A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale

“Master, why do so few spells have multiple magic circles like [Ramuh] does?”

“Hmm? Oh, ahh, that is a good question, my dear apprentice.”

The first time I saw the [Lightning Magic Lv. 6] spell [Ramuh] in action was when I first met the wyverns and they were escorting Saori, Tasianna, and I outside the Belzac forest. Midway through the trip, however, grimgarians attacked us, forcing Asterios—the ex-superior of Shay and Beth—to use this spell, displaying an earth atomizing power which flat out deleted a portion of the forest of its trees and everything else around.

The purple beam showed its prowess once again when Vifi’Yok used the spell against the Earth Elemental Emperor, creating a humongous crater large enough to reveal most of the faefolk’s body during our fight against it. This spell was comparable to others like [Omnictus] or [Perilous Tidefall], but it was also at the same level as the storm spell [Flight Zone], which Tasianna had just cast.

Initially, I thought [Ramuh] had multiple magic circles due to its sheer power, but that idea was completely dispelled when I first cast [Heaven’s Sword], another large-scale city-destroying spell. It was always a mystery to me why one spell had multiple circles but the other didn’t, but I never really questioned it before since I had thought, “Oh, [Ramuh] is so strong, it needs multiple circles to work!”

As such, I wanted to ask Master about it, since Mom was sadly still asleep. Considering who he was, he was glad to answer and teach me why.

“That is actually a pretty difficult one to answer. As you know, my [Tehenhauin]—a spell comparable to an upper advance magic spell, if I do say so myself—only requires one magic circle. Through it, I summon a giant serpent leviathan in the image of the one I first saw on my trip to Peolynca from Aelozonia. The mighty creature nearly sunk us, giving me a heart attack as the Caedhulen ship I was on was smaller than the beast’s trunk in length!”

Yikes …

He then snapped his fingers though, stroking the plumage on his raptor head. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t replicate the leviathan in size completely—Xohulotel forgive my inability—but during the creation period, I learned from a fellow mage student in Caedhul about the ‘multi-amplification mana circle’ method. Ha, it sounded interesting enough, but the theory was disproven by the university’s professors immediately.”

“Does this have any relation to your spell?” I asked.

He nodded. “I tried it to amplify [Tehenhauin], but realized after our professors chastised us that that was not how multi-circle spells worked. You see, multi-circle spells are actually a relic from the times when mages still used elementals as their conduits to cast magic. The reason? To amplify and maintain the stability of their large-scale spells. It makes sense, right? The more magic circles, the more mana you can pour into them without making it too large.”

“… I guess it’s a relic because the System made it redundant? Similar to how mages don’t need elementals to cast spells since the System helps them?” I replied, causing Master to nod and praise me for remembering arcane history.

“Exactly! So why did my professors tell me and my fellow student the application was wrong, instead of just telling us it’s outdated?” He shrugged, prompting me to try and answer it, but I just shook my head to his disappointment. I mean, if I could figure it out myself, I wouldn’t have asked him. “Well, that is why you have me, my student. It is because the extra magic circles aren’t there to absorb mana, but something else.”

I frowned, finding what he just said unbelievable. “… That seems like it goes against everything I’ve learned, though. I don’t have [Ramuh] just yet, but that’s not stated in its description.”

Ramuh: A storm’s might contained inside a magic circle to blast an area below the magic circle. Channels lightning through three magic circles and one central one to unleash the spell, requiring the caster to provide enough mana for all four. If any of the magic circles were to be damaged during the Activation process, the spell will fizzle out, however, if performed correctly, the devastating power of this spell could rival those above its level

“Ah, but that is the question, no?” Master then opened his party bracelet’s note function, reading something off it as he drew four magic circles on the ground. “Essentially, [Ramuh] is a four magic circle spell you cast all at the same time.”

Once he was finished with his drawing, he continued. “Now, you know spells don’t just create their elements, they can also mold the elements around them. Wind and earth do this all the time—[Tornado Bullet] and [Terra Wall] are perfect examples. That’s what the smaller magic circles are there for. One controls the air around the casting zone to accelerate the beam downwards. Two controls the heat to assure the spell doesn’t blow up. Three is where the electricity is generated through your mana. All of them flow into the fourth circle, which is the one who aims the beam and amplifies it.”

