BOOM! CRASH! RUMBLE!
"...Mmh..."
A deafening roar shook the earth.
Violent tremors traveled through Haran's body as he lay plastered against the ground.
"Ugh... so damn loud..."
BOOM!
Haran opened his eyes in irritation.
An unfamiliar place greeted him.
His body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton, and his head was foggy.
Where is this...? I...
His thoughts didn't last long.
With another thunderous explosion, a massive boulder came crashing straight toward him.
"AAAH!"
The moment Haran spotted the rapidly descending rock, he let out a magnificent scream.
His body reacted on instinct.
He rolled to the side, barely escaping in time.
Unfortunately, it wasn't over.
"Ah! Ah!"
More enormous boulders followed, each one as massive as the first.
Great Archmage, save me!
Whether something had gone wrong with his body or not, he couldn't move his mana at all.
Only then did he remember.
I cast the dimensional-transfer spell... inside the prison.
I actually succeeded!
He had escaped.
The reason he couldn't control his mana was probably nothing more than the temporary aftereffects of burning through an enormous amount of it all at once.
No.
Now isn't the time to be thinking about that!
The falling boulders cast enormous shadows over his body.
Haran squeezed every last ounce of strength from himself, rolling right, then left, over and over.
The acrid smell of dust filled his nose.
"Huff... huff...!"
Fortunately...
Nothing else fell.
The tension finally left his body.
Only then did he begin noticing things he hadn't seen before.
What's that...?
Not far away stood the back of a man.
Blue sword aura enveloped the blade in his hand as he faced something gigantic.
"...A dragon?"
It was.
And judging by its species and size...
"A Fire-type Lesser Dragon."
"An adolescent."
No sooner had Haran muttered the words than the man kicked off the ground.
At the same moment, the dragon unleashed a torrent of blazing breath.
The man gritted his teeth and cut straight through it with his aura-coated sword.
BOOM! CRASH!
He barely survived the blast before swinging his sword.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Sword aura slashed toward the dragon's forelegs and hind legs while a dagger flew after it.
But that was all.
For all the spectacle, none of his attacks dealt any meaningful damage.
Watching from the sidelines, Haran frowned.
"Ah..."
"That's not how you kill a dragon."
The drawn-out battle continued.
More and more wounds accumulated across the man's body.
Even the speed of his sword was beginning to slow.
He was clearly reaching his limit.
Grrrr...
The man narrowly avoided the dragon's sweeping tail.
Using the recoil, he raised his sword and launched himself upward.
Oh?
Haran's eyes followed him.
The man moved with surprising agility, leaping all the way to the dragon's neck.
That's it.
Now strike beneath the neck—
Instead...
His sword slashed across the dragon's wing membrane.
Haran's face immediately crumpled.
"No."
A sigh escaped him before he even realized it.
"You don't hit there."
His voice wasn't particularly loud.
Yet the man twitched ever so slightly, as though he'd heard it.
"Beneath the neck."
Haran spoke without thinking.
"When it inhales."
"Aim inside."
The dragon's ribcage expanded.
At that instant, the scales parted ever so slightly, opening like the gills of a fish.
The man hesitated for only a heartbeat before changing the trajectory of his sword.
Instead of the wing...
He drove it into the inside of the shoulder joint.
KRAAAAGH!
The dragon screamed and staggered as it lost its balance.
It was a shame he hadn't stabbed directly into the neck...
Still.
The shoulder joint wasn't a bad choice either.
"Now!"
Haran clenched a fist and shouted.
This time there wasn't a trace of hesitation.
The man's sword plunged into the gap between the dragon's opened scales beneath its neck.
Slash!
Black blood erupted into the air.
The dragon's massive body began tipping sideways.
Haran immediately raised his voice again.
"It's not over yet!"
"Drive it in deeper!"
You could never underestimate a dragon's size.
Its neck was so thick that the blade had to pierce much deeper before it would sever its windpipe.
Apparently understanding exactly what Haran meant, the man tightened his grip on the sword, whose hilt had become slippery with blood.
Then he threw his entire weight behind it.
Crunch.
He forced the blade in until even the hilt disappeared into the dragon's neck.
Grrrraaah...
The dragon convulsed violently.
Then, at last...
It collapsed.
Thud.
A cloud of dirt exploded upward, obscuring everything.
Haran stared through the settling dust.
The fallen dragon.
And atop its corpse...
A lone man standing with his sword buried deep inside it.
It looked exactly like one of those heroic scenes from the street plays Haran had once watched.
Even so...
