[Gaaaaaaah-!]

The shout from the Bone Dragon that had been created from the bone fragments of the fallen soldiers and the zombies rang the entire plains. Most of the soldiers lost the will to fight just by that sound, and those who were seriously hit dripped blood from their ears and nose.

“Urgh..!”

“What is this sound..?”

“Where did that dragon suddenly come from?!”

The vigor of the troops was high just before the Bone Dragon appeared. They had been overwhelming the zombies, but their spirit had been sunk once by the call of the magical dragon. The situation meant that a chance had come to the zombies, and the tables were turned in an instant.

“The children of mana! That is not a real dragon! It is an imitation that took on a similar form! So do not hesitate and prepare the Chain Ritual! We have to tether its movements! The success of this expedition, and the lives of our troops! The fate of humanity is in our hands!”

The high-class magician Ronan shouted with a voice full of mana, and now was the time that the magicians from the three countries, who had been at the back, show their value.

“The chain that shackles!”

“The chain that shackles!”

“The chain that shackles!”

From the magicians from the Ivory Tower of the Greenriver Empire, the magicians from the Roe Kingdom’s Mana Tower, and the magicians from the Coldwood Empire’s Magic Tower started a collective spell once. After a moment, mana chains emitting a blue light shot towards the dragon, and the numbers were at least tens of thousands just by the eye.

“Secure the magical beast!”

“Secure the magical beast!”

“Secure the magical beast!”

The numerous chains bound the body of the Bone Dragon joint by joint, and even though no one knew how long it would last, the dragon would be secured for at least a few minutes.

[You foolish and stupid humans..continue your efforts if you do not fear death.]

The dragon had been contained with numerous mana chains, but it was not at the least surprised. Instead, it reasoned in a grave voice that looked down on the humans’ desperate attempts.

[The end after meaningless resistance is only death and despair, and only destruction will be left behind like bare branches.]

The Bone Dragon mentioned death, despair, and destruction, and it showed a violet breath after opening its upper and lower jawbones. It did not seem to care at the least whether the zombies, who were its allies, were swept in its breath.

“....”

On the other hand, the airship that boarded Oliver and Siram was staying at a higher place than the Bone Dragon, just where one could brush against the dragon’s terrible mouth if jumping off the end of the deck.

“Mr. Siram.”

Oliver spoke as he lowered the facial protection gear of the visor. Oliver’s attire did not focus on activity capacity like usual, and he was much more heavily armored now.

“Speak.”

“Take refuge to a faraway place after I jump since the breath may brush the airship.”

“I will. Please be careful.”

Oliver ended the short conversation with Siram and took out a silver ‘round shield’ that he had worn on his back instead of his sword. While it was too small to protect Oliver’s heavy physique, it was a ‘Shield of Light’ that had been made by everything the blacksmith Halia had.

“Don’t worry.”

Oliver firmly held the round shield with both hands and murmured as he walked to the end of the deck.”

“About me.”

Oliver’s body fell off the deck with that sentence, and he was now falling right in front of the dragon’s mouth, which held the violet breath.

The moment Oliver brushed against the dragon’s head, it let out the destructive violet breath with all of its strength, and Oliver would have naturally been the first sacrifice.

Just as the breath was about to overtake Oliver, the round shield let out bright and intense light, and it was not a simple metaphor. A sliver light burned like a flame using the shield as its firewood.

“Shield of Light!”

Had Oliver’s shout been like a spell? The silver flame that had been burning the entire shield spread out to all directions in an instant, and the flame looked like it was about to form a ‘massive shield.’

“Show yourself!”

The Shield of Light showed an immediate response to Oliver’s command. If the flames have been only a shape, now it definitely was like a round shield.

The Bone Dragon’s breath hit the expanded Shield of Light, and the battle between offense and defense began. Oliver had been slightly winning at first since the Shield of Light successfully endured the breath. If it had not endured the attack, everyone standing in front of the plains would die along with Oliver. He knew the situation, so he endured the process while clenching his teeth.

‘It cannot manage to absorb everything.’

While one of the shield’s benefits was absorbing shock, it was nearly impossible to absorb all repercussions of that strong breath. Even if the shield was an artifact that held the essence of the Blacksmith Halia, there would be limits.

‘If so..’

Oliver had fallen in the stature and state to resist the breath, and something surprising happened once he focused his body’s mana on the ends of his feet. The heels of the long boots that Oliver wore, which were an artifact that looked like it was made with a strange metal, opened with clicking sounds. With a whirring sound, it let out blue mana like a spell was undergoing. This was another artifact that Halia had made, and she had enabled Oliver to fly with a high-class flying spell.

