…… My〖Presence Sense〗is detecting…… about 50 people.
I’m sure there’s even more.

I was suddenly reminded of all the travelers the Lithuvar Tribe kidnapped and sacrificed to the Manticore.
They’ve been doing that for years, so there’s an unreasonably high amount of them.
The Lithuvar Tribe live in the woods, so no one knows yet that their customs have changed now and they’ve gotten nicer to travelers, but I know that the number of kidnappings that they’ve done probably exceeds the amount of robbery cases by bandits.
Someone with a high authority who lives near this forest was probably scared by the Lithuvar Tribe’s growing infamous reputation that they went so far as to sending out a large group of adventurers to eliminate them.

These fifty people…… are definitely not decoys nor a squadron, they’re the main army.
I figure it would be hard to move an army of this size.

“The enemy is coming! They exceed over forty! The difference in numbers is too wide! Before they surround us, let’s head back to the village! The trouga…… everyone, refrain from any unnecessary actions until we’ve confirmed visuals! It would seem that the enemy has noticed us as well, but they haven’t pinpointed our exact position yet!”

Bella orders everyone.
The man who has the trouga urgently whistles it.

“T-That can’t be!”
“We thought there’d only be thirty of them!”

Everyone starts to panic.

…… It’s not forty, it’s fifty.
And, their speed…… they’re clearly riding on something.
If they keep going like this, I don’t think these guys with me will be able to outrun them.

We’re lucky that our group found them first.
To think there’d be fifty of them.
If the other groups encountered the enemy instead, they would’ve run away while leaving others behind just to warn the village.
If we hadn’t patrolled around the river this early in the morning, the village would’ve been destroyed before sunrise.

“Ryujin-sama, we need to escape! We also have to inform the other groups to return as well……”

“Gru~ooooo……”

I shake my head and stand firm towards the approaching enemies.
I don’t know how strong they are…… but, I’m the indomitable Ouroboros.
As the guardian of this land, none shall pass.

“R-Ryujin-sama has chosen to battle!”
“Then! I too shall remain! I will fight till my last breath!”

The others who wanted to retreat are now readying their spears.
…… Y-You guys…… I plan to run away as a last resort, you know……

“Flugel, you’re the youngest among us! Take Bella-sama and return back!”

“B-But, I……”

“Hurry and go! If you don’t go back and warn the others, I’ll take you away myself!”

“…… R-Right! Bella-sama, this way!”

…… Y-You’re making it sound like we’re fighting a losing battle here.
Well, I guess I don’t mind since we don’t want to lose another shrine maiden again.
I thought〖Presence Sense〗would be a rare skill for humans to have, but we’re finding quite a lot of them recently.
Although, since they know that they’ll be fighting in an uncharted forest, it’d make sense that they hire someone with that skill.

Other than Bella, the number of fighters on our side is ten, and with one returning back to the village, we’ll have nine fighters, plus me……
Compared to the fifty opponents we’re up against, they outnumber us one to five.

But then, my〖Presence Sense〗just abruptly sensed them splitting their forces.
Hm? Are they dispatching the other group to go after the messenger we sent back to the village?
No, wait…… it’s more like they’re attempting to pincer us from both sides.

So they plan on killing us all without sparing anyone, is that it?
And, with the enemy out of sight yet, the others won’t know where they’ll be coming from.

There’s no doubt about it…… they’re used to fighting.
And, they’re also experienced in the field of teamwork as a group too.
I assumed they were just a ragtag team of invaders…… but, it doesn’t seem so.

Daddadda.
Daddadda.
The sound of horses stomping on the ground is getting louder as they approach closer.

“Gru~ooo!”

I growl low and run backwards diagonally.
If I run to the front now, I’ll surely be surrounded on both sides.
The best course of action to take right now is to break out of the pincer and go for its edge.

Following after me, the nine other Lithuvar men rush behind.

Eight cavalries then reveal themselves.
Just like Derek, they’re wearing deep blue military uniforms.
And, they also have metallic chest armor equipped.

I knew it, these guys…… are too well-coordinated.
Something’s off here.

“Let’s see what their Dragon God can do!”

“You lads, don’t just carelessly approach the dragon! Keep checking around and buy time! If you get blown away before the next unit comes, we’ll be in big trouble, you hear? We may not be strong enough to take the big guy on our own, so we’ll leave it to the monster subjugation squad. You’re free to kill the small fries if you want”

A big man with a short mustache, the one who looks less motivated, seems to be the captain among this group of eight.

