This adventurer is overly righteous.

"Once the fire goes out, that guy will rush in and eat us up."

What sustains the flames is Kroya's magic power. Even though he controls the size of the flames to slow down the rate at which they consume magic power, the total amount of magic power stored in Kroya's body is still gradually decreasing.

If it weren't for the divine blessing that allowed Kroya to recover magic much faster than ordinary people, the flames would have quickly exhausted Kroya's nearly depleted magic power.

However, even so, the situation was not optimistic, and Logan looked terrified.

"I'd rather you break my neck than eat me." Logan said with a mournful face. This time, he was the one who wanted to die. "At least it's better than being bitten to death, and maybe someone from the Adventurers' Guild nearby will come to save you after hearing the news of my death."

"No." Kroya refused decisively and said very seriously, "Think about it, Logan. How much suffering you and I endured to escape from there. Don't you feel it's a pity that we've failed now? I could have ended your life with an arrow there, but I held on until now to save you. Don't let my efforts go to waste. Don't give up on survival because of fear."

"Damn it, why do you care about my life more than I do...?" Logan was on the verge of tears, but he noticed that Kroya seemed to remain calm, so he asked, "So, do you have any other plans?"

"Throw this thing out." Kroya weighed his still-beating heart in his hand. He was now certain that this was the thing that had attracted the Steel Swamp Dragon. "That guy will probably rush over and snatch it like a dog, and then we'll take the opportunity to escape."

Although the Steel Swamp Dragon might transform into an even more powerful monster after consuming this heart, the Adventurers' Guild will take care of it—if Kroya and Logan manage to escape from its increasingly ferocious opponent.

However, just to be on the safe side, Kroya took off his outer garment, leaving only his inner lining, and tore the rest of his clothes into strips, intending to use them as ropes to tie to the heart.

"If we're lucky, we might be able to recover this heart," Kroya said to Logan as he crumpled the cloth into a rope with one hand. "If we're unlucky, it'll just have to eat it. I don't know what will happen then, but we need to report this to the Adventurers' Guild as soon as possible."

"Will this really work...?"

"It will definitely work." Kroya tied the rope securely, shook it to make sure it was tied tightly, and said, "I told you, I will definitely get back alive."

"And what about me?"

"If I can go back, you can go back too," Kroya replied.

"Is there anything else you want to say?" Kroya asked. "Don't keep things bottled up, or you won't be able to run fast later."

"..." Logan remained silent, but he did have a question he wanted to ask, "The map, you actually remember it better than I do, right?"

"That's right," Kroya answered crisply. "Because you're always so anxious, you can't feel at ease unless I say this. If you're going to ask me again why I went to all this trouble to save you, then I can only answer you again."

"Saving people doesn't need a reason. I just want to do it. Okay, that's my answer. I can't stand by and watch the victims suffer. I want to use my hands to save the lives I can reach."

Kroya's answer silenced Logan. He couldn't understand what Kroya meant. Of course, he could understand every word Kroya uttered, and he could even understand them when put together, but it left him in a state of confusion. The concepts he had formed in the past were gradually crumbling. Logan could only feel it, but he couldn't describe it.

"A saint? A hero?"

After a long pause, Logan uttered two words, mumbled indistinctly, which Kroya did not hear.

"What if it fails?" Logan asked again on the eve of his decision, "Isn't there a backup plan?"

"That means pulling the sword off its body and fighting it. Maybe I can kill it." Kroya stared outside. The Steel Swamp Dragon appeared to be asleep, but Kroya knew it was just pretending. "I might need your help, but of course, it's not mandatory."

Logan did not respond. Kroya extinguished the fire in his hand, grabbed the rope, and started his heart to spin, accumulating kinetic energy.

The moment the flames went out, the Steel Swamp Dragon opened its eyes. It immediately stood up and stared at the Kroa that appeared at the cave entrance, or more precisely, at its heart.

As Kroya flung the heart toward the cave, its massive body moved with agility, heading toward where the heart had landed.

"One second, two seconds," Kroya counted silently in his mind. There was no sound of the heart being devoured from the rope in his hand, but time was extremely tight. Kroya was about to rush out, but then stopped.

  

The malice has not disappeared.

