Dragon.

It is an existence that was always the subject of myths and legends.

The epitome of power.

It was a beast that always lightened the myths.

And, of course, as an RPG game, there is no way Chronicles of Aeris would miss such existence.

The embodiment of this example is right in front of me.

A dragon that slowly rises from the ground.

/ROOOOOOOAR/

A loud sound of a mighty being announcing the world its arrival.

'Huh? I can't move?'

And in the midst of those, here I am, trying to get up from the wall I have crashed.

'What is this pressure?'

'My hands, I am trembling? Me?'

When a being climbs the ranks of power in this world, be it their magic or their aura, it affects the will of the world itself.

Just by being in a place, they would be able to announce their existence through pressure.

And we have a term for this tool on Earth too.

Primordial Instincts of every living being. The fear of the predator.

'I am scared?'

'No.'

Clenching my fists, I started putting more power on my legs.

'No, fucking way. There is just no fucking way that I am bowing down to a Lizard here.'

'I refuse to bow down.'

/STAB/

Stabbing the wall behind me with my Nihil, I started pulling myself upwards.

"Grrrrrrrr….."

'I won't fucking bow down to anyone…. I will carve my own destiny.'

<Trait [Ego] is resisting the Fear status implement.>

<Trait [Ego] successfully removed the status effect Fear.>

Gritting my teeth, I grabbed my sword an pulled myself off, shaking the pressure hanging upon my body.

"Huff…. Huff…"

/ROOOOAAAAARRRR/ /BOOM/ /BOOM/

Feeling the ground shaking, I started looking around.

'All Seeing Eye.'

'There aren't any mana fluctuations around me, aside from the Dragon.'

Immediately concluding that, I climbed on top of a roof, or what is left of that.

'Something is coming.'

And before I could even move, I sensed another heavy pressure coming.

'This is bad. If they are here to erase the dragon, then we need to increase the distance.'

If two powerful beings would clash, that means the tremors would affect the environment, and that itself might even kill me.

This was the reason why I started leaving the place.

'There should be at least a seven-star mage or knight coming here. That dragon is not the strongest, but it is not that weak, either. I am sensing dark mana from it, probably an undead dragon.'

'But, it is not my problem anymore.'

/SWOOSH/ /SWOOSH/

With that, I started rushing towards the outside while calling Night from the subspace.

"Come on, my girl, let's go."

Chucking the horse, I started riding at a fast speed toward the outside.

'The convoys should have already left this place.'

'Hmm… The crystal is vibrating. Good, they are outside.'

Crystal of Hearts.

It is a material that is widely used by adventurers and their clients.

Since this world doesn't have any GPS or something like that, there is a need to locate the clients, and this crystal is just for that.

If you split this crystal, the separated parts would vibrate in the direction of each other when injected with mana.

And seeing the crystal vibrating, I increased my speed and reached the place where the crystal was shining while removing the mask from my face.

/BOOM/ /BOOM/

From my back, the tremors of the fight started coming.

'The clash has started. The convoy must be moving. They can't wait for me.'

Immediately concluding that I had increased my speed.

In the first place, just because I am missing doesn't mean the convoy will wait for me. They will prioritize their lives first. This is what I would do if I were in their shoes.

'I don't know what the situation is inside the city, but this terrorism was not mentioned in the game. Something is fishy.'

With that thought, I saw the slight light illuminating from a distance.

Jumping from the Night, I recalled it to subspace and started running towards the light with crystal in my hand.

'Good, I can see the convoy.'

/SWOOSH/ /CLANK/

Albeit, before I could get closer, an arrow flew through my face.

With my sword drawn from its place, I deflected it, not letting it injure me.

"It's me, Callius. Don't shoot."

With my crystal raised, I started swinging it while shouting.

And the convoy stopped for a second.

/BOOM/ /BOOM/ /RUMBLE/ /RUMBLE/

'The fight is getting more and more intense. The Dragon is using its magic too.'

