< Running Away from the Hero! 161 #19. Life is a continuous escape (2)>

#1 Their circumstances: A certain heros circumstance.

I felt my body float up just as my vision was dyed in pure whiteness.

And what greeted me afterwards was

Was it you?!

A voice so enraged that even a deaf could tell how angry it was.

And then, a large body covered in black scales that even a blind could tell what kind of a monster this was!

Die!

A dragon, commonly referred to as the strongest in the land, was directing its anger in my way.

It wasnt me, though

This was so unfair.

No one knew what pissed the dragon off to this degree, but even then, I could hazard a guess that it mustve something to do with the instructor.

I mean, really! Just how many people in this world would be capable of angering a dragon so badly in such a short time?

Right, it had to be him, since he could even make that benevolent and kind Goddess of Nature to start swearing like a sailor.

To think youd dare to hurt me so much!

Aha. So I was correct.

Pain severe enough to even piss off a dragon? Thats the handiwork of the metal bat, for sure.

It wouldnt be strange for you to get angry after that accursed bat thing smacked you around for a bit smacked you.

My problem right now is that the dragons rage is targetting me

Magic circles began engraving themselves in the empty air, then all sorts of magic spells began pouring out from them.

None of them was impossible to dodge, though. Probably because the dragons accuracy got affected by its rage. Even so, itd be hard to deal with their aftermaths.

What should I do now?

The instructor said that I had a chance of defeating this dragon, but was he right?

Even though the enemy was a dragon?

That thing was strong enough to melt the terrain with just a single breath attack, so

Eh?

Right at that moment, I realised that something was weird about this situation.

My enemy was a dragon. The strongest lifeform in the land.

A monster that I shouldnt be able to defeat even if I gave it my all!

But here I was, thinking about some random stuff like this?

Lets see, then

I yanked out the holy sword of the Order of Nature, Exerayon, and drove in my magical energy into it.

The pure-white blade was soon permeating with the golden hue of the powerful aura.

This sword was personally blessed by the Goddess of Nature to protect its wielder, the hero. Of course, it came equipped with amazing attack power, too.

In terms of its defensive capability alone, Hill once told me that this blade should rank among the top five in the entire continent.

Since Hill saw being humble as a virtue, it should be safe to assume that this sword ranked in the top three, not five. No, hang on. Maybe it boasted the highest defensive capability in the world, instead.

Thats why I should believe in the swords powers, and!

The Blade of Thorny Vines.

Activate the swordsmanship technique I learned in the Order of Nature.

Kuwaaaaahk!

As its name implied, the powerful aura started pounding on the dragons body like thorny vines!

Rather than calling it a sword technique, itd be more correct to call this attack a whip technique using the materialised aura.

An attack unique to the Order of Nature, modelled after mother nature at work!

The attack optimised for the holy sword Exerayon proved to be super effective!

Kuwaaaahang-aaark!

Huh?

Actually, it was too

effective?

Whats this?

Slap!

Kkuwaaaahk!

Mmm?

Slap!

Kuwaaaaaaaaaaahk!

What is going on here? Isnt this creature an elder among all elder dragons that has supposedly lived for twenty thousand years?

Wait, could it be that its body had gotten frailer after living for so long?

If not, was it because I had gotten way too strong?

That cant be it, though?

Sure, I might be a swordmaster and a hero chosen by a goddess, but I was still a weakling who couldnt even win against a simple metal stick, you know?

Oraa!

Slap!

Kkuwuuuuuhak!

But I was definitely seeing a black dragons figure screaming and falling down every time I landed an attack on it.

What is going on here?

You abominable human bastard!

Oopsie!

The dragon roared out in pure rage, then opened its maw super-wide!

Die Kuweeck?!

Who said Ill wait for you to finish?

Even a dummy could see that the dragon was about to unleash the symbol of all dragons, its mighty breath attack. Obviously, I had no reason to wait for it.

How dare you, you insidious human!

Only a moron would wait until youre finished!

Just who was the dude that taught me all these things?

My genuinely evil instructor used to keep the classes going even during toilet breaks. Thats the kind of a man who taught me.

Seriously though, I wouldnt be grumbling here if the breaks had been simply delayed a bit back then.

But noooo, that damn bastard sneak-attacked us even during the toilet breaks, telling us that this was also training for our own good. Since, you know, our enemies supposedly wouldnt wait until we took care of natures calls.

Such a man taught me, so even Im surprised by the level of humanity I managed to hold on to!

My original personality mustve been so kind that it wouldnt have been strange to call me a saint.

Die, die, die! Human!

Countless magic circles appeared to seemingly blanket the heavens above, but for some reason, I wasnt scared at all.

