Dragon Blood
I shoved the ball of thread and the tree branch into my mouth.
Gulp.
Before I could even worry about whether I needed to chew, the Evolutionary Cocoon and the Yggdrasil Branch melted the instant they touched my tongue and slid cleanly down my throat.
Thump.
Thump!
Thump!!
Thump!!!
The joy of finally hitting 10 MP and the urgent knowledge that the Hell Hound was already locked in battle with the protagonist’s party had left me too impatient to notice one critical fact.
What I had just swallowed was an elixir that, without any effort on my part, would push an innate talent to its absolute limit.
It sounded wonderful—until you realized that gulping down something so close to a miracle with zero preparation carried a price that was anything but light.
A faint heat bloomed in my gut. A heartbeat later, a torrent of agony crashed over me.
Crazy—there was nothing like this in the game!!
My entire body seared as if set on fire. My heart hammered like a mad thing. Every nerve screamed danger; every muscle tore and reknit in endless cycles; my veins swelled until they felt ready to burst.
──!!!
The pain exceeded every limit. Not even a scream escaped my throat.
I wanted to black out, to escape the torment I could not endure—but the sacred power of the World Tree refused to allow it. It circulated through me, forcing my mind sharper and sharper.
That heightened consciousness seized control of my body, determined to keep the life flickering inside me from snuffing out.
Crunch!
I clenched my teeth hard enough to crack them and forced my locked, convulsing frame back under command.
Squeeze.
Crimson blood welled between my tightly fisted fingers. Shock still made my limbs shudder and spasm, so I forcibly circulated mana, constricting the vessels by sheer will.
The frantic pounding of my heart gradually found its proper rhythm. Pure, refined mana—unlike anything I had ever felt—flooded every corner of my body.
As if fog had been swept away, my senses snapped open to their fullest. Hyper-acute awareness drank in every scrap of information around me and poured it straight into my brain.
The whistle of William’s sword.
The vibration transmitted through Enri’s shield as she blocked an attack.
Even the flow of mana riding Elizabeth’s skills.
All of it fused into a single stream, feeding me the next moves I needed to make before I had even decided them.
An indescribable sense of omnipotence.
Bathed in that power, I checked the status window I had left open a moment earlier.
▶ Name:Taylor Winchester
▶ Talent:(S) Dragon Knight
▶ Skills
(S)Dragon Sense Lv:MAX
(S)Dragon Blood Lv:1
(S)Dragon Roar Lv:1
(A)Catastrophic Charge Lv:1
(A)Mounted Assault Lv:1
▶ Stats
I still couldn’t claim to have left the beginner ranks behind, but the leap in stats was incomparable to what I had before.
The skill list looked far healthier as well. The Winchester Swordsmanship I had never been able to use was gone, replaced by three exclusive S-rank skills of the Dragon Knight talent and two high-tier knight skills. A solid trade.
Of all things… a Dragon Knight, huh.
Among the top-tier wind-mage talents, Elizabeth held the support-type Wind of the Azure Sky and the combat-type Windbreaker. Knight talents likewise branched into several paths. The one I had wanted was Holy Knight—a perfect all-rounder that could tank, deal, and heal alone.
It was the only knight character I had ever raised in Hero Con Brio, which made the loss sting all the more.
If my information was accurate, Dragon Knight—unlike Holy Knight—was an extreme pure-offense specialization even among knight talents.
In a game that would have been fine. In reality, where survival had to come first, it left me a little uneasy. Still, better than nothing.
At least it’s better than Flame Knight…
Remembering the talent I had originally possessed, Dragon Knight suddenly looked like an angel—no, a god.
My mind was busy sorting all of this out, yet my hands moved independently of thought. I was stuffing every consumable item that had been sleeping in my inventory—unusable because of low stats—straight into my mouth.
You have consumed Nectar.
Your stats are too low to fully accept its power.
Physical attack power slightly increased for 5 minutes.
You have consumed Blood of the Divine Beast.
Your stats are too low to fully accept its power.
MP increased by 3 for 5 minutes.
Ding after ding hammered my eardrums with the same message: You’re too weak, so this is all you get.
I didn’t particularly care. Plenty of stock still remained in the inventory.
With the final Yggdrasil Branch, I finished every last consumable in a single rush.
There were no flashy game-like effects, yet I could feel a surging vitality wrapping my entire body.
“Hoo…”
Through my expanded senses the battle between the trio and the Hell Hound came through crystal clear.
They had fulfilled the roles I assigned them perfectly—pinning the Hell Hound in place long enough for me to awaken.
I could not allow any further fighting to kill or cripple these future excellent workers.
I can’t let them rest easy here. Live long and keep grinding, you main-character brats.
Of course, as a proper extra, I planned to watch their exploits from the rear while munching popcorn.
From my inventory I drew the strongest weapon I currently possessed.
Grade: Legendary
Stats too low to view details. Abilities sealed due to insufficient stats.
It carried the grandiose name of Odin’s spear from Norse myth, yet in the game it had been merely a decent Legendary-grade spear. Because few characters used spears, the auction house was always flooded with them—a common weapon.
