Unrivaled in another world
Chapter 50: Encounter

Chapter 50: Encounter

[: 3rd POV :]

"Is this it? The Human Continent... My home?" Daniel murmured, his voice low with a mixture of wonder and uncertainty as his form appearwd into existence through a his skill.

He used Void Step, arriving at the edge of the continent claimed by humanity.

[: That’s right, Host. This place... this land... is your home. Well—technically not your home yet, but you get the idea :]

[: Also, it’s basically just a giant forest :]

Daniel’s gaze swept across the landscape.

Towering trees surrounded him on all sides, their canopies so thick they dimmed the sunlight that filtered through in scattered beams.

Moss clung to bark, and the earthy scent of untouched wilderness filled the air.

It was vast, dense... and eerily quiet.

He let out a quiet sigh.

"So much for a grand welcome," he muttered, then began walking forward, trying to make sense of his surroundings.

Each step he took rustled the underbrush, the silence only broken by the occasional chirp of distant birds.

But as he continued deeper into the forest, something shifted.

A faint sound reached his ears—frantic footsteps, cracking twigs, rustling leaves.

Then, a voice. Muffled, breathless. A cry.

Someone was running.

And they weren’t alone.

Daniel paused.

His expression sharpened.

"...Someone’s being chased."

Without hesitation, his form flickered—and he vanished again into the shadows of the trees.

As Daniel appeared not far from the source of the sound, he discovered that a little girl perhaps at the age of 10 could be seen running away from a group of men.

However, what truly caught Daniel’s attention was the appearance of the girl who stumbled into view.

She looked no older than a child, but her features were anything but ordinary.

A pair of curved, obsidian-black horns protruded from each side of her head, glinting faintly under the filtered sunlight.

Her eyes were a deep, piercing black, slit like a predator’s—just like those of a dragon.

A small, twitching tail peeked from behind her tattered cloak, and delicate, yet leathery black wings folded tightly against her back as if trying to hide themselves.

Daniel narrowed his eyes, an odd sense of familiarity tugging at his memories.

His gaze lingered on her in silence before a quiet whisper escaped his lips.

"...A dragon?"

His voice held a note of disbelief.

"System, is that a dragon?" he asked aloud, though deep down, he already knew the answer.

[: Without a doubt, that’s a dragon, Host. Young, but unmistakably one of them :]

Daniel’s expression darkened.

His eyes sharpened as a heavy frown settled on his face.

"What is a dragon doing here... on the Human Continent?"

He had known the rules.

Dragons were proud, territorial beings.

They never left their own lands without purpose, let alone sent their young to roam freely beyond their borders.

A hatchling, so exposed and vulnerable, appearing here of all places—without guards, without protection—something was definitely wrong.

Daniel’s instincts flared with unease.

"This doesn’t make sense," he muttered, his gaze never leaving the girl as the distant sound of pursuit grew louder behind her.

However, the moment Daniel laid eyes on the men chasing the girl, something inside him snapped.

His breath hitched.

His vision blurred with red.

Because he knew those uniforms.

He recognized those brands.

The same sickening insignia inked into the necks of the men—those vile, jagged tattoos shaped like a shackle biting into flesh.

Slave Merchants.

The same monsters who once shackled him in chains.

Who tortured Caelira until her screams echoed in his nightmares.

Who stripped Rika of her smile, Manork of his pride, and left Kiel bleeding in the dirt with blood that had threatened his life.

A long-suppressed fury ignited in his core like a collapsing star.

His breath grew ragged.

His fists clenched until his knuckles cracked.

And then—

"Those fucking slave merchants!"

His roar thundered through the forest like an explosion.

The words spat from his lips were laced with venom, thick with hatred so deep it had begun to rot the edges of his sanity.

His eyes glowed with a violent, dark hue—power coiling around him like a living beast starved for blood.

His heart pounded so loud it drowned out the world.

There was no room left for logic.

No space for mercy. Only wrath.

Especially when he saw who they were chasing.

A girl, no older than ten.

She was breathless, terrified, stumbling through the woods with wings too small to carry her far.

Daniel’s mind filled with images of her being chained, beaten and sold, and who knows what might those sickening people who would buy her will do.

"I’ll slaughter them," he growled, voice low and trembling with barely contained rage.

