The silver blonde elf said she will take this human, Rebethra to be exact. Having heard what she said, Riley lowered the sword he raised and asked,
“You are going to take him?”
Riley seemed to not like the idea. He looked up at the elf who was standing on top of the dragon’s corpse. His eyes were full of doubts when looking toward the elf. Not easing his gaze, Riley asked the elf,
“I don’t even know who you are. Why am I supposed to just let you have this bastard?”
Based on what the silver blonde elf mumbled earlier about being an elder, Riley figured she must be at the top of the dragon’s kind.
“Didn’t you just ask me why a dragon came all the way here?”
Silver blonde elf faced Riley’s gaze. It seemed she realized something late. She smiled lightly and lowered her head.
“Now that I think about it, this is the first time we actually met in person. I should have introduced myself in detail. It’s a pleasure meeting you. My name is Isilteru. We, the dragons, have a mission. It is maintaining the world’s balance and the wheel of fate. So… I’m here to take that man’s body.”
Isilteru said as she looked at Rebethra, who was in a gruesome state. Riley also casually glanced at Rebethra.
It seemed Isilteru and Rebethra were not allies. Facing Isilteru steadily looking at him, Rebethra glared at her and ground his teeth.
“Are you saying you are going to take him because doing so is going to make the world’s balance or whatever safe?”
With a question mark on his face, Riley asked about Isilteru’s explanation.
Isilteru thought the conversation was going to end well. She smiled lightly and said,
“Yes.”
Riley peeked a smile like Isilteru. He took a moment of pause and said,
“… I don’t want to. What are you going to do about that?”
Riley refused to cooperate. Before his response, Isilteru’s eyebrows were elevated gently. Now, having heard his response, she slightly furrowed her brows.
“… Pardon?”
“I would like to say no to more bothersome things. That’s why.”
Having finished talking, Riley swung his sword.
The target was Rebethra.
“Wait!”
Isilteru panicked in light of Riley’s sudden move. She hurriedly extended her hand and cast defensive magic to protect Rebethra’s neck.
Riley’s sword was swung. Leaving a trace of blue line, the sword rushed toward Rebethra’s neck.
However, Isilteru barely managed to protect Rebethra’s neck with her barrier spell.
“He can’t die yet. Killing him later after getting enough information out of him first is not going to be too late.”
Isilteru continued as she broke cold sweat from the sword strike she defended against just now.
‘This is a blow from a mere human?’
There was a long blue line drawn above the barrier. The sword that Riley was holding had grown even thinner. Also, there was the size of mana that Riley had. Having observed them all, Isilteru felt the chill. She continued in order to convince Riley.
“Of course. I understand very well that the current situation is not to your liking. However…”
Riley crumpled his face as if all this was such a bother to him. He raised his sword once again and cut off Isilteru’s words.
“… If you understand, then don’t butt in anymore.”
The sword he raised didn’t just get thin to the limit. It even had a long crack.
“This son of a bitch even brought back dead bastards. You want to keep him alive? What for? Are you just messing around? I had enough of your nonsense. Don’t make the problem any bigger than it already is.”
Riley clearly expressed that Isilteru should not meddle in any further. Isilteru cast yet another barrier and placed it on top of the one that was already there. She tried to persuade him again.
“If you kill him right now, it might make things easier for the next hundred years or so. However, I can’t guarantee that it will continue like that afterwards! For the sake of the future, it is best to keep him alive!”
Having heard what she just said, Riley stopped the sword he was about to swing at Rebethra. Riley casually moved his gaze and started to writhe his brows.
“… A hundred years later?”
It seemed Isilteru was relieved to hear Riley’s question. She sighed and nodded.
She was trying to convince Riley by asking him to think about the distant future instead of the present.
“Yes. Something like this had happened in the past. There is no guarantee that it won’t happen again for the third time, so… We need to stop this completely this time. If this man died right now, it will not be possible for us to prepare for what could happen in the distant future…”
As Isilteru continued her persuasion, she withdrew the barrier she cast to protect Rebethra. As soon as she did, Riley opened his eyes big without listening to the end of her speech.
“… Wait!”
Feeling his deadly aura, Isilteru flinched. She generated several dozens of light on her palm and weaved them into a chain. She used it to quickly restrain Riley who was about to swing his sword.
“You are just a lizard, yet…”
In response to Isilteru annoying him with her action, Riley genuinely seemed infuriated. He ground his teeth hard and glared at her.
“… Ugh?!”
Feeling Riley’s deadly aura, Isilteru flinched again. She had a confused look on her face. She gulped.
‘My body is?’
It was because she was not able to move her body.
“Don’t butt in. After one hundred years… For that time, let the bastards who will be there one hundred years from now to handle it. I…”
Riley mumbled with a violent look on his face. He snapped the chain of light from Isilteru that was restraining his arms and legs. He swung the sword toward Rebethra again.
“… will just live comfortably now.”
“NO!”
Because she was petrified from feeling Riley’s deadly aura, her magic on the chain of light was completely undone. She raised up her mana and forced her body to move.
‘As expected, should I say you are not an elder of dragons for nothing? I didn’t think you would force your body to move at your current state. Still, now…’
Rebethra had pitiful look on his face. It seemed he gave up on everything. Riley was swinging his sword toward Rebethra as he mumbled inside,
‘… this is the end!’
It seemed Isilteru was trying to recover Rebethra. She drew magic circle below him. However, Riley’s sword swing was faster than the rate of completion of her magic circle.
The sword, which was swung multiple times while wrapped in Riley’s mana, had become thin like an ice pick. The sword even had a long crack. It had become so weak that it looked like it couldn’t be swung more than once. However, Riley estimated that it would be enough.
“…?!”
