I Planned a Su*cide Mission and Got Kicked Out of the Party

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Walter’s skills were undeniably impressive. The Hero boldly continued his face-off against the Gargoyle Queen, and as the Diamond Fists of the Gargoyle Queen clashed with the Holy Sword multiple times, the standoff between them remained tense.

The Gargoyle Queen’s torso was tougher than any ordinary diamond. Although terrifyingly solid, its shock resistance wasn’t as high as one might expect; unlike regular diamonds, which shatter easily with a strong strike, this intimidating creature was composed of a devilishly resilient material that compensated for such weaknesses.

It was somewhat weak against high heat, like in the Magic Circle of Incendiary Flames, but unlike normal diamonds that would quickly vaporize under intense heat, this monster had excellent heat resistance, allowing it to escape with its life, even in extreme conditions. Essentially, it was like a fortress disguised as a diamond.

Even with Rose Caprice, who could normally smash ordinary diamonds with a punch, there was a reason she struggled against her.

Fortunately, Walter’s Holy Sword, which he had infused with crushed unicorn horn during its forging process, was a completely different entity compared to regular steel, allowing him to continue the melee against the Gargoyle Queen without faltering.

However, time was not on the Hero’s side.

As the Hero’s Holy Sword flickered and began to drain its power, he realized that he had expended too much energy today smashing through the Dragon’s Magic Circle. Just drawing the sword from its sheath consumed its power, meaning that if the sword’s strength diminished, so would the Hero’s overall abilities.

Though a dull iron sword could easily slice through orcs, wielding a flickering Holy Sword against the Gargoyle Queen was a whole different dilemma.

The moment the Gargoyle noticed the Hero’s unstable mana, it charged forward with a powerful headbutt, and Walter felt a palpable threat to his life.

“Damn it…”

Walter murmured, barely managing to withstand the enemy’s charge while feeling his hands tremble. It was truly a perilous situation. The Gargoyle Queen, despite her appearance, was a demon with wings. If the Hero turned his back, she’d come after him immediately with the capacity to finish him off.

Yet, holding his ground was also risky. The Hero slowly backed away toward where a fierce battle between the Dragon and the Wizard party was ongoing, but Rose was too busy darting around, deflecting the White Dragon’s breath attacks, to assist him.

Desperately, the Hero cast side glances at his comrades, seeking help. The first to notice Walter’s crisis and respond was none other than Bernard.

“Come on, just stay still for a second!”

Bernard suddenly jumped out and threw magical binding ropes at one of the Gargoyle Queen’s arms. Caught off guard by the sudden ambush, the Gargoyle found one of her arms restrained like handcuffs and was captured by Bernard.

Walter, taken aback, asked, “What? When did you learn that invisibility spell?”

“What do you take me for? Damn, I’ve been underestimated. When hunting beasts, it’s crucial to conceal your presence!”

“Uh, right. Good job.”

Walter made a somewhat reluctant expression. He was grateful for Bernard’s support but looked surprised to realize just how skilled a hunter he was.

Though Walter might have been okay with it, it was equally baffling that the Gargoyle Queen, despite being a high-ranking officer of the Demon King’s Army, hadn’t noticed a human sneaking up on her. She tried to roughly grab and break free of the rope with her other hand, but the magic binding made it so that even her diamond claws struggled to tear through it.

Bernard drew a portable crossbow with one hand and aimed it at the Gargoyle Queen.

In an instant, three bolts flew toward her. The arrows, as expected, hit her body and bounced off harmlessly, yet she couldn’t completely disregard the impact, as she scowled and growled in annoyance.

Walter used the short window that Bernard had created to try and recharge the Holy Sword’s power by putting it back into its sheath, maintaining an awkward stance from which he could quickly draw it again.

While Bernard wasn’t weak, he certainly had limitations to how long he could maintain this state. Although the binding magic strengthened the ropes, if Bernard couldn’t hold his ground, it would all be for nothing.

