828 Humans Vs Dragon General
It was absurd.
"Why should I let you face her? You'll get all the EXP for that."
"Please? Come on, Ater will kill me if I didn't contribute substantially to the mission."
… Very absurd.
The two humans were bickering like little children while an overwhelmingly powerful enemy was right in front of them.
They showed no regard at all, not to mention fear.
"Okay, how about we play a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors? That way, we'll be able to decide who takes her on?" The boy told the girl, Belle, after trying and failing to convince her on fighting the Dragon General by himself.
Was he mad? That was the question Kar'eena had in her head as she looked at the current exchange between the two.
No, it wasn't just him who seemed to be crazy.
His partner also seemed to have a screw loose in her head, since she accepted the challenge with enthusiasm.
'The most tactical option would be for the two of them to attack at once. Why would they operate in such a manner? It makes no sense!'
Were they overestimating their abilities just because they were a tad stronger than regular humans? At most, they were at the level of humanoid Dragon Commanders, so how exactly would they hold their own against her—a Dragon General?
In fact, even if the two of them were to attack her in this state, they would lose badly.
'Does their confidence come from insanity… or ignorance?' Kar'eena thought to herself before deciding that the answer did not matter.
The humans before her were not worth her consideration.
'Let's start with a proper Dragon Breath!'
Lifting her maw wide open, Kar'eena channeled a great deal of Mana through her throat and concentrated the energy so it would have a more devastating effect than normal—all within a timeframe less than a second.
Dragon Breath remained the quickest and most efficient way to kill or destroy for a Dragon, so a fully-powered blast was bound to do a lot of damage.
Since she belonged to the Storm Species, her Breath was that of Lightning.
The result?
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!~
Crimson crackles of electricity burst from her jaws, creating a vibrating effect as the ray of energy charged towards the two who were busy with the strange game that they were playing with their fingers.
Kar'eena had initially planned on the Breath being a preface to the actual battle, since there was a good chance they wouldn't die from the blast. Even if they were weaker than her, there were still ways to protect oneself from a Breath, or evade it.
She wasn't sure of their Skills, so she didn't want to make assumptions regarding their reaction to the blast.
However, due to their distracted state, she couldn't help but draw her conclusions.
'At this rate, they're going to di—'
~VWUUUUM!~
A barrier suddenly appeared right as the blast of crimson lightning was about to crash upon the two, completely protecting them from being fried to ashes.
'W-what?!' Kar'eena's eyes widened as she looked at the surprising sight. 'They effortlessly blocked it? How?!'
She could have sworn that they weren't really paying much mind to the Dragon Breath, so just how did they have enough time and energy to block it entirely?
'Are they far stronger than I thought? Did I underestimate them?' "Looks like the Anti-Projectile Item that Ater gave me still works perfectly. You'd have been screwed otherwise, Justin." The human girl, Belle, said with a slight scoff as she looked at the the boy.
Once she said this, Kar'eena realized what had happened.
'So they had an Item, huh? I see… that makes sense. I wonder how humans can have access to such a powerful Item, but I suppose I shouldn't use the standard metric for these humans. They're far stronger than the regular kind.'
Besides, since they were still in the Dwarven Territory, it was possible that these people got the technology from the Dwarves. Perhaps this 'Ater' person they referred to was a Dwarf who also served as their superior.
She couldn't be sure about all the details, though.
'There's no need to worry about it too.' She told herself. 'So what if they have such an Item?'
There were only so many times such an effect could function before the Enchanted Item gave out. Besides, it wasn't like she didn't have other Skills at her disposal.
Since she was in a hurry. Kar'eena figured she'd just end things with another ability.
But, before then—
"Yayyy! I won!" —Justin made a fist bump into the air as he yelled with enthusiasm, grinning like an idiot.
"Tch… you only won because you're physically faster than I am."
"Pfft! Someone sounds like a sore loser."
"I'm not!"
"Are too!"
"Don't be such a baby!"
"Look who's talking!" The more they spoke, the further the confusion within Kar'eena began to spread. She glanced at her students, wondering if standing around and waiting was the best use of their time.
'Perhaps they can go ahead of me and start retreating. I'll join them after I take care of—'
"Don't even think about it…" The voice of the boy echoed into the air suddenly, causing a chill to fill the air the moment he spoke.
All of a sudden, the ambiance surrounding him changed, and his goofy expression vanished along with any semblance of lightheartedness.
The air felt heavy, and his hard stare at Kar'eena contributed to that feeling of dread.
"If anyone takes as much as a step away in retreat, they will be cut down immediately." He muttered, drawing out a thin blade. "Remember that."
Somehow, it felt like he meant every word he said. It also felt like he could make good on his word if he was pushed to it.
That made his declaration all the more scary.
But—
"Big words… for a dead man." Kar'eena spoke with a thunderous tone, taking a step forward, her intimidating aura rising.
For a few seconds after she said this, Justin chuckled.
"Dead man, huh?" He responded amusedly.
A thin, cold smile spread all over his face as he looked at the Dragon before him.
"You're not wrong."
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[A/N]