Arnold headed back to where Lucri set up their tent. After being stopped numerous timed by the other adventurers for a quick chat, Arnold arrived at their tent.

It was fairly small to say the least. There wasn’t even a guarantee that it will survive any harsh weather like rain and strong winds.

“Huh? Why is sir Nova back already? Did the meeting end that quickly?”

Arnold found Lucri stirring a bowl and crushing herbs inside of it. It seemed that he was making his own potions.

‘A magic caster on top of being an alchemist. This kid sure is talented. He can even cook. Very unexpected of a boy in these ages.’

Seeing as how his magic was so potent against the orcs, Arnold came to the conclusion that Lucri had Alchemist as a sub-class and Magic user as his main class.

“No. We’re waiting for the noble to bring the necessary equipment for the raid before we explain the whole plan to everyone as a group. By the way…what are all these?”

Arnold pointed to a bag that sat at the entrance of the tent. It was full of medicinal herbs and different fruits.

“Oh, some nice elder sisters brought these for sir Nova. They said that it will come in handy. The herbs can be used to cover any slash wound. It’s much quicker than opening up a healing potion.”

Lucri seemed to be in a merry mood since he was humming.

“Nice, huh?” Arnold gazed around the yard. He could see many of the adventurers looking at him.

‘These women might end up raping me in my sleep if I’m not careful.’

Then again, original Arnold had lightning reflexes. Even if someone were to try and attack him in his sleep, his Aura Sword would skewer that person in half.

He’d much rather avoid that happening since his sword would most definitely reveal his identity.

“Done!”

“Hm?”

Arnold looked into the bowl that Lucri was using to crush the herbs. There was a sticky green paste inside. It smelled like a kind of syrup.

“With this we should have ten potions worth of healing. I’ll need to find something to pour the paste inside since it won’t last very long if it’s exposed to the air.”

‘As expected of low grade healing. It always has an expiration date.’

No matter how much he thought about it, Star Fantasy would always be superior in everything compared to this world. The potions the DOPs were given were of the Divine category and could even regenerate a person’s limb. It could even give you a temporary MP boost which further marketed its value.

Since not many of those potions were made in the game for all players, Arnold made it priority to learn the recipe should his Guild run out of them.

Of course, they never actually did run out. Chances were that Dunfer had over a thousand of those potions just lying inside of it.

‘I want to try and craft those potions but the necessary ingredients are only found in the territory of the demihumans.’

The continent was mostly made up of humans and they ruled the majority of the land. You could say that demihuman settlements and nations only occupied about a third of the continent.

The territory he had to go to was the Forest of the Elves, Tiliu. The ingredients he needed were only located in the forest of the Elves.

‘I should ask Sylphiala about the forest when I get the chance. All I know is that humans aren’t allowed near the World Tree.’

He was certain that Sylphiala was pissed at him for what he did at the strategy meeting between Clint’s party members.

‘She must feel humiliated that I just shot down her plan like that.’

He had no way of knowing that she was actually the strategist of the team. The fact that her party members accepted the plan just like that meant that they weren’t as good as her at planning for ambushes.

‘I’m glad I didn’t say the plan was stupid. I might’ve been walking around here with a hole through my arm from one of her arrows.’

“Ah! I see the noble’s carriage!”

One person shouted and pointed at the gate.

Arnold could hear horses neighing and the rattling of a carriage.

“Let’s stay outside for now and wait until Clint finishes speaking with the noble.”

“Okay.”

Lucri nodded when Arnold spoke.

The carriage was followed by multiple wagons. That was most likely the grain they brought for the adventurers.

‘Three is the best they can do, huh?’

Considering the fact that the nobles in the countryside weren’t that rich, Arnold could understand why they had so little.

‘Why is the carriage in such a hurry?’

Not minding the noble’s behavior Arnold heard Lucri speak.

“Sir Nova.”

“Yeah?”

“Did you always hunt monsters back in your village?”

“Ah, well…” Arnold averted his eyes to think of an excuse to give. If he nodded to say yes then Lucri might ask where in the mountains he lived.

