes are closed.

Nozomu took out all of the things in the pouch while closing the gap with Tiamat, and threw something into his head.

It was a sound ball that was thrown. It explodes near Tiamat's face, causing a strong sound to reverberate around.

Tiamat, who was hit directly by a sound ball from close range, averted his gaze for a moment and slowed down.

If this was a spirit, it would not have been so much affected.

Although a dragon is a kind of spirit species, it has a physical body even though it is a mass of elements, and has an aspect as a living thing.

Because they use physical sensations, they can be affected by unforeseen circumstances that can be lost or confused. 

Of course, dragons are spirit species even though they are easily affected by physics. While wearing the paranormal sensations he deserves, Tiamat, who has too much power is unable to sustain most of his reasons, therefore it is completely confused by a series of impossible situations.

Tiamat has completely stopped his movement. Nozomu rushes to Tiamat at full speed.

The aim is the dragon's neck. The reason he aimed at the neck was that he wasn't confident that he could break the skull of the dragon's head. 

The dragon has a physical body. In other words, if the body can be killed, it can be killed.

The important thing is to kill his body.

However, it is not easy because the dragon itself has an extremely strong body. 

Nozomu jumps towards the lifted dragon's neck. Send attention to the katana that's about to be drawn again, and extremely compress it. He pulls out his sword and his sword flashes.

The Qi technique "Phantom" cuts through the scales in Tiamat's throat, and the compressed Qi explodes inside. The erupting Qi flicks the jet-black scales from the inside, exposing the soft skin.

Furthermore, Nozomu's pursuit is released.

Qi technique "Phantom -Return-"

A return blow is released as if tracing the unannounced trajectory that flashed earlier.

The blow cuts through Tiamat's neck deeply, and a large amount of blood spouts like hot water.

However, normally, even if it receives a fatal injury, it is not enough to defeat the jet-black dragon.

Nozomu uses the momentum of the return blow to make one full turn.

Combine the power of rotation and the momentum of jumping to pierce the wound in the neck that has just been torn.

The sword pierces the giant dragon's neck deeply, and the blade passes through his throat and reaches near his brainstem, but suspends on the air with the sword he stabbed as support.

"Gugaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”

However, the dragon still does not fall.

The roar that shakes the earth echoes, and it rampages to shake off Nozomu.

The sword is buried in the flesh and cannot be pushed or pulled. If nothing is done, it will be shaken off and bloody red flowers will bloom on the ground.

Nozomu squeezes his last power and reaches for the pouch on his waist.

The last remaining depth charge ball is taken out.

He hits it against the blade of the sword with all his might. 

The next moment, thunder struck with a dazzling light. The thunder, which is comparable to the upper-tier magic, passed through the sword and the nerves of the neck and burned down the dragon's cranial nerve cells.

But the thunder also burned his body and completely robbed him of his remaining power.

The dragon's giant body is collapsed and thrown out. The dragon's body is moving slightly, but his eyes no longer have the brilliance of life.

Eventually, the giant dragon collapses and becomes particles of light, soaring like a tsunami. 

Nozomu could no longer think of the particles of light soaring into heaven, he is just watching.

He is full of wounds, has limbs, but nowhere is safe.

Eventually, when the particles of light gathered in the sky above him, they fell toward him with rage.

Beyond the limits and unable to move, he was swallowed by the looming torrent of light and lost consciousness. 

***

Nozomu’s consciousness awakens slowly.

His consciousness in the dream reminds him of the battle with Tiamat.

Severe pain hit the whole body when he forcibly raised the upper body, and when he looked around, he is in the forest on the outskirts of the city.

"Unknowingly ... come back ......... haven't I."

In an incomprehensible situation, the pain running all over the body tells him that the previous battle is not a dream.

"Anyway, to Shishō ........."

He doesn't know how conscious he is, but it's not a good idea to stay here.

Judging that, Nozomu forcibly moves his aching body and heads for Shino's hut in a vague consciousness.

He didn't even realize that he had become a "Dragon Slayer" which is only a few people in history ...