Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: The Battle Between Dragon and Hero Is an Obvious One (4)
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The sea voyage from the port city of Meriel took three days.
In three days, they would arrive at the port of Bastia, the beastkin nation occupying the northern forests of the Forest Continent.
Depending on the ship's speed, but a swift vessel crafted by dwarven hands would make it in three days flat.
Still, three days aboard ship felt like an eternity if you weren't used to it.
For seasoned sailors who lived in port cities, three days was nothing.
"Ugh... Uweeeck..."
"Sea... seasick..."
To the uninitiated, it was a hellish eternity.
The others seemed to be holding up fine enough, but Ron the priest from Scarlett's party and Jin, the hero from the Trasson Free Nation, looked especially rough.
They hung over the ship's railing, faces ashen as death, staring out at the waves.
A few pitied them, but most just laughed and poked fun.
"Hahaha! Ron's always like that, but this Jin guy's weak as hell too!"
Scarlett cackled, pointing at them with glee. The two turned, glaring daggers her way.
"...What do you mean 'always'? Uweeck..."
"Seasickness... ugh. Isn't about strength or weakness... it's constitution. Uuugh..."
But their stomachs lurched again, and they whipped their heads back to the sea.
"Humans are frail. Losing to a ship."
"Haha! You're strict, Emi. Folks from inland who never sail might get it bad."
Emi of the Saiin tribe eyed them with disdain, while Hickle of the Ronin tribe laughed heartily, defending the pair.
"H-Hang in there."
Apart from Lin, who couldn't care less, Jenny was the only one cheering them on.
'...Jenny Harkur. Daughter of the greatest hero, Marquis Harkur.'
Jin's perpetually pained expression sharpened for a split second.
He eyed her up and down, scrutinizing.
"...?"
Jenny tilted her head, sensing the stare.
'She's a key sample—inheriting the hero's qualities among the Harkur heirs. And her second daughter, Scarlett Harkur, too. I came to scout Bastia's heroes... but this is some luck.'
Jin had schemes brewing.
But for now...
"U-Uuugh..."
...he'd think about it after getting off the damn boat.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Finally... land..."
They arrived at Bastia's port city.
Jin and Ron disembarked faster than anyone.
Three days of seasickness without proper sleep had left dark circles under their eyes.
"L-Let's rest a bit..."
They both opened their mouths to plead for a break.
But...
"Y-You're finally here!"
"Emi and Hickle are back!"
"You idiots! We don't need puny humans! Big trouble! We needed you!"
"......"
The port's frantic vibe suggested no time for rest.
"What's going on?!"
"What? Isn't the invasion just starting?"
Emi and Hickle hurried down, faces pale with shock.
It had been eight days since Emi and her group left Hasler. By schedule, the invasion should've been just one day in.
Even without Emi and Hickle—two heroes—Bastia had other heroes and champions.
No way it'd react like this after a single day.
To reach the capital, a fierce battleground, it'd take another 2-3 days. Even accounting for that, they should've held defensively no problem.
"The invasion started four days ago!"
"Dragons broke their promise!"
"What...?"
The beastkin at the port spilled the tale.
Zatasneo, leader of the Black Dragons, had sniffed out Emi and Hickle slipping away to fetch reinforcements. He launched the assault three days early.
Caught unprepared, Bastia took massive losses in the first strike.
Already an uphill fight, starting crippled meant no real chance.
"The front lines have reached Herdo already..."
Herdo was a city not far from the port.
Meaning the dragons had overrun more than half from Bastia's southern tip.
"We evacuated somehow. Everyone's heading here."
"Fleeing by sea. Last resort."
Bastia's refugees were flooding ports like this one, desperate to escape abroad.
"...Hero Ronavier is dead. Ten heroes dead."
The bad news kept piling.
One hero, ten champions gone.
Countless beastkin soldiers lost too.
And the Black Dragons had massacred fleeing civilians for fun.
"...Filthy lizard bastards."
"I'll kill them. Black Dragons."
Killing intent poured from Hickle and Emi, thick and vicious.
Sneak-attacking after false declarations was bad enough—slaughtering innocents? Unforgivable.
"...Something's off."
Jenny frowned, puzzled.
Why had the dragons—who'd been quiet—suddenly invaded four days ago?
Emi and Hickle had left for reinforcements three weeks prior.
