The Return of the Void Dragon

The Journey of Shizue Izawa

Time was ticking, Yuuki and his guild has already become the biggest system available for all humans who are members of the adventurer guild. Hinata has gained herself the top position in the Western Church. Decades have passed, my lifespan normally would've already ended, but after my evolution as Hero and the spirit Ifrit has become stable within me in the last 50 years, all seemed well. 

But lingering regret ate my heart, the children I cannot save, and the one person who brought down so much pain but also saved me, my heart has unreadable emotions and I have no idea what I think about the Demon Lord, Leon. But I do know that I need to seek him out first. Asking for this last selfish request, Yuuki nodded grimly and gave me the ready. I started my journey towards Blummund, where many of my old friends and comrades retired. It has been decades since I last used the power of Ifrit, I was paranoid about what happens if I do use it again. 

Saying my goodbyes to one of my informant, I come across a loud-mouth group containing 2 males and 1 female. 

"Only 3 days! I need more days to take baths" groaned the middle female.

The others scratched their heads, before bad-mouthing their Guild Master, with all curses available in their vocabulary. I almost feel bad for him. 

"What's the point of investigating more of the Jura Forest? There isn't anything there, no monsters, ores nor Veldora..." 

This caught my attention, I was hiding behind some signs near the corner of the block, Jura Forest you say, that might be the first place to look out for. I walk up to them from behind, before asking as politely and inviting as I could, if I could join in their crusade. The female who instantly accepted the request with hugs was met with frustration from their male leader, 

"I thought I was the leader, ugh."

"You know if she made up her mind, you can't persuade her..." retorted the other male.

Sighing, they introduced themselves as Kaval, Gido, and Ellen. 

This begins the journey of their visit to Jura Forest.




Huge beetles and Huge Spiders were common occurrences, Ellen freaking out as Gido and Kaval scrambled to activate barriers and send fire spells. Shizu's fingers twitch seeing the fire, behind her mask, she looked depressed. In times of need, she will have to activate it, but what happens to her, she doesn't know. 

Kaval whispers to Gido,

"Why is she even tagging along? She isn't even helping us." 

Gido agrees quietly, they think they are slick, but with Shizu's keen ears, she can hear the little charade, talking behind her back. Ellen also hears this as well, she smacks upside Kaval's head, while chewing him out. Seeing this, Shizu cracks up, but she does feel guilty about the lack of help she is providing. She was purposefully acting like a burden, but during the night. Hunting will be on their hands for her, she can use her sword techniques alone. 

Being seen as all power and all bring suspicion and distrust between the two groups, and Shizu knows this. She needs to keep a low radar, she can easily be counted as an A+ adventurer regardless of the power of her high spirit, Ifrit. 

Night draws close, and with an estimation of arriving 1/4 of the way towards their destination, hunting duty is on her. She goes out alone ignoring the invitation for help, using her highly refined instinct, she was easily able to spot deer-like creatures, they were grazing the quiet meadow, with their guard down. Shizu brings out many hidden daggers and kunai-like weapons. Aiming, she throws them with accuracy, piercing the head of the creature.

The rest of the creatures alarmed ran. No problem however, one was enough. Though from a distance it seemed fairly close, if you counted the accuracy and distance it took for Shizu's dagger to pierce the creature. It was fairly large, for 4 people seemed just enough. She drapes it over her shoulder as she brings back the wild game for dinner. 

Kaval seeing the shadow of Shizu arriving back adds more firewood to the campfire, 

"So she had finally amounted to something useful," he commented, Gido didn't respond as Ellen stares behind Kaval's back. Look how far that comment brought you... Ellen then beats up Kaval. (I thought you were the leader smh)

She sat as she commenced the skinning process, before allowing Gido to butcher, using freshly sharpened and carved skewers, meat skewers were the result. Though basic seasoning requirements, like salt, were unavailable, the richness and wild game taste were delicious. The trio ate fast, like how did they not choke? Shizu gave a concerning gaze before sticking it up under her mask. 

The reason for not removing the mask, even during eating was her famous birthmark. The markings under her left eye. What made her recognizable as the "Conquerer of Flames". Embarrassing really.

This very process continued for the next couple of days, the trio begins opening up more to Shizu, asking her question about her life and her journey. While the other also brag about their accomplishments, it was a good time to kill time and bond their relationship. On some occasions when the trio was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of insect monsters, Shizue has to stand up and activate her fire abilities and show a glimpse of her sword skills. The mood always changes when she does that, and it was uncomfortable, to say the least.

She hasn't gone over the top yet, and she doesn't plan unless absolutely necessary, the way the trio treats her now has become less disrespectful. They start treating her as a higher-up, and it was quite a dramatic change. Ignoring such development, she decides to ignore their advances with more personal questions that will definitely give away her alias. 

She became quieter, and during that time. With their journey coming to a closing end, they got the hint and stopped pressing her with questions. This lightened the mood as they started adding her to more light-hearted jokes. 

Being bored, Kaval decided to check out a large hole in near the boulder, thinking it was a cave he decided to check it out. And he received quite the alarming response, an ambush of 8 large red ants, going with instructed protocols, the barrier and ice and fire spells were set up. But different from last time, their barriers actually broke. 

"That's it! We're dead, it's been a short life, frankly not a particularly fun one!" 

Shizu seeing this as her cue activates her little control over Ifrit as she covers her blade with searing flames, she cuts through the ants and decapitated them cleanly. Landing in a small jump, she wasn't even out of breath, the jaws of the trio hit the ground. They definitely knew she was talented and skilled, but not to this degree. This was quite the powerful adventurer. 

Shizu then suddenly looks to her left towards the group of trees, she sees many goblin-like creatures riding on black wolves. But that wasn't the problem... her breath stops as sweats drop from her face, under her mask. 


Who was immitting such a monstrous aura?!