The world seemed to fly apart.

Money was flying away.

Two dragons—gone just like that.

This couldn’t be real. Was I dreaming? Was this really happening?

A flood of thoughts raced through my mind, but not a single word escaped from One-Eye's mouth. When faced with something truly shocking, it seemed even the ability to speak could freeze.

Unbelievable.

One-Eye stared blankly at the pond beyond.

It was as if an invisible club had struck the dragons, sending them soaring through the air, along with everything around them. And then, moments later, dozens of birds fell from the sky.

What the hell was going on?

A famous story suddenly came to mind—a tale about the mightiest magic family in the land, the Ducal House.

Long ago, I’d heard about a duke who was a legendary mage. They said when he waved his staff, a powerful gust of wind would follow, so strong that it could sink enemy ships attacking from the sea.

He protected the country with that magic.

It felt like I was witnessing that legend come back to life.

But this guy isn’t from the ducal family—he’s a barbarian.

Why then…? I thought for a moment, and a story about Helga surfaced.

Wasn’t there a huge uproar when they said Helga kidnapped the Duke? Could it be that Helga and the Duke…

No, no, no—that couldn’t be right.

If it had been the other way around, maybe it could have happened. But the kidnapped one was a man—said to be as beautiful as a fairy. Men are delicate creatures, you know. Even the slightest shock could render a man completely useless.

There’s no way he could’ve fathered a child while in the clutches of a savage like Helga.

If he could, he’d have been a hero—the strongest man to ever live.

While my thoughts wandered, Rafa moved again.

Amidst a field laid bare, with trees uprooted and rocks scattered like a hurricane had passed through, a gigantic dragon body soared into the air.

It wasn’t just a high leap.

Rafa was floating.

Is he even human?

One-Eye blinked and rubbed his only eye, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. Rafa, who clearly had no wings, appeared to be running through the air, his feet moving as if he were stepping on solid ground.

It wasn’t just for show.

With every step, his body surged forward.

Rafa dashed through the air like a dart, grabbing hold of the dragon’s tail that had been blown helplessly by the wind. Then, with a mighty swing, he slammed the massive dragon downward.

The giant beast, though much larger than Rafa, flailed like a ragdoll in his grip, crashing into the earth.

That... that's definitely a dragon, right?

Even though the dragon was much bigger than Rafa, it was being handled like a dried fish.

Using the force of the dragon’s fall, Rafa leapt back into the sky.

Oh right—there were two dragons earlier.

Rafa shot through the air like an arrow, landing atop the second dragon, which had just begun flapping its wings. With one hand, he grabbed its wing and snapped it.

From this distance, One-Eye shouldn’t have heard anything, but he could almost hear the crack echo in his ears.

That thing’s definitely broken.

It could have been damaged earlier when the wind hit. Rafa then wrapped his arms around the dragon’s neck, strangling it.

Though Rafa was huge, and his arms were thick, he still looked like a child compared to the dragon. Normally, this would’ve been impossible.

And yet…

He was doing it.

The dragon thrashed, struggling for air, but it was no use. It plummeted from the sky.

At this rate, Rafa might get injured or even die from the fall. But just before hitting the ground, Rafa kicked off the dragon’s body, launching himself into the air again.

The dragon crashed into the earth, half its body buried in the ground.

Is he a demon?

For the first time in his life, One-Eye felt pity for a dragon.

Apparently, someone else was feeling the same way.

A small groan escaped from someone nearby, as if they themselves had just been struck.

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Most farmers spend their entire lives in the village where they were born. Even if they travel, it’s usually no further than the nearest town once a year. What they know and see remains unchanged—the same land, the same fields, the same sky.

Discontent with that kind of life, One-Eye had fled, becoming an adventurer.

But the world was harsh and unforgiving to a commoner.

It had been almost unbearably tough.

Friends he trusted betrayed him, a female adventurer who had become his lover ran off with his money, and a senior he respected had once thrown him toward a dragon just to save himself.

After experiencing all that, One-Eye had sworn to himself—he would never do such things to another.

He wouldn’t use rookies as bait.

He would be the kind of senior adventurer who helped newcomers survive.

As One-Eye built his career and moved between guilds, he discovered there were others like him—veteran adventurers who shared that same mindset. Though he once thought the world was full of scum, there were some decent people who had survived through all the hardships.

Most of them repeated their stories over and over to rookies until they stuck, sharing their hard-earned wisdom. No matter how much the rookies groaned about hearing the same things, the veterans kept at it, repeating their lessons until they were burned into the rookies' heads—until, in a crisis, the stories would pop into their minds.

Though the stories smelled musty and were boring to hear, they were acts of kindness.

And this new rookie, Rafa, had caught the attention of every seasoned adventurer.

He looked like he could take down a bandit chief, but he had a surprisingly gentle nature. Despite the repeated stories, he’d just smile, nodding politely while keeping his terrifying face at bay.

That was Rafa.

Over the past few days, One-Eye, Baldy, Old Baldy, and the other seasoned adventurers started worrying.

It’s these kinds of guys who end up in the worst trouble.

If someone had no talent and showed no potential, that was fine. At worst, they’d be swindled a few times or betrayed. Those kinds of people wouldn’t usually find themselves in life-or-death situations.

But someone as skilled as Rafa could end up in far worse situations—becoming prey for bad people, con artists, or those with ill intentions, trapped in misery worse than death.

A rookie like him was like a newborn chick—innocent and trusting.

