The Story Of The Second Son Of The Baron Family [EN]: Chapter 41

As the front paw approached, I could see it in more detail. Unlike the instep, the sole of the foot was surrounded by thick leather instead of scales, and four claws protruded from the sole. Each claw was about the size of an average person’s torso, so its power could be easily guessed from its size alone.

The problem was that I hadn’t moved an inch until the claw was right in front of my nose. My head was constantly warning me to avoid it—to run, throw myself, or crawl away from that paw—but my legs wouldn’t move, as if they were rooted to the ground. At that moment, I was simply terrified.

Thud-

However, when the dragon’s front paw touched the ground, its claws dug into the earth, and sand and mud soared once more, I was not beneath it.

“Get a grip!”

Someone grabbed the back of my neck and quickly moved me out of range. But I wasn’t even given time to thank my savior. The dragon’s attacks continued, and I kept dangling in the air, hanging from his arm.

“From now on, survive as best you can! I don’t have the luxury to clean up after you!”

“Yes, yes!”

Suddenly, I was reminded of the past—when I first joined the Terra Barrier and participated in my first battle. I made so many mistakes back then, too. A battle where you had to choose between life and death was not a place where you could be in your right mind unless you had years of bloody combat experience, whether from your past or present life. Just like now.

“What do I do!”

“Fight back! Look for a chance to escape!”

Even though it had been quite some time since we left the mountain, the speed at which it caught up to us and its ability to accurately track our location made it clear that scattering would only lead to us all disappearing into its belly. Unos’s words were the best option we could take.

However, one of the most important maxims in life is that the best choice does not always lead to the best outcome. And we were now feeling that maxim to the bone.

Clang-

“Clang?”

Aura, a knight’s exclusive property [a magical energy that enhances their abilities]. There was nothing that Aura hadn’t been able to cut through until now. Among the countless monsters that had attacked the Terra Barrier, only a handful had stood tall in the face of Aura.

Even that was limited to immature Aura, and there was no monster that knights of Unos and Duo’s caliber couldn’t cut down. But in front of its crimson scales, even Aura was nothing more than a twig in front of a rock.

“No way…”

Crack-

It must have been the best strike they could muster. It would have been absurd not to do their best in this situation. The emotions they must have felt when their strike, which they thought would at least wound the legendary dragon, didn’t even inflict a scratch—the surprise, and so on. And the price for being swept away by those emotions and pausing for a moment was too painful.

“Wisp!”

Everyone was shocked by the sight of Wisp being crushed to death by the front paw. If he had held on with all his might while in his right mind, he might have been able to hold out for a moment. And in the meantime, something might have changed, but that didn’t happen, and we had to accept the result that we had lost a comrade in an instant.

“Ugh.”

We did our best. We constantly evaded its attacks and launched our own. For some reason, it was only attacking with its hard, massive body, and not with the magic or breath we had expected, but it was possible because of that. While the knights were drawing its attention, I also fired a few Mana Bullets—Dragon Slayer engravings that I had spent two days creating one before leaving for the investigation—but they only made slight scratches on the scales that boasted a steel-like luster, and it was not enough to inflict any meaningful damage. In the meantime, the number of our party was decreasing one by one, but steadily.

“In this case…!”

To be honest, it seemed difficult to return alive. It wasn’t just me who felt that way. Even while doing our best, we couldn’t hide the dark shadows on our faces. But conversely, there was no one who gave up and waited for death.

So I couldn’t just wait for death either. I had to at least land one blow on it so that I could go into its belly laughing.

Fortunately, the deaths of our comrades were not in vain. Through several attacks and evasions, we were able to figure out how it would attack, or rather, we had grasped its set pattern.

No matter how skilled you are with a sword, it’s either a slash or a stab. It was only possible because it was only using its body for some reason. Maybe it was the result of thinking that it would be beneath its dignity to use magic on the likes of us, as Laurent had said.

In any case, there was only one place I had to aim for: its eye. Almost the only weak point that was not protected by hard scales or thick leather. There was also a larger area inside the mouth, but I only had two Mana Bullets as my weapon. How much damage would a Mana Bullet the size of a finger do if it hit that huge mouth?

That’s why I had to draw out its actions even more. Even though it was quadrupedal, in order to make eye contact, I had to accurately hit its eyes, which were several meters high, so it had to at least lower its face.

“You have a plan, don’t you?”

“Laurent.”

“I saw your face. You haven’t given up yet. You have one, don’t you!”

