Chapter 1269

Huh?!

Uman was just as startled.

Why was there another black dragon?

“It’s my disciple. Prepare your breath.”

Fortunately, Professor Voladi was helping from atop Uman. At the advice of the experienced combat mage, Uman shook his head and focused his mind.

Dragons were a perfect race, but that did not mean they had no weaknesses. Having had an absolute lack of experience being attacked, they were quite vulnerable to pain.

Uman himself had already had his concentration shaken just from being hit a few times by that monster, so this was something he needed to reflect on.

‘Ordinary magic doesn’t work.’

Professor Voladi quickly finished calculating.

What made monsters crawling in from outside the dimension the most troublesome was that they were beings outside the existing system of magic.

Even curses, poisons, and seals had been calculated based on the mortals of the continent, so their efficiency dropped drastically against enemies outside that framework.

Once time passed and the enemies adapted to this dimension to some extent, the efficiency would rise again, but in a situation like this, they could not afford to wait that leisurely.

Then there were the laws of physics that, no matter how alien the opponent was, it had no choice but to follow once it descended into this dimension. They had to attack using those laws.

...Pro, Professor. Aren’t you going to help?

Uman became flustered when Professor Voladi deliberately began preparing great magic. The mana that could be felt from above was obviously great magic no matter who sensed it.

Wasn’t this situation hardly one where they could afford to take their time like that?

“Prepare your breath.”

Instead of explaining, Professor Voladi gave an order.

As though he could not see his disciple, who had transformed into a black dragon right in front of him, fighting the slimy monster that had crossed over from outside the dimension.

‘Th, that’s too much!’

Uman shouted inwardly without realizing it.

As a strict and righteous dragon, Uman was greatly shocked.

Even when Uman had heard that Professor Voladi had by far the fewest disciples among the Einroguard schools, he had accepted it with a kind heart, thinking, ‘That too must simply be individuality,’ but the cold-hearted appearance Professor Voladi had just shown truly made him feel that this was too much.

No wonder he had no disciples!

Uman grew angry inwardly, but Professor Voladi paid no attention and kicked the scales hard with the heel of his boot.

There was no longer any reason to speak, so it meant that Uman should just prepare his breath.

Understood! I’ll prepare it now!

Uman swallowed his anger and drew up the strength of his entire body.

A dragon’s breath could be called a kind of signature ultimate technique. By looking at the nature of the breath, one could tell what kind of breath it was.

If Jowrin’s breath was like a sun flashing brilliantly with golden light, Uman’s breath looked like an ink-black torrent that judged evil.

‘I need to attack quickly...’

Uman tried to fire even though the power of his breath had not yet fully accumulated.

Seeing his elder sister’s contractor, transformed into a dragon up ahead, being severely pummeled by the monster from outside the dimension made him anxious.

Thump!

Professor Voladi kicked the Imperial Family member once again. Somehow, that kick seemed to contain irritation, but its meaning was conveyed clearly enough.

Wait until it is fully complete!

...Grrrrr...

With the wildness of the dragon race blazing in his eyes, Uman accumulated power in front of his maw.

While praying that his elder sister’s contractor would be safe!

* * *

Contrary to Uman’s worries, Lee Han was in a considerably stable state.

Stable enough to be thinking this.

‘After this is over, His Highness Uman might die.’

Thump thump thump thump thump-

Dull sounds rang out as the opponent thrashed its entire body and beat him, but Lee Han curled his wings and forelegs inward and let the attacks slide off.

A dragon’s body was truly unfairly powerful. Even the bases of the wings, normally vulnerable areas, boasted tremendous defensive power thanks to their unique scales.

On top of that, the opponent had no intelligence. It seemed to have nothing in its mind except the desire to swell its body and swallow its opponent.

As a result, Lee Han could steadily buy time.

For Lee Han, who had endured against various powerful opponents including knights and professors like a certain Professor Voladi, this kind of simple attack only looked spectacular on the outside and was an attack he could withstand sufficiently through sheer weight class.

‘What should I do? Should I say I originally transformed into a gold dragon, but I couldn’t control it and suddenly became a black dragon?’

-■■■■■! ■■■!

The opponent let out an incomprehensible roar and sprayed out slime as though bursting it apart.

Lee Han quickly descended to avoid the attack, then charged back at it and annoyed it.

Every time he pestered it, the opponent reacted extremely violently, which gave him confidence that it was working properly.

‘No. Let’s not tell a lie like that. I’ll trust Her Highness.’

Thinking about it, Jowrin had matured quite a lot and had become more adult-like.

Just before this incident happened, hadn’t she said she would support Uman after hearing how much he had suffered?

If so, she might be able to accept comparatively calmly that Lee Han had become able to transform into a black dragon as well.

...Probably!

‘If it doesn’t work, I’ll just tell him to run away.’

In the worst case, Lee Han intended to tell Uman to flee.

Surely Her Highness Jowrin would not chase after him and fire her breath. At most, it would probably be something like Jowrin’s Strike.

-■■■■■■■!

‘More importantly, this bastard. Is its structure based on swallowing mana and swelling its body?’

Only then did Lee Han focus on the enemy.

Its size had increased hundreds of times over compared to when it first appeared. And yet it had not eaten any sacrifice or prey.

There was only one thing he suspected.

Mana.

If its structure worked by swallowing mana and swelling its body, it was an extremely simple but powerful ability.

In theory, didn’t that mean it could keep getting stronger just by breathing?

Other monsters on the continent had to eat food that suited them and even digest it through complex organs just to increase their size a little. It was truly absurd efficiency.

‘And the way it keeps trying to swallow me is suspicious too.’

