"ROOOAAARRR!"
The colossal Great Blue Dragon, tens of mels in length, let out a fierce roar as it shattered our bluff restraining formulas one after another, bearing down on us.
The instant the Great Blue Dragon closed the distance right before our eyes, it entered the effective range of our trump-card magic tool.
"Got you!"
From the very start, the decoy restraining formulas had merely been a smokescreen to mask the deployment of our real weapon. Now that it had come this far, there was no escape.
From the restraining magic tools we had planted around the area, dozens of crimson serpents shot forth, coiling tightly around the Great Blue Dragon and the sullen-eyed, blue-haired young man riding its back.
"Chains? Ridiculous!"
The blue-haired young man ripped the crimson serpents apart. Yet the severed serpents only split into countless more, binding his entire body in an inescapable grip.
"What?"
For the first time, all composure vanished from his face. He tore at them with both hands, but the serpents multiplied and surged even faster, threatening to engulf him completely.
This was the true power of this magic tool—Gluttonous Flame Serpent. It fed on the captive's magic power to multiply without limit, binding the target hand and foot. And then—
"You crawling maggots, do not make light of me! I am the legendary king of dragons, the Dragon King!
There is no way the petty spells of mere inferior creatures could ever harm me, Cetus!"
Right after Cetus screamed those words, the crimson serpents expanded violently, and the entire world was dyed pure white. A heartbeat later, a deafening roar erupted alongside a concussive shockwave that obliterated everything in its path.
When the raging tempest finally subsided, the veil of dust slowly cleared. Before our eyes lay a vast hemispherical crater that completely engulfed what had once been the bottomless quagmire.
"I-Incredible..." Chato murmured, his voice trembling.
"Blew that whole massive bastard to pieces," Bū agreed with a heavy nod.
"We only blew away the puppet, though. The main body is still intact."
"Looks like he's on his last breath to me, but..."
All four of the sullen-eyed, blue-haired young man's limbs were severed at the root, his internal organs were exposed, and more than half of his face had melted into a scorched sludge. To be sure, he appeared to have taken catastrophic damage.
However...
"No, look closely."
From the stumps of his severed limbs and his melted torso and head, countless fine, blue, thread-like fibers sprouted, rapidly reconstructing the missing flesh.
He claimed to be the king of dragons, after all. I had anticipated from the beginning that it wouldn't end so easily. The real battle was only just beginning.
"You insolent maggots! I will not let this disrespect go unpunished! I will never forgive you! I'll eat you alive—"
Ignoring the wretch glaring at me with bloodshot eyes while spouting his grand speech, I activated Mimicry, picturing that plain-looking, black-haired boy who was the pinnacle of strength to me. Just like before, a searing mass welled up in the center of my chest, bubbling and boiling over. My organs, skeleton, flesh, and blood groaned under the strain as they underwent Transmutation into the strongest creature in this world.
"――"
I kicked off the ground straight toward the screaming wretch. In an instant, I devoured the distance between myself and the hovering foe, pulling my right elbow back as tight as a drawn bow right before its face.
"Huh?"
As a foolish sound slipped from its mouth, I drove my right fist into its right cheek with everything I had.
With a sharp, bursting crack, Cetus's body spun at blinding speed, plunging headfirst into the cratered, reddish-brown earth. As the impact blasted a sandstorm outward in concentric rings, I dropped down beside it.
"W-Wa—"
Grabbing the screeching wretch by the head, I kicked it up into the air and immediately leaped after it.
Piercing straight through the clouds, I soared high into the sky behind it and drove in a crushing right roundhouse kick.
"Gabaah!"
Plummeting once more, it crashed headfirst into the ground. Looking down at Cetus twitching violently in the center of the deeply gouged earth, I drew the magic sword at my waist—the one Mr. Lou had personally approved—and poured my magic power into it. An extraordinary blaze erupted from the blade, coalescing into the shape of a fiery bird. With all my might, I unleashed it straight at Cetus.
"GYVAAAAAHHHHH—!!"
Watching Cetus's entire body vaporize amid its dying scream, my consciousness slowly drifted into white, swallowed by a profound sense of relief.