Four days straight, that was how long he had flown through the darkened woods. That was how long it had battled him. The changed environment had also seemingly shifted the more the dragon moved itself. But despite the changed environment, he knew what this place was—it was near the manor.

Simply knowing what would happen caused shivers to run down his spine. He had to hunt this thing down. Fast.

"Haah!!"

And so he boosted himself onward, pouncing off of thin air through the use of magic, increasing his speed exponentially, disregarding air resistance altogether to get to his chosen prey.

He would not let it get away. It had hunted down hundreds of souls in its entire life and had claimed hundreds of lives in turn. That's what the village chief had sent him out to do.

It was important enough to the man that he even accepted this without pay, and he did so willingly. And to know that the dragon was heading to his family.

It was simply a cause for the beast's execution.

————————

Marilyn could not believe her eyes, despite knowing what this thing reminded her of.

Phantoms were one of the dominant beasts of the world, global in their spread, manifested from fear, whose terror had haunted the world for tens of thousands of years. Creatures that preyed on the souls of the fearful and those who were vulnerable in order to get stronger. Creatures that passively exuded an aura of fear, creatures that could goad the weak-minded into their maws through sheer presence alone.

It was imperative for someone like her to know such things and their danger to her, but to encounter it this early…it was too unfair.

Hundreds of spikes had been launched by the dark beast, sent by it from the swinging of its wings. And those hundreds of spikes, each the speed of a bullet, were deflected away by the silver halberd of the maid of the Althorns, Bethany Hart.

She had gone on the defensive, only focusing on protecting the youngest of the family, not wanting to go on the offensive until the opportunity arose. But she knew better; this would be the long route. This kind of Phantom, a Dragon Phantom no less, was known to be smart enough to understand her tactics.

So, a ranged attack was what she would do to retaliate. For she had noticed the dragon ceasing its barrage, she pointed the bladed end of her weapon at the dark beast, a shining white glyph appearing soon afterwards.

"Lancea Lucis."

Uttering an incantation of the spell, she visualised in her mind a spear of purifying photons of light, brilliant in its destruction and speed. And into the world, she manifested the attack, sending forth the beam of light onto the enemy's very heart.

Heading towards the beast at the speed of light, it had been conjured to ensure its destruction. But the dragon knew better.

It caught the light lance attack in its mouth, quite literally absorbing it, converting the attack to pure essence energy, shocking the maid.

"Hrk…!"

She swore she could hear the dragon laughing before the terrible roar sounded out once more, and the dragon flew upwards towards the sky and fell back a great distance. It opened its mouth once again, and the same beam of light was then fired at her.

The light of destruction descended upon her, but just knowing how to cast her spell, one that she knew intricately, was not enough. The maid swung her halberd towards the light and soon enough cut it single-handedly.

An almost impossible feat for the little girl behind her to behold, but one that was certainly possible for this woman to do.

It could mimic spells and had retreated far enough that Marilyn's safety was much more likely. Hence, she had chosen to go into close quarters with the beast before her.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

With a single leap, Bethany closed the distance, and she swung her halberd downwards at its head, striking true and causing the dragon to roar in pain.

Bethany landed on the ground. The dragon responded with a tail swipe. She dodged it and proceeded to retaliate with another strike.

It was a fierce battle, observed from afar by the young girl. It shined a motivation within her, something of a wish manifesting before her. She had known her want of helping people but was not sure how to do so. But watching the maid battle onwards to protect her, she realised it now.

If she wanted to reach for her wish, she would have to get as strong as her, if not more so.

Bethany's fighting style was one that was executed with fierce grace, like a dance one would commence upon a stage. The dragon in this case was her dance partner, whose choreography could simply be described as wild yet brutal. And with a last strike from her at the dragon's head, she pounced away, her weapon at the ready.

She tried to observe the beast's strength. It was not weakened at all. Despite her being able to land her hits with skill, she lacked the power in her strikes to significantly wound the beast.

She knew of the quality of soul eating that Phantoms had. She had fought Dragon Phantoms beforehand in her days as a pathfinder with Robert. This one was…

"Just how many souls have you consumed, beast!?"

That statement of anger could explain it all, at how the dragon before her could passively distort space and conjure its own hunting ground. It disgusted her.

That hint of disgust, stemming from her fear of not being able to harm this beast enough to drive it away so that she could save the young girl she had been protecting…it made the dragon 'smile' in delight.

And with a final roar, it conjured and fired the same light it had absorbed moments ago, catching the maid off-guard. She could perhaps instinctively cast a barrier, but her train of thought betrayed her. She had to tank it if she wanted to survive.

"Hk—!"

But the time of the attack landing never came, for the light had been caught barehanded by—

"Robert!?"

No honorifics, she greeted him in surprise as a younger cousin of his, mouth agape. The man smiled and redirected the light towards the ground harmlessly, its strength diminished through a simple mental command he forced the lump of magic to obey.

"It's been quite a while since you called me like that. Honestly, I felt nostalgic." He said, chuckling a bit. Though, his expression turned serious once again, "How is she?"

Bethany turned around to see the young girl she had been protecting, to which she responded to Robert once she confirmed her condition. "She's alright, thanks to you."

She wouldn't want to share the news of her apparent regeneration anytime soon. The situation was too dire, and Robert could potentially be distressed by it. So, she replied with that response.

"I see." He responded, "Leave this place with her, and leave the dragon to me."

Bethany could do nothing but accept the order, falling back towards the girl, ensuring her condition first with a glance, and carrying her in her arms as she left the scene with haste.

Robert looked onwards towards the two, and then back at the dragon again. His expression was grim, an inner rage boiling within him.

"You've threatened my family. You're guaranteed to meet your demise, beast."

The dragon roared at the man's call to action, and quickly enough it sent a strike with its claws.

"Hah!!"

Robert deflected the claw barehanded through the usage of condensed magic and retorted by leaping straight ahead at the dragon, rocking its head with an uppercut before continuing with a spinning kick. It was disoriented, but not dead.

The dragon noticed the danger it had befallen itself, and roared out an attack, a wave of distorted space against the man, knocking him away.

Robert proceeded to block the damage from himself, and while it managed to gain distance, it did not bring him down.

The dragon roared again and conjured approximately seven glyphs of light; one directly in front of its mouth, the other six around it. It fired off a barrage of light, constantly bombarding the man with it in desperation.

It knew of Robert's potential to harm it, and it wanted him dead.

And Robert knew this too and proceeded to still go on the offensive. With a superhuman sprint, he weaved and dodged the barrage of light. Using his own two hands, he cut the incoming volleys of light. And with that said and done, he absorbed the final combined massive beam of light from the dragon.

The condensed magical energy was immense, and he knew just what to use it for.

The beast knew of Robert's potential and was smart enough to know its implications. It flew upwards towards the sky once more, this time to retreat, away from the manor.

He would not let it get away.

Robert mimed the gesture of firing an arrow, as a large glyph, larger than his entire body, manifested before him. An arrow was created in his own two hands and was targeted at the cloudy midnight sky that the dragon was attempting to retreat towards.

"Perish."

The arrow was loose, boosted by the glyph he had created. The arrow was faster than a flash of lightning, and it struck true against the dragon. Its final roar was one of desperation, to try and defy its fate of demise.

And the arrow's condensed energy, manifested from the absorbed light that Robert had gathered, decimated the dragon into nothingness. And the oversurge of its energy was enough to even wipe away the cloudy skies for dozens of miles apart, bringing the Hunter's crusade to an end.