Dragon Country.
The legendary land where dragons gathered.
Dragons were among the mightiest creatures in this world.
Their claws could easily shred human armor; their fangs effortlessly ripped out throats. Their breath attacks rivaled, or even exceeded, human magic…
Aside from their numbers, humans held no advantage.
Thus, the formidable dragons had carved out a territory here. Apart from the occasional dragon-slayer who'd read too many adventure novels, humans generally stayed far away.
Even kingdoms tacitly recognized the dragons' dominion.
Dragons stood unmatched—the world's strongest beings, no contest.
"[METEOR SPEAR]!"
Like a shooting star, the thrust pierced a charging wyvern.
The wyvern plummeted clumsily into the earth, raising dust and rock debris like a Zero fighter shredded by anti-aircraft fire from an aircraft carrier.
"Come on, who's next?!"
Motoyasu Kitamura ducked low, narrowly evading a strike from above.
Another wyvern had approached silently from behind. No creature—not even dragons—could perfectly monitor all sides. But it had overlooked something crucial:
Flapping wings made noise.
Motoyasu not only dodged, but retaliated immediately with a "Chaos Spear," puncturing the wyvern into Swiss cheese.
More and more wyverns swarmed into view, joined by larger dragons of clearly different breeds, launching themselves at the Spear Hero from all sides.
At this moment, the relative smallness of humans became a huge advantage. Despite their numbers, the dragons couldn't all attack at once without injuring one another.
But they weren't stupid, quickly devising a solution.
All the wyverns suddenly retreated. Motoyasu found it odd until he realized their plan—but by then, the dragons' breath attacks were already on their way.
Flames, frost, and sheer kinetic force blasted forth, instantly swallowing up the damned human.
After the violent torrent subsided, the rocky ground was scorched black or covered by thin ice. No human could survive—
"[AIR STRIKE JAVELIN]!"
A vivid green spear shot skyward, impaling a flying wyvern.
Seeing a comrade killed enraged the remaining wyverns, prompting them to unleash another barrage of breath attacks at the tiny human below.
However, Motoyasu, prepared this time, didn't need to rely on "Portal Spear" again to evade. The mountainous terrain provided plenty of hiding spots, and the wyverns' breath wasn't potent enough to melt stone.
"I probably drew a few too many… but at least this means Mother-in-law-sama's side will be safer."
Motoyasu dodged skillfully between the cliffs, continuously using the terrain to avoid dragon breath. From time to time, he struck down a wyvern or two with ranged skills like "Aura Javelin," "Lightning Spear," and "Meteor Spear."
"If I survive this, surely Mother-in-law-sama will acknowledge me. Perhaps then she'll give Gabriel-chan to me…"
Motoyasu's face burned with determination.
Then he stood up—just as a massive shadow covered the ground around him…
A huge claw crashed from the sky, smashing down and gouging a deep crater into the stone.
The massive black dragon didn't pause, instantly spraying dragon breath in another direction.
In that empty spot, Motoyasu suddenly appeared in a flash of light.
"Portal Spear" allowed teleportation to a previously marked location—but only one place at a time. It couldn't be spammed freely like "Flying Thunder God Technique."
And once used, it entered a cooldown, unavailable again immediately.
"Crap, I overdid it…"
Motoyasu forced his legs to move despite nearly freezing from death's proximity. But the black dragon's breath was far superior to the wyverns'—wide, rapid, impossible to outrun…
Just as the breath neared him, several swords descended from above, stabbing into the ground before Motoyasu, forming a barrier that blocked the attack completely.
"You worked hard, Motoyasu."
Kiriko lightly patted Motoyasu's shoulder. He stood there dumbfounded.
Kiriko had quietly followed him since the very first monster he lured.
She had witnessed firsthand that Motoyasu had been earnestly baiting monsters, not slacking off—
Going at it as desperately as a fool.
If she hadn't stepped in just now, Motoyasu would undoubtedly be dead.
So, he seemed genuinely serious about Gabriel.
The usual scumbag she knew wouldn't stake his life like this.
However…
Sorry, Motoyasu, but I absolutely refuse to ship you two!
"Mother…Mother-in-law-sama…"
Tears quickly welled in Motoyasu's eyes. He was about to kneel again and hug her thigh, but Kiriko swiftly stopped him.
"Not now, Motoyasu!"
"Yes, Mother-in-law-sama!"
Motoyasu obediently wiped his tears and stood at attention.
"Foolish humans! You dare invade our sacred territory—you're looking to die!"
The massive black dragon descended slowly, the wind from its wings whipping up a tempest. The earth trembled as it landed.
The remaining wyverns gathered around like loyal guards. Many surrounded Kiriko and Motoyasu from all sides, forming an impenetrable circle.
"Wow, impressive. Should I applaud?"
Facing the black dragon's intimidating roar, Kiriko looked bored, almost wanting to clap sarcastically.
The black dragon's golden slit pupils widened sharply.
This was the first time it had ever met someone who openly mocked a dragon.
It had encountered warriors driven by treasure or inspired by heroic tales. Some were even respectable enough for it to remember fondly.
Of course, it had seen far more cowardly weaklings.
But someone like Kiriko—unfazed, casually spouting venomous sarcasm like Geralt—this was a first.
But Kiriko genuinely didn't think dragons were anything special.
Weren't dragons just big bags of EXP?
Even monkeys born from stones stole treasures right out of dragons' homes; children with hula-hoops could peel their scales and snap their tendons…
And Western dragons had it even worse...
Basically public toilets, anybody could hop on and shoot at them anytime.
In Kiriko's opinion, slimes and skeletons were far scarier than dragons.
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T/N: the monkey born from stone is sun wukong not just any ordinary monkey :sob: