Dead:Lost - Chapter 9 Before The Red Dawn

We kept riding until we arrived at [Sixth Danger Zone]. Along the way, I witnessed an awful scenery. The land is barren and red-colored. I saw many rotten corpses or even skeletons from dead animals and even humans as well. I see…they were once live on this land.

“Everyone, please activate your [Mental Debuff Immunity], we almost arrived at our destination. Please endure the sceneries like this for the next day.”

“I know the lands outside are destroyed by [Rain of Chaos]…but I had no idea it’ll be this bad…” said Ayumi with a sad tone.

“Humans are weak and fragile Ayumi-chan…they will seek protection from stronger people and worship them, making you blind and deaf. But, if they are threatened by someone far stronger than them or their guardians, they will betray you without fail. They will abandon you if you lost your power or authority and they won’t even look back at people they left. Majority of the humans is bad and weak people, but I think the humans who have crushed by the power of nobles can be trusted a bit.” Rania explained with hatred in her voice.

“Ye sure had bad times with humans, don’t cha spider lady?” said Khazim.

“I did. It’s better to befriend Elves and bunch of pebbles rather than groups of pervert thin meat.”

“Hey, that is racist ya know?”

“Humans are foolish to break their relationship with Demi-Humans, Elves, Fairies and Dwarves. Since they themselves are far weaker and stupider than us. Have they lost their mind?”

“You sure resent the Human Race, Rania-dono.” said Abel.

“They broke the peace against other races outside their own race. Are they fool? Elves are Immortal beings and you can’t kill them easily. Making them distrust you is similar to make yourself suffer for thousands or even hundreds thousands of years. Did their ancestors even realized what disaster they brought upon themself?! Mendokusai (How Annoying)…”

I chuckled after hearing that. Yes, Rania-san’s point of view on human is right. She is so straightforward that I can’t find any faults in her words. Our parties normally opened for anyone who wants to join in, even humans are allowed to join. But, most of my party members consist of “the injured ones”, that means they had an unpleasant experience with the humans, either from persecution, slander, wrong prejudice or false charges. We often traveled to Human Kingdoms back then, and not all of them were bad. Back then, I saw many people doing their business like usual, but I realized the other races outside of Human Race aren’t eager to live there for long time. Except, the adventurers who stationed there or born there.

“I can say the humans also discriminate the “ugly” and “poor” ones, even the half-bloods are treated harshly in some Kingdoms. I saw them bullied the weak and poor people without any hesitation.” said Jack.

“Message from [Chalstaridium Svertallios Tazeritheria] (The Records of World Crystal of Pandemonium) Kenzia Rahealis informing [White Falcon] Party’s Leader, Ishizaki Haruhisa we have passed middle noon at grassland, [Sixth Danger Zone]. The Divination Magic sensed three packs of Wyvern and one big dragon flying to the direction of the caravan. The Dragon is probably chasing the Wyverns. The Guild Master suggests to avoid battle as much as we can and run. Report finished.”

I recorded the message and shared to every party member.

“Hey, hey Leader, it’s gonna happen…” said Toval with panicked voice.

“Shit, my arms are still hurt due to Wyverns attack back then. Now we got to deal with a Dragon? Give me break.” said Arnold.

“Paladin Squad’s Leader Julio is ready to engage combat. But honestly I prefer to avoid this since we are riding right now.”

“Zikiya here, the Priests will join the battle, but our magic will be defensive. We need Ishizaki-sama’s command to release our high-ranked magic.”

“Warrior Squad’s Vice Leader Himaru Hibiki to Kaichou-sama. ”

“Oh, Hibiki-san, you rarely make contact with me, is there something you need?”

“Yes. In fact, I suggest that Robert-san ride the Dragon.”

“I AGREE WITH THAT ANIKI, I JUST N—”

“Please don’t.” The rest of the party said the same thing through [Broadcast] Magic.

“I understand yer excitement Dark Elf boy, but please don’t.”

“What?! Why?!”

“Have you forgotten that time when we encountered a Dragon on grassland and you wanted to hypnotize it? At first you can control it. Then, you lost your control over it and it went on rampage and destroyed nearby village. I almost got burned alive at that time.” said Yuna. Yeah, she made a good point. You can’t hypnotize a Dragon with average hypnotize magic or skill after all. It also requires a lot of mana and concentration.

“Who cares.” Robert replied lightly.

“Hey Robert, looks like that face of yours need a good smack right now…” said Toval while clenching his fist.

“DRRRRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOONNNNNSSSSSS!!!!”

“HOW MANY TIMES I TOLD YOU TO NOT SCREAMING ON [BROADCAST] YOU STUPID BASTARD!” said Arnold.

Jack used his scope to scan the sky and as spotted three packs of Wyverns followed by a Dragon.

“Leader! This is…!!!”

