Ilaria charged straight ahead. The magicians quickly raised a protective barrier.
David’s face crumpled, being in a position where he could only provide support from behind.
“Earth-shaking force!”
As Parrish activated his magic, a pile of rocks fell on Ragnaros’s head.
The intention was to end it before Ragnaros could fully reveal his body.
“Make the nest his tomb!”
Shouting the pre-arranged signal loudly, Ilaria leaped up. She intended to plunge her sword into Ragnaros’s head.
However, her sword was deflected before even touching Ragnaros’s body.
“Ugh.”
Ilaria, deflected along with her sword, rolled on the ground. It was Iris who had deflected Ilaria.
“I’m your opponent.”
But Iris’s opponent wasn’t Ilaria. Her opponent was Parrish.
“Iris, foolish child. Come here. I’ve come to erase the stain on the Ivory Tower.”
Iris burst into laughter.
“The reclusive sage has come out. You’re a perfect match for me. A hundred times better than those riffraff.”
Parrish started casting without replying.
“We don’t have time to hesitate either. Everyone attack!”
At David’s command, the knights unstrung their bows and took aim at Ragnaros.
“Fire!”
The allied forces showered Ragnaros with arrows.
Arrows rained down on Ragnaros. Riding the wind stirred up by the magicians, the arrows’ speed increased, dramatically boosting their destructive power.
However, it wasn’t enough to stop Ragnaros.
“Foolish creatures!”
Ragnaros’s second head popped out. When he roared, sparks flew from his mouth, but that was all.
“It seems he can’t use his breath yet. If he uses his breath, it’s over. We need to deal with him before he fully awakens!”
“You heard Elise? What are you all doing! Charge!”
From now on, there was no strategy or anything. They could only rush in desperately.
With a roar, the warriors charged forward.
Karan also turned his body. Elise grabbed Karan’s hand.
“Your Highness, do everything you want to do.”
He had expected her to just tell him not to get hurt.
“When this subjugation is over, I have something to tell Your Highness.”
Karan’s eyes narrowed. Elise was hesitating.
Even while speaking.
‘She’s hiding what she really wants to say.’
“Elise, now…”
“Your Highness! Please help us, Your Highness!”
Karan turned his head. A rising pillar of fire surrounded Tetris’s warriors.
Karan looked back and forth between Elise and the warriors.
It felt like he needed to hear Elise’s true feelings right away, but the situation was urgent.
“Your Highness, go ahead.”
Elise let go of Karan’s hand. And she gently pushed his back.
Karan’s pupils shook.
“Your Highness!”
At the cries of his comrades begging for help, Karan started casting magic while biting back a curse.
In an instant, he moved away. Elise stroked Uls’s mane.
“Uls, you need to help too.”
Uls circled around Elise once, as if worried about her.
“Uls, we made a promise, remember? This is something you absolutely must help with. Got it? It’s crucial!”
Elise hugged Uls’s neck tightly before letting go.
Watching the retreating allied forces, Elise sat on the ground. She refined the magic circle more meticulously. She didn’t mind her hands becoming ragged.
****
The battle was evenly matched.
A long time had passed since Ragnaros’s heads emerged, but half of his body was still buried underground.
Kraaang.
Ragnaros screamed while dodging the incoming fireballs. The breath from Ragnaros’s mouth was extremely hot.
“Weather Control!”
To cool the intense heat, the magicians conjured clouds in the air. There was a sound of thunder, and it started to rain. Steam rose as the ground heated by his breath cooled.
“How annoying! You vermin.”
Ragnaros’s head turned 180 degrees. He stretched his long neck, aiming precisely at the magicians.
“Aaaaagh.”
The panicked magicians scattered in confusion, but more than half lost their lives, crushed under his massive neck.
“Shield the magicians!”
Bedrokka’s knights raised their shields in front and pulled back the fallen magicians.
But even that wasn’t easy. The knights kept falling due to the ground’s vibrations. The barely rescued magicians and knights tumbled down together.
“Ragnaros’s body is emerging! Hold your ground!”
Ilaria grabbed the staggering David as he shouted.
Ku, kuaaang.
Ragnaros raised his two heads high in the air and roared. Then his body was pulled up with a stretch.
“Shield!”
Karan activated his magic to block the falling rocks like hail.
Huge boulders crashed against the shield.
While maintaining the shield, Karan looked around.
After just an hour of battle, half of the allied forces were incapacitated.
The fact that Parrish was tied up with Iris and couldn’t properly utilize the magicians was a major cause of the damage.
At this rate, it seemed they would be the ones to use Ragnaros’s nest as their tomb.
Suddenly, Elise’s magic circle flashed in Karan’s mind.
Did Elise foresee our defeat? Is that why she’s trying to sacrifice this life to save everyone?
‘Absolutely not.’
Elise, having seen an ending where everyone dies, wouldn’t choose him again.
So he must end this now.
Karan’s eyes gleamed fiercely. He took a moment to catch his breath and coldly analyzed the situation.
Half the magicians incapacitated, but shielding and cover still possible. Magnus and Tetris forces still in good condition. If they follow Ilaria’s command well, there’d be enough strength to distract Ragnaros. While Bedrokka forces are focused on protecting the wounded.
‘This should be enough.’
