The scream ceases. Though not even a second has passed, the poison swallowed even the sound.
Souls, wills, and any noble sacrifices were forgotten.
It didn’t take long for the hammer to melt either.
It sank into the poison swamp, bubbling as if boiling, leaving no trace behind.
Remaining were only the eleven watchers and Aslan’s party.
No one remembered the one who had sacrificed themselves.
That Being itself was erased from this world.
They stood by the edge of the poison swamp, unable to recall the intermediate process.
Fragments of the broken earth and pieces fallen from the city remained.
Standing atop them, they alternated their gaze between the fragments beneath their feet and the poison swamp.
And then they realized.
At first glance, this poison seemed to dissolve everything, but in fact, it did not.
Only Ereta could understand that there were limits and restrictions to what this poison could dissolve.
Using this poison swamp as a trap was highly effective. The group had been split, and the battle tactics they had been pushing forward were now reversed.
Moreover, for the trap to work, the ground beneath the poison swamp needed to support this monstrous poison capable of erasing even existence.
Perhaps the poison-spitting dragon had restricted its ability to dissolve the ground beneath to use it as a trap.
Additionally, it appeared that Geladridion itself, forged from eternity and night’s divine power, could not be shattered by the poison.
The floating fragments scattered throughout the poison swamp were undoubtedly fragments of Geladridion, the world.
‘The output is insufficient. That’s why they’re targeting me.’
Ereta thought.
Only then did the reason for targeting her become clear.
The poison-spitting dragon desired Ereta to devour Geladridion by melting it.
More specifically, it wanted Ereta’s divine power.
When Ereta noticed this and looked up, the mouth of the poison-spitting dragon opened.
Its cavernous dark maw, filled with shadows, revealed streams of divine power trickling along its emerald scales.
What emerged was its breath.
A breath no one else could block—not even Aslan, who had barely managed to evade it.
In the direction of the breath were the watchers and the group.
She had to stop it. Lacking Aslan’s mobility, she had to throw her weapon.
The two-handed axe imbued with divine power burned white, and Ereta focused the divine energy coursing through her body before hurling the axe.
KWAHAAAAAAAAAA!
The breath surged forward with a deafening roar.
White flames erupted from the thrown axe, colliding with the breath and creating a shockwave that exploded outward in a spherical form.
KWAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAGAG!
The fire-laden axe clashed with the dissolving poison.
Upon impact, the divine powers gnashed against each other, roaring savagely.
Beyond the roaring forms, the poison-spitting dragon aimed its head at Ereta, delight evident in its narrowed eyes.
It had targeted this all along, intending to force Ereta to block with her only weapon and then dissolve her with poison.
Ereta couldn’t block or evade the poison.
She lacked the mobility of Aslan, Lumel, or Phey.
Ereta stiffened, realizing it was too late, and tried to summon as much divine power as possible to withstand the breath.
But then—
EEEEEEEEEEEEEK, CHHEEENG!
A burst of white light tore through the darkness, splitting the breath.
Diving down through mastery of flight in front of Ereta was Aslan.
As the pure blade cleaved the breath, Aslan shouted amidst the swirling poison.
“Ereta, fire!”
No response was necessary. Ereta unleashed the gathered divine power immediately.
HUUURRRR, KWAHAAAAANG!
The white flames she exhaled blocked the swirling poison, which emitted a foul odor as it burned in the presence of the white flames.
The stench was suffocating, yet Aslan gritted his teeth and shouted.
“Keep attacking! Someone’s already dead!”
His voice loud enough for the watchers and the group to hear, even though Aslan himself could not remember it.
He had read the phenomenon occurring beyond human limits.
“That guy is weakened! Our attacks are landing!”
Though still a mighty deity, he was no longer invincible to every attack.
Clutching his sword tightly, Aslan shouted again.
“Right here, right now, we kill him!”
With clenched teeth, Aslan’s declaration spurred the watchers to grip their weapons, and the group looked up at the dragon.
Even though Aslan said those words, the poison-spitting dragon still appeared fully capable to them.
And Aslan knew it too.
The opponent was an evil deity.
Even the weakest of evil deities, even if weakened, was still a deity.
Humans cannot defeat a deity.
Even with miracles and preparation, humans cannot defeat a deity.
Even with a deity present, the situation remained the same.
This was not an opponent to hold back against or approach casually.
