Dragon vs. Empress and the Mana Shrew Breakthrough
Shrewww!BOOOOM!
The breath attack clashed head-on with transcendent magic.
The shockwave carved a massive crater right in the heart of the jungle.
"A lizard, was it?"
Lea brushed the soot from her gauntlets amid the smoke from the collision.
After toppling the tower at the jungle's center, a selection window had appeared before her. It was the access control menu for this jungle layer she now owned.
She had chosen to banish all players except for the current emperor, Ryan, and Albus. No one else should have been in the jungle.
"Looks like it used Dragon Words to evade the system's banishment. For a self-proclaimed guardian of the mortal realm, is that sort of trickery acceptable?"
It was entirely possible for an ancient dragon on the verge of demigod status, one who had mastered Dragon Words.
"More important than the mortal realm."
Kartesia stood protectively in front of Albus.
"Hah."
Lea let out a scoffing laugh.
"To think my first love's rival is an ancient dragon. What cruel twist of fate is this?"
Countless magic circles bloomed behind her once more.
Kartesia gritted her teeth and thrust her hands forward.
"But I have never once failed to claim what I desired. No matter what it was."
Lea looked down at Kartesia and raised one hand.
"That boy belongs to me."
BOOM! BOOOOM!
With a flick of her wrist, a barrage of spells rained down on Kartesia.
"...Tch!"
Kartesia extended both hands, deploying a defensive spell.
It was a storm of devastating destruction magic, but it all fizzled out before her palms, failing to reach her.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
But simply blocking the onslaught left Kartesia's hands trembling uncontrollably.
"Trying to face me in your polymorphed state, not even your true form? Such arrogance. I don't wish to see my fiancé harmed, so do show me your full power."
Lea gazed down at Kartesia with pity.
'Polymorph! That's it!'
Watching Kartesia gasp for breath, Albus realized why she was struggling.
Not long after Luddera opened, Kartesia had asked him for a favor. Games were most fun at an appropriate difficulty, and she didn't want to accidentally reveal her true form without meaning to—so he should block her ability to release the polymorph and summon her real body.
Thus, the current Kartesia was trapped in human form, unable to call forth her true self.
No matter how mighty an ancient dragon, fighting in a human body weakened even her breath attacks, making them hard to use freely. And against Lea, who had reached transcendence, she was at a relative disadvantage.
All the more so with Albus behind her, someone she had to protect.
Albus immediately opened his command window.
If he wished, he could make Kartesia invincible right here or crush Lea flat.
'But that risks exposing my identity.'
The Iron Blood Empress wielded immense power, but her intellect was even more dangerous. Historians agreed no strategist in imperial history could surpass her judgment and deductive prowess.
No matter how carefully he hid, she could piece together that he was the GM from just a few clues.
'A way out of this without giving her any hints.'
Permission Settings
Coordinate Check
Coordinate Change
Text etched itself into the command window only he could see, bending to his will.
And then—
Fwoosh!
Without warning, Kartesia and Albus vanished from before Lea.
"...!"
She hadn't anticipated it at all.
Spatial translocation without even the precursor buildup of mana.
Lea slumped onto her throne in exhaustion.
"An ancient dragon after all. She had a hidden ace up her sleeve."
The female lizard had stolen the first man to ever captivate her.
"...Intriguing."
Crack!
The throne's armrest crumpled in her grip.
"How intriguing."
Lea's eyes gleamed with ominous fire.
She had never once failed to possess what she wanted.
The empire, the throne, the continent—all hers as desired.
That boy would be no different.
It wouldn't take long.
Mages were scholars who pursued truth through endless research.
With the emergence of another world—Luddera—the continent's mages were inevitably enthralled.
It had originally been created with the magic tower's aid, but Kartesia had erased all memories of their involvement from the mages' minds. To them, Luddera was a brand-new otherworld.
A secondary dimension unbound by the continent.
Exotic flora, fauna, and environments unseen on the continent.
Easy access, and even if injured or killed during research, no real-world consequences.
What better lab for a mage?
Most had set up their research labs inside Luddera.
The real-world magic towers now served merely as beds for rest.
So what had these mages done upon entering Luddera?
Analyzed its worlds to uncover dimensional secrets?
Pierced taboos, transcended alchemy, reached truth?
The grandest lab in Luddera: the Tower of Truth.
In its central chamber, hundreds of mages watched the shielded experiment table.
"Shrewww!" "The shrew's heart goes thump-thump, whoosh-whoosh!"
Considering mages' solitary nature and aversion to group experiments, this many gathered together was extraordinarily rare.
All swept up in collective madness? Unprecedented.
Flash!
A brilliant light flickered atop the table.
"Wooooah!" "Success-shrew!" "The shrew succeeds-shrew!"
The mages erupted in cheers at the flash.
Years of relentless research, barely any rest.
Finally, success.
Hummm.
The shield spell lifted, revealing a small creature inside.
"The perfect mana shrew is complete-shrew!"
The tower lord carefully lifted the creature, declaring victory.
The elephant shrew from Albus's past-life Earth.
An Easter egg he'd named and tossed into Luddera.
To Albus, just a casual creation without much thought.
But—
"The one creature that disrupts mana interference: the anti-magic shrew-shrew! And now, we've succeeded in injecting mana into its body-shrew!"
Bringing over a past-life animal led to one oversight.
From a mana-less world, it retained its trait of nullifying ambient mana.
A creature that erased mana? Neither magic beast nor non-magic.
Soon after discovery, mages became obsessed with the elephant shrew.
A special being defying continental laws of magic beasts.
Researching it would lead straight to truth.
Of course, one couldn't deny the influence of its uniquely adorable charm.
"Success-shrew!" "Mana-using shrew perfection-shrew!"
Years-long project: turning an anti-magic beast into a magic one.
The magic tower's greatest endeavor since its founding—accomplished.
For this alone, every mage in the Tower of Truth rotated shifts guarding the shrew lab.
No one dared slack off, lest years of work go to waste.
"Shrew-shrew-shrew-shrew-shrew!" "Shrewww!"
Thus, they savored this moment all the more.
"I hereby declare today Shrew Day-shrew! With this, we've conquered the organic structures of magic and anti-magic beasts-shrew!"
If Albus had witnessed this, he'd be dumbfounded.
For a single trait changeable with a finger snap, the continent's top mages gathered like this?
Thankfully, oblivious to the truth, the mages reveled in festival.
"Truth is near-shrew!" "This is the path of magic-shrew!" "Our senior mages will be proud, for sure!"
Mages descending into frenzy.
Then—
Ding!
"Shrew?" "A notification-shrew?" "The System celebrates our success-shrew?"
Labyrinth Tower Floor 4 has been cleared. The Labyrinth Shop is now unlocked for all players.
The world alert echoed across Luddera, appearing before everyone's eyes.
"Labyrinth... shop-shrew?"
It heralded new content to shake the continent.