"Fire!"

The moment Max spoke those words, Mia opened her mouth.

Lightning danced in her mouth, and a deafening blast that drowned out all other noises was unleashed.

Bam!

An electric arc as thick as a tree shot out from Mia's mouth, and towards the direction that Max had set!

At the opposing end of the electric arc, the adventurer appeared!

"La la la, I want to buy a big house, upgrade my ballista, and..."

Carvella hummed a merry tune, as she happily skipped forward.

Dismembering two Dragon Hatchlings would bring her a huge amount of wealth, and it would provide her with a long period of financial relief.

In the next moment, however, a strong flash of light drowned her vision.

Even in death, she did not understand where the light had come from. She assumed that it was God punishing her for all the bad deeds that she had done.

"Phew~"

Max let out a long sigh of relief and stared at the scene before him.

After ensuring that the adventurer was truly dead, his body visibly relaxed.

The adventurer had turned into a piece of charcoal.

Had Max not seen how she looked like back when she was alive and kicking, he definitely would not have identified her as a human being.

She was charred so badly that she no longer seemed edible.

"Let's go, Mia. We're going home."

Even though they had already taken care of their pursuer, Max dared not linger in the desert for a second longer.

After all, humans were one of the hardest species to deal with. Humans always fought in groups.

Max would not naively believe that by taking care of one human, his pursuers would stop giving chase. Rather, he believed that it was more likely that her compatriots would seek to avenge her.

Mia obediently followed behind Max. Before she left, she took another look at the wreckage. That piece of black material was edible, and it was full of nutrients.

However, since her brother was not interested in it and did not order her to eat it, Mia decided not to dwell on it. She followed her brother obediently.

...

"Damn it, why did another one appear!"

Max did not even take two steps before spotting a huge figure walking out of the desert.

The man was huge, even by dragon standards.

It was a two-meter-tall human swordsman.

On his shoulder was a giant greatsword the size of a door. The sword was silvery-white, and only the hilt had an eye-catching ruby embedded in it.

"Wow! A ruby!"

Mia's eyes widened when she saw the ruby.

To a qualified dragon, the treasures in their cave meant everything to them.

To dragons, the treasures in their caves were more important than their own lives!

Upon spotting the light emitted by the ruby, she immediately forgot her hunger and fatigue. She had lost control of her body as she ran forward as if she was in a trance...

"Come back! I'll buy you a box of this crap!"

Max grabbed Mia's wings and brought her back.

Max had inferred the warrior's way of fighting via Mia's reaction.

The greatsword that the warrior carried was polished like a smooth mirror, and the ruby embedded in it was imbued with light magic that made it stand out.

The combination of effects had made it an irresistible temptation to any Red Dragon!

However, if any dragon were to fall for the bait, the human swordsman would mercilessly slice off the head of those dragons.

Since Max had great physical strength, picking up Mia was as easy as picking up a chick.

Mia's eyes were lifeless. Her legs were still dangling in the air, and she was still puffing forward.

This was the hypnotic effect of the Ruby Greatsword. 

It had an irresistible allure to Red Dragons.

Max was at a loss at what to do. He tried everything in his arsenal of human memories to snap Mia back to reality, but to no avail.

"Fine, I'll head back then. I don't need you anymore, Mia."

"NOOOO!"

Mia was shocked. Her eyes focused again, and tears welled up in her eyes.

Seeing that Mia had returned to normal, Max did not have time to explain. He said firmly, "Close your eyes!"

The reason why he wanted Mia to close her eyes was because he was afraid that Mia would take the initiative to aim. Max had already seen how bad Mia's aim was.

Using the same trick, Max turned Mia's head again. He adjusted the "trajectory" and aimed at the human warrior.

"Fire!"

With a whoosh, a bolt of Lightning Breath shot towards the human warrior.

Normally, even the dragon breath of a young dragon would be highly lethal. It was not something an ordinary person could withstand, not to mention Mia was extremely talented in magic.

However, the warrior was no ordinary human.

The following scene had left Max speechless.

The human swordsman did not dodge, and instead, he held his greatsword in front of him.

The Lightning Breath that hit the greatsword instantly dispersed.

"What the hell is that?"

Max was a little confused. 'What kind of steel does this world have that's capable of dispersing a Red Dragon's lightning?'

'Something's wrong. Even if the sword had conducted the electricity elsewhere, it would still hurt the person holding it, right?' 

The human swordsman was not affected at all. He picked up his greatsword again and made his way over leisurely.

Max narrowed his eyes and stared at the giant sword. He saw the magic runes that were carved on the greatsword.

[ Lightning Immunity Rune ]

[ Ruby Light Amplification Rune ]

[ Illusion Immunity Rune ]

...

Max's ancestors' memories had informed him of what runes were.

They were powerful carvings that were imbued with a great amount of magic.

They were capable of bestowing weapons, armor, or other items with extremely powerful attributes.

Generally speaking, a weapon that contained a single rune was worthy of becoming a treasure. Even dragons would collect such a weapon to fill up their treasury.

However, there were three runes engraved on the greatsword.

Their functions were to enhance the ruby's light, to allow the blade to block lightning, and to prevent the wielder from being affected by illusions.

'Ruby, illusions, and lightning.'

'This combination..'

'Why is it so specific...'

Fortunately, the human swordsman was wearing heavy plate armor, and due to how heavy the greatsword was, he moved rather slowly.

This gave Max ample time to read its engravings.

At the bottom of the blade, Max found the sword's name engraved there.

[ Red Dragon Slayer ]