Dragon's Roar: This Game's Weakest Unit Wants to Avoid Apocalypse

The first fight of the four duels definitely lasted longer than anyone expected.

Neither Edmund nor Cecilya wanted to lose. Edmund fought to maintain his spot in the S class, while Cecilya sought victory to be promoted to the best class.

"That girl sure seems to be matching the poor guy," Cole said, notebook in hand as he scribbled down notes on what was happening.

"It's like that with every class, though," I said. "The top students of a lower class are usually closest in power to the ones directly above them."

"That's why I'm scared to fight Ximuss," Atro added, sighing in defeat as he slouched in his seat.

"You three, for example..." I pointed at Kaida, Yani, and Tirino. "You're the top three of the E class, which means you all have a chance to challenge a D class student and earn points for promotion."

"But power isn't everything when it comes to placements," Yani added with a smirk.

She was right — and Theo was the greatest example of that. He'd earned the top spot thanks to his academic talent, despite being pretty underwhelming when it came to strength.

By all means, Fran or Cecil should be the top student if it were based solely on strength.

Meanwhile, the fight between Cecilya and Edmund raged on in the background.

Edmund's armor and shield were covered in scratches and dents from Cecilya's relentless attacks. His helmet had flown off hours ago, revealing his tired, panting face.

"Ugh... this is so embarrassing..." Edmund muttered, glancing toward the stands. Most students had stopped paying attention to the duel and were chatting among themselves.

His opponent wasn't faring much better. Her uniform had several cuts that revealed the skin and scales beneath, and her scales vibrated from being used as a shield so much during the battle.

Edmund clearly had it rough. He was uncomfortable attacking a lizard demi-human — slashing at her with his sword meant tearing her clothes, which he didn't like at all.

Blushing, Edmund averted his gaze from the holes he'd made in her uniform. Luckily for him, he could pass off his red face as exertion from the fight.

"This fight is going on for too long, eh?" The demi-human said in between heavy breathes. She gripped her lance tightly.

Edmund sighed. He was trained by higher ranked in the S class, yet was struggling against her.

"It's my own fault for not being good enough" Edmund breathed out. He threw his shield away and gripped his short, straight sword.

"No shield, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. I still have my hard scales to protectme and parry your attacks. And with my spear, I win the battle of ranges" Cecilya said with a blank expression that was broken off by a faint smirk.

Edmund felt a shiver run down his spine as he saw the lizard eyes of the girl get smaller, making her expression feel scarier, as if she were a predator in front of her pray.

"This is such a close fight," Cole said. He was probably one of the few students still watching the duel intently.

"A-Alen..." Kaida tugged at my sleeve, whispering my name. "I-is Atro's fight going to be this hard?" she asked, her cheeks a deep red.

"Definitely harder than this. Not only is Ximuss stronger than Cecilya, but Atro is weaker than Edmund," I answered, crossing my arms as I looked at Atro.

"You also have to consider that Edmund and Cecilya are really close in strength, even though he's ranked eighteenth and she's ranked third. They're separated by five ranks, but they're still evenly matched," Yani added casually, reminding me how quick she was at figuring things out.

There was a reason she was the only starting character who could keep up with Kaida in the story. As long as you kept Yani alive, she would stay close in rank with Kaida throughout the whole story, even as other starting units like Cole or Tirino started falling off and become irrelevant when the difficulty rose.

"That's true..."

Yani's comment opened up a thought I'd been avoiding.

Why was Ximuss put up to duel Atro?

If Cecilya could challenge someone five ranks above her and still hold her own, then Ximuss could have challenged the student ranked seventeenth in the S class.

But there was only one rank separating Atro and Ximuss, compared to the others who had bigger gaps.

I didn't know how the other duels were arranged beyond this duel and Atro's fight. The only matches left were between ranks two and four in the A class and ranks seventeen and nineteen in the S class.

