Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon's Might-Chapter 45 - Hunter Becomes the Hunted (Part 1)

Just as Leon entered Invisibility, the Half-Elf Ranger’s arrow was the first to hit the afterimage left behind by Leon’s Gathering Form and Scattering Energy, followed by an Ice Blade from the female Mage.

The Ice Blade flew through the afterimage right after the arrow, shattering into fragments as it hit the ground and exploded, leaving a large crater in the muddy earth.

“Fake?” The Human Warrior charged with his shield, and while charging, noticed the Red Dragon’s body dispersing in the wind.

“Where did the Red Dragon go?”

“How did it disappear?!”

While everyone was looking around bewildered, Leon had quietly appeared behind the female Mage, ready to attack.

The female Mage’s petite frame suggested that a slap might be fatal, unlike attacking the fully armored Human Warrior, which would be like trying to open a can without a tab, a laborious task.

Without a sword, Leon could only use a claw attack.

Breaking Stealth Strike directly clawed into the female Mage’s back.

Had the female Mage been like the delicate girls on Earth, this strike would have been fatal, but unfortunately for Leon, she was not.

As a Mage of no small level, the female Mage’s physical attributes couldn’t compare to a Warrior’s, but she wasn’t as fragile either.

The shining barrier around her shattered instantly—it was Mage Armor, and it was unclear if it had the effect of Life Mimic which could grant temporary life for a long period.

Regardless, Leon’s claws only left bloody wounds on her, the impact clearly less than expected.

Pressing the attack, Leon certainly did not stop there, tilting his head to follow up with a Bite.

Crack—

Leon’s Bite met only air.

Any monster with even a bit of intelligence would target the weakest, and as an experienced adventurer, the female Mage was always ready with the Flash Technique.

Triggered Flash Technique allowed her to leave the current plane and reappear in the Ethereal Plane, effectively avoiding damage and preventing an easy and debilitating ambush.

She’s really good at this…

This was a masterful move.

Considering the female Mage’s skill, it was easy to imagine the strength of the others.

Leon confirmed the strength of this adventurer team and decisively chose to engage in guerrilla warfare.

He surveyed his surroundings and then turned to run into the depths of the forest, but the Half-Elf Ranger’s attack was faster.

Leon actually caught a glimpse of the Half-Elf Ranger’s arrow from the corner of his eye, but dodging it was exceedingly difficult.

With no other choice but to endure the hit, the result was that the arrow struck him, seemingly ignoring the scales meant to protect against Gnoll shots…

It was no wonder the arrow was so powerful.

The Half-Elf Ranger was strong to begin with, positioned up in a tree at the start of the battle, now shooting from high above with an advantageous position.

In gaming terms, this conferred a bonus; under such circumstances, the Elf’s Accuracy combined with Divine Shooter…

Putting it another way, Elves are renowned for their precision, with their accuracy rather than brute force attacks being incredibly precise, coupled with years of training in archery, their lethal power was evident.

And that wasn’t all.

On an adventure specifically targeting Red Dragons, how could specialized arrowheads not be included?

Of course, something as valuable as Dragon Slaughter Arrow was not available.

With all factors combined, the power of this arrow was truly unimaginable.

Fortunately, since the Half-Elf Ranger was standing in a tree and didn’t have an ideal angle, the arrow only hit Leon’s shoulder.

If it had precisely struck his heart in the chest, Leon would have been doomed, instead of merely letting out a scream of pain.

“He’s trying to run!” the Human Warrior noticed that Leon was turning his head, “It won’t be that easy!”

While the Human Warrior called that out, his own plate armor made him far too slow to chase.

The Half-Elf Ranger was responsible for the pursuit, quick on his feet, making it impossible for Leon to escape his sight.

It was a good thing that he decided to turn and run when he did; otherwise, he’d be in deep trouble now.

The enemy was truly strong.

With that thought, Leon ran a distance, prepared to take off flying, but then he noticed that only the Half-Elf Ranger had caught up to him.

He immediately stopped, stood up, and summoned his sword.

One against many is daunting, but who would fear a one-on-one confrontation?

Leon’s sword was now in his hand.

The Half-Elf Ranger chased Leon to his preferred distance, within the range of his bow…

What puzzled him was where the Red Dragon had procured a sword from.

Leon raised his hand, and the Half-Elf Ranger notched his bow, but Leon’s immobilization spell was quicker.

As the Half-Elf Ranger was frozen in his bow-drawing stance, Leon immediately activated his Sword Control Technique, controlling the Flying Sword to fly towards the Half-Elf Ranger.

Clang—

A metallic sound echoed.

Instead of the scene Leon expected, a golden shield appeared in front of the Half-Elf Ranger, blocking the Flying Sword.

It turns out that the Dwarf Priest’s Holy Sanctuary Technique had timely arrived.

“Lucky I ran fast,” panted the Dwarf Priest, having never run as fast before.

Leon saw that all the enemies had caught up and had no choice but to leave the Half-Elf Ranger behind, decisively flapping his wings to fly away, with no one able to disturb him this time.

The Human Warrior finally caught up, looking around; there was no sign of the Red Dragon anywhere.

“Where’s the Red Dragon?”

“Did it run away?”

“Why would a Red Dragon run away?”

“Shouldn’t it have attacked us in rage until we severely wounded it before it even thought of fleeing?”

“I have no idea either,” shrugged the Dwarf Priest.

The Half-Elf Ranger finally freed himself from the immobilization spell and said, “That Red Dragon is very strange.”

“It can use a sword and cast spells,” the Half-Elf Ranger continued, “I’ve never seen—no, never even heard of such a Red Dragon, not even in the most absurd stories of bards.”

“What do we do now?” the female Mage also caught up, with the Dwarf Priest busy Healing Wounds.

One Healing Wounds spell was hardly noticeable, but two finally showed some effect, and the deep wound began to scab.

“What the heck, it only scratched you once, right?”

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“Let’s go back.

We head back.

You can’t run from the temple if the monk runs away,” said the Human Warrior, “We’ll empty out its nest.

A red dragon that enslaved a band of Orcs and conquered half the forest, even if it’s just a Young Dragon, must have a considerable stash.”

The group immediately turned around to head back.

By the time they reached the base of the mountain, Leon had already flown far away.

Circling high in the sky, Leon suddenly spotted a hawk that had been following him.

He turned, raised his hand to cast the immobilization spell, grabbed it with a Bite, shook his head, and swallowed it down.

“I’ve lost contact with my Pudding.

It must have been that Red Dragon,” the others hadn’t decided how to climb halfway up the mountain to ransack the dragon’s nest when the Half-Elf suddenly showed a grave expression.

“Wait.”

“It hasn’t run away, it’s spying on us…

Found you,” said the Half-Elf Ranger, releasing an arrow with a raise of his hand.

The arrow flew a great distance; although it caused no damage due to the range, it was enough to startle and scare off the hiding Red Dragon.