“I started hunting monsters when I came of age. Every morning before the rooster wakes up the people of my village, I would hunt. I have been doing this every day for the past five years. Yes. You could say I know a lot about the monsters that live in forests.”

Arnold confidently puffed out his chest.

“Oohhh…”

Lucri’s eyes sparkled just as before.

‘This kid is so damn gullible. You’ll only bring trouble to yourself.’

Arnold mocked Lucri while mentally shaking his head.

---!!!!

At that moment, they heard a loud roar come from the forest. Even through the forest was quite far away from the city, it sounded like it was close by.

“The dragon is awake!!”

“Look, up there!!”

The people looked towards where the person was pointing.

There, a large flying monster was ascending into the sky. It was nearing the city at incredible speeds. It had a wing span of approximately thirty meters.

Even from where he sat, Arnold could feel its powerful gaze.

‘What’s that light behind its back?’

He saw a fading green light behind the dragon. When he was about to take out binoculars to see what it could be, he heard Clint shout to all the adventurers.

Said adventurers were trying to get up from their sleeping bags and out of their tents. The dragon appeared so suddenly that they took longer than usual to gear up.

“We mustn’t let it come to this city!” Clint shouted as he jumped onto one of the horses. He unsheathed his sword and roared: “We will end its life on the open plain! Come, soldiers!!”

“OOOHH!!!”

‘It seems we’ll need to give them directions during the fight, huh?’

Since the dragon appeared so fast and they couldn’t hold the strategy meeting to inform the entire group, they had to deal with organizing the people during the fight. Sylphiala took all the archers under her command while Lucia took the magic casters.

“Steel your hearts! It is but one dragon!!”

Clint stormed off with the horse, the adventurers following behind him.

The city’s residents seemed to have heard the roar of the dragon as well since many of them were running out of their houses. They were going in the opposite direction of the north gate from where the raid party entered through.

The servants of the mansion were also running back and forth like headless chickens. Victoria was nowhere to be seen, though. It was like she disappeared like smoke.

“Lucri, let’s go too! Leave everything as it is!”

“R-Right!”

Lucri packed up everything and threw it in their tent before catching up with Arnold to the front gate.

There was suddenly an explosion, followed by a red light. Arnold looked up at the sky which was suddenly covered by a grey cloud.

The dragon probably fired one of its Dragon Breaths.

‘Shit. How many died from that…’

Arnold ran even faster behind the adventurers who were trying to keep up.

He passed by all of them. Even the warriors who were confident in their speed and leg strength seemed astonished at his speed.

“S-Sir Nova, wait! I can! I can also fight with you!”

Not hearing Lucri’s cry, Arnold continued running.

He was still too slow.

‘Shit. If I want to run faster, I’d need to use aura…’

Of course, that would ultimately mean that his experiment would fail if he were to use his aura. He wanted to test just how far the limitations of this body could go.

If it was Luke, even if he were placed in a dangerous situation, he would always come out on top. That was because a hero is defended by the god’s blessing and the world’s fate. No matter what happened to him, there was always a way for him to emerge victorious. Luke had been in many near-death situations before in his life, yet he was still alive today. Being a hunter, there were no shortages of dangers.

Even if people thought he was weak and would lose, something would always happen to guarantee him victory.

What about Arnold then?

He was created to be the mini Demon King in this world. Surely there was some evil god who also looked upon Arnold in a favorable light?

Of course, it was much too dangerous to test this in real life. If he died in this fight then there was no second life. In the game, whenever he died he would respawn at a temple closest to the location where he perished.

Arnold von Berkley was not a player so there was no reviving without resurrection magic.

After arriving outside the gate, Arnold looked up at the massive dragon that stared down at them.

‘From which tribe did this dragon come from? Is it a nomad?’

In the world of dragons, they had a hierarchy much like humans and demihumans.

There would be one who would be the leader of the entire tribe; the title of alpha could be compared to a king of his nation. The alpha must also be the strongest out of all the males.

The reason Arnold was wondering about its tribe was because only the alphas were allowed to wander freely. But they are usually accompanied by several of their concubines.