His evaluation was merciless.
"He's kind of an idiot..."
"...but he's actually pretty capable."
Whether fortunate or unfortunate...
The man collapsed unconscious before Haran even finished speaking.
"Huh?"
As the dust gradually settled, Haran limped toward him.
"Ah, hell."
"Why's my leg acting up again..."
His left leg refused to cooperate, irritating him immensely.
Still, checking on the man's condition came first.
"Hey."
"Mr. Knight."
Up close...
The man's appearance was horrifying.
His clothes had been reduced to rags.
The flesh visible through the tears wasn't much better.
Not a single part of his body was uninjured.
The worst wound sat over his heart.
Something had punched a hole the size of a fist straight through his chest, and dark blood continued gushing from it.
At this rate...
He was going to die.
Haran frowned and clicked his tongue.
"What a waste."
For countless years, Haran had searched for promising talents and nurtured them himself.
Those gifted in magic became his personal disciples.
Those gifted with the sword...
He practically dragged them to military academies himself and made sure they received proper support.
Every single person he'd recognized had eventually become famous in their respective fields.
His eye for talent was simply that exceptional.
He listened obediently when I gave him advice earlier, too.
...Guess I'll save him.
Successfully escaping through dimensional travel had already put him in a remarkably good mood.
He could afford to show this much kindness to the first person he'd met in this new world.
"Let's see..."
"I don't think I can use magic yet..."
He reached out, attempting to manipulate mana.
Nothing happened.
As expected.
The backlash from forcing such an enormous spell was still affecting him.
A single spell would normally be enough to heal someone on death's door...
Clicking his tongue regretfully, Haran searched for another method.
Fortunately...
There happened to be excellent materials lying right beside him.
"Hey."
"Mind if I borrow your sword?"
Without waiting for permission, Haran searched the unconscious man's waist.
He pulled out the sword along with its empty scabbard.
The blade itself was only about as long as his forearm.
Using the scabbard as a cane, he slowly limped over to the dragon's corpse.
"Now then..."
"The heart..."
"...There."
Few people understood dragons better than Haran.
Holding the sword in a reverse grip, he effortlessly slipped the blade between the dragon's scales.
Stab.
Rip.
Tear.
The sounds of flesh, fat, and muscle splitting apart echoed quietly.
Thick black blood streamed down Haran's arm.
"Haa..."
"God, this is exhausting..."
Cold sweat beaded across his forehead.
Still...
He was almost there.
He shoved an arm through the opening he'd carved.
After groping around several times, his fingers finally wrapped around something hard...
...and burning hot.
Found it.
Grinning broadly, Haran pulled it free.
Resting in his hand was a dark crimson crystal.
The legendary treasure known as...
The Dragon Heart.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Its pulse still beat powerfully.
The condition couldn't have been better.
Satisfied, Haran walked back toward the unconscious man.
Every step left drops of black dragon blood on the ground.
"You still alive?"
He nudged the man's shoulder with the tip of his foot.
The man's brow twitched faintly.
Good.
He was still breathing.
If you'd died before I got here...
...I would've kept this for myself.
"Lucky bastard."
Despite the words, Haran immediately sat beside him.
Without hesitation...
He shoved the Dragon Heart directly into the gaping wound in the man's chest.
Crunch.
The Dragon Heart disappeared into his body.
It was meant to save him...
But the agony of reopening the wound made the man's entire body tremble violently.
"Huh."
"It's practically the perfect size."
Haran remained completely unconcerned.
He continued working with all the calmness of someone watching a fire from across a river.
Only after forcing the Dragon Heart as deep inside as possible did he finally withdraw his hand.
The man's breathing stopped.
Haran wasn't worried.
Moments later, mana from the surrounding area began rushing toward the man's body.
Especially toward his heart.
Watching with genuine interest, Haran observed the entire process.
Thump.
Thump.
The heartbeat grew stronger than before.
His breathing became steady.
The gaping wound in his chest...
Along with every other injury covering his body...
Began healing at an unnatural speed.
"Good."
"No need to worry about you dying now."
The strength drained from Haran's own body.
He'd been falsely accused.
Betrayed by the Emperor.
Betrayed by his own disciples.
Bit through his own fingers one by one to complete the magic circle.
Cast the dimensional-transfer spell.
Then, immediately after arriving in a completely different world...
He'd found himself face to face with a dragon.
Well...
I wasn't the one who fought it.
Thanks to this man...
Haran had survived as well.
He lightly patted the man's cheek.
"This..."
"...is payment for fighting in my place."
"You bastard."