Two years after embarking on my journey, I discovered a rift deep within the valley. To ensure total preparation, I returned to the city where Pavin resided.
As I entered the city, the scenery was familiar, yet a distinct unease flickered in the eyes of the citizens scattered throughout the streets.
"Restless even here, I see?"
"You have arrived, Lord Akumo?"
"What is the situation?"
"The monsters' activity radius has expanded recently, and rumors of a Dragon emerging from the nearby valley have stoked the fires of anxiety."
As the head of the city, Pavin seemingly intended to evacuate the entire populace if necessary; a massive topographical map was sprawled across his desk.
"Fortuitous timing. I was actually about to bring up the valley."
"Pardon? What do you mean..."
"Provide me with equipment. I am going to subjugate the Master of the Valley."
"Lord Akumo!! That is utter recklessness!"
Pavin shouted in a panic, attempting to dissuade me. Despite our long association and his knowledge of me as a resilient adventurer who rarely courted death, attempting to slay the apex predator of the valley's dragons clearly struck him as insanity.
"If I do not return, evacuate the citizens immediately."
"It would be better to evacuate with us now!"
"Pavin, you said you were once saved by the Goddess Freya, didn't you?"
"Yes... it was a miracle."
"Then place your faith in a miracle once more."
Pavin bit his lower lip at those words but ultimately provided the requested logistics. He gathered only the finest armaments—weapons forged in Labyrinth City Orario and the highest-grade supplies available in the city—and delivered them to me.
'We aren't even that close. Is he truly worrying for me on a purely human level?'
Regardless, after receiving a selection of swords, spears, and hammers along with the necessary adventuring kit from Pavin, I departed for the valley sooner than anticipated.
—SKREEEECH!!!!!
'Before I engage that thing, I must hone my edge to its absolute peak.'
Slash—!
Boom—!
CRASH—!!!
Cycling through weapons with fluid lethal efficiency, I bifurcated beast-type monsters, punctured the skulls of Wyverns, and shattered the fangs of dragons. I lost track of how much time had passed...
"Haa... Haa..."
One week. In that span, the number of monsters I had slaughtered easily exceeded a hundred. Yet, I was surprised to find that the tremors of anticipation and the slight unease within me had not faded.
"Get it together...!"
'Heh... I can't even tell if this is nerves or pure excitement anymore.'
Step, step—
As I slowly moved deeper into the valley's interior, the seismic tremors grew more violent.
RUMBLE—!!!!
Ignoring the quaking earth, I stood before the rift at the valley's deepest point. The tremors ceased. As I opened my mouth to summon the beast—
"Enough games. Come out."
Crack—!! Snap—!!!
BOOM—!!!!!!!
Whoosh—
"Hoh... So the Black Dragon was you?"
A shadow erupted from the deep rift, instantly blotting out the sky. It was a Black Dragon. One with a singular, grotesque eye embedded dead-center in its head.
"Seeing you in the flesh... you're actually quite magnificent."
'Which makes me want to break you even more!'
"Come at me with everything you've got...!!"
A group was traveling through the valley. At the vanguard stood a blonde Pallum male holding a spear. Behind him, a beautiful green-haired Elf and a massive Dwarf wielding a heavy axe walked while listening to the chatter of a red-haired girl with exasperated expressions.
"I'm tellin' ya! That kid back then, he just straight-up slaughtered 'em all!"
"Loki, does that even make sense? How can a regular human without a Falna hunt monsters like that on his own?"
"I couldn't believe it either, so I tried to talk to him, but he bolted immediately..."
Loki had recently spotted someone training nearby, hunting monsters solo, and she had been obsessed with the story for days. Loki's eyes sparkled like a child discovering a new toy, yet they also held a predator's hunger to scout him for her Familia.
Finn and Riveria paid little heed to her claims, remaining vigilant for monster ambushes, while Gareth marked the valley walls with his axe to serve as a guide for their return.
At that moment—
KABOOM—!!!!!!!!!!
"What!?"
"A Dragon?"
The entire group watched as something colossal ascended into the sky in the distance, their thoughts momentarily paralyzed.
'The Black Dragon...?'
"No! That ain't the real deal! I'm a God, I can tell...! That thing's just a clone, an avatar!!"
Loki shouted to snap Finn, Riveria, and Gareth out of their daze. Realizing the danger, Finn and Riveria immediately abandoned any thought of combat and prepared to retreat.
"We need to withdraw immediately—"
SLASH—!!!!!
Suddenly, the Black Dragon lunged at someone, and in that same heartbeat, its face was rent open. Flabbergasted, the group instinctively rushed toward the site and looked down upon the battlefield.
"I'm not dead yet!!!!!?"
There stood Akumo, drenched in blood, swinging his blade against the Black Dragon.
"That... That's him! That's the boy I was lookin' for...!"
