“Hey! I found some Naya grass over here!”
“Really?!”
That shout came from somewhere in the distance — a man’s voice. In a dimly lit forest, a blue-haired boy and a red-haired girl walking side by side looked at each other. The boy appeared to be around ten years old, with strikingly intelligent navy-blue eyes. The red-haired girl had a cute yet simple, down-to-earth appearance. But her most distinctive feature was the pair of triangular beast ears protruding from her head. They twitched occasionally, proving they weren’t just decorative.
While the boy wore slightly fancy clothes, the girl was dressed in a cheap, rough brown garment made of woven hemp. A thin tail extended from her lower back, swaying happily side to side.
“That’s great. Shall we go gather some herbs too?”
“Y-Yes!”
With that exchange, the two began hurrying through the forest, which was difficult to walk in. Their footsteps crunched over dry leaves and soil. The dense scent of green filled the air. Tall trees blocked most of the sunlight with their thick branches and leaves.
For children still growing, even stepping over a single tree root or rock was a struggle. The boy, frustrated by his own sluggish pace, was just about to get discouraged when the girl walking ahead turned around.
“Lord Lars, please take my hand.”
“Okay, thank you, Ilyna.”
With that, the two joined hands. Ilyna, the girl, pulled Lars up with surprising strength and helped him climb over a rock. As they progressed, the trees began to thin, allowing more sky to peek through the forest canopy.
Then it happened.
A loud crash echoed from the direction where the voices had come. The ground trembled beneath their feet. Birds nearby squawked in alarm and scattered into the air.
It sounded like two enormous, heavy objects colliding. Then came the noise of something crashing down.
“I’ll go ahead!”
Sensing something was terribly wrong, Ilyna let go of Lars’s hand and dashed off into the forest at full speed — like a wild animal. She had been holding back to match Lars’s pace, but now she leapt over rocks waist-high and disappeared in an instant.
A moment later, Lars heard her gasp. He looked up.
“I want to grow up... fast...!”
With a frustrated cry, Lars pushed through the forest as quickly as he could. Ten meters, twenty meters — he ran with all his might until finally, the trees vanished from view. The sunlight hit his face directly, causing him to squint.
Narrowing his eyes to adjust to the light, he finally took in the scene before him.
In the middle of a tall grassy plain, stood a gigantic shadow.
It had emerged from the forest, flattening trees in its wake. A massive tree lay fallen nearby. The creature raised its head after crushing the trunk beneath its foot and let out a deafening roar, its murky yellow eyes glowing with menace.
Its body was covered in rust-colored, layered scales like stacked rocks. Huge fangs jutted out from its enormous mouth. It stood four meters tall, and its body stretched over ten meters long. It had no wings, but it was unmistakably a dragon — the strongest species in this world.
And not a young dragon either — this was a full-grown adult. Those familiar with dragons might recognize from its rocky scales and lack of wings that it was a type of earth dragon. An opponent so powerful that even an elite order of knights would need over a thousand men to bring it down.
Facing the earth dragon were only two people. Just two young men — one armed with a short sword barely thirty centimeters long, the other with a bow.
“Mikel! Rolf!”
Ilyna screamed their names. The two men turned at the sound of her voice, sharp-eyed. They looked so similar it was like seeing a reflection. Both had white hair tied back and pointed beast ears even sharper than Ilyna’s. Their tails were thick and long-haired. The only difference was that Mikel’s ears stood upright, while Rolf’s drooped slightly.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“Run, Ilyna!”
Mikel and Rolf shouted as they leapt in opposite directions. A moment later, the earth dragon’s massive foreleg came crashing down. Despite its bulk, the speed of the strike was incredible. The dragon's huge claws, each the size of a person, tore into the ground, sending up a cloud of dust and debris.
The two young men dodged with desperate agility, clearly searching for a way to escape.
“W-What should we do…?! Mikel and Rolf will die…!”
Ilyna’s voice trembled, on the verge of tears. Though Mikel and Rolf displayed astonishing reflexes, even they couldn’t avoid such a monstrous creature forever. And their equipment was a problem — both wore light armor made from treated beast hides. While sturdy against regular attacks, it was almost useless against a dragon.
Clenching her fists so tightly her knuckles turned white, Ilyna trembled with fear. Her eyes brimmed with tears. Lars saw this, and his expression hardened.
“...I wasn’t confident since I haven’t tested it yet. But I guess I don’t have a choice.”
Muttering under his breath, Lars stepped past the frozen Ilyna and moved forward. She gasped in surprise, eyes wide as she turned to look at him.
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