“… The spell manipulates the elements of its compound pieces. Fire and wind.”

“Exactly!” Master gestures happily. “Four spells are activated at the same time, each performing their individual role to create [Ramuh]! The reason for this is to reduce the amount of mana needed to cast the entirety of the spell, as each magic circle can perform a different role. This is unlike my [Tehenhauin] or your [Heaven’s Sword] which only materializes one circle. Those spells cost a lot of mana upfront.”

“Ooooh, yeah. It felt like the spell ripped a piece of me away when I cast it on the grimgarian’s navy,” I recalled, nodding vigorously as I shared my pain with my Master.

“Haha, I could tell! Even with your abundance of mana, never forget you are still a mortal made from flesh and bones. We aren’t faefolk. Ahem,” Master cleared his voice, returning us to the subject at hand. “That is the main reason why [Ramuh] is a multi-circle spell.”

“Then why doesn’t every spell have it if it reduces the cost of mana? It sounds really convenient, not to mention, would save a mage’s firepower if they focused more on multi-circle custom spells.”

“Ahhh, and this is where we get to the point of why they became obsolete after the Divine System came into being!” Master’s enthusiasm for learning was clear to see. “The thing is, my apprentice, aside from [Ramuh] and a few other similar System spells, multi-circle spells use up a number of your [Multi-Cast] slots equal to the number of circles needed.”

“Huh!?”

“As I said, each circle is an individual spell all strung together to create something larger and cost efficient. Now, not even our brightest minds understand why this only applies to custom spells, while System ones only use up one multi-cast slot. Which begs the question: why use multi-circle spells, if casting multiple individual spells would be better? I mean, you can literally cause [Ramuh] to fizzle out by disrupting just one of its four circles!”

“Not to mention, unless you use [Purple Flash], casting the spell would take a while,” I grumbled, understanding the drawbacks of this technique.

“Exactly. Also, [Purple Flash] won’t work on the custom spell variants since they count as individual spells! Simply because our mage ancestors used this technique once doesn’t mean it was some revolutionary technique we’ve only forgotten to use due to our ignorance or arrogance for the newest and latest,” Master let out a chuckle, laughing at his joke. I joined him with an awkward one, as I remembered that being a cliche in some novels. “However, while I did say it was obsolete, that doesn’t mean it is useless.”

I perked my ears up.

“Even if you have [Chant Revocation Lv. 10], mage duelists still don’t recommend you using multi-circle spells since they slow you down, compared to shooting our multiple spells at once. I mean, you should know that for yourself. Even an ancient dragon like your mother only uses singular circle spells as, after a certain point, mana just doesn’t become important and the benefits of the technique wanes.” But it was here that Master let out a smile. “However … my professors told me that empty vessel magic users sometimes create two-circle spells since they need one to channel their mana for the materialization, while the other is used for their specific element.”

Sun, Consume All!

The two large white magic circles for my spell shone brightly, ready to activate whenever. I clenched my teeth, feeling the strain of having to use [Purple Flash] twice to activate this new custom spell of mine. Master sure was right about this spell being annoying to cast.

White flames grew from both circles, but it still took a bit for it to materialize. [Purple Flash] only skipped the magic circle creation, so it still took some time for the spell to take form and cast.

Oh oh.

I sorta mistimed the casting time; this was the third chance I had to cast the spell, and I hadn’t exactly thought this giant iron colossus would charge its rail cannon or whatever it was so quickly! The bright blue light building up inside it started to blind me!

“Hurrraaaaaaagh!”

But before the golem shot me, however, a giant scaled tail swatted the golem onto the ground, causing the ground to rumble. I snapped my head around, witnessing the rank A drake Manethala roaring out with a pain-filled face.

Mana Eyes.

Earth-Rolling Drakarno: An underground variant of a drake whose shell had grown to the point of being more like metal and minerals than anything biological. Due to the form of the shell, it allows the darkarno to roll through even the most rough terrain while using this maneuverability to crush its enemies. Its underbelly shell is weaker than the rest of its belly, but it can exude strong dust clouds through the vents it uses to excrete the remains of ores and rocks it feasts on. Rank A

[“Whelpling.”] A new voice entered my mind, sounding a bit like a male dwarf’s with how his accent slurred the word.