The hunter, sweating profusely, turned to Walter. “I can’t hold this position much longer, Hero.”

“Oh, right. Can’t anyone else make it?”

“If Princess Margaret isn’t here, we’re in deep trouble! The situation’s so dire that the Wizards will be wiped out! Even the Fairy Princess is crucial for distracting them. If things get tight, I could call for Lady Margaret, but!”

“No, the Dragon is the priority. Let’s handle this ourselves.”

“Understood. Then I’ll have to let this go…”

The moment Bernard released the ropes, the Gargoyle Queen broke free from the binding magic and snapped the ropes apart. Immediately, Bernard armed himself with a short knife in one hand and the portable crossbow in the other, aiming at the Gargoyle Queen.

Walter was also ready to charge forward with his Holy Sword completely drawn. The sword regained its glow, but he didn’t know when it might dim again. Ultimately, the direction of the battle hinged on how quickly Rose could subdue the Dragon and come to the Hero’s aid.

However, facing that very Dragon didn’t go as smoothly as hoped.

The Crown Princess was utterly exhausted from absorbing all of the Dragon’s breath attacks. Although the flames hadn’t harmed her directly, she was wiped out from constantly rolling around to protect the six surviving Wizards.

“Ma-Margaret, help me!”

Rose gasped as she saved the yellow-robed Wizard from the Dragon’s assault. However, Margaret was too busy dodging and shooting arrows at Etrias to respond properly.

The six slightly dazed Wizards were similarly out of sorts. Capturing the Dragon was challenging due to its sheer weight; using an ordinary amount of mana wouldn’t be enough, and thanks to its innate mana resistance, any attempt to cast spells meant entering into direct mana combat.

Even Jenis, who possessed talent rare enough to only appear once a decade, was being overwhelmingly pushed back in a mana duel against the Dragon’s lesser counterpart, Kraken. No matter how elite the previous battle Wizards were regarded, it was nearly impossible for six of them to subdue a ‘genuine Dragon.’

“Don’t release the binding magic! If it gets free, we’re done for!”

“But how can we attack while maintaining the binding magic? Princess Margaret’s arrows alone won’t deal the finishing blow!”

“Crazy! Just shut up and keep it from getting up! It’s flapping its wings, damn it!”

Etrias, feeling the bindings around her body chafing against her, shook her head vehemently, disrupting the formation of the magic circles. The mana circuits covering the Dragon’s form like a spiderweb were thrown into chaos by its movements.

Etrias had been spinning in circles, continually disrupting the spells binding the Wizards. While she wasn’t completely dominating them to the point of fully taking flight, she wasn’t entirely immobilized either.

The White Dragon, seeking maximum mobility, whipped its head around while unleashing its barrage of breath, swinging its tail to threaten Margaret.

Margaret had no choice but to get closer to ensure the arrows had enough force, but she couldn’t risk the threat of being struck by the Dragon’s tail, so she merely circled around.

“Rose, isn’t there anything we can do about that tail?”

Margaret asked as she briefly entered the danger zone of the Dragon’s tail but quickly retreated. However, if they lost even one more Wizard, the binding magic itself would be threatened. It was too much to ask of Rose, who was already worn out from taking the Dragon’s most threatening breath attacks, to also keep an eye on the tail.

It was like telling a goalkeeper, who was already performing acrobatic saves in a perfect game because all their defenders had been sent off for fouls, to “contribute a bit to the build-up for attack”—a nearly impossible request from a humanitarian standpoint.

“Can’t you just handle that on your own, Your Highness?”

Rose said, gasping after taking another breath attack. With the marks of past injuries starting to show on her face, it seemed the toll was starting to visibly affect her.

The fact that the wounds on Rose’s face had stopped bleeding due to the breath attack was perhaps the only silver lining.

“Ah, yes, I was a bit rude, Your Highness.”

Margaret feigned sweetness as she distanced herself from the Dragon’s tail, but it seemed Rose also felt it was troublesome, growling at the Dragon directly.

“Margaret, we need to engage it closely. This will drag on all day at this rate.”

