The moment he opened his eyes, Ziger Phil saw the sky had completely darkened.
A crescent moon hung in a night sky dotted with only faint starlight, providing him with the most basic illumination. Beyond that, his eyes saw only darkness.
(...I didn't die?)
Moving his limbs to confirm his life was still firmly in his grasp, Ziger sat up from the sticky liquid beneath him. He carelessly tore off his soaked clothes while his eyes scanned his surroundings.
The sight that met his eyes could only be described as utter devastation.
Whether he looked left or right, his gaze fell upon corpses, a piled mess of blood, flesh, and bone—of course, they weren't human corpses. Ziger had fought these corpses earlier and knew exactly whose remains they were.
"Survived against ten lower dragons, huh? My life is really tough."
Dragons.
That was the name these corpses had in life. They were an ancient race of demonic blood, possessing strength and physiques far surpassing ordinary humans. Their ferocity exceeded any beast in the world. They were natural predators, with the fundamental instincts to attack towns or hunt humans, the natural enemies of mankind.
Since ancient times, humans had been deeply troubled by dragon attacks.
But dragonkind was not an invincible existence. Among humans, there was a small group who not only did not fear dragons but saw them as prey, calling themselves Dragon Hunters.
Ziger was a Dragon Hunter.
However, unlike those registered hunters who worked in groups within guilds, Ziger was merely a self-proclaimed Dragon Hunter—but to him, it didn't matter. Whether official or fake, a Dragon Hunter who could kill dragons was a good Dragon Hunter.
Using his eyes to confirm once more that there were no living dragons around, Ziger casually sat down on a relatively un-shattered rock. "There should still be a long time until dawn. No need to worry about these corpses being burned away."
The biggest reason Dragon Hunters could hunt dragonkind was that their weaknesses were widely known.
The first was Sunlight. Direct exposure from the sun inflicted fatal-level damage to dragonkind. For the lowest tier, the Lower Dragons—the ones surrounding Ziger—being exposed to sunlight would instantly turn them to ash. According to the oldest Dragon Hunters' methods, they used various large contraptions to capture dragons and then dragged them until sunrise, letting the sun burn them to death.
Therefore, dragon activity generally occurred at night.
The second was Silver. Not ordinary silver, but an extremely special metal that emitted something called Silver Qi. For dragons, Silver Qi was also their natural enemy. It could freeze a dragon's blood, enabling its slaying. Again, taking Lower Dragons as an example, if struck by a silver weapon, they would be frozen on the spot and subsequently shattered.
In this era, every Dragon Hunter carried silver weapons. It was the standard of standards, something even children knew.
"Let me see... found it, here."
Spotting a weapon hilt among a pile of flesh, Ziger went over and pulled out the silver sword he had used for several years. But perhaps because it had been used for years, or perhaps due to a lack of maintenance, the silver sword was broken in half.
"Broke, well, that's normal. Felt something was off a couple days ago... Oh well, let's eat first."
For ordinary Dragon Hunters, the silver sword was their foundation, their only weapon against dragonkind. If a silver sword or other silver weapon was damaged, they would spend a great deal to replace it with a new one. But Ziger was somewhat different from ordinary Dragon Hunters; the silver sword was not his only means of killing dragons.
If a reason had to be given—
Whoosh!
A ball of flame abruptly ignited in Ziger's hand.
Stabbing the broken silver sword into a chunk of flesh and holding it over the flame in his palm, Ziger began roasting dragon meat amidst a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
If others saw this, they would surely be scared half to death by Ziger's actions. After all, eating dragon meat was something normal people wouldn't even consider. Bread, cake, and all sorts of other meats were so delicious; there was simply no need to risk tasting dragon meat.
But for Ziger, this was his dinner.
Ziger Phil was an orphan.
At age 1, his birth mother died. The cause: a fire in her room while she slept.
At age 3, the father who raised him died. The cause: an accidental fire while preparing dinner. Their home burned down along with it, and he lost both parents from that point on.
At age 5, the village chief's family who took him in also died. The cause: again, a fire.
At age 7, the entire village he lived in was destroyed. This time, it wasn't due to fire, but a dragon attack. Fortunately, a Dragon Hunter arrived late, and Ziger, the sole survivor, lived with that uncle.
At age 11, the Dragon Hunter uncle also died, eaten whole by a dragon during a hunt due to carelessness. After that, Ziger found the silver sword the uncle left behind, took it upon himself to inherit it, and began his self-proclaimed life as a Dragon Hunter. It had been roughly five years to this day.
For five years, Ziger had not approached humans or towns. After all, every place he lived was destroyed by fire. For safety's sake, it was best for a walking calamity like him to wander the wilderness. Ever since his first victory against a Lower Dragon five years ago, and then eating an entire Lower Dragon when he was starving, Ziger began this life of killing and eating dragons.
Flames were something he discovered the third time he ate dragon meat. Having eaten cold, dead dragon meat twice, Ziger wanted to taste hot, roasted meat—and then flames burst from his palm.
Even now, he still didn't understand how he produced the flames. From Ziger's feeling, it seemed like a matter of thought. But Ziger himself wasn't good at thinking too much. If it helped him roast meat, it was good. If he could raise the temperature, then he could also use it in killing dragons.
Since that was the case, Ziger had no questions.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle~~~~
Under the scorching flames, the dragon meat, covered with a thin layer of frost, immediately emitted the aroma of roasted meat. The reason meat was always loved was that once cooked, even without seasoning, it was delicious—including dragon meat, which few had tried eating.
"Mmm!"
Taking a big bite directly, Ziger chewed the chunk of meat roughly while tossing other chunks together and throwing a handful of fire onto the pile.
Whoosh!
Flames enveloped all the meat chunks, beginning to roast them in a manner fit for incineration.
To be reasonable, it was somewhat wasteful. But Ziger never cared about waste. There were plenty of Lower Dragon corpses around. Burning them in a pile like this could also serve as a bonfire. The night was quite dark.
As Ziger sat before the makeshift bonfire, eating large mouthfuls of dragon meat...
"Hmm? That... is that a shooting star?"
A streak of light suddenly appeared in the sky, racing across the heavens.
Ziger had no schooling, only knowing bits of knowledge from that Dragon Hunter uncle. In his understanding, a shooting star was a rock falling from the sky. According to some young men and women, making a wish on a shooting star was a romantic thing, and the wish might even come true.
Ziger truly didn't understand what was romantic about that. It was just a broken rock falling from the sky. How could it grant wishes?
(If it really could grant wishes... would I be living this half-dead life?)
When he was little, Ziger used to make wishes.
But after his dad died, he stopped. Wishing didn't even bring psychological comfort.
If he had to make a wish now, he'd rather wish for this shooting star to smash a few Lower Dragons to death, letting him go pick up some reserve rations—winter was approaching, and he needed to find a place to hibernate too.
And then...
Confirming previous host deceased. Based on emergency protocols, beginning search for next host.
Detecting thought meeting standards. Attempting contact.
As if projected directly into his mind, a certain girl's voice rang in Ziger's head.
Greetings. I am the support AI for the Dragon Slayer System—Brynhildr.
Warrior aspiring to slay dragons, do you require support in dragon-slaying matters?
Ziger Phil: "...Who's speaking?"