Chapter 145: Valley of War(8)
Luke sighed and turned to face the dragon, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression. He must be perplexed as to why Luke is currently smiling. He has a dragon in front of him that intends to kill him instantly, but he is smiling. Even Liam, who is standing next to Luke, is perplexed but only sighed in the end.
'It's good that brother is back to his normal self again.'
Liam can sense it earlier. Luke was terrified and tense. Luke's body is trembling, and Liam can see nervous sweats on his face. Liam was concerned about Luke at first, but it appears that he has returned to normal, which made him glad.
The dragon just stared at the situation strangely. He hadn't expected a human to smile in the face of his murderous aura instead of shaking in fear and fleeing. This irritated the dragon; they shouldn't be acting like this.
The dragon frowned and increased his murderous aura. This caused Luke and Liam to come to a complete halt and frown at the dragon. Luke clenched his teeth and used his ability [Phoenix Aura]. Luke was immediately enveloped in a bright light that grew brighter and brighter until it was larger than the dragon's murderous aura. The dragon frowned and raised his aura even higher, but Luke, being a stubborn bastard, raised his aura as well.
'Dragons are very prideful of their power, so if he sees that some puny human is trying to match him, he would get competitive. I'll use that to bid some time to think and maybe let others escape.'
With that thought, Luke continually raises his aura to the point where it actually starts to hurt him. But he can't possibly show that to the enemy, can he?
Everyone's attention was drawn to the two opposing auras in the air, which caused them to stop what they were doing and look up to the two in the air who were raising their auras at each other. Soon, the auras became so powerful that Liam had to flee, forcing the werewolves, bone monsters, and soldiers to do the same. The auras are so strong and intense that the others feel as if they were running out of air, causing their knees to shake.
The bright auras caused Liam's eyes to narrow. He doesn't want to move away but he has to as the intense aura is starting to mess with his system. He then looked at Luke, who was still raising his aura with concern. He is aware that Luke's abilities have limits, and that if he continues in this manner, Luke will break.
"Cough!"
And then it happened, just as Liam had predicted. Luke began coughing up a lot of blood. Liam was concerned by this, but he frowned when he noticed Luke simply wiped his mouth and smiled casually. How can he smile like that when he's obviously puking blood?!
Liam clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He wants to help, but he's not sure how. Their opponent is a dragon, not a random mob. You will die if you make one wrong move. This is what makes Liam unsure of what to do.
• Damn look at that bastard, shining like a fucking star. He's so bright that it hurts my eyes to look at him.
When Liam overheard Dos babbling in his head, he frowned.
"Why don't you help instead of talking nonsense?"
Then he heard Dos scoff at him.
• Help? Help to fight a dragon? You're insane, kid; just give up and leave. Fighting a dragon with your level of skill is not enough and you will just die.
"Then what about your skills? Is it not enough to face a dragon? "
• Well, my past skills in my past body are powerful enough to fight a dragon. But, because I'm in your body right now, we'll just die. You haven't even unlocked the true skills of a swordmaster yet; all you've done is unlock an aura. What's worse, you just got that aura because of me, you didn't do anything. Just give up.
Liam clenched his fist and jaw. His face hardened; what Dos said was correct; he did nothing. He received his aura on a random day and has no idea how to use it properly. He is helpless; he can't do anything. He even allowed someone he cared about to die. He is grateful that he returned, but he still died. It's all because he's weak.
But...
Liam looked at Luke who is still competing with the dragon. Luke is significantly weaker than him, but he is fighting. Liam should be ashamed of himself for being a coward when his friend is fighting a large force alone. To calm himself down, Liam clenched his fist and sighed. He then gripped his sword tightly and activated his aura at full power, causing his fiery red aura to sway uncontrollably. Liam was about to charge forward when he heard Dos sigh in his mind.
• I've already told you that you'll die, but you don't seem to take my words seriously huh? You stubborn little shit. Back off kid, let me take over.
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"Hah, you're a pretty impressive brat; you've managed to hold out against me for this long."
Luke curled himself, and he began to feel pain all over his body, as well as blood leaking from his nose and mouth. He then heard Nash's worried cries in his head.
• Dad! Are you all right? Dad, you have to back off! I don't think you can go on much longer!
