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I understood that Kufar did something to Berith. Having said that, I couldn’t just rush there right now. Ahead of me was the Evil Dragon, while behind me were Lyell and Cortina who were being protected by Gadius.

If I disappeared now they would lose their lives for sure.

“So, it seems my only choice is to defeat you here.”
“Try if you can!”

I sent a thread toward the screaming Kufar, but the Evil Dragon got in the way.

I mean, it wouldn’t have done any real harm even if it hit the current Kufar, but the Evil Dragon still reacted to the attack I guess.

That was enough to tell that the Evil Dragon was under his control.

At any rate, I couldn’t deal any damage to the Evil Dragon with threads. In that case, using my katana which was physically harder was the only other option, but a katana that was simply sturdy wouldn’t really fill the role.

What I could do was crush its eye and restrain Kufar while Gadius took Lyell away and contacted Berith afterward, I guess?

“Gadius, how’s Lyell?!”
“He’s fine. Fortunately, we have the Elixir fragment!”

He said and held out a small ivy container that was turned into a necklace. It was the container that Finia made so the Six Heroes could tell each other apart. It was there just to tell each other apart through its smell, but it proved to be useful in the most unexpected way.

The Evil Dragon seemed to have grown tired of listening to our chat and made a move before me. It moved its head a little and inhaled a lot of air. It was clearly preparing for a breath attack.

I jumped to the side to avoid it while warning Gadius.

“Gadius, breath is coming!”
“I’m ready!”

He slammed down his greatshield, which was too big for a dwarf no matter how you looked at it, on the ground and took a defensive stance.

I also kept leaping a big distance to escape the breath.

My physical abilities with the internal thread manipulation strengthening were far above the norm. With my lightness taken into account, my nimbleness was already beyond a human domain.

But even so, I felt like the soles of my feet were getting scorched.

It seemed like I avoided by a hair’s breadth.

“Gadius, are you okay?!”
“I-I will live…”

Gadius had split the flames with his greatshield so he and Cortina and Lyell behind were fine. But the land around was scorched, the earth melted and even glowed red here and there.

Looking at that, I judged that it would be hard for Gadius to defend over and over, so I changed my position even more.

The Evil Dragon moved its head in pursuit and took an even deeper breath now.

“S̲h̲i̲t̲, it really plans to keep attacking from the distance, huh?!”

I took a bigger leap to run from the breath line. The Evil Dragon released its second breath a moment later.

There was a thunderous thump that even released a shockwave. The ground got lifted up and scattered into the air like splinters.

Unlike the previous breath which was only hot, this was clearly a full-powered breath.

My posture broke mid-air and I failed to land properly. I did a few rolls on the ground and finally came to a stop, then looked back.

There I was met with an unimaginable scene.

The ground was listed up and a cavity of several meters wide continued in a straight line toward the mountain. And the breath that caused all that had even greatly gouged out the mountain, changing its shape.

That breath was orders of magnitude higher compared to its previous breath or even the ones from twenty-five years ago. This was probably the true self of the Evil Dragon.

The earlier breath was clearly restrained. And twenty-five years ago, it must have also held back since the fight took inside its den.

This was the true power of the Evil Dragon. The incarnation of destruction that destroyed the three kingdoms.

“There’s no way… I can win…”

Despair started to overwhelm me.

Until now, I still held on to a faint hope that something could be done. But this attack ruthlessly crushed any such hope.

How could I fight a monster that could, in a few seconds, bring about the destruction that altered the terrain?

A third of the mountain was already shaved off, so a few more shots would erase it without a trace. If that happened, the pioneer village behind it couldn’t possibly remain safe.

Thinking about it, he had made his den by melting the mountainside into a cave. It was natural for it to have the destructive power to alter the terrain.

Twenty-five years ago it couldn’t show its full power because of Cortina’s strategy.

Gadius and Maria were also there to protect us. And Maxwell and Lyell penetrated its defenses.

That’s why we could win. My contribution to the matter was just laying some traps.

“Kuhahahaha! Marvelous! Did you see that, Reid? This is the power to destroy the world!!”

Then, jarring laughter reached my ears.

He was clearly making a fool out of me. They ended up fanning the faint flame of my rebellious spirit that still burned.

I was certainly a weakling that kept losing from the start. But it was my rebellious spirit that allowed me to grow so much I was called one of the Six Heroes.

However, what about the reality before my eyes? That was the true world’s strongest, a monster in the truest sense. How could my powerless self defeat it?

No, I suppose calling myself powerless isn’t correct, huh? I did gain all kinds of powers since I was reborn.

If it’s pure arm strength, by borrowing Lyell’s appearance, I displayed strength that surpassed even his own.

Then, against this monster, I should be a…monster?

“I…I see… I still have a move.”
“Huh? You have a move? What move could you have against this Colchis? What could a powerless trash like you possibly do!”

He was thoroughly ridiculing me. But right now I have no time to care about that.

Remember. The spell Maria used when my identity was revealed. The scene I saw twenty-five years ago. The White God—God of Destruction Yuuri’s words and power she granted me. And Maxwell’s teachings that nurtured that power.

For better or worse, everything was in place now.

“I guess I’ll give it a shot— Gadius, take Cortina and Lyell and get away from here.”
“Huh, but…”
“No! I said I would stay with you to the end—”
“Listen to me, Cortina. If you remain here, I won’t be able to go all out. I would end up getting you caught up in it too. If I held back to avoid that… I won’t be able to defeat the Evil Dragon.”
“…Huh?”

Hearing my words, Cortina looked lost for a second. Gadius used that opportunity to grab her and take her away.

The Evil Dragon just observed us without attacking.

This was probably because Kufar wanted to see my hand.

“Here I go. Vermillion Nine, Evergreen Nine, Jade One——”
“Hmph. I don’t know what you’re planning, but go ahead and try. I’ll crush it head-on and throw you into despair once again. I wonder what kind of Devil I can summon with you as the sacrifice?”

I see, so the reason he was waiting for my move was to throw me into despair, huh?

And then use me as a sacrifice to summon another Devil.

Earlier he was just throwing “I’ll kill you” at me, so maybe he regained some of his sanity back?

I set magic power and duration to the highest and designated myself as the target. I poured all the magic power I had into it and tried to control it with all my might, trying to weave a spell that I hadn’t succeeded in until now.

When Maria learned of my identity, she cast a spell that dispelled all kinds of curses on me.

And the Polymorph scroll’s constraining effect was also a type of curse. Now that the said curse was removed, I should be able to use this spell.

“Reflect this transient form upon my body—Polymorph.”

The highest rank of the Interference system. This was my biggest trump card belonging to that category. And now, I released it here.