Kroa could sense the malice emanating from the Steel Swamp Dragon; if the dragon shifted its attention to the heart, its hostility would lessen.

However, it does not.

The Steel Swamp Dragon was even smarter than Croa had imagined. It wasn't attracted by the heart, but instead waited at the cave entrance, ready to swallow anyone who rushed out the moment they did.

"Why don't you leave?"

"You'll die." Kroya's answer sent chills down Logan's spine. Then Kroya broke off a rock from the rock wall and threw it out of the cave.

"Bang"

The Steel Swamp Dragon's teeth snapped shut with a dull thud, but it bit into empty air, leaving only stone in its mouth. This exposed the wound that Kroya had previously inflicted on the dragon's head. Without hesitation, Kroya plunged his broken sword into the wound, which was now vulnerable due to the loss of its scales.

"run!"

Kroa pressed his advantage, taking advantage of the beast's pain to climb onto its head and strike its other intact eye with his broken short sword. The behemoth began to roll and twist, the powerful force throwing Kroa off, but its other eye was also gouged out by Kroa. Logan took this opportunity to run out of the small hole. The Steel Swamp Dragon focused all its attention on Kroa and ignored the insignificant Logan.

It charged and bit with brute force, and Kroya barely managed to dodge several times with her agility. At the same time, she tried to attack the opponent with her fists and feet, but she could not break the scales of the Steel Swamp Dragon. Kroya was completely entangled by the Steel Swamp Dragon and could not get away for a while.

Thanks to the blessing called "Unyielding", Kroya felt a force supporting his damaged body. Even though his body was theoretically at its limit, Kroya could still fight on, and his strength was even greater than before.

However, all of this comes at a price. The damage accumulated in Kroya's body has not disappeared. Once the battle ends and Kroya's fighting spirit begins to dissipate, these damages will erupt all at once, potentially killing Kroya.

"He needs a sword." Logan felt his heart had never been beating so fast, and he made a bold decision—he would help Kroya pull the sword out.

He could abandon Kroya and run for his life, that's true. Theoretically, Logan and Kroya were complete strangers, and Kroya had said he wouldn't force him to help. Even if he really did use this opportunity to abandon him, Kroya probably wouldn't blame him...

"But it hasn't come to the point where anyone has to be sacrificed."

Logan took a deep breath and began to approach the Steel Swamp Dragon. He was a goblin, and his body was agile and light. Some goblins even chose to be pickpockets as a profession.

Logan, you're not a bad person. You won't be tormented after you die. You shouldn't be afraid of death. After all, you've died several times already—if it weren't for Kroya, you wouldn't be afraid. Besides, shouldn't you repay her now?

Unbeknownst to him, Logan, the fearless goblin, was changed by Chroya. He found himself more courageous than ever before, and he realized that he might have been captivated by the virtues Chroya had displayed. He could no longer run away indifferently as before—if he did, Logan would feel pathetic.

Kroya shouldn't have died here...

Yes, I can help him too; that would be a matter of course to repay a debt of gratitude. No, that's not right...

Saving people doesn't need a reason, Logan repeated Kroya's words in his mind, and he seemed to understand more about it.

He also could not ignore the plight of righteous men like Croesus.

Logan seized the opportunity to leap onto the back of the Steel Swamp Dragon. The Steel Swamp Dragon's body writhed violently, like the surface of a vast ocean with towering waves. Logan gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and began to pull it out with all his might. At the same time, the Steel Swamp Dragon's struggles caused the sword to slip from its grasp. Finally, Logan pulled the sword out, and he fell off the Steel Swamp Dragon's body because he had lost his grip.

Logan's vision blurred, and he didn't know if he would wake up again, but he saw Kroya take the sword one last time before he passed out.

"Thank you for your courage, Logan."

Kroya raised his sword, and the Steel Swamp Dragon charged at him. His magic was exhausted, and his body was torn to pieces, but...

"I cannot let them down."

Kill it…

Kill it!

Kroya's sword pierced the wound on the Steel Swamp Dragon's scales, which had been ripped open by a charged attack. Foul-smelling blood splattered everywhere, and the sound of flesh being sliced ​​open was exceptionally clear.