In response to Nash's concerned tone, Luke chuckled. He then wiped his nose and mouth and tried to stand up straight. He then looked at the dragon, who was raising his eyebrows in disbelief at him. When Luke raised his aura again, the dragon's eyes widened in surprise.
• Dad I said no! Let me handle him!
Nash waited for Luke to respond. The reason why Nash isn't doing anything was because Luke is always stopping him once he does. Luke can't risk revealing Nash's identity, and he also can't let a child fight an adult dragon for him because that's just wrong.
"Shh Nash, be quiet. Allow me to handle this."
• No, Dad! You are so stupid! I will help you!
Nash was about to emit his own aura when he felt Luke's hand caress his fur. Nash then turned to face Luke, who was still staring at the dragon while touching him. Luke only smiled.
"I've got this. You're still a child, and you're no match for him. I will let you fight him once you are old enough okay?"
Nash's eyes shook as he looked at Luke, who was smiling and staring at the perplexed dragon in front of him. Nash suddenly felt small. Nash is indeed small but he never felt so secure ever since his mother died, this is the feeling that he has never got ever since and he doesn't like to feel it again. His loved one died so easily because he is like that, he doesn't want to be feeling secure, he wants his loved ones to feel secure instead.
Yet, for a brief moment, Nash wasn't angry at all because he felt small... instead, he felt safe and warm. He should be helping Luke fight the dragon by now, but he can't seem to ignore his dad's words. He felt compelled to simply listen and trust him. It's funny, he's listened to Luke a thousand times, but it always ends with his dad being injured or hurt, but he can't disobey him because he trusts his words too much.
Nash clenched his paws on Luke's shoulders; he needed to mature quickly. He wants to help his dad and friends, he cannot be a burden to them. He doesn't want to lose a loved one again if he becomes careless, and he doesn't want anyone to die or leave. He must mature and protect them.
Nash's face became serious as he faced the dragon in front of them. He is observing the dragon's every move so that if the dragon makes a sudden move, he will be prepared, and it appears that Luke is doing the same.
The dragon's brows furrowed as he became aware that he was being watched, and he was right. In front of him, he could feel the hot and observant gazes of a young child and a bloodied commander. The dragon smiled, these guys appear to be more interesting than he thought.
"Fine then, I'll be quite serious from now on. Don't blame me if you all die."
Nash and Luke gulped and began to brace themselves for the worst. But, just as when they are well prepared, something unexpected occurs.
BAM!
"Ugh!"
Nash and Luke's jaw dropped when they saw Liam suddenly coming in and giving the dragon a flying kick in the face. What's worse, Liam did it while grinning widely as if he was crazy. Luke looked at this with disbelief; he then realized that the madman in front of them is not Liam, its Dos.
"Hahaha! It's been a damn long time since I kicked a dragon in the face!"
The dragon clenched his teeth and shook his entire body in rage. The dragon tried to see who kicked him, but there was no one there except Luke, whose eyes widened as he looked at him. The dragon then began to roam his eyes, but he couldn't find the person who had kicked him.
'What?! Where the hell is he!?'
The dragon clenched his teeth and looked around, but Dos was nowhere to be found.
"Where do you think you're looking, old man?"
The dragon's eyes shook and immediately turned his head around and for a split second, he thought he was looking at a crazy smiling demon. Liam's creepy smile, combined with his bright red eyes brimming with bloodlust staring at him brought a slight shiver down his spine.
Because the dragon was distracted by Liam's frightening appearance, Dos took advantage of the opportunity to kick the dragon in the back, causing the dragon to move forward as a result of the impact. The dragon then turned to look where he was going and noticed Luke in front of him, all frozen in the air.
• Dos! He is going to hit him!
When Dos heard Liam's worried yelling inside his head, he frowned. In annoyance, he clicked his tongue.
"Ah damn, I forgot about that guy- Hey! Get out of here! You will get hit you, moron! "
Unfortunately, Luke didn't hear him and instead focused on the dragon, which was charging straight at him at a terrifying speed. Inside his head, he heard Nash's worried yells.
• Don't worry dad! I will defend you! I'm going to make a shield right now!
"No need."
• Yes don't worry- wait what?!
"There's no need for a shield."
• What exactly do you mean? Dad-!
POW!