Clash with the Eldritch Dragon

The Eldritch Dragon, an artificial dragon species born from the void, glared with furious eyes. Though its power was reduced to roughly one-tenth of what it had possessed when it descended upon Seoul, it was still no opponent to be underestimated. One moment of carelessness and those fangs would tear you apart.

“Kahahaha! Tremble before overwhelming power!”

The Tagarion branch clung to the Eldritch Dragon’s brow. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠“Its lower body has vanished.” “It has fused with the Eldritch Dragon.” “How grotesque.” “All to save its own miserable life.”

I clicked my tongue. No matter how grand the rhetoric, its only real concern was preserving its own existence.

The fifty-meter colossus stepped forward onto the half-collapsed altar. BOOM! Pillars crumbled, tilting the Eldritch Dragon’s massive frame, yet it never lost balance. With majestic presence, it shattered the altar beneath its feet and charged.

In the blink of an eye the distance closed. Nyx’s Polar Night seized its legs, but the darkness was torn away before it could hold.

“Did you not say it had been weakened?” Nyx asked. “Its physical abilities are still intact,” I replied.

The Eldritch Dragon’s true strength lay in its powerful black magic. A monster sculpted from the souls of Eldraksir’s citizens, who had once dreamed of immortality. Most of its power had been stripped away when it was caught in the backlash of the Eclipse-amplified Solar Explosion and Avalanche, along with insufficient sacrifices.

How did I know? “Its scales have lost their light.” Had the dragon been at full strength, those scales would have shone like gold. Even its breath would have resurrected the high orcs and trolls sacrificed during its summoning as undead.

Nyx let out an impressed sound and clapped her hands.

The primordial beast surged from the shadows. The moment Lexy laid eyes on the Eldritch Dragon, she let out a thunderous roar.

“Goddess.” “Hmph. Only I can aid my lacking contractor.”

Twenty seconds remained on Demonic Power. Every stat except Magic had dropped to rock bottom. Even falling leaves were a threat, so Nyx had to restrain the Eldritch Dragon’s ankles.

Perched atop Lexy’s head, Nyx unleashed Polar Night at full output. The darkness of deepest night dyed the surrounding dozens of meters pitch black. Thanks to the additional hundred kilograms of orichalcum she had absorbed, her power had grown tremendously. Razor-sharp blades of darkness, forged like a blacksmith’s finest work, rained down from every direction. Blue energy shimmered along their edges—Dark Shadow Soul-Chasing Sword infused into the assault, mercilessly stabbing into the Eldritch Dragon’s body.

PUAAAK! Instead of blood, black spiritual energy spilled forth. The simultaneous Dark Shadow Soul-Chasing Sword strikes pierced the scales, yet the dragon’s sheer size prevented any fatal wound.

“Kahahat! Even that unknown darkness must kneel before overwhelming power!” the Tagarion branch cackled. Its signature Word Curse had been blocked by Polar Night, causing it considerable frustration.

“That’s enough,” I said.

The accelerated mana rearrangement from high-speed calculation let me chain the spells. I seized the cold trying to escape under the Blessing of Greed and unleashed magic in rapid succession. The spheres of cold reached the Eldritch Dragon’s immediate vicinity. Eclipse fused the two spheres into one.

One plus one equals two? Magic was never that simple. If raw mana alone determined power, there would be no distinction between one-star and five-star spells. While the quantity of a caster’s mana influenced spell strength, it was never absolute. The rearrangement process could produce vastly different results from the same amount of mana.

But I possessed Eclipse. The power to violently repel or fuse opposing attributes. The mana within the two spheres intertwined and amplified. The resulting force was weaker than maximizing repulsion through Solar Explosion, yet repeating that stunt risked killing me in the backlash.

CRACKLE-CRACKLE! The amplified cold wrapped around the Eldritch Dragon’s body. Avalanche, the spell named for blizzards, normally unleashed a wide-area freezing storm. Through Eclipse I concentrated that cold, focusing the blizzard’s power into the chill itself rather than scattering it.

“You think mere cold can harm an Eldritch Dragon?!” “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Frost turned the yellowed scales white. The Eldritch Dragon’s movements, which had been tearing through Polar Night, slowed dramatically.

“This paltry magic is nothing before the might of a dragon species…” “If the summoning had been complete, perhaps. But it wasn’t.”

CRACK! The Eclipse-amplified Avalanche swallowed the Eldritch Dragon whole. A being stripped of most authorities save its sturdy physique. The Tagarion branch belatedly realized the cold was no ordinary chill and tried to raise its mana, only to panic.

Power surged back into my body. Without Demonic Power, I would never have achieved this much against the Eldritch Dragon’s high magic resistance.