Why do I get the feeling that

It felt like my confidence was growing more and more when staring at the holy sword glowing in the brilliant golden hue.

I can win this thing?

Just a single sword swing of mine split apart dozens of magic circles. The second swing split open the dragons scales, and my third swing caused the dragon to vomit blood and wail in despair.

How, how can this be! How can a measly human!

Watching the dragon furiously roar automatically awakened all those things my instructor had instilled in me from their slumber inside my head.

Ng? What did you say? Its kinda hard to hear a loser dragon when its getting its arse kicked by a measly human, you see?

Kuwaaaahk!

As I thought, the instructors provocation technique was top-notch.

If there was a problem, then maybe it was too good?

The dragon, its entire figure now trembling from pure rage, gritted its teeth and roared out loudly.

-Die, human!

I didnt hear that voice with my ears, but my soul reverberated from it nonetheless.

The language referred to as the core of ancient magic or sorcery! The unique power only the one called the masters of magic, the dragons, could use!

An attack of Draconic Word rammed straight into me.

Eh?

What is the meaning of this?!

Although, it didnt even work on me!

I dont get it, but anyway, lets continue, shall we!

T-this is impossi Kkuwaaaak!

Just as the dragon fell into a bout of fluster, I began smacking it all over its body, causing the poor creature to scream tragically.

Right until its dying moment, that was!

#2 Their circumstances: Gods circumstances.

Two creator gods created this world. Then, to maintain the balance of the world after they left, they also gave birth to other gods.

These gods observed the world of the mortals from their own independent world called the Divine Realm. And when the balance of the world was threatened, they would lend their powers to their apostles.

And right now

It had been a while, but a situation where these gods had to lend their powers to a human hero had finally come.

Hey, grant him more of your blessings, will ya?!

Hey, my own hero is doing a lot of work lately, so I gotta save up on my blessings, you know

Nothings more important than whats happening right now, though?!

Even so

Shut your piehole, and just dump all of your usable blessings on that guy! Hurry!

When the Goddess of Nature, usually a calm and gentle figure, began yelling at the top of her voice, other gods clamped their mouths shut and began pouring out all their blessings onto a single human hero.

Still, arent we going overboard with this?

Right. A lone human defeating a dragon is a bit too much, dont you think?

And not just any dragon, but an elder dragon that lived for twenty thousand years, too

Other gods grumbled softly, but the Goddess of Nature remained adamant.

Listen here, its because his opponent is an elder dragon that all of your blessings are needed to win today!

She began raising the decibel of her voice even higher while saying that her chosen hero needed to get as many blessings as possible.

Wouldnt it be better to just dispatch other heroes to keep an eye on that man?

Well, there are a few heroes currently plying their trade in the north, so

No, I think the Goddess of Nature is on the money this time. Think about it for a second. Its only because they are acquainted as an instructor and a disciple, the insanity has been kept down to a manageable degree. If that hadnt been it, that man wouldve beaten up the hero and fled by now.

Youre right. And the Hero of Nature is not too shabby himself, too. Since hes so knowledgable about his target, he always considers the threat of that man fleeing before making his moves.

Well, yeah If it was my hero, he might have gotten scammed and get stabbed in the back, allowing that man to escape.

If you get it now, squeeze out more of your blessings and grant them to my hero already!

Dang it, I guess I wont have enough blessings to grant my own hero for a while.

Yeah, me too

One by one, the grumbling gods activated their divine authority and began granting their blessings to the Hero of Nature.

At the same time, they proceeded to steal away the dragons strength bit by tiny bit so that Aruketai wouldnt notice.

-Ng? What did you say? Its kinda hard to hear a loser dragon when its getting its arse kicked by a measly human, you see?

H-hey, Goddess of Nature! Regardless of what, isnt that provocation a bit too uncouth for a hero?

Thats right! Look, the dragons so pissed now that its about to use the Draconic Word!

Its an insta-kill attack! Block it!

Bloomin hell, isnt this like, cheating?

You think there are other ways to keep an eye out on those punks if my hero ends up dying?!

The gods suddenly went deathly quiet when the words those punks entered their hearing. And then they unleashed all the powers stored up inside them.

Dang it, since the dragons dont believe in us Im sure itll work out somehow.

R-right. They are a disrespectful race who dont believe in any gods, so Yes, this is a divine punishment!

Right, divine punishment Lets call this that.

All thanks to the gods unleashing their powers, the Draconic Word was cancelled out.

Very good. With this much, that dumb hero punk should figure out what is Why the heck is he rushing up to the dragon?!

Dammit! Next time when youre selecting heroes, make sure to look at their personality, too!

Bloomin hell. I also couldnt be bothered, so I sent an oracle saying that they should just pick anyone as a hero as long as the candidate has the aptitude and talent

You better change that quickly, then. What will you do if your hero also turns out like that guy?

