Special Chapter XIV - The Conjurer (part 2)

He closed his eyes and continued chanting again. From the ground behind the new summons he just took out, another giant lump of shadow came out. It was… much larger than the previous one.

"No way..."

It's an undead dragon. An undead lesser dragon which had four wings. This lesser dragon was very close to evolving into a normal dragon, but it was killed before it was able to transform, and got turned into an undead slave by this conjurer.

"Now, I'm sure you have heard… about dragons and their abilities to evolve through eating..."

The conjurer grinned wider and flicked his finger. The undead dragon immediately started feasting on the other beings he just spawned.

"What…?"

"What!? You thought I would use these weak pawns against you?? I know more than a stupid child, that these monsters are probably not even worth your time. 

But a regular dragon… is a Rank 1 beast!! One of the highest!!"

The dragon finally finished eating the final monster, which is the emperor serpent. It slurped the serpent's body like a noodle, until it finally let out a burp at the end.

The undead dragon then closed its eyes as well as closing its wings. It curled into a ball, and a blinding burning light came from underneath its skin.

"Yes...! Yessss!! This is it!!!"

The dragon is transforming. I can hear the cracking sounds coming from the dragon's body while it is transforming. The dragon's shape began to change, and even slowly got bigger. The wings combined into one, and the skin also shed and changed into a much stronger one.

Mid transformation, the dragon uncurled its body and lifted its neck up. I knew what was about to happen, and I quickly covered my ears.

"HHRRRROOOAAAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

From the outside, Gajah and the others are still busy fighting the undead, they hear the traumatizing roar from inside the cave.

"What the hell was that??"

Gajah asked as he stared on to the entrance.

"We have to hurry! We need to help Rize!!"

The captain shouted as he slaughtered yet another demon beast. That makes it the fifteenth for him.

Back to the evolving dragon, it has finally finished evolving. The dragon spread both of its giant wings and opened its large mouth. It showed the large teeth that it had, as well as the burning flame that is about to be letting out a large fire breath.

VWOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The fire breath burned the entire ceiling, and since it was so hot, not even the rocky roof of the cave can withstand the flames. It turned into lava and slowly fell to the crystal ground.

"This is... perfect!!!"

The conjurer, still being drowned in power, didn't even pay any attention to me. It is simply praising his own creation as if he just did the impossible.

"That was... quick."

I had expected the transformation to take a long time. Turns out the dragon only had to shine brightly and scream. I was quite interested in seeing a dragon transforming using my own eyes, and I have to say. I am quite disappointed.

"Q-Quick???"

The conjurer couldn't believe my words. How is this guy still so calm even in this situation?

"You do realize this is a 'Regular' type dragon we are talking about! A Rank 1 dragon!!!"

"Yes, yes. Rank 1, White rank, yada-yada-yada…"

The dragon turned its gaze at me. I can tell that the dragon is emitting a faint bloodlust from its eyes, which I assumed came from the conjurer since the dragon is already dead.

I slowly lowered my pose and formed a stance again. I took a deep breath to fill my lungs with air, and I stayed in position for a very long time.

The dragon became restless at what I was doing, and it lifted one of its gigantic paws and smashed the crystal ground where I stood. 

BAAARRR!!!!

SHRESHH!!!

"HRROOAAA!!!"

It all happened very quickly. The dragon slammed its hand to the ground, completely destroying the crystal ground. I disappeared right before the paw hit the ground, and once the dragon smashed its hand to the ground, I returned with a highly concentrated magic energy on my sword.

It took a couple slices, and the dragon's hand turned into minces of meat in an instant.

"HROAA---!!!"

The dragon shouted and prepared for another fire breath. By the time the dragon opened its mouth, I threw a fire bomb as quickly as possible inside the mouth. 

BOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The fire bomb exploded inside his mouth, as well as activating the fire breath that the dragon was about to shower on me. The explosion caused a chain reaction on the dragon's head, causing it to explode into a million pieces.

And now, the dragon has died yet again.

The dragon's body fell to the ground with a large thud. Many of the black liquid and pieces from the dragon began raining from the skies. While receiving this black rain, the conjurer could only watch in horror as I slowly approached him.

"A Rank 1… my dragon… my greatest beast-"

"Rank 1 or not, that thing is still a beast. Its decisions are poor, the intelligence is nonetheless low. It will still be quite easy to defeat."

I said to him, but it looks like he doesn't have anything to say. I finally arrived one meter in front of the conjurer, and I stared down at his pitiful state.

"I won."

The conjurer couldn't believe it. He had spent years planning this mission. But he failed. He failed his family, he failed his people... 

He failed his master.

"Khhkhhh...!!!"

He fell to the ground, on his butt. But the looks on his face doesn't say he had given up.

"In the name of my master, the God of Death, I hereby take your life!!"

"What...?"

Hearing the name of the God of Death, my concentration slipped up. I didn't realize the presence of the undead skeleton behind me holding a long sword.

Using my highest speed, I dodged to the right. I was able to dodge the skeleton from stabbing me, but it didn't stop there. Thanks to the momentum, the skeleton kept on falling forward, until the blade pierced through the conjurer's chest.

JREEBB!!!

"Hrukk!!!"

"No!"

I kicked the skeleton away, and it flew all the way to the entrance of the room which seemed impossible for any football player. The skeleton exploded on the wall and fell to the ground in pieces of bones.

I kneeled down and tried healing the conjurer, but it was already impossible. Not only was the blade poisoned, it was already stabbed through the heart. He can't be saved.

"Kuh. No... My plan... All this time... Kuhuk!!"

I can only listen to him as he slowly loses his life. I can't do anything to save him, so I might as well listen to honour his death.

He turned his eyes back to me, showing me the same firm expression that he is still wearing.

"Hey... Let me give you... An advice..."

The conjurer picked up an item from his pocket, and gave it to me. I didn't get to see it, because he is still holding it even when it's already in my hand.

"Don't... Trust... Veldonia... They are... evil-..."

His expression began to loosen, and his body slowly grew weaker. His hand stopped holding the item in my hand, and slowly dropped to the floor.

Once again, I listened to my opponent's dying wish. I didn't kill him though, I would never kill a human. He caused this to himself, all I did was beat him up.

Once I was sure that he was gone, I closed his eyes and pulled the sword away. I picked him up using both of my hands, and began heading towards the surface. 

Seeing him dead will surely make everyone glad or something. Either way, this is important news to them.

Hopefully everyone else is also finished fighting. They were only dealing with a large amount of demon beasts and zombies, so it shouldn't take that long to completely defeat them.

But right when I arrived at the entrance, my footsteps stopped.

My hands grew weak, and the conjurer's body fell to the ground. Behind the mask, I began sweating again. I turned towards the exit, and began rushing as quickly as I could.

This pressure… this immense aura…

This is faster than I expected. They detected the battle way earlier than I thought. 

They must have rushed here, as well… because there's no way they are already here. I have to hurry.

The trio of destruction… they have arrived.