“There’s no way to kill that thing. But we can land one blow.”

“That’s enough. What can I do?”

I explained to Laurent what I was aiming for. I also said that it would be better if someone induced its actions, and that the person who became the bait would have a hard time surviving. But Laurent volunteered to be the bait without hesitation.

“I know it’s going to be hard to survive anyway. In that case, I’d rather land one blow on that thing so that I can face my comrades who died first.”

The attack pattern I wanted, where it tried to bite the target with its mouth, had happened twice so far. Duo lost his life in that attack, and once it missed, but if we had reacted a little later, another comrade would have died. But the important thing was that both times, it stretched its head out and bit the target when it was closer to its mouth than its front paws.

“You lizard bastarddddd!”

Laurent shouted loudly and ran out. And I also followed Laurent at an appropriate distance. Like the word bait, the opportunity I could get through Laurent was only once. If I didn’t have faith that Laurent could succeed, the worst ending would be waiting for me, where Laurent succeeded but I failed. For Laurent, who was willing to throw away his life like a piece of straw, believing only in my words that I could land one blow, I should not have the word failure in mind.

“Kuaaaaaak!”

Of course, that cry didn’t last long. But even as he was being chewed to death by the huge teeth, Laurent’s gaze was directed at me. He had induced its actions as I had said, so I should give it a blow as I had promised him. Of course, I had no intention of wasting the opportunity he had created at the cost of his life.

Two fortunate things were that its eyes were as big as a person’s head, befitting its huge size, and that it was showing its eyes without paying attention to me while biting, tearing, and tasting Laurent.

Hoping to give that thing, which had swallowed so many of my comrades, an unforgettable memory—a humiliation that it had been wounded by a lowly creature it thought was prey—a bullet engraved with the Dragon Slayer was fired from the pistol engraved with the Shooting. The target was its left eyeball, which shone sharply in amber.

Poosh-

I must have fired hundreds of Mana Bullets so far. Of course, I wasn’t a marksman enough to hit all the bullets at the desired point, but at least when I fired this one bullet, I was the only marksman in the world.

Because I was looking only at its eyes with the heart of a beast. The bullet that accurately hit its eyeball literally burst its eye, and blood gushed out and soaked my body as if water was gushing out of a blocked faucet. Fortunately, the blood didn’t carry any poison, so it didn’t give me anything more than a queasy feeling.

Kuaaaaaak-

No matter how much of a dragon it was, it couldn’t be okay even after being attacked in the eye. It started to writhe and sweep around in pain. If I had just stood there blankly, I would have been swept away and killed. At that time, Unos’s shout, who was still alive, was heard.

“Scatter! Go back to the Terra Barrier alive! At least one of you must return alive!”

At the same time, I moved my body in the opposite direction from the others to buy as much time as possible. The dragon’s gaze must have been focused on me because of the attack just now. The moment I became an ‘enemy’ who had inflicted a wound, not just a simple prey, the probability of survival converged to 0. I had no choice but to make a final struggle, hoping that the remaining ones would survive. At that time, the distance from the dragon began to increase rapidly.

50m, 100m, 150m.

The distance increases in a short time. The important thing is that in the process, the distance widened quickly and I didn’t feel any air resistance. There were only two people in our party who could do this for a short time, or rather, only one now.

“Lord Ild!”

“Very well done. Thanks to you, I bought some time.”

“It’s only temporary. Lord Ild, please leave this place quickly. That thing must be aiming for me, so I’ll try to buy as much time as possible.”

Ild’s complexion was not good. My complexion wouldn’t be very good either, but it was better than Ild’s. It was natural that he had been in a fierce battle and had used Blank, a short-range teleportation magic, several times in a row.

“…Be sure to survive.”

“Yes. It will be difficult, but I will go to the Terra Barrier alive. So…”

But my words were not finished. In an instant, my whole body stiffened and I couldn’t even open and close my mouth or move my tongue. I could only stare with my eyes wide open, and I couldn’t even move a finger.

‘Was there a paralyzing poison in the blood?’

That can’t be. Then what was I doing until now? If it was a toxicity that could paralyze my whole body in an instant like this, I should have been unable to move a long time ago. At that time, my gaze, which was only rolling my eyes, met Ild’s gaze. And I realized why I couldn’t move my body.

“Take a nap and wake up. Everything will be over when you wake up.”

With those words, my vision was soon dyed black.

Baron’s Family Second Son – Episode 41 – First Paid Publication End