“Round two begins, you bastard.”

CRACK. I rolled my neck, loosened my body, and charged the frost-covered Eldritch Dragon.

* * *

The Eldritch Dragon, slowed by Avalanche’s cold, could only move at one-third its usual speed, yet it remained threatening. Even weakened, its physical abilities had not declined. It swung its massive tail, leveraging its enormous bulk. The force sent a chill down my spine.

『Sleep a little longer. Sleep a little more.』 ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The grotesque lump on the dragon’s brow recited its curse in a sweet, lullaby-like voice. Nyx was pouring everything into restraining the Eldritch Dragon and could not help me.

Fundamentally the same power as Nyx’s darkness. The essence of night she had granted me through our contract blocked the curse-laden voice. My power was inferior to Nyx’s rank, so I could not completely nullify it, but Cold Blood helped purge the curse. My body, which had been sinking into lethargy, recovered in 0.5 seconds. The Eldritch Dragon’s tail was already upon me. Had Avalanche not slowed it, this would have been dangerous.

I activated Wind Path, stepped through empty air, and slipped past the thick tail into the dragon’s range. “I shall assist,” Nyx said, directing Lexy to strike the Eldritch Dragon’s exposed flank. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dragon, instead of retracting its tail, beat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠its wings. Void energy and negative-dimensional mana spread on the wind—a simple mana release without rearrangement or intent. Even so, the sheer quantity of mana halted Lexy’s advance. It had prioritized me, assuming magic was my specialty.

“You miscalculated.”

A technique that doubled all close-combat stats. I focused the surging power into my fist. Deactivating several essences, I struck the Eldritch Dragon’s ankle with the four-star strength granted by Hundred Beasts Emperor Martial Arts, channeling dark fighting spirit. The colossal body staggered. Black spiritual energy leaked between crushed scales.

“Y-you filthy insect!” the Tagarion branch shrieked in panic. Any lingering curses were purged by Cold Blood.

Tch. Even after pouring everything into the blow, I had only made it lose balance, not topple it. “Damn thing’s tough.” I had expected as much. Shaking out my tingling right hand, I pivoted on my right leg and spun my entire body. Black Tortoise Rock Wall. The martial art that spread inner energy like a massive wall pressed against the Eldritch Dragon’s ankle once more. Already reeling from the previous strike, the dragon failed to fully dissipate the rebound force and stumbled backward.

THUD! THUD! Even that movement was sluggish from the lingering cold. Demon’s Wrath had a one-hour cooldown. I had devoured countless essences and possessed more cards, but it was best to press the advantage while I could. I chained Hundred Beasts Emperor Martial Arts.

“Insolent wretch! How dare a speck like you mock me!” “You’ve been fighting with your mouth this whole time.”

The Tagarion branch, whose specialty was Word Curses, turned crimson and rapidly chanted. This time the target was not me. Black letters overlaid the frost-covered body of the Eldritch Dragon. WHOOSH! The letters ignited violently—a powerful curse that burned its target with abyssal flames. The cold of Avalanche, which had even frozen mana, weakened as it was engulfed.

It intended to burn its own body to regain freedom of movement. A drastic measure, yet within expectations.

BOOM! I struck the already damaged area again. Among martial arts, Dark Shadow Soul-Chasing Sword in the Body of Darkness state was the most powerful, but the Eldritch Dragon’s size made inflicting a fatal wound with it impossible. My goal was to whittle down its combat ability. Under the relentless assault, the Eldritch Dragon’s ankle snapped with a sickening crack.

At that moment—THUMP—THUMP— my sixth sense screamed as a long shadow engulfed the surroundings. The Eldritch Dragon, having shaken off some of the cold, used its loss of balance to its advantage, swinging its foreleg with full force toward me as its body toppled forward.

The negative-dimensional mana released by the Eldritch Dragon’s wingbeats interfered with Shrink. The trump card that had always let me escape any crisis had been nullified for the first time. I did not panic. I had learned something valuable: Shrink’s spatial movement had limits. Even in this moment my sixth sense continued to blare warnings. The situation was dire, yet my mind remained strangely calm. I could still use Void Mirror to compensate for my lacking specs. God’s Wrath and Uraz Berserk shared similar activation principles and could not be used together, but another idea suddenly struck me.

I executed Mountain Lord Blue Bird while manifesting dark fighting spirit along my right arm.

I mixed inner energy with dark fighting spirit. The essence of the Death Knight I had never obtained in my previous life. A technique I was attempting for the first time across both lifetimes. Mountain Lord Blue Bird collided head-on with the Eldritch Dragon’s foreleg.