Gods continued to grumble away, complaining about how annoying this was. But even they had to clamp their mouths shut in shock when the hero asked the twenty-thousand-year-old dragon this: Are your parents still alive, punk?

Hey, Miss Goddess of Nature?

Shut up To defeat evil, you need people like that, too. Probably

Yes, hes a necessary evil. A bloody necessary evil!

While glancing at the Goddess of Nature yelling that out, other gods maintained their silence and continued to flood one human hero with their blessings.

Until the elder dragon that had lived for twenty thousand years, Aruketai, was about to kick the bucket in the most hollow manner imaginable.

***

Oii

Sniffle Dear Sir Hero

The princess broke down in tears next to me. Seeing her sobbing away also made me want to cry, though.

-Master, was your disciple always that strong?

-No, of course not

Sure, I could accept that that idiot did possess a talent that transcended the level of an average human being.

He looked a bit slow-witted compared to his peers back in the days of being the evil organisation trainee. However, when considering the overall balance, he was definitely the most excellent seed among them all.

Even so, wasnt this way too over the top for him to raid a dragon solo?

Thats no longer on the level of transcending regular humans but straight into transcending a dragon among dragons, you know?!

Um, excuse me, dear gods managing this world?

Theres a cheat player here, you know?

Even if his talents were too good, and that caused some issues with the character balancing, isnt this a bit too much?!

Sir Hero Hes so wonderful

Youre right, Your Highness.

From where I was, all I could see was a criminal destroying natures food chain. No, a character out to wreck the balance of this world, more like.

But, it seemed that our hero came across as dashing and magnificent to the eyes of the princess and her faithful servant.

Hes fighting an evil dragon all by himself just for my sake

No, little miss. The hero had no choice but to fight after your older brother the prince made some behind-the-scenes political manoeuvring, which happened to align pretty nicely with my own schemes.

I mean, the hero punk looked like hed be the first one to flee if given half a chance right up until the fight began, you know?

Ah, aaaah My dear hero

Completely oblivious to any of these facts, the princess could only see the hero as a dashing prince riding on a white horse.

Hell, Id have believed you if you told me that her irises were now in the shapes of a pink heart. Meanwhile, her mouth couldnt utter any proper words or sentences other than, Oh, my dear hero

Hang on, isnt this a bit, you know, that?

-Ng? What do you mean by that, master?

-Her face right now Its like Ive seen that expression quite a lot in the past, you see?

-The princesss expression? Isnt that an expression of a maiden falling madly in love?

-Well, its kind of similar, but its also heading in a bit of a concerning direction.

-What do you mean?

-Should I say that expression reminds me of how a few of my disciples used to look at me?

-! Hero, you gotta run! You created a creature far more dangerous than a dragon just now!

The metal bat instantly understood what I was saying and hurriedly called out to the hero. But too bad, her voice couldnt reach the idiot in the distance who was getting carried away in the task of beating up a dragon.

In the meantime, the princesss continuous muttering of My hero was now interspersed with Haaa-ah and So cool.

In fact, her worsening symptoms even prompted her loyal lady-in-waiting to gradually create some distance away from her!

Around the time I could no longer tell whether the princess was muttering or moaning

-Kuwaaaahk!

T-the evil dragon, it!

My final hope, Aruketai the evil dragon, screamed desperately and began rampaging around.

N-no, it cant be!

Anyone could tell that the boss mob, its health bar now in red, was throwing its final desperate struggle!

The evil dragon, screaming tragically every time the golden sword light slapped it around, looked so pitiful that I couldnt help but wonder if that was really a dragon.

-Die, die, die!!! Why arent you dying!

-Just because you said I must die, you think Id roll over and die for real?

The lady-in-waiting next to me mustve been using magic because the heros conversation with the dragon could be heard oh-so clearly.

-Is that what your parents taught you?!

-Kuwaaaaahk!

Was it because of all the pain from getting hit by the sword light? Or was it rage directed at the hero who suddenly called upon the spirits of the dragons parents, dead since at least thousands of years ago? A thunderous roar that couldve been either one of those exploded out to rock the surroundings.

-How dare a little human!

-And how dare a measly dragon getting a one-sided smackdown from that little human!

As expected of my hero His words are so mesmerising

Hi, little miss? Can I ask, whats so mesmerising about the heros utterances full of one-sided insults about the dragons deceased parents? Im actually starting to pity the dragon here, you know?

-Master, this princess is far too gone now

-Right. It seems that our idiot hero has woken up a very strange girl who shouldve been left alone

But before I could start worrying about the hero

I gotta contemplate the best way to flee from this situation first.