CHAPTER 108: PRELUDE TO THE FINAL CONFRONTATION

"Mr. Edward, please rest well. The city guard has already informed us that most of the demons have been eliminated by groups of adventurers from the capital. All that remains is for the royal guard to deal with that so-called Hellgate. There's no need to worry."

Sue brought in a basin of warm water from outside, wrung out a towel, folded it neatly, and placed it on Edward's forehead.

Edward had been stripped of his armor and was lying in a small bed in Sue's flower shop, dressed only in a thin undershirt. His lethargy and weakness left him feeling awkward, but he understood his own condition. It would be impossible for him to participate in the fighting as is, and if he didn't rest now, there would surely be severe consequences.

His bed was soft and small—too small. It clearly hadn't been designed for someone his size. Sue had wiped away the blood and sweat on his body, leaving him feeling clean and refreshed.

Thanks to Wang Yu's blood healing, the microtears in his body, which would otherwise have been the most difficult to detect or fix, were easily dealt with. Wang Yu had left him some salves without aggravating side effects and a nutrient-packed balm. Edward's body was slowly patching itself together.

His body itched, a sign that it was healing. The weakness that came from overexertion gave rise to a dull sense of comfort that made him want to drift to sleep. His eyelids grew heavy, and his consciousness began to fade.

"I remember Charles told me that Sue's name was Chelsea. Good thing I didn't believe him. Wang Yu is far more reliable," Edward suddenly thought. Charles had mentioned the catfolk girl's purported name in passing, but it was now evident that Charles had just been trying to mess with him. Wang Yu wouldn't do that. Calling her by the wrong name would have been more awkward than not knowing her name at all.

His eyelids grew heavier as exhaustion overtook him. The battle with Pernia and the all-out effort to slay the demon summoner had pushed Edward to his limit. He leaned back on the pillow...

A bottle shattered; liquid spilled. Edward snapped awake, his instincts propelling his weakened body to grab his sword from beside the bed.

"What happened, Miss Sue?" Edward shouted, his voice betraying his deep fatigue. Even so, he forced himself upright and scanned the flower shop.

"I... I suddenly... I feel so scared... There's something terrifying here..." Sue had been bringing Edward a jug of warm water, but had dropped it on the floor in shock. She crouched down, hugging her head and trembling all over. Her furry cat ears were flattened against her head and her tail was puffed up high, a clear sign of her fright.

"What?" Edward frowned. Then, a violent roar echoed through the city center. Edward turned sharply toward the window, where a crimson dragon had risen into the sky.

"Is that... a red dragon?" Wang Yu squinted at the massive dragon soaring into the sky. He felt no fear, nor any sense of pressure—because standing atop the dragon's back, moving step by step toward its midsection, was Hugin, clad in his signature smoky armor.

Clearly, even if this really were one of the immensely powerful dragons of legend, it was on their side. There was no reason to be afraid.

"Its characteristics match those of a red dragon—its appearance and... that unique aura," Avia said as she formed a ring with her fingers and placed it over her eyes. A thin, translucent magical lens appeared, inscribed with glowing runes that flickered constantly.

This was the second-tier spell Magical Lens, commonly used by magicians to enhance their sight. Its primary purpose was to help the caster visualize the flow of magical energy, but it also functioned as a telescope.

Avia had already shaken off the instinctive fear caused by the dragon's aura. Her willpower was strong, and her rational mind quickly overrode the primal terror that the dragon's aura evoked.

"It's very strange... This red dragon shows no traces of mana. Its strength seems to be entirely physical in origin," Avia remarked uncertainly. Through the lens, she could see no magical fluctuations around the dragon.

"That can't be right. Dragons are natural magicians. Their blood is said to be infused with incredible mana, granting them far greater reserves of magic at birth than humans. Their inherited bloodline also teaches them the unique art of draconic magic. How could a dragon have no magic at all?"

Wang Yu trusted Avia, but her perplexing observation went against all common sense. How could this red dragon not possess any mana?

The dragon hovered in the sky, seemingly waiting for something. Its wings flapped slowly, keeping it aloft. Avia's findings were all the more baffling in light of this phenomenon—a dragon with magic shouldn't even be able to fly. A dragon's wings alone could hardly lift its heavily muscled body, with a density far exceeding that of any natural creature.

This red dragon, with somewhat tattered and crooked wings, simply couldn't hover in the air without magic. That was aerodynamically impossible.

Unlike flies, which managed to remain aloft by rapidly flapping their wings, dragons lacked the capacity to move their wings at such speeds. Instead, they relied on their innate magic to soar through the sky.

In terms of the magical theory of humans, such magic intricately combined wind, fire, earth, and other elemental mana.

But if there were no mana fluctuations around the red dragon before them, then how could it remain aloft? Draconic magic was known for its incredible expenditure of mana. There was no way a dragon's flight would emit no fluctuations at all.

Avia frowned. "No—Wang Yu, look closely at the wings. There's something unusual there." Avia switched to a different spell for close analysis. This time, she managed to uncover the secret to the dragon's flight.

