Mister Ed’s eyes grew larger and extended his shield out in front of him. He turned his head back and let out a bellowing roar to his approaching guildmates. “Shielders—DEFEND!!”

Line after line of large and heavy shields dropped to the ground—planted in the dirt—they formed a wall of steel and blades.

The dragon raised its scaly blue head into the air and a swirl of red flames gathered at its mouth. Alice turned back to watch everything unfold, she seemed especially drawn to the way the dragon behaved.

I wasn’t hoping for her to be terrified but I found it weird for her not to be scared, not even a little bit shaken by any of it. She was deep in thought about something, she stared at the dragon as if she was trying to figure it out.

Then, as we left Mister Ed’s side her eyes grew larger. Her lips moved gently as a faint sound escaped her throat.

“Those flames are…”

“Alice, we need to focus! We’re heading for the caves, so stay alert.”

Hearing my words she quickly turned ahead and shook her head, it looked just like the way I cleared my thoughts. She seemed to be copying us like that a lot recently.

“Right.” She said.

We didn’t make it far, just as we escaped out of the way of the guild members a shadow flew over us.

“Get away from there!!” Mister Ed screamed.

Veldor looked to be in shock, something above us caused his jaw to drop. Naturally, my eyes rose to the sky and I was left in a similar state as Veldor.

The bottom of a beast, no—it was a dragon—no doubt about it.

Larger than the last one, much larger. Its wings stretched out so far that I was afraid it would hit the sides of the mountains wrapped around us. This one was different though, it was covered in crimson scales. It had large rugged spikes and rough edges surrounding every inch of its backside.

I could feel the heat it created under its wings from when it flew over us, there was no telling how hot it would be up close. It was everything I heard about them, about dragons.

“This isn't good! We’re too far out in the open!” Arga said as she grabbed my shoulder.

She pulled me back and we ran, all of us. Arga was in front with Veldor and I stuck to the rear…I quickly realised that we were missing one.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Alice!”

By the time I realised, it was too late. The dragon made its descent over her, it hovered above the ground with slow yet powerful beats from its wings. Each time it flapped its wings, a wave of warm wind would hit my face.

It burnt the closer I got, each step drove my skin into further agony. That wasn’t the worst of it. That expression, the fierce glare of a dragon. It looked enraged as if something had been taken from it. I didn’t want to look into its eyes, my body wouldn’t allow me to. It was the natural order of things, I knew I was an ant compared to it.

It didn’t matter, I wouldn’t let it take Alice! I wouldn’t let it harm her.

I rushed in with Arga and Veldor following behind but we were forced back. The dragon flapped its wings with powerful strokes and sent us flying. My feet left the ground, it was worse than fighting the Rhaskan. Such an effortless motion caused me to move around the air like a ragdoll.

“No—protect the girl!” Mister Ed commanded.

As he turned to help us, the enemy before them was ready to strike. The dragon covered in blue brought down its head, along with the swirling flames gathered at its mouth. As its eyes locked with Mister Ed’s, the flames were released and hit him first.

His shield protected him from the flames, even with that amount of pressure he seemed to be holding his own very well. I was able to feel its wrath from such a large distance away but Mister Ed, who was right at the head of it didn’t move an inch.

Some flames slipped passed him but the wall of shields behind him managed to defend against it equally as well. They were high-ranked adventurers after all, a little fire wouldn’t stop them.

Even if they could defend against its flames, they still had to stay put. Mister Ed and his entire guild were locked in the fight with that dragon. Meaning we had to fight the red one ourselves…we needed to protect Alice.

Gulp

Without her sword, Arga was left bare-handed in this fight. There wasn’t much she could do, so she stayed behind. Veldor had both his shield and mace in hand, however, he only had on his undershirt and chainmail. It was better than nothing but he was still under geared for a fight against a dragon.

I was the only one with my weapon and gear on hand…but with my injuries, I was probably the worst off. Suddenly our chances seemed to have dropped into the low zero range, with even less chance of helping Alice.

I wracked my brain trying to think of something to do when suddenly a blur of silver and yellow flew past me.

Veldor rushed in, he closed in on the dragon and pushed through its waves of heat. As it lifted its wings for another attack, a rush of red flew past my left.

Arga charged in to grab Alice. She moved a lot faster without her equipment, she was surprisingly fast compared to how she usually fought.

Both of them didn’t give it another thought, they rushed in to save her without thinking of themselves.

I was overthinking it, trying to come up with a way to keep everyone safe. The way he did…I couldn't be him though, I wasn’t Mister Ed.

“I should know by now, thinking things over isn't my thing.” I uttered with a smirk.

My legs moved—I rushed in behind them. I had to force my legs to move, they felt ready to fall off the entire time but I pushed them. I pushed them further than they had ever been pushed before.

I placed one arm out in front of me with the other hand on my Chakram.

“You’re not taking her—you’ll never hurt her again!!” A surge of flames surrounded my palm and formed into red aura. The light took shape into a dragon's head and its mouth filled with pure red flames.

“Dragons roar!!”