Realizing there could only be one person in this room whose voice I haven’t yet heard, I knew it had to be the dungeon master of this place. [“Manethala? Elder scale?”]

[“Healing.”] He pointed at the large bleeding hole around his stomach..

… Jeez, dude, could at least ask for my name first.

However, the reason for his insistence on hurrying was made clear when the dwarven gundam suddenly pushed itself up and grabbed Manethala’s tail. Tall enough to grab the medium warship-sized drake, it pulled on his tail as its body glowed blue, meaning mana was flowing from its core in the middle around its body to its arms and legs.

The drake was jerked backwards, falling onto its back. The gundam raised its drill as it began to spin to the point you couldn’t see its ridges any longer, before ramming it into the drake’s tail. Blood and scales broke apart as the dragonkin roared out, while I caught the scent of dragon blood coming from the drill the moment it was activated.

Whatever the cause for the drill being able to piece drake scales that were as “hard as metal” was, it didn’t matter as this still bought me enough time for my spell to activate. From the both white magic circles—one right below the gundam and one on the ceiling—a flood of white flames exploded, not only saving Manethala’s tail, before flying up into the air to form one singular flaming ball I formed around the appearance of the sun.

Sun, Consume All: A fiery spell created using [White Flames] to form a miniature imitation of a sun. Created with [White Flames], the heat of this spell can be controlled to the point it feels like nothing while providing healing to others. Supported by two magic circles—one to control the mana input and the other solar energy—the spell requires the caster to own a solar core or a catalyst which can store solar energy to be used, as mana and solar energy is required to materialize the spell. This spell’s flames are affected by any of the caster’s skills or runes which boost the skill [White Flame], and can synergize with fire and holy elemental Territories. If all requirements are satisfied, this spell allows the user to draw on the sun’s flames as weapons while passively absorbing solar energy and heat from the surroundings. The caster may absorb the solar energy within the sun, but this spell will end if no solar energy is left

Honestly, my most complicated spell to make and it was due to everything written in its description that it took soooooo long for me to finish creating. Honestly, it took like a whole month or so, and I probably wouldn’t have finished it hadn’t I asked Master about multi-circle spells. “Knowledge was power,” and knowing how [Ramuh] actually worked helped me a ton.

[Hydra], the culmination of my ability to control my [Corrosive Fire] in their different form consisting of gas, semi-liquid, and solid, all with the knowledge of spell golems like Tasianna’s [Winter’s Golem]. [Sun, Consume All] was the evolution of my ability to control [White Flames] as my alternative to holy spells, while using them as a counter to anything dark-based.

Now, both were showing their full powers now that the requirements were all here. This room was large enough for [Sun, Consume All] to fully form and [Hydra] to have fun to rampage.

Burn!

With one of its heads, [Hydra] headbutted the burning sun, causing it to erupt and spit out iridescent flame balls across the battlefield. A few began melting Manethala’s mountains of wealth, while others landed directly on the drake himself and the gundam.

[Sun, Consume All] was similar to [Sanctified Blaze: Halo of Consecration], as in it was a passive AOE healing, as that was the fundamental aspect of my [White Flames]. It could attack as well, acting like [Sanctified Blaze] where it would attack any enemy for the person it healed like an automated defense. However, its most important feature, and why I made it this way in the first place, was for the initial cost of some of the solar energy in my core, it would start leeching solar energy from the surroundings.

Even from organisms.

“The epitome of Goddess Chihiro’s design, distilled into a workable creation through the talents of my late son’s memories. His soul may no longer exist, but my Master has the ability to bring him back regardless! This CREATION IS THE PROOF MY SON IS REBORN!” Maagneil’s crazed voice escaped from the gundamn’s cockpit, or head. “Even an amateur’s runes are sufficient enough with the peak artificer skills of my son!”

[Shield of [The Light]] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

A barrier similar to an [Auracoil] formed around the gundam to block the incoming fire attacking him. Unfortunately for Maagneil, the thing’s defenses were further put to the test when [Hydra] charged through the regenerating sun, using the molten gold around him to grow in size. With its slime-like body, [Hydra]’s body grew three more heads, totaling into four, and banged their heads against the barrier like an endless barrage of tidal waves.

