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Chapter 217: Dragon (1)

"Ah."

Ketal inadvertently let out a groan.

He stared at the red dragon as if spellbound.

He had seen many things since leaving the white snowfield.

Liches, ogres, basilisks, elves, mermaids, and demons, among others.

He had witnessed beings that one could only dream of.

Every time, he was filled with admiration and emotion.

Those feelings were still vivid.

But the emotion he felt now was overwhelming compared to any he had felt before.

A dragon.

A quintessential mythical being was right in front of him.

The dragon\'s scales were red.

Despite the brilliant gemstones embedded in the walls, the dragon\'s luster remained undiminished.

Its entire body was covered with iridescent scales that gleamed like jewels.

It had enormous wings that seemed capable of covering half the village.

Its claws looked as though they could tear apart all creation.

He was genuinely moved.

Ketal could only stare at the dragon in a daze.

“…This is a dragon."

"Amazing."

Others were equally impressed by the dragon\'s appearance.

However, unlike Ketal, they quickly regained their composure.

“…It\'s sleeping."

The dragon lay with its body reclined and eyes closed.

It slept soundly, as if the commotion outside meant nothing.

"What should we do?"

"It seems best to strike before it wakes up."

"Hmm… Blood Edge, perhaps you should move. Our powers are too broad and might wake it."

"Understood."

Just as the Mercenary King raised his sword and began to gather his aura,

[Grr.]

the dragon opened its eyes.

The pitch-black reptilian eyes became visible to the world.

They instinctively held their breath.

The dragon slowly rose.

Ketal marveled once more at the sight.

The fantasy before him was moving.

[Grrrr…]

The dragon, having risen, looked at the humans who had intruded into its lair with a puzzled expression.

It seemed to be wondering why they were there.

But soon, its expression turned to anger.

How dare they.

How dare these insignificant humans invade his nest.

The dragon\'s anger soon turned into action.

It inhaled deeply.

The Spellweaver was alarmed.

"Breath attack!"

The dragon\'s mouth opened.

A thick, dark crimson flame spewed forth.

In an instant, they felt the heat.

The temperature in the lair rose to that of a volcano\'s interior.

Their skin prickled.

[You crazy!]

Piego swung his horn.

The fire spirit\'s flames flared fiercely and confronted the dragon\'s breath.

Piego, a spirit with the Primordial flames.

His flames were the purest in the world, possessing power and dignity befitting them.

But before the dragon\'s breath, they dimmed.

Piego\'s flames were consumed by the dragon\'s breath and extinguished.

"Shadow!"

"O Sun God! Protect your servant from this threat!"

The Spellweaver and Seraphina hastily unleashed their powers.

Great magic and divine power shielded them.

Whoosh!

But all of it began to burn.

Unlike hellfire, which burned everything because it wasn\'t of this world, the dragon\'s breath simply burned everything with pure power and intensity.

"Eek!"

Kaaaang!

After a desperate defense, they barely managed to block the breath attack.

But even that had consumed a significant amount of their strength.

Sweat beaded on Seraphina\'s cheeks.

"No, it can\'t be…"

"What is this?"

The dragon\'s power exceeded their imagination.

The dragon frowned, displeased that its breath attack had been blocked.

And in that moment, the Mercenary King moved.

He had already reached the dragon\'s vicinity.

He had been moving ever since the dragon began to unleash its breath.

His sword was honed sharply with aura.

The dragon was a creature that wielded magic.

Therefore, the solution was to kill it before it could use any magic.

The Mercenary King swung his sword.

The speed left no time for incantation.

Whirr!

But resistance occurred.

The Mercenary King’s body was forcibly repelled.

As he flew back, he hastily performed a landing technique.

"Magic?"

It was clearly magical resistance.

The Mercenary King’s eyes wavered.

"But there was no sign of incantation?"

The dragon answered the Mercenary King\'s question.

Whirrrrr!

Dozens of magic circles were drawn simultaneously around the dragon.

There was no incantation.

The Spellweaver groaned.

"A race of magic..."

The dragon was a race of magic.

For it, magic was like breathing.

The dragon spread its wings as if it was annoyed.

Mana poured out from the magic circles.

* * *

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Mana surged forth.

Pure mana, without any design or structure.

Yet, its power was like a storm.

"Grrr!"

They barely managed to move and dodge the attack.

But in the confined space, it wasn\'t easy.

They tried to defend themselves somehow, but each time they felt like they were being struck by a hammer.

"This is...!"

It was far stronger than they had anticipated.

They, who were at the pinnacle of superhuman strength, had to focus solely on evading the attacks.

"Damn it!"

For the Spellweaver, the situation was even worse.

The magic he was preparing was shattered by the dragon’s mana.

He was helpless, unable to do anything like a powerless child.

To the dragon, magic was like breathing.

Human magic could be dismantled with just a glance.

Rumble!

The Spellweaver, surrounded by mana in an instant, was about to be struck directly by the storm.

At that moment, Ketal moved.

Boom!

He pierced through the storm of mana and grabbed the Spellweaver, pulling him away.

They moved to the outskirts of the dragon’s lair.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes. Thank you."

The Spellweaver barely regained his senses.

The situation was so urgent that he didn\'t even realize Ketal had pierced through the storm of mana with his bare body to save him.

"It doesn\'t look good."

