Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 49 - 48 - Dumb but Loyal.

The old steel door groaned open.

Creeeeaaaak—

A thick gust of air rushed out, carrying the coppery tang of blood and the acrid sting of burning magic.

Before Rufus, Jessy, Clara, Jake, and Alex could step in, they froze.

CLANG!

WHOOSH!

CRACK!!

The sound of steel crashing against steel echoed up the stairwell, followed by a muffled groan—Raven’s groan.

They could tell his voice apart from all that destruction.

"What the hell...?" Jake muttered, his calm breaking for the first time, his body already moving.

All five bolted down the winding stone stairs, their boots slamming against the cold steps.

Every second brought louder echoes of swords slicing through the air, elemental energy rippling like waves in a storm, and walls shuddering with impacts.

When they reached the bottom—

BOOM!

The iron walls trembled, the ceiling creaking.

It seemed even a large underground prison completely made of iron couldn’t withstand the weight of whatever was happening.

Then, they saw him.

Raven.

He was bloodied, wounded, and breathing hard.

Yet he was standing.

Across from him stood the man from the arena—the silent guard with the emotionless eyes.

He hadn’t said a word even back then, but now his actions spoke volumes.

He was raining hell down upon Raven.

Fwoooosh!

A slash of flaming wind carved through the air.

Whoom!

A small fire tornado rushed toward Raven, intending to swallow him whole.

Bang!

The explosive gust of wind detonated against the floor, sending chips of stone flying as Raven rolled away.

They saw it clearly.

All Raven did was duck, roll, and twist—barely.

That wasn’t his fighting style since he mostly attacked head-on, but he was on the defensive right now.

His left hand was charred black, skin cracked like overcooked meat.

His fingers were twitching as healing magic tried and failed to knit it back together.

It pulsed like it was still burning, and that burn was stopping his hand from completely healing.

That wasn’t all, as the guy kept Raven at a distance.

Whenever Raven tried to close in, the guy would send an aura slash from his sword—a mid-range attack.

Looking at that, they could tell—

Jessy’s eyes widened. "Is that... residual burning? Is he using sixth-circle magic?!"

—That man was a plate-six magic swordsman!

Raven, who knew about the plot, had told them this man was a peak plate five magic swordsman.

No, he believed that to be the truth, and that was why he had started the fight, but who would’ve thought this guy was a plate six?!

"Raven’s only Plate Three..." Clara whispered, her voice tight with disbelief.

He was fighting someone three stages above him.

Raven’s body shimmered with dragon scales—jet black, veined with molten crimson.

His arms, his neck, his chest—they were covered, the scales glinting against the firelight as they blocked fatal blows.

CLANG! CLANG! ZZZRRAK!

Still, he was being pushed back.

His movements were slower now, his footwork sloppier.

His right leg dragged slightly.

His eyes were glassy, his breath ragged.

Each time he evaded, it was by a hair’s breadth.

The fist marks on the ground and the crack on the floor around him told them that, for a while, he had dominated the fight.

He had probably rushed forward, thinking the guy was plate five, but now—

—He was losing.

And if they didn’t do anything, he might die.

Alex didn’t wait for a signal.

"RAAAHHH!"

With a roar, he rushed forward, his eyes wide with rage.

No one stopped him—not this time.

They all followed, blades drawn, spells conjured, and hearts pounding.

They knew they wouldn’t win, but they couldn’t let this go on.

In their minds, they thought that Raven must have a way out of this. No matter how hopeless it looked, they felt there was a chance as long as Raven was alive.

So, they would ensure he stays alive.

No matter what.

Hearing their voice, the guard’s head snapped toward them.

His eyes sharpened.

His mouth moved—for the first time.

"...Interference."

And then, it came.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

’Multicasting!’

A barrage of fireballs—dozens—erupted into the air, spiraling toward them in a formation that split and reformed like a murderous storm.

Jessy rushed forward, shielding everyone from the attack.

Clara and Jake used their speed, getting out of the attack’s range while Rufus dove behind Jessy.

Alex, however, didn’t stop running.

