Chapter 79

Late <(_ _)>

The second green-crested flying dragon folded its wings and, while gliding at high speed, broke off a small branch and hurled it at Carlo, who was in the lead.

Carlo immediately threw himself to the ground.

The dragon's jaw slashed through the air.

However, it didn't end there.

Although the gliding bite missed, the dragon spread its wings, ascended sharply above Carlo's head, and struck with its tail, which had a poisonous spike.

Just as Carlo was about to be hit, Zangin covered him with ice soil, and the tail's strike only shattered the ice soil.

Zangin immediately covered everyone around Carlo with a dome of ice soil, and Leticia reinforced it with tree spirit magic, covering the inside and outside of the dome with plants.

The green-crested flying dragon.

Its size was larger than a horse, with wings and no legs.

It looked like a large, slender lizard with dragon scales and a crest, wings, and a small clump of hair and a poisonous spike on its tail.

While its combat power as a single entity is inferior to that of a shadow black horse or an Ilneuk, it is considered on par with them due to its flying ability and habit of forming groups.

According to the association's recommendation, if one were to face a single flying dragon, a four-star or five-star hunter of a general race equipped with anti-dragon gear, or a four-star hunter leading several lower-ranked hunters, would not be an impossible opponent. However, the difficulty increases significantly if there are two or more.

Currently, there are two flying dragons.

Even if Leticia is considered a mid-ranked hunter, along with four lower-ranked hunters, without anti-dragon gear or dragon-repelling scent, and considering the increased difficulty with two dragons, a typical hunter would be wiped out here, or at best, escape with one or two casualties.

The two flying dragons relentlessly attacked the dome where Zangin and the others were trapped.

Each time, a sound like a direct hit from a cannon was heard, and shattered ice soil fell into the dome.

Zangin was constantly repairing the damage, but they couldn't move if this continued.

The flying dragons, being magical beasts, were sensitive to the presence of spirit magic, making it difficult to shoot them down while they were flying and the hunters were trapped in the dome.

Zangin tried to drive large stone stakes into the dome, but the dragons were not foolish enough to charge into them and started breaking the stakes with their tails. Even when Zangin tried to grow the stakes just before the dragons charged, the dragons' scales were tough enough to make it difficult to inflict serious wounds.

Zangin sighed.

While Leticia lit the dark dome with light spirits, the inside of the dome became bright.

"Can you maintain your magic power?"

"…For about half a day."

Zangin's magic power had gradually increased from Salehad and Rattana to the present, and his maximum magic power had increased slightly.

"I see. Then I'll raise a signal flare now, so please maintain this state for a while."

"Maintaining it is no problem, but a signal flare?"

"To ask the examiner somewhere in this forest for help."

Leticia took out a long, thin tube from her waist, ignited a fuse-like string, and had a vine carry it through the ground to the outside.

While confirming that the tube filled with black smoke had been successfully carried by the vine, Leticia was inwardly surprised at Zangin's words.

The flying dragons were still attacking the dome, but the hunter named Kuro, who was repairing the ice soil every time it was destroyed at an astonishing speed, could continue doing so for half a day.

During the exam, he had simultaneously frozen the legs of a large mountain beast with ice, and while it was thought that he could not form a defensive barrier to withstand the flying dragons' attacks even with tree spirit magic reinforcement, he was doing so effortlessly.

His ability to perform multiple simultaneous spirit magic and his magic power surpassed not only lower-ranked hunters of a general race but also mid-ranked hunters.

Hunter ranks do not accurately measure a hunter's strength.

While they can serve as a rough guide, there are those who hide their true strength and remain at a lower rank, and there are also capable individuals who cannot pass the association's promotion exams due to their unique personalities.

Many such individuals were elves who lived in the forest.

Considering this, it might not have been impossible for Leticia and Kuro to escape, but they could not abandon the remaining three, given their positions as hunters and examiners.

Leticia was more of a support-type mage who specialized in hindering the enemy's movements and forming defensive barriers from the rear. While she was also skilled with a bow, it was not powerful enough to pierce the flying dragons' scales, and she had no time to use tree spirit magic to shoot their eyes. Moreover, with no front-line fighters and the two flying dragons flying freely in the sky, it was impossible to aim for their eyes.