Riley certainly was thinking that until he saw the surprised look on Rebethra, the one who was about to lose his life by Riley’s sword.
<… I am disappointed, Rebethra.>
At that critical moment…
A deep voice could be heard.
The voice felt different from Isilteru, the leader of the dragons. The voice felt terrifying.
It was coming from the dimensional space where the dragon corpse poped out from.
“…?”
“…?”
Riley was not the only one who was surprised. Isilteru, who was trying to recover Rebethra just now, was not expecting the deep voice from the dimensional space. She had her eyes open big and was staring at the direction.
<… You awakened me too soon.>
It was just before Riley’s sword reached Rebethra’s neck. The dragon’s corpse that popped out through the dimensional space disappeared without a trace. From the dimensional space, an arm suddenly came out. The arm’s appearance had purple and black colored light mixed in.
“Kuk?!”
The black hand mercilessly pierced Isilteru’s shoulder while she had her arm extended to retrieve Rebethra’s body. The hand immediately charged toward Riley.
‘What is this?!’
Riley used the time magic and made his body move faster. He turned the angle of the sword that he was swinging toward Rebethra. He then swung the sword toward the black hand that was rushing toward his chest.
“Kuk?!”
It was a close call, but Riley was able to stop the pitch black hand that was charging at him. However, the problem now was the condition of his sword.
The sword was already at its limit. The black hand broke the sword like it was a cookie stick. The hand scratched Riley’s waist as it passed by.
“Ugh!”
Riley dodged fatal injury by deflecting the black hand. He saw the hand snatching up Rebethra.
Riley crumpled his face.
‘It cannot be…’
The arm, which stretched long like a rubber string, started to quickly shorten its length.
It’s hand held Rebethra that it snatched up just now. Isilteru, who was pierced by the hand earlier, quickly used teleport and came next to Riley.
“Kurhuk!!”
Isilteru coughed blood and collapsed to the front. However, it seemed Riley didn’t even notice her. Riley watched the black arm quickly reducing its length and getting sucked into the dimensional space. Riley’s sword was snapped in half. Holding the sword, he dashed toward the front.
“I never gave you the permission to take that bastard alive…”
<Oh, who could you be?>
Riley was going to cut through both Rebethra and the black hand that were being sucked into the dimensional space. However, he heard the voice coming from beyond the dimensional space. Riley held his breath.
<Are you still wondering around aimlessly because of what happened in your past life?>
‘… What?’
<Your memories are quite intriguing… All right. As a reward, I’ll give you a gift.>
It sounded like belittling laughter was coming from beyond the dimensional space. Riley was dwelling over what he just heard from the voice, but then the black hand changed the direction and smacked Riley’s body like a whip.
“Kuhup?!”
The top of the black hand bashed Riley. His body was bent like a bow, and he got bounced off like a cannon ball.
Boom, boom.
Riley’s body broke through Lower Solia’s sewers and old buildings. His body didn’t slow down. It continued to bounce off and flew through above the Solia’s Main Plaza in a parabolic trajectory. His body was plummeted at the outer wall of the Solia Castle.
“Up… Kuk!”
Riley didn’t just sustain physical damage. The reaction from the deadly aura that he spread to restrain Isilteru came rushing back at him at the same time. He suddenly coughed blood.
“Kuhuk. Kuk…”
Isilteru, who had her shoulder pierced and collapsed to the front, was coughing blood like him.
‘Without mana, just by swinging the hand, it generated that kind of power?’
Isilteru watched Riley being thrown off from the Lower Solia all the way to the Solia Castle. She plugged her pierced shoulder with her hand as she glared at the black hand and Rebethra. They were being sucked into the dimensional space.
‘Kuk. I can’t lose him like this…’
Isilteru floated light and was drawing something on the air with her finger. However, her consciousness was starting to fade. Unable to hold out, she was about to collapse to the front again. However, someone came to stand next to her and support her.
“… This is ridiculous. I don’t know what the situation is at all, but…”
Andal, the red haired young man, supported her. Having confirmed it, Isilteru seemed relieved. She closed her eyes. The girl who tumbled and ran to follow Andal came next to her and finished the sign that Isilteru was drawing.
“… I attached it.”
Isilteru’s innate type was light, and Andal was lacking in that type. On the other hand, Nainiae, who was blessed in all elemental types, was able to complete the sign for Isilteru. She looked at the black hand and Rebethra disappearing into the dimensional space.
“…”
She still had scars on her face, and she still had her dead white eye. Her white eye was glaring at the dimensional space opening that was slowly getting narrower.
‘Where to…’
Soon, the dimensional space disappeared completely. Nainiae, who was glaring at it, opened her eyes wide. She vacantly opened her mouth as well.
“…?”
“Did you find it?”
Only a moment before this, Andal had been giving Nainiae a storm worth of advices in backseat driver style. Now, he was here to support Isilteru. Andal asked if she found where Rebethra went.
Nainiae, who vacantly had her mouth open, slowly nodded.
“Where?”
Andal’s leader was attacked. Because of that, Andal’s eyes were burning in flames out of fury. Having noticed Andal’s eyes, Nainiae bit her lower lips hard and turned her head.
“… Where is he, where is that son of a bitch.”
In the direction that Nainiae turned to, Riley, who was thrown and plunged into the castle’s wall, was walking toward them as he wiped off the blood with the top of his hand.
“…”
Riley was also exuding terrifying aura from his gaze that was just as deadly as Andal’s. However, instead of fear, Nainiae was feeling sorry first.
‘Young Master…’
Nainiae was biting her lower lips because… The black hand, which was engraved with a sign in the dragon’s language by Isilteru and Nainiae, was currently at the same place that Riley thought about when he was having nightmares.