“You seem to really enjoy rushing into close combat whenever things get tough. Aren’t you a little cowardly?”

“It’s not like we have any other choice!”

“I’ll back you up. Just do everything you can to get closer.”

Approaching the Dragon’s head directly was a high-stakes move even for Rose. She had already suffered severe injuries, rendering her arm useless for three days due to the overwhelming strength of a Dragon’s bite.

It might not sound severe, but that was only because Rose had quickly punched the Dragon’s face and escaped immediately after taking the hit.

If she were to be bitten by a Dragon, Rose couldn’t even guarantee how much damage she would sustain.

Margaret gave up on dodging the tail and stood her ground in front of the Dragon’s face. Where the tail was allowed a little more breathing room, the Wizards, barely holding onto their binding magic, took their place.

As Margaret fired arrows at the Dragon’s face, Rose drew her sword and charged directly at its snout.

Because Margaret aimed precisely at Etrias’s eyes with her arrow, Etrias blinked to deflect the arrow and missed Rose’s charge entirely.

Of course, it wasn’t utterly impossible to evade, but for the Dragon, which had to keep its eyes shut and focus, it couldn’t accurately read which direction Rose swung her sword or where she charged from.

Rose’s first strike landed squarely on the Dragon’s nose. Etrias screeched painfully as blood gushed like a fountain from its snout.

“Dammit! Just because it’s a little tough doesn’t mean it can act all mighty!”

In a continuous stream of pain, the Dragon relinquished all elegance. Mouth agape, Etrias seemed desperate to bite and devour Rose as she got closer.

Abandoning his sword stuck in the Dragon’s nose, Rose jumped back and then leaped upward, smashing her elbow down on the Dragon’s jaw.

The Dragon’s mouth, which had been open, snapped shut with a clench when confronted with Rose’s attack. Margaret could only watch in frustration as Rose and Etrias were trapped in a dynamic movement, unable to act. However, she was just fiddling with her arrows, preparing for a possible call for backup.

Rose had to force the issue. As the only one who could engage in melee with the Gargoyle Queen, she was also the only one who could square off directly against the Dragon.

With the absence of Jeongjae from the Hero party, Rose’s role as a powerful spear, shield, armor, and mental support had risen to absolute necessity.

No matter how capable the Crown Princess was, an hour of combat would take its toll, and Rose, too, faced a series of troubling challenges that were daunting even for her, yet she didn’t complain. She couldn’t afford to.

That was the pride of a Crown Princess. The steadfast pride that made her who she was.

However, that pride soon faced another crisis.

Just when it seemed the Dragon had closed its mouth for good, Etrias opened its jaws fully and charged at Rose.

Rose instinctively sensed that she could not evade this biting attack. She raised her right arm to shield against the Dragon’s attack, and the white dragon, with its powerful jaws, chomped down on her arm, shattering her armor.

The Dragon’s teeth sunk deeply into the Crown Princess’s arm. The crushing force was like turning rebar into dust, yet Rose’s arm was not severed.

The Princess let out a pained grimace and moaned through gritted teeth. “Damn… that hurts…”

A curse that was difficult to hear slipped from Rose’s lips. She managed to suppress a scream, but she feared that this time, her arm might actually be severed.

Of course, the Dragon’s teeth couldn’t cut off Rose’s arm, nor could it break her bones. But the pain from the sharp fangs embedded deeply within her flesh caused her body to convulse.

At that moment, sensing the intense killing intent as the Dragon exerted pressure on her arm, Etrias instinctively recoiled.

Margaret, having understood the situation the moment Rose was bitten, was rushing toward the Dragon with dual swords in both hands, ready to unleash strikes.

The blades of her twin daggers glinted as they reached her feet.

There was one correction to make.

If, like high elves, being hybrid enough to be considered “human,” only Rose could engage the Dragon in close quarters, that statement would be incorrect.

An exceptional being that proved this was currently leaping toward Etrias, wielding four blades before her.