With this distraction created, I began playing two of my songs—[The Heir of Hope] and [Dragon Fire]—to further boost my two spells while protecting my allies from any damage. All the flames burning around also allowed me to create what I needed to destroy the enemy in front of me. [Volcanic Blaze] channeled my mana, released it through my hands, and began manipulating the ever growing mountains of molten ore and minerals.

Bury!

With [Hydra] leading the charge, I slammed a wave of magma and molten metal into the gundam, creating distance from him and us. I then snapped my head around as I saw my flames slowly healing Manethala’s wounds. Upon my command, the sun’s white flames flew over, bathing the drake in it for a moment before retreating back to its spot.

[“Sorry, about your money,”] I apologize, just to make sure we wouldn’t turn enemies after all this ended.

However, he just roared in anger. [“Money has no meaning when one’s treasure is ruined! Destroy this gnomelet!”]

Gnomelet? Is that a dwarven insult?

[“Stop the Event. I need to transform back into my dragon form,”] I demanded.

[“Expunge the enemy. Follow the rules! The gods are our witnesses today!”] he stated before roaring out again.

He coiled himself into a ball like an armadillo, before jumping on the spot, causing his body to ricochet backwards and onto another pile of wealth. He then bounced around, even on the walls and ceiling, before everything started to quake like an earthquake.

Just as the gundam somehow broke through my wave of magma, Manethala landed squarely on the gundam’s chest, causing it to get crushed under the giant’s wealth, before the drake kept bouncing around. Strangely, during this entire maneuver, it was finely avoiding inconveniencing me and my companions. Honestly, as I expected from this creature.

Why isn’t he using his scales, though? I wondered, since even drakes could manipulate scales.

Regardless, these thoughts remained unanswered for now, as something sounding like a cannon shot erupted from where the gundam was smashed, destroying the wave of magma and bits of [Hydra]. The cannon barrel of the colossus emerged before it shone blue again, shooting out a blast of mana at the ceiling, hitting Manethala right as he was about to land there; thankfully, the blast was reflected off his shell.

As the drake continued rolling and bouncing around in this massive chamber of his, the gundam readied another blast, but this time it was aimed at me as I was staying afloat while controlling all the spells and spell songs. If it couldn’t hurt the drake with its hard shell, then it probably could hurt the dragonewt with the notoriously below-average defensive growths.

“Maaaaaaagneeeeeeeeil!” Thankfully, I wasn’t alone here. With a loud shriek similar a male banshee, Sarasa—Saori’s third fenrir who evolved into a werewolf—appeared from a shadow created on the ceiling by my sun, before throwing Grimnir towards the gundam. “Ya zuekluk! YA DESECRATED BROGGI’S MEMORY!”

His warcry continued as he came flying down. He raised his hammer up as the cogs began to turn and glowed blue. His power armor designed after Daichi’s sci-fi knowledge was agitated into action as two runes activated, while his blasthammer morphed in shape. A red rune activated on it as the flamethrower function activated, directed backwards, working like my jet engines.

The gundam’s head turned around, but it was too late as Grimnir swung his weapon, crashing against the iron golem, fracturing the barrier surrounding it. Our blacksmith fell onto the ground as he attacked, only for Saori to jump out the shadows beneath and catch him.

[“Give me all the shadows, Hestia!”] she informed me through telepathy, as she too was in her [Humanize (Minor)] form. She then reached her hand out, pointing at our enemy. [“Boys! Ellaine!”]

From ten shadows, the same number of black magic circles appeared before they all shot out tendrils at the gundam, wrapping themselves around its body to hold it back. I removed the white flames around the magma lake, before ordering my [Hydra] to help by hardening its slime into obsidian.

As the rain of dragon meteors continued bombarding the gundamn’s shields, from the shadows Uno, Song, and Quatre appeared with Tatsuya, Kyouya, and Ellaine in her exoarmor on their backs. Ellaine ordered Quatre to charge at the gundam, destabilizing it before she jumped up with her whipblade fully extended.

