Crossroads. Atop the rampart.
"Haah, haah..."
Dusk Bringar exhaled heavily.
She had barely managed to block Night Bringer's fifth breath attack just moments ago.
While Night Bringer's breath was overpoweringly strong, Dusk Bringar could withstand it with the aid of all the remaining magic support and recovery support artifacts at the Crossroads.
Crackle, crackle...
However, the artifacts were all destroyed.
"..."
Dusk Bringar, looking exhausted, staggered down from the rampart.
As she descended, smoke trailing from her small frame, the soldiers saluted her in unison.
Dusk Bringar smiled bitterly, returned their salute, and staggered on.
"You've worked hard, Duchess."
Below the rampart, Evangelin spoke with a worried tone.
After the negotiations with the kings, Lucas had become the captain of the special task force, and Evangelin had taken over as the acting commander.
Evangelin was now in charge of the overall command of the frontline troops.
It was also Evangelin who had ordered the replacement of the original defensive artifacts with those focusing on magical and physical recovery.
Her decision proved to be correct, as Dusk Bringar had somehow managed to hold on.
Whether she could continue to do so was uncertain...
Dusk Bringar simply nodded without speaking, and Evangelin hesitated to say more, opting instead for a silent salute.
Dusk Bringar walked away. Evangelin, watching her go, turned her head to the side.
"And to all in the reconnaissance unit, thank you for giving your best in the tasks assigned to you."
The soldiers of the reconnaissance unit, who had reported the breath of the Black Dragon, stood there.
Had the reconnaissance unit not reported with perfect timing, the defense could have been much harder.
That's why Evangelin was truly grateful to them.
Under the acting commander's commendation, the soldiers of the reconnaissance unit bowed their heads. Evangelin continued,
"However, the reconnaissance unit will no longer be operated. From now on, the long-range observation unit will take over scouting the Black Dragon, so you all should rest and stand by."
"What? But, Miss Evangelin... no, acting commander."
The leader of the reconnaissance unit cautiously offered his view.
"The darkness is too thick for the long-range observation unit to see properly; that's why we were deployed as a close-range scouting unit, taking the risk. Even if you deploy the long-range observation unit again, how will they..."
"Don't worry about that. Damian, the sniper unit leader, has agreed to join the observation unit."
Hearing this, everyone opened their mouths slightly in surprise.
Far-sight holder. Damian.
If the best sniper on the frontline, with humanity's finest eyes, observes through that darkness, he will undoubtedly see through it.
"The closest observation tower will have the sniper unit leader scouting the movements of the Black Dragon. So don't worry about the scouting mission, and since you've been exposed to the malevolent energy of the wicked dragon for so long... take a rest."
Having said that, Evangelin awkwardly smiled.
"I'm relieved you all came back safe. It was a very dangerous mission, and I was really worried."
"The truth is, we almost got wiped out..."
The scouts of the reconnaissance unit glanced at each other.
"Someone... saved us."
"What? Someone did?"
"Yes. Due to the evil aura of the Black Dragon, we couldn't open our eyes, so we couldn't clearly see who it was..."
The scouts nodded.
"It was a very familiar voice... but as if hearing it for the first time, it was a strange experience."
"Did he say who he was?"
"Well, that's..."
The last veteran scout to retreat relayed the man's words.
"He said he was a very old, colleague of ours..."
"A very old colleague...?"
Evangelin tilted her head in confusion.
"Where is he now?"
"He seemed to have stayed there. It looked like he was walking toward the Black Dragon alone..."
"Going to the Black Dragon alone...?"
Evangelin murmured uncertainly.
"Who would, why...?"
That's when it happened.
Thump-!
Listening from down the hallway, Dusk Bringar suddenly sprinted, pushing off the ground urgently.
"Duchess?!"
With a sense of foreboding, Evangelin hastily followed.
Despite her injuries, Dusk Bringar sprinted agilely and reached the teleportation gate, flinging open the magical door.
Whoooosh-!
From beyond the completed magical portal, a surging black malice poured in.
Evangelin instantly realized where Dusk Bringar was heading. Dusk Bringar was determined to go to the spot mentioned by the scouts.
"Stop, Duchess! That teleport gate is already corroding from the evil aura of Night Bringer!"
