A few minutes ago...

"Divine Wrath!"

An endless barrage of blinding light hit the dragon, Kouki panted hard and observed the dragon drowned by explosions of light.

"Even if it doesn't die, it might be severely injured at the very least!?"

His widened eyes nearly popped out of sockets when he saw the dragon only had light wounds on its body, even those were without a single drop of blood. Realizing he failed even with his strongest attack, a look of despair crept up on his face.

'What is this? Aren't I the hero, the strongest human to ever exist? I alone killed the behemoth. It was my strongest attack, just why is this? Why?'

He couldn't comprehend it. His grandfather told him that justice always prevails then why were these demons winning and killing the innocent soliders.

(A/N:- He soloed a behemoth after Irene and Eri killed it...)

"Idiot, dodge!"

Shizuku's warning went through his ears without any effect, no, he was far too deep in his mind to hear anything.

Kouki snapped out of his thoughts and saw the flames just a meter away from him. Instead of scorching heat, he felt nothing... he found himself in the air and saw Shizuku getting swallowed by the beam-like attack from the corner of his eyes.

"Shizuku!!!"

"Found you."

A monotonic female voice came from his side and a sudden attack on his head sent his consciousness to dreamland.

The beam fired by the dragon sent Shizuku flying from the impact. Every part of her broken and burned body screamed in pain. She wanted to die rather than feeling this excruciating pain, still, she gritted her teeth and held on to her consciousness while trying to move her body.

Suddenly she felt herself slowed down by something.

'What's happening?'

---

Leo came out of the portal and furrowed his brows in a deep frown from the very familiar stench.

'Blood?'

Shea covered her nose when she smelled the thick smell of blood. Her senses were only second to Leo.

Before Leo could analyze the situation, he sensed a presence coming at a breakneck speed. He turned back and caught sight of a girl flying backward.

He used wind magic to slow down the momentum and caught her in his arms.

"Yue, Shea, Hearst, you how Eri looks like, right? Go and help her. I'll heal her and join you guys later."

The girls looked at the horrible condition of the injured girl and nodded their heads.

"Nn."

"Don't worry about anything, leave it to us~"

"As you wish Master."

The three of them headed in different directions. He took out a bed from inventory and placed the girl on it.

"You sure are in a terrible condition."

He could imagine the pain she was experiencing, her clothes were burned in places and the front of her body was terribly charred. For her to be this conscious through sheer will was admiring.

He pulled out the hilt of the already melted sword, firmly gripped in her arms and covered her body with a blanket. He moved her hands raised in covering her head, which she might have done unconsciously and looked at her face.

"Shizuku Yaegashi?"

He whispered, remembering the girl who used to visit Eri on Earth. In fact, she was one of Eri's closest friends. He put the vial of Ambrosia in her mouth and poured it little by little.

Cough Cough

Shizuku gained back some sense when some liquid flooded inside her mouth, she coughed hard and vomited back all the fluid.

"Damn it!"

She heard someone cursing, this voice seemed a bit familiar to her. Her body was raised as a warm sensation enveloped her lips and a tongue forced its way inside her mouth. She was furious and creeped out by the person molesting her even in this state. But it all subsided when a warm liquid slowly slid down her throat.

The tormenting pain she felt until now disappeared as she felt the wounds healing at an unimaginable rate. She nervously opened her eyes and peered into the pair of hetero-chromatic eyes.

'Beautiful.'

Realizing she was staring too hard, she awkwardly averted her gaze and expressed her gratitude. "T-Thanks for saving my life."

"Don't worry about it but we need to move from here."

'This voice, just where did I hear it?'

She intently stared at the face of her savior. The sharp features of his face reminded her of a certain young man from Earth.

'But his hair and eyes are completely different, even his aura is somewhat strange compared to his sharp aura.'

Her heart sped up for a different reason as she absentmindedly stared at his face.

Leo tilted his head a bit before he put one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back and picked her up.

"W-What are you d-doing? Let me down!"

Shizuku raised her voice in fluster. Unknown to her, she was blushing hard.

"I need to go and help others, should I leave you here alone?"

Shizuku shut her lips tight, he took her silence as an agreement. She wrapped her hands around his neck.

'It's just for support, no ulterior motives.'

