Arsep told me not to kill the dragon under any circumstances when I tried to step in.
She said that dragons are creatures that act in groups, with a leader naturally existing among them, and that if I harmed even one dragon, that leader would step in personally.
But that was a needless worry.
I have no intention of harming a dragon.
No matter what anyone says, dragons have large, magnificent horns and great wings that soar through the sky.
Why would anyone think I’d want to hurt such a magnificent creature?
“Is the distance roughly 5 km?”
However, it’s different with wyverns.
Wyverns look like knockoff dragons that you’d get from a cheap online shopping site on the continent when you ordered a dragon.
Moreover, they’re much smaller than dragons.
I don’t think poorly of motorcycles, but if I’m going to carry my family around, I’d definitely prefer a car.
In that regard, wyverns are out.
What I need is only a dragon.
Recalling the pitching lessons I learned during gym class as a student, I grab a suitable brick I picked up on the way with my right hand.
“Hey! Didn’t you hear the order to evacuate? What are you doing there–ugh?!”
Because I was standing on the city wall, the guards rushed toward me.
Even at times like this, their professional spirit to prioritize evacuating others before themselves was admirable to the point of tears.
Not wanting such diligent guards to get hurt, I signal to them to keep their distance and not get too close.
“Everyone, step back! The wall is cracking!”
Fortunately, the quick-witted guards maintain a safe distance.
Now, back to what I was doing.
Considering the distance, it’s better to put a bit of force into it.
I also have to be careful with the trajectory to avoid hitting any other dragons, and since I only have one brick, I have to take out all the wyverns with this one throw.
The distance to the group of wyverns is 5 km.
The wind is blowing strongly from the northwest at about 30 m/s.
In this case, I should calculate the trajectory to ensure it hits the target–
My head hurts, so I’ll just throw it.
Calculating the wind for a single throw is ridiculous, especially when I’m not a science student.
If I overpower the wind, I won’t need to calculate.
“Everyone, get down!”
Those guards were being too dramatic.
It’s just a single brick; no need to dive to the ground.
Thud!
Anyway, I threw the brick.
Crash!
The aftermath of the throw shattered the windows of the city, but I didn’t break them directly, so it’s not my concern.
The important thing is that the thrown brick hit the group of wyverns.
‘Is it normal for stones in the Demon Realm to explode upon being thrown?’
I know this already, but it’s fascinating every time I see it.
After all, it was just a brick.
Not even the stone bricks used for city walls, but ordinary bricks used for building construction.
And yet, that mere brick flew at an unbelievable speed and caused an inexplicable explosion, wiping out the 200 wild wyverns that the dragons had brought along in one shot.
Though the wyverns were only brought in to intimidate the demon clan, they weren’t creatures that would melt away like a slime sprinkled with salt.
Even if they’re a lower species, dragons are dragons, and it’s usually impossible for most spells and weapons to even scratch a wyvern’s scales.
‘How on earth could this happen?’
“…What, is there a Demon King in that city or something?”
“The Demon King should be in his castle, and could the Demon King even pull off something like that with a single brick?”
Of course, all the dragons here could have wiped out the wyverns in an instant, just like that.
But if you ask whether they could throw a brick and cause that kind of devastation, then that’s another matter entirely.
The dragons, sensing a chill in the atmosphere, momentarily halted their advance and entered an emergency meeting.
For now, that brick that had just flown in.
Amazingly, the brick itself was indeed ordinary.
“Do the demon clan put gunpowder in their bricks?”
“Would that be enough? It’s probably magic.”
“…Didn’t feel like any magic was used, though.”
“I did sense some mana from the brick just now, but it passed too quickly to be sure.”
Dragons are born with strong bodies and sharp minds, allowing them to quickly analyze and understand new magic.
The brick they analyzed with such keen intelligence seemed to contain mana, which likely allowed it to endure breaking the sound barrier multiple times over and demonstrate such immense power.
“A new weapon of the demon clan?”
“How could the demon clan create such a new weapon? If it were a weapon made by a god, maybe.”
“I thought that evil god was destroyed long ago by the ancient hero?”
But that’s as far as it goes.
The explosive power from mere mana in a brick isn’t enough to create such an explosion, nor is it possible to perform such a feat with brute force alone.
It defies both science and magic.
If it were a short distance, maybe, but that brick had flown a distance of 5 km in an instant, which is certainly not something achievable with an ordinary brick.
Of course, this meeting was ultimately pointless.
Even if they could explain what had just happened, ‘would that change anything?’
***
“You fools, that’s not what’s important right now.”
The most crucial question was ‘who’ had thrown the brick and ‘how.’
“Who was the highest-ranking demon in this city? The strongest one here should be a high-ranking demon, right?”
“He’s still only 300 years old, just a youngster, so it couldn’t have been him.”
