20. Truly, A Battle of Monsters!

My name is (Mystertam Maddan).
I’m a silver rank adventurer who also goes by Mystertam the Absolute Flash.

My jobs are usually limited to the royal capital, but today I’m in a forest near the countryside town of Neuville.

My reason for being here, is to defeat my mortal enemy.

“Don’t make such a scary face, Mista. You’re ruining your handsome face.”

My best friend (Verdana Acreen), calls out to me with my nickname.
Verdana, who always protected my back, was gripping a shield with a mysterious glow in his hand.

Verdana is my childhood friend from the same village.
Since both our goals overlapped, we became adventurers together.

Our goal was revenge.
To defeat that monster which burned down our village, we registered with the guild and finally became silver rank adventurers.

Fortune then stood with us, and we finally get information on its whereabouts.
15 years! We’ve waited for 15 years.
We trained until we could see nothing but red, and prepared our equipment to defeat him.
Even when I’m sleeping, I’ve never missed image training against him.

“Although, I do get how you feel. This is finally it.”
“Yeah! Finally! We’ll achieve our goal at last today.”
“I know. But don’t get ahead of yourself Mista. It’s a bad habit of yours.”
“What are your saying Verd! If this isn’t the time to be sure of my myself, then when is?”
“He’s strong. If we don’t think this through logically, we could die…”
“…..”
“Hey, Mista. Tell me… what will you do after you defeat him?”
“…I’ve never thought about that.”
“I see…. For me, I thought of spending the rest of my life in a rural town. We only walked past it, but the Neuville city I glanced at fits the image I had perfectly. Maybe, we could open a bakery over there.”
“…Well, baking bread is your speciality, despite being a man.”
“That last part was unnecessary! But….. let’s decide—“

It was at that time.
We began to hear the earth rumble.
At the same time, the ground started shaking vertically.
The nearby trees get uprooted, and cracks were running all over the place.

“What is this?!”

Verdana had his eyes peeled.
I draw my sword while standing beside him.
I couldn’t really tell, but I could feel that my mouth was badly distorted.

“It’s him! It seems like he’s bringing the fight to us.”

At that moment, the ground began to swell greatly.
From the cracked ground, crimson eyes started to appear.
That too, not just one pair.
Three pairs…
A total of six eyeballs were focused on Verdana and I.

Cracks begin running in the ground.
From it, three long necks rise along with a giant body.

『KISHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!』

It opens its mouth filled with sharp fangs, and lets out a scream which pierces both heaven and earth.
It was a dragon with three heads.
A ‘Hydralord’.
It was a heinous B rank monster- something for which the country’s army should be dispatched against, as well as the target of our revenge.

The Hydralord opens its jaw.
Light appears in its throat, and it releases a lightning blast as if to greet us.

“Get back, Mista!!”

Verdana pushes me away and goes forward.
He braces the big shield in his hand.
The Hydralord’s lightning blast gets concentrated on the shield with a beautiful mirror surface.
However, the shield nullifies the blast completely.

“Did you see that, lizard bastard! We went into the ‘Ancient Ruins Dungeon’ steeling ourselves for death, just to get this『Mirage Cross』. With this, your lightning blasts are useless!!”

“Verd!!”
“I’m fine! Mista go!!”

Hit him with your last 15 years!!

Hearing the powerful words of my childhood friend, I ran.
I successfully went around the side of the Hydralord.
I thought I would be nervous in front of my sworn enemy, but it was the opposite.
My body feels light.
I felt like I could even take on the Demon King.

It’s not only because I’m facing my sworn enemy.
It’s also thanks to Verdana, who was standing behind me.

I think it’s like this.
Rather than fight for revenge, I would rather fight for my best friend who stuck with me for 15 years–

“That’s why, this first swing is for my friend!! Take this, Hydralord!!”

I raised my sword.
The surrounding light begins to get sucked into it.
With this, a huge sword of light stood pointing towards the sky.

