Kail fled from the dragon that suddenly appeared.
Whether he was an Aura Master or not, he couldn’t fight a dragon larger than a mountain flying in the sky.
If it were Hecatonchires, there might be a chance to kill it eventually if his sword struck, but with this Ice Dragon chasing him now, he saw no such opportunity.
“Haa, hah-!”
“Yuri! Are you okay!?”
“I’m… fine….”
Yuri, who was on his back, let out a faint groan. Even before the appearance of the Ice Dragon, Yuri had been staggering and now she collapsed completely, drenched in sweat.
Realizing that Yuri’s condition was abnormal, Kail understood he needed to get away from the dragon as soon as possible.
Fortunately, after a while, two sorcerers flew in from the direction of the village.
“Kail!”
“Hey-!”
The two sorcerers, upon seeing Kail and Yuri, were startled by the Ice Dragon fiercely chasing them. Even for people who had lived for hundreds of years, a dragon was a terrifying existence.
But they couldn’t just stand there stupidly. While fleeing with Kail, they began devising a plan to capture the Ice Dragon.
“Kail, if you attack with your Aura Blade-.”
“It doesn’t work!”
“What do you mean, the Aura Blade doesn’t work?”
Though the Aura Blade could cut through everything in the world, when it touched the Ice Dragon’s corporeal form, it disappeared for some unknown reason.
With a Superior Blade, it wasn’t impossible to cut through, but even the longest Superior Blade could only reach 1~2 meters.
How many times would he have to swing it to cut through that lump of ice? Kail couldn’t even fathom it.
“Is it because of the dragon’s magic power? But if the Aura Blade doesn’t work, then magic won’t either….”
“That’s something we need to confirm ourselves. Merlin, are you ready?”
“You think just because you won once, you can get cocky……!”
Merlin gave a hollow laugh at Rizelotte’s condescending tone and quickly turned his body towards the Ice Dragon, thrusting his staff forward.
His unique magic, Phantasmal Manifestation, conjured a large tiger to confront the massive dragon. The white tiger, fitting for the snowy mountains, leapt towards the Ice Dragon the moment it appeared.
─Kwaang-!
The manifested White Tiger sank its teeth into the Ice Dragon’s body. However, the Ice Dragon paid no mind to the teeth piercing its flesh and continued flying.
Indeed, there was a reason it seemed dismissive. When the Ice Dragon flapped its wings, the White Tiger, unable to withstand the inertia and acceleration, fell to the ground. The broken teeth and claws of the fallen White Tiger remained embedded in the Ice Dragon’s body.
“How pitiful.”
Seeing that Merlin hadn’t achieved anything, Rizelotte summoned the spirits bound to this land, as if it was her turn.
The barbarian warriors who appeared at her call, upon seeing the dragon flying towards them, cheered it as the ultimate prey and charged forward.
And the moment they grazed the dragon’s body, they exploded one after another.
Upon witnessing this, Merlin glanced at Rizelotte and said,
“Pitiful?”
“…No, what is that.”
Confirming that neither Merlin’s unique magic nor Rizelotte’s dark magic worked, the two looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions.
They knew that the magic power exuded by the dragon granted immense anti-magic resistance, but this was beyond help.
The two looked at Kail as if asking what to do next, and Kail shrugged his shoulders, showing how his Chi-Control Sword also failed and dissipated.
“What do we do now?”
“…”
“Old man, you were called a Great Sage or something; can’t you think of something?”
“No, something like that is beyond common sense…”
“Can’t you dig a trap or something? Is there no way?”
“A trap big enough to ensnare a dragon of that size?”
Though even saying it made him feel ridiculous, Kail pressed Merlin, asking if there was any solution. He didn’t hold much hope.
However, Merlin glanced somewhere and then smirked.
“Could it be…?”
“That ‘could it be’ is correct.”
Merlin’s face lit up with a broad smile as he looked at Kail.
“You’ve found the answer, Kail.”
As Merlin explained his plan, Rizelotte, sensing something, subtly pointed at the Ice Dragon.
“Wait, that thing.”
The two, exchanging plans, turned their heads toward the Ice Dragon at her words. All the surrounding air seemed to be sucked in as an immense magical power gathered at the dragon’s mouth.
Seeing this, the three recalled a certain legend.
Dragon Breath.
The dragon’s ultimate move that annihilates everything it touches.
A supermassive dragon breath poured down from the Ice Dragon’s mouth, far larger than a mountain.
* * *
The Ice Dragon, whose entire body was made of ice, had no consciousness. It was merely an elemental spirit mimicking the appearance of a dragon long ago, making its behavior more akin to a natural phenomenon than a sentient being.
But the fact that the Ice Dragon lacked consciousness didn’t mean it wasn’t a dragon.