Even waiting for a clean getaway, they should've attacked two weeks back.
'They got intel midway?'
Not from the start—likely learned mid-game for some reason.
And if so, the most probable leak was...
"A traitor."
"......"
Emi clenched her fists until blood welled.
Her face twisted in rage.
"I'll kill them. Black Dragons. Traitor too."
"...Heh, a traitor, huh. Hard to imagine among beastkin, but if there is one... gotta die."
Hickle's face hardened.
The two beastkin bolted ahead, expressions grim.
"We should hurry too."
"...Yeah."
Jenny's group followed, faces grave, picking up the pace.
Ron and Jin's heads still spun, but they gritted teeth and ran.
No way they'd slack off over seasickness now.
"How far to that Herdo place?"
Scarlett asked Hickle, the chattiest.
"...At this speed, ten hours."
He gnashed his teeth, annoyed.
Matching the slowest was grinding his gears.
"...Those who can go fast should scout ahead."
Jin took point, surging forward.
"Y-Yeah, sounds good... huff, huff!"
Ron, the weakest physically, nodded, panting.
That sparked it.
"...Got it."
"We'll lead."
Flash!
Emi and Hickle shot off like arrows.
Dodging trees, occasionally vaulting branches for aerial maneuvers.
True to beastkin heroes, their forest mobility was unreal.
"Us too then."
Flash!
Jenny cast Fly, soaring ahead.
"W-Wait! Coming too, Lady Jenny!"
Lin followed with Fly and Blink, airborne after her.
"...Said go ahead, but didn't expect this."
Left behind: Scarlett's party.
They could hustle if needed.
Except heavy-geared Jerome and low-stamina Ron.
Scarlett was a physical freak; Arna, the forest-agile spirit elf.
"Haha, no choice. We'll take it slow."
Couldn't ditch party members, so Scarlett and Arna paced with the two.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Kyahaha! Die, you worthless beasts!"
"Kekeke! So weak, weak!"
"Dare touch a dragon?"
"Hold the line! Hold!"
"Argh!"
"Grah!"
The battlefield near Herdo.
The situation was worse than imagined.
Beastkin flesh rotted where black dragonfire licked.
Casual stomps crushed them like toys.
Thirty massive dragons, each ten meters long.
At the center, a black-haired handsome man watched silently.
"Hmph. This is it? No need for me."
Dragons fell to heroes too.
Just two.
One even took a hero down with it.
Now Bastia had two heroes left.
Champions down to twenty-five.
"Heh, their mistake leaving two heroes absent. Reinforcements? Humans helping? Those vicious pricks?"
Zatasneo cackled, overlooking the dying beastkin.
Their pain, rage, despair.
Rich negative emotions.
"Ah~ Feels good!"
Negativity fueled dark-aspect mana.
Why Black Dragons were called evil or demon dragons.
Dark mana like demons, feeding on human misery.
"Kihehe! I'm a genius, yeah."
Zatasneo's handsome face warped grotesquely in laughter.
Even sending one Black Dragon to stir beastkin strife? His ploy.
"Starved too long."
Hunger for negativity.
Sacrificing beastkin to replenish dark mana.
"Die more! Suffer more! Give me more... more...!"
Zatasneo glared madly at the beastkin.
Then a strange sensation—he turned.
"Hm? What's that..."
There...
"I'll kill yooouuu!"
Screeech—!
A massive mana clump shaped like a golden beast claw hurtled in.
BOOM!!
It slammed Zatasneo's spot, thunderous explosion.
The shooter, Emi Brave, formed aerial steps, leaping there instantly.
Knowing it wouldn't kill, she slashed with golden aura-clad claws.
Slash!
Explosion dust split wide, revealing inside.
"What? When'd she get back?"
And there: Zatasneo, smirking leisurely, blocking her strike with one arm.
Slash!
Polymorph dropped, dragon scales blocked—but as Emi spun away, scales rent, blood sprayed.
Hero strikes packed punch... but.
Shrrk—
Wounds healed in a blink, monstrous regeneration.
No damage.
"Oh ho, brought friends? Unexpected."
Zatasneo ignored the healed gash, eyeing humans behind Emi and Hickle.
"...Oh ho, one's got some real presence."
He narrowed eyes at Jenny.
"......"
Jenny met his gaze, drawing her sword.