The lone head of Ipian remained in the center.
Creak-
In the center of its forehead, a new golden eye slowly opened.
Facing that opening eye, I twisted my mouth bitterly.
"Finally, it's the last phase...!"
When two of Ipian's three heads were taken down, the hidden 'eye' opens in the last head like this.
Lucas, who was watching, swallowed hard.
"That eye is..."
"Yes. It's the same eye as his father's...Night Bringer."
The reason his epithet is 'Eye of the Black Dragon.'
In the myths, it's said that Night Bringer plucked out one of his eyes and threw it into the Milky Way, and from there, Ipian was born.
That plucked-out eye of Night Bringer is exactly this one.
"It's the 'Eye of Darkness'...!"
At that, Damian fumbled around, then held his forehead with his hand and lowered his voice.
"Ke, keke... I can see the darkness well too..."
"...Yeah, that's right. Hmm."
Leaving aside Damian, who at that age (he's twenty now!) is still endearingly afflicted with second-year middle school syndrome.
The 'Eye of Darkness' is a powerful magical eye that can generate 'darkness' simply by focusing its power.
This fight will serve as a rehearsal for the upcoming campaign against Night Bringer, which is going to be a nauseatingly tough opponent.
"The handling of that magical eye aside... what's more important is definitely that."
As the new eye of the beast finished opening.
At the same time, the scales covering the 'eye' emitted a white light. I pointed at those scales and said,
"Those scales covering the eye are precisely Ipian's Reverse Scale."
"...!"
The heroes tensed up, staring at the brightly shining Reverse Scale of Ipian.
Yes. Up until now, Ipian had no Reverse Scale. It only becomes exposed when this last eye opens.
1. Remove two of the three heads,
2. Find the Reverse Scale that appears when the last head opens its 'eye',
3. Destroy it to defeat the beast.
This is the 'Eye of the Black Dragon' Ipian. The real raid process is inconvenient and complicated...!
'Anyway, we've arrived!'
Ipian, having brought out its strongest means of attack, also exposed its weakest vulnerability.
This raid, it's time to decide the battle!
Ssssssss...!
From where its left and right heads had been, now a dense darkness poured out instead of blood.
"Now I see. Now I understand."
While engulfing the surroundings in a fog-like darkness, and now, with faces unseen within that darkness...
Only three dazzling golden eyes flashed like car headlights. Ipian growled.
"Now that I have opened my eyes, I finally understand what path my father sought to walk, and why he chose that path."
"Really? I'm curious too. Tell me, why is your dad doing this?"
As I teased him, the eyes of Ipian moved slightly side to side. It seemed as if it was shaking its head.
"...You mortals will never understand."
The creature's middle eye tightly closed, and the next moment.
Thump-!
The eye popped open, and its magical eye attacked us.
Whoosh...!
Suddenly, the lights went out.
A viscous darkness, like thick ink, enveloped us, and all the lights held by our side's heroes simultaneously lost their light.
The wall of fire that surrounded this battlefield was a black flame emitted by the beast. This magic fire burns black with heat but emits no light.
Thus, in an instant, the whole world was plunged into darkness.
The eerie darkness that enveloped the Lake Kingdom. The sound of insects nibbling filled my ears.
Soon enough, those now-familiar voices began to emerge.
Die.
Perish.
Explode.
Dieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplodedieperishexplode...
"..."
While it's unclear why the curse always repeats the same repertoire.
Suddenly, I wondered.
What words is this darkness whispering to my other companions?
What wounds within the hearts of other heroes is this darkness tearing at...
Whoosh-!
In the next moment, the darkness lifted.
The curse's words disappeared all at once, and the cold sweat that had formed on our backs evaporated and vanished.
Someone in the center of our camp was emitting light. I turned my head to examine the source.
It was Nameless.
From the old iron sword she held aloft, a dazzling light burst forth, pushing back all the surrounding darkness.
"Light."
With a gentle smile, Nameless raised her iron sword even higher.
"Turn the lights back on, brighten the light!"
Stirred by her words, the heroes hurriedly switched their backup lights back on and set them up.
The area brightened, and then it became visible.
Through the thickening darkness, the figure of Ipian, which had stealthily walked closer to us, emerged.
Was it an illusion due to the intensifying darkness?
Its body seemed to have grown even larger.
"Until now, I was merely an accessory to my father."
With a low voice that resounded through the area, the creature that had drawn near used the 'Eye of Darkness' again.
"Now that I understand my father's great enterprise, I have truly become his legitimate heir."
Thump-!
Once again, a viscous darkness engulfed us, and all our lights shattered and lost their glow.
"Whooo...!"
But not Nameless.
The pillar of light she emitted continued to push back the darkness without faltering.
"Light-!"
This time, I shouted.
"Turn on the light! Illuminate the path!"
I focused my will on the ceremonial sword part of my standard, 'Light and Shadow'.
Then, from the top of the standard I held aloft, dazzling light also began to pour forth.
Lucas used 'Divine Descent' and emitted a golden aura, while Evangeline summoned a spirit of fire and wrapped it around her spear.
One by one, the heroes under my command emitted light in their own ways, resisting the darkness.
Whoosh-!
A warm sunset light also joined the array of lights.
It was Dusk Bringar, emitting the magic power of a red dragon from her whole body. She stood next to Nameless, pushing back the darkness with the sunset light pouring from her greatsword.