The Ice Dragon was indeed a dragon. A magnificent creature possessing most of the biological functions attributed to dragons.
─Kruk-.
From the perspective of this enormous creature, Kail and his group firing attacks like flies were incredibly annoying, and instinctively, it thought of a way to blow those pesky flies away.
Instinctively inhaling, the Ice Dragon exhaled a breath so cold it could freeze its already frozen body again.
An Absolute Zero Breath capable of freezing an entire nation swept across the land, and the Ice Dragon exhaled contentedly.
─Kuuu?
But that satisfaction was short-lived. Something from the ground struck the Ice Dragon, causing it to sharply raise its head.
Something extremely heavy had pierced through the Ice Dragon’s magical barrier and struck its jaw.
The Ice Dragon, having raised its head high enough to taste the stratosphere’s air, looked down to find two pesky flies right in front of its nose and snorted.
“Oh, strong, huh?”
“What kind of snort is that…”
But Kail and Merlin weren’t beings that could be shaken off by mere snorts. The Ice Dragon’s vision flashed momentarily, turning white.
Regardless of whether it was a natural entity or not, it couldn’t see in this situation. After the light settled, the Ice Dragon glanced at Kail running along its body.
“Haaaap-!”
Kail unleashed his Superior Blade, leaving scratches on the Ice Dragon’s body. Though the areas touched by his blade cracked apart, considering the dragon’s size, these were mere scratches.
Moreover, the Ice Dragon was a being entirely made of ice. Its cracked skin froze over and regenerated itself.
─Krung-.
Shaking its body lightly as if to say it was futile, the Ice Dragon swung its tail at Kail floating in the air. An ice tail hundreds of meters long struck Kail directly.
Like being hit by a large airplane, Kail flew far after being struck by the tail. Merlin teleported behind the flying Kail and caught him.
“Are you alright?”
“Cough-! Am I fine, does it look like it?”
Kail spat out a mouthful of blood and wiped the blood from his lips, grumbling. Merlin watched him, acknowledging that too.
“The signal has come. We just need to go now.”
Merlin, receiving the signal from the talisman given by Rizelotte, spoke thus. Kail nodded understandingly and flew towards the Ice Dragon once more.
Seeing Kail charge again, the infuriated Ice Dragon flailed its limbs, wings, and tail mercilessly in irritation.
Unfortunately, none of them hit.
‘This should be enough…!’
Glancing up at the empty sky and confirming that Merlin was nowhere to be seen, Kail swiftly moved positions.
Naturally, the Ice Dragon began flying after Kail.
Dodging the occasional Dragon Breath, Kail arrived atop the snow-covered mountain and grinned, glaring at the Ice Dragon.
─Krrung…!
“Hey, lizard head.”
─Kwaang-!
“Don’t roar. It’s dangerous.”
Confirming the trembling and collapsing snow atop the mountain, Kail smirked and pointed to the sky.
The Ice Dragon ignored him arrogantly, but soon slowly plummeted under the immense weight descending from above.
─Kwaang!?
Glancing to check, he saw a ridge cut as straight as with a ruler sitting atop the Ice Dragon’s wing.
Wondering where such a thing came from, the Ice Dragon soon realized that the mountain on its back was part of the mountain in front of it.
“–Here will be your grave.”
Bubbling–
Below the freshly cut surface of the mountain, boiling magma entered the Ice Dragon’s view. Instinctively terrified by the fiery sulfuric substance, the Ice Dragon thrashed about in panic, while Kail swiftly changed positions.
Though the Ice Dragon saw Kail escaping, it had no leisure to chase. It had to deal with this massive weight pressing down on its back immediately–
“Fall.”
A sweet voice echoed from somewhere. Simultaneously, a massive iceberg landed atop the Ice Dragon’s back.
Unable to bear the tremendous weight pressing down on it, the Ice Dragon plunged into the volcano, screaming in pain as the magma slowly melted its body.
─Kooooooo!
Amidst the responding roars of the dragon, the magma boiled furiously. Kail reappeared, smirking as he summoned his Aura Blade.
“Do you know that Aura is life force itself?”
Splash–! As the summoned Aura Blade plunged into the magma, the previously calm lava began to boil violently.
Boiling over, the overflowing magma caused the Ice Dragon to feel a sense of crisis as it tried to breathe fire once more– Just then, Yoo Ri, appearing beside Kail, chanted a spell.
“Plus One.”
An iceberg identical in size to the one that had pressed down on the Ice Dragon earlier was summoned, beginning to fill the cut surface of the mountain ridge.
Completely sealed without gaps, the Ice Dragon submerged in the magma began to melt without any resistance.
Its weakness stemmed from its ice-formed body.
