My Strange Savior - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Kalion’s fist clenched in response to his mother’s words, which always emphasized proper manners toward ladies. The only woman he had ever wanted to hit was this one.

“What, are you going to challenge me to a fight?”

“If you don’t cooperate like this, I don’t have any other options.”

“Wow. I spared your life, and now you want my purse?” 

As if a man twice her size wasn’t scary enough, Gia stepped in front of Kalion’s nose without fear.

With a personality like that, she’d like to give him a good punch. That’s why inflexible people are like this. 

Gia, sticking out her tongue, raised her discontented eyes.

“Don’t you understand the current situation?”

Gia leaned in close to Kalion’s face, chuckling at his bewildered expression. Kalion met her gaze without avoiding it.

“Who doesn’t understand the situation here? This world has its own rules.”

“Is that so?” 

Gia sneered, looking at Kalion’s sharp jawline.

Does he want to fight? There’s no time to waste here. She silently gazed at Kalion, who had a rather tiresome personality.

What a handsome face. Was it worth saving him? She suddenly regretted her decision.

“Hit me and don’t cry about it.”

“Cry? Who said anything about crying?” 

Kalion couldn’t bear it any longer and reached out his arm to force Gia.

Crash—

“What the.”

With a loud rumble, the mountain shook, and dust fell inside the cave. Gia, with dust on her shoulders, glanced up at the ceiling and then turned her head towards the outside.

Once again, the mountain roared and then continued to vibrate. Damn. Could it be that Morrison has caused some trouble?

Gia quickly rushed out, and Kalion followed behind her. She hadn’t received any reports of monsters with this kind of power.

Kalion’s face, when he went outside, was as frozen as it was terrifying. Gia, too, stood still in silence, clenching her fists.

“That…?”

Far in the distance, flames erupted from the mountain ridge, followed by consecutive explosions.

“It’s a… dragon.”

“What?”

An almost legendary creature. The monster, rumored only in folklore, spread its large wings and soared into the sky, breathing out fire. The fact that dragons still existed left Kalion with his mouth agape and eyebrows raised.

“A dragon?”

What the… Was this suddenly turning into fantasy?

Even though she was looking at it with her own eyes, Gia made a disbelieving sound. Despite being quite a distance away, they could feel the intense heat right in front of them. 

A massive dragon covered in bright red scales. With every majestic flap of its wings, a strong wind even created the illusion of their surroundings trembling.

“Kre-ek!”

The fierce roar made her hair stand on end. Could she win if she faced it one-on-one? 

She had faced various types of mutated zombies and narrowly escaped death multiple times. She considered herself highly skilled in combat, even beyond her squadmates. However, even someone like Gia didn’t have confidence in facing a dragon.

The dragon seemed to be furious about something, as it spewed fire in all directions, glowing with madness.

“Is this… normal for dragons?”

“I… don’t know. I’ve only heard stories passed down through folklore. This is the first time I’ve seen one.”

“Didn’t it get its rabies shot or something?”

Gia’s eyes sank as she watched the dragon go berserk and shoot fireballs.

She even felt like flames were licking at her right in front of her due to the intense heat emanating from the dragon.

“According to the stories, dragons that live for thousands of years have intelligence, unlike regular monsters. They are said to be able to communicate with people.”

“But… why is it acting like this?”

Kalion sighed as if he were looking at a common neighborhood dog.

“I don’t know.”

Kalion, unable to comprehend it either, just placed his palm on his forehead, swallowing his amazement. Sighs escaped from his open mouth.

Are monsters actively attacking people and using tactics suddenly? They had never heard of such a thing. And a dragon on top of that.

Given the surreal circumstances, Kalion slowly raised his head. 

‘It seems to be fighting.’

Wondering what the dragon, whose name had only been passed down by word of mouth, could be up to, Gia raised her binoculars.

Only when she focused did she understand the reason for its rampage.

“Morrison, that crazy bastard.”

Kalion’s shoulders tensed at the swearing.

“That lunatic.”

Gia clenched her teeth in response to the involuntary sighs and curses. Morrison, veins bulging, was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the dragon.

She could only hope the dragon would win, as there was no way to instantly cover the immense distance.

“What’s going on here?”

Kalion asked, looking at Gia, who suddenly cursed after staring at something odd.

“Look.”

The dragon was so large that it could be seen with the naked eye, but Morrison wasn’t. When Gia extended her binoculars, Kalion stood there, just staring at her hand.

“Look at it.”

Frustrated by Kalion’s unresponsiveness, Gia pulled his large hand and handed him the binoculars.

“Try it like I did earlier.”

Gia sighed as she looked at Kalion, who obediently brought the binoculars to his eyes.

“Uh… No.”

