CHAPTER 361: CHAPTER 360 - “...WHY IS HE ALWAYS YELLING?”

The bone legion surged.

Wings of skeletal dragons thundered, claws stretched like guillotines, and a thousand hollow roars shook the ruined world as they dove for Raven.

Pinned by the black dragon’s torrent of death, Raven’s claws gripped Omni, molten arms straining as the beam hammered down. His eyes narrowed, molten cracks glowing brighter.

"Hah..." He scoffed, his voice cutting low and disdainful. "These bony bastards? That’s all you’ve got?"

A chuckle left his jagged maw, followed by a shrug of his colossal shoulders.

"Pathetic," he muttered, and the next second—

WHOOM!

—A ring of black Destruction pulsed outward from his scales.

Like a sun’s eruption, it expanded in an instant, devouring everything it touched.

Bone dragons, undead knights, winged horrors—all reduced to ash before they even hit him.

The wasteland howled with the aftershock.

Yet, above him, the black dragon only laughed. A horrible, rolling laugh that carried across the trembling skies. "Foolish boy. Did you think I’d boast for so little?"

The death breath didn’t stop, still crushing Raven into the earth.

And around Raven, more of those skeletons rose. Dozens—then hundreds—of bone figures clawed out of the abyss.

Dragons, yes, but also horned warriors, armored skeleton knights, and even twisted beast corpses dragged into unholy mockery. The army swelled with every heartbeat, blotting out the horizon.

Raven clicked his fangs, his molten gaze narrowing.

’This... is bad. If Graye were here, she’d barbecue this fodder in a minute. But since she decided to take the express flight out of the battlefield... Hah.’

His eyes hardened. ’By the time she’s back, I’ll be bones myself.’

He knew that the moment he took his attention away from the death dragon and focused on the bones, the dragon would either rush toward his group, who were still running away, or go for a kill shot.

He couldn’t risk either because he was sure his group hadn’t gone far.

After all, even though it seemed as if the black dragon and Raven were fighting for a long time, it had been less than fifteen minutes.

That much time wouldn’t have been enough for them all to leave the ashen expanse.

To make things worse, Raven had just realized that their fight was moving in the direction his group was running toward.

In that instant, the first wave of bone creatures lunged again.

And when Raven was thinking about a way to help him survive this situation—

The air cracked.

The black dragon’s molten eyes flicked sharply downward. It felt it too.

From beneath the bone horde, frost bloomed.

Black-blue ice swept across the ground, freezing the skeletal tide mid-charge, shards of icy mist crackling in the air.

Another wave followed, suddenly bound tight by chains of iron that snapped into existence, rattling with brutal force.

However, things didn’t end there as roars joined the chaos, but not the dragon’s.

Those roars belonged to the skeletal soldiers that came out of every shadow in the area, not under the dragon’s command, flanked by shadowy devourer beasts with fanged maws and writhing tendrils.

The battlefield cracked with new chaos.

Suddenly, a loud, cocky yell split the air.

"—AND THAT’S WHAT WE CALL SMASHING!"

Alex dropped from above like a meteor, Blargh coating his fists in black-red symbiote armor as lava veins glowed through his body. He landed on a bone dragon’s skull, fists smashing downward.

CRAAAAAACK!

The head split like porcelain, shards scattering as the beast collapsed. Alex threw both fists up, roaring, "Blargh and I! The ultimate combo breaker!"

Squeak!

That was when Nibbles, who was sitting on his head, slapped his paw down, making Alex flinch.

"Yes, yes. I! Blargh! And Nibbles! Are the ultimate combo breaker!"

Raven pinched his dragonic brow. "...Why is he always yelling?"

A crackling hum answered next. Clara descended gracefully, calm eyes narrowing as she strummed invisible strings of sound.

ZAP.

Vibrations shattered through a cluster of bone beasts, their forms crumbling like brittle glass. She turned her head slightly, her voice calm. "Alex, less noise. More smashing."

Selena followed, shadows twisting around her as more skeletal warriors rose at her command, colliding with the dragon’s army. Shadow devourer beasts slithered into being, leaping upon bone horrors with snapping jaws.

Her lips curved in a cold, elegant smile. "A contest of necromancy? Fine. Let’s see whose army crumbles first."

That was when Jessy appeared in the air, floating on her signature iron surfboard.

"Guess what?" She smirked as she stared at the bony beings beneath her, glaring at her as she was out of their reach.

The next instant, a huge iron hammer appeared in the air as she grinned. "It’s whack-a-mole time."

The skeletal knight shattered into fragments the moment that heavy hammer, laced with the power of magnetism, hit it.

On another part of the battlefield, dark shadows flickered—Jake, silent, scythe gleaming.

He danced between skeletal hulks, shadows binding their movements, leaving them wide open. He didn’t speak, but every motion screamed precision.

He wasn’t coming out of the shadows, but he was binding them all for Alex to kill them.

Then finally—

"STAB STAB STAB STAB—FREEZE!"

Siris was already clinging to a bone dragon’s ribcage, stabbing relentlessly before slamming a palm against its chest.