As a rune on the weapon guard shined green, she swung the weapon at the gundam’s head. Using [Air Walk] she braced herself mid-air as I saw mana fluctuating around her arms, before she pulled on her whipblade, causing the golem to jerk forward. She must be using one of her demonic abilities—[Musclemass].

“Chest!” Tatsuya shouted as he used [Druidification] to turn into his werewolf form, before consuming three of his fulinoe leaves. His spear readied as he aimed at the chest where Broggart’s mangled body was situated as if it was some kind of power source.

Whether this was a gundam, a golem, or some giant suit of armor, it had to have a way to control all the mana surging inside its body. That central power source Broggart spoke about had to be him! Destroy that body and this thing would go down without me having to go all Solar Beam on it!

I aimed multiple [Banishment Beam]s at Broggart-core, while Kyouya readied himself to attack. Manethala was rumbling around, holding himself back, probably waiting for one of us to break his barrier. Ignoring him, Tatsuya and I finished our preparations and unlea—

“You underestimate our creation!” Maagneil’s voice escaped from the cockpit. “Earth Elemental Emperor, release your power! Become not my conduit, but the conduit for the power of this suit of armor! Become this golem’s source of arcane power!”

“Eiiiiiwwwaaaaaaaah!”

With a burst of dark orange coming from his eyes, Broggart screamed as the machine’s blue seams turned brown and the barrier momentarily expanded, freeing itself from the [Dark Tendrils], Ellaine’s whipblade, and the obsidian on the ground. Kyouya immediately erected a black wall from his shadow armor, protecting himself, Tatsuya, Ellaine, and the fenrirs from the blast.

As I protected my eyes from the dust cloud, I noticed something growing from the gundan’s back. Something like a tree from the silhouette, before I blew the debris away with [Wind Blast], revealing what I saw was actually a rock creature. No, while its body was different, I recognized the snapping turtle-like head of the Earth Elemental Emperor hanging over the gundam’s head like a helmet.

Two pairs of rock arms adorned with sparkling gems spouted from the armor, protecting the metal arms and legs of the golem. In the middle of the gundam where Broggart was, the dwarf’s face contorted in pain as he continued screaming as his beard and hair grew in length, only to turn into rocks as if they were the dwarf’s crust’locks—the cultural hair petrification.

This morbid sight as the gundam creaked with every movement chilled my blood. The horrifying, hollow eyes of the earth elemental emperor’s head on top of the gundam while Broggart’s screams began haunting me. Unfortunately, it only got worse as the golem stomped the ground, causing the floor to suddenly split apart.

My magma and [Hydra] began falling down before I actively took control of them, preventing them from falling into the ravine while countless ores and minerals from Manethala’s pile fell into it. Furthermore, as if I was facing the Earth Elemental Emperor again, the ground began to move as if it was controlling them, wiggling around like vines in an attempt to capture me.

[Sun, Consume All] dealt with everything easily as the heat turned them into magna, allowing me to control the molten rock. However, the very room began to tremble as more attacks were prepared. It was clear this entire room had become Maagneil’s realm now.

Artificial Allied Territory detected! [Dhuinn Rune: Territory] activated. [Earth Ruler’s Reign] activated

[Earth Ruler’s Protection] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

But before the cataclysmic event happened, mana flowed into my body, empowering it before the earth began to retreat from me. The chamber stopped trembling while the gap on the ground closed up. In fact, this time, the earth spears were directed at our enemy.

“Dwarves are unable to learn how to use Territories due to our inability to release mana as an aura. The only way method is through runes, and only this pair I have on my armor and axe may do it!” I turned my head around as I saw King Fugnarus raise his axe in the air, slowly strutting forward as if the world awaited his words. “To always renew them! To always reforge the runes on the next set or armor and axe! Using the dust that formed one of his hands, the Ankor-Nazta has always kept his memory onwards through these two runes! His legacy is the Ankoran King’s and Queen’s responsibility to shoulder, and you dare wield his renewed body against us, Maagneil?! YOU DARE!”

The earth was now ruled by two sides—the Ankoran King with his runes and Maagneil using that orb I heard the Earth Emperor’s voice from. This entire chamber was shaking as if an earthquake was happening. A momentary respite, before King Fugnarus roared and the earth gathered around the gundam like a spiral, raining down attacks.

Now, why—Oh what!