“I know Jack! EVERYONE BEGIN OPERATION!”

“YES SIR!”

“Kenzia here, [North Wind of Liberation] has engaged the enemies. The Dragon is focused on the Wyverns, but some of the Wyverns tried to attack the caravan! The enemies are [Wind Northia] Wyvern”

“Thanks for the information, good luck to you!”

“Everyone, our enemies are [Wind Northia] Wyverns, conduct [Anti-Speed Strategy] in main formation!”

“Worst enemies for the Archers eh? They are quite difficult for long green ears!” said Khazim.

“This is more challenging and tiring…” said Rubert.

We are riding below them, luckily, not all Wyverns attacked us. Just one or two of them and we have to get rid of them, even though that was not easy.

“That Wyvern is aiming for us!” said Jack.

“Knights at the ready! Mages ready your spells! The rest of you try to disable its [Magic Resistance] and movement!”

The Wyvern is swooping down with high speed. It’s most likely aiming for the third carriage. I must wait for the perfect opportunity to take it down.

“Now, ATTACK!” I sent a signal to attack and fortunately, they followed my command perfectly without any delay. One of the Magic Archers released [Art of Archery: The Arrow of Death] and managed to damage the Wyvern’s heart from inside. The Wyvern’s chest exploded from inside. The Wyvern almost crash onto the caravan, but the Mages casted [Earth Elemental Magic Art: Stone Hands] to stop it.

“Have you stored it Yuna-san?” asked Daniel, the scouts from Yuna’s carriage.

“Yes!”

Hmm, storing the Wyvern on [Time Elemental Magic: Storage] is quite a good idea because we don’t want the Wyvern’s meats to spoil. After that, three more Wyverns attacked us. The Magic Archers had a hard time dealing with them. One of them managed to grab Rubert off from his horse. Luckily, Julio with his sword art managed to behead it before it flies away.

“It seems the parties ahead have taken care of the Wyverns, Aniki.” said Robert.

“Yes, now only ten Wyverns and a big Dragon left…”

That Dragon already devoured six Wyverns but it seems still hungry.

“Hey it ate ten Wyverns in instant. Now what?” asked Khazim. Then I saw the dragon eyeing the convoy ahead of us. I quickly activated my [Broadcast] magic to my party members and to other parties’ leaders.

“IT IS AIMING FOR [ESGHERVEL] AND [CST] CARAVAN! EVERYONE, SCATTER!”

“OH SHIT!” said Naval while quickly turn away, and as I predicted, the Dragon released its [Dragon Breath] to both of the caravan line. Thankfully the caravans only damaged by the [Dragon Breath] not destroyed.”

“Leader, I think that Dragon is… smirking…?” said Jack as he observes the dragon. Yeah, I saw it. It seems to enjoy this.

“Dragon is a powerful and intelligent beast. It can think and speak like normal human if I remember.”

“Oh, Leader! Here it comes again!”

“EVERYONE, USE YOUR STRONGEST RANGED ATTACKS OR SPELLS! AIM FOR ITS MOUTH WHEN IT’S CHARGING ITS [DRAGON BREATH], THE REST OF YOU AIM FOR IT’S WINGS, EYES, HEAD AND CHEST!”

“YES SIR!”

It started to open its mouth to use [Dragon Breath] again. But before it can fire it, the Magic Archers disturbed the mana concentration on its mouth by firing arrows directly inside. The other party members shot their magic simultaneously, resulting a big explosion. The Magic Archers kept firing [Art of Archery: The Arrow of Death] to damage the Dragon’s internal organs. I can’t see well because the Dragon is covered by the smoke from the explosion. But, then….

“THE DRAGON IS FALLING! EVERYONE TURN RIGHT! HARD RIGHT!!!! HOLD ON TO SOMETHING EVERYONE!” I shouted. Our caravans turn sharply to the right. I heard the girls screams as the Dragon created a big impact when it hit the ground.

“Leader!” said Jack.

“I know!” I realized the Dragon is still breathing due to my [Appraisal].

“EVERYONE SURROUND THE DRAGON AND ATTACK IT WITH YOUR ALL AVAIBLE SPELLS AND SKILLS! THE DRAGON IS STILL ALIVE!”

“But, Kaichou! Our mana has depleted greatly! said Yuna.

“WHAT’S THE POINT I BROUGHT MANA POTION AND ALCHEMISTS HERE?! HURRY UP AND RECHARGE YOUR MANA! OTHERWISE, IT’LL START ATTACKING AGAIN! WARLOCKS, YOU MAY GO WILD! KNIGHTS, WARRIORS AND OTHER CLOSE COMBAT CLASSES! OPEN FORMATION AND FOLLOW ME! ATTACK THAT DRAGON!”

“YES SIR!”

“SURROUND THE DRAGON!!! GOGOGOGO!!!” I said.