Spitting a scorching breath of flame from its maw, a Great Blue Dragon measuring twenty mel in length marched forward, turning the wetlands into a sea of fire. Upon the great dragon's back stood a throne, where a young man with blue hair and an exceptionally sinister glare sprawled with haughty arrogance.
"I command thee! Burn! Destroy! Kill! Lay waste to it all!"
In a cheerful, singsong voice unbefitting such alarming words, the blue-haired youth issued orders to the great dragon.
"GUOOOOOOOOHHHH---!!"
The Great Blue Dragon roared toward the heavens, its fiery breath unleashing an inferno meant to slaughter every living thing in the wetlands.
"Kuhahaha! Such unreasonable strength from mere fraction of my power! It is overwhelming! So this is the highest title among the dragon species, the strongest of all races—the Dragon King!"
Cetus shouted in sheer jubilation.
With this much power, it had no rivals. There was no longer any need to join forces with human-mimics like the Demon Kings. Its united front with Aldebaran ended here.
In the first place, Cetus had never held the slightest interest in resurrecting the dubious chief god worshipped by the demon race. Its sole ambition was to attain supreme strength. Now that it had achieved that goal, it was time to take action toward realizing its true objective: proving that it was the strongest being in the world.
With the sealed Deboa destroyed, those who could realistically pose a threat to Cetus were few. Of course, having become a King, there was no way Cetus could ever lose, but there were still a handful of entities in the world that might prove slightly troublesome.
Namely, the Three Great Calamity Beasts of the World. The sealed Deboa had been one of them, and in terms of raw power alone, they were said to surpass even the Four Great Demon Kings. Once it destroyed them all, the title of the strongest would rightfully belong to Cetus. To accomplish that, it needed to build up its power. The one and only way to do so was through nourishment—that is, the consumption of humans.
After seizing control of southern Northground, it would march north, wipe out Al's Army, and conquer his territory before moving on to subjugate humanity. Unlike the tough, sinewy demon race, the human race was delectable. The meat of women and children was especially tender—so delicious its cheeks would melt. Above all, devouring human life force was the ultimate means to vastly augment the power of Cetus and its kin.
Until now, the troublesome Hero, the Empire's freaks, and the Central Church had kept it from laying a hand on humanity, but there was no longer any need to mind such trivial nuisances. Once it conquered the human nations and preyed upon them one by one, the mighty Cetus would grow stronger still. When that time came, no enemy in this world could ever stand against it.
"Truly, my heart leaps with excitement."
Just as it raised an exhilarated voice, daydreaming from its avatar's back about its future as the absolute pinnacle of power—
"Nu?"
It caught sight of a faint trace of residual magic lingering in the wetlands ahead.
Most likely, stepping into that mire would trigger a restraining spell, snaring the avatar's legs and temporarily restricting its movement. Such was the petty trap laid before it.
"How utterly foolish."
Typical of the shallow wits of monsters. Cetus could easily create an avatar from a single strand of its own hair. A trick like this would never hold it back. Above all—
"There is no way a mere monster's spell could ever restrain my avatar."
To cling to such a futile hope—what pitiful, comical creatures they were.
Still, that was about the best the intellect of lower life forms could manage. It could simply alter its course, but where was the fun in that? Taking precautions against the petty monkey-tricks of such vermin was hardly the conduct of a King. Besides—
"I look forward to this."
—It wanted to see the panicked disarray of the monsters as their only hope was effortlessly crushed.
—It wanted to hear their final screams, steeped in absolute despair.
—It wanted to roar with laughter as they crawled in the dirt, begging for their lives.
"I shall trample you into dust."
Licking its lips, Cetus commanded its avatar to crush them underfoot.