Ch.715It’s a Bit… To Call It a Dragon.

The first major blow came after more than five minutes of intense combat.

A net of lightning wrapped around the worm dragon’s hind legs while burning rocks struck its back.

Rising water spray transformed into ice stakes that pierced its belly, and hundreds of spears and swords emerged from the shadows to tear through the armor on its legs.

Invisible blades sliced through three of its eyes, while a curse of blindness cast darkness over the remaining five.

And Millia’s arrow pierced the worm dragon’s cheek, tearing through its tongue.

【 Grhaaaak! 】

The worm dragon opened its mouth wide and spat out its torn tongue with a groan. Did consciousness remain in the severed part? The shredded leech-like flesh writhed on the ground, spewing acidic saliva.

“Keep attacking!”

Perneisia shouted as she drew her bowstring. The mages began gathering mana again, and the knights, not missing the opportunity while the worm dragon’s vision was blocked, approached and swung their cold weapons.

Against a monster over a hundred meters long, Imperial swords were no better than toothpicks, so the Royal Guard captain and Percival wielded halberds instead.

“Haaah!”

Demian, amazed at how his dragon steel greatsword remained undamaged despite rough handling, jumped onto the worm dragon’s knee and brought his sword down on its back. The carapace cracked with a thud, spraying blood.

Nidhogg writhed in agony as its entire body was cut, torn, pierced, and crushed, thrashing about in all directions. It removed the worms from its blinded eyes and replaced them with others.

However, the dragon’s frenzied rampage failed to achieve its purpose.

“That’s why we need fighters!”

“Elpinel, protect us!”

Whenever the three masters were in danger of being trampled or blown away, Perneisia’s rock spirit and Lacy’s divine barrier intercepted the worm dragon’s attacks, giving them time to dodge.

When Lacy had been solely responsible for defense, she had been too busy purifying the thick dark mana and protecting herself to perform other miracles…

But now, with a high-level spirit serving as a shield, she finally had the freedom to support her allies properly.

“Thank you, Archbishop!”

“You saved me.”

The masters who escaped danger thanks to Lacy and Perneisia’s shields offered brief thanks.

“Fall back for now! Its vision will return!”

Perneisia warned them as she restored the shattered body of her rock spirit that had been struck by the dragon’s wing.

The worm dragon’s eyes had already completely regrown.

【 Kurrrrr…! 】

Burning with hatred, eight eyeballs moved independently, glaring at all of them.

As the masters hastily created distance, the mages’ high-level magic poured down again, as if taking turns.

Perneisia and Millia concentrated on the worm dragon’s mouth to prevent it from roaring, while Lacy bestowed purification blessings on the three masters who had been contaminated by dark mana from close combat with the worm dragon.

Rock spirit punches, high-level magic bombardment, sensory-blocking curses, and knights’ slashes—though not rehearsed, they flowed together like perfectly meshing gears in a flawless combination attack.

The wounds on the worm dragon’s body began to multiply.

– Kwagwagwagwang…!

And the wounds on Extrashafel Island multiplied as well.

—-

Firing arrows without rest, controlling high-level spirits to impede the worm dragon’s movements, all while commanding allies.

Perneisia, now sober and fighting in earnest, demonstrated truly remarkable skill, proving that her century-plus as a guardian had not been wasted.

Had Haschal seen this, he would have praised her, saying the cost of all the alcohol he’d bought her was well worth it.

Those fighting alongside her found Perneisia’s abilities quite impressive—especially Demian, Millia, and Ophelia, who had only ever seen her staggering about drunk.

‘I had no idea Senior Perneisia was this strong… No wonder Haschal wanted to keep her around.’

‘I want to learn spirit magic too…’

‘She drinks all day every day and she’s still this good? They say she was even better in her prime. Well… living ten times longer than humans, she’d better be at least this capable.’

Of course, not everyone was simply impressed—some regarded her power with wariness.

For the high-level mages led by Archmage Floheta and the Royal Guard, Perneisia’s abilities made them newly aware of the potential power their adversaries possessed.