"I’ll tear them apart limb by limb."

His body shook—not from fear, but from the sheer force of the hatred threatening to erupt from within.

Even the air around him seemed to recoil.

The trees creaked and bent away, their leaves curling inward.

The wind halted, as if the world itself feared what he would become.

The clouds above scattered, creating a dome of silence and dread.

Nature knew. It felt the shift.

It wanted no part in what was about to be unleashed.

Daniel’s aura bled into the surroundings—dense, suffocating, and pulsing with destructive intent.

The ground beneath him cracked.

Shadows twisted unnaturally as if pulled toward him.

And his voice—lower now, more monstrous—echoed with a promise.

"They’ll never hurt another soul again."

Then, with a single step, he vanished.

And hell followed.

[: Erina POV :]

I regretted everything.

Every single thing I did that led me here.

My legs trembled as I ran through the forest, each step heavier than the last.

"Don’t let her escape!"

"Chase her!"

I could her their screams behind me as I ran.

My wings dragged behind me, torn and useless, catching on branches as if the trees themselves wanted to stop me.

My breaths came in shallow gasps.

My mana was nearly gone.

My body ached.

I-I’m scared...I’m really scared.

I should have listened to Mother.

She warned me so many times—stern, unrelenting, always looking at me with that mixture of fear and love in her eyes.

W-Why didn’t I listen to her...?

"You are not to leave the Draconid Continent, Erina. The world outside is not kind. Not to us. Not to children like you."

But I didn’t listen. I never did.

I thought I knew better.

I thought adventure waited for me out there—beyond the skies, beyond the mountain peaks, beyond the rules.

So I defied her.

I snuck out with my friends, found one of the old teleportation stations buried under stone and dust.

We laughed, we joked, and I told them I could operate it.

I swore I could get us to the human cities.

But I messed up the coordinates.

I sent myself to a random location—a dense, dark forest reeking of rot and blood.

The teleportation burst gave me away.

Slave merchants were nearby.

I don’t even know how many.

They came fast and there were many too of them.

We...were caught...and chained.

I remember the screaming.

The cages.

The panic in my friends’ eyes.

But I managed to escape and fled with my friends help hoping that I could call for reinforcement.

But I fled without even knowing where I was going.

Somehow, I escaped.

Somehow, I survived.

But I’ve been running for days.

I’m so...tired...I’m starving.

My mana is almost gone.

My stomach keeps twisting in pain.

My throat is dry from crying.

I tried calling for help—I screamed, I begged—but no one came.

I left my mana phone behind.

My communication gem cracked when I fell.

And now... now they’re getting closer.

Their voices are behind me, laughing like hyenas.

I can hear the chains rattling, smell the sweat and filth.

Am I...going to be captured...?

I know what they want to do to me.

I saw what they did to my friends.

I don’t want to end up in a cage.

I don’t want to be sold.

"Someone... please..." I whisper, though I know no one is listening.

My voice breaks. "Help me..."

Tears blur my vision.

I stumble again.

My legs don’t respond the way they should.

My body is too tired. I can’t run anymore.

I fall.

My claws dig into the cold earth.

My wings twitch but won’t lift me.

I want to scream.

I want my mother.

I want to go home.

I want this nightmare to end.

"Mama... I’m sorry..." I cry, curling into myself. "I should’ve listened... I was so stupid..."

Then, just as everything begins to fade, a voice explodes through the forest like a thunderclap.

"You fucking slave merchants!"

My eyes snap open.

The air... it changes.

The trees go silent.

The wind stops.

The leaves tremble and fall in reverence—or maybe in fear.

I feel something.

No, someone.

A presence so overwhelming that the entire forest seems to shrink under its weight.

My instincts scream to hide, to look away, but I don’t. I can’t.

And then I see him.

A figure standing between me and the men. His eyes—bright, burning with wrath older than time.

His aura lashes out like a storm.

The ground cracks beneath him. The air burns.

I don’t know who he is.

I’ve never seen anything like him.

"You’re going to be safe child..." He spoke as he walked towards me, "You will be fine and everything is going to be alright" He declared as he softly caressed my hair.

I never felt so peaceful just from hearing a voice.

It didn’t matched with the wrath in his eyes...but for the first time in days...I felt safe...and I cried.