Gia looked pitifully at Kalion, who was holding the binoculars upside down, and concluded that he might not know how to use them. She swiftly took the binoculars from his hand.

“What…?”

Before Kalion could respond, Gia placed the binoculars over his eyes with her own hands.

Suddenly, the distant object appeared vividly close, as if it were right in front of them. Kalion was momentarily startled by this new item. The reason for the dragon’s rampage became clear.

“That’s Morrison.”

Gia held the binoculars in front of Kalion’s face.

“Not a person or a zombie, but a monster.”

“Kie-ek!”

Upon hearing the sound, Gia quickly placed the binoculars back to her eyes.

“Insane.”

Thud—

Amidst the swirling dust, the fallen dragon could be seen. Gia blinked in disbelief. She covered her mouth with her hand and looked beyond the hill where the dusty cloud was rising.

Morrison’s combat skills weren’t particularly strong, but unlike others, he could control zombies.

She didn’t know the exact principle behind how Morrison controlled zombies, but she hadn’t expected the dragon to fall so anticlimactic. Her hands continued to tremble, causing her view through the binoculars to shake. She took a deep breath while clutching the binoculars tightly.

“Ke-ek!”

A single scream echoed again, and a moan escaped Gia’s lips as she had been staring at nothing but swirling dust.

‘Could that happen?’

Even though she was witnessing it with her own eyes, she found it hard to believe in this surreal reality. She wiped her cheeks with her palm.

‘It must be… It must be.’

“What’s wrong?”

Frustrated with Gia’s continuous moaning, Kalion asked her beside him but received no response.

Kalion stared at Gia, who stood frozen as if in a trance. He gently removed the binoculars from her hand and, as he focused through them, a sigh escaped his lips.

“That… is what you were talking about.”

“Kie-ek!”

The dragon, which they had thought was dead, rose from the swirling dust as if it were being resurrected, spreading its massive wings.

The person riding atop it looked significantly different from a human in appearance. The eerie network of dark red veins covering their entire body looked bizarre. Were they even human?

The dragon, which had been breathing fire with its bright red scales and soaring earlier, seemed to have changed somehow. Even with Morrison riding it, the docile dragon they had seen earlier was no longer the same.

The dragon’s body, covered in the same dark red as Morrison, moved awkwardly as if only its bones remained. It was as if it was trying to become like Morrison.

As Kalion applied more pressure to his hand, he heard a crack from the binoculars.

“How is this possible…?”

Kalion, who had been uttering single words one by one, dropped his hand and looked at Gia.

“I warned you, didn’t I?”

Even Gia’s hand trembled in the face of this unbelievable situation. She consciously took a deep breath, looking at Morrison, who had transformed not just into a dragon but a monstrous version of one.

“Kie-ek!”

The dragon’s roar felt like it could tear the air apart, inducing a sensation of being rent asunder.

The sound of the dragon’s furious cries echoed, causing fear in all living creatures. The master of monsters, when he cried out, made all the monsters on the mountain follow suit, and when they stomped in unison, the earth trembled.

“What on earth…”

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The dragon, its wings soaked in what seemed like blood, was perched on the mountain summit. And atop it, Morrison. As Gia clenched her fist, blue veins rose on her hand.

“Son of a…”

Every time the dragon flapped its wings, it created a gust of wind.

Whoosh.

The wind from its wings intensified, and the colossal creature ascended into the sky. Morrison, who had seemed ready to create a massacre just moments ago, changed direction in his flight.

“Where is he going?”

When Gia turned her head in the direction where the dragon had disappeared, Kalion’s groan deepened.

“That way.”

“Why?”

“That’s the direction of the village.”

“What?”

Upon hearing Kalion’s words, Gia’s body jumped up in alarm.

“This is insane.”

Morrison’s intentions were so obvious that Gia quickly started to move.

“Hey! What are you doing? Snap out of it!”

She couldn’t afford to let people get hurt any longer. Even though her world had crumbled, she couldn’t allow this place to fall apart. Gia yelled at Kalion, who stood there dumbly, instead of moving quickly.

“Hey!”

Even with Gia’s shouting, Kalion remained motionless, just staring at the sky where Morrison had disappeared.

“Kalion!”

“This is…”

As Kalion’s voice trembled as if it might break, Gia, who had been about to grab his arm, pulled her hand back.

“Is this what you were talking about?”

“If you know it, then snap out of it. We have to save the people.”

“How…?”

How could she be so calm?

Kalion stared at Gia, who was urging him to snap out of it, unlike his numb self.

He couldn’t forget the sight of Morrison, who had casually taken control of the dragon mentioned in legends as the master of monsters.

Could he, a mere human, stop someone like that? Even from a distance, fear welled up inside him, and his palms grew sweaty.