Chapter CXLIII - Mutant Dragon (part 1)

"W-What's going on!?"

ZRRRGGG!!!!!

The librarian shouted when the ground continuously shook. On the second floor, I can see some bookshelves bouncing around from the shake, and some books fell from the opening... aiming for the librarian who is below.

"Tch!"

I dashed forward and pushed the librarian lady away when the pile of books dropped at me. A whole mountain dropped from the second floor, and it could have killed the librarian.

"N-No!! Rize!!!"

She stood up immediately and wore her glasses that were a little bit broken. The ground has stopped shaking, but the mountain of books in front of her is still piling above me.

Until a head popped up from the mountain.

"I'm okay!"

I slowly pulled my body out of the books while the lady ran to help me out.

Those books are definitely heavy, and it would probably kill anyone that got dropped. But I'm not just anyone, am I?

"T-Thank god, you are okay!! W-What just happened??"

"I'm not sure. There's an explosion right outside the cas...tle..."

…

What…

… is happening…?

I wasn't paying attention before... but I am paying attention now.

There is an incredibly heavy pressure just outside the castle, and it is emitting quite the heavy bloodlust. It is so… heavy, that I can tell whatever is outside is a threat that can destroy the entire kingdom.

"W-What? What is it?"

The librarian lady noticed my shocked expression, but I didn't get to answer her because the answer came by itself.

Or rather… the answer was shouted.

"ROOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!"

PRAANGG!!!

Both of us covered our ears by how loud it was. The glasses on the walls exploded into pieces as the super sonic scream nearly destroyed our ears.

"W-Was that... a roar?"

"... Let's get you to safety. Now!"

I grabbed her hand and went to the door. That's when a guard slammed the door open to check inside.

"Are you two okay!?"

"We are fine! What happened outside!?"

I quickly asked the guard, and he shook his head.

"An enemy… monster attack. It was unlike anything I have ever seen! You two better get out of here, not even a Master Magician can solve this."

Hearing that from him made me ponder for a little.

"R-Rize! We have to go!"

"You go with the guard. I'll go see what is going on outside."

"W-Wait, Rize!!"

The librarian and the guard tried to stop me but I simply rushed at high speed and headed downstairs.

The situation in the lobby is a complete mess. The wall where the gigantic beautiful door was is now in pieces from some sort of explosion, and there's even some wounded people on the ground. It is now a giant hole where the sunlight pierces through.

Aside from those people, everyone else already ran away to a safer place on the island. I hope so, because I can only sense lifeforms from those people and from nobody else around here.

I leaped down from the stairs and headed to the wounded people. Some of them were trapped under large pieces of the wall, so I lifted them before healing. I checked their conditions one by one and healed them right after. They woke up right after I healed them.

"Go! Find safety!"

I said to them and they quickly stood up to run away. Once everyone was up, I turned my gaze to see the outside, and my eyes became wider than it has been today.

Far out on the sky, a little bit far away from the island, is a single being flying in the sky. It is extremely large with its dark grey skin. It has three wings, two wings on the right and one stupidly large wing on the left. 

What's funny is that the thing somehow resembles a dragon.

But unlike a dragon's usual long scaly face, the face looked circular. The hands on this thing are gigantic, and it is covered with scales. But, those fingers are nothing like a dragon. A normal dragon would own short fingers with a little bit of short sharp nails. This thing had long fingers and long claws, as if it came straight from a nightmare.

What is weirder, is that this thing has hair on top of its head.

It is emitting quite a heavy pressure, no less than a higher White ranked monster. Possibly even stronger.

Some more chimera… and it looks like it's a dragon merge now.

Damn, this is problematic. I guess I can't hold back against this thing.

I stepped outside and formed a scythe out of shadow on my right hand while releasing my pressure. The half dragon saw me and quickly noticed my pressure. It roared at me right after, but it was not attacking.

Why isn't it attacking?

"Hey! You!!"

I turned back to see the guard at the hole in the wall, and he looked quite tired.