Cryovoid erupted, freezing its entire frame solid before she yanked her dagger free and shattered it with a delighted giggle. "Kyaaa~ It broke so beautifully!"

Overhead, two shadows streaked—one a massive corrupted panther bounding through the horde with gleeful growls, the other its mother, graceful and deadly, her claws slicing through bone like parchment.

Through it all, Raven sighed deeply, Omni humming with amusement in his grip.

"I told you all to run," Raven muttered. His voice dripped with exasperation, though his molten eyes betrayed something else—relief.

Omni chuckled in his head, all gangster drawl. "Eh, don’t sweat it, boss. You wanted ’em gone, but they just pulled the ol’ friendship no jutsu. Can’t ditch you mid-boss fight, y’know?"

Raven groaned, his shoulders sagging as he braced against the beam. "...I swear, they’re gonna be the death of me before this dragon is."

The black dragon snarled from above, its death breath finally thinning. Its molten eyes flicked between Raven and his allies.

Now, it was the dragon who had to make a decision.

Should it focus on the others? Or on Raven?

It gritted its razor-like teeth as its roar split the heavens again, calling more bones to rise.

Its roar rattled the skies, bones clawing up in fresh waves.

Raven sighed, molten cracks across his body dimming for a moment as he braced himself under the lingering weight of the breath.

Selena, standing amidst her shadow legion, caught sight of that sigh. Her sharp crimson eyes softened briefly.

"You didn’t think we’d just let you fight alone, did you?" Her voice carried, cold but sure. "We saw the clouds splitting, the ground tearing apart, and the quakes shaking the whole expanse. None of us could just... run from that."

Jessy swung her hammer like a bat, crushing another knight into sparks of shattered iron, and smirked, having fun for the first time, realizing that she might have a thing for crushing her enemies. "Yeah. You expect us to miss all the fun? Please."

"Fun for you, maybe," Clara murmured, another vibration slicing through a line of bone beasts. "But we couldn’t just ignore something shaking the entire world."

Alex let out a grunt as he crushed another dragon skull. "What Clara means is—we weren’t about to let you

hog the spotlight, Raven."

Raven’s molten eyes shut, his head dipping. He didn’t answer. Instead, his grip on Omni tightened, and the sword’s voice rolled out across the battlefield, heard by his allies alone.

"Boss says—since you’re already here, there’s no turning back. You fight."

Raven decided that it was better to talk through Omni as the black dragon couldn’t hear the sword’s voice.

Omni, on the other hand, added in his drawl, "Not like he had much choice anyway. Big guy’s in a bind, y’know?"

Raven deadpanned at the sword in his hand, as this wasn’t something he said. Omni added it on his own.

Still, despite the chaos around them, those words made a few chuckles slip out.

Jake’s lips twitched as he slit through another skeletal beast. Siris, dangling from another dragon rib as she stabbed it gleefully, sang, "Heehee~ Bind or not, we’re staying~!"

Raven’s eyes opened again, molten heat glowing sharp.

He didn’t waste words. His thoughts flowed straight into Omni, and Omni relayed them, his voice rumbling across their link.

"He says—don’t try to beat the dragon. Just piss it off. Pull its attention. Even if it’s only for a heartbeat, that’s all he needs. But..." Omni’s tone dipped lower, carrying Raven’s steel. "...don’t overdo it. Don’t make it want to kill you."

Jessy sighed, hammer cracking through another skull. "That’s... basically what we’re best at."

Selena’s shadows crushed through a beast’s spine, her lips curling faintly. "Annoy, not anger? We can manage that."

"Barely," Clara added, even as her sound sliced another wave down.

Yet the undertone shifted. Through the link, their reply came—not in loud boasts, not in drawn-out speeches, but in clipped, iron voices.

"Even if one of us dies, it’s fine."

Raven’s molten eyes widened, but he didn’t stop them.

Siris giggled darkly, freezing a dragon’s wing before tearing it off. "After all, we’ve got another life."

Selena’s shadows snarled. "If our deaths bring that thing down... then so be it."

The meaning hung sharp and unspoken, yet Raven understood it well. This was the last fight. Their last chain to break for peace.

For a long moment, he said nothing. Just gritted his fangs, molten cracks pulsing faintly.

Above, the black dragon’s breath finally faltered.

The endless beam dwindled, death smoke curling off its jaws as it clamped its maw shut. Its molten eyes glared downward, burning through the battlefield.

The ground trembled in the silence that followed.

And Raven—at last—straightened.

His colossal form shook off dust, molten fire flaring bright once more. His claws tightened on Omni, and he lifted his head, gaze locking with the dragon’s.

A slow, sharp smirk was carved across his jagged maw.

"Well?" His voice rumbled like an earthquake, cutting through the silence. "What’ll you do now?"

The battlefield stilled. The skeleton army shrieked, crumbled, and fell apart piece by piece, their forms breaking under the assault of his allies.

Soon, only scattered fragments remained, with no real force left to rise.

Now, the black dragon was alone.