Even so, right now it was almost too heavy for me to hold. Even fully doped, I could not draw out its true power.
I adjusted my two-handed grip on Gungnir and quietly recited the activation phrase that had been carved into my mind the moment I acquired the skill.
“I shall become a dragon that swallows the world.”
Dragon Blood
The blue mana within me dyed itself crimson, starting from the heart. A pair of horns sprouted above my head.
This was a declaration that sealed victory.
“With movements like light, I crush the enemy.”
Catastrophic Charge
“All right. Here I go.”
The battle raged on.
Legs slammed against the earth. Will transformed into courage, banishing fear; strength flooded the hand gripping the sword.
William and the Hell Hound traded blows without either landing a decisive strike. Every sweep of those massive claws gouged the ground and toppled trees again and again.
William desperately wanted to check on Young Master Winchester’s condition, yet no opening ever appeared.
The young master will be fine. I just have to trust him.
William had seen it with his own eyes—the unshaken expression on that face even while taking the Hell Hound’s attack head-on.
There had to be a plan William simply didn’t know. So he would believe, and do the best he could right now.
—Kyaaaaaaaah!!!
“Yaaaaaah!!!”
He deflected the dizzying assault, canceled the monster’s roar with his own battle cry, and refused to yield a single step.
“O wind that opens the traveler’s path.”
Tailwind
“Thank you, Lady Spencer.”
Attacks too swift to dodge he slipped past with Elizabeth’s Tailwind.
“Watch out! The guardian never yields.”
Indomitable
“Thanks, Enri!”
Attacks impossible to evade Enri blocked with Indomitable, fighting with everything she had.
Enri and the young lady of House Spencer.
William found it strangely wondrous that he was coordinating so naturally with the two girls.
With the short-haired girl of bright green—Enri—he had barely exchanged names. Their connection was little more than a small accident before the entrance ceremony; victim and perpetrator, if one had to put a label on it. From William’s side the whole thing felt unfair, yet that was the extent of their relationship.
As for Lady Spencer of the count’s house, today in the auditorium had been the first time he ever saw her—standing as freshman representative. And now they were fighting for their lives side by side.
The one who had gathered the two girls and himself in one place was Taylor Winchester.
To call it coincidence felt wrong; the synergy of their three talents was simply too perfect.
On top of that, for some reason the Hell Hound itself seemed off. Its movements lagged by half a beat; it was far weaker than the rumors claimed.
—Kwa-boom!
“Kh!”
The precarious exchange of blows gradually tilted against them as time wore on. Exhausted stamina and frayed nerves finally produced disaster.
—Kyaaak!!
“The guardian— Kyaaah!!”
“Enri!!”
“O wind, become a wall that bars the enemy!”
Wind Wall
Before Enri could finish the chant, the Hell Hound’s attack landed.
Time seemed to slow as the sight of Enri taking the blow burned itself into both their eyes. Wind Wall absorbed the impact once, yet a fatal wound still looked inevitable.
“Yaaah!!”
William fought on desperately, but a party whose tank had fallen was nothing more than a row of dominoes.
—Kyaaaaaaaah!!!
An attack arrived that Tailwind alone could not evade—and this time there was no Enri to defend.
Clang!
“Guaaah!”
The sword he raised to block shattered into fragments. His shoulder, still gripping the hilt, must have dislocated; it hung limp, strengthless.
“Hah… hah…”
—Grrrrrk, grrk.
The monster made an eerie sound, as if it had finally caught its quick little toy, and slowly advanced on William.
Elizabeth stepped between the fallen boy and the Hell Hound.
“R-run!”
—Kyaaaak!
“I will not allow you another step closer! Feel the wind sharp as blades!”
Wind Cutter
Opaque blades of wind slammed into the Hell Hound, yet produced no meaningful effect. They did succeed in enraging it; its steps quickened.
“Kh…”
Having fought beside her, William already knew her combat ability was lacking. He tried to force himself upright, but his body refused to obey.
“Uwaaaaah!!!”
Move!
Please, just move!
You said you wanted to become a hero!!
Unlike the stories, reality was cold. Death closed in one swift step at a time.
A truly desperate crisis.
Kh… so this is as far as I go?
Even in the eyes that had endured on will and courage alone, the word despair began to surface.
And then—
Something impossible happened.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM!!!
A black meteor wreathed in crimson light smashed into the monster, carving out a massive crater.
“Y-Young Master…?”
“Young Master Taylor!”
“Good work.”
A hero had appeared before their eyes.
“Leave the rest to me.”
The adults around him had always spoken of heroes with fear—calling them hunters of monsters, or slaughter machines.
But to William a hero was something that turned despair into hope, a lantern that raced ahead of everyone else to light the darkness.
That was how the heroes had been in the many stories his grandfather told him as a child, and William had believed it so firmly that he wanted to become a hero himself and prove it true.
He forced his unmoving body to turn and lifted his head.
“Ahh…!!”
I wasn’t wrong.
Black hair—the symbol of House Winchester.
A broad back that refused to bow to despair.
An aura that looked ready to cut through anything in its path.
There stood the very image of the hero he had dreamed of and longed for since childhood.