Chapter 164: Stunned
As soon as Ken was done talking, the boss leaped off the monster and then snapped his finger. The monster reacted with a thunderous roar. The mountain rumbled in response as rocks began to fall. Then it charged. The mercenaries moved out of the way fast, and it rushed past them.
The mercenaries rushed in two after the monster to begin their attack.
Ren saw the monster coming and moved fast. He covered the distance in an instant. Throwing both hands apart, he grabbed onto the head of the monster.
BOOM!
The shockwave caused the mountain to shake and the ground to tremble. Ren was pushed back a few feet before he managed to stop the monster. The monster did not like the fact that someone was hanging onto its head, and so it reacted, yanking its head back at full speed. Ren held onto it and was thrown into the air. He pulled his sword while he was in the air and aimed it. He came down like a meteor, and the blade stabbed through the back of the monster. It extended and ripped out of the front, spilling blood onto the floor and killing the monster.
[You have gained 500 EXP]
"Only five hundred? What a waste," Ren muttered in dissatisfaction. He looked up toward Ken, who was standing there.
The boss looked at Ken. "Seems you have your work cut out for you. The dragon seems pretty strong." He pulled out two large cleavers from his back and rolled the weapons.
"Don’t die, kiddo," he said, and then rushed in, his target Remu.
Remu was locked in battle with over four mercenaries who attacked from every angle. He weaved around a sword that came from the right, pulled his own sword, and made a full slash. The sword erupted in flames. The burst of flames slammed into the mercenaries and hurled them back.
"Haha, my turn," the boss yelled as he leaped into battle. He swung both cleavers down at the same time. Remu blocked the attack but was hurled back several meters. He stabbed his sword into the ground to stop. He looked up, and the cleavers were already coming for his face. He reacted fast, pushing back into an almost horizontal state.
The cleavers went over his head. He then used his tail to stop himself and push himself up. His eyes locked on both cleavers to ensure that he did not get attacked again. He opened his mouth and unleashed a thick stream of flames.
[....]
"You know, after you let me go, I went home," Ken started speaking. He took one slow step forward after another.
"But word got to my family of my failure. The royal knights all heard how I lost everything. I have spent years and years to build myself into someone that others will respect. I gave my all for this!" He yelled.
"Only for some no-name dragon from God knows where to come and destroy everything that I fought so hard to create.
"Monsters like you deserve to die." He gritted his teeth as he spoke those words, his eyes a burning red as he lost his composure entirely.
Ren looked at him. He took a deep breath and then responded.
"Grow a pair of balls and suck it up. The world does not revolve around you, you stuck-up noble.
"You came for me and I spared your life, and now you come again? Get a life, do something, anything. Just stay away from me and leave me be. Jeez."
Ken was stunned when he heard the reply. He had told everything that brought him here to Ren, and all Ren said was that?
"You, you, you... I’ll kill you." The light left his eyes after he said that. He gripped his sword even tighter, and then he shot forward with a stupid amount of speed, black smoke coming out of his body as he moved.
’Something is not right about him. What did he do?’ Ren wondered as he saw Ken coming toward him.
Ken planted his foot deep into the ground when he was close, going for a full slash with all his strength, black smoke coming out of his sword.
Ren watched the attack get closer and then dodged to the side. He evaded it cleanly and then stepped around, eyes locked onto Ken. He did not attack, as he was still trying to analyze what was happening at the moment. Ken twisted his body in response and slashed in a complete circle. Ren leaned back and dodged the attack, then he retreated to evade completely.
Ken gave chase. He began to swing with all that he had. His sword hit the ground, and each one acted like an explosion, causing rock and debris to be hurled all around. He crossed the distance between them in an instant and continued his barrage of attacks that Ren easily dodged through while keeping his eyes on the black smoke around Ken.
"Arghhhhh, are you going to keep dodging? Fight me, you stupid dragon." Ken roared as he attacked again. The smoke turned into a black flame around the sword that he then unleashed in a slash, a massive black flame arc.
Ren barely managed to dodge the arc. It flew past him and slammed into the mountain. A deep cut several meters deep showed, and rocks began to fall from above.
"What did you do to yourself, Ken? You are much different from when I first fought you," Ren said.
"Yes, I fixed myself, ensured that you would not be able to stop me when the time came. I gave up a lot for this and sacrificed more than you can imagine.
"I’ll have your head no matter what. I’ll make sure that I am the last thing that you see in this life. Hahahahahahaha." He began to cackle like a madman as he grabbed onto his shirt and, in one swift motion, ripped it off.
Ren looked at him after he did that, and he froze. What he saw stunned him.