How to Live as a Wandering Knight

Chapter 255: 𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦 (9)

A cat hunting in high spirits would be embarrassed and angry if it were bitten by a mouse.

Dragons are similar.

When the unexpected prey inflicted a wound on its foreleg with great force, the dragon roared in pain and anger.

━■■■■!

“It went in!”

Johan felt relieved at the sensation in his fingertips. If the dragon had been on guard, the attack could have missed.

At the moment the beast stuck out its foreleg without defense, Johan’s spear flew out with all his strength, and the dragon fell into the trap.

“It’s panicking.”

A monster that had never received a decent wound in its life would lose its composure with anger and pain once it had a taste of it. Of course, a dragon would be no different.

With its body wrapped in sturdy and solid scales that would not easily be pierced even by siege weapons, what prey could inflict a wound on a dragon?

However, Johan’s brute strength, which he had been waiting for, completely exceeded the dragon’s expectations. The hard scales were shattered, and the spear blade was embedded in the muscle.

“It’s working!”

At Caenerna’s cry, Johan nodded and prepared the next spear. Although the spear was coated with poison, he did not think that he could catch the dragon with just one spear.

━𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐮𝐫!

Johan summoned a malevolent spirit and put his strength into the tip of his spear. The spear shaft swayed as if it would break, emitting a powerful aura.

𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐭!

Johan’s next target was the dragon’s eye.

Normally, Johan wouldn’t have dared to aim for it, but because the dragon had lost its attention after being hit once, it was a possible target. If he hit the eye properly. . .

━■! ■! ■!

The dragon roared and bit the spear flying towards it with its teeth. Johan felt like he heard Valkalmur’s squealing like a son of a b*tch who had lost its tail. Valkalmur could not withstand the spear bitten by the dragon’s teeth with such terrible power, and it ran away.

As if trying to restore its wounded pride, the dragon swung its uninjured other claw at Johan, targeting him. The dragon seemed to have realized that Johan was not an easy prey, so it started to play tricks.

First, it moved forward and cut down trees, smashing rocks and throwing debris to block the way.

As Johan’s movement slowed down while riding a horse at a fast speed, the dragon reached out its claw like lightning to that side.

Johan kicked the horse’s belly once and then jumped off. The subordinates who were running nearby screamed in fright.

“Your excellency!!”

They were nervously watching the fight with the dragon, but Johan’s decision to jump off his horse was unexpected. It was crazy to get off the horse when he should be running away as fast as he could.

The dragon swung its claws with glee. Unlike before, it was not trying to subdue its opponent with a blow and then take it into its mouth. Instead, it was trying to kill it for sure, even if it could not eat it. Proof of this was that it was trying to crush it with its full weight.

𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐤!

However, Johan held his ground by inserting Giant Slayer between them, as if he had been waiting for it. The Agnar shield given to him by the elf king vibrated violently, creating a barrier as if it knew its master was in danger.

The dragon seemed to be surprised when its claws stopped without going any further. No matter how hard it tried, it would not move because it was blocked by something.

Johan took advantage of this opportunity to reach out and draw Seal Retriever. The longsword flashed brightly, leaving a strong wound on the dragon’s foreleg.

━■■■!

With another roar from the dragon, the pressure that was pressing down on him as if it would shatter his bones disappeared. Blood dripped from the dragon’s foreleg, which was properly cut deep.

When the blood touched the ground, it burned the ground and created a foul odor, as if it were a powerful poison.

‘𝘜𝘨𝘩.’

Despite his carefulness, John was burned by the dragon’s blood. The spirits shrieked and fled as the blood contained a potent mystery.

𝐃𝐚𝐠𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐝𝐚𝐠𝐝𝐚𝐤━

Cardirian, a bicorn, galloped over from afar, having remembered John’s signal. John quickly mounted the horse.

━■■■. . .

The dragon writhed in pain.

