Chapter 22. Polymorph?

 

In the dark lair.

 

At the highest place, a scale that had been revered began to wriggle.

 

A scale that was pitch black.

 

It wriggled this way and that, eventually turning into a small black snake.

 

The snake, with bright blue eyes, slithered gracefully out of the lair.

 

* * *

 

Levelis floated in the sky, gasping for breath.

 

Even as the dragon master of magic, using such large-scale spells simultaneously was clearly too much.

 

It was more difficult to delicately adjust and refine already cast magic than to use it at maximum power.

 

In that regard, intricately adjusting one of the most powerful spells, Meteor, was as difficult as carving a rock with a single drop of water.

 

The attributes engraved in Meteor were destruction, rock, fire, and gravity.

 

All of them were extremely incompatible with the forest, making

 

it even harder.

 

Levelis quietly looked down at the blackened ground. The deep crater gave a sense of the power Meteor possessed.

 

The smoke slowly cleared.

 

She wouldn’t let her guard down until all the smoke had disappeared and she confirmed he was completely dead.

 

For some reason, his presence was so faint that it was hard to detect if he was deliberately hiding.

 

Hovering in the air, she replenished the mana she had consumed.

 

The energy of nature gradually seeped into Levelis, quickly restoring her lost mana.

 

The smoke cleared.

 

Where the smoke, which had covered everything, disappeared.

 

[……!!]

 

“Thought I was going to die… you bastard…!”

 

He was still alive, with his entire skin flayed off and his muscles charred black from severe burns.

 

His condition was indeed critical.

 

One of his eyes appeared completely damaged and blinded, and his charred muscles were too damaged to function.

 

But still.

 

He was breathing.

 

[……]

 

The once majestic Red Dragon furrowed her brow.

 

She felt an instinctive revulsion.

 

The sight of a creature struggling to survive in such dire conditions, looking more like a monster than a human.

 

The cursed sword he wielded was already broken in half.

 

The sword, which had emitted a dreadful red aura, now only held a faint glow.

 

Even that seemed about to fade away.

 

———Hummm.

 

Even if left alone, he would die.

 

But it was best to ensure the end.

 

Ignoring her instincts, Levelis gathered her breath once more.

 

Her mana, which had already been consumed, had long been replenished by the energy of nature.

 

She channeled all her power into the breath.

 

As the red energy gathered at her mouth, he watched quietly for some reason.

 

“Huff… huff….”

 

A faint breath.

 

Levelis unleashed her final breath.

 

[Die.]

 

The red beam, emitting a tyrannical aura, shot towards Deltian.

 

Feeling the red energy approaching, Deltian smiled, baring his fangs.

 

“Absorb it, cursed sword.”

 

As he murmured softly.

 

The tyrannical energy rushing towards him began to condense into the sword.

 

[How…?]

 

Levelis’s eyes widened.

 

He was on the brink of death.

 

Yet at the moment of death, he absorbed her energy.

 

An impossible feat.

 

Yet he achieved it.

 

“Did you think my cursed sword stayed idle after scraping your blood?”

 

His cursed sword dealt with blood.

 

That applied even to its wielder.

 

It changed the essence of the blood it absorbed, completely altering the energy within.

 

That’s why it was a cursed sword.

 

It devoured both friend and foe, craving only blood.

 

“The moment the cursed sword licked your blood, you had already lost.”

 

A tiny wound.

 

From the moment the wound was inflicted, the cursed sword had been altering her essence.

 

Slowly.

 

And silently.

 

“Though it’s surprising this is all it amounted to….”

 

Originally, when it scraped blood, the infiltrating energy would utterly crush the target. All previous users had dried up completely, becoming mummies.

 

But the dragon was different.

 

How should he describe it?

 

She felt fundamentally different from typical creatures.

 

She was more akin to the boundless blue nature.

 

Hence, her essence wasn’t completely altered.

 

Nature was always at odds with demonic energy.

 

But even a very tiny part.

 

Changing even a tiny part was enough.

 

The cursed sword could devour anything that shared its essence.

 

It was a minuscule amount.

 

The tiniest particle of energy hidden in her breath.

 

But even a tiny bit mixed in meant it was no longer pure energy.

 

Even a broken cursed sword could easily devour energy of its kind.

 

[What is this…?]

 

“If you had physically beaten me to death, it might have been different.”

 

Gradually.

 

Deltian’s body began to heal.

 

His muscle fibers reconnected as if time were reversing, his charred skin returned, and the broken cursed sword was restored.

 

Such was the overwhelming energy contained in the breath.

 

Using that energy in reverse, Deltian healed all his wounds and smiled.

 

“You let your guard down.”

 

[…….]

 

Levelis clenched her teeth.

 

It was her mistake.

