123 The strongest beings

The Great Sage looked around an area that was near a village protected by the Empire. It was the same area where Valerie had found that dark blade.

He seemed to be looking for someone or something as he examined the area thoroughly.

The area around him brought back some memories he didn't want to recall.

'She hasn't returned. At least I don't think she can return… I don't know.' He placed his hand on his face.

For nearly three hundred years the thought of the Witch returning plagued his mind. She can't die, there was nothing he could do that could kill her.

But whether she can even return to this world was still a mystery to him, but he was sure she could.

'If that awful presence didn't come from her, then where did it come from?' He started teleporting everywhere to find that presence.

Meanwhile…

Will stood in front of his Golem thinking of his next move, he already knew it was awake, but what could he possibly do against a monster of that size?

The weapons he needed to craft to fight the mountain dragon still needed days to be completed.

"Golem, keep an eye on him and tell me everything it does down to the tiniest detail. But don't engage with it. We don't want the dragon to find its way here."

"Yes, Master."

The thought of asking the Great Sage for help did cross his mind, but would he really help at all? Still he thought it was worth a shot.

Problem was Will didn't have a method to communicate with the Great Sage.

'Wait, I can send Jasmine a message.'

Jasmine is a Sorceress that Will knew thanks to Jack. So much has happened that he didn't even talk to her in what feels like months.

{Jasmine? It's me, Will. I need you to do me a quick favor. It's important}

The communication stone was left inside of a wooden desk. Jasmine had her own problems to deal with.

She now lived in the Reyes kingdom because of the dragons roaming around the area, thus she had to prioritize her family's safety and hers, but the problem was the taxes are very high, especially for sorceresses like herself.

One would think after she helped save a village from a dragon attack, a cyclops attack, and handed over proof of a corrupted noble killing children would have made her life better, it did for a short while. After being paid in gold for her contribution towards the kingdom, the kingdom's taxes were taking away more than she had earned.

Jasmine has heard from Jack how great the Sun kingdom was. She, along with many sorcerers, would love to move to the Sun kingdom, but they all feared that if they betrayed the Reyes kingdom they would be considered traitors to the Kingdom and would be hunted down, as their powers were given by the Great Sage himself.

Because of their thinking they never realized they could move any time they wanted. The Great Sage couldn't care less where they go. The king might be angry if he found out his sorcerers are migrating to other places.

Will sent her many messages but got nothing in return. Jack, who could also see the messages didn't respond as they were just told by Sandra to move underground as soon as possible.

'I have to go to the Reyes kingdom myself. Even if the Great Sage has a few days left to live he might be able to defeat the mountain dragon.'

Before Will left, he thought of another person he could message not to ask for their help, but to help them instead.

Will grabbed his communication stone and sent a message to Valerie.

{Valerie, don't go near the black mountains. The black mountain isn't just a mountain, it is a dragon, and it's awake}

Will knows she has to travel around Lea's forest to arrive at the Reyes kingdom, one side is near the black mountains, the other side is where the Sun kingdom was located.

Valerie who received his message has her eyes widened in shock. When she was a kid she heard rumors and stories of a huge dragon living beneath the mountains, but for the dragon to be the mountain itself is something she didn't think was possible.

{Are you sure?}

{Yes, he's real, and he's awake.}

"HALT!!!" Valerie shouted to her men. The army halted in their steps in perfect unison.

"Val?" Veronica said in a concerned manner.

Valerie started to think. Her goal to attack the Reyes kingdom wasn't going to change at all.

She didn't doubt Will's words as he had no reason to lie to her.

{Can I bring my army close to your kingdom? If what you say is true then my men and I are in danger}

{I don't mind}

"Go with formation B!" Valerie shouted as soon as she got Will's permission. "If you see something huge coming at you, don't engage, hide, and message the others as soon as possible."

Formation B. Is where the army would split themselves into smaller groups to travel faster. If they were together they would be slower but stronger, but with such a huge army it's bound to be eye-catching from a distance.

If her army were spread out perhaps they wouldn't stand out as much.

The reason she hadn't used this formation from the beginning is because she had no reason to, at the pace they were going they would make it in time. But with the existence of a dragon the size of the mountain appearing, she needed to make a slight detour to avoid possibly confronting the dragon.

Valerie's generals and captains split up with large groups as per Valerie's orders.

"Valerie, what's wrong?" Veronica asked, concerned.

Valerie was still deep in her thoughts so much that Isabella's words didn't reach her.

'How can such a being of that size exist? The black mountains have been around for a long time even before the first heroes were summoned, and it turns out to have been a dragon all this time?'

No matter what it didn't make sense for a dragon the size of a mountain to exist for so long and for no one to know about it.

"Valerie!" Veronica nudged Valerie's legs.