The wound cut deep by the Seal Retriever was slow to heal, and the wound pierced by the spear was constantly releasing a magical poison. The pain was far worse than anything the dragon had ever felt before.

The dragon realized that John was no easy prey.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

“The dragon is running away!”

The mercenaries, who were trying to run away faster than their colleagues, turned their heads to the unbelievable cry. If it was a lie, they were all determined to run away again.

But the dragon was really running away.

The dragon, which had been running through the field, suddenly turned its head in the opposite direction and ran away.

“It’s running away! It’s really running away!!”

“Come back, you sshole b*stards! The dragon is running away!”

Still, a fair number of the mercenaries were returning after hearing the cry. That meant they were elite. If they weren’t, they would have run away without looking back.

“It’s pathetic.”

The sub-captain was amazed to see the mercenaries crawling around everywhere. Who would think these were the emperor’s elite? After seeing them crawling on the ground, abandoning their armor and weapons.

“Why is the dragon running away? Is it full?”

“Then it wouldn’t need to run away like that, you ssholes!”

“It’s definitely running away. I saw it! I saw it with my own two eyes!”

“What? Really?”

The mercenary who had been closest to the dragon spoke up.

Previously, the mercenary was so scared that he felt his whole body freeze and his guts twist. But now that the dragon was running away, his voice started to clear up.

The mercenary took a swig of the liquor he had carefully stored away. He couldn’t speak if he didn’t have the alcohol.

“That guy just gobbled up the other mercenaries like they were crumbs of bread. Remember Rimelbeck from the Bronze Hook Mercenary Group?”

“Yeah. That skilled guy.”

Rimelbeck from the Bronze Hook Mercenary Group was a skilled guy who was famous even among the mercenaries present. He was agile and especially good with a spear, and thanks to him, many monsters lost their lives in front of his weapon.

“That guy just got eaten without being able to do anything.”

“That guy is dead?”

“Yeah! He just fell down with a single swipe of his claw. He couldn’t do anything.”

“Why did such a monster run away? Isn’t he just full and gone?”

The mercenaries started to whisper. The sub-captain frowned. The mercenaries started to get scared again because of the thoughtless words.

The surrounding area is in ruins.

He doesn’t know how to handle the situation, but he needs to gather the mercenaries and keep them in this area. That way, he can do whatever needs to be done.

The problem is that even the experienced veteran mercenaries are terrified of the dragon. It wouldn’t be surprising if they panicked and fled in the middle of the night.

So he asked them to spread the word that the dragon had fled.

“The *sshole! I saw it with my own eyes!”

“I know it fled, you *sshole! I’m asking how it fled!”

“How did it fled? You stabbed them with a spear and slashed with a sword to make them run away! What else could it be?”

“You pierced the dragon with a spear and slashed it with a sword???”

The mercenaries had twisted expressions as they gathered their mouths. If that were the case, half of them would burst into laughter, and the other half would beat up the mercenary who made such a ridiculous joke.

“It wasn’t me; it was the count who was there! The count did it!”

“Ahh. . .”

“There’s no way he would have done that.”

The mercenaries, who had been convinced, once again harbored doubt.

No matter how, they couldn’t imagine stabbing a real dragon with a spear and slicing it with a sword.

Of course, the nobles have weapons that the mercenaries would never even think of, but. . .

Even that is only possible when fighting an opponent that you can somewhat imagine, so how can you show such courage against a dragon that is destroying the castle?

“Which knight did it?”

“A knight who can charge at a dragon with a spear in the Empire?”

The mercenaries asked as if they couldn’t believe it. No matter how hard they thought, no knight who could do that came to mind. It was not something that could be done simply by being reckless. It required courage as well as the ability to fight a dragon and survive.

“It was Count Yeats.”

“Oh. . .”

“Really that Count? He must be a really great guy. To charge at a dragon like that!”

“Oh, you mean the Count who tore off the troll’s arm?”

