28 The magic circle

Vladimir stared coldly at the lifeless body on the ground. A metallic smell emanated from the drops of blood that were contstantly flowing from the greatsword in his hand...

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'If I didn't manage to calm myself down by manipulating forcefully my mana, I would be the one lying down on the ground now.....Luckily, he gave me enough time with his babling to restore my power as well as a chance to catch him off guard. The only thing I had to do in the end was just to avoid his strike by moving my head below his sword's trajectory and stab him in his gut... ' the youth thought and turned his head behind to look at the remaining knights who were still kneeling down.

Their expressions made him want to sigh, but he restrained himself and opened his mouth

"I will tell you now how to return to your original state, but before this I have to warn you that if anyone of you wants to seek revenge, he has to wait until we go back to the Order. Don't worry since I don't plan to back off from any challenge, but I don't plan to show mercy on anyone either who has the nerve to avenge this bastard. Now, I will explain to you how you can...."

Vladimir hurriedly told them the method that he had used to escape the influence of the dragon's aura without hiding anything from them, but at the same time he raised his guard in case that the words he had said before would be ignored.

The first one that managed to stand up was as expected Maria. She looked strangely at the youth before moving her head towards the man that was once one of her most trusted subordinates. She slowly closed her eyes and prayed silently before opening them again. She wasn't stupid, neither was anyone other here. They all understood that since Hanks dared to attempt committing a crime in front of them, he didn't plan to leave any witness alive.

Maria waited until even the last man stood up and only then did she begin talking

"Let's not talk about what happened now, don't forget that we are still in danger. We don't know when the dragon will wake up, but considering that it is still sleeping despite the previous fuss, we can assume that as long as we don't do anything stupid we can still investigate safely. That being said, it is hard to believe that the frequent incidents that happen from time to time in the forest have nothing to do with the creature in front of us. We'll look around, but no matter what, don't touch anything."the young woman said with a quiet voice

"Yes Ma'am" the knights answered in unison

The group started to look around carefully as quickly as they could. The existence of a huge dragon near to them was enough to almost make them go crazy. Vladimir wasn't an exception. If he wasn't worried about the well-being of John, he didn't know if he could handle this pressure. He even started to use water magic so that he could control better his emotions. His efforts didn't go in waste in the end as he noticed something peculiar...

"Commander! It seems that there is a cave behind the dragon" the youth hurriedly shouted

"It must be it's lair.." Maria muttered and then fell silent. After organising her thoughts she opened her mouth again.

"Alright! Me, Vladimir, Eric and Claudia will proceed to investigate inside the cave. The rest are to return and report our findings to the princess"

"Commander, I think it's reckless to enter into the cave. There is a risk that the dragon will wake up!" Claudia desperately said.

Because of the Imperial Academy there were all lot of female knights and magicians in the Empire and the Order of the Red Rose wasn't an exception. Claudia was a gratuate of the Academy, as well as a good friend of the deceased Hanks.

"No... As long as we don't touch anything or try to damage the lair we should be safe. The Woodman House has some information about the idiosyncrasy of the dragons, so I am confident in my conjecture. In their mind, we are not different than ants, so there is no way it will disrupt it's sleep for us"she answered with some hesitation, but she couldn't back down now. The survival of her men depended on her, so she could only grit her teeth and move forward.

"Let's go"

*******

When Vladimir entered inside, he was stunned from what he saw. There were countless gold coins, items, even some ancient books in front of him, but what really caught his attention were some stones that their mana was actually colorless!

'This... How it's possible?'

"I think that I might have found the cause of the incidents" a melodious voice suddenly awoke him from his stupor. The youth didn't bother to turn his head as he had already known what she was talking about... After all, he was looking at the same direction.

Below the stones, there was an enormous magic circle that emitted a powerful energy. Vladimir didn't need to be a magician to understand what this energy was. What else could it be other than mana..

'This isn't something that can be created by a human. Was it the dragon? No, it can only be the dragon. But for what reason?'

The youth couldn't understand why a prideful existence like a dragon would actually use magic on humans. It didn't make sense no matter how hard he thought.

'It doesn't matter what this magic's purpose is, it doesn't change the fact that I have to destroy it. Even if I have to confront a dragon..... Isn't a little too quiet? What are the others doing?'

Unfortunately, neither him nor Maria noticed in time that something was off. The spectatle of so much wealth wasn't something that anyone could just ignore. The moment that Eric and Claudia saw the gold coins, they couldn't contain the greediness in their hearts. Inspite of the fact that they knew that they couldn't touch anything, they still approached them....

When Vladimir saw Eric's hand ready to touch a gold coin, he tried immediately to shout but it was too late....

One second.... Only one second later...

In front of Vladimir, only Eric's armor had remained. His body had already been dematerialised, just like that.

"You are next"a thunderous voice suddenly sounded. He didn't even have the chance to turn around and Claudia had already disappeared from this world. Only her equipment was visible, fallen on the ground.

"One of you will become my food, the other can leave, you have ten seconds to decide. Ten, nine, eight..."

""I'll do it"" both Vladimir and Maria shouted at the same time.

"Five, four, three...."

"I' ll do it. I am a man after all" Vladimir desperately said

"No, I am the Commander, I'll do it" the black haired woman didn't back down and immediately shouted.

"Two, one, zero... You didn't decide so you'll both die here"