‘No, a female?’

Arnold’s eyes widened.

A dragon’s gender is identified by their horns and the pigment of their scales. The lighter ones are usually females and their scales are smoother than males. Of course, mutation in their pigmentation is still a thing. That was still possible but such cases were rare.

‘Well, I’ll have to assume that it is female. I can’t really check with my eyes to do a quick look down there.’

“You’re here.”

Clint spoke to Arnold when he approached. The other adventurers were circling around the dragon in hopes of pushing it back.

It could simply fly away but for some reason it didn’t.

‘What’s going on?’

The dragon didn’t attack them and only glared menacingly. Many were reluctant of closing in since Clint himself hadn’t told them to attack.

In the distance near the forest, Arnold could see many of the archers moving into position.

‘Ah…’

Arnold had a sudden flash of realization but before he could organize that thought, the dragon roared.

‘Its calling the monsters?’

Of course, there were no monsters around here that could help it fight.

‘Why does it seem so scared? No, threatened?’

Dragons were the most superior race in this world. They didn’t even have any natural enemies. Well, besides other dragon species.

‘Wait a second. Did it escape from its tribe?’

Then it didn’t make sense for the dragon to be male. There could only be one male in each tribe. When a male other than the alpha is born then it is kicked out by adulthood.

Of course, they can challenge the current alpha and seize control themselves. That was ‘if’ they could win. If not, then they were killed by the females and the alpha.

Realizing the reason why it suddenly appeared in these mountains, Arnold racked his brains over what to do.

He looked at the dragon which was glaring at the humans while growling. Then he looked at Clint and the other adventurers.

No matter what he did, they wouldn’t end this raid without drawing its blood.

“Is everyone ready!?”

Clint unsheathed his sword.

””””””Ready!!!!”””””

“Follow the formation I have just told you to. The archers will attack first! Warriors, with me!”

Everyone gave their agreement in the form of cheering. It seemed that their morale was extremely high for the fight.

--Puny…humans…For you…to interfere…as well…

‘Eh?’

Arnold suddenly heard something in his ear. He looked around to see if anyone was speaking to him.

‘No, all of them are preparing to kill the dragon.’

--I…will…not allow you to enter this forest…He…Suar must not find me…I must…kill humans and…go to another…place…

Arnold’s gaze went to the dragon when he heard the voice a second time.

‘Is the dragon speaking human tongue? No, it doesn’t seem that way because the others are responding. Then, am I able to understand its words?’

He wasn’t certain if Arnold already knew how to understand dragon tongue or if he had a skill which could translate another being’s speech.

‘It can’t be a racial trait…Arnold should be a human.’

Arnold’s thoughts was interrupted by a sudden light that shot towards the dragon, piercing its body and causing a big explosion.

Sylphy was the cause. She had used her strongest technique she mentioned before. Following her, the other archers also shot magic arrows.

The dragon roared in pain.

‘It’s not attacking back…?’

“Nova!”

Clint’s call made Arnold snap out of his daze.

“The attack is about to begin! I need you there with me!”

“…I…”

Arnold tried to speak before hearing another loud roar from the dragon. Hundreds of spells were shot at it at once. Mini explosions shook the ground he stood on.

The dragon was being pushed back by the second.

Lucia had instructed the mages to fire at will.

Arnold came to the conclusion that it was probably already injured before coming out of the forest. He could see the powerful light that once shone in its eyes slowly fade away.

!!!!

The dragon staggered with blood and burn marks covering its entire body.

It growled in a low tone.

Its body shivered before it fell to its knees.

“There it is! Warriors! Now we attack!”

“”””””OOOOOH!!!!””””””

Clint, along with all the melee fighters charged at the dragon. The battle was about to begin.

◇

The dragon seemed to have had enough of their attacks and finally went on the offensive.

Arnold was all the way in the back yet he could feel the power from its Dragon’s Breath.

It was the main form of offence for dragons besides using their tails to attack. A dragon was strong physically as well but it didn’t have the body fit for throwing punches or for kicking.