At first, he had thought it was simply a basic reaction mechanism, but seeing it persistently charge at him even while growing irritated made it suspicious.

It seemed almost as though it coveted Lee Han’s mana.

The way it tried to absorb mana every time they collided was the same...

Lee Han concentrated and controlled his mana. Even if he had mana overflowing from him, there was no reason to give it away if it was food for the enemy.

‘Good. Let’s provoke it this way.’

Grab!

The monster wrapped one of Lee Han’s forelegs, transformed into a dragon’s, tightly in slimy tentacles and began absorbing mana vigorously as though it had finally found an opportunity.

But surprisingly, the mana did not move. Like trying to shake a gigantic boulder with a tree branch, the mana did not budge in the slightest.

‘It works!’

Lee Han realized that his gamble had worked.

If the opponent was obsessed with absorbing mana, he had expected it would definitely lunge in if he deliberately showed an opening like this, and that had turned out exactly as expected.

And what came after as well.

Based on his experiences so far, Lee Han had calculated that no matter how much the opponent was a monster that had crawled out of the void, it would not be easy for it to steal his mana.

Considering his control over mana, breaking through that and absorbing mana was truly not easy.

If his calculation had been wrong, he had intended to cut off one of his forelegs, so he could be considered lucky.

-■■■■■■...

The enemy became fixated on the tiny glass box it had just acquired and tried somehow to absorb mana from it.

It would actually have had a better chance of winning if it had continued swelling its body in its original way and crashing into him physically.

Right now, it was being toyed with by Lee Han because it lacked technique, but if its sheer size broke through a certain threshold, it could overwhelm him regardless.

“Now!”

At Professor Voladi’s command, Lee Han immediately twisted his body and pressed the enemy down tightly so that it could not move.

When Lee Han, who had only been on the defensive until now, suddenly switched to offense, the slimy monster was a beat late in reacting. It swelled its entire body and tried to swallow him instead.

But that attack could not continue.

Thud!

The swords Professor Voladi had thrown struck the gigantic mass one after another.

They did not look any different from before, but the result was completely different.

Every time a sword embedded itself, it released an enormous amount of compressed mass and forcibly drove the enemy downward.

‘So this is it!’

Lee Han realized what kind of magic Professor Voladi had been preparing in the meantime and admired it.

Since ordinary sealing or elemental magic did not deal damage effectively, he had simply pushed the enemy down with mass itself.

No matter how much the thing ignored seals, it could not evade being crushed from above by weight.

Once five swords had embedded themselves, even Lee Han, who was holding onto the creature, began to stagger. Lee Han exchanged glances with Professor Voladi, then quickly let go and shot upward.

And at the same time, a dragon’s roar echoed through the sky.

--------!!!!!

Uman, who had endured and endured, finally unleashed his breath and burned the enemy away with an ink-black torrent.

Before such primitive and overwhelming power, any tricks or evasion felt meaningless.

The enemy had persistently split apart and regenerated, but...

...inside the pillar of breath, it ultimately failed to escape and burned away just like that. Lee Han praised him with genuine emotion.

Excellent, Your Highness!

No! You were far more excellent. Please forgive Uman’s misjudgment.

Even while panting from exhaustion, Uman apologized with a serious attitude.

After watching the battle just now, he had belatedly realized that he had misunderstood Professor Voladi.

Looking at the contractor’s condition, there was not even a single notable wound despite having endured that fierce barrage.

Professor Voladi had clearly known that his disciple would focus entirely on defense and evasion like that.

Without firm trust between master and disciple, he could not have made such a judgment. And in such a short amount of time, at that.

Of course, if Lee Han had heard that, he would have stared in disbelief and said, ‘Professor attacked me harshly even when we didn’t have any trust between us’...

Forgive what?

It is a long story...

Wait! Your Highness! There is something we need to do first!

Lee Han stopped Uman, who was about to explain. There was something more important right now.

Uman nodded as though he understood.

Of course! I will examine the creature’s remains. If anything remains, it could pose a threat to the people.

No. You definitely finished it off already, so that is fine. Um...

?

When Lee Han hesitated, Uman became puzzled.

What could this valiant contractor possibly be worrying about?

Wouldn’t you like to run away even now? The Imperial Palace would be good, or perhaps some distant sea region where no one could pursue you...

???

* * *

Unfortunately, Lee Han did not have time to give Uman a proper explanation.

His transformation had come undone and he had returned to human form, and everyone below had witnessed the entire thing.

And he was even in his non-Stedal Nago state, without a mask!

“War... Wardanaz!”

“Lord Wardanaz! Are you Lee Han of House Wardanaz?!”

“What in the world was that dragon just now?! D-Did you perhaps make a contract with a dragon!?”

One black dragon and one mage.

If ordinary people had witnessed the two of them fighting together, there was only one thing from old legends they could think of.

A contract with a dragon!

“No. I have never made a contract with a dragon... No, strictly speaking, it gets complicated... Anyway, I have never made a contract with that black dragon.”

“Then who in the world is that black dragon?!”

“I cannot tell you. More importantly, everyone must keep the fact that I appeared here a secret...”

“Yes! We will keep it secret!”

“Let us all declare it together! We shall keep secret the fact that we witnessed Lord Lee Han of House Wardanaz!”

“......”

At the passionate reaction of the people swarming in like mad, Lee Han realized it.

‘That is absolutely impossible.’

If even one person out of ten spread it by saying, ‘This is a secret, but only you should know,’ the news seemed likely to spread all the way to the ends of the Empire.

Now that things had come to this, there was only one thing left for Lee Han.

Escape!

-Everyone, just get out of there! We’re running back to Einroguard!