It wasn’t advantageous.
Rather, it was disadvantageous.
Thus, they had to give it their all.
“Lewena.”
The ground was covered in poison. A single stamp of its forepaw would kill countless beings, like splashing water.
So Aslan stopped it. Pulling out the Abyssal Blade, Aslan wielded the passage held by its master, allowing the abyss to seep into space.
GRRRRRK!
Torn space spread like a black stain across the area.
Facing Aslan, the poison-spitting dragon had already gathered its breath and charged toward him.
They collided. Even a mountain would crumble under such a massive body.
Yet, it was blocked. It could be blocked.
Just as Aslan ran forward, leaving Ereta behind and extending the Abyssal Blade—
A shield-like barrier of darkened space blocked the dragon’s path, and the massive body of the poison-spitting dragon clashed with the abyss.
KWAHAAAAAAAAAAANG!
With a thunderous roar, the abyss was pushed back.
Aslan was sent flying.
But he wasn’t crushed. He simply groaned as he was flung backward; nothing was broken or crushed.
The darkened space rippled and spread like something being torn. It descended toward the ground.
The poison was covered by the abyss.
To block it, Aslan had to die. Realizing this, the poison-spitting dragon translated its understanding into action.
Its raised forepaw descended upon Aslan.
Aslan countered the attack with purity. With a resonating clang, the forepaw halted.
A human thousands of times smaller than himself was holding back the forepaw.
Then, while pressing the forepaw, Aslan struck with his tail. As the poison-spitting dragon twisted its body, something flew and struck the dragon’s head.
KOOOOOOOOOONG!
What flew was debris.
A circular piece that might have been the top of a tower.
A massive structure the size of the dragon’s head.
The one who hurled it appeared from a part of the still-eroding city.
“Dare to throw me around like trash?!”
Ancient Goddess Angie, her eyes blazing with ominous golden light, charged forward.
She ran toward the dragon whose head had been bent backward by the debris she threw. The dragon sharply turned its head and filled its mouth with breath.
The churning poison inside its mouth.
Even a steed could be dissolved, so true to its name, the poison-spitting dragon opened its mouth—but then,
KWARRRRRRRNG, KWACH!
Because a spear pierced its upper jaw like a descending lightning bolt, forcing its head to bend toward the ground.
KWARRRRRRRRRRR!
The breath fell to the ground. An overwhelming amount of poison spread in a circle. Directly in front of it, Ereta released her divine power.
The spreading divine power, burning white, blocked the poison.
KWAGAGAGAGAGAG!
The thunderous sound spread, and the divine powers clashed, consuming each other.
Amidst the sharp echoes, Richard and the watchers moved simultaneously.
It was an instinctive movement.
Knowing that stepping forward here was the only way out, the movements of a top-tier warrior.
From the very back, Tiamat drew an arrow, while the watchers and Richard raised their weapons and fists high and charged.
Stepping on the ground created by the abyss, cutting across the poison to strike the dragon’s neck.
Seeing them approach, the dragon’s eyes gleamed and it lowered its posture.
A stance fitting its crocodile-like appearance.
And with that fitting stance, more poison swirled in the dragon’s lowered mouth.
Poison that could kill upon contact.
It was directly ahead. So close that it felt like walking into death itself.
But they did not stop. Since they didn’t stop, Ereta, who had just been emitting divine power to block the poison, joined the formation.
The woman screamed a war cry.
Flames surged from the double-handed axe she gripped.
Toward the advancing formation led by Ereta, poison was immediately spewed. Poison that even Ereta could not block directly.
So she doesn’t block it.
Blocking was not Ereta’s role this time.
KWARRRRRRRRNG!
Suddenly, thunder roared, and something passed by the watchers and Ereta.
It was Tiamat’s arrow.
Wrapped in burning mana, it could be called a plasma mass of condensed mana.
A projectile fired with the speed that could shatter mountains.
It swiftly flew and collided with the breath.
KWAHAAAAAAAAAAANG!
Intense heat scorched the poison fiercely, igniting it.
The rising heat obscured the vision, and the scattered poison hindered movement. The poison-spitting dragon swung its forepaws low, as if shaking off the heat.
KAHHHHHHHHHHH!
The swinging forepaw was blocked. Blocked by Ereta’s axe swung forth from piercing through the heat.
Her boots skidded and tore apart as she braced herself, but the surging flames burned away the poison that plasma hadn’t completely consumed.