“If so!”

Oliver shouted what he had been thinking and pushed forward with everything he had. The silver shield lost its massive size and bright light at rapid speed as he did so. Even more, there were cracks that made the shield seem fragile enough to break into pieces at any moment.

“I will have to cut.”

The shield that had expanded through light brutally broke down. Not only that, but the round shield also shattered like it had reached its limit. However, Oliver did not stop going forward. He took out Halia’s masterpiece of a sword, ‘The End of Waiting’ from his belt, and shouted out loud. He would have to cut it if the shield could not absorb it, and this was the ideal resisting method Oliver had devised against the dragon breath.

{Proofreader: It might have been called The Finality of Waiting before, or something similar. Same sword.}

With a loud shout, like when Oliver had cut Ian’s ‘fireball’ during their final training session and when he had cut high-class magician Helene’s fireball, now Oliver’s sword aimed for the ‘breath’ that the Bone Dragon had shot. A will to cut in half stormed in Oliver’s shout.

A slashing sound was heard, and Oliver’s sword, ‘The End of Waiting,’ drew a fluid curve. A sharp aura slashed the sky from his sword, and it was dizzy enough to cut through space.

“This is the end.”

Also, Oliver’s sword had actually managed to cut the violet breath exactly into two.

“Magical Dragon.”

Oliver had arrived at the front of the Bone dragon by breaking through the cut crack, and he quickly held the sword in reverse. The movement was to attack the Bone Dragon near its massive nose bone, and it would not be an exaggeration if one said that everything that had been done up to this moment was for this.

“Return to nothing.”

Oliver struck with the sword after murmuring something like a death sentence. Maybe it was because the dragon was solely made out of bones without a morsel of flesh and muscle. The sound of the sword was different, as it sounded like Oliver was forcibly jamming the blade.

[Gaaaaah!]

The Bone Dragon had been pierced from its nose bone to its lower jaw, and it let out a dying screech. However, the shout had not been due to the pain but was of anger against an unexpected situation. Since it was an ‘imitation’ made only of bones, it could not feel any pain.

[I’ll kill you! I’ll definitely kill you!]

The Bone Dragon was feverishly excited now and shook its head to drop Oliver, who was hanging onto its nose bone. However, the feat was easier said than done since Oliver’s physical prowess, and perseverance would be able to last days.

‘The boots seemed to have reached the limit.’

The shield had not been the only artifact that had been broken, and the boots that had helped Oliver fly despite him not being a magician seemed to have reached its limits during the process of enduring the dragon breath.

[You leech!]

The dragon changed the method when it could not shake Oliver off and began to writhe its body to escape from the mana chains the magicians of the tripartite expedition had set. If it could get out, the dragon would easily crush the human on its nose to the ground.

While the magicians who realized its intentions reinforced the chains, they would not last for long.

‘I’ll end this before it breaks away.’

Oliver’s response and solution for this situation were to kill it before the Bone Dragon freed itself. After making a quick decision, Oliver moved at breakneck speed. He first used the sword he had driven into the nose bone as support and climbed up the Bone Dragon’s forehead. While everything was shaking, his balance was perfect, and it was due to his innate sense of balance and the ability of the boots.

“Not yet.”

Oliver did not stop there and poured into the jammed sword as much mana as he could, and the sharpness exceeded the blade’s limits.

“I haven’t even shown you half.”

Oliver grabbed the sharpened sword with both hands and took a few steps before running upward. He ran straight down from the forehead to its neck, back, and tail.

“Death.”

The sword that had cut through the Bone Dragon’s nose and the lower jaw cut the dragon’s spine as Oliver ran.

“Will be returned to you!”

Oliver reached the end of the Bone Dragon’s tail, and since there was nowhere to go, Oliver’s attack also finished here.

[Gaaaaaaah!]

Since the attack had penetrated the entire body, a much louder screech came out of the Bone Dragon’s throat. It had not felt pain or anger but had instinctively felt death and eradication.

Oliver seemed to have given everything he had as he composed his rough breath while hanging on to the sword he had not yet taken out. The scenario he had prepared ended here, and that meant that he had nothing left. Even if he fell down or something else happened, he could not prepare a countermeasure.

It was that moment cracks appeared from the stab wound on the dragon’s spine, and they spread out like a disease in numerous threads, and the dragon’s body broke down to pieces following them.