The dragon was running off back in the direction of where it came from while its back was still on fire.

The more annoying thing was that it kept crashing into trees and spreading the fire around so I had to extinguish the fires that were on the trees before they burned down the entire forest.

I still let the fire on its back burn because I was hoping that the flames would hurt it enough that it would eventually stop somewhere and let us finish it off.

I know we could always just let it run off and give up the chase, but do you really expect me to just let it go after it attacked us like that?

No, no, no… You don't get to attack us and then run away like that! Since you've already made an enemy out of us, time to get your parts dissected for materials!!

But… How are we supposed to stop this dragon from running? It doesn't seem like it wants to stop at all despite the fact that it's on fire and obviously in quite a lot of pain…

Right then, a telepathic message suddenly came through my mind, 'Sister Aster!! Teleport me in front of it!!"

Eh? Are you serious, Odeta?

Well… Whatever, since she's the one that said so…

I used [Link Portal] to create a portal in front of her and another portal in front of the dragon.

Odeta immediately jumped into her portal to appear in front of the dragon, her fist pulled back as if to punch it while her body glowed in the standard pose of activating a Valour Skill.

"[Fist Cannon]!!!" She roared, punching her fist forward and sending an air cannon flying towards the dragon, smacking it directly in the head.

It wasn't enough to damage it but I guess the dragon was not expecting anything to attack it from the front so it got stunned momentarily.

But that moment was what we needed.

I dove down from the sky, aiming my swords at the top of its head and slashing my Light Sword out before my Shadow Sword followed suit.

The gash that I created across the top of its head was lit aflame, burning past the scales to set its flesh alight.

I'm guessing that went past its pain tolerance as the dragon let out another howl before it attempted to put out the fire by rolling onto its back.

Too bad for this guy, my flames can't be put out like that.

And what's more… With you rolling over, you basically exposed your belly to us~ You know… The part that is less protected by your scales~

All of us jumped on top of it and started wailing on its exposed underside, with me targeting its neck with my Light Sword.

I stabbed the blade into its neck and poured my mana into the sword, expanding the blade even more and forcing the wound wider and the blade of light deeper into its neck.

The dragon let out another earth shattering howl and tried to roll back on its feet, only for Odeta to smash down on top of its belly and knocking the wind out of its lungs.

I sucked in a breath and let my mana flow straight into the sword once more, the light sword expanding rapidly before a very distinct 'pop' could be heard and the dragon's howls slowly drifted into silence.

The dragon's limbs then fell to its sides and the head detached itself from the body, rolling over rightside up a few metres away with a thump.

I stayed upright for a minute to make sure that the battle was really over before I fell onto my haunches, letting out the breath that I didn't realise I had been holding in.

Haven't really had a fight like that for quite a while… But I have to admit that it certainly felt satisfying in the end.

I can see why Odeta actively seeks out these kinds of challenges.

I turned to the others and saw that they were also taking a break after the chase and the fight, which was well deserved in my opinion.

Right as I was about to call out my Shadow Guards to start disassembling the monster for parts, the sound of someone clapping could be heard.

At first I thought it was one of my girls doing the clapping but I realised that the sound of the claps were coming from a different direction than where my girls were.

I turned towards the source of the sound to see a group of Trasifs standing at the side, the clapping coming from the leader of the group.

All of them looked quite beautiful and were even dressed femininely so at first glance, you might think that they were all females. But I have already learned that it was their culture to be as feminine as possible so even the males might also look like this.

Sure enough, when I used [Screened] on the leader…

[Name: Dara Tale

Title: Spring Sword Mercenary Group Leader, Beautiful Sword

Race: Trasif

Gender: Male

Current Mood: Admiration, Desire

Stats:

433 Strength

640 Dexterity

211 Endurance

642 Magic

Skills:

Leadership (Tier 3), Tracking (Tier 2), Stealth (Tier 2), Martial Skill-(Sword Proficiency (Tier 3), Dagger Proficiency (Tier 2))

Magic Skills:

Iatromancy (Tier 2), Mana Management (Tier 2), Aeromancy (Tier 2)]

That guy's a male… And he's the leader of a Mercenary group which I assume the people behind him were all members of.

Still… Even if he is a Mercenary, I wasn't going to just trust him just because of that… Especially when he showed up out of nowhere.

I didn't say anything and simply stared at him as he strode forward, still clapping his hands.

I noted that even how he walked and clapped looked feminine where he took small and light steps and he was even clapping with his hands in front of his chest demurely.

"Marvelous… That was simply… I have no words, my lady! But that was awe inspiring to witness! I apologise for making myself known like this but I could not hold back after witnessing the fight earlier! I am Dara, leader of the Spring Sword Mercenary group. May I, perchance, know my lady's name?"

Hmm… He seems sincere enough I suppose… And I've already met several Trasifs along the way that this kind of exchange isn't really that weird.

"Aster. Leader of the White Dragon's Sword Maidens. My apologies for being on guard but I will have to ask that you keep your distance for now."

He bowed his head lightly, "Of course, I understand the need for such caution. There are monsters within these forests that could adopt the guise of people to sneak up on you after all."

Wait… There are? I didn't know that… But I guess I should just act like I knew.

He clasped his hands together like he was praying and his eyes sparkled, "I just showed myself for two reasons. The first is to express my admiration for how your party managed to take down the Earth Dragon so beautifully. The part where you forced it on its back to expose its weakness before you finished it off was just simply breathtaking."

The Trasifs behind him also nodded along, agreeing with their leader.

Just in case, I quickly did a scan with [Screened] and I realised that the party was a mix of male and female Trasifs, the entire group numbering twelve in total including the leader.

The rest of my girls were watching them from behind me, also wary of them in case they meant us harm.

The Dara guy then pointed at the Earth Dragon I was standing on, "The second reason… Is a little unfortunate, you see… For that dragon is a Request target that we were meant to take out so…"

Damn… I knew it… He's going to ask us to hand this monster over and I'll obviously disagree and he might even try to resort to force to get it from us, since he might assume we were already worn out from fighting the dragon and they would stand a chance against us… Does he have more members hidden amongst the trees? I should ask Eins to check the area just in case… Maybe I should just launch a preemptive strike like--

He clapped his hands together, "So I know this is a little awkward but can I please request that you accompany us back to Ertpytgya Town's Guild to report that you beat the dragon instead of us? I'm willing to let you have the reward that was posted for this Request! It would be terrible if I returned empty handed and the Guild thinks we failed the Request and the dragon was still at large! Please! We will even help you disassemble the dragon if you want to!"

Eh?

Oh… That's a surprise… I think I've spent too much time amongst people who would take advantage of us recently…

Yeah, sure, we were already heading there anyway~

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