Frieren's POV

"My most humble thanks," the merchant uttered, his voice tinged with relief as he patted his horse. The large wagon in tow loomed behind him, laden with goods. "When I encountered this landslide, I feared I wouldn't be able to make it across."

It's been twenty-eight years since the passing of Himmel the hero. Fern, Stark, and I were on the Eng Road, which was nestled within the rugged mountain terrain of the Northern Lands. We were clearing a landslide for a merchant who needed passage. Stark tirelessly shoveled while Fern and I wielded our magic, lifting and moving the larger boulders that obstructed the path, sending them tumbling down the cliffside. Our plan was to make it to Aureole, or Heaven, as some call it. Our next stop was Graf Granat's domain, not too far up the path we were on.

"Hey, uh, is this actually necessary?" Stark's voice cut through the silence of our work.

"Are you unhappy? He's offered a fine reward," I replied as I continued magically lifting rocks and tossing them over the cliff alongside Fern.

"It's not that. Couldn't you just use your magic to move the cart?" Stark proposed.

"But what of future travelers? They'd be stuck here. We wouldn't want to be selfish, would we?" I countered.

"That's rich, coming from you," Stark retorted, shedding his coat and stretching his limbs and back. The merchant, seizing the opportunity, proffered a leather canteen to the boy.

"I insist that you drink," the merchant urged.

"Oh? Thank! That'd be great," Stark accepted gratefully, gulping down the offered water before surveying the surroundings. "It's strange. I thought landslides happened on a bigger scale."

"The Northern Lands have been fighting demons in this area. Their clashes have had a far-reaching impact on the local terrain. This was likely caused by such a skirmish," the old man elucidated. War does indeed change things, and the environment is one of them. I heard Fern ask Stark for help, so they started talking to each other about something, though I wasn't paying too much attention. I was on the other side of the landslide, still tossing rocks off the cliff.

After a bit of hearing them talking, I poked my head atop the mound of rocks. "I assume you're making progress?" I interjected. They then began working once more.

It took a couple hours, but we managed to clear the path. "Ah, you have my undying gratitude. If you'd like, I could show you the fastest route into town," the merchant offered.

BOOM!!!

SCREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

The ground shook a bit, and a loud explosive roar and a screech echoed from above; atop the mountain whos peak wasn't too far up from where we stood. Perhaps twenty meters. The top was a large plateau rather than a pointed summit like other mountains. The explosion startled the merchant, Stark, and Fern. "Move swiftly, there could be another landslide," Fern urged the merchant, her tone polite yet urgent.

"Yeah, go on without us. We'll make it to town after we handle this," Stark reassured. With haste, the merchant whipped his horse onward, disappearing swiftly down the Eng Road. We turned our attention back to the source of the explosion.

BOOM!!!

SCREEEEEEEEEE!!!

Another explosion reverberated through the air, followed by a piercing screech. Fern's gaze turned to me, a determined glint in her eyes. "We should take care of whatever is causing this. We wouldn't want another landslide to clean up," she asserted. Fern took flight and rose in the air. I did the same.

"HEY!! CAN'T YOU CARRY ME?!?!" Stark's voice rang out from below, his frustration evident.

"You can climb!" Fern retorted with a scoff, her attention fixed on the looming threat ahead. Undeterred, Stark grumbled but began his arduous ascent up the rugged mountainside. As Fern and I reached the summit, we noticed a warrior engaging in combat with a dragon. I observed calmly. The dragon was brown in color, with bits of red and yellow. Given those colors, it had to be a rock dragon. These shoot boulders from their mouths at quick speeds. They were definitely a great enemy.

"So that's what that was," I remarked. We both slowly descended down to the edge of the plateau to watch. Soon enough, Stark made his way up and his eyes widened,

"There's another dragon?! C'mon!! I just killed one by myself not too long ago!" He exclaimed. His attention then turned to the warrior. "Oh, there's someone already fighting it? By himself?"

The warrior, clad in dark armor and devoid of a helmet, appeared young yet resolute in his stance. He was likely in his early twenties. Fern focused on him intently, her keen sense assessing his mana reserves. "Mistress Frieren, he doesn't have much mana. should we intervene?" Fern queried.

"He could be suppressing it. We should wait and see what he does. If things don't go well, then we could probably help."