[“Vifi’Yok!”] I called out as I noticed her hanging back. I asked her why she wasn’t attacking, but she just shook her head, whispering something I couldn’t hear with all the sounds happening before me.

My parallel minds reminded me Vifi’Yok was extremely apprehensive when it came to doing anything against the demonkins, and since Maagneil was a demonkin sympathizer, she probably didn’t want to further betray her race. Honestly, maybe I should have traded her for Tasianna when I had the chance …

Regardless, this was what I had to deal with and we had to make it work. Maagneil’s gundam managed to defend itself from the barrage of attack with the barrier and the fact he could control the earth now. I added onto the attacks with my own spells, blasting him further back with the sheer firepower of my attacks.

It was then that I remembered how I was once told by a faemancer that people used to contract elementals to cast elemental spells. That very faemancer—Silva—had a light elemental which allowed her to use holy spells to heal. At first, I thought dwarves couldn’t do the same since they couldn’t expel mana, but then I remembered Broggart’s speech.

“The perfect dwarves could cast spells,” and that was when I noticed this really was their intention all along. Turn the husk of Broggart’s body into a “perfect dwarf” through the power of the Earth Elemental Emperor, before using him as the conduit to channel the emperor’s power. This madman turned his own son’s body into a battery! Fatherly love my ass, this guy was just flat out insane!

“MAAGNEIL!” Grimnir shouted as he jumped out of a shadow with Sarasa again, before shooting a blast of mana with his blasthammer onto the gundam’s chest.

Maagneil swiftly blocked the attack before turning his drill on the ground, and using his earth manipulation to traverse the underground before emerging to our far right. His barrel was fully charged, unleashing a blast at Grimnir, only for it to be narrowly redirected by Kyouya erecting a shadow shield.

Ellaine then dragged Grimnir away from the blast radius and used her whipsword to swing herself along the stalactite like a spider, all while Grimnir kept taking potshots at the gundam. Maagneil readied his next shot while creating earth spears, but this time, Manethala landed right on top of him, causing the golem to crash onto the ground, breaking some rocks off its body.

He quickly recovered from the attack, only for Manethala to slam his tail on him. Rolling back on all fours, Manethala began releasing soot from the vents on his underbelly, blasting the gundam away before the Ankoran King sent him flying with a pillar of earth. His [Auracoil] finally broke, and wow, was it ever sturdy.

Ellaine kicked the air with [Dragoon Jump] and launched herself close to the gundam to help Grimnir land another devastating blow, sending the golem flying to the ground where [Hydra] and the shadow pack awaited for it. With [Dragon Fire] still playing, the shadow pack members were completely immune as my sun blasted waves of white flames at him and my [Hydra] breathed out rock-corroding slime at him.

[Sun, Consume All] solar energy: 50%

Charged! I cheered as I somehow managed to gather enough solar energy for 50% of my core. Considering it was absorbing from everything inside this room aside from me, it was most likely taking it from my allies, too, which I hoped wouldn’t hurt them for the duration of this fight.

Regardless of my cheers, Uno, Song, Sarasa, Quatre, Rajah, Varya, Vidia, and Shoji were ravaging the golem’s body with their individual powers. Shoji was especially a surprise, considering he was our waste-cleaning slime and somebody I hadn’t thought Saori would train up to fight like this.

He was acting like my [Hydra] by incapacitating Maagneil, letting the others attack practically unpunished. This was especially helpful as it allowed my flame attacks to melt the outer shell of the gundam’s new armor, but before we could do anything to the chest area, Maangeil swung his drill around, threatening everybody long enough for him to blast everybody away with an earth attack.

Only for Tatsuya to suddenly fly right into the gundam’s shoulder, piercing through the rock armor but missing the chest. He cursed before jumping off the gundam in time for Saori to save him from getting stomped on. She really was pulling her weight as the teleporter of the group.

Regardless, as everything continued like this, all of us were slowly starting to chip through the gundam’s armor. It felt too easy, honestly. As in, I haven’t been forced to use either [Battle Frenzy], [Symphonie des Feuergottes], or [Solar Beam] to gain an edge here. This felt less climatic than my battle with Galg, the Earth Elemental Emperor itself, or even that one random monster room golem I had to face without my ability to cast spells.