If the A class rank four was challenging the S class rank seventeen, that would mean a gap of seven ranks. That was insane! There was no way that could happen under normal circumstances.

"Is something wrong, Atro?" Kaida asked, her worried expression snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Ah, no. Nothing..." I shook my head slowly.

Kaida gave me one last look before turning back to the arena — only to find someone stepping in front of her and stopping right in front of me.

"There you are!" An elven girl with light green hair stood before me, resting a hand on her chest and smirking.

"Tarian?" I asked.

Tarian Ebenly, an elven noble and my classmate in the dungeon exploration class. She'd helped me a bit when I struggled to reach the second magical circle.

"Mhm," she nodded proudly. "The one and only."

"What are you doing here?" Yani asked, as people nearby turned their attention to us.

"I came to have my classmate tell me some encouraging words. Why else?" Tarian said casually, closing her eyes and crossing her arms.

"Huh!? You're gonna fight?" Tirino asked in his usual raspy tone.

"Exactly, my disgusting fan!" Tarian said, her voice elegant yet careless.

"Huh!? Fan!? I'd never—!" Tirino shot up, cheeks red as he denied it.

"No need to be so shy about it. I know everyone who follows me around," Tarian said, patting Tirino's shoulder and giving him a thumbs up. "You shouldn't be embarrassed to like someone as beautiful as me."

Tirino flinched and blushed even harder. He spent a few long seconds trying to get any words out, but his stutter made him fail.

"Now, Alen. As you probably know, I'm ranked two in the A class, and I'll be dueling the S class student ranked nineteen," Tarian explained, ignoring Tirino's flustered mumbling.

"I've already received words of encouragement from everyone — friends, fans, classmates — to win my duel and ascend to the S class."

Everyone went silent for a moment, trying to process what the elf girl was saying.

"Even him..." She pointed at Tirino. "He gave me a letter wishing me good luck."

We all slowly turned to look at the trembling Tirino.

"Don't worry, I read your letter, and I appreciate your kind words. I'm glad to have fans like you."

Tirino tried to deny it, but only a series of "I-I" and "T-that's" came out.

"Well, I'm waiting..." Tarian kept her chin high, her confident smile unwavering.

"Uhh... good luck? I hope you win," I said, confused.

Tarian huffed and nodded proudly. "Thanks for your support, Alen."

With that, she turned and walked away.

A heavy, uncomfortable silence lingered among us.

I felt Yani's arm slide behind me as she poked Kaida's side.

"Y-Yani!" Kaida squeaked, slapping Yani's hand away. Her face, a deep red, contrasted nicely with her pink hair and yellow eyes.

Yani laughed and sighed. "Oh, man. Alen, you have the weirdest connections."

"Huh? I don't think it's weird that she approached me. She even said she asked other people too," I said, raising an eyebrow. I didn't remember Tarian being someone with a reputation like Fran's or Kaida's.

"Hmmm... I do wonder..." Yani closed her eyes, swaying her head from side to side with a smile.

So Tarian was fighting the one ranked nineteen in the S class...

That meant the A class rank four would challenge the S class rank seventeen.

Something was going on here. You couldn't normally challenge people so far ahead of your rank.

I could guess why Ximuss wanted to fight Atro. He'd hated me for taking a spot in the S class at the last second, which had demoted him to the A class. He'd been denied a duel against me on one of the first days.

At first, I thought he'd challenge me daily or at least be antagonistic toward me. But he'd simply faded away, staying in his lane while I stayed in mine.

But now that he could finally challenge someone, he chose Atro — the one my friends and I had trained.

...

Silence settled once again as I became lost in my own thoughts, Kaida blushed and looked away, Yani slowly shook her head, Cole kept watxhithe duel develop, and Tirimo finally sat down.

"So... a fan who sends letters? I never thought of you like that, Tirino" Yani said, loudly enough for all of us to hear.

Turino visibly tensed up and started explaining himself with a shaky voice and a deep, embarrassed blush on his face.