“Where did you hear that sshole minstrel’s bullsh*t? He caught the troll, not tore off his arm.”

“What’s that important right now! Tell me more about the story of fighting the dragon!”

The other mercenaries who were listening to the pointless argument got angry.

The mercenaries’ self-esteem was surprisingly great.

Knights are often the subject of ridicule by mercenaries. They are accused of relying on servants and attendants to finish off their enemies.

Mercenaries may be poorly equipped and come from humble backgrounds, but they have a sense of pride in their willingness to fight and die alongside each other.

Despite their pride, the mercenaries were intrigued by the mercenary’s story of fighting a dragon.

“Wait a minute. That’s strange.”

“What’s strange? Are you saying I’m lying?”

“No. . . Count Yeats is on the opposing side, right? Why would he be here?”

“. . .!!”

The mercenaries suddenly realized something was wrong. They had been so shocked by the dragon that they had forgotten that Count Yeats was not someone who would normally be in this area.

“Did he come here to hunt the dragon?”

“What a lunatic! Who would go around hunting dragons?”

“Then where’s the b*stard who threw a spear at the dragon and made it run away?”

“Shut up, you idiots! This isn’t the time for that!”

The sub-captain, who had been listening, suddenly came to his senses.

“Why are you saying that?”

“Report this to our superiors! Count Yeats has come this far!”

“. . . . . .”

The mercenaries hesitated at the sub-captain’s words. The sub-captain was dumbfounded by the absurd mutiny he had never seen before.

“Did you get your ears blown out by the dragon’s roar? What are you doing?”

“No, isn’t it too much to catch the knight who came here to drive away the dragon?”

“Even though we are mercenaries, isn’t it too much of a son of a btch if we don’t know gratitude?”

“You idiots! Do you think the count came here to chase away the dragon?! Shut your mouths and move!”

The sub-captain berated the mercenaries, but the remaining mercenaries were very indifferent. The sub-captain sensed that he was wrong at the sight of them.

In the first place, the situation was that everyone was trying to save their own skin in the event of an unexpected accident. It was impossible to do anything if they were so unmotivated to chase after the count, who would have escaped much earlier even if he had run away.

Besides, it seemed that there were a few who would secretly let the count go instead of reporting him if they met him now.

‘. . .𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵.’

The sub-captain also gave up halfway. Instead of catching him, he was planning to report to the authorities to avoid responsibility.

“. . .It’s a dragon! A dragon has appeared!”

“Shut up, you crazy b*stard. Now is not the time for jokes.”

“No, you ssholes! Look over there!”

The mercenaries involuntarily turned their heads. A terrifying dragon head that was hard to forget even in their dreams was appearing from beyond the mountains.

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

“Damn it. Should I have killed him?”

“I don’t think you need to worry too much about it.”

“No. He definitely looked like he was going to get revenge.”

Johan asserted.

The dragon had escaped, but the look it gave Johan was clearly a look of revenge.

If it had been any other monster, Johan would have said, ‘𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴.’ But in the case of a dragon, Johan couldn’t do that. The damage to the surrounding area would be too great.

“Even though dragons are called the wrath of God, they’re not omniscient enough to find a count who’s run far away. He won’t be able to chase you, so don’t worry about it.”

“But he won’t just sit there, will he?”

“Hmm… Maybe he’ll show up at Gashstadt Castle again and cause a ruckus?”

“Why that castle?”

“Well…”

Caenerna explained, pointing her finger. Johan was the strongest warrior among those present, and he was the one who actively swung his weapon and chased the dragon away.

“…It wouldn’t be strange if he mistook that castle for the count’s castle.”

“No way.”

“Well, actually, I think he’ll eventually give up if he can’t find the count.”

Caenerna also agreed with Johan’s words.

To a dragon that lives for a very long time, Johan would be just a bothersome thorn, a quickly escaped prey.

Even if he’s angry right now, he’ll forget it all in time.