They had no choice but to wait.

If the examiner noticed the signal flare, it would not take more than half a day to gather with other examiners and come to their rescue.

As Leticia said this, the dome, still resonating with the vibrations from the flying dragons' attacks, began to have a sense of relief.

—Thud

Suddenly, Carlo collapsed.

"Carlo!"

Riz was the first to approach Carlo.

Carlo seemed to be experiencing full-body numbness and difficulty breathing. He was lying on his back, drooling and convulsing.

"It's dragon poison," Leticia announced.

The flying dragon's tail had grazed Carlo's body somewhere. The ice soil deployed in a hurry had been too thin.

"Antidote?"

Riz looked at Leticia, but Leticia shook her head.

Riz hugged the trembling Carlo, saying, "No..."

"…Move."

Zangin pushed Riz aside and took out medicine from his food backpack.

"What do you have?"

"It's just to alleviate the poison's effects. —How long will he last like this?"

Zangin asked Leticia.

"Artificial respiration can prevent respiratory arrest, but even then, an hour would be optimistic."

"This medicine can extend that to a few hours."

Zangin sprinkled the medicine, which he had learned from Ilalgi to alleviate the symptoms of poison, on the wound on Carlo's head where the tail had grazed.

"Pour this down his throat. I don't do mouth-to-mouth with men."

Zangin handed the medicine to Riz.

Without hesitation, Riz put the medicine and water in her mouth and, with Fabio's help, gave it to Carlo mouth-to-mouth.

Carlo's pained expression eased slightly.

While he was not out of danger, a sense of relief spread through the air.

"...Thank you."

Riz bowed her head.

"Thank you."

Fabio also bowed his head.

"It's my medicine, don't trust it too much."

Zangin's words surprised not only the two of them but also Leticia.

"Made it?"

"Yes, an old lady taught me in exchange for a reward. Is that so surprising? She said it was common for hunters."

Leticia, unusually, sounded exasperated.

"Which era's hunter? Indeed, some early hunters, who branched off from adventurers over a hundred years ago, could do such things, but modern hunters don't. While elves and hunters living in the borderlands might, ordinary people don't. They can usually buy them in the city."

"How old is that old lady?" Zangin muttered.

He could almost hear Ilalgi laughing pleasantly.

However, this meant they could no longer just wait for rescue. There was no guarantee that the rescue would arrive and defeat the flying dragons in a few hours.

"I want to save Carlo. I don't want to lose any more comrades!"

Riz looked at Leticia with a pleading face.

"I'll carry Carlo. Please, do something."

They had no choice but to rely on the two. It was a pitiful realization, but they knew they couldn't even escape with Carlo with just their strength.

Leticia also wanted to help, but if they tried to escape, the risk of losing someone was high.

She couldn't force it on a party that wasn't registered as a life-or-death team, and Leticia herself had no spirit of self-sacrifice.

She had been sent to the association reluctantly by the forest elder.

While she would not abandon her duties, she did not intend to die to save Carlo in this situation. As a hunter, an association employee, and an elf, it was a normal judgment to save those with a strong will to live.

Leticia glanced at Zangin.

If this hunter, whose strength was difficult to measure under the current association system, cooperated, everyone might be saved, but she could not force him.

Even if he had the strength, it would still be a matter of risking his life.

A cruel silence began to fill the air.

Riz and Fabio understood.

They knew they couldn't save Carlo in this situation.

Still, they had lived by helping each other in the slums. They couldn't abandon him.

"We will—"

"…Don't say you'll be a decoy. It's a waste of life."

"Wha—"

Zangin interrupted Riz and told the harsh truth.

Indeed, the two of them wouldn't even be able to hold them back.

"But—"

"…Leticia, right? I have a proposal."

Zangin ignored Riz and Fabio's protests and spoke to Leticia.

"What is it?"

"While the three of them escape, you and I will hold back the flying dragons. If we succeed, promote me. And don't report what I do during that time to anyone, not even the association."

"Can you do that?"

"If I don't choose my means. For example, poison."

Poison is surprisingly disliked by hunters.