 

Of course, it was impossible to fully understand the cursed sword’s abilities upon first encounter, but the result was her defeat.

 

Only then did she feel it.

 

The foreign energy wriggling beneath her skin.

 

It was slowly devouring her, altering her essence.

 

[…Meteor.]

 

It didn’t activate.

 

The blue magic circle in the air began to form, but the black energy mixed within caused it to twist and shatter.

 

“No, you can’t.”

 

Deltian grinned.

 

Yes, this was the plan.

 

With a single mistake.

 

With a tiny mistake, I won again.

 

“Then, I will return it as it is.”

 

Deltian raised his sword to the sky.

 

The massive greatsword’s tip began to gather crimson energy.

 

It was fundamentally different from Levelis’s breath, but its tyrannical force was unchanged.

 

It was even stronger than her breath.

 

The energy he compressed was filled with the will to kill.

 

Levelis’s face turned pale.

 

It was a fatal mistake.

 

She couldn’t use magic or her breath.

 

Even if she switched to physical combat, nothing would change.

 

Her expertise lay in magic and breath, not in physical combat.

 

Should she run?

 

Levelis looked behind her.

 

An endless forest.

 

How many animals might be there?

 

If she fled, countless animals would be massacred.

 

[…….]

 

Determination filled her eyes.

 

There was one method she had never tried. An ancient language that fully matured dragons naturally awakened to.

 

[Manifest.]

 

The Word of Power.

 

The ability to change the world with words.

 

The world transformed according to her will. It was impossible to disrupt the breath he was gathering. Her proficiency in the Word of Power was too low to interfere with targets.

 

But changing herself was possible.

 

According to her will.

 

Magic circles filled the air again.

 

One, two, three….

 

It wasn’t just a few.

 

Countless magic circles filled the sky.

 

And all those spells were high-level magic meant solely to kill.

 

“Huh.”

 

Deltian laughed hollowly.

 

What on earth is that?

 

He looked up blankly at the magic circles filling the air.

 

Each one was fundamentally different from the previous spells.

 

A new energy.

 

A new formation.

 

The cursed sword didn’t have enough time to decipher it.

 

“Are you giving up on protecting the forest?”

 

If those spells fell, it would undoubtedly cause significant damage.

 

But Levelis shook her head.

 

[No matter what, I will kill you. It’s the only way for everyone.]

 

“Well, aren’t you the wise sage.”

 

He would die if he confronted it.

 

Realizing this, he tried to run into the forest.

 

———Slash!

 

A small snake emerged from the forest and bit his foot.

 

As he tried to ignore it and dash into the forest.

 

——Stopped.

 

“……?!”

 

His body wouldn’t move.

 

A sensation as if all the cells, including the blood in his body, had solidified.

 

‘Damn it!! Cursed sword!!’

 

He tried to alter his blood composition with the cursed sword again, but the sword didn’t respond.

 

As he looked down at the sword.

 

His eyes widened at the emotions conveyed by the sword.

 

‘It’s… afraid…?’

 

As if it should not be defied.

 

The cursed sword, which always craved blood, trembled in fear.

 

As he stood there, dazed.

 

[Die.]

 

The spell was already complete.

 

Countless spells filling the sky, all aimed at one person.

 

‘Ah.’

 

He realized.

 

At this moment, it was his end.

 

* * *

 

[Huff… huff….]

 

Levelis breathed heavily.

 

Using the Word of Power for the first time placed a significant burden on her.

 

Looking at the completely obliterated Deltian, Levelis wondered.

 

[Why did he stop?]

 

He clearly tried to run into the forest.

 

But suddenly he froze and couldn’t resist, dying without a fight.

 

It was a stroke of luck for her, but she wondered why he froze.

 

As Levelis landed on the ground.

 

Hop!

 

A snake appeared from somewhere and climbed up her body.

 

[ Jörmungandr…?]

 

A black snake with striking blue eyes.

 

It was small but unmistakably Jörmungandr in shape.

 

How was he here?

 

As she pondered, Levelis realized this snake was different from Jörmungandr.

 

Compared to Jörmungandr, it was vastly inferior.

 

As she tried to hold the small snake.

 

Bite!

 

[Ouch?!]

 

The snake bit Levelis.

 

And in that instant.

 

Poof!

 

All the magic and energy altering Levelis disappeared, and her perspective dropped suddenly.

 

“Ouch… huh?”

 

Groaning in pain, Levelis felt the foreign energy in her body vanish.

 

That wasn’t all.

 

A different voice.

 

Instinctively, Levelis touched her face with her hand.

 

A delicate skin unlike a dragon’s.

 

A voice unfamiliar to her.

 

She instinctively realized what she had become.

 

“Human…?”

 

She blinked quietly.