“[The brilliant sword of Susanoo]!!”

I swing down the sword filled with light.
Immediately after, it connects with the Hydralord.
I could hear it scream clearly.
Its three heads were shaking around like willows.

I did it…

I was sure of it.
Finally, my 15 long years had paid off…

However, what appeared from inside the light, was the Hydrolord filled with fighting spirit.

“Impossible! That should have been a fatal injury!!”

I scream so.
Then, all three of its heads turn to face me.
It opened its large mouth, and was just about to spit out a lightning blast.

“Mista!!”

Verdana slips in front of me without sparing a moment.
He defends us against the lightning blast using 『Mirage Cross』.

“Are you alright, Mista!”
“Sorry Verd! I was careless.”
“Can you go on?”
“Of course! I’ll hit him as many times as he wants!!”

I take a stance with my sword again.
However–

*Krik*!!

I heard an unpleasant sound.
Verdana’s『Mirage Cross』had a crack in it now.

“It can’t be! This is supposed to be an iron-wall shield that can handle all kinds of magic and breaths!!”
“Does that mean Hydralord’s lightning blast, surpasses the defense given by『Mirage Cross』?”
“Mista, leave! Even if it’s you alone!!”

It was at that moment.
Finally『Mirage Cross』shatters.
Following that, A lightning blast strikes us.
Severe pain runs through my body, as if I was bitten by a million snakes.
I was wearing lightning resistant armor, but it seemingly had no effect.

“”GUUUAAAAAAAAAAA!!””

Our screams echoed throughout the now ruined forest.

Luckily I was just barely conscious.
I run over to Verdana, who had fallen to the side.
He had lost consciousness, but fortunately had survived.

『KISHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!』

The Hydralord approaches us again.
Its 6 eyes were locked on to us.
At this rate we’ll get wiped out.

Thinking so, I pick up my sword.
Right now, I don’t have the stamina to carry Verdana and run.
But if it’s only to drag him and get him away…

I’ll protect my friend no matter what.
He’s the only one I have left.
If Verdana goes, I’ll truly become alone.

“Come!! Hydr—“

Something hits me from the side.
It was its tail.
I was blown away like scraps of paper.
My tattered body hits the ground and rolled a few times.

No… Can’t move anymore…

Forgive me, Verdana.
Forgive me, everyone from the village.
I worked hard for 15 years, but I don’t think I’ll be able to kill it…

I began shedding tears.
However, I see something strange from my blurry vision.
A person.
It was completely wrapped in a robe, but there was no doubt about it.
But what was amazing was the emblem on the robe, indicating an iron rank adventurer.

I come back to my senses at once.

“Stop! This isn’t something an iron rank adventurer could handle!!”

I advise so, but I didn’t know if they’re listening or not.

Then, I heard the man yelling in anger from under his hood.

“Bastard! How dare you have a presumable appearance!! Making me happy for no reason!! Listen up! Only one being is allowed to have three heads in this world, and that’s my Cerberus! Who decided that? I did right now! I won’t hear excuses!! Shuuut uuuuuupp!!!!”

DIE.

It was no different than screaming.
It was like someone being drunk at a bar in the squalor. It was discomforting to say the least.

However, the surprising thing happened after that.

『NUWAAAA!!』

The Hydralord raises a strange voice.

It’s three heads fall to the ground.
It then closes its eyelids as if to sleep.
Its core, which always caused the air vibrate around it, stops making noise.

The Hydralord was dead.

Too easily at that…
Enough to make me wonder what the last 15 years were for.

The man in the robe remained furious and went back to the city with great strides.
Without sparing a glance at us.
For him, we may have been as insignificant as pebbles on the side of the road.

I had no idea how that man managed to do this.
He probably used some illegal magic, but I didn’t have it in me to even blame him.

One thing was for sure though.

“Once we get home, I’ll open a bakery with my buddy…”

Our revenge had thus ended.