Seeing the pure magic circles being drawn on the sky, I thought.

Sky rumbling, clouds forming. It was like a typhoon from Earth—a natural disaster.

"Callius, is that you?"

Turning my face towards the ground, I saw the members of the party.

Almost every one of them was disheveled, showing signs of battle.

"Yes. It is me."

"Oh, thank god."

Rushing towards me, there was a girl with a slightly teary face.

"Huh?"

"With her hands wrapped around my shoulder, Aliya jumped on top of me, hugging me.

"I thought you were dead. Thank goodness."

"Aliya, now we can't afford to waste any time."

With a stern face, the father of Aliya, John, grabbed her by her shoulder and urged us to go into the carriage.

"We need to move, or we won't make it alive."

"Sorry…."

"Let's go."

Entering the first carriage, John signaled me to come there as well.

"Everyone, stay on your guard. We might have a company."

"Saphielle, can you see enough in the dark?"

"I can. But I need to use my mana."

"Then, keep your eyes around. We have enough mana potions until we can open the distance up."

"Okay."

"Nushala, how is your situation?"

"I can't sense any mana from outside. The fight happening in the city is messing up everything around."

"I see. Then we can't do anything aside from standing on guard."

As the captain of the party, Wayne was ordering around.

Entering the first carriage, I sat in front of the John.

"How is the situation of cargo?"

"We didn't lose much. Thanks to your quick response and others' awareness, we gathered together quickly and left the city without wasting any time. We were going to wait for you, but hearing the roar coming from the city, we decided to leave. Hope you don't get offended."

"No, it is fine. You did the right thing."

"But, Callius. What was it?"

"It was a dragon."

"Huh? Dragon? A real one?"

"Yes. It was a dragon."

"What? Then how did you leave there? What about Dragon's Fear?"

"I overcame it."

"Overcame it?"

"Father, is it what is important right now?"

"Ah… you are right…."

Saying that he turned his towards me.

"….. Thank you for saving my daughter there. If it wasn't for you, I don't know what would happen to her."

With a slight bow, he said, showing his gratitude.

"It is fine. Don't mention it."

"I will reward you later when we reach a safe city."

"Okay."

"But, Callius, you were very fast. I have never seen you fight before."

Saying that, Alina slowly came closer, touching my arms.

"Well, there wasn't any need for me to do."

"Hmm… Your arms are well-developed, and you are fast too…. Wait, you have broken through?"

"Yes. Just today."

"Ah, so that's why I was getting a different vibe from you."

'This girl, what is she doing in front of her father? And it seems this type of situation wasn't the first time she had been in one.'

I thought, slightly correcting my posture.

"Cough… cough…."

It seems John was uncomfortable as well.

"Now, what is the plan?"

Getting immediately serious, I asked.

"First, we are planning to increase the distance and get closer to the border of Empire since we are pretty close there."

"I see."

"However, we haven't planned the route yet."

"We are going to do it while we are resting, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"You can rest there for a while. It seems you have fought a lot in there."

Seeing the blood marks around me, he said.

"You can say so.

After that, it was pretty quiet.

'Seeing the position of the moon and the way topography changes, we should be around the southwest border of Empire. However, we are now heading toward the wilderness. This is not good.'

'Because of the pressure from the Dragon and the tremors of the fight, all of the monsters should have been affected by it. It is a very high possibility that we will encounter a monster horde.'

"Mister John. Do you have the Monster Repellent with you?"

"Yes, it is here."

"How long can it function? Or does it function? Please check it."

"Huh? It doesn't work."

"As I suspected."

"Why?"

"Because the fight is messing with mana around. And it is clashing with the process of monster repelling."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"We will fight our way through."

"GUYS, GET READY. WE HAVE A COMPANY!"

And the moment I said that the notification came from the outside, marking the start of the fight.

'Here we go again.'