Either way, it didn’t matter, for an easy win was a good enou—

“You first, Grimnir!”

And I spoke too soon.

Broggart’s face lit up again as some force began pushing me down, sending me crashing into the ground along with everybody else, including Manethala. His humongous body caused the earth to crack, nearly sending most of us into the depths if I hadn’t started playing [My Darkest Thought] instead of [Dragon Fire].

While the meteor shower stopped, the extreme gravity caused by the aberration controlling Broggart’s corpse was weakened to the point everybody managed to save themselves from falling into the ravine. As I blasted myself into the air to attack Maagneil again, my eyes widened when I couldn’t find him where I last saw him.

I snapped my head around as I noticed a signal moving around too fast, only to spot Maagneil standing above Grimnir and Ellaine. His barrel was trained on them as it began to glow blue, while the latter two weren’t able to push their bodies up fast enough.

No!

“You will die for killing Broggart, Grimnir! Bleidla be my witness, I will stomp on your bloody corpse after all of this is done!” Maagneil shouted out his fury and desire for vengeance on his nephew.

Grimnir groaned, trying to help Ellaine up. “Maagneil! Arck! You bastard!”

Kriffiek kllk gaaung!

[Battle Frenzy (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

My scales and hair lit up white like a neon light as my eyes focused onto that gundam. I activated my rocket boosters.

“Gravity goes down most of the time, but it is all a matter of density, according to Chihiro! Even if you weaken the overall effect on a mass basis, a focused concentration of force is enough to do what I need. Reduce the density on my body to increase my speed, increase yours to cripple you!

“Urgk!”

With that reveal, my body felt even heavier than before I sang my song. My boosters couldn’t push me up before I fell flat on my face, unable to even move a damn finger. Even with [My Darkest Thought] playing, I was left completely defenseless!

“However, for everybody else …”

As if Maagneil’s voice triggered something, Ellaine pushed Grimnir onto the ground before she howled. A set of skull wings, a forked tail, and two horns grew from her body, before she used the former to create a cage around her and Grimnir to protect themselves from the cannon blowing up in their face.

Ellaine! Grimnir! I shouted in my head, but was unable to even speak with so much force weighing my body down.

Ellaine’s skull wings, caused by her assimilating with Klea’Hatma’s mana, were shattered into tiny pieces as she crashed against the wall behind her. Grimnir, on the other hand, barely moved at all, showcasing Maagneil’s control over gravity. At the same time, the force on my body weakened to the point I could finally push myself onto my knees.

“Thank you, Master!” our enemy shouted for some reason, before my body felt so light I thought I could walk on clouds.

Maagneil then jumped, flying forward with the lessened weights on everybody, only for the gravity to be increased once more where I fell back onto my knees. Looking at everybody else, it seemed to be the case, too, only that I was missing somebody in my count.

Sadly, I had to snap my head back up again as I saw Maagneil aiming his canon on an injured Grimnir. My flames were starting to heal Ellaine who was stuck on a wall, but they weren’t able to protect Grimnir as the gundam simply shrugged off the damage without [Hydra] or somebody else adding onto the damage. Even my corrosive slime golem was held down by this demonic ability.

“I will never forgive you, Grimnir. Not even when you are dead.”

The cannon glowed even brighter, ready to shoot once again!

Shit! Move! Move, Flashfire, move!

But that ability wasn’t a teleportation skill, it was a quick movement ability. If I was weighted down to the point I was struggling to keep myself up, the dash barely got me over to Maagneil to help out. I began launching spells to help Grimnir out, but I didn’t have the time necessary to finish any of the spells.

I was too late.

Grimnir pushed himself up, letting his runes active in a final ditch effort to survive. “Grk! Aur—”

Zzzzzzzt! But the sound of lightning was faster than words as a bolt of lightning crashed against the barrel, causing the gundam to spin around.

A red spear lodged itself into the wall to the side, causing me to snap my head around to see Vifi’Yok being the one to throw my glaive at him, saving Grimnir in the process! At the last moment, she decided to help.

“Tsk.” She clicked her tongue before falling on the ground due to the gravity.