"Can't you see that that thing is a goddamn dragon!?"

"... It's not a dragon, though."

"W-Whatever!! Just evacuate!!!"

"... Is there anyone here who can fight that thing?"

The guard looked quite confused by my question, but he is too tired to scream again.

"W-Well, there's the arch-mage. And he is-"

"Right here!"

Another voice came from above my head, and the one eyed guy slowly floated down like some god descending from the heavens.

The first thing we noticed is his eyepatch, then his insanely majestic robe that only he owns in the entire kingdom.

And finally the weird grin he is wearing. Why is he grinning?

"Y-Your Majesty!!"

Majesty? Ah right, magic king.

"Go and evacuate with everyone. This girl is capable."

"Y-Yes sir!!"

The guard then turned around and ran away to evacuate with everyone.

The arch-mage then let out a sigh and turned his gaze at me. He placed both of his hands on his hips and glared at me like an angry parent.

"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the academy right now?"

His eyepatch always gets me every time… it just looks ridiculous when he is the one wearing it. Then again, it became his symbol or something, because people just can't ignore that from him.

"One of the perks of being the student council president is that you can run away at any time."

"… You are one terrible council president."

"How nice of you! That is the hundredth time I have heard it today."

The arch-mage laughed after I said that, and then his expression turned serious again and faced the half dragon far in the distance.

"So… what do you think is that thing?"

"Three weeks ago, the academy was attacked by a mutant. A scientifically merged human and a demon bear. I think this thing is similar to that."

"... I heard that it looked really horrible from Veneo. Then, how come this one looks so cool?"

"Probably because it is made out of a dragon?"

"Damn… Right."

The dragon chimera looks like it can't hold back any longer. It started charging up a fireball on its mouth, ready to turn this whole island to a giant crater.

"Wow, that fireball is massive... and powerful too."

I muttered rather silently, but the arch-mage heard it all.

"Yeah… but the evacuation is still not done. The king will definitely kill me if I let that thing destroy the castle…-"

The dragon chimera has finished charging. It fired up a giant beam of flames at us immediately, not waiting for Julius to finish his sentence at all.

I was very ready to put up a shadow wall to protect it, but then the magic king finished his words.

"… So let's kill that thing without causing much destruction, shall we?"

VWOOOMM!!!!

He lifted his hand and a giant black circle quickly formed in front of us. The beam entered the black circle and got swallowed full.

The magic king lifted his other arm and another black circle around the same size formed right next to the first circle, and it shot away the fire beam that was captured by the first circle.

The fire beam made its way towards the dragon, but the dragon chimera wasn't moving a bit.

BAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It arrived on the dragon chimera and exploded. A loud and large explosion shines in the sky like it's noon again.

"Spatial magic?"

"You are correct. Useful, but very heavy, so there is a limit to it."

"I was about to read a book about it. But then the ground shook from the explosion."

"… What explosion?"

I turned around, and he followed my gaze. We both turned around to face the giant hole on the lobby's front door, then the arch-mage nodded in an awkward acknowledgement.

Our gaze dropped back to the mutant dragon. When the dust cleared, it was clear to us that the dragon had taken no damage at all from that attack. It is still flying calmly up there.

"Well, that was a waste of energy…"

"That circle costs quite a lot, doesn't it?"

"… You have no idea."

The dragon then roared at us loudly again, and this time it made its move.

"Oh man... and I thought I could have a day off today."

The arch-mage started floating again. And this time, he is not playing around.

He lifted both of his hands towards the incoming mutant dragon and multiple giant ripples started to form on the space in front of him. The ripples on the space became faster by the second, and when the mutant dragon was getting close, the arch-mage released his powerful attack.

VWOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

A loud sound of distorted space can be heard all the way on the island, and the dragon got thrown far away.

So that's it, huh…? 

King tier wind magic, sound magic.

That was incredibly loud and powerful. If I get hit by that, I will absolutely not just get stunned, but with wounds all over me.

This is the magic king. Julius Polaris's strength.