19 Grander's Chase

Alaric was a bit annoyed. He put all of that effort into flattering this false dragon, who he would be able to defeat given another few weeks, just for it to be made useless. A brand imprint was akin to chaining a dog! There would be no escape!

'Like hell I'll let him brand my soul! A dirty false dragon won't even be worthy of licking my shoes, given a month or two!'

Alaric was confident of raising an army capable of defeating Grander, given a little extra time. When you're confident in competing with the opposing company, would you give up all hope and become their employee? No!

Alaric clicked his tongue, wrapping his hand around the handle of his sword, which he laid upon the ground earlier, "Yes, my lord! Your imprint is something that I should feel honored to receive!"

'But I don't.' he added at the back of his head.

Before Grander had time to react, Alaric stood up, firmly grasped the sword handle, and ran! Almost immediately, he was outside of the cave, and still running.

Grander was a bit astonished, but quickly screamed out, "Dirty human! Escaping at the first inconvenience! A traitor! A lecherous scum! You believe yourself to be grander than Grander?!"

His tail writhed about, before shooting outside of the cage. The scales vaguely made a "click!" sound and spread apart, allowing for Grander's tail to have more stretching room.

Alaric had, however, already arrived in front of the trees. With the giant, scaled spear assailing him at great speeds, he wouldn't hesitate.

Alaric shouted, "Rope!"

The ring on Alaric's hand began glowing, this ring was, obviously, Pamela. It quickly transformed into a long cord of slime, and stuck to one of the trees, while wrapping around Alaric's hand.

At this very moment, Grander's tail threatened to pierce Alaric's back, and Pamela pulled him onto the branch, out of harm's way.

'With no training, and only description earlier in the day, Pamela mastered this command? Amazing!'

Alaric looked back, and noticed that the tail had quickly changed direction after crushed multiple trees, 'He can sense our mana?'

The tail, after all, didn't have eyes. This chase seemed to be a bit clumsy, as if the dragon could only vaguely tell their position. Still, the ground was shaking, and Grander was preparing to come out himself at any moment. The tail is manageable, but the beast himself would catch them in no time.

"Swing!"

Pamela's hold on Alaric suddenly became much stronger and she attached herself to a different tree branch extremely quickly.

Without hesitation, Alaric jumped forward, and Pamela carried him to the other tree, using her pull and his momentum. They again just barely dodged Grander.

Alaric stumbled as he landed on the not-so-flat tree branch, and prepared to jump again, but stopped.

"I forgot about Gunnar! With him, escaping is much easier!"

Alaric looked in the direction of the bush he left Gunnar in, pointed his palm in that direction, and said, "Rope!"

Quickly, the change slime pulled Alaric in Gunnar's direction. It was almost instant, and Alaric arrived in front of Gunnar before he could comprehend movement happened.

'Pamela's usefulness is extreme when used together with a human mind.'

"Leg Armor!"

Pamela transformed and melded into a film of slime surrounding Alaric's legs. This would allow him to escape atop Gunnar.

Alaric heard a shout coming from within the cave, "I'm coming, you lower lifeform!"

As he heard it, the ground shook much more intensely, and Grander's tail retreated into the cave. Grander's head was already beginning to poke out of the cave's entrance.

Alaric activated his talent, and shouted, "Gunnar! Bring me back to the village! Now!"

Sensing the urgency in Alaric's voice, the idle Gunnar telepathically said— 'Kra!' —and lunged beneath Alaric, picking him up and rushing away, forming arcs of slime with his body in order to rush.

'Too slow, he has to zigzag around the trees! Grander can simply destroy the trees in his path!'

As if in response to Alaric's thought, a mighty false dragon covered in stony-scales stood in front of trees and began crushing them with his tail, rushing to Alaric's location.

"Dirty, traitorous human! Come back and see what this king had in store for you! I am a mighty dragon! Without that cave being in the way, you'd have long been dead! Come now and I may still spare your puny life!" Grander screamed, his deep voice echoing throughout the Great Forest of Neuling as he did.

'As if. A rank-4 being is not on my meeting list for another few weeks.'

Still, Alaric noticed the falling trees getting closer and closer to their location, and forced back the nausea from riding Gunnar to observe their dragon assailant. Thankfully, Gunnar was careful to make sure Alaric didn't hurt his head on the trees above.

'In order to wave his tail like that, he opens the scales so that they don't lock him in place... that means, his skin is open, right?'

Alaric noticed that the tail's speed was many times faster than Sonic's, but with the right vantage point, Sonic would still be quick enough to help.

"Sonic, hop onto a tree, wait for that tail, and get underneath the scales! You'll eat dragon meat today!"

Sonic unveiled itself from Alaric's leather drawstring bag, stuck to Alaric's back, and pushed himself onto a tree branch above, much to a stumbling Alaric's displeasure.

'Now that I have a trap in store, maybe I'll get out of here.'

The slip slime, Sonic, was lying in wait. Grander's deforestation stunt was quickly reaching Alaric's group of 4, and it was only a matter of time.

Suddenly, Sonic disappeared as the rocky-tail swung by. Alaric could see a hint of blue beneath the tough scales, and immediately knew he succeeded. This confidence was reassured with Grander's screams.

"Dirty slime! Release yourself from my tail!"

Grander began stomping, and his tail was swinging much more wildly. But, the tail was no longer chasing after Alaric! The plan was a success!

After getting sufficiently far enough, Alaric thrust all of his mana into his throat, and shouted, "Sonic, come back!"

'I hope you can make it...'