In Rinascita, dragons, these fantastical creatures did indeed exist.
But Ray had never seen one with his own eyes.
Most people believed dragons were just a fading vestige of past glory, destined to vanish.
Until this moment
Not only did he see one.
But he was also staring into a pair of vertical pupils belonging to the Wyrm, burning with the fires of the abyss.
"...This one means no good."
Ray stared at the shadow in the sky while constantly scanning his surroundings, looking for a place to hide.
But this desolate coast offered nothing besides shipwrecks torn by waves and dark, jagged rocks.
This meant he had nowhere to hide, completely exposed under the dragon's gaze, as clear as ink on white paper.
Apart from defeating it head-on, there seemed to be only one other option....
"Run!"
The thought flashed, and without the slightest hesitation,
Ray spun around and charged out of the temporarily stunned group of Remnants, sprinting with all his might into the distance.
High in the sky, the Dragon let out a roar that tore the heavens. Scorching dragonfire erupted from its ferocious maw, sweeping across the entire coast like apocalyptic rain. The Remnants turned to ash the instant the dragonfire touched them, vanishing without a trace.
Ray didn't look back, but he clearly felt the surging high temperature pressing against his back like a wall of heat.
The dragon roared as it closed in, carrying a suffocating pressure, as if the entire sky was collapsing toward the ground.
He saw the light around him being rapidly swallowed. The massive dragon's shadow spread like a tide, completely drowning the last glimmer of daylight.
'Can't escape.
It's too fast!'
Ray abruptly stopped, turned, and faced the sky-obscuring shadow. Just as the dragon was about to pounce, he leaped into the air, landing precisely on its scaly head.
Without the slightest hesitation, he gripped the sword with both hands, raising it high overhead, and drove it down with all his strength toward the dragon's skull beneath him!
The sword tip and scales collided with a sharp, grating screech, but couldn't penetrate any further.
The dragon's hide was far tougher than imagined; brute force alone couldn't pierce it.
"Tch, where's my Resonance ability?"
"This is the time it should activate! Hurry up and devour this dragon's frequency!"
But no matter how he tried to mobilize it, the power within remained as still as dead water.
Under the sword's edge, the dragon remained unscathed, and the Resonance he had hoped for never appeared.
The dragon violently raised its head, letting out a furious roar. With a sudden, full-body shake, it tried to fling Ray off its head.
Ray clung desperately to the sword hilt wedged between scales with both hands, but he couldn't withstand the terrifying force. He was thrown into the air and slammed heavily onto the beach below.
The soft sand absorbed most of the impact. He staggered to his feet, fortunately unharmed except for his numb, vibrating arms.
"Tch, troublesome."
He quickly tightened his grip on the crystalline Swiftblade, resuming a battle stance as he looked up at the roaring, circling dragon in the sky, his brow deeply furrowed.
'What now?'
His attacks couldn't inflict any damage on it at all.
As his thoughts raced, the dragon opened its maw again. A scorching light gathered in its throat, condensing into a dragonfire capable of incinerating all things, then shot forth!
Where the flames passed, the air twisted and steamed; all matter vanished, as if space itself was collapsing under the burn.
Ray's pupils contracted sharply. Instinct told him to turn and flee, but at the moment of movement, he froze stiff.
His right arm rose on its own, uncontrollably, directly facing the destructive dragonfire!
"What's happening?!"
He desperately tried to pull his arm back but couldn't move it at all.
On the back of his hand, the Tacet Mark was flickering with an unprecedented golden light.
'Could it be...?'
Ray had no time to think. The annihilating dragonfire was already roaring toward him!
He instinctively closed his eyes, but the expected agony of being burned alive never came. Instead, a turbulent, violent gust of wind, carrying sand and stones, swept over him.
He slowly opened his eyes, stunned to see: the dragonfire that should have consumed everything was disintegrating inch by inch right in front of his right hand, turning into countless firefly-like frequencies, all absorbed into his palm.
Only after the last flicker of flame vanished into his palm did the golden Tacet Mark on his hand gradually calm, returning to silence.
"This is... what happened?"
Ray looked at his right hand, his face a mix of shock and disbelief.
Though he had guessed his Resonance ability, he never imagined the activation condition would be so demanding.
It only activates when life and death hang in the balance.
'What if it doesn't activate in time and I die?
Wouldn't that make it pretty useless?'
But right now, Ray had no time to ponder further.
After seeing its breath inexplicably devoured, the Dragon seemed stunned for a moment but quickly reacted. It let out an even more enraged roar and plunged down toward him!
Boom—!!
Just then, several deafening explosions erupted from deep within the island!
Several artillery shells, like scorching meteors, streaked across the sky and crashed precisely onto the dragon's tough scales, exploding into balls of flame.
Though such attacks seemed unlikely to deal fatal damage, they thoroughly ignited its fury.
The dragon let out a heaven-shaking roar, violently beat its wings, and ignoring Ray on the beach, turned and sped toward the direction the shells had come from!
"My, my, sorry we're late."
A clear, cheerful voice came from the thick fog as several figures gradually approached.
Leading them was a young man dressed in captain's attire, with a bright smile on his face.
And beside him was actually... a little girl riding on some sort of box-shaped device with arms.
Their attire was bizarre, almost absurd, completely clashing with the desolate coastal atmosphere.
Ray turned to look, wariness and confusion in his eyes. "Who are you?"
"Allow me to introduce myself," the young man stepped forward and gave a composed bow. "I'm Brant, the director of the Fool's Troupe. This is my first mate, though she's young, she's a very reliable partner."
"H-hello," the little girl greeted shyly. "I'm Roccia."
"We were originally entrusted by Miss Carlotta to meet you at sea," Brant's tone grew slightly more serious, showing a hint of apology. "But the sea suddenly got foggy, and all terminals malfunctioned. We just received Miss Carlotta's emergency coordinates, so we rushed over immediately. We're truly sorry."
"It's fine." Hearing Carlotta's name, Ray relaxed his tense nerves a little. "But, that dragon..."
"Don't worry, that was actually a decoy we set up; no one was there," Brant waved a hand with a laugh. "Before it comes back, why don't we head back to our base? To make up for it, I'd like to offer you some wine I've treasured for years, as our esteemed guest."
"What wine treasured for years..." Roccia, riding on the box, suddenly looked up and deadpanned, exposing him, "didn't you just buy it secretly with the troupe's funds?"
"Uh... haha, you knew about that all along." A flicker of embarrassment crossed Brant's face as he hurriedly straightened his captain's hat. "Let's go, esteemed guest. It's time to head to the Fool's Elysium."
Ray nodded, but as he lifted his foot to follow, he suddenly heard a voice.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Ray suddenly frozen in place, the two walking ahead turned to look at him in unison.
Ray shook his head, asking in confusion,
"Did one of you just say... you were very hungry?"
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Bonus Chapter Alert!
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