"What? Oh. Something came up, something I didn't think was possible."

"What?"

"Veronica, what would you do if there was a monster the size of a literal mountain?" Valerie asked.

"A literal mountain? I think I would have a heart attack if I saw something of that size alive."

"Agreed." Valerie then ordered her army to march using formation B.

"Um…"

Meanwhile…

The elves living in Lea's forest were still hiding inside Lea's forest.

A while ago Lea covered the entire village in thick roots that won't let any threats inside, and no elf could leave the village until Lea permits it.

Many elves, including Silvas, who were over hundreds of years old remembered this happening only two times to their village before.

The first time was when the mountain dragon was awake and fought against a very powerful cyclops, he once tried to attack the elves for reasons unknown but Lea successfully repelled him.

The second time was when the first three heroes fought and caused a disaster everywhere.

Lea doesn't like keeping the elves in one spot against their own free will, but if she didn't take such drastic measures then many elves would die.

Many elves, and even half elves took refuge inside their homes made of trees. Grace, Arbor, Silvas, and even Adaline were all taking refuge inside their house. Their home was a giant tree which can house hundreds of elves at once.

"It's awake, isn't it?" asked Grace. The royal elf family was sitting in a room among hundreds of elves.

There was nothing the elves could do to stop the mountain dragon. All they could do was rely on Lea to protect them.

"Yes, Grace." Silvas responded.

"Do you think Will is going to be okay?" Grace looked at Adaline. Adaline looked back at her and rested her head on her thighs.

Grace hesitated to place her hand on her head. Very slowly she placed her hand on Adaline's head and began stroking her gently. Adaline let her as she rested her head on Grace's thighs.

As much as Grace liked stroking Adaline's head, it was very heavy to carry on her lap.

"He'll be okay." Arbor held his wife, and Grace closer to him.

Grace knew that Will would be alive no matter what happened to him. But what she was worried about was not for his life, but the well being of the people who live in his kingdom. What would happen to Will if his kingdom, and his people, especially Sandra, were to die?

Meanwhile…

The mountain dragon was stretching its wings. Each movement it made caused the ground to shake.

After Josh woke him up he had trouble falling back asleep to keep recovering from his injury. Now he was bored out of his mind and wanted to do something.

He flew up high which cleared the sky. Despite his immense size he was very fast. It flew in the direction of the village of the elves. Whenever it moves the terrain around him changes.

The poor golden dragon was trying its best to not let the violent wind take him.

In a matter of minutes the mountain dragon reached Lea's forest.

When it failed to destroy Lea's forest the first time he felt frustrated to see someone being able to repel him. The worst part is that Lea could overpower him using the entire forest, but she wasn't able to kill him due to his size and dragon scales.

This time he felt it would be different. Keeping his distance he let out an incredibly sized fire breath that covered the entire forest.

The fire spread everywhere. The elves could feel the intense heat.

Lea already foresaw this coming and had already covered the entire forest in a thick layer of vines, trees, and roots. No fire could damage it.

Lea, who was watching, shook her head. Why did he think it would be different from the last time? If anything she could see he has a weakness in his abdomen made from a powerful enemy many centuries ago.

From far away, the Empire's army could see and feel a blinding light coming from miles away.

Everyone was equally scared and confused to not know what that light was. Even the lizards under them wanted to run away.

The Empress managed to calm her men down. She knew what it was thanks to Will telling her, but that didn't mean she wasn't afraid.

The forest then launched itself at the mountain dragon. Fire didn't affect the trees in the slightest except for the leaves which could be regrown almost instantly.

The mountain dragon kept its distance as it continued spewing out fire. He was faster than Lea could control the forest. As long as he kept his distance he had nothing to fear.

Lea tried to extend her control further but the further she extends her control, the weaker and slower it gets. Once she extends her forest too far that outer part of the forest then becomes weak to fire.

Her father's device that lets her control the forest wasn't perfect, it was a failed product with many flaws which is why he gave it to her in the first place.

After a few minutes of trying the mountain dragon gave up for now as he had grown bored. He still couldn't destroy the forest like he wanted to.

Why did he want to burn down Lea's forest in the first place? Because he wanted to, and also because he had nothing better to do, and it wanted to eliminate a possible threat, Lea.

'Nothing has changed, Lea is still too powerful for me. Anyways, didn't the other dragons say that there was a kingdom somewhere in the south? And that Sage or whatever his name was?' The mountain dragon looked at the south.

The plan was to let the Great Sage die from old age before he could face him, as he feared that the damaged area around his abdomen could prove to be a fatal weakness.

But now he was really bored, couldn't sleep, and couldn't wait to move around again.

So he decided to visit the Reyes kingdom and see what the Great Sage was made of. He couldn't wait anymore for the Sage to die of old age, and who knows when he might die, a decade, a century, perhaps even longer?