Resisting the waterfall-like descending darkness by emitting light, I commanded,
"Nameless, and Your Highness!"
I raised the standard forward.
"Please open the way!"
The darkness had now become too thick; Ipian was no longer visible.
Its third eye, its Reverse Scale... the form of the creature we must slay, nothing could be seen. It was hiding in the darkness, preparing its next attack.
That's why we must find it. The heroes emitting light, must dive directly into the darkness...!
Ta-at-!
Nameless and Dusk Bringar, as if they had been waiting, stood in front of the darkness, raising their weapons.
"Break through!"
Dusk Bringar swung her greatsword powerfully first, and the sunset light burst forth, parting the darkness ahead like a curtain being drawn aside.
"Huh!"
Through the path that opened, Nameless projected the light of her old sword. A pillar of light shot down this path, where darkness could not encroach.
And at the end of this illuminated path... a slow-moving dark figure appeared.
"Assembly! Temporary party name, Night Dancer!"
I called the name of the elite vanguard party I had instructed beforehand, to break through and run in the last phase.
"Go-!"
Following the path illuminated by Nameless and Dusk Bringar, five heroes rushed forward.
Lucas, Evangeline, Kuilan... and the vanguard priest Zenis, and lastly, the blind swordsman Nobody.
"It's an honor to be called up among such distinguished company!"
Leading the way at the front was Nobody.
In such dense darkness, where other heroes were severely restricted in movement due to their limited vision.
Nobody, being blind from the start, was less affected!
"Since I can't see anyway, whether it's inside or outside the darkness, it's all the same to me-!"
Nobody dashed forward, almost flying, followed by the other four heroes.
The light shot by Dusk Bringar and Nameless created a path, but as they moved further from us, the amount of light began to diminish.
As the five heroes advanced, the amount of darkness pouring from all directions increased.
However, the heroes emitted light in their own ways and carved a path through. And in the dense darkness, they located the position of Ipian.
"This way-!"
Nobody, who had heightened his senses to the maximum in the darkness, quickly pinpointed the position of Ipian, and as the heroes rushed forward and shone light on it... the half-melted form of Ipian in the darkness was revealed.
It was a bizarre sight.
The right neck from which it had been pulled had a massive magic circle, and into the burnt and smashed left neck black winds were gathering.
And the middle head was gathering its breath with all three eyes tightly closed.
Among them, the burnt and smashed left neck, which had been accumulating black wind, unleashed it toward the five heroes who had drawn near.
There was no head, but it was undoubtedly a Dragon Roar.
Kwaaaaa...!
An enormous roar combined with darkness poured out.
The blast of air whipped around the area, making it hard to see what was happening on the other side. But soon, I saw it.
Evangeline, who had activated [Final Fortress], was at the forefront, holding up a shield against the Dragon Roar.
"Waaaaack!"
With a peculiar scream, Evangeline was ultimately flung backwards.
But thanks to Evangeline's shield and the effect of her ultimate skill, the other heroes managed to hold on safely.
"Go!"
Zenis provided the remaining three with divine power armor, and they dashed towards Ipian as if flying.
Chiiik...!
The morale, or perhaps the venom, or perhaps the darkness that Ipian emitted, whatever it was, just being close caused the heroes damage.
The divine power armor boiled up and took the damage instead, but it couldn't last long.
It's okay.
The reason these heroes were dispatched was not to defeat Ipian, but... to scout for the location and condition of the creature.
"Huh!"
Lucas raised his Sword of Light and delivered a [Strike of Will].
Then, with an explosion of light, the magic circle formed above the pulled-out right neck became clearly visible.
Junior, who had been analyzing the shape of that magic circle from this side, screamed.
"Oh, dark magic...? It's not fire or wind attribute! And, my god! It's a tenth-tier...!"
"This is cursed. It's beyond what we can neutralize."
Dearmudin was sweating.
This is not the time for jokes, nerds... Looks like it's a magic system we don't know how to use here, but its power is damn strong.
"Then we just have to force it down a tier, Junior!"
"Ye, yes?!"
"What do you mean yes! You know! Target that magic circle with [Elemental Disassembly]!"
"But, you know we've already tried! Ipian's magic power is too high! It will respond by increasing its output..."
"But we should at least be able to rank it down from tenth-tier to ninth-tier!"
Junior then flinched and nodded vigorously, raising his [Lord of Crimson].
"Indeed, definitely...! With that, by forcefully interfering with that magic circle using Elemental Disassembly, we could overlay our own magic circle on it...!"
I don't understand what he's saying, but it seems possible, technicians!
"But, still, 'neutralization' is impossible, Prince Ash! We do have users of dark magic on our side, but..."
Dearmudin glanced over, and Chain looked gloomy as he shouted.
"Ninth-tier what! I barely manage fifth-tier, and even that's incomplete! Dark magic itself is from ancient times, so the whole system has been practically phased out!"
"There's no need to neutralize it anymore!"
It's the end of the raid. What's important now is to block their attack and hold on.
"It doesn't have to be the same attribute. Use the strongest attack magic we can against their magic!"
I turned to look behind.
"Just hold on with the magic. Then our sniper will..."
Damian, who had deployed the [Black Queen] in railgun form, was targeting Ipian with his eyes flashing white.
I smirked.
"He'll land the finishing blow."