"..."
"There's a Black Dragon beyond that gate! The gate itself will soon break! If you go now, you won't be able to return-"
But without hesitation, Dusk Bringar.
Flash-!
Threw herself into the teleport gate.
Evangelin screamed, trying to grab Dusk Bringar, but as she vanished beyond the gate with a burst of light...
Boom-!
A thick darkness spewed from the other side of the gate, and the passage forcibly closed.
Standing with her hand stretched out toward the collapsed magical door, Evangelin merely blinked blankly.
***
Bang! Thud! Rumble...!
In the forest, a duel between two dragons was unfolding.
Ash, with unbelievably precise movements, dodged and countered every attack from Night Bringer, never allowing a single hit.
And with every means at his disposal, he pummeled Night Bringer.
As Ash swung his fist, a massive dragon's fist made of magical power materialized and smashed down on Night Bringer's jaw, and as he spun back, a giant tail of magical power appeared and whipped over Night Bringer's body like a lash.
When Night Bringer moved its massive body to counterattack, Ash generated dragon wings of magical power on his back and lightly left the area,
"Huuuuh..."
Gathering his breath, then,
Whoosh-!
He expelled a breath attack.
Right in front of his mouth, a sphere of magical power condensed, and from there, a sharp, black beam shot out like a laser with a piercing sound.
Despite the relentless onslaught, Ash's expression was not satisfied.
"Really, he's disgustingly tough..."
Though it seemed like he was just pounding on him one-sidedly, the problem was Night Bringer's overwhelming stamina and regenerative ability.
Night Bringer barely took damage from any attack, and even if it did, it almost immediately regenerated.
Ash clicked his tongue as he saw his breath scatter off Night Bringer's scales and the scorched scales recover as if new a moment later.
Although Ash had become a 'dragon' by stealing the blood of the Black Dragon, elevating his being and multiplying his magical output many times.
He was still incomparably weaker than Night Bringer, the original owner of that blood.
'If only I had a little more talent...'
If his eldest brother Lark had become a dragon, he would have faced the evil dragon with legendary martial prowess, and if his second brother Fernandez had become a dragon, he would have combated the evil dragon with all kinds of ingenious magic and strategies.
But Ash had few options. Essentially, he lacked the talent and ability as a combatant.
However—experience.
The overwhelming depth of karma only a returnee who has gone through countless regressions and never given up the fight possesses.
This alone was Ash's weapon, something no one else had.
'I never expected that a conventional attack could take it down.'
Biting his lower lip, Ash smiled.
What means did he have left to kill the evil dragon?
There was no need to think hard. From the beginning, Ash had prepared just one thing.
Even if he lacked talent in sword or magic, and no matter how big the opponent and how small he was, a means to kill fairly.
An attack method optimized for Giant-killing, the weak...!
'Poison!'
Ash was a returnee who had experienced countless iterations. And there had been a similar iteration before.
Then too, Ash had become a dragon, and Lark and Fernandez were not by his side, and the Black Dragon was before him.
At that time, Ash, improvising, had infused the 'essence' of proliferation and self-destruction into his blood and administered it into the Black Dragon.
Since the composition of Ash and the Black Dragon's blood was completely the same, the Black Dragon's heart accepted that blood without suspicion... and within the Black Dragon's vigorous life force, that blood infinitely 'proliferated' while also leading to 'self-destruction'.
In that iteration, he had managed to defeat the Black Dragon by administering this conceptual poison. Ash intended to use the same method this time too.
'That's why I brought that 'essence' with me beforehand.'
In Ash's hand was the Everblack—a guardian wand of humanity in the form of a staff.
The instinct of humanity itself is both proliferation and self-destruction.
A paradoxical race that wishes to spread its kind widely, yet simultaneously desires to kill its own.
From this branch, which had already fulfilled its role as a magical lighthouse, Ash extracted only the 'nature' of the human race as an essence and mixed it with the blood droplet formed at his fingertips.
It was a conceptually difficult and nonsensical magical exercise that would make any magician at the Crossroads flustered if they saw it. However, Ash executed it as naturally as breathing.
'I'm not good at casting large-scale magic, but I'm pretty good at this kind of small and delicate work...!'
