One Last System

"We don\'t need to fear it, mkay," Mia muttered in a soft voice, staring at the side of the dragon with a dumb expression on her face.

She then shook her head before fixing herself in a more comfortable position within my arms.

"So if I just close my eyes and wait, it will disappear, right?" Mia spoke nonsense, only to follow her words with actions. And before I could do anything or even reply, she closed her eyes before shoving her face into my chest.

"That\'s the one!" the shouts filled the surrounding.

\'Right, there are still those fuckers,\' I thought, wrapping my arms around Mia\'s feeble body, standing up and ready to drag her away.

\'I helped you, you helped me,\' I thought, looking up at the dragon.

From the top of its neck, its size didn\'t show its true scale. But now that I stood right below it, I had to pull my chin pretty high for my eyes to even reach the dragon\'s head.

"ROAAAAR!"

Tump.

A shockwave coming from the dragon\'s cry struck me squarely in the back, sending me flying a few steps forward.

I only had my own instincts to thank for standing up and saving myself the first-degree meeting between my face and the ground below.

"Yeah, we are definitely getting out of here," I muttered under my nose as I used the momentum from the shockwave to start sprinting right away.

I helped the dragon to heal, the dragon helped me by bringing me near Mia. In other words, our favors are canceled out now. As such, there was no reason for me to stay back and fight with those dragon hunters when I could barely stand on my own two legs!

This lie fueled my pained muscles for several moments. In the end, I managed to carry Mia away all the way to the edge of the forest.

This was a perfect spot to observe the battle between the dragon and its hunters while keeping ourselves hidden and having a good view of the nearby plain. Save for the ambush directly from the forest, no one could approach us without making their presence known to all in the area.

And it was right on the edge of the forest when I stopped.

"Arty?" Mia muttered weakly in my arms, her physical exhaustion mixed with unstable emotions made the girl fall apart in my hold.

\'She should be able to get back in good shape with just a little bit of rest, at the very least,\' I thought, resting the girl\'s back against one of the nearby trees before sending a long look to where the epicenter of the forest rumbling was located.

"I know it doesn\'t involve me anymore..." I muttered, sensing the violent fluctuations of the mana nearby.

They were near the level of what would call for the retribution of the world\'s natural defense system that I observed in my visions. The aftershocks of the battle were near... but didn\'t reach that level yet.

\'Unless they are saving some kind of powerful moves for last, it should be safe to leave them be,\' I thought, analyzing even the option of the fight bringing the natural mana of the world into a state of rampage.

"You want to go, don\'t you?" Nadia muttered in her weak voice, her eyelids heavily lowered over her eyes. Her lips were adorned with a small, accepting smile, as she came to terms with what it meant to be my partner. "Then just go," Mia stated, angling her head to the side and looking up to share her smile with me. "I will simply take a short rest."

Mia reached out with her hand, yet her body proved to be too exhausted to even find my face. Her hand fell down by her side as Mia\'s eyes lost their sparks. Her head fell to the side only to rest on a small branch growing relatively low from the tree I rested her against.

"She\'s just sleeping," I muttered to myself after quickly ensuring her vitals were stable.

Just like I thought, Mia was extremely exhausted but not injured.

"All sorts of reasons push me to meddle in that fight," I muttered to myself as I looked longingly towards the deeper areas of the forest.

Right now, there were no favors between me and that dragon. And while that meant I had no obligation to come to its help now, doing so would push the scale back to my side.

\'But is it worth leaving Nadia to danger again just for the potential prospect of a powerful ally?\'

This was a simple question. One that even a child could answer. Yet, one that I got wrong in the recent past.

"There is no way I will do that," I said out loud, turning around on my heel and then kneeling down by Nadia\'s sleeping body.

Her curves posed no secret to me, allowing my hands to quickly grab her by her knees and back before lifting the girl up and rushing out into the plain.

"Everything will be okay," I whispered into Mia\'s ear as I beelined through the open area of the plain.

With each passing second, the pain in my flesh would grow weaker and weaker, replaced by the dull feeling of overusing my strength.

But right now, I couldn\'t care less.

\'At least I managed to fix all the formations already,\' I thought once a task that I delegated a part of my brain to reached its completion.

I was still out in the open. There didn\'t appear to be anyone chasing me. Yet, for the sake of keeping Mia safe from any danger, I didn\'t hesitate even for a second when raising my mage\'s tower.

This time, however, the stones that I recycled from the three formations I picked for scraps before, now served a single purpose. Dealt with just the problem that my visions made me aware of.

And contrary to how, in the past, my mage\'s tower would keep all the mana locked in the flow, my changed mage\'s tower actively reinforced the space around it, allowing me to operate huge amounts of mana without putting the very fabric of the space at risk!