As the mountain dragon flew towards the kingdom there was a certain individual who was sitting on top of its head, observing its movements and examining his incredibly tough scales.

'Despite its size it's insanely fast. And it's flying towards the Reyes kingdom. Great. Just great… Thy too old, I mean, I'm getting too old for this, but I can't have this dragon destroy the Reyes kingdom.'

The Great Sage lifted his leg slightly, and using all his strength he stomped on the dragon's head.

The mountain dragon felt an incredible force of power crush down on his head and he crashed on the ground. It was so sudden that he didn't get a chance to protect himself.

'What?' The mountain dragon was surprised. He looked everywhere but couldn't see what could've caused him to fall.

The Great Sage stroked his beard and frowned. He put all his strength on that stomp and he didn't even damage him, just slightly managed to move him.

'If I was in my prime that stomp would've done serious damage, at least I think. Still, my greatest strength is not my physical prowess but my magic. Maybe I should've tried to kill him all those years ago.'

The Great Sage knew all too well of his existence from long ago after reading Silvas's mind once.

There are many factors as to why the Great Sage didn't fight the mountain dragon until now: At the time he learned of its existence, he wasn't used to his powers yet as he had been recently summoned, and also even in his prime the Great Sage didn't know if he could really kill the mountain dragon.

And also, the dragons depended on the mountain dragon for protection, if he killed the mountain dragon that would leave the other dragons homeless, and so that would mean that the dragons would fly everywhere and not be in one place which was harder to contain chaos would spread to the villagers, which is what is happening now.

And with the possibility of the Witch returning he didn't want to risk dying or being fatally injured.

The Great Sage teleported beside the mountain dragon and kicked him right on the side of his face. The mountain dragon was slightly pushed back.

'Oh, I get it now.' The mountain dragon knew what was happening now, the Great Sage was attacking him.

The Great Sage lifted his arm up high. And with a mighty shout he slammed his hand down. An invisible force of great power struck down the mountain dragon's back and forced him to lie down. That attack was so powerful it could destroy the Reyes kingdom, but to the mountain dragon it felt as if someone pushed him down.

'You're kidding. Do I really have to use all my strength?' The Great Sage was getting worried, his attacks were affecting the mountain dragon but not injuring it at all.

For three hundred years he hasn't faced an opponent that required him to go all out. There was no reason to go all out, there really wasn't another being on his level aside from the other two heroes.

'That's it.'

The mountain dragon took a deep breath.

'Wait, what?' The Great Sage didn't know what it was planning to do. He has seen many dragons unleash a fire breath, but that didn't look like a firebreath attack at all, and he wasn't even facing in his general direction.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The mountain dragon let out a deafening roar. It was so loud, deep, and so powerful that it could be mistaken for a bomb. Due to his size he couldn't see where the Great Sage was, so he had to use something that could damage him from all angles..

The remaining trees around the mountain dragon couldn't stand the deafening roar that they fell on the ground due to the vibrations it caused. Many trees even shattered into pieces.

From far away the Empress's entire army covered their ears, fell to the ground, closed their eyes, and yelled in pain as they all went deaf momentarily from the noise. They didn't even know what the noise was, it was like a loud but deafening noise that was hurting their hearing.

The area around them was shaking violently. Some trees began tumbling down. They were lucky to be far from the mountain dragon otherwise there would have been fatalities.

Will, who was helping the last few people of his kingdom get to the mines and covering the hole to the entrance, covered his ears as an unexpected loud noise pierced his ear drums, but he didn't go deaf. The sound he heard didn't even sound like a dragon's roar, it was as if a shotgun had gone off beside his ear.

Will was left confused, dazed, and with a headache. All he could hear was a ringing noise. His castle was slightly shaking but not enough to cause any major damage.

Sandra and the rest of the people heard the loud dragon's roar. Since they were deep underground the sound was loud but not enough to cause them to cover their ears, although it did strike fear into their hearts as the sound made them believe a dragon was near them.

The entire Reyes kingdom went into a panic as all the citizens, royales, and heroes were on the ground and covering their ears. No one knew what caused such noise.

The Great Sage covered his ears as they ruptured from the noise. Then he teleported far away before it could cause him more damage. The Great Sage's ears were bleeding but they healed in a matter of seconds. There was still a trickle of blood coming down from both his ears. The Great Sage's healing ability was very potent, but it didn't mean it could heal everything.

Due to the loud noise the Great Sage couldn't hear anything apart from a ringing noise. He was also experiencing a severe headache. Anyone else would've died instantly from the powerful vibrations of the mountain's dragons roar.

'That's going to be troublesome.' The Great Sage thought. After a while he stood up, wiped the blood from his ears using his robe, and teleported back to the dragon.