"Hey, what's with that weapon?" Stark pointed out. His weapon was indeed strange. The warrior carried a large greatsword. However, this sword wasn't like any greatsword I'd ever seen before. It was practically an unpolished, sharpened slab of iron on a hilt. It seemed to weigh more than the three of us combined. "That greatsword is huge! It's bigger than me!" Stark was right, it was definitely larger than him.

Both the dragon and the warrior stopped their combat. They had a considerable space between them. It was as if they were staring each other down. Dragons were intelligent creatures. They watched their opponents with focused eyes.

Y/n's POV

This rock dragon had to go. It was causing a lot of problems for the people and merchants who traveled this road, and it didn't help that adventurers were still fighting the demons around here, too. The beast and I stared at each other, trying to guess who was going to charge first. A low, ominous rumble emanated from the dragon's throat, signaling its intent to strike. Without hesitation, I shifted into a defensive stance, readying myself for the impending attack. The creature reared its back, its massive form coiled with potent energy. It then unleashed a large boulder from its maw. It flew at me at such an impressive speed.

I stomped forwards to keep my footing firm. "Grrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" I swung my heap of metal and cleaved the rock in two with a thunderous CLANG! Both halves smashed into the dirt behind me, shaking the ground. Dust and dirt kicked up and blinded my sight of the dragon momentarily. As the dust of the boulder and dirt obscured my vision, I remained on high alert. The ground reverberated with ominous thuds, heralding the approach of the creature's advance.

Just as the dust cleared, a large tail was right in front of me, being swung to the left. I quickly put my sword up and two my right to guard against the attack. I braced for impact. WHAM!!! When it collided, it hurdled me across the terrain, but I managed to keep on my feet with minimal damage done to me.

The dragon roared and charged at me again. It spun its body around to hit me with its tail once more. This time, I was ready. I pulled my sword back and just as the tail was in the perfect position, I swung. "Hyah!!" SSHHHKK!!! The tail was sliced clean off. The excess momentum of my weapon hit the ground and caused a small crater to form. The dragon's tail writhed and squirmed, convulsing on the ground before stopping. It screeched and roared in pain form its missing appendage.

"I believe it's my turn," I was going to be on the offensive this time. I then noticed I had some watchers. One was a short elf with silver-white hair, another was a taller girl with long, purple hair, and the last one was a boy with red hair and black highlights. They stood at the edge and observed me. "Hmph," I hummed. I then ran forwards toward the beast. I jumped high into the air. The dragon's massive jaws opened wide, ensnaring me within its mouth.

"What's he doing?!" Stark yelled.

I seized upon the moment, leveraging my strength to hold the creature's jaws at bay with a single arm and my legs. It thrashed and roared in protest, and I started stabbing its tongue and the roof of its mouth with my blade. I could hear a low rumbling from its throat. Another boulder was coming. I quickly jumped out before a boulder was shot out of its maw. I landed on the ground, waiting for its next move.

The dragon unfurled its wings, powerful gusts of wind billowed forth, propelling the creature skyward. "A flying attack?" I mused aloud.

"What's the dragon doing now?" Stark's inquiry cut through the tension.

"It's likely going to dive him. Such tactics are often used as a last resort," Frieren explained calmly to Stark, her keen insight into the creature's behavior a testament to her experience.

"To be fair, he seems to be doing well on his own," Fern interjected.

"That he is." Frieren agreed.

With bated breath, I watched as the dragon fixated its gaze upon me.

"This is it," Frieren declared to her comrades.

"What is?" Stark questioned.

"He's going to defeat the dragon, Mister Stark." Fern elucidated, her words resonating with a quiet confidence.

With a another thunderous roar, the dragon descended upon me with relentless speed, its massive form hurtling towards the ground with an almost unstoppable force. My grip tightened. With every ounce of strength I had at the ready, I drew my blade behind me, readying myself for an overhead strike. I just had to time it correctly.

Just as it was meters in front of me, "HURRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" I cried out as I slammed my sword down onto its head with my full strength. CLANG!!! It connected with monumental force and the dragon's head hit the ground with a hard BANG!!! from the sheer weight of my blow. The rest of the dragon fell down with it just as hard with a loud THUD!!! The ground shook a bit. A fair-sized crater was carved from under the dragon. Dust, dirt, and rock went everywhere in the air.