Seeing Alex all bloodied, seemingly on the death’s door, he couldn’t stop.

’No! H-He’s the one who made me realize I was useful!’ He gritted his teeth, taking the fireballs on.

Sizzle!

It burned his skin, his healing not keeping up, but he bore it, not wanting Raven to get hurt more than he already had.

But then—

WHOOOOOOOSH!

An aura blade so dense that it cracked the air shot toward them, Alex the first one to see it.

"Dodge—!" Clara’s voice came, but for Alex, the world had slowed down.

Even if he was dumb, he knew it—if he dodged, one of his friends would be hurt.

His eyes locked on Raven. ’... I need to save him.’

But he couldn’t dodge as it would hurt his friends.

He couldn’t decide what to do, but then—

"You are the strongest, Alex. No matter what, you must protect others when I’m not there."

—Raven’s voice echoed in his head.

He recalled the only serious advice Raven had ever given him, and he knew what he had to do.

More magic attacks followed, each aimed for his friends, but he knew that the most dangerous one was the sword aura.

They could survive the magical attacks, but not this attack, so he closed his eyes.

The others had their eyes wide as they saw Alex not dodging the attack, but soon, their vision was covered by the attacks aimed at them.

They were coming too fast.

They couldn’t avoid it, so they braced for impact.

But then—

SSSSHHHHHHHHK!!

Everything vanished.

All the magical attacks coming at them vanished as if sucked out of existence.

Only wind remained, hitting them square in the face.

They had no time to celebrate as the next second—

BOOM!

Alex’s body whistled past them, slamming into the wall with a bone-cracking THUD!

"Alex!!" Jake shouted.

Jessy, the only one with a recovery pill in her pocket for an emergency, rushed toward Alex, leaving her back to others, and the other turned back to the battlefield, their expression icy.

But then, they froze.

The silent guard—

—was falling.

Like a puppet with its strings cut.

His blade slipped from his fingers.

There was no wound mark on his body—none that they could see—but the moment they saw his eyes devoid of light, they knew he was dead.

Thud!

As he fell, they saw the scene behind him.

It was Raven, on his knees.

Blood pouring from his mouth, his legs shaking.

Yet he looked at them with a sad smile.

His left eye twitched open, gleaming with residual magic, and he rasped out, voice dry but triumphant.

"Took you guys long enough..."

He tried to stand up, gritting his teeth as he could see Alex’s situation, and it didn’t look good.

The deep gash on his chest extending from his shoulder to his torso almost sliced him in half.

The only reason he survived was because the strike’s had powered down considerably when the guard died, and his body, extra-muscular, had absorbed some impact.

But looking at the situation—the way Alex was losing blood—he wouldn’t live if something wasn’t done quickly.

Turning back to the guard, now dead, Raven clenched his fist.

’Things are changing. I shouldn’t completely rely on my knowledge of plot from now on.’

He had soul power, and he could kill people stronger than him, but it wasn’t unstoppable.

He had stunned the guard for a few seconds, but he couldn’t kill him.

At first, he was shocked, but when he saw the guy fight, he realized that the guard was a plate six swordsman, and his soul power didn’t work on them, unless they weren’t focused on him.

That was why, the moment he got the chance, when the guard’s attention turned to his teammates, he attacked, and the result was clear.

"I’m sorry, guys," Raven stood up with great effort, his expression filled with pain, both emotional and physical.

No matter how annoyed he was with Alex, the guy was one of his closest friends, and looking at him writhing around, was too hard for him.

He wanted to scream, rage, and kill every servant in the mansion. He felt like this for the first time—the feeling of wanting revenge—but he couldn’t do anything.

He could barely stand.

Above all, he knew that their priority was to escape.

"Just a few more minutes and we would be safe. Just let me take her out—" He spoke, pointing at the only door in this cellar.

The others nodded, but before he could complete his words or the others could nod, a voice echoed.

"So, you guys were the rats infesting my mansion."

The moment they heard the voice, they knew who it was—the Principal.

They exchanged despair-filled glances, and a single thought passed through their heads.

’Fuck...’