Ereta heavily sprinkled divinity to carve out an advance route.
The divinity burned the poison, and the poison melted the divinity.
In that moment, twelve people charged forward.
Stepping on the blackened platform to slay the dragon.
CHIICK!
Yet, even though the poison was burned, its effects couldn’t be completely contained.
Cracks formed on the abyss used as a foothold, like breaking thin ice.
Those passing through the advance route Ereta had carved recognized it.
The abyss wouldn’t last long.
Already exhausted, the abyss was nearing its limit just by holding on.
Thus, the watchers quickly crossed the abyss and approached the dragon.
The charging watchers and Richard, with Ereta following belatedly.
Toward them, the poison-spitting dragon swung its tail.
The swinging tail cut through the air with a sonic boom, its trajectory almost invisible by the end.
But they anticipated the trajectory through luck and acted beforehand.
Flying through mastery, propelled by the winds of hell and acceleration, they swung.
Unable to put full body weight into it, they swung the blade with the force of acceleration.
KAGAGAGAGACK, SWISH!
Aslan, striking first, severed the tail and caused the dragon to roar in pain while bleeding.
Aslan rolled after landing like scraping the ground, and then accelerated further as Phay and spirit beasts attacked the dragon from above.
Like rotating blades rolling over the scales, Phay spun.
The fairy’s blade tore through the scales, causing blood to gush.
Behind her, the spirit beast followed, ferociously swinging its claws.
Everywhere the claws swept, chunks of flesh fell off.
Shedding scales and acidic blood, the dragon’s agonized roar and fury.
In that gap, Lumel’s lightning filled the void.
Lumel’s actions were aggressive checks that destabilized the center of gravity.
Rushing with the speed of lightning, he thrust his spear to dismantle the most critical spots.
Dodging the swinging tail and hacking at the nape of the neck.
Avoiding the stomping forepaw while slashing the flank.
And dodging the wings while tearing through the membrane.
With the center of gravity destabilized, the watchers’ attacks followed.
Attacks poured in from all directions toward the dragon.
“For the Empire!”
The watchers shouted, raining down various attacks.
Clever attacks blending magic and martial arts, distinct from what Aslan’s group possessed.
The situation was clearly not favorable, but neither was it entirely unfavorable.
While the abyss held, it was possible.
The poison-spitting dragon, lowering its stance, had an exposed flank where a watcher had thrust a spear into the wound Lumel had already torn open.
Until the moment of the thrust.
“Huh…?”
The spear being thrust melted away, halting his thoughts.
The middle-aged woman among the watchers, a rare pure human, belatedly noticed the spearhead melting away due to the poison.
But how?
The poison should have been isolated by the abyss.
Unconsciously glancing down, she saw it.
The abyss crumbling around the spot touched by the poison-spitting dragon’s forepaw.
CHIICK, JJEJJEJJEJJE!
Poison surged upward through the cracks in the abyss.
The abyss collapsed around the spot where the forepaw touched.
It was the same authority that shattered the land earlier.
The authority of the land-breaking giant.
That authority, acting on its master’s command, shattered the manifested fragment of Geladridion, returning it to where it should be.
Unable to erase it entirely, it shattered part of it.
The core of the abyss supporting the poison-spitting dragon collapsed in that manner.
KOOOOOOONG!
The massive body plunged into the poison swamp, breaking through the fractured abyss.
Poison surged upward. The melted spear tip stuck to the ground. Watching the watchers retreat to avoid the spraying poison, the poison-spitting dragon laughed.
An ominous grin.
The middle-aged woman among the watchers, rare for being a pure human and skilled in both spear techniques and restoration magic, recalled something upon seeing that grin.
The three evils, including the poison-spitting dragon, were beings capable of employing human emotions and strategies akin to humans.
And that realization became her last.
CRACK! Without any chance to evade, something swung and shattered her head and upper body.
The same phenomenon occurred on the opposite side.
“KRAAAAAAAH!”
Another rare pure human watcher, trained in both swordsmanship and transformation magic, and a disciple of a veteran whose existence was already forgotten, lost his arm to something approaching faster than he could comprehend.
“Ghhh…!”
The motion of drawing a circle centered on both sides.
Lumel hesitated mid-leap.
KWAAAAAAAAAH!
And it knocked Phay away.
