Chapter 52
The knight and Lady Esmeralda stood their ground to protect me, a child, trying to stop me from running away.
Their resolve was admirable, but no matter how you looked at it, they were outmatched in terms of combat strength.
"Tch, Shikako, you go home!! This is where we part ways!!"
A character I knew.
Maybe it was insane to think I recognized them from a fictional game world, but I had once been deeply moved by their story, immersing myself in it.
Tears shed in a game were just a collection of zeros and ones.The voices were those of voice actors breathing life into their roles.The expressions were crafted by AI or game designers.
I knew all too well how artificial it all was.
But this wasn’t the game world.
Challenging a boss far above our level with the strength of the lowest-tier class was reckless, but I’d done it countless times in games.
"Sorry, Nel, Amina—I’m borrowing your strength."
I leaped from Shikako’s saddle, grabbed a tree branch, and flipped myself up. Then, I pulled out a scroll from my pouch.
A Magic Edge scroll.
"If I learn this—!"
[Liberta – Class 1 / Level 50Base Stats:HP 60 | MP 40BP 0 | EXBP 0Skills: 2 / Skill Slots: 4Spearmanship – Class 5 / Level 42Magic Edge – Class 1 / Level 1]
"—I can make this winnable!"
Thank goodness I did all those trash-heap quests!
Confirming I’d learned the skill, I watched Shikako run off before jumping down from the tree. My first move wasn’t to join the fight—it was to sprint around to the side of the crawling dragon.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lady Esmeralda and the others in battle.
They must’ve hidden their healer somewhere.
Three knights stood at the front, blocking the dragon’s attacks with their shields and swords while Lady Esmeralda chanted spells from behind.
Standard tactics.
Two of the knights had taunt skills, one had a shield-defense skill, and the other had an evasion skill.
The remaining knight was likely the attacker.
From their movements, I gauged their approximate levels and skill compositions.
Estimated average level: Class 3 / Level 50.
To take down the crawling dragon head-on, they’d need at least Class 4 / Level 80 and a full party of six.
Two tanks, two healers, one attacker, and one debuffer—that was the setup I knew for a stable clear.
Against a debuff-spamming dragon, you needed one healer for HP recovery and another for status ailments.
Tanks had to rotate aggro to maintain the front line.
The attacker had to chip away reliably, while the debuffer hindered movement and lowered attack power.
Only then could you reliably defeat this monster.
Later in the game, you could solo it easily with the right gear.
But the group fighting now lacked numbers, levels, equipment, skills, and knowledge—everything.
There was no time or trust for a child like me to convince them otherwise.
My only choices were to heed their words and flee—effectively abandoning them—or…
"Alright, let’s do this! A good old giant-killing!"
The other option was a low-level, undergeared giant-killing challenge.
My weapon? A single Weakling’s Bamboo Spear.Armor? Leather gear.Accessories? Two Training Bracers.
"Kid!?""Why aren’t you running!?"
Even I agreed that charging in with such flimsy gear was suicidal.
A child suddenly darting into battle and rushing at the dragon? Of course they were shocked.
The dragon noticed me too, but sensing how weak I was, it dismissed me as a threat and focused back on Lady Esmeralda.
"Thanks for that!"
I needed that moment of carelessness!
Every pattern of the crawling dragon was etched into my mind.
A giant-killing required reading every move and reacting flawlessly—each time, without fail.
Was it possible? Technically, yes.
In-game, it was labeled as brutally hard, but seeing its movements in real life made it feel nothing like the game.
Still, its behavior was similar enough.
The dragon tended to focus on the highest-level target. Taunt skills could override that, but by default, it picked off the strongest first.
Meaning, my aggro was practically zero.
"Magic Edge!"
So its reaction to my attack was delayed.
I wasn’t a threat. Just a kid.
It assumed a child’s attack wouldn’t even scratch it.
The arrogance of a dragon, of a superior being.
That complacency was fatal against a gamer.
A blade of mana formed at the tip of my bamboo spear, a thin, blue, dagger-like edge.
The dragon’s low posture meant its head was close to the ground.
I slipped into the gap beneath it.
"Right here!!"
Aiming for the triangular scale between its neck and jaw, I thrust upward from below.
Normally, a Class 1 attack—even buffed—with a bamboo spear wouldn’t work.
Its scales would deflect it effortlessly.
But in games, exceptions existed.
"Ggyyaaaaaaaah!?"
Instead of hardness, the spear sank into soft flesh, and the dragon’s scream followed.
"Critical hit, baby!"
No matter how high its defense, an unguarded weak point would take damage.
In-game terms: a critical hit.
"Whoa, talk about a high-level boss. The EXP for Magic Edge is insane."
Dragons shared a common weakness: the reverse scale.
A smaller weak point than the eyes, but hitting it caused enough pain to make them rear their heads in agony.
I used that opening to retreat.
[Liberta – Class 1 / Level 50Base Stats:HP 60 | MP 40BP 0 | EXBP 0Skills: 2 / Skill Slots: 4Spearmanship – Class 5 / Level 53Magic Edge – Class 1 / Level 45]
A quick status check showed insane growth from just one strike.
Active skills gained EXP based on usage and target, but the class difference and Training Bracers made this level-up absurd.