The loading of the poison was complete. Ash sported his characteristically perilous smile.
'He still bleeds. Then, this poison will take effect.'
When the Black Dragon transcends its physical form and fully merges into the night, becoming mythical, its body will circulate darkness instead of blood.
Then, this blood-mediated poisoning will not work.
That's why Ash had sought to confront the Black Dragon before it completed its assimilation with the night, and fortunately, the state was still precariously susceptible to the poison.
'While blood still flows in his body. I inject the poison...!'
Flap-!
With dragon wings made of magical power unfurled behind him, Ash soared into the sky.
From the high sky, paused in mid-air, Ash taunted,
"Kekekeke, hahaha-! Good. Struggle more, flail about more-!"
Night Bringer unleashed a torrent of laughter as it deployed every means of attack.
Feathers shot out wildly along with magic, sound waves, magical energy, and manifested darkness tangled complexly like a spider web filling the sky.
Without hesitation, Ash plunged into that web-like barrage.
Whoosh-!
Falling from a dizzying height, Ash emitted black flames from every possible part of his body—fingertips, toes, elbows, shoulders—like the flames from a spaceship's thrusters.
Using the recoil of those flames to minutely twist and adjust his trajectory, he swam through the air, smoothly descending. Ash narrowly avoided every attack unleashed by Night Bringer.
As he performed acrobatics, Ash dropped right above Night Bringer's head.
Seeing Night Bringer genuinely admiring him, Ash cheekily winked.
"I was known as a great dancer in the social circles of the Imperial Court."
Then Ash took the posture of drawing a bow, aimed at Night Bringer's face.
Magical energy condensed in mid-air, transforming into the shape of a bow, string, and arrow. The arrowhead was loaded with the blood droplet and conceptual poison he had extracted earlier.
He aimed at— the eye.
It was much less defended than other parts and closer to the brain.
In a previous iteration where he had used poison, he had killed it by administering the poison through the eye.
The aim was perfect, and the poison was potent. Ash was confident.
This is it—caught!
"...?!"
But in the next moment.
His vision went blindingly white, and dizziness assaulted him.
Suddenly dizzy, Ash couldn't breathe properly. The aim of the arrowhead faltered.
'What?'
Only then did Ash realize.
Blood was trickling down his nose.
'What's going on all of a sudden—'
A moment of confusion passed, and Ash, regaining his senses, once again directed the arrowhead at Night Bringer's eye, but.
"That's not going to work."
The Black Dragon was an opponent who must not be given even a moment's lapse.
"You took your eyes off me."
Flash-!
Ancient magics, reloaded in the meantime, were fired like cannonballs from either side of the Black Dragon's head.
As he had done before, Ash tried to dispel these magics with his eyes, but,
"...Huh?"
His mind felt foggy.
He needed to construct a counter-spell formula in response to the incoming magic, but nothing came to mind properly.
In the end.
Blam! Blam!
He was bombarded with the ancient magic, unable to dispel it.
"Ugh...?!"
The bow and arrow, loaded with poison, broke, and Ash, bloodied, crashed to the ground.
Thud...!
"Haah, haah, cough!"
Ash dropped right in front of Night Bringer and desperately tried to get up. But his sense of balance was off.
The world spun around. Nausea surged, and memories flickered and mixed before his eyes.
Touching his forehead, oozing with blood, Ash momentarily thought.
What was I doing here?
With trembling arms, he supported himself on the ground, and a defeated smile appeared on Ash's lips as he spat blood violently from his charred body.
"Damn... so that's how it is..."
Ash realized he had misjudged the situation.
He had thought he had at least one day's time. It was the minimum estimate based on his long experience.
12 hours had passed since he woke up, so he guessed there would be at least another 12 hours of reprieve.
But that wasn't the case.
Just 12 hours—
The worn-out soul that had once been shattered and then patched back together could only endure for so long, and it had already exceeded that limit.
Struggling to grasp his fading self, slipping through his fingers like sand... Ash gritted his teeth and glared straight ahead.
"Why do you do this, player?"
Night Bringer, lowering its long neck, whispered in a seemingly affectionate tone.
"If this is the end of the encore, it's a bit disappointing."