"Boom!"
The earth shook all around. This creature, at the top of the food chain, established its unbeatable position after wandering into the forest near Buena Village.
Neither humans nor monsters could stand against it.
To defeat a red dragon head-on, it would take at least five elite adventurer teams. Even then, victory wasn't certain, and it might even require the army.
But Buena Village was just a small village on the border of the Asura Kingdom. The only knight stationed there was Paul, and the nearest town was dozens of miles away.
Finding support from adventurers or the army was impossible.
So, the red dragon became the sole hunter. Both monsters and humans were just prey in its eyes.
"Shirou? You... why are you here?"
Seeing Shirou swinging his sword with all his might, risking his life to draw the red dragon's attention, Paul looked confused. He thought Shirou would have taken the villagers and others to safety as soon as he sensed something strange in the forest and realized a dragon was there.
That was exactly why he was desperately trying to slow the red dragon, to buy time for the evacuation of Buena Village.
But he never expected Shirou, who he thought would run away, to stay. Despite seeing the red dragon's terrifying form, he didn't back down. Instead, he chose to fight the dragon to protect him!
"Trace, On!"
At the same time, when the sword in his hand struck the red dragon but broke instead, Shirou had to use sword magic, instantly creating a new weapon in his hand.
But the fragile weapon created by magic was even worse than the sword he trained with.
He barely used the weapon to block when the red dragon's claws completely shattered the sword, sending Shirou flying!
"Shirou!"
Paul rushed to Shirou's side, relieved to see that he was battered but didn't have any fatal wounds.
"Paul, are you okay?"
The first thing Shirou did when he came to was to ask if Paul was safe.
This made Paul feel complicated. He felt more and more that he had been an irresponsible father, leading to the current situation.
In fact, Paul had noticed signs of the red dragon's arrival as early as last winter during his earlier investigation.
Back then, a large number of monsters fled from the Red Dragon Mountains into the forest of Buena Village. This was unusual, indicating the emergence of some unimaginable terror on the edge of the Red Dragon Mountains, causing so many monsters to migrate.
If Paul had been more careful and investigated the forest with Shirou, they might have found evidence of the red dragon. They could have made arrangements a year earlier, either moving the village or seeking reinforcements from the kingdom.
But now it was too late.
Paul's foolishness and irresponsibility had caused everything to become what it was. That's why he wanted to sacrifice his own life to protect his family.
But he didn't expect Shirou to fight the red dragon to protect him, making his emotions even more complex and helpless.
Taking a deep breath, Paul made up his mind: "Shirou, you need to leave now. Take the villagers and leave while you still can. There's a chance you can escape the red dragon!"
Although escaping from a red dragon that could fly and had incredible speed was difficult, it was the only option left. Paul could only offer this suggestion.
"Paul..."
Hearing the man's words, Shirou was silent for a moment before slowly standing up from the ground.
Just when Paul thought he would listen and leave the battlefield, the red-haired boy, no, the red-haired young man, stood firmly in place, his feet as if rooted to the ground, unmoving.
"You're not the only one who wants to protect our family. I want to protect you too."
Shirou said, giving Paul a sincere smile.
Seeing the smile on his face and hearing the rarely spoken title, Paul was silent for a moment, his eyes even watering. He quickly wiped them away, not wanting to show any more embarrassing behavior.
Of course, he felt he was already embarrassing enough.
As a father, he had been irresponsible, failing to do anything a father should do.
But even so, Shirou still saw him as his father...
Paul's heart couldn't help but tremble, and he realized his past foolishness even more.
"Roar!"
Meanwhile, the red dragon in the distance wasn't going to let the father and son chat any longer. It spread its wings, and even this simple action created an incredible gust of wind, stirring up endless dust on the ground.
"Shirou!"
The moment Paul's voice rang out, Shirou acted.
They both jumped away from their positions, each circling around the huge monster on either side.
Paul had been fighting for a day and night, and his body had reached its limit. Even when he gripped his sword, his muscles screamed in pain.