The entire elf population was fine despite them being closer to the dragon than any other group aside from the Great Sage. They didn't even hear anything.

It was thanks to Lea. Lea has an unknown number of devices that can protect her and the elves from most attacks. Lea's forest is entirely fireproof but it's not because of the device that lets her control nature, it's another device deemed as a 'failure' by her father that can make anything in a certain radius fireproof. Elves can also become fireproof by that logic.

One of the devices she is currently using can protect anything in a large radius from loud sounds and vibrations. As amazing as some of the devices she can use, she could not have all the devices equipped at once to guarantee the elves safety.

Lea has lived a long life, she has seen many giant beings like the mountain dragon, some which were even bigger, and most always let out a powerful shout as a sort of attack that can kill anyone near them.

Once Will recovered from the loud noise he ran up to a Golem, who was also running towards Will.

"Is the mountain dragon close or what?" Will knew the shout came from the mountain dragon, but he thought that it had to be close to his kingdom to cause that sort of noise.

"Master, the mountain dragon is nowhere near the Sun kingdom. Last I saw he was fighting the Great Sage."

"The Great Sage is fighting him already? Wonderful. Wait, what do you mean by 'last I saw' aren't you keeping an eye on the mountain dragon?" asked Will.

"When the dragon let out that deafening roar, all the Golems that were keeping an eye on him were destroyed. Their metal bodies are fine, but the vibrations from the shout shattered the Golem cores inside."

"God… Please tell me {Sovereignty} is ready."

"Not for another 2-3 days, Master."

"Fuck. What about 'that' Golem?"

"We have already finished bringing all the materials required to craft the Golem, all you have to do is copy paste. But are you sure you won't enchant the Golem yet?"

"Enchanting a Golem of that size will take me months to finish. All I need is to apply the weapons made from Sovereignty."

Will's {holographic platform} can basically make copies of already buildings and items as long as he has the materials, but for some reason the device cannot copy the enchanted part of the items, Will has to do that part by hand.

Right now his greatest weapons was the Golem he was working on, as well as crafting Sovereignty, the problem was they weren't complete yet.

"One more thing, Master, crafting the Golem will require 80% of all the metal ores you have gathered."

"That makes sense. For now send one Golem to keep an eye on the dragon. If it gets destroyed, send another but only one at a time."

"Yes, Master."

"Also, the Empress is going to bring her army around, don't attack them if you see them."

Will left to finish the Golem he had in mind.

He had no idea what would happen if the Great Sage fails to take down that monster. Frankly speaking, he didn't even believe his special Golem could take on the mountain dragon, but stall him long enough to attack his only weakness, the damaged area around his abdomen. He just hopes that the Great Sage can last long enough until {Sovereignty} is done.

Meanwhile…

When the mountain dragon finished roaring he chuckled as he touched his throat. All dragons have a loud and powerful roar, if it was paired up with someone of his size it can be devastating.

'If only my roar was that effective on Lea.' He looked at the mess his roar caused. All trees and monsters were all shattered into pieces around him.

'Hm? What's that?'

There was a small, bright, blue light hurtling towards him at a great speed that caught his attention. It was similar to a falling star; the brightness emitting from the light was what caught his eye.

Before the mountain dragon could react quick enough, the bright light collided with his face. The great power that came from that attack was powerful enough to cause a great deal of pain to the dragon, but not enough to break a single scale of his.

The mountain dragon roared loudly from the pain it had received. Its entire body was pushed back far away.

That bright light was none other than the Great Sage himself. The pure white light surrounding him was his power, using it meant that he was fighting for real.

Roy Morgan had only used this ability once, but last time he was still new and could only maintain it for a few minutes as he hadn't mastered any of his abilities yet. Now he could maintain the ability for days, in his prime it would've lasted months. The white light created a powerful gust that made his hair fly everywhere in a majestic fashion.

The blue robe he was wearing was gone. It revealed the face of a 90 year old man, but emanating lots of energy. His hair was white and so long that it could easily reach all the way to his knees.

Roy Morgan always wore his robe that covered everything except his face and hands.

Roy pointed the finger at the mountain dragon's abdomen. He could clearly see it was damaged from long ago.

A powerful white beat shot from Roy's finger, with a great speed it was going towards the mountain dragon's weakness.

The mountain dragon however jumped up swiftly to barely avoid the attack making contact with him.

Roy lifted up his finger and the beam redirected itself to the mountain dragon again. Not expecting the beam to follow him, the mountain dragon covered his abdomen using his wings.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The mountain dragon fell from the Sky and crashed into the ground once again. It was bewildered to see a human being possess such power.

'This is interesting, terrible for me, but interesting.'

The mountain dragon stood up and looked at the Great Sage. Both were examining each other thinking of ways to take each other down.