"...Unfortunately, yes."

They were in a situation where they had to focus on survival rather than hunting the dragon.

Ketal muttered.

"I’d like to help directly, but... there\'s something bothering me, so it\'s difficult."

Ketal glanced slightly to the side.

He was looking at an empty space.

As if there was something there.

"For now, you’ll have to face it on your own. Can you manage?"

"We have to. What else can we do?"

The Spellweaver, unaware of this, lamented and sprang into action.

His entire focus was on the dragon.

So, he didn’t see it.

Ketal clenched his fist while staring at the empty space.

In that space, a fist wind was formed, containing the power to suppress all their strength.

And someone invisible completely nullified that fist wind.

The nullification was so clean that those in the midst of battle didn\'t even notice.

Ketal whistled.

"Strong."

He smiled.

"I\'d like you to show yourself soon. I want to join the fight too. Or will you fight me instead?"

* * *

The Spellweaver thought quickly.

"Strong."

The dragon was undoubtedly strong.

Its power was beyond their individual reach.

\'But... it\'s not unbeatable.\'

They were at the pinnacle of superhuman strength.

Apart from heroes, they were the strongest.

The dragon\'s strength lay in its powerful physique, its magic that activated without incantation, and its breath attack.

At that level, the four of them could surely win if they joined forces.

The Spellweaver turned his gaze.

They quickly exchanged glances.

That alone was enough to understand each other’s thoughts and judgments.

The first to move was Seraphina.

"Mr. Piego! Please!"

[Damn it! This master is making me go through hell!]

Piego grumbled as he fiercely raised his flames to buy time.

Seraphina raised her hand high to the sky.

"Material! Final Chapter, Verse 1!"

The higher the chapter of the scripture, the greater its power and dignity.

What she was reciting now was the last chapter of the Material Saga.

A chapter even Aquaz was not permitted to read, the ultimate saga.

"And He said, \'I am leaving the earth, but you shall still receive my care. He chose one of his servants and made him his avatar!\'"

Whiiing!

Light enveloped Seraphina.

For the first time, the dragon\'s expression changed.

At that moment, Seraphina was akin to a divine avatar.

Even a dragon couldn\'t dismiss it lightly.

"Ugh!"

But the same went for Seraphina.

She bit her lip, and blood trickled down her mouth.

As if she couldn\'t handle the light descending upon her, her knees gradually bent.

The final chapter of the scripture was not something she could easily handle.

She couldn\'t fully draw out its power, and even attempting to do so was a burden she couldn\'t bear for long.

Seraphina, overcoming the weight of the power, raised her shield.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Light exploded, covering the surroundings.

The storm of mana pouring down burst apart.

The light didn\'t stop there; it seemed to rush forward as if to spread everywhere in this world.

If it had been night outside, people might have thought it was already morning due to its brightness.

The dragon focused its power on Seraphina.

A massive magic circle surrounded her, sealing her power.

A tremendous pressure pressed down on her body.

"Light!"

The light exploded again, pushing back the pressure.

Piego also supported Seraphina.

Their powers began to somewhat offset each other.

Because of this, the Spellweaver had time to prepare his magic.

"No matter how much of a race of magic a dragon is! I am the head of the school! I can\'t be taken down so easily!"

The Shadow Reflected in the Void school was a very old school with a history of hundreds of years.

And he was the one who mastered all the magic created by the school\'s magicians over the centuries, earning the qualification of headmaster.

[Shadow that rises in the darkness. Shadow that shrinks before the bright light.]

With his incantation, the ground beneath the dragon began to darken.

[Shadow that devours everything and vanishes futilely at dawn. I shall give you substance. Devour this world. Stain everything and erase its color.]

The Spellweaver finished his incantation.

[You shall gain freedom.]

Then the shadows rose.

They undulated like mud and clung to the dragon\'s body.

They covered the glistening red scales, turning them black.

These were shadow creatures created by magic, entities with a desire to devour the world\'s colors and light.

If not controlled, they were magical beings that would rush to engulf the entire world.

Because of their danger, only the headmaster of the shadow school was permitted to use them.

Rumble!

The dragon shook its body in annoyance.

The shadows were crushed and mangled just by that.

However, they persistently clung to its body, refusing to stop.

The magic was focused on Seraphina and Piego.

And the Spellweaver\'s shadows were dealing with the dragon\'s body.

The Mercenary King was free.

He lowered his stance and gripped his sword.

He was a swordsman.

He couldn\'t wield flashy or wide-ranging powers like the believers or magicians.

But he was a warrior on par with them.

"Gather."

Aura accelerated throughout his body.

It began to gather and rotate on his sword.

The power imbued in his sword could literally cut through and slice anything in the world.

The Mercenary King took a step.

Crunch.

The ground cracked under his foot.

Even though the dragon\'s lair was specially protected by the dragon, it couldn\'t withstand the force.

The air was torn apart.

His speed was truly swift.

The Spellweaver couldn\'t even react to his speed.

Within a fraction of a second, he reached the dragon\'s eye.

Even if the dragon tried to repel him with magic again, he could forcefully break through and attack at that speed.

The Mercenary King\'s sword touched the dragon\'s cornea.

Seraphina thought they had succeeded.

And at that moment.

[[Begone]]

The dragon spoke for the first time.

Simultaneously, everything was shattered.