If others can distract Ragnaros, an opening will appear.
It was the one chance to cut off Ragnaros’s neck.
If they cut off his neck, Ragnaros would fall back asleep, if only to recover.
Eliminating him forever was something to consider another day.
What mattered to him was ending this subjugation quickly and confessing his feelings to Elise.
Karan tapped his communication stone. Only the channel connected to Elise was off.
“What’s going on?”
“Speak, this is David.”
Karan quickly shared his plan.
“It’s dangerous.”
“Don’t try to take responsibility for everything.”
“It’s my part. So I’m counting on you.”
Despite Ilaria and David’s objections, Karan moved.
“Tch! That bastard, really! Everyone, charge at the tail.”
Ilaria commanded.
Ragnaros’s long head turned. The warriors’ momentum was fierce, but they were less than ants to Ragnaros.
As he fluttered his tail like a fan, a tremendous wind blew. Knights and warriors covered their faces to block the flying stones. magicians continuously cast spells to change the wind’s direction.
“Don’t fall back! It’s over the moment you retreat!”
“Hold on, hey! Hold on!”
The warriors encouraged each other, plunging their swords into the ground. And taking advantage of the weakened wind thanks to the magicians, they slowly advanced, arms interlocked.
“These bugs are really annoying.”
Ragnaros turned his body. It was the moment his back was completely exposed.
Now.
Karan soared into the sky. He thrust his sword into Ragnaros’s neck. At the same time, the last unopened pair of Ragnaros’s three pairs of eyes snapped open.
“You fool! So you’re the one causing trouble to the end!”
Ragnaros opened his mouth wide and lunged at Karan as if to chew and swallow him.
Karan continuously chanted spells while trying to cut Ragnaros’s neck with his sword.
But the tough flesh hindered the sword’s progress.
The densely carved magic circles Elise had made were erased one by one, helping him.
There were various types of magic: spells to increase weight, to levitate objects in the air, to increase friction between the sword handle and hand, and more.
However, it wasn’t enough to sever Ragnaros’s head in one go.
‘I might die at this rate.’
It was the first time he sensed death while fighting. But that didn’t break his will.
“Even if I die, I’ll at least cut off one of your necks.”
Karan finished casting his spell.
“Earth’s Wrath!”
As the ground rippled, Ragnaros lost his balance and shook. The head that had lunged to bite Karan was thrown back.
Sensing his chance, Karan put all his strength into the sword. The halted blade moved smoothly.
“Aaargh!”
Ragnaros screamed in agony. His tail pounded the walls everywhere.
A thunderous noise erupted and rocks poured down like hail.
“Spread the shield!”
At Haltbin’s words, the magicians moved hurriedly.
“It’s working, it’s working! Karan, just a little more strength!”
Ilaria, who had stepped back, cheered for Karan with all her heart.
The end of this grueling battle was near.
Karan put his entire body weight behind the sword.
But Ragnaros was tenacious.
“Not so fast!”
He frantically scratched his neck with his short front legs. Karan twisted his body to avoid the sharp claws, but…
“Aaaaargh!”
“Your Highness!”
Ragnaros’s sharp claws finally pierced Karan’s stomach. Bright blood flowed along the claws.
“Well, that’s unsightly.”
Karan recognized his injury not with pain, but with calmness. The air grew heavy. The allied forces were engulfed in a deep sense of defeat.
“This is, cough, troublesome.”
If only someone would come to their senses and finish Ragnaros. And he wished someone would cover Elise’s eyes.
He sensed his own death.
Karan forced a smile while struggling to breathe.
Because Elise might be watching. He wanted to be remembered with a smile at the end.
So, Elise, you must live.
Karan’s eyes fluttered closed.
At last, perfect darkness came.
So he believed he had failed.
But Karan had succeeded.
As Karan’s blood seeped into Ragnaros’s half-severed neck, his tail fell to the ground and his two pairs of wide-open eyes closed.
Ragnaros struggled to the end, but it was futile. To him, Karan’s blood was poison without an antidote.
Ragnaros’s consciousness was fading. The sensation of strength leaving his body, one by one, felt different from before.
A shadow flickered over his closed eyelids. When Ragnaros barely opened his eyes, he saw a vision.
It was the countless humans he had killed until now. Nameless nobodies whose ages, names, and genders he didn’t know.
A silver wolf walked out from among them.
The one who inherited Ragnaros’s power and the first betrayer. After all this time, he ended up falling to that one’s bloodline.
A lament burst forth.
To be killed by mere humans, no, by the offspring of the dog he had shown mercy to.
He remembered when he was first defeated by the blood he had shared. When Ragnaros was at his strongest, he had poured all his strength into detoxifying the poison. That’s how he had barely survived.
Now he had no strength to detoxify. It was all because of the woman who turned back time.
He couldn’t die alone like this.
Ragnaros gathered his last strength and opened his mouth. It was an attempt to shoot his breath, somehow, but only sparks that couldn’t even light a campfire sputtered from his mouth.
His body slowly collapsed.
Complete death was waiting for him.
It was a futile end.
“Everyone, step back!”
Being crushed by the massive body meant instant death. Many had already died that way.
As everyone moved back as far as possible, one lone living being ran towards Ragnaros.
It was Uls.