She repeated it inside her mind to stop the stray thoughts.

"Let's see."

Leo spread his senses in all directions. Sounds of blades clashing, painful screams and someone laughing? reached his ears then everything went silent.

He leaped in the air and moved toward the direction with the highest number of presences.

"Eiiii!"

Shizuku let out a cute yelp, he stared at her blankly.

She released his neck and covered her face in embarrassment.

"Give me all the details of what happened?"

Seeing her flustered state, he asked in a serious tone. He didn't have time to slack off.

She nodded her head. "We were waiting and buying time for the reinforcements to arrive. But... one, no, two classmates betrayed us. He broke the artifact powering the barrier and the rest is…"

He caught sight of something interesting, his gaze narrowed at the giant black dragon-like monster. Its scales reminded him of hydra but it wasn't as strong as the hydra.

'Analyze'

[Tio Klarus] (Controlled)
Race: Dragonmen
Age: 563 Female
Level 80
Job: Guardian
Strength: 4200
Vitality: 6000
Defense: 6000
Agility: 3120
Magic: 4600
Magic Defense: 4400
Skills: [Draconification] [+Dragon scale Hardening] [+Mana Efficiency up] [+Physical strength up] [+Draconic Roar (II)] [+Wind Veil] [+Partial Draconification] – [Mana Manipulation] [+Mana Emission] [+Mana Compression] [+Remote Manipulation] – [Fire Affinity] [+Decreased Mana Consumption] [+Increased Efficiency] [+Increased Duration] – [Wind Affinity] [+Decreased Mana Consumption] [+Increased Efficiency] [+Increased Duration] [Lightning Element] – [Spell Melding]

'Dragonmen? The race that went extinct 500 years ago?'

(Looks like it...)

He was amazed to find an ancient dragon here, however, it was being controlled by someone. His eyes perceived a thin string of mana connecting the dragon to a youth sitting on a black eagle above the monster army. He sighed at the sight of Hearst digging through the monster corpses.

He glanced around and found Yue healing Eri with a hp potion he gave her.

The heavy pressure on his chest faded and he let out a relieved sigh. Continuing to look around, he found Shea fighting a four-eyed wolf and Irene collapsed nearby in a pool of blood. He kicked the wind plate he made with aerodynamic and darted forward and lightly landed on the ground.

"Irene!"

Shizuku hurriedly jumped from his hold and placed Irene's head on her lap. He took out a vial of Ambrosia, just like Shizuku he poured it down her throat.

Irene opened her eyes after gulping down every drop of it. He removed the vial from her lips and showed a gentle smile at her.

"Irene? Feeling any pain?"

"...Leo? I see... I died in the end. But for me to see the Angelic version of Leo smiling at me first thing in heaven... It wasn't all in vain, it was well worth it..."

Irene said while looking at him in a daze then closed her eyes with a peaceful smile.

His smile twitched at corners before he shook his head.

"You are not dead, this is still Tortus and I'm the same old Leo who owes you 4000 Luta from Horaud Town, remember?"

Shizuku pointed at him, her finger trembling for some reason.

"Wait! You are Evans-san? Eri's friend from Earth?"

He nodded his head in confusion before he realized his mistake. His appearance underwent a small change after mutating which made her unable to recognize him.

"Leo!!!"

Before he could say something, Irene dived in his chest.

He sighed and stroked her soft blue hair gently, trying to calm her quivering body.

"I made you quite worried, huh."

Irene released him and nodded her head. "I was worried… but it's fine now that you're back…"

She said as her head drooped against his chest. He hastily checked her body.

"She is fine, just exhausted from blood loss and fighting, Shizuku?"

"Y-Yes."

She turned red after hearing him call her by first name.

"Please look after her, I need to take care of this mess first."

He said as he tossed a black sheathed sword at her, Shizuku caught it and unsheathed the blade and gaped in admiration.

"I-Isn't this the sword you used to defeat the Behemoth?"

He had removed the curse from it, so it could be used by anyone. They, however, won't be able to utilize the enchanted skills.

"Yes… Don't lose it though, it's pretty important to me."

Her expression turned serious as she declared, "I won't lose this, I bet with my pride as a Yaegashi Swordsman!"

He nodded and flew toward the horde of monsters. Time for my entry...