It sounds like they’re aware of the true identity Lithuvar Tribe’s Dragon God.
They must think I’m an Amphis, that’s why they keep saying bold words like how easy it is to defeat me, although I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

“C’mon Captain, it’s been a while since our last bloodshed, at least boost up our morale”

“You know me, I don’t like doing these kinds of things. I want to hurry and wreck the village already…… why do I have to be sent out on this boring scout mission…… shouldn’t everyone be down for the count by the poison?”

The captain looks at me as if he sees me as trouble.

Since their last, bloodshed……?

I just heard something crazy from this guy’s mouth.
In the first place, I thought it was strange why a group of fifty adventurers are coming here for revenge, moreover, being experienced to teamwork and coordination.
So poisoning the village wasn’t to even up their odds by reducing the village’s number of fighters…… they never came here for revenge at all.

“So go on, kill these nobodies already and go after those who ran away. Once Lord Tallmann arrives and kills everyone, we won’t have any of the fun left. So go already, leave me to come up with the excuses and just go and kill them all”

Their captain said with a lazy clap.
Hearing him say that, I felt distasteful in his words.

The seven cavalries line up their swords and charge at me.

“I don’t really care much if the Captain isn’t feeling pumped up himself”
“Since he’s so skilled, it wouldn’t hurt if he’d just lighten up a bit……”
“Idiot, it’s the less motivated ones who are really smart”

They’re about to kill people, and yet they’re laughing.
The other forty are about to arrive soon, and don’t tell me, they’re all as crazy as these guys?

“Here they come!”
“Ryujin-sama! Leave them to us and watch over the sides……!”

I kick the ground with great force and rush headlong into one of the seven cavalries, about to collide them.

“Wha-, so fast……!”

The horses and the soldiers get blown to the sides, rolling on the ground and splattering their blood all over the grass.
I bite the stomach of the captain while he was dumbfounded at everything and I lift him in the air.

“C-Captain Valles!”

“Gah, ga ~ah……〖Rest〗……〖Rest〗……”

This Captain Valles, or whoever this guy is, chants out a spell while spitting blood.
I didn’t think about mercy and I slam him to the ground.

The shock vibrates to my face.
I received a bit of damage from that one.
I shake my head and brush it off, but it seems like I overdid it there.

Captain Valles’s body is swelling, there’s a crack on his head, and his blood is dripping in my mouth.
Ever since I became a dragon, I never tasted human blood before, and it’s a sickening feeling.

This was the first time I ever willingly killed a human without hesitating.

【Obtained 192 Experience Points.】
【〖The Walking Egg: Lv—〗skill gives you additional 192 Experience Points.】

…… He gave more exp points than an Abyss?
From the notification I received just now, his status is probably on par or perhaps even higher than an Abyss then.

The rest of the cavalry stare at my blood-dripping mouth, frozen in fear.
I open my mouth and spit Captain Valles’s disgusting corpse to the ground.

I don’t like this foul feeling…… killing a lower species, a human, of all things.

【Title Skill〖Stray Path〗has risen from Lv 8→9.】

Level up all you like.
I don’t plan on being the nice guy today.

【”…… Don’t get used to it, okay? Let me do it for you too”】

That goes without saying.
Well…… it doesn’t really matter either way as long the enemy gets annihilated in the end.
I don’t know what they’re here for, or what they’re after, but…… right now, I don’t want to think of anything else other than bringing down every last one of them to the grave.

“W-We can win this!”
“With Ryujin-sama on our side, we won’t lose!”

The Lithuvar men from my group rally their spears on the rest of the cavalry.
The enemies, who are still in confusion after seeing them lose their captain so instantly like that, all start running frantically.
One of them fell off their horse.

More footsteps approach closer, and together with Partner, we watch each other’s side.

So…… their other guys have caught up then?
One group coming at us from up ahead, and two on both sides. From three sides, they’ve surrounded us.

There are…… roughly 70 of them, I think.
Combined with the current team who attacked us, that makes 80 of them.
It’s a lot more compared to the 50 I felt before.

An army of 80…… and, there are still more of them coming from another direction……
I don’t have time to deal with this group right now.
According to what they said, there’s already a separate army heading to the Lithuvar Tribe’s village directly.

“Looks like we hit the jackpot. Here come the big bad”

A large man with an eyepatch laughingly said, with one side of the pincer already arriving.