"At this rate, I can push the DPS higher."
Right now, my only viable damage was Magic Edge-enhanced critical hits.
"Y-you! Why didn’t you run!?""No time for that! You saw it—I can hurt it! Keep its attention off me!"
The reverse scale strike had spiked my aggro enough.
The dragon’s bloodshot eyes locked onto me.
No time for arguments in the face of danger.
"We’re making it out alive!!""Tch! Understood! Everyone, move out!""Yes, ma’am!"
As expected of the infamous villainess—a named character with sharp judgment.
She weighed the reality of my damage output against the absurdity of a child fighting and chose the option with the highest survival odds.
"Draw its attention away from him! Everyone, give it your all!"
She understood her role.
As the party’s high-damage mage, she aggressively attacked to peel aggro off me.
"Fire Bullet!"
Not an explosive spell, but rapid-fire—perfect!
The barrage of flame bullets obscured the dragon’s vision, stopping it from chasing me.
Annoyed, it flicked its tongue in and out.
"Poison Breath! Frontline, fall back! Fire Shield, now!""Fire Shield!"
Didn’t know if she had it, but thank god she did!
The frontline heeded my warning, quickly moving behind Lady Esmeralda as a flame shield blocked the purple mist.
Fire defenses were weak physically but strong against breath attacks.
Even Class 3 could handle it.
"Tail’s wide open!"
While breathing, the dragon’s body froze.
I circled behind it, avoiding the fan-shaped breath, and activated Magic Edge again.
Target: the base of the tail’s tip.
The tip itself was hardened like a blade, but the base needed flexibility to whip around—making it softer.
I drove the enhanced spear deep into it.
A solid thunk as it pierced.
The dragon flinched, stopping its breath to turn toward me.
Two critical hits.
Aggro was fully on me now.
"Kid!""Stay back! I’ll hold aggro! Focus attacks on the tail’s base—if we sever the blade, we gain the upper hand!""Do as he says!""My lady!""I trust him! We’ll prove ourselves worthy of his trust!""Yes, ma’am!!"
The dragon shook its body before lunging to bite.
I deflected its snout with my spear, using the recoil to dodge.
After this charge, it had two options.
Don’t look away!Watch for its tells!
Its tongue flicked.
Dark magic!
I barely regained my stance before sprinting as black blades erupted from the ground—Shadow Edge.
Four of them.
Meaning its HP was still above 80%.
The moment it finished, I pivoted and charged back at the dragon.
After Shadow Edge, it always—
"Poison Breath!"
—inhaled deeply.
"Neck’s exposed!"
Three seconds until firing.
I barely slipped under its jaw and thrust my spear into the reverse scale again.
Interrupting the breath at the last moment.
"Ggyuugh!"
This time, it endured the pain.
Unable to exhale, purple drool dripped from its mouth.
It hesitated, watching me warily.
"Now!"
Lady Esmeralda didn’t miss the opening.
The three knights swung down their swords, carving into the tail.
"Ifrit Sword!"
Spirit magic?! And mid-tier at that!
What a pleasant surprise!
A blazing greatsword descended onto the wound, severing the tail’s tip clean off.
"Gyaaaaaaah!?"
The dragon writhed in pain.
Tail gone, HP below 80%.
What came next was—
"Press the attack!""No! Fall back, now! Dark Smog’s coming!"
—a smoke screen to reset the fight.
I backpedaled furiously, watching my flank.
The knights, mid-step, reacted to my shout and retreated.
Black smoke billowed around the dragon.
"Any wind-based AoE magic!?""None! But I have fire!!""Barrier spells!?""Of course! I know them!""Block the smoke with a wall in front!"
The dragon’s true strength emerged now.
Cutting off its tail was vital—it could assassinate from within the smoke.
It could anchor itself and maneuver its tail to mask its head’s position.
"Fire Wall!"
Without its tail, it only had dark magic, bites, or Poison Breath.
And if we blocked the smoke’s advance—
"Gyaaaaah!!"
—it burst through the flames instead.
"I’ll handle the breath! Save mana for barriers—use spells only to distract!""Understood! Everyone, with me!""Yeah!!"
Without darkness, the dragon’s stealth skills were useless due to its size.
"Stay sharp, and we win! Focus!""Ooooooh!!""Let’s go!"
Its dark magic was limited to Shadow Edge.Poison Breath had a clear wind-up.
We’d already crippled its tail.
Now, it was just a battle of attrition—stick to the plan, and—
"Die already!"
—with enough time and patience, giant-killing was trivial.
How long had we been fighting?
All I knew was that as dusk neared, my spear had pierced the dragon’s reverse scale so many times that the spot had become a gaping, bloody hole.
I pushed my focus to the limit.
Then, as my mana nearly depleted—
"Guh..."
With a final groan, the dragon slowly collapsed, dissolving into black ash.
"We won!!""We’re alive—we’re alive!!""Hell yeah! We took down a dragon!""Aaaaaah! We did it!!"
The makeshift party erupted in joy.
"Ugh… I’m spent."
And I was completely exhausted.
Spontaneous low-level giant-killing? Never again.
No amount of lives would be enough.
That day, I learned that lesson well.