"Another adventurer who accepted the commission? Don't tell me she's planning to take on the Poison Dragon herself?"
The elf girl wore a leather battle dress in black and yellow hues. Even in this otherworld where handsome men and beautiful women were everywhere, her stunning looks were more than enough to earn her the title of a true beauty.
Minami Yojuro had originally been preparing to leave. It wasn't that he lacked the courage to challenge the Poison Dragon—far from it. He simply refused to be played for a fool.
His plan had been to find the nearby village, explain the situation, and demand an adjustment in the reward. In short, without more pay, he had no intention of working for free.
But he hadn't expected a rival to appear out of nowhere.
The Poison Dragon's lair was much farther away than the underground dungeon he had cleared earlier. Just reaching this place had taken Yojuro two full days, and locating the dragon with the map had cost him nearly half a day more.
To think that clearing the first commission—the underground labyrinth—had taken him less than half a day!
After wasting so much time, Yojuro naturally didn't want to return empty-handed. Yet now, before he had even negotiated with the local villagers about raising the commission fee, the elf girl had already stepped forward to confront the Poison Dragon. If she actually killed it, wouldn't he walk away with nothing?
With that thought, Yojuro decided not to leave after all. On one hand, he worried his prey might be stolen. On the other, he was curious to see just how strong a real powerhouse of this world truly was.
He didn't acknowledge people like Rex as "true strong ones" of this world. As for this orange-haired elf girl… Yojuro couldn't judge her strength yet.
Still, anyone who could look at a Poison Dragon's massive body, feel its overwhelming aura, and still dare to face it alone—clearly had a good measure of confidence in her own power.
"ROOOAARRR——!"
A furious dragon's roar tore Yojuro from his thoughts. On the battlefield, the elf girl gripped her longsword tightly and launched her assault against the Poison Dragon.
Being of elven blood, the girl naturally wielded magic, and her skill with it was remarkable. She even seemed to command certain techniques that looked like the elves' secret arts.
Even her swordsmanship, in Yojuro's eyes, was praiseworthy. All in all, in terms of combat ability, this elf girl could probably crush a dozen or even twenty warriors like Rex without breaking a sweat.
Just as Yojuro had suspected at first glance, the Poison Dragon wasn't a true dragon species. It was merely a subspecies.
Much like how orcs were half-human hybrids, this Poison Dragon seemed to be the product of a dragon crossbred with another race.
Even so, anything tied to dragon bloodlines was never to be underestimated.
The elf girl's combat prowess was impressive. Using her agility, she nimbly evaded the Poison Dragon's fierce attacks, darting in close to slash its body with her longsword again and again, leaving behind trails of blood and torn scales.
But there was a reason this beast was called the Poison Dragon. Its threat wasn't limited to a dragon's raw might and nearly impenetrable scales.
Provoked beyond reason by the elf girl's relentless strikes, the Poison Dragon finally unleashed its true power.
From its gaping maw poured a flood of purple miasma, corrosive and thick, spreading instantly to shroud the surrounding kilometers in a deadly poisonous fog.
What was once a vast grassland instantly withered away the moment the Venom Dragon spewed out its corrosive poison mist.
The boundless prairie turned into a barren wasteland in the blink of an eye!
And at the very center of it all was the elven maiden. When the Venom Dragon unleashed its toxic breath, she reacted immediately, forming a magical barrier around herself.
But what she never expected was that the mist's corrosive power was so great it could even eat away at her magical shield!
Earlier, in order to fight the Venom Dragon—including maintaining flight magic—she had already consumed a huge amount of mana. Now, caught in the midst of the poison mist, her energy was being drained faster than she could replenish it.
The Venom Dragon's poison was fiercely corrosive; the sight of plants around her instantly rotting away was proof enough of what would happen to exposed flesh.
Worse still, the poison lingered in the air without dispersing. Just keeping herself safe required a constant drain on her mana to maintain the barrier. The longer the fight dragged on, the more the situation tipped against her.
By contrast, while the Venom Dragon was only a subspecies, its colossal size wasn't just for show—its mana reserves were also terrifying.
Clearly, the creature wasn't without intelligence. The reason it hadn't used its killing move at the start was so it could first exhaust the elf's mana, ensuring she had no strength left to slip away from its grasp.
As things stood, her defeat was already inevitable. The poison mist covered several kilometers in every direction. Escaping that distance alone was a near-impossible task, and on top of that she had to guard against the dragon's sudden attacks.
Her mana reserves continued to dwindle. The magical barrier protecting her body was growing thinner, even starting to corrode her clothes, exposing large patches of pale skin.
And worse still, while the barrier could defend against the mist corroding her flesh directly, no living creature could stop the need to breathe. Human or elf, all had to inhale.
In the intensity of battle, she had already inhaled large amounts of the poison. Now her mind was growing hazy and disoriented.
"Was I too reckless to challenge a Venom Dragon alone? Looks like this is where it ends for me."
Trapped in the corrosive mist, her mana nearly exhausted and her consciousness fading, Minami Yojuro could not imagine any path to victory. All she could do was bitterly await the arrival of death.
"Tsk. If you don't have the strength, you shouldn't come running in to steal a kill. This beast is my prey, got it?
I wonder… once I finish it off and drag its corpse back to those villages, will they be willing to pay me extra?"
The Venom Dragon, though far more intelligent than common beasts, had no ability to speak. The voice at her ear could only belong to a third party, someone besides herself and the dragon.
When Minami Yojuro forced her eyes open, she saw a white-haired man standing right in front of her.