“Not good!”
Garrett jerked his head up.
In front of him, Darrien’s despairing dragon face was growing larger at an alarming speed.
“GARRETT!”
Darrien shouted in panic.
“MOVE!”
“You think I don’t want to?!”
The next instant, the massive dragon body slammed into Garrett.
BOOM!
Garrett felt as though a charging beast had hit him square in the chest at full speed.
The force tore through his entire body.
His organs seemed to shift inside him, while sharp cracks came one after another from his bones.
Crack.
Crack!
His broadsword finally flew from his hands.
Garrett himself followed right after it.
He crossed more than thirty feet in an instant.
Crash!
His back slammed into a tree thick enough that three adults would have struggled to wrap their arms around it.
The trunk shook violently.
Leaves and rainwater poured down from the canopy.
Even the hard bark caved inward, leaving a clear human-shaped dent.
Garrett then dropped helplessly into the mud.
“Cough... cough...”
His ears rang.
The entire world seemed to sway in front of him.
Wave after wave of agony rolled through his chest.
His body felt like it had been completely torn apart.
Garrett trembled as he forced his upper body off the ground.
“Pfft!”
He could no longer hold back the blood in his throat.
A dark mouthful sprayed into the muddy water in front of him.
But there was no time to breathe.
A warrior’s instinct for danger made every hair on his body stand on end.
A freezing sense of death swallowed him whole.
Garrett snapped his head up.
And saw Acid Breath coming straight at him.
...
“Haa... That leaves one.”
Evelyn’s voice had gone hoarse.
Three consecutive uses of Acid Breath had left her throat feeling like it barely belonged to her anymore.
She turned her head.
Her cold golden eyes settled on the dwarf priest still standing there, apparently too stunned to react.
The fight had lasted less than five minutes.
Four adventurers had been reduced to one.
Darrien staggered back to his feet as well.
His eyes looked ready to spin in circles.
After shaking his head, he dropped onto his rear and mumbled,
“Evelyn... Why does everything feel like it’s spinning...?”
“Don’t worry. That’s normal. Take a few deep breaths and you’ll be fine.”
Evelyn didn’t even look at him.
Her eyes remained fixed on the last survivor.
Rumble!
Pale lightning ripped across the night sky.
For an instant, the entire forest became bright as day.
Rain streamed down Evelyn’s black scales.
Her jaws were slightly open.
Two rows of sharp dragon teeth flashed beneath the lightning.
The traces of acid still clinging to the corner of her mouth were slowly diluted by rainwater before dripping onto the mud.
Hiss. Hiss.
The ground smoked wherever it landed.
“You’re the only one left.”
Evelyn took a slow step forward.
Her huge claw sank into the mud.
“So...”
She looked down at Bruno.
“Do I have to do it myself, or are you going to make this easy?”
Rain poured around them.
Bruno still hadn’t moved.
His thick legs were buried halfway into the mud.
Blood leaking from the corner of his mouth mixed with the rain and stained his tangled beard a dark red.
Both hands gripped his holy flail so tightly that it looked as though the weapon was the only thing keeping him upright.
His brownish-gold eyes stared through the rain.
They met Evelyn’s cold golden pupils.
For a moment, the forest became unnaturally quiet.
Only rain striking leaves remained.
Two seconds passed.
Then three.
Bruno suddenly lowered his head.
“...Useless bastards.”
His voice was quiet.
Evelyn frowned.
“What?”
Bruno raised his head again.
The unfocused look in his eyes sharpened.
“I said...”
“What a useless bunch.”
The corner of his mouth slowly curled upward.
Whether he was cursing his fallen companions or mocking himself was impossible to tell.
Then Bruno suddenly raised his holy flail.
“Black dragon whelp!”
“My god is with me!”
“As long as I still stand, you will not leave this place alive!”
He threw back his head and roared.
“I will fight until my final breath!”
“Until my soul returns to my god’s divine realm!”
The moment he finished speaking, everything changed.
Boom!
Violent holy power erupted from Bruno’s body.
Golden light spread rapidly across his skin.
His already massive muscles began swelling further.
Thick veins rose beneath his skin like twisting snakes.
Riiip!
His white priestly robes could not withstand the transformation.
The fabric tore apart across his shoulders, chest, and waist.
His height began increasing as well.
Four feet three inches.
Five feet.
Five feet seven...
In only a few moments, the short, stocky dwarf had expanded into a hulking mass of muscle.
And his presence was still growing stronger.
Evelyn had been watching him carefully.
Then her expression suddenly froze.
Her golden eyes widened inch by inch.
“...”
What exactly was she looking at?
After Bruno’s white priestly robes had been torn apart by his expanding muscles...
There was another outfit underneath.
An extremely strange set of tight black undergarments.
And judging from the way they stretched along with his rapidly growing body, they were clearly enchanted equipment.
The problem was...
There was barely enough fabric to count as clothing.
Combined with the thick chest hair covering most of his torso, the visual impact was almost overwhelming.
“What the hell?!”
Evelyn instinctively took half a step back.
“What are you wearing?!”
Even the prospect of some suicidal magic hadn’t shocked her this much.
Darrien, who had still been slightly dizzy, raised his head.
He looked once.
His mind instantly cleared.
“...”
There was a brief silence.
Then...
“Pfft!”
Darrien lost control.
He burst out laughing.
“HAHAHAHA!”
His laughter almost drowned out the rain.
“Why are you dressed like that?!”
“HAHAHA!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be a priest?!”
Bruno’s body went rigid.
He looked down.
Then at Evelyn.
Then at Darrien, who was rolling on the ground laughing.
“...”
His bearded face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
“Damn it...”
Bruno’s mouth twitched.
“I forgot I was still wearing this...”
His voice grew quieter with every word.
Evelyn blinked.
Suddenly, this seemed far more worthy of investigation than the fight itself.
“So...”
“You normally wear that under your priest robes?”
“SHUT UP!”
Bruno snapped his head up.
His face was almost as red as the blood staining his beard.
Darrien laughed even harder.
“HAHAHAHA!”
“If I live to adulthood, I’m telling every dwarf I meet about this!”
“SHUT UP!”
Bruno finally broke.
Splash!
His holy flail dropped straight into the mud.
He no longer seemed to care about his weapon.
Both hands clutched the strange black undergarment.
His face was filled with despair as he stared at the two black dragons.
“You two...”
“You’ve seen something you were never supposed to see.”
“...”
Evelyn suddenly had a very bad feeling.
Bruno’s voice grew lower.
“In that case...”
“Neither of you is leaving here alive.”
Evelyn fell silent.
Something about this had gone very wrong.
Hadn’t he just been preparing to fight for his companions, his faith, and his honor?
How had this suddenly turned into eliminating witnesses?
“Wait.”
Evelyn couldn’t help speaking up.
“We don’t actually have to remember any of this.”
“SHUT UP!”
Bruno roared.
“Today!”
“Either you die!”
“Or I die!”
Darrien answered without thinking.
“Doesn’t that still mean you die?”
“...”
Silence fell over the forest.
The muscles in Bruno’s face twitched violently.
Then...
“EVERYONE DIES TOGETHER!”
With a furious roar...
Riiip!