I watched as the dragon came out of its camouflage ability and stared at us, swinging its claw at us. We dodged it in the nick of time. Vale prepared his spell and attacked the dragon with a lightning spell, but the dragon tanked it using its defense. I raised my sword and used the first form of Broken Blade Perseverance, attacking its defense, but the dragon's defense didn't even get a scratch. There was something like an invisible wall surrounding the dragon. In the next second, the dragon flew into the air and breathed its fire towards us, and my leg caught fire, suffering burns. I endured the pain, took out a healing potion from my pocket, and poured it into my wound. I felt the sensation of slow healing and took my stance, glaring at the dragon, which was still hovering above us, looking down at us like insects.
[Foolish humans, do you think with your lowly power you can beat me?], the dragon suddenly spoke in our minds.
"Telepathy," Vale said with a calm tone, despite having bruises everywhere on his body.
"This dragon is stronger than we thought, and not even a team of 4 Level 7 echelon hunters can subdue it," Vale said with a solemn gaze towards me.
While we were having our conversation, the massive dragon suddenly lunged towards us and opened its mouth. We thought it was going to breathe its air, but it suddenly swung its claw at us, and we all barely dodged, looking at the area where we were before. The dragon's claw had destroyed everything where it had reached.
I raised my sword, looked around, and saw 4 red lines connecting to the massive dragon. I followed the line connected from me to the dragon and swung, following the line, and swung my sword towards the dragon's claws. The dragon glared at me with curious eyes.
[Interesting power, but what's with your sword trajectory? What is your sword following?], the dragon asked in a curious tone.
I didn't respond to its question and tried to still follow the red line, swinging into the dragon's defense. Fortunately, my sword created a little gap in the dragon's defense, and Vale and the other team members attacked the little gap, breaking the entire dragon's defense. When the defense was down, I swung my sword, but the dragon flew above me, lunged towards me, and swung its claw at me. I raised my sword for defense, and in the last second, Vale put up a defense spell around me, but the impact of the dragon's attack broke several bones, and my body crashed into a tree several distances from the area where we were fighting.
I didn't even have the strength to struggle to lift my body, and several moments flashed in front of my eyes – my life in my world and the years I spent in this world. Every vision flashed before me, but one vision captured my attention, and that's the vision of my dog and my flock of sheep. Even in this cycle, I still have my dog and flock of sheep on my farm, but I still can't give them food today.
'I'm going to die?', I asked myself.
'No, I can't die.'
I struggled to exert force upon my body to stand up but couldn't even lift my body. Still, I lifted my body while my bones were struggling to keep my body together. I walked to the area where the fight was happening with the help of my sword, using it as support, and the dragon was destroying the area with each attack. The team members were not in good shape; Vale was attacking the dragon with a lightning spell, while Ran was helping John, who was missing an arm and bleeding.
I reached the area where the fight was happening, raised my sword, and assumed my stance, but blood gushed out of my mouth, and I knelt on my knees, struggling. I poured all my potions onto my wounds but couldn't heal the broken bones. With the slow healing of my body, I stood up and swung my sword, following the trajectory of my red intent, and cut off the dragon's finger. The dragon made a little groan, glared at me, flew above us, and muttered something. Suddenly, the dragon's lost finger regenerated, and the dragon spread its wings, starting to change color into a golden hue, and glared at us with its golden, fiery eyes, opening its mouth.
[I'm the clone of the mighty -------------------], Vale interrupted the mental speech using some sort of mind spell.
"Jangre, noooo, don't hear it," Vale shouted nervously.
My blood gushed out of my orifices while I knelt on one knee, and my eyes couldn't even concentrate, starting to hurt very much. The dragon lunged at me in this very moment, and I stood up using every ounce of my body and dodged, but the dragon didn't stop there, swinging its claw towards Vale. He crashed into the tree, spewing out blood, and I started to tremble unknowingly. The dragon finally shifted its attention to me.
[The annoying insect can't even fight now.], the dragon said while looking at Vale.
I saw Ran and John move towards Vale to help him stop the bleeding, and when I saw that, I took out a scroll from my pocket and threw it towards them, smiling at Vale, who understood what I was doing.
"Why, Jangre, why are you doing this?" Vale shouted at me.
The scroll I threw was a teleport scroll, which could teleport two people, but could teleport three people if you tried. I smiled at him and responded with a quote I always say to him.
"My sword rises in the morning but never dies in the evening."
Ran and John understood my plan and activated the scroll, and Vale, who was still shouting, teleported outside the forest.
The dragon, seeing everything, opened its mouth and said in a solemn tone.
[Your little friends are gone, and you, little insect, dared to stand against me alone? A noble sacrifice for an insect.]
I followed the red trajectory and lunged towards the Golden dragon, saying in a solemn tone.
"A necessity, not noble pride,
A sword that rises, come what may, it won't die."