"Some important figure must have arrived!"
Though he hadn't seen who it was, the ex-pirate with the black snake tattoo followed suit when he saw others kneeling. The pirates working in Synapse had long lost their defiant spirits from their days of ruling the seas. Kneeling before more powerful creatures had become a routine for them.
"Hey, kid, why are you still standing? Kneel down quickly, or you'll face serious trouble from those big shots," the black snake pirate warned, noticing Hiraue standing straight among the kneeling crowd. His warning was partly out of concern and partly because he found the dragon hunter quite appealing. Due to policy changes in Synapse, they could no longer visit the drow maidens, so they had to turn to their companions.
Hiraue felt the pirate tugging at his pants, trying to make him kneel. He looked around and saw a sea of bowed heads. Using his legendary vision, he saw the figure commanding the reverence of tens of thousands of humans and the supervising monsters.
It was a black-haired, golden-eyed youth walking in the air, accompanied by several red and blue dragons. When Hiraue met the youth's gaze, the young man's golden eyes were already on him, a faint, mocking smile on his face.
Realizing he'd been spotted, Hiraue abandoned the idea of hiding his identity. He knew being discovered was inevitable when he first entered this vast sky filled with cloud islands. Prepared for this, he decided to make his escape now.
"Found him!" Muria smiled as he identified the intruder.
The red dragons, Cynthia and Jessica, following Muria, also noticed the lone standing figure among the kneeling crowd. An instinctual sense of danger and extreme aversion filled their hearts, boiling into a desire to kill.
The surrounding giants and monsters, following Muria's gaze, saw Hiraue standing out and began closing in with weapons ready, a killing intent filling the air.
The nearby humans, sensing something was amiss, scrambled away from Hiraue, including the black snake pirate. He looked at Hiraue with terror, realizing the newcomer he had set his sights on was no ordinary person.
"Dragon hunter?" Muria, slightly disappointed, smiled at the blond youth, sensing multiple dangerous auras from him.
"Dragon!" Hiraue's expression grew serious as he assessed Muria, the dragons around him indicating his formidable nature.
"Bold of you to infiltrate my territory!" Confirming the intruder's identity, Muria reached out to grab him, uninterested in playing cat and mouse. A human legendary figure was dangerous; he couldn't allow such a person to roam freely in Synapse, which had many vulnerable spots.
To Hiraue, the youth's hand seemed to grow larger until it obscured everything. The dragon hunter's eyes narrowed as he drew a crimson dragon lance, thrusting it forward. With a fierce dragon roar, a red beam shot towards Muria. Hiraue then turned to flee, knowing better than to fight a legendary dragon unprepared.
Muria's raised eyebrow signaled his interest as he continued reaching out. The red dragon formed by the lance shattered into a brilliant display upon contact with Muria's hand. Without hesitation, Muria's hand pressed forward, creating immense pressure that darkened Hiraue's face. The dragon hunter struck again, the collision making him grunt but propelling him further away.
"A dragon-slaying spear!" Muria remarked, retracting his hand to see a bright red dot—a wound that healed as he watched. "Looks like Synapse has gained another power source."
He glanced at the two red dragons beside him, noting their concealed fear. They dreaded the dragon-slaying weapon, specifically crafted against their kind.
"Such a mess!" Muria shook his head, knowing that rational control over such primal fear was impossible. He watched Hiraue, who was fleeing the cloud island, without any urgency.
"Muria, he's escaping."
"I see him. No rush," Muria replied calmly, a gem-encrusted headdress appearing on his forehead. This accessory, composed of 132 different gems, now had eight shining brightly.
"Don't let me down, Archmage Mason," Muria mused as eight nearby cloud islands began to tremble. A soft glow spread across them, linking together to form a cage of confinement and imprisonment around Hiraue at a speed that shocked him.
"Not good!" Hiraue slashed his crimson lance against the glowing barrier, producing a screeching sound like metal on metal.
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! $5 for all!!]
[w w w . p a t r e o n .com / INNIT]
[+50 PowerStones = +1 Chapter]