Chapter 92: The Golden Dragon King

“That is the strongest dragon… the Golden Dragon.”

“…”

When I heard Rex‘s muttering, I thought it was a death sentence.

Golden Dragon. The most famous and worst existence among dragons spoken of in myths. Its power is the strongest among all dragons, and it is literally the King of Dragons, said to be equal even to the gods.

Anyone who hears the name would probably laugh it off as a fairy tale being. I was the same. But right now, I—we… couldn’t laugh at all.

Because right before our eyes, that Golden Dragon was flapping its wings, covering the sky.

“Ah…”

Words wouldn’t come out. Just feeling its presence made my body tremble uncontrollably, so it goes without saying what happens when seeing the real thing.

Ah, Rex‘s words finally made sense to me. Compared to this dragon, the dragons we defeated truly were just small fry. Because this Golden Dragon is the very embodiment of the terror people fear in the truest sense.

I desperately tried to hold onto my consciousness, which felt like it was about to fly away at any moment, but a part of me whispered that it might be happier to just lose consciousness and never wake up again.

Having seen its form once, I could no longer look away and continued to stare at its shining figure. Its appearance, as if light itself had taken the form of a dragon, was so divine that it gave the illusion that a god had literally descended to this world.

And within that body of light, only its eyes had color, staring at us. As if looking at something boring.

Then, another color appeared on the Golden Dragon’s body. Shaped like a sideways crescent moon, it shone bright red, and at first, I didn’t realize it was a mouth.

As the red crescent moon increased in brilliance, I understood that I was going to die. Because that radiance was death itself given form.

My body went limp. I knew my instincts were telling me that escape was impossible, to quietly give up and accept death.

That is an existence humans shouldn’t touch. An existence that it is presumptuous to even approach. We will be made to realize that through death.

Ah, I wanted to see my mother one last time before I died. I can’t even move my gaze anymore, but I think everyone is thinking the same thing.

Faced with inevitable death, lingering regrets and attachments fade away. I just had one thought: I wanted to repay Rex just once…

“Or rather, you, you’re a little too bright!”

Rex, who casually approached the Golden Dragon, punched its massive body away along with a complaint. The divine, colossal body of the Golden Dragon, which took a clean uppercut from directly below, spun in the air and then fell headfirst to the ground.

The Golden Dragon twitched a few times, then dropped its wings with a thud and lost consciousness.

After being punched by Rex… ……

“……Eh?”

We rubbed our eyes vigorously, blinking repeatedly as we looked again at the scene that had unfolded before us. The Golden Dragon was punched away? The existence said to be equal to a god flew through the air, fell headfirst to the ground, and fainted?

The Golden Dragon was… defeated…?

“……Eh”

“Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

What, what, what!? What just happened!?

Just when we thought the mythical monster Golden Dragon appeared before us, it got punched, sent flying, and knocked out!?

“Wait!? Rex!? What are you doing!?”

“Eh? Ah, no, it was just a little too bright, so I couldn’t help myself.”

Couldn’t help yourself… the opponent is a mythical being, you know? Even if called a legend, it’s different from an S-Rank monster that exists in reality!?

Ah, I’m getting dizzy. To think a mythical beast would be casually punched and knocked out.

“However, this Golden Dragon is weak.”

Saying such things, Rex climbed onto the Golden Dragon as casually as if standing on a chair.

“Wait, wait, Rex. That dragon is a mythical being… why can you treat it so casually?”

“Eh? This guy is a mythical dragon? Ahaha, no way. Sure, its parents are decently strong, but this one is still just a child.”

No, no, even if it’s a child… wait, eh?

“Child!?”

Being told the Golden Dragon was a child, we nearly fainted from shock.

“Well, living things are born from parents, right? If there’s a child, it’s natural to think there are parents.”

Yeah, well, that’s true. But you know, even this Golden Dragon called a child made us prepare for death just by looking at it, right? For such a dragon to have parents… I can’t even imagine how strong they are. Wouldn’t we die just by looking at them!?

“Hey, in that case, isn’t it better to run away before the parents come back? Something stronger than this Golden Dragon…”

I stopped speaking right there.

“What’s wrong, Liliera?”

Mina sharply noticed something was off with me.

“Hey, Rex said the Golden Dragon is strong earlier, right?”

“Eh? Ah, come to think of it, he did say that. What about it?”

“Don’t you realize?”

“Realize what?”

It seems Mina has been influenced by Rex too much to understand the meaning of those words.

“Listen, Rex said it was strong. Rex, who treated the dragons we fought so far as small fry and kept hunting S-Rank monsters, said it is strong.”

“…!?”

Mina, seemingly grasping what I wanted to say, gasped and stared at me. Good, she seems to understand.

Looking around, Meguri and Norb were also looking at me with the same expression.

“You’re amazing, Big Bro! T-to think you’d defeat a mythical beast… I’m so glad I followed you, Big Broooooooo!!”

…Well, let’s leave Jairo alone. Time spent explaining is precious.

“If it’s an opponent Rex would struggle against, for us, it’s an opponent that wouldn’t just be a struggle, but could kill us in an instant. You understand, right?”

Mina and the others nodded.

“So, what do we do?”

“First, since there are parents, it’s reasonable to assume there are two Golden Dragons, a father and a mother.”

“Two!?”

Two of those, and ones possessing power far surpassing the individual we encountered.

“With that, we’ll definitely die.”

“Knowing Rex, he’s likely to say he’ll take one and if we all fight the other, we can win.”

“He’d definitely say that.”

At Meguri‘s words, our thoughts became one. Or rather, Rex would absolutely say that.

“So listen, okay? Make up any excuse to get out of here. At full speed before the parents come back. Also, it would be bad if our faces were remembered, so before that Golden Dragon fainted there wakes up.”

I don’t know the habits of Golden Dragons, but the opponent is a proud King of Dragons. Depending on the situation, it might chase us for revenge for humiliating it. If we’re going to run, it’s now or never!

“Understood. We have to succeed in persuading Rex no matter what.”

“Heavy responsibility.”

“Lying is not good, but this is a matter involving the lives of the entire party. Since the lives of people other than myself are at stake, it can’t be helped.”

Norb is surprisingly flexible. Well, experiencing such absurd things repeatedly would make anyone a little flexible.

“Then let’s go, everyone!”

“Yes/Yeah/Okay!!”

With unwavering determination in our hearts, we stood up.

Chomp.

And then we saw it. Beyond Rex, whom we were about to persuade, the white useless pet biting into the Golden Dragon’s wing.

“Mogu mogu.”

“GUGYAAAAAA!!”

What a disaster. The Golden Dragon woke up from the pain of being bitten. It woke up completely.

“WHAAAAAAAT ARE YOU DOIIIIIIIIIIIING!!”