Surviving These Unfair Scenarios [LITRPG - DIMENSION HOPPING]

The moment the system warning flashed before the users, the very ground began to tremble. It was not a violent, sudden quake, but a deep, resonant vibration that seemed to come from the core of the world itself. To the users, the system screen had been a shocking message, but to Arion, it was a terrifyingly familiar sensation.

The ground vibrated with a rhythm that was almost a song, a deep, guttural roar that was joined by hundreds, if not thousands, of others. The air, once filled with the mundane sounds of the settlement, was now thick with the unmistakable roars of dragons, their voices echoing from a great distance but growing louder with every passing second. The effect of the [Dragon Attraction] field was immediate, acting as a powerful, irresistible beacon for every dragon in the vicinity.

Arion's face, which had been so weary and filled with ancient sadness, now contorted into a mask of pure terror. The color drained from his face as his mind and his very soul were gripped by a powerful and raw emotion that he had felt multiple times in the last year: pure, unadulterated fear. He had never forgotten what it felt like to be afraid. He did not forget the raw, gut-wrenching despair of knowing that you were powerless against an unyielding force.

He had spent his final year after the war in this settlement, protecting the last of his kind, but he had never truly forgotten the horror of that day. He had watched as his kingdom was consumed by fire and ash, as his people, his friends, his family, were torn asunder, their souls and bodies consumed by the 'Ashen VoidBlight'. He looked at the faces of the people around him, their expressions filled with confusion and fear, and his heart sank. They did not know what was coming. They had not seen what he had seen. They had not felt the cold, unyielding power of the dragons.

The people of the city, hearing the roar of the dragons, began to panic. A chaotic, desperate panic replaced the peaceful, quiet atmosphere of the settlement. Men and women ran to their homes, their faces filled with a raw, primal terror. Children cried, their parents trying to calm them as they ran, their faces a mask of fear. It was a terrifying sight, a reflection of the utter chaos that had engulfed the world. They were like frightened mice scurrying in a trap.

The users, however, were still frozen in place, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

"What the hell was that!?"

Kazue asked, her voice trembling. Alter Drake, who had been staring at the spot where the system message had appeared, finally spoke, his voice cold and hard.

"The core... The core we gave to the Elder must have been destroyed. There must be a traitor among the refugees."

Arion's head snapped toward him, his eyes filled with rage.

"That makes no sense!"

He roared, his voice filled with a raw, powerful anger.

"No mortal would gain anything from attracting the dragons to our refuge. There is no way to negotiate with them or to reason with them. They do not see us as even sentient beings. They see us as animals, no better than cattle."

During this exchange, Drake's mind raced. He had a profound sense of unease. The system warning had said that a 'Superior Void Dracling Core' had been destroyed, but the Elder had said that the core was a 'Great Void Dracling Core'... He had seen it with his own eyes; the Elder was someone who clearly knew what he was talking about. There was no way he could have confused the two… Was there? But if that was the case, then how could the warning be correct?

He lamented the fact that his [Heavenly Vision] could only give him information about other characters and not about objects, but before he could say a single word about it, the ceiling of the refuge began to crack, and a wave of dust and rubble fell from above, followed by hundreds of roars.

It was clear that the dragons had begun a massive siege on the settlement. The mountain above them, once a symbol of unyielding safety, had become a prison. The ground trembled with a rhythmic, bone-shaking force as hundreds of colossal bodies slammed against the stone.

Dust and small fragments of rock rained down from the ceiling, and the constant, deafening roar of the Draclings was a physical presence that pressed in on all sides. It was only a matter of time until the mountain gave way, and they were all buried alive, or worse, exposed to the monsters that were clawing their way through the stone. Arion, seeing the futility of it all, ran with superhuman speed and agility, his body a blur of motion as he gave the order to every soldier and guard he could find: they had to protect the civilians.

But as he ran, his mind was filled with a new, horrifying realization, and he stopped dead in his tracks. He had been running all this time. He had been running from the dragons, from the memories of his fallen kingdom, and he had been running from the truth. What for? There was nowhere to run. There was no escape. He had failed once, and now, he was about to fail again. They could not survive now that the dragons had found them, so why prolong the inevitable?

On the other hand, on the same spot as before, alter Drake was shouting at his team, telling them to split up immediately and rescue as many civilians as they could.

"Try to get the location of Vharzun's palace from them!"

He screamed over the roaring of the dragons.

"We have to get that information before it's too late!"

However, after these orders, Kazue yelled at him, her voice filled with a powerful conviction.

"This isn't the time to ask questions! We have to save everyone we can!"

Alter Kazue immediately answered with a heavy scream, her voice filled with a raw, powerful anger.

"Don't you get it, you idiot!? We're not saving anyone! Our mission is to 'rescue' them so that they can give us information! They are no use to us dead!"

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Alter Drake, with his expression as flat as ever, simply nodded in agreement.

"She's right. As soon as we have the information we need, we will get out of here immediately. We will use the chaos to our advantage and leave without risking a direct confrontation."

He said, as everyone in the 'Black Phoenix' team nodded. But as they were about to separate, Drake let out a furious roar that shook the very ground.

"Stop!"

He screamed, the sound echoing through the cave. He was shaking with a raw, primal rage, and his eyes were filled with a terrifying, unyielding determination.

"We will not do that!"

Alter Drake looked at him, a flicker of impatience in his eyes.

