Chapter 206: Contemplation

I was sprinting through the dense forest, side-by-side with Olynn.

High above, visible through the gaps in the canopy, one of the Four Dragons was tailing us with terrifying precision. I couldn't tell if it possessed a biological organ similar to Dark Eye, or if it was just relying on pure, raw animal intuition. The only reason it hadn’t glassed us yet was probably to avoid wasting a shot. How efficient. How terrifying.

For the moment, we ducked into cover to try and get our breathing under control.

I’d squared off against plenty of powerhouses in my time, but compared to any enemy I’d faced before, this power was... well, it was just stupid. It was overwhelming. To put it into perspective: in terms of raw Mana alone, this thing outclassed even Eva Avery.

Taking on four of them at once and actually winning?

Hah. I couldn't even manage a dry laugh.

Would that guy have spouted some crap about "making the impossible possible"? No. Even he would’ve probably looked at this mess and called it quits.

“Olynn, you hurt?” I asked.

“I’m okay. Thank you,” she replied. “But more importantly... we’ve been separated from the others.”

“They’ll be fine,” I assured her. “Honestly, their physical stats are higher than ours. If anything, they’re probably the ones worrying about us.”

That second wave of attacks had scattered us, tearing us away from Tura, Lilith, and Biado. We were on the outskirts near the village, while they were stuck further in. There was a sheer cliff between us that made circling back a nightmare. Unless your name was Carta, getting back to this side quickly was a total non-starter.

I was left with two choices: trust them and make a run for it, or stand our ground and fight the Four Dragons.

Luckily, the village was still intact. I had no idea if that would hold, but for the moment, the dragons didn't seem to have "village extermination" on their immediate to-do list.

But then there was that mysterious hit the Water Dragon took. Based on its final words, it had definitely been attacked by a human. Still, something felt off. It was hard to imagine a run-of-the-mill Adventurer pulling that off. A half-baked attack wouldn't just fail to leave a scratch; it would've been neutralized before it even connected. This had to be the work of a real master—someone on the level of Teacher Milk or Eva.

...Or maybe the Demon Race.

They looked just like us. If they were imitations, their Mana wouldn't be distinguishable from a human's either. There was a chance they'd targeted the Four Dragons for some specific mission or reason.

In that case, just tucking tail and running was a bad move. I needed intel. I needed to know who had actually attacked them. Luckily, these dragons were sentient and spoke a language. If we could just get it through their thick skulls that we weren't the ones who jumped them, they might actually listen. By nature, they weren't supposed to be aggressive.

But to get them to talk... I was going to have to do something drastic.

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