As it cleared, the dragon no longer moved. It was dead. I smiled in my victory and put my greatsword on my back. The dragon started to dissipate. The three watchers started walking my way. When the dragon fully disappeared, a black orb from the remnants of the corpse flew to me and was absorbed into my body.

Yes, you did in fact see remnants of that dragon enter my body. That was its soul. I'm Y/n, and I'm immortal. I was born with the Curse of the Undying, or the Undead Curse to some people. Those afflicted with this curse were immortalized and aged quite slowly. As it suggest, I'm undying. I "can" die, in a manner of speaking, but I'd invariably return to full health after a brief period. Moreover, I possess the unique ability to absorb the souls of those I defeat, increasing my strength. The more souls I gain, the stronger I become. However, if I do die and come back, the souls I amassed would be lost, and I'd be back at square one, only to gather more souls once more.

It's worth clarifying that despite the term "undead", my condition differs vastly from that of zombies or vampires. I still looked like a perfectly normal human. The curse is exceedingly rare, and to my knowledge, I've only met one other who held the same fate. I've lived a few thousand years by now. In a way, it was a blessing and a curse in its own right. I get to see how the world changes in front of me, but I am stuck seeing people I meet die and relationships I try to form end, in what almost seems like a blink of an eye. I ended up getting somewhat used to it. From that, I try my best to make the best of every friendship I make, regardless of time. Yet, despite the passage of time, one aspect of my existence remains troubling...

"There's another one," I sighed. I wished to understand how to break this curse. I have been travelling around in search for some answers, but to no avail. People do not like hearing me mention "Undying" and "Curse", so it's quite difficult. I tended to keep it from most for that reason. I walked to where its center was and found a book. "A grimoire?" I quizzically inspected the book after picking it up.

"You did well to defeat a dragon like that by yourself," the elf remarked. Up close, this elf was quite pretty, elegant even.

"Thank you," I replied with a modest nod.

"Yeah, you're really strong," chimed the red-haired boy. "That weapon you're carrying on you is so huge!"

I hummed at his observation. "For you, maybe."

"If I may ask, what is your name?" Inquired the purple-haired girl, her curiosity evident.

"Y/n. My name is Y/n. I'm an adventurer," I introduced myself, offering a stoic smile.

"I am known as Frieren. I am a mage," she began, gesturing to her companions. Frieren also carried a large suitcase with her. "This is Stark, a warrior," she nodded toward him, then to the other, "And Fern, a mage and my apprentice," hearing the name, Frieren, caught my attention, but I showed no change. She must have been the mage from Himmel the Hero's group from long ago. It intrigued me.

"It's a pleasure to meet you three," I replied warmly, extending a hand over my heart as a gesture of goodwill. Stark and Fern offered murmurs of agreement, their expressions reflecting mutual respect.

Frieren's gaze fell upon the grimoire I carried, her interest piqued by its presence. "That grimoire you're holding. Are you in need of it by chance?" She inquired. She seemed to want the grimoire I had obtained from defeating the dragon. "I have a hobby of collecting spells and reading grimoires."

"I'm in no need of it. I don't use many spells, as I don't have much mana. It will be better in your hands than in mine," I replied, offering the grimoire to her with a smile. She perused the book quickly before closing it.

"Another fake, Mistress Frieren?" Fern questioned, her brow furrowing with curiosity.

"Yes, it's a fake. Although, how it survived inside of a rock dragon is a mystery to me," she mused. "Thank you," she gracefully accepted, putting the book in her suitcase.

Stark looked up to me. "We're heading to Graf Granat's Domain. We were wondering if there's a faster route to get there?"

"I know a way. I'm on my way there myself. I'll gladly accompany you if you wish. We'll have to go through a small town at the other end of the ridge here, but from there it's a small walk," I offered.

"Sure. That would be great," Stark nodded to me.

"Alright," I acknowledged. Frieren and Fern flew in the air and down to the road.

"Come on, do I have to climb again?" Stark complained.

"Don't you worry about that," I grabbed him by the waist and ran to the edge, jumping off the side of the summit with him in my arms.

"WOAH!!" He yelled, clearly surprised by the sudden fall. It was a good-sized fall, too, but I landed on my own two feet with ease. I put him down on his feet. He was a bit impressed I was able to do that.

"Alright. Ready?" I asked them. They all gave a nod. We then began our journey to Graf Granat's Domain.

To Be Continued...