"This is the only way we can get information, you fool! You want to save your friend, don't you? Then this is the only way!"

He screamed, clearly annoyed.

"No, it's not!"

Drake screamed back.

"We can save everyone! Even if they're just 'characters in a scenario', I'm not leaving them behind! I would rather risk it to try to save them than live with the fact that I abandoned them! … If we are truly the same person, then you would understand what I'm talking about!"

As Drake screamed, the Empress, in the body of Adam, looked at him with wide, shocked eyes, as if she could not believe what she was hearing.

Immediately after these words, the members of the 'No Name' team, without a word, turned and began to run toward the secret tunnel entrance. The rest of the 'Black Phoenix' team, however, stood frozen, looking at alter Drake with a mix of confusion and disbelief. They couldn't believe what they were seeing; the other team was running to their doom, to a fight they couldn't possibly win, and they were supposed to just stand there and let it happen.

Alter Drake, meanwhile, was rubbing his head with both hands, his face contorted in a mask of pure fury.

"I can't believe this!"

He roared, a guttural sound that was filled with a raw, powerful emotion.

"I can't believe he's doing this! He's going to get himself killed, and he's going to get us all killed afterward!"

He looked at his team, his eyes filled with rage.

"We're going with them! I don't care what you think! If those idiots go out there, they will only reveal the entrance to the dragons, and we will be overrun. We'll be buried alive if we don't follow them!"

The members of the 'Black Phoenix' team, despite their hesitation, looked at one another with conflicted expressions. But alter Drake's words had already decided for them. He was right; if the others went outside, they would draw the dragons' full attention and lead them straight to the settlement. Staying behind was a death sentence, so with a collective, reluctant nod, they followed the 'No Name' team, their pace quick and their expressions grim.

Arion, who was running through the crowd of panicked refugees, also saw this. His eyes were wide with a mix of shock and awe. He had been a part of many wars, and he had seen many heroes. But these people... they were something else. Who were these complete strangers? What were they trying to do?

In his mind, he saw the faces of brave soldiers, heroes, and allies who also thought they could protect their people against the dragons. He saw their desperate, defiant faces, their last words echoing in his mind as they ran out to fight. They had all gone out, only to never return… He had no reason to believe that these people would succeed where all others had failed. But even as his mind told him to stay, to protect the last remnants of his people, his heart, a thing he thought had long since turned to stone, beat with a new, powerful rhythm. A voice inside him, a voice he had long since silenced, screamed at him to go, to fight, to not let the death of his people be in vain. He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and with a final, furious roar that was a mix of rage and a raw, primal hope, he ran after them.

The groups ran through the secret tunnel, their footsteps a frantic rhythm against the hard stone. The air, once damp and still, grew colder as they approached the exit, a growing sense of dread settling over them. As they emerged into the outside world, their mouths opened in shock, their faces went pale, and their hearts sank into the pit of their stomachs… The sun itself had been devoured by a colossal, living shadow. A thick, black cloak of hundreds upon hundreds of Draclings blotted out the sky, their leathery wings beating in a slow, ominous rhythm that sent a chill down their spines.

But that was not the worst of it. Flying relatively close, so vast and imposing that it made the mountain behind them look like a simple hill, was a gigantic dragon that was eerily similar to Zorvhael. Its form was brutish and massive, its scales jagged like black iron armor. Its fangs protrude even when its jaws were closed, each one glistening with a faint poison sheen. Its wings are shorter but thicker, built for brutal dives rather than long flights, and its claws are as long as spears. Its eyes are a cold yellow, filled with hunger and primal instinct.

As the 'No Name' team was the first to emerge, their expressions were a mix of horrified disbelief and fear. Kazue's eyes widened, and a gasp of pure terror escaped her lips as she looked up at the overwhelming sight, while Drake, his face pale, stood frozen in place, his mind trying to comprehend the sheer scale of the assault.

They were followed by the 'Black Phoenix' team, who didn't fare much better, their faces a mask of grim resignation, for this was what they had expected all along. Teo simply shook his head, a wry, mocking smile on his face, while alter Drake's expression was cold and unreadable, as if he were already calculating their odds of survival.

Finally, Arion emerged, his face a mixture of defiance and resignation, staring at the sheer, unyielding reality of the situation. They were just lambs being led to the slaughter.

Drake, without a moment of hesitation, activated his [Heavenly Vision] on the colossal dragon, only to be met with a cold, horrifying truth.

They tried to run back, but it was already too late. A multitude of shadows shot down from the sky with impossible speed and with such impact strength that it felt less like an attack and more like the end of the world. Each shadow hit the ground with the force of a meteor, and the earth itself gave way under the sheer power of the blows.

The ground was torn apart, ripped asunder as a massive landslide of dust and rock was sent flying into the air, covering everyone in a blinding, suffocating cloud of debris. The chaos was instantaneous and absolute, and the groups, which had just come out of a cave, were now separated and thrown into a living nightmare. They all tried to move as fast as they could, but the force of the avalanche was too great, and they were all carried away in a massive wave of dirt and rocks.

However, a few of them, by only their own physical prowess, or maybe just sheer chance, found themselves together. Drake, alter Drake, Arion, and, surprisingly, Falk, were left standing in the middle of a destroyed landscape as the figure of Dravhark descended slowly, with his deep, rumbling laughter echoing through the air like thunder.