Wang Yu focused his attention on the dragon's malformed wings, which lacked membranes and appeared withered and shriveled. Though the dragon was far beyond the range of his ripples' perception, his sharp eyesight did allow him to detect something.

In the sunlight, there were faint, indistinct shapes surrounding the dragon's wings. They were initially too subtle to notice, but became clearer after Avia pointed them out.

"Is that... smoke?" Wang Yu frowned at the faint gray mist covering the dragon's wings.

"Right! It looks like highly concentrated smoke. It's not magical in origin, but it somehow generates lift and enables the red dragon to fly without magic."

Avia confirmed Wang Yu's guess after examining the phenomenon carefully.

"Then it must be our captain's doing. In which case, the red dragon is... the Professor?" Wang Yu quickly connected the dots. The dragon's ability to fly using the mysterious smoke made it clear why Hugin had climbed onto its back.

Coupled with Avia's earlier observation of its overwhelming aura and Wang Yu's memory of the assassin incident at his home, the dragon's identity was unmistakable.

"The Professor is a dragon? But something's got to be wrong. He shouldn't need Captain Hugin's smoke to take flight," Wang Yu murmured.

To think the Professor, the perfect mild-mannered academic, would be a dragon... It was a bit over the top no matter how Wang Yu looked at it.

"Wang Yu, there's very little we can do right now. They're likely in a standoff with something—the dragon wouldn't have revealed itself otherwise. We need to be careful. A dragon's foe is likely beyond our ability to handle." Avia analyzed the situation rationally.

Indeed, it seemed that all they could do was... watch.

"I feel the same way. Still, maybe there's something we can do to help."

Wang Yu wasn't one to act recklessly. It was clear that, even with Avia's help, they would be woefully outmatched against the dragon, let alone its foe.

"We do have a pretty good ally, though. If Charles is up there, we actually might be able to do something."

Avia tilted her head in thought, a surprised smile spreading across her face.

"What?" Wang Yu was puzzled.

"Lady Darkness asked me to tell you something: you've been too conservative with her powers. You were only using a fraction of her true strength—less than a tenth of that contained in the faith crystals you gave her. You took advantage of abilities that were aligned with her authority and nature, which dramatically reduced the required consumption. She wanted you to know that 'what a deity can accomplish within her domain is far greater than you can imagine'—her exact words."

Wang Yu blinked in surprise. The Lady of the Night's remark meant that she truly regarded Wang Yu and Avia as her friends, and was willing to spend her reserves generously on their behalf.

"That's a powerful trump card. If Charles really is up there, we might be able to provide some support after all. For now, though, let's see what kind of enemy the Professor is dealing with."

Wang Yu smiled. He was far more confident given the Lady of the Night's pledge. Perhaps even weaklings like him and Avia could contribute after all.

"Stevenson Academy, this is Charles Ryder from the Nightblades' special ops team. My captain, Hugin Smokes, requests magical firepower as support. Soon, a void entity will emerge over the lake where a dragon has appeared. Please strike it down with a magical artillery barrage," Charles stated clearly and quickly.

His feet were shackled to the dragon's back by smoky restraints. As the dragon moved, he swayed violently, his face turning pale.

Even so, he gripped a mana crystal communicator firmly in his hand as he coordinated with the academy for magical support.

"We're very sorry, but most of our magical artillery arrays are currently focused on the frontlines to destroy the Hellgate in conjunction with the royal guard. It's difficult for us to provide effective magical support at present. The remaining smaller arrays would likely be of little use on your battlefield."

The academy's operator responded with astonishing speed, though with unwelcome news.

The Stevenson Academy of Magic was unable to provide large-scale magical support. Most of their firepower had been primed for the assault on the Hellgate set to take place in just a few minutes.

The limited support they could spare was far from sufficient. The operator had clearly noticed the massive dragon and understood that such meager support wouldn't be effective against an enemy that warranted a dragon's involvement.

"Damn it! Why can't my foresight pick up on things like this? What a useless ability," Charles complained. "Captain, the magic academy can't provide support. What should we do?"

Even Charles couldn't keep up his usual cavalier attitude. On the other end of the chains that were in the red dragon's maw, beneath the surface of the manmade lake, a void rift was slowly being torn open.

A massive, purple hand, shimmering with starlight, slowly emerged from the lake's depths, parting the water like Moses dividing the sea.

Charles, sensitive to the distortions emanating from the void, felt its unsettling aura seeping into his bones. His skin prickled with goosebumps.

An enormous purple humanoid ascended from the lake and hovered in the air, its faceless head turning toward Sieg.

"Sieg, the Wingless Dragon... I didn't expect to force you into this form. It seems I'll gain more than just the key. Before I'm shoved back into the void, hmm... yes, I have enough time."

The purple figure's voice emitted a strange, dissonant resonance. Its words were garbled like static, yet the information they conveyed was transmitted seamlessly into their minds.

"Then we'll just have to take him down ourselves," Hugin replied belatedly, to Charles' earlier remark. The next moment, the dragon's wings beat furiously as it launched itself toward the purple humanoid.