‘If all elven guardians possess this level of power… we should avoid all-out war. As expected, we should raid Alvheim’s capital and burn the World Tree.’

Needless to say, Lacy felt the same way.

—-

Of course, Perneisia cared nothing about whether they admired or feared her. She was increasingly troubled by something strange about this fight.

‘…This is odd. Is this really a dragon?’

It was bizarrely inconsistent.

Judging by its aura alone, it seemed like a monster that would require eight guardians of her level to defeat, yet in actual combat, three guardians seemed sufficient.

Even a single mediocre high-level spirit could impede its movements enough to make it manageable.

True, its massive body displayed terrifying power—a single tail swipe could devastate everything within twenty meters—but that was merely due to its size. The attacks themselves were incredibly crude.

All it knew how to do was roar loudly, swing its tail and wings, claw with its front legs, and bite with its maw. It couldn’t even properly utilize the dark mana swirling at its feet.

Even the carapace covering its body had only the hardness of steel at best.

It couldn’t fly, couldn’t breathe fire, couldn’t manipulate mana. How could this be called a dragon? It was just an oversized beast.

From Perneisia’s perspective, it felt less like fighting a dragon and more like battling a giant insect. It just thrashed about like a mindless beast, showing nothing dragon-like.

‘Not that I want to see its true form, but still… this is…’

The unknown reason behind this weakness made her uneasy.

If its incomplete resurrection was the cause of its limitations, that would be one thing. But if there was another reason… once that reason was resolved, the creature might suddenly become much stronger.

【 Grraaaa! 】

And just like that.

The battered worm dragon raised its front leg and stomped down—specifically, onto a pool of dark mana beneath its feet.

The dark mana pool bubbled and foamed, then erupted into black fountains like pillars from various spots.

Then, with a low, humming vibration, the rising dark mana began drawing strange lines and patterns in the air.

“What is this!?”

Ophelia narrowed her eyes. She understood the meaning of these mysterious formulas being inscribed in the air better than anyone.

Soul manipulation magic.

Unlike her research into using mana to interfere with souls, this was textbook soul manipulation in its purest form.

– Hwaaaak!

The dark mana circles drawn in the air and the countless patterns within them emitted black radiance, then melted away and disappeared.

And then,

– Jeolgeureok.

From the dark mana pools surrounding Nidhogg, black hands suddenly emerged.

Like bones painted black without skin or flesh, slender hands glistening with dark mana gripped the surface of the pool and pulled up the bodies submerged below.

Arm bones, shoulder blades, skulls, and rib cages rose as if crawling up from beneath the surface, blue light emanating from empty eye sockets.

– Jeolguk, jeolguk!

It didn’t end with just one. Two, five, ten, dozens—countless skeletons began crawling out of the dark mana pools.

Each had a different form.

Some with skulls crushed as if bitten, some missing arms or legs, some wrapped in flickering flames, and others wearing rusted and broken armor like rags.

“What vile trickery…!”

Lacy’s face contorted with rage and contempt. She immediately understood what Nidhogg had done.

“Defiling the peace of the dead!”

An army of undead creatures created by overlaying dark mana bodies onto wandering souls.

This was the signature magic of Feirus Haransior, who had become infamous in legend after falling from a priest to a practitioner of ancient dark gods.

“Oh Elpinel!”

Lacy pulled out the cross spear she had planted in the ground and emitted a brilliant holy light like an exploding star.

– Gooooooooo!

An immense pillar of pure white light shot up, piercing through the clouds.

“Graaaaa…!”

The undead caught in Elpinel’s holy light screamed and turned to ash.

These undead, which would have been difficult opponents even for decent knights, crumbled without resistance.

Her holy power had grown incomparably stronger than before, now at a level where she could proudly claim to be a saint chosen by Elpinel.

However, even she couldn’t purify all the endless undead army crawling out.

No matter how many undead creatures she reduced to ash—well over hundreds—the number of skeletons rising from the dark mana pools only continued to increase.