While the other dragons debated the identity of the brick thrower, one dragon alone instinctively knew who the culprit was.
“Could it really be that guy from before?”
It was thanks to a previous encounter.
It was similar back then.
Even as a dragon, I was caught off guard and struck by a flying rock in an instant.
”But this time, he’s even crazier!”
However, it wasn’t quite that powerful back then.
To begin with, ‘could something like this even be done with just a brick?’
I miscalculated.
Even if 500 dragons came, not just five, it wouldn’t be enough.
At the time, I had only vaguely felt it, but now I was certain.
That was an existence I should never face head-on.
I had only one thought: to escape.
To run as far away as possible from here, beyond its line of sight.
However…
“Did you come here to give me a ride back?”
The voice that reached my ears froze my entire body.
It was unmistakably the demon with the skull head, the one who had thrown that mysterious brick.
“A demon!”
“Kill it!”
But the other dragons couldn’t know that.
Perhaps on edge because of the earlier brick incident, they began gathering their magic the moment they saw the demon appearing above their heads, preparing to unleash their breath.
“Are you trying to kill me too, you lunatics?!”
Regardless, the four dragons each lit up their horns brilliantly and released condensed spheres of magic.
Watching the dragons show no intent to distinguish friend from foe, I hurriedly dodged with a pale expression.
Even for a dragon, being hit by another dragon’s breath four times in a row was a problem.
But we were already very close; all I could do was duck my head.
“Damn it…”
Still, the dragons had high intelligence, and their breaths passed just over my head, managing only to scorch my horns.
The horns were already broken earlier, so practically, I took no damage.
“Are you seriously trying to kill me too?!”
After narrowly avoiding the attack, I felt an urge to grab the other dragons by the collars right then and there.
In any case, that demon had evaporated without even a dying scream from the dragons’ breath.
If I hadn’t moved in time, I might have ended up as a headless dragon.
***
“Why are you all so quiet?”
For some reason, the other dragons were eerily silent.
Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine from above.
“Could it be…?”
Yes, it was true.
The demon wasn’t dead.
Despite the dragons’ breath being fired point-blank, the demon had leaped up to avoid it.
I quickly lifted my head to look up at the sky.
There, floating in the sky, was the demon, whose blue eyes emitted an eerie glow, holding four shining stones of different colors.
“What… what is that…?”
The other dragons were rendered speechless by the sight.
”Damn it.”
What happened next was beyond comprehension.
Just as the dragons had shot their breath in four different colors, the demon also released the four stones from his hand, each glowing with a different color.
The stones, thrown in a straight line, looked like shooting stars descending from the sky.
In fact, they might have even come down at the speed of meteors.
Boom!!!
The stones hit each of the four dragons squarely between the eyes, and the struck dragons fell to the ground like meteors themselves.
Only one dragon remained.
The demon landed on the last dragon’s head.
“This is great! But I need to stay here for about another day due to some circumstances. So, could you come back for me tomorrow?”
The lone dragon thought for a moment.
‘Should it swallow its pride as a dragon and be reduced to nothing more than a demon’s personal transport, or should it maintain its dignity to the end, like its kin who had fallen to the ground?’
Dragons are the strongest species among dragonkind.
Being strong means surviving.
“What time should I come back tomorrow?”
With its high intelligence, the dragon wasn’t foolish enough to meet the same end as its kin.
Everything had happened in an instant.
Two hundred wyverns and the five dragons leading them.
An immense force that could change the course of any warfront in the human and demon realms was silenced by a single mysterious demon in a mere moment.
Even this high-ranking demon, who had managed the city for centuries, had never seen such magic.
Using magic he had never seen before, this demon wiped out 200 wyverns and then used a teleportation spell, an ability only a top-level mage could perform, to appear right above the dragons’ heads in an instant.
There was no sign of magic use, but if it wasn’t magic, there was no other explanation.
What mattered was that this demon didn’t just take out 200 wyverns in one blow but also dropped four dragons to the ground and forced the last one to submit.
”Who on earth is this guy?”
He had no idea who it could be.
This demon possessed an appearance and power that the high-ranking demon, who had managed the city for hundreds of years, was seeing for the first time.
”I must find out who this is right away… no, no.”
But that wasn’t the important thing.
The undeniable fact here was that this demon had saved the city.
He had done so without sacrificing a single life, despite facing five dragons and 200 wyverns.
The high-ranking demon, still calming his surprised heart, called out to his soldiers.
“Go bring that man… no, bring that esteemed person here…!”
He couldn’t let him leave, as he might very well be the hero who had come to end the war between the human and demon realms.
And, aside from the war, it wouldn’t be wrong to say he had fallen for him at first sight.
The light of the meteor that had forced the dragons into submission on their way to attack the city.
It was such a magnificent and beautiful light that everyone in the city watched in awe.
Surely, he must be an extraordinary mage.