Thus, all it could do was tackle, swing its tail and bite.

The blast of energy almost hit Arnold where he stood. Had he not jumped out of the way, he would’ve suffered some hefty damage.

The blast exploded, causing a small AOE ripple effect.

‘How can one measure its DPS. Hmm…Is it 1000? Or 2000? Maybe more? No. This isn’t the time to think about that stuff.’

He needed to kill or chase away the dragon.

If they didn’t, then it might proceed to destroy the city. Arnold wanted to prevent that since this city would become his.

It wasn’t because of some noble deed like wanting to protect the people—he only found it troublesome to fix anything that may be destroyed because of the dragon’s abrupt appearance.

Arnold turned to Clint who was shouting orders to everyone fighting the dragon.

“What does the situation look like?”

“Not good. We used a lot of heals after the dragon’s first attack. I didn’t expect it to cause this much damage.”

Clint answered Arnold’s question.

Looking around, multiple adventurers were hit with the shockwave of the energy blast. That alone deprived them of a lot of their life-force.

‘Crazy. I definitely would’ve died.’

Arnold couldn’t help but shiver.

It was ridiculous how such a monster was just living in the forest for so long. It could probably destroy this entire city if it wanted to.

Arnold could see Crull, the tanned warrior attacking the dragon’s upper body with his war axe. It was crazy how he could dodge and attack with such a large hunk of metal.

However, one could tell by the sweat on his brow that he was exhausted.

The others who was on his squad were basically only meatshields since they weren’t contributing much.

“What’s wrong? It’s almost time for the two of us to head to the frontlines. Crull and his squad is holding the dragon at bay but it seems they don’t have much time left before they’re done.”

“Ah, that…”

‘It mentioned a name…Who was it? Is it another dragon perhaps?’

Arnold looked at Clint.

He knew that Clint wouldn’t believe him even if he told him.

From what Arnold gathered, he came to the conclusion that the dragon ran away from its tribe. Since it was a female, it wasn’t pursued as a male dragon would but looking at the wounds which were already on its body, he could tell that it had a rough life.

‘Still…it can’t live on the land of the Empire.’

Dragons weren’t seen in a good light on this part of the continent. That was mainly because of their forefathers, the dragon lords.

Being the definition of chaos and destruction, the dragon lords were arrogant species that only knew how to kill. They had short tempers and would attack humans on sight. That was why no human nation wanted to affiliate themselves with the dragon race.

Although they were an intelligent species, they were still dangerous and a symbol of fear for humans.

‘We have no choice but to kill it.’

“Nova?”

Clint frowned when he saw Arnold walk past him with his sword drawn. The latter didn’t answer and continued walking.

Clint started shouting for him to come back since the group would break formation if he joined then.

Arnold ignored Clint’s calls and only bent down as he flexed his leg muscles.

The ground beneath cracked a bit from the pressure that came from him. Just like in the battle with the orcs, he coated his sword in Sword Intent.

“Hooo…” Arnold looked up.

The dragon was still trying to catch the nimble humans who kept dodging its attacks. If it tried to attack the warriors then they’d hinder its movements then the archers would let loose their arrows.

It was a constant back and forth.

They weren’t doing it with no plan in mind. Before they arrived here, Clint relayed orders for everyone to hold out as much as they could. He couldn’t explain it fully so he probably hoped for everyone to fill in the dots themselves.

It was a battle of attrition. Once the dragon got exhausted then the main attack force(Clint’s squad) would charge.

“Nova! Get back! Now!”

If he entered the battle this early then the plan would’ve been for nothing.

Arnold finally jumped at that moment when Clint shouted. The ground was destroyed beneath him.

Arnold shot out at lighting speeds.

ROOOAR!!

The dragon saw him coming and swung its claw in his direction.

“Haaaaah!!!!!”

Arnold dodged its attack mid-air and made his hand into a fist.

‘Let’s see how powerful a full powered serious punch from Arnold really is!’

Ten meters.

Five meters.

One meter.

Then his fist connected.

A powerful shockwave shook the grassy plain followed by the cracking of the dragon’s scales.