[The Awakening of the Sword King]

Day 5 of the S-Class gate raid. Both the raid and the "Rania raid" were progressing smoothly.

"Haa, *chu-eup*..."

It was a break in the middle of the raid. Rania and I were kissing in a corner. Naturally, we were hidden from view thanks to Miho’s help, and Rania, who had resisted at first, had come to accept it with a feeling of, 'Wouldn't this much be okay...?' As expected, once I raised her threshold, she was becoming increasingly open.

"Hngh..."

When I pressed my thigh forward to squeeze between her legs, she let out a moan. Unlike Miho, who had taken less than a day, it had been a grueling 96 hours—four full days—but the time for Rania’s awakening stimulus was finally coming to an end. I’d thought about the reasons, and I figured it was likely a complex combination of her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠combat power at the time of the stimulus, the fact that she wasn't an established target for interspecies management, and her low, unverified dominance rating.

"Eh, ah...?"

Her hands, which had been gripping the back of my neck tightly while our tongues tangled, dropped to the floor. She stared into empty space with wide, startled eyes.

Sword King. Even the name sounded badass.

Checking her status window, she had undergone such an extreme change that I could no longer call her a "trash-tier Elf." An A-class bottom-feeder had suddenly become a prospect capable of rivaling SS-class hunters.

"...Crazy. I'm actually a little jealous."

The performance of Sword King was truly staggering. If it was 1000%, simply put, it meant she would be ten times stronger just by holding a sword. When I got Heavenly Fox, I didn't feel much of a difference because it wasn't an ability directly related to me, but I, too, had once spent my days wandering F-class gates with nothing but a single blade. Even if I had been forced into it by a scam...

Anyway, whether it was Miho’s Heavenly Fox or this, abilities influenced by interspecies interactions always had something extraordinary about them.

"Ah, i-is this... really real?"

"Of course. Didn't I tell you it was real—mph."

Rania, who had suddenly initiated a lip-smashing kiss, pulled back after a brief deep kiss and grabbed her sword. She swung it toward the ice wall that hadn't broken easily before. Even to an amateur like me, it was a beautiful strike. But the place where the sword passed was silent and clean.

Considering this was an S-class gate environment where even when Carlson smashed giant monsters into the walls, they didn't leave a scratch, I thought it might still be too difficult for Rania. But looking closely from the side, the light reflected off the wall, revealing a deep gouge exactly where the blade had passed.

...Wow. I decided that if Rania ever became an interspecies management target, I absolutely had to copy this ability.

Her gaze, which had been alternating between her sword and the mark on the wall, shifted to me.

"Really... thank you so, so much."

She had a slender frame, so she was great to hug. Even if her breasts were a little smaller than Miho’s, objectively speaking, they were still quite large.

"So, are you going to give me sex now?"

I still had the quest [Great Footsteps - 3: The Trash-Tier Elf Swordsman], which wouldn't complete unless we had sex, so I moved my hand and grabbed her plump buttocks. If Rania tried to run away, I was prepared to use the contract to make it happen one way or another. In truth, I had done all this partly because I saw the "Kind Elf" trait on her, but because of that, I didn't think she would just take the benefits and run.

"Th-that is..."

Just as I was waiting for Rania’s hesitant answer—

BOOM...!

A deafening roar echoed. The entire ice cave vibrated, and in the aftermath, icicles fixed to the ceiling began to fall to the floor. *Crash!* However, Rania was right next to me, capable of swatting away all the falling icicles, and above all, the hunters who had grasped the situation erected defensive barriers to block them.

'Of all times?'

So this was what an S-class gate was like. I realized there were new patterns using the terrain that hadn't appeared during the first five days of the raid.

BOOM!

'...What is that?'

The roar didn't end with just one; it actually felt like it was getting closer to us...

KUUUUNG!!

"Everyone, gather in the center!"

Carlson’s voice rang out. Sensing that the situation was not normal, the hunters gathered in the center without a word, and the continuous roaring finally revealed its source as one side of the cave wall shattered.

Reptilian slit eyes. Scales emitting cold air. Sharp claws. And above all, it looked to be the size of a five-story apartment building.

"Crazy... that’s a variant Ice Drake... right?"

"You idiot. If it has wings, it’s a dragon... we’re fucked."

"Shut up and prepare for battle! Fortunately, it’s not an adult!"

Even I, who had been hiding comfortably in the back, could read the atmosphere now that the battle had begun. Could it be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a double gate?

Damn it, it really was one. A double gate that had erupted in an S-class gate where a raid team including two SS-class hunters and many S-class or lower hunters had once been wiped out. I’d heard the probability was lower than winning the lottery, so why did it have to happen while I was here?

***

The raid team wasn't wiped out by a single Ice Dragon the size of a five-story apartment—which they claimed wasn't an adult yet. It was thanks to the SSS-class hunter Carlson, who had entered prepared for such ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moments, Miho, and decisively, Rania, who had suddenly started piercing through the dragon’s tough scales.

"*Guh...*"

And right now, Carlson, whose right arm had been severed halfway during the battle, was being treated by a healer. Since Carlson, an SSS-class hunter facing a dragon, wouldn't have made a mistake, it meant the dragon was strong enough to injure him even with the support of the entire raid team.

Just as I was thinking I should take Miho and Rania and escape if things got desperate, monsters began to pour through the hole the Ice Dragon had breached. But since an Ice Dragon to match our asymmetric power didn't appear like before, we were able to fend them off without much trouble.

"An Ice Dragon estimated to be an adult is approaching from about 4.9km beyond the wall!" shouted a man of the Druid race, whose lower body was made of wood, and who had been playing a very important role in the raid team due to his exploration-related skills.

"From now on, full-speed sprint without breaks! Drop whatever you have to and run!"

At Carlson’s shout, the hunters all began to flee, not even thinking about extracting the mana stones from the Ice Dragon they had just killed. Since it was the 5th day of the gate raid, we had hit the turning point and were just starting to head back, so we were far from the exit. In other words, it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a dangerous situation where it wouldn't be strange if the Ice Dragon chased us down and tore us to shreds unless we ran like hell.

"Master! What are you doing here! Hurry..."

"Wait a second."

"What?! Now is not the time for jokes!"

The thoughtful Miho had come to look after me. I told Rania, who was dithering nearby, that it was fine and to run away first. She left reluctantly after I told her I had a separate way to escape.

"Y-you're really sure it's okay, right?! Even if I've gotten stronger, I'm not strong enough to take on an Ice Dragon alone..."

"Do you still not trust your master’s ability?"

Perhaps because my attitude seemed so relaxed, Miho soon regained her composure. I was curious about what the Survival Expert (SS) skill in the hidden quest special conditions was, but if I felt like things were truly going south, I could just use the gate escape rope.

Leaving behind the place where we hadn't even been able to collect our tents, I took Miho and approached the Ice Dragon’s corpse.

"Certainly... I don't know the exact details either, but I've heard a dragon heart is worth at least 100 billion easily."

"Not the mana stone?"

"Ah, special monsters like dragons have different unique drop items."

That was something I was hearing for the first time. Maybe it was because I was a bottom-tier F-class hunter, but even information that Miho spoke of as if it were obvious was new to me.

"Then go ahead and extract that heart."

"Okay... *Heup*."

Following Miho’s fingers, the blue heart that popped out of the dragon’s corpse was emitting a chill that made my whole body shudder just by being near it. And that was despite me wearing an ondol bracelet that provided perfect protection down to minus 30 degrees Celsius.

"Wow... amazing. We don't even have to sell this; we could just boil it and eat it."

I couldn't help but agree with Miho’s words.