The Novel's Draft

As the two were fighting, they collided with a snake-like demon that was climbing up the dead dragon.

Gritting my teeth, I looked at Incus as a giant slither shaped shadow was covering more and more of the area.

The snake had fallen and was aimed straight at us.

Pointing the tip of her blade, and with a strong upwards thrust, Incus sent a pillar of flame that shot upwards, as she said one word:

"Excaliburn!"

That’s a technique that the fire sword can do?

If I had known then that would have done me wonders... I’ve been mimicking Incus and how she wielded the hero sword that I didn’t think about broadening my horizon.

With the pillar of flame, the giant serpent was pushed to the side, crushing a few demons.

With every swing of my blade, a demon was slain.

I can’t keep on doing this.

My body felt heavy as if I was trying to drag an entire wagon by myself.

And it was evident that I wasn’t the only one... Kacon and Joka’s movements were growing sluggish as they were fighting the most amount of demons out of all of us.

Our mages aren’t as athletic as we are, so they can’t keep up with us.

"Just hold on a little bit longer!" I strained, my shout falling on deaf ears.

Another problem arose.

Incus was getting further away from us.

There isn’t anything that we can do aside from bearing with it.

My hands were growing numb, I could feel every fabric of my clothing.

With a loud roar, a dragon from the sky was getting ready to launch a breath of fire.

My eyes looked with horror as I watched the assassin general die as he was skewered by the dragon’s claw.

Slipping off the dragon’s claw, the general started falling to the ground.

But before he could even land, he was swallowed by a demon with a giant head but a small body.

Things can’t keep going on like this.

"Ring!" Alleus called out, I barely heard the sound of her voice.

Turning around, my face was distorted in a look of hate, confusion, and urgency.

Hate. Because of how things are going, why does everything always have to go wrong.

Confusion. What was I doing, what am I doing anymore.

Urgency. I just want things to get over with, why couldn’t Incus think of a more solid plan to get things moving faster.

Acro had collapsed to the ground.

Damn it.

"Scales, pull Acro towards me!" The scales that I attached to him and the remaining that I had attached together.

Catching Acro as he flung towards me, I steadied myself.

"Ring, hand him over to me!" Alleus extended a hand but I slapped it away.

"No. You’re the fastest one out of all of us, your speed is crucial to our party!"

The dragon from the sky had flown closer, as it launched a breath of fire.

"Ice barrier!" Vertere conjured a wall of ice, which protected us from the blaze.

"Uuurgh!" Vertere growled, as he continued to supply the wall with ice. Making sure that it doesn’t melt from the fire.

Glancing over at Incus, she had launched a flame attack of her own. Completely engulfed the dragon but it wasn’t enough.

She summoned another hero sword and blitzed upwards with lightning speed before eviscerating the dragon with a wall of sword thrusts.

Despite being a dragon, it wasn’t on par with Draan nor Dragonborn.

"Ring..?" Acro whispered with a raspy voice.

"Save your energy, don’t waste it on talking."

Before we knew it, we reached our destination.

Situating Acro on a large pillar, I made sure he sat up straight so that his lungs wouldn’t be pressured.

Touching the white muddied pillar, it was the rib of the giant dragon.

"Our world was really this small..?" Incus sighed, before jumping up to assist the mages.

We’ll be fine if we just stay here, and she wasn’t going too far.

But if things become drastic, the scales will vibrate if she starts to stray away too far.

"Vertere, cast a barrier..."

Nodding at my order, our water mage had made a dome of water.

Plopping back down on the ground, I sighed.

"How’s everyone doing?" I asked.

"We’re in need of healing, these demons are no joke." Joka’s blades were on their last legs, same went for Kacon’s giant battle axe.

"Acro, do you think you can cast a healing spell?" I asked.

"Just come to me, I’ll heal them..." Acro extended a hand, which Joka and Kacon knelt underneath.

A wide ranged healing spell that covered the both of them.

"The healing will be slow because it’s a wide area, so make sure that you don’t move." Acro coughed.

As they were being healed, the ice walls were being crushed.

Damn, it barely lasted a minute.

Forcing myself to stand up, I fell to my knee.

Stand up, please. If I don’t step up then we’ll die!

Pushing me back, Alleus stood up to the occasion.

"Stay down, I still have enough strength to take these guys down." Alleus turned to Vertere, "Is the buff still active?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Deactivate it and transfer all of the buffs to me."

Nodding, strength seemed to seep from my body and everything felt heavier.

Vertere’s enhancement had done so much that I didn’t even notice it.

Grabbing Alleus’ wrist, I frowned.

"Please... don’t die."

"Hah, don’t worry partner! I’m the furthest person that you have to worry about dying!"

Alleus knelt down and leaned in closer to my face, and her lips met mine.

My hair jumped up, as my face felt hot.

"W-W-What do you think you’re doing!" I blushed.

But she didn’t respond, only giving a weak smile before jumping straight into battle.

"Vertere, give them a boost too..!" I forced my body to stand up but I fell flat on my face.

Helping me stand up, Vertere shook his head.