"This Venomous Dragon is very powerful. You're no match for it. You should run while you can."
Sutrulu Chiralzegarunelruleia Agranzelga Elga didn't know who the white-haired man standing before her was, but there was no doubt he was human.
Not that she looked down on humans—she simply knew the level of most human adventurers.
It might sound a bit boastful, but in all her years wandering the continent, she hadn't encountered many humans who could match her strength.
And even she had been toyed with by the Venomous Dragon. While the man before her looked somewhat capable, she doubted he could defeat the beast.
"Whether I'm a match for it or not, we'll only know once we fight. But from what I saw while watching from the sidelines...
This guy, apart from spraying poison mist, flying, and being thick-skinned, doesn't really seem like that big of a deal."
The elven girl's words made Yecheng, who had finally decided to step in, show a trace of a smile.
Even when facing death, she had told him to escape and not get involved—that alone proved she wasn't a bad person. It made him feel less hesitant about helping her.
"ROARRRR——!"
As Yecheng had that thought, the Venomous Dragon let out an enraged roar—as if it understood Yecheng's words and felt its dignity trampled upon. It dove from the sky straight at him!
Even as a subspecies, the dragon still had draconic blood running through its veins—how could it tolerate being insulted by a mere human?
"Watch out! Dodge it—!"
The elven girl tried to warn Yecheng, but before she could finish, what unfolded in front of her left her too stunned to speak.
Instead of dodging the dragon's charge, the white-haired man before her revealed a burning fighting spirit, drew his blade, and charged forward!
Even more shockingly, despite being much smaller than the fifteen-meter-long Venomous Dragon, Yecheng wasn't sent flying by the beast's dive. Instead, he braced himself and met the dragon's horns head-on with his long blade!
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The dragon's horns clashed with Yecheng's blade, producing a series of metallic clangs and scattering sparks in all directions.
Although Yecheng couldn't fully absorb the impact of the dragon's charge, his sword blocked the blow, and he was pushed back several hundred meters. His feet tore deep trenches through the now-barren earth.
But even as he was pushed back that far, the scene shocked the elven girl.
This was a fifteen-meter-long dragon—even if only a subspecies, it was still a dragon-type beast. Among monsters of similar size, the Venomous Dragon could crush most just with its physique.
Yet here was a human... blocking its charge head-on?
Was he really human?
When she fought the dragon earlier, she had relied entirely on agility and hit-and-run tactics. Who in their right mind tried to brawl with a giant dragon?
"Seriously? I insult you a little and you throw a tantrum? But everything I said is true—other than your big size, bad breath, and some corrosive mist, you're really not that impressive."
Once again mocked by Yecheng, the Venomous Dragon's rage surged to new heights. It had now been insulted twice—what creature with pride could tolerate that?
With Yecheng standing right in front of it, the dragon didn't hesitate. It opened its massive jaws and unleashed a breath it had probably been holding in for a century... Ahem, a focused blast of venomous mist.
This time, the mist was far more potent—both in terms of corrosiveness and concentration.
The earlier attack had been a wide-area spread to prevent escape. This one was more like a focused beam—a true breath weapon.
And now that the distance between them was nearly zero, even if Yecheng tried using magic to form a shield like the elven girl had done earlier, it wouldn't matter.
The new mist was so corrosive it could tear through protective barriers instantly—flesh, bone, nothing would be spared.
"Pride of heaven, ironclad wall, the dragon's flight, the lion's roar, the tiger's cry, the wolf's hunt—
Sever the world before collapse.
Bakudō #81 – Dankū!"
Yecheng had anticipated the dragon's move the moment it opened its jaws. As the poisonous breath erupted, he swiftly completed his incantation, tracing a glowing sigil in the air that formed an invisible wall.
The surge of violet mist crashed down like a flood—but it slammed into an unseen barrier and went no further.
Even though it was right in front of him, the venom could not reach Yecheng—separated by a transparent wall that might as well have been an unscalable cliff.
Yecheng's spiritual pressure—his magical energy—was far stronger than the Venomous Dragon's.
And this was a fully chanted Bakudō #81. Even if the mist had strong corrosive properties, it still couldn't pierce the seemingly thin wall of energy.
The dragon stared at the barrier, visibly stunned. Its eyes showed a flicker of human-like shock and confusion.
Yecheng calmly sheathed his blade, crouched low, and said with a serious expression:
"Now that you've used your best move... it's time for you to taste my swordsmanship!"
A powerful pressure radiated outward as magic energy gathered around him, curling and flowing like serpents. The air around Yecheng seemed to bend beneath the weight of his presence.
For the first time, the Venomous Dragon—apex predator though it was—felt a creeping fear.
It realized, with a clarity that froze its blood, that the human before it wasn't like the others it had devoured.
This one could kill it.
Without a second thought, the dragon spread its wings and shot into the sky. It wanted only one thing now: to escape this terrifying human.
"…Now you want to run? Isn't it a little too late for that?"