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Chaos erupted the moment the hybrid dragon lunged again. The party braced themselves—every muscle tensed, every breath sharp with desperation. Their shield‑bearer dug his heels into the torn soil, arms trembling as he held his shield against the monster's furious charge. The sheer force of the impact sent shockwaves rippling through the ground.
ROOOAAAARRR!
The roar split the air like a thunderclap.
Sid, shaking but determined, drew back an arrow and took aim. He scanned the shimmering blue crystal scales covering the creature's massive form, searching for any tiny gap or crack. He fired, the arrows slicing through the dust‑thick air, striking points he hoped were weak.
The others threw themselves into the assault—blades flashing, elemental spells crackling, shouts overlapping with each crash of claws against steel.
Minutes crawled by like hours.
Their shield‑bearer, Toni, was drenched in sweat, his knees trembling as he fought to keep the monster from breaking their formation. The strikes were getting heavier, each one driving him a step backward.
They were all nearing their limits.
The unrelenting wind blasts from the hybrid dragon only made everything worse. With every beat of its crystalline wings, the creature unleashed violent gusts that scraped against their skin and filled the air with dust and debris, stinging their eyes.
Sid coughed and shielded his face, shouting through the storm, "A‑are you still holding on, TONI?!"
"Barely!" Toni rasped. He coughed harshly, voice cracking through the choking dust. "I can't hold this much longer! Do something—anything—before my shield breaks!"
His shield groaned under another brutal strike, and Sid's stomach dropped.
The three attackers at the front—now battered, bleeding, exhausted—were giving everything they had just to buy seconds. They slashed, dodged, and struck with desperate determination, but nothing seemed to slow the massive creature.
Sid cursed under his breath, panic crawling through his veins. "This is insane… we can't even make it flinch!"
As if insulted by their efforts, the hybrid dragon reared back and slammed its wings downward. A violent shockwave ripped outward.
"BRACE—!"
Too late.
The blast sent all of them flying. Bodies crashed into the forest floor, skidding across dirt and shattered roots. Their weapons scattered, their cries drowned beneath the howl of the wind.
Dust consumed the world.
And then—silence.
When the air cleared, the entire party lay sprawled across the ground. Bruises bloomed across their skin. Some had bleeding cuts; others breathed faintly, slipping in and out of consciousness. Two lay completely motionless.
Sid's vision blurred, but he forced his eyes open, coughing past the pain stabbing through his ribs. His limbs trembled violently—yet he refused to close his eyes.
He stared weakly at the looming hybrid dragon as it prowled closer, its crimson eyes burning with feral hunger.
Is this the end?
Are we… all going to die here?
His heart pounded with fear and bitter helplessness.
Then—
"Tsk. What a hassle…"
The voice was soft, uninterested, almost bored—yet it cut through the air with startling clarity.
Sid's breath hitched. He turned sharply toward the sound.
Someone stood behind him.
And the terrifying thing was—he hadn't sensed a single presence approaching.
No footsteps. No rustling of leaves. No shift in mana.
Nothing.
The shock made Sid's mind stutter. "Wh—who—?"
The newcomer didn't look at him. Instead, they regarded the hybrid dragon with a quiet, unreadable stare. Their appearance was completely concealed beneath a black hooded cloak that cloaked their form in darkness. The hood cast deep shadows over their face, hiding every feature.
Sid couldn't tell if this person was a man or a woman—until the faint curve of the voice finally suggested otherwise.
She's… a woman?
More importantly—
How did she get behind me without me noticing?
Sid's instincts, honed from his past life as a Royal Knight, screamed warnings through his entire body. His breath quickened.
No aura. No mana signature. No footsteps. No scent. Nothing.
Is she from an assassin guild? A covert unit? Someone highly trained?
But that didn't fully add up either. Assassins carried a certain scent—bloodlust clinging to them like a second skin. They couldn't hide that no matter how well they masked their mana.
This woman felt different.
She was… quiet. Empty. Completely unreadable.
Before Sid could gather his scattered thoughts, the stranger suddenly spoke—her voice low and strangely calm.
"…Don't fool yourself by hiding behind the choices you made. None of what happened was your fault. Stay on the path meant for you… Sigrid Anatole."
Sid froze.
His mind went blank—then filled with pure shock.
She had spoken his real name.
His true name.
One he had buried. One he had abandoned when he left his former life behind. No one in Silveria knew it. He hadn't uttered it aloud since arriving in this empire.
And yet this cloaked woman had spoken it with unsettling ease—as though she had known it all along.
Sid's throat tightened.
Does she… know me?
Is she from that faction? Did they find me again?
Cold dread prickled down his spine. He gritted his teeth, trying to calm his racing heartbeat.
Before panic could swallow him, the woman cut him off sharply.
"Stop overthinking. Your questions can wait." Her tone remained flat, unbothered. "Right now, we deal with the mess in front of us."
Her words snapped his focus back to their true danger—the hybrid dragon, which had begun stalking forward again, assessing its barely conscious prey.
Sid swallowed hard. His body screamed in pain when he pushed himself upright, gripping his side where several ribs were likely cracked.
"I‑I don't know who you are," he managed between heavy breaths, "but we really did just happen to run into that monster. Its scales look like a dragon's, but it's not—cough—!"
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and he wiped it with a shaky hand.
He forced himself to speak through another cough. "We… didn't come here looking for trouble. It attacked first."
The woman gave a quiet hum—neither concerned nor surprised.
Sid looked up at her fully now, trying to understand what kind of person stood between them and certain death.
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