There are several reasons, such as the difficulty in handling it and the limited uses for poisoned prey, but the fear of it being secretly added to their food was a significant one.

In the borderlands, where magical beast attacks are frequent, it's not as much of an issue, but the closer one gets to the city, the more the fear of magical beasts diminishes, and the fear of being assassinated by a fellow hunter with poison increases. In a sense, it's a dark side of the city, where one can't fully trust those around them.

Therefore, hunters who possess poison do not openly admit it. Even if they use it during a hunt, they discard it in front of their companions afterward, which has become an unwritten rule.

"The flying dragons are resistant to poison, but… are you hiding something else?"

"…Alright. I'll say we were attacked by the flying dragons and let them escape."

Leticia's casual response made Zangin worry.

"Even though you said it, can you really do that as an examiner?"

"Of course. If everyone here keeps quiet. Even if someone talks, I don't mind. It will allow me to return to the forest. I understand the desire to keep secrets, especially for elves.

I've heard that during the time when spirit magic was kept secret, interference from other races was quite troublesome. Secret potions, weapons, the greed of other races is troublesome. I won't reveal your secrets either."

Leticia didn't particularly enjoy being an association employee. She had no sense of belonging to the association or the country of her race.

If promoting him and keeping his secrets would allow everyone here to survive, she would keep quiet.

If she could make such a judgment, she was certainly qualified for seven stars.

She had no intention of reporting everything to the association in detail.

Lies and spears are a matter of how they are wielded, a rather interesting expression from her race.

"Is that so? What do you think?"

Zangin asked Riz and Fabio, who had been watching the negotiation.

"…Can we trust you?"

"Without trust, you'll all perish here. But I think it's more about whether I can trust you."

Zangin was implicitly telling them not to reveal his deal with Leticia.

Riz and Fabio looked at each other and nodded.

"Of course. Even if we fail the exam, we won't tell anyone, not even the association, about today."

Zangin muttered, "You can talk if you want. I'll make you regret living," but they didn't hear it.

Fabio carried Carlo, and Riz looked at Zangin and Leticia.

"Thank you for your trouble. I won't forget this kindness."

"More importantly, try to find the examiners who should be heading this way and explain the situation."

"Of course. After putting Carlo on the monster vehicle at the starting point, I'll look for the examiners. I'm also planning to leave with them."

Leticia turned to Zangin, who had taken out a bundle of papers tied with a string.

"You can handle one, right?"

"Yes. I'll shoot a large one at the flying dragon right after it attacks the dome, and you can use that time to escape."

"…Advanced?"

"Of course not. I can barely handle intermediate, let alone advanced. I'll just unleash multiple basic magic spells at once, relying on my magic power."

Leticia made a slightly puzzled face.

"Are you really from which era's hunter? I've heard that while old elves were good at simultaneous casting, they were particularly weak at advanced spirit magic. Are you a human?"

"Probably."

Even with the power to adapt to a god-like being, Zangin couldn't be sure if he was the same as the races in this world.

"Alright. It seems your magic power is even higher than mine, so I'll leave it to you."

Leticia's words surprised Riz and Fabio.

Elves were known for their much higher magic power than other races and for producing many excellent mages, despite their temperamental nature. If Zangin had more magic power than an elf, it was hard to imagine how much he had.

Zangin and the others waited for the next attack.

—Thud

Immediately after,

Zangin thrust ten large ice stakes from the ground, like a porcupine, breaking through the remaining dome.

While Zangin was still struggling with intermediate magic, there were advantages to using multiple basic magic spells simultaneously.

One of them was the difficulty of friendly fire.

While intermediate magic, even in a small area, could cause friendly fire if allies were within its range, by bundling ten basic magic spells, the range was equivalent to intermediate magic, but the spells could be formed to avoid allies even at close range, without involving anyone.

However, if the same amount of magic power were used, intermediate magic would be far more powerful, so it couldn't be said which was better.

"Go!"

At Leticia's command, Fabio, carrying Carlo, and Riz, protecting him, ran.

Another flying dragon approached from behind them.

As expected, Zangin's large ice stakes only grazed the wing of the attacking flying dragon and missed the other one.

However, the flying dragon that was about