And on top of all that, despite his appearance, he seemed to have a good heart.

That’s why they had been worried.

They wanted to give him advice, to protect him.

But maybe they didn’t need to.

With overwhelming strength like his, and a personality cold enough to leave a dragon whimpering, he’d be fine. Even if he found himself in a dangerous situation, he’d just tear everything apart—whether it was a betrayer or a bad deal—and come out on top.

As everyone stood frozen in awe, someone broke the silence.

"Until the rookie comes back, we need to keep these things from flying away."

We didn’t need to kill all the dragons.

From the start, the plan wasn’t to kill or capture every dragon in the area. If we injured them too much, they’d get even more dangerous, so the goal had shifted. Now, we just needed to drive them far away.

When we realized how powerful Rafa’s wind magic was, our unspoken goal had shifted to killing at least three of them. If we managed to get a fourth, that would be a major bonus.

But now, looking at Rafa, capturing or killing all the dragons didn’t seem like such a far-fetched dream.

Just as One-Eye reached that conclusion, it seemed others had, too.

"Quick! Throw the nets!" someone shouted.

"Hey, you guys over there, get over here!" another called, signaling to adventurers who were stationed further away.

The pond, which had been eerily quiet, suddenly erupted with activity. Nets were hurled into the air, and spears flew to prevent the dragons from escaping.

At that moment, One-Eye glanced skyward with his single eye.

A large bird was soaring far in the distance. Then, suddenly, it twisted in midair, and something small dropped from its grasp.

It was a tiny object.

It fluttered slightly, almost like a small bird.

Could it be a bird?

He wasn’t sure.

Whatever it was, it plummeted rapidly and splashed down near the edge of the pond.

The pond wasn’t as big as a lake, but it was still large enough.

Whatever had fallen landed at the far edge of the water, too far for him to see clearly.

One-Eye blinked, recalling something Rafa had mentioned earlier. He’d been depressed, saying something about a bird flying off somewhere.

But that couldn’t be it, right?

It was absurd to think a small bird might have been carried off by a larger bird, only to fall like that.

The pond wasn’t massive, but it was still large enough to make it hard to see what had fallen from such a great distance.

"Why are you just standing there like an idiot? What are you gonna do if the dragon flies away!" someone from his group yelled at One-Eye.

"I know, I know! I was just about to throw the net!" he replied, quickly turning back to the task at hand.

Several adventurers were already poking at the dragons with their long spears, trying to prevent them from taking off.

One-Eye joined in, throwing his net.

----------------------------------------

It seemed the rumors about dragon hide being incredibly tough were true. Despite being battered by wind and slammed into the ground repeatedly, the dragons’ hides appeared mostly intact.

That’s a relief.

I felt a small wave of panic wash over me as I realized I might have overdone it a bit.

I’d gotten caught up in the thrill of finally unleashing a big spell after such a long time, and I hadn’t really held back.

I’d gone a bit overboard.

At least no one seemed to be injured.

I had made sure the wind didn’t hit anyone by aiming slightly upward, but even so, the wind had been strong enough to catch a few birds in its wake.

I vaguely remembered seeing several birds flip midair and then spiral downward, flapping their wings frantically before crashing.

A lot of them.

Honestly, maybe dozens.

Sorry.

I silently apologized.

As I reflected on that, I noticed the five remaining members of the nine-person party trying to sneak away.

They were planning to run.

No way.

I had originally intended to deal with the dragons first, but I wasn’t going to let them go.

I glanced back at the two remaining dragons and saw that the adventurers had managed to trap them with nets and spears.

That should buy me a few minutes.

The distance wasn’t too far, and with my wind magic, I’d be there in a flash.

I was faster than Usain Bolt when I used the wind.

Mother had always said:

"Never let anyone who tries to kill you escape."

With that thought, I charged toward the fleeing men.

In the span of a few moments, I beheaded four of them.

Just then, I heard a faint birdcall from somewhere.

Peep-peep-peep-peep-peep-peep!

Huh?

That sound… could it be?

I turned my head, straining to see something tiny far off in the distance.

It was so far away that I wasn’t sure I was seeing anything at all. The sound was so faint, I couldn’t tell if it was real or if I was imagining it.

It could’ve been a hallucination.

It was just too far.

But in the next instant, I was sure of it.

It was Rella.

The female dragon, which had been by the pond, suddenly opened its mouth wide, and in one swift motion, it ducked down and swallowed something.

Rella.

Rella had been eaten.

I decapitated the last member of the nine-person party in one swift motion and bolted forward.

Rella’s defense mechanism was to use fire to make her predator cough her up, but this was a dragon. Its hide was thick—so thick that even my wind attacks had barely scratched it.

Its throat and tongue could be just as tough.

Even if Rella tried to set herself on fire, the dragon might just swallow her whole.

And some dragons were known to breathe fire themselves. What if this one was a fire-breather?

An explosive mix of anger and anxiety surged within me, threatening to burst.

"Rella!"

In an instant, I was at the dragon’s side, raising my axe high.

Before Rella was crushed, before she was digested, before she disappeared into the dragon’s stomach, I had to sever its neck.

My wind-wrapped axe slashed through the air toward the dragon’s throat.

"Nooooooo!"

"Rookie!"

"Kid, don’t!"

"Please, no!"

"My daughter’s wedding money!"

Cries of panic echoed from every direction.

Sorry, but now’s not the time to worry about that.

Rella had been eaten.