204: The Second One

The Four Dragons were the messengers of god rumored to exist in the original story of Noblesse Oblige.

Community sites claimed the Noblesse development team had actually created them, but the truth behind those rumors was never confirmed. Finding them listed in textbooks as legendary creatures in this world had come as quite a shock to me.

No way, they actually exist? I’d wondered.

Because they possessed a unique Spiritual Power, I couldn’t sense a single drop of Mana from them. Their physical characteristics varied between individuals based on the four great elements, and every one of them sat at the absolute pinnacle of power.

In the game version of Noblesse, there was a "New Game Plus" mode you could access after clearing the main story. Clearing the game was a nightmare to begin with, and since your stats only carried over up to a certain threshold, the difficulty didn't actually drop all that much. The rumor was that these dragons would only appear after you’d ground through that cycle over and over again.

The reason I didn’t know for sure was simple: I’d never seen one, and there was practically zero concrete info on them. They were described as messengers of god, after all. There was a very high chance that a single one of them could overpower even Eva Avery.

"…Amazing," Olynn whispered.

She was trembling with fear, wearing an expression I had never seen on her face before.

However, this was also technically good news. According to the textbooks, the Four Dragons never harmed humans—provided they weren't attacked first, that is. I just needed to make sure the villagers didn't do anything stupid like trying to pick a fight.

But then, my eyes snagged on an injury on the Water Dragon’s tail. I recognized it instantly; it was the distinct, charred damage caused by a Mana Cannon.

"…Who on earth did—"

—ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAR!

A deafening roar thundered down from the heavens. We all craned our necks toward the sky.

A dragon of blazing flames was descending. Just like the other, I couldn't feel even a flicker of Mana from it, and yet the sheer, unadulterated killing intent it radiated was impossible to miss.

Suddenly, the Water Dragon before us lurched upward. Eyes that seemed to peer into the very abyss snapped open and glared directly at us.

A split second later, an absurdly powerful Water Strike erupted from the Water Dragon’s maw. It came hurtling straight for us.