Finn, Riveria, and Gareth couldn't even answer Loki. They couldn't tear their eyes away from the fight; they didn't want to waste even a shred of focus as they watched the battle between Akumo and the Dragon.
CRASH—!!!!!!
As the Black Dragon's tail attempted to crush Akumo, he parried the impact with a spear, redirecting the kinetic force effortlessly. Seeing this, Finn began comparing the boy's spearwork to his own, focused entirely on the sheer depth of experience Akumo must have possessed.
"Hrk...!"
Slash—!!!!
Akumo gripped his sword, focusing his entire being on the beast. The moment the Dragon's claws lunged for him, his blade severed them, neutralizing the strike.
"Kh—!?"
Of course, the shockwave sent Akumo tumbling across the ground, and he sustained significant damage.
"Finn, Gareth! Shouldn't we help him!?"
"No, Riveria... let's keep watching...!"
Riveria urged them to intervene as Akumo appeared to be in peril, but Finn and Gareth were rooted to the spot, compelled by a desire to see what lay at the core of this boy's strength.
"Riveria-tan, let's just... wait and see."
Loki, too, was uncharacteristically serious, her eyes locked onto the duel between Akumo and the Black Dragon.
'Truly a monster...'
BOOM—!!!
"Cough...!"
Having successfully severed one of the dragon's horns and one of its limbs, Akumo was on the verge of total exhaustion. He forced his crumbling body upright, raising his sword once more.
"I don't particularly hold a grudge against you."
—Grrr...!!
"And I'm not asking for mercy. I'm just... so happy. About this situation!"
Whoosh—!!!
Squelch—!!
—ROAAAAR!!!!!!!!
The spear Akumo threw grazed the Dragon's eye, leaving a jagged wound. The Black Dragon immediately responded with its breath weapon.
FWOOOOSH—!!!!!!!!!
"God dammit!!"
Realizing a shield would be useless against that incinerating heat, Akumo discarded it, used it as a stepping stone mid-leap, and vaulted out of the breath's trajectory.
The shield hit by the breath vanished, leaving not even ash behind. Akumo, finding the situation absurd, approached the dragon slowly, wielding only a notched sword and a hammer.
"Did someone give you power, too?"
—Grrr!!
"Of course not..."
"That's why I'm even more grateful. It truly feels like I'm carving out my own path with my own strength!"
Grin—!
"Call me a beast if you want, say I have no cause! I just—!!!! I just love the fact that we can clash with everything we have!!!!"
—Grk!
The Black Dragon seemed to find his words laughable yet agreeable. It began to pool breath energy within its maw, a staggering heat radiating from its body until its very scales turned a dull, molten red.
Rumble—!!!
'Is it circulating the breath internally to reinforce its physical form?'
"A frontal clash? I can appreciate that!"
Akumo gripped his sword and hammer tight, lowering his center of gravity.
Flash—!!
The two monsters collided. The Dragon's assault melted the ground and parched the air. Akumo evaded the direct impact but realized enduring the ambient heat was impossible. He drove his sword into the eye he had grazed earlier and began driving it home with brutal hammer strikes.
CLANG—!!!!
—GRAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!
CLANG—!!!!!!
WHOOSH—!!!!!!!
The Dragon tried to shake him off by gathering energy for another breath, but the focus on its maw weakened its internal defenses elsewhere. Having blinded the beast, Akumo leapt down and sprinted toward a specific location.
"Where is he going!?"
"That direction... don't tell me!"
Watching from afar, Finn and Riveria realized Akumo's intent instantly. He snatched up another weapon from the ground and aimed for the Dragon.
—ROAR!!!!!!!
By the time the Dragon, its breath interrupted by the trauma, turned back to Akumo, a spear was already hurtling toward its neck at terminal velocity.
Thwack—!!!
The Dragon bristled at the source of the spear, sweeping the area with its tail, but Akumo wasn't there. Unlike when he drove the sword in with a hammer, he appeared from above.
CRUNCH—!!!
As Akumo's hammer caved in the Dragon's skull, the beast opened its maw wide to tear his arm off.
Clack—!!!
"Ggggh...!!!"
'I will not break!!!'
Discarding the hammer, Akumo grabbed the Dragon's fangs and braced himself with every ounce of his soul. Despite bleeding out, the Dragon channeled all its remaining strength into its jaw, intent on crushing him whole.
"UAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!"
But the contest of wills favored the human. The Dragon's life force ebbed first; it collapsed, blood gushing from its blinded eye and shattered skull.
THUD—!
Akumo, having squeezed out every drop of his essence, didn't even have the strength to pull himself from the dragon's maw. He collapsed where he stood, losing consciousness along with his foe.
The entire spectacle was seared into the minds of the Loki Familia.
"That kid...!! I'm makin' him ours no matter what!!!"