I didn’t know where she got this change of heart, but I couldn’t be more thankful to her, as it brought me enough time to send Maagneil flying into the air with [Terra Wall] and [Cyclone Madness]. I then supercharged myself with [Overload] and reapplied my buffs, trying to force my body into action.

I activated [Flash Fire] once again, this time successfully as I made it right up into the gundam’s face. Using [Drakonian Sunlight Edge] and [Hellblade Edge], I ignited my tail on fire and solar energy before drilling right into the golem’s head with all the buffs I had on myself at this point.

“Kraiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaah!”

You fucking bastard, those are my friends!

I ripped out a section of the armor, revealing the damnable old man shrieking in fear. I then reached into the open space, prying it open even further with my claws, but my attempts ended with the moving rocks on his armor regrew and threw me off to cover up the damage I created. Gravity intensified for me once again and I was sent falling down.

Just when I thought the cycle was about to repeat, from the corner of my eyes, I saw Saori suddenly appearing from the shadow cast by Maagneil’s descending gundam. As it crash landed, a large black magic circle appeared before her as she aimed her spell at him, only for me to quickly realize that was one of her aces-in-the-hole—[Hadaen Dragon Thunder].

Once her black lightning began accumulating, the sound quickly attracted Maagneil’s attention, but Saori suddenly disappeared from everybody’s eyes for a whole second, before she reappeared above Maagneil. Her spell was trained on him.

“Graaaak!” she roared as the spell howled forth, striking the gundam with a massive thunder beam that eviscerated the ground below, leaving only the charred body of the gundam on the ground.

Ash surrounded the area, the result of her spell burning up the entire ground. Saori noted she didn’t get a level up message. There was literally no other indication to any of us that Maagneil was alive or not, but in this moment of silence, I quickly made my way over to Ellaine and Grimnir, making sure their wounds weren’t too severe. The former wasn’t dead, thankfully, but I could tell that her wounds must be severe even without me looking at the party screen.

[“Dwaaaaaaaaarf!”]

[Mental Attack (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]

But before I could reach them, however, Manethala roared from the top of his lungs and blasted his [Telepathy], actively hurting my head, both ears, and mind. As his voice stopped, my head turned around as I saw his gigantic body jump up into the air, forcing everybody to run away or be crushed by this giant’s body.

The dust cloud created as he landed blew everybody around him away, causing most of us to crash against a wall. As we recovered, it would have been the correct thing to think Maagneil was finally dead and this nightmare was over, but this was only the beginning.

Thrrwoooo! The loud sound of a cannon erupted, followed by the blood-curdling cry of a giant drake.

“Kaaarraaaaaaaagh!”

His struggling body caused miniature earthquakes on the ground, further stopping anybody from helping him before his pained cries were drowned out by the sound of a mechanical drill being turned on. In the next moment, the sound of rending flesh paralyzed me on the spot.

The cries of Manethala were horrifying to hear as spurting blood, crushed bones, and splattered organs accompanied it. As the dust settled, the body of Manethala was twitching as the silhouette of the gundam rose up, raising its drill in the air, showing off the blood raining from it as it kept rotating until it finally stopped. The gore on that thing blackened it.

“The maiden voyage of the ‘Dragon Killer’ is finished.”

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A note from AbyssRaven

Sun attack! Also, you know Manethala is a solo player considering he isn’t fighting with his allies in mind.

If you guys want to support me, Hestia and ”A Dragon Idol’s Reincarnation Tale” (or just read up to 20 advance chapters + any Patreon-only chapters) please check out my Patreon: Rawr!

For two dollars, for the cost of a coffee, you can read up to four chapters! You will have my eternal gratitude for any support you can give me! Please.

Thank you for reading this chapter.

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About the author

1 Fictions 7 Posts 1 Threads

Thursday, July 27, 2023 3:01:00 AM Germany [Member of Zard Skwad] Bio: Hey there, AbyssRaven here. I’m just an avid Light Novel and Fantasy story reader who randomly thought of a story and began writing about it.

I eventually found out that I’ve been spending a bit too much time with building, planning, and researching for the story, that I’ve decided to just share it with others.

Writing is mostly a hobby for me, but I would still love any kind of criticism to improve on it.

I’m also german, so please excuse anything that sounds a bit weird...I wouldn’t mind you pointing it out though.

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