In this condition, he couldn't maintain his fighting ability at full strength.
Helpless, Paul took another sword from his waist and threw it to Shirou.
"This is the sword I've always used. Take good care of it!"
"This..."
Shirou caught the sword, surprised that Paul would give him his weapon. It was clearly a unique weapon with exceptional quality.
The weapon was covered in special patterns, as if it had been enchanted.
In this world, enchanted weapons had special effects that ordinary weapons didn't have.
Before Shirou could ask Paul what the sword's specific effects were, the red dragon flapped its wings and opened its massive jaws, unleashing an incredible shockwave.
"Soundless Sword!"
Shirou had no choice but to use his strongest technique, the ultimate skill of the Sword God Style!
"Snap!"
The sword collided with the red dragon's jaws, but instead of breaking like the previous weapon, it released an even more incredible sharpness!
With one strike, the red dragon gave a pained gasp, and a crack appeared on the corner of its mouth where the sword light had torn it open!
"It's actually effective?"
Shirou was stunned. He had clearly felt the red dragon's incredible defense during the battle, and thought that ordinary weapons couldn't possibly affect this terrible monster.
But the weapon Paul had given him was clearly not ordinary. As an enchanted magic sword, it seemed to have special penetrating power, capable of damaging enemies with extremely high defense!
Combined with the fact that it was a magic sword and wouldn't break easily, Shirou finally had a way to fight the red dragon!
"Roar!"
The huge red dragon, surprised that it had been injured by a human ant, immediately flapped its wings and flew into the air, its fiery blood dripping onto the ground as it flew.
The red dragon's eyes were fixed on Shirou, as if it had decided to crush the human ant completely!
"It's keeping its distance..."
Watching the red dragon circling in the air, constantly maintaining its distance from him, Shirou realized that the dragon was indeed a creature with intelligence.
It had seen that his power could only be used up close, so it was trying to keep its distance as much as possible, preventing him from using the Sword God Style techniques.
At the same time, the impatient red dragon suddenly opened its mouth, flames rising within.
"!!!"
The moment he saw this, Shirou instinctively retreated, but it was too late to dodge.
What filled his eyes was a sea of flames, almost covering the sky and swallowing everything!
As a creature of magic power, the red dragon had a special ability: flame breath. Its burst power was comparable to the full force of a fire-saint-level mage!
Any creature hit directly would be burned to ashes.
"Shirou!"
Paul couldn't help but shout in alarm. He wanted to help him, but just getting close to the flames, he felt a surge of terror and coldness from the bottom of his heart.
The intense heat was about to swallow his soul completely!
Although Shirou tried his best to dodge, he couldn't escape this soul-striking attack. He did everything he could to defend, but he was still hit by the red dragon's breath.
In the moment of near-death, Shirou began to see strange scenes——
It was a sandy hill covered with yellow sand. Nothing was in the sky above the hill, only countless giant gears precisely meshing and constantly spinning.
In the distance covered with yellow sand, a tall figure was facing away from him, the red coat and white hair all describing the other person's identity: Servant Emiya!
"..."
Servant Emiya was always walking forward at a certain speed.
Shirou wanted to catch up with him.
Although it seemed like a distance that could be easily approached by running, he couldn't catch up even when running at full speed.
There seemed to be a thick wall or some kind of chasm between them.
"Can't keep up with me?"
At some point, the man in the distance turned his head, looking at Shirou with a mocking tone.
The moment he heard these words, Shirou's heart suddenly began to beat violently. A piercing pain connected to his heart sent tearing sensations throughout his body!
Finally, as if breaking through some kind of limit, he desperately began to run: "Impossible! Servant Emiya, I can not only keep up with you, but I can also surpass you!!"
The moment he finished speaking, the real Shirou was completely hit by the dragon's breath.
His body turned to charcoal, and the aura of death began to take root and sprout from his whole body.
However, unnoticed, fine lines appeared on his right hand. The magic circuits, which had not emitted light since coming to this world, were now extending at an almost insane speed, even covering his entire body!
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