KWACHIJIJIJIJIJIK!
It also split the spirit beast in half.
The attack that instantly killed two was unfamiliar not only to the watchers but also to the group.
Only Aslan could recognize it.
Recalling that the poison-spitting dragon resembled a crocodile, it made sense that it possessed this natural attack method.
The habit of rotating while biting prey developed because their teeth aren’t suited for cutting meat has transformed into a powerful offensive tool in its current godlike state.
Combined with poison that erases existence and wings larger than its own body, an explosive attack began.
“Retreat—”
As the watcher skilled in both swordsmanship and transformation magic shouted, the poison-spitting dragon rotated in the opposite direction.
The wings soaked in poison, the entire body spinning.
The abyss caught in its trajectory shattered effortlessly, and poison scattered everywhere.
The scattering poison, the immense force emanating from the massive body, plus the sweeping tail and wings mid-motion.
Several watchers realized their impending deaths.
Too vast for even Ereta’s divinity to reach, the poison descended like a meteor shower toward the ground.
The watcher known as Retum, a master of the sword and transformation magic, was reduced to mush along with his slicing sword technique.
Ilina, the master of combat skills and illusion magic, failed to return to her family as she was split in half by the tail.
Her remains dissolved in the poison swamp.
Among the watchers who deeply mastered combat skills and mutation magic, Cleck stood beside Richard and shoved him aside, taking the full brunt of the scattered poison.
“Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”
A horrific scream echoed as he collapsed and died.
“I’m sorry, Hyeonwoo.”
Even Lewena couldn’t withstand that attack.
After the rarely heard painful voice passed, the abyss shattered and scattered.
KWACHIJIJIJIJIJIK!
Between the flying black shards, the wind whipped up by the swinging wings and tail became a storm, violently pushing everything around.
Stones and poison flew, cutting through the surroundings.
Not even Aslan was an exception.
Caught in the storm of flying stone shards and the violent winds, Aslan was flung away until he barely managed to stop himself by executing a falling technique.
DRDRDK! Only after his dragged feet finally stopped did Aslan take in the situation.
The surroundings were devastated.
Scattered corpses, bodies soaked in poison came into view.
Some bodies soaked in poison were unrecognizable, their names forgotten.
At the epicenter was the dragon.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
The dragon with its elongated neck, roaring loudly.
Surrounded by swirling poison, the poison-spitting dragon roared long and gleefully.
Humans cannot defeat a deity.
Beings that can be defeated and understood are not revered as gods.
Only those who shake the world with their will, whose will becomes its own world, are called gods.
Monsters are what can be defeated with training and abilities.
And the evil deity standing before their eyes now was undoubtedly a god.
No one was unaware of this fact.
Even the poison-spitting dragon knew it well.
It believed that mere humans could never defeat it.
These dull ones must have realized that fact by now.
The poison-spitting dragon gleamed its eyes, ready to taste the familiar despair, sweet and known, that it had fed on until now.
And it saw Aslan raising his sword toward it without a hint of despair.
Just rising, Aslan spat out the blood pooled in his mouth, his face contorted with rage.
He was aiming the purity he gripped at the dragon.
Looking to the side, he saw Ereta far away.
A woman pulling out a shard embedded in her neck, crushing it in her hand, and gripping her double-handed axe.
She wasn’t alone.
None of those present at that location sat down in despair or fled.
They merely rose, grasped their weapons, and stared at the dragon.
The sight was unpleasant to the poison-spitting dragon.
Squinting its eyes, the poison-spitting dragon stared at them.
It couldn’t understand where their confidence came from.
Someone had lost an arm.
Someone had their leg broken in the storm and limped.
Another had been hit by poison.
Although not yet dissolved, it was only a matter of time.
The dragon’s gaze landed on someone, and the person caught in that gaze raised their sword.
The green knight, Resham, with long white hair and a beard, was covering his exposed side with his hand.
Had he been hit by the flying poison? His hand trembled, and his body was rotting from the side that had been struck.
Mana could be felt as if he were using magic, but all it did was prevent his innards from spilling out.
Yet, despite that, he was trying to rise and fight.
The dragon couldn’t comprehend this stupidity.
It found this stupidity laughable.
So the poison-spitting dragon extended its neck and roared.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
This time, it truly intended to kill them all.
Despite the resounding roar, no one turned their backs and fled.
The fight was not yet over.
