Among the Three Great Quests of the DanMachi world, the Black Dragon remains the final, unfinished task. Its very existence represents one of the greatest calamities in the Lower World.
It isn't a brute like Behemoth, nor a seaborne tyrant like Leviathan.
It is the Dragon King.
Not only does it possess power rivaling the gods themselves, but it also holds absolute dominion over all dragonkind.
And now—
The swarm of Valgang Dragons flooding in from the Dragon's Vase on the 58th Floor was the most direct proof of that.
It wasn't attracting them. It wasn't controlling them. It was commanding them.
This was no coincidence, no "environmental reaction."
This was a test from the Black Dragon.
It was opening one eye, perched at the edge of awakening, and gazing out from afar.
It had sensed Ryota's terrifying power, sensed the gathering of countless powerful beings on this floor.
And so, it issued an order—mobilizing the Valgang Dragons from the 58th Floor to converge here.
That alone confirmed one thing: Ouranos' perception had not been mistaken.
The seal really was compromised.
At the very least, it had granted the Black Dragon a fleeting opportunity to break free.
Ryota stared at the colossal beasts before him. Each of their steps made the entire glacial field quake beneath them.
Behind him, everyone's expressions changed drastically.
They had no idea what Ryota was thinking, but they all knew one thing—if they didn't leave now, none of them were getting out.
"Ryota! Get back here!"
"Are you insane?! That's a whole swarm of dragons—Valgang Dragons!"
"You can't take them all on alone!!"
"…"
Voices rose in a desperate chorus.
Just then, a figure darted forward.
She completely ignored Finn and Riveria's shouts from behind, sprinting straight to Ryota's side and grabbing his wrist.
"Ryota?! You—"
Before she could finish her sentence, Ryota turned to face her.
His eyes—those blood-red pupils—were faintly etched with a ring of violet.
He gently patted Ais's hand where it clutched his arm, smiling as he said:
"Just a moment."
Ais froze.
She looked up, instinctively turning her gaze forward—
Blazing dragonfire was gathering in the mouths of the Valgang Dragons.
Flames that could swallow their entire Expedition team whole.
"No… This level of power—we can't possibly stop it!"
The golden-haired girl tried once more to dissuade him, but before the words left her mouth—
Whoosh—!
Ryota vanished from where he stood.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared in the open space ahead.
Without hesitation, he formed a rapid series of hand signs:
"—Wood Style: Deep Forest Bloom!"
The moment the words left his mouth, the ground thundered in response!
Crack-crack-crack!!
The earth split like a spiderweb. With a deafening roar, countless thick black roots burst from the ground, sprawling outward in all directions!
Branches sprouted and twisted rapidly, entwining together. In the blink of an eye, the entire icy plain transformed into a bizarre, eerie forest!
At the tops of these trees, enormous flowers began to bloom one after another.
Grrrk—!
A deep, slithering noise echoed through the clearing.
The next instant, the giant blossoms opened wide, unleashing clouds of pale white pollen toward the advancing Valgang Dragon swarm!
The dragons, just moments from unleashing their fiery breath, suddenly paused as the first wave of pollen swept over them.
Then their heads drooped, eyes glazed.
"Graa…ghuh…uuurgh?"
One after another, the Valgang Dragons began to stagger, wobble, and retreat unsteadily—like drunkards reeling on their feet. Some even collapsed with a heavy thud, completely incapacitated.
They couldn't even muster their dragonfire.
They were hallucinating.
They'd been forcibly paralyzed.
That was the true power of Deep Forest Bloom.
Behind him, the retreating Adventurers came to a sudden halt.
Someone turned back first, and soon every gaze was locked on the surreal spectacle before them.
"What's happening?"
"They… they're all down?"
"This… how is this possible?! What did Ryota do?!"
"…"
One… two… three…
The massive Valgang Dragons were falling like dominos in the midst of that forest.
It was as if their will to fight had been completely erased—their very consciousness dissolving into haze.
"This can't be…"
Hedin's throat bobbed, his voice hoarse.
"That's an entire swarm of Valgang Dragons…"
"How could they not even withstand one move?"
Their initial confusion was quickly devoured by overwhelming disbelief.
Ais stared blankly at Ryota's lone figure standing before the forest, lips parted, whispering to herself:
"This… was all Ryota?"
Even Finn, Ottar, and Riveria—veteran Adventurers at the pinnacle of Orario—fell into collective silence.
They suddenly realized—
That frantic retreat earlier…
Might've been completely unnecessary.
The word "shock" hung like lead in everyone's hearts.
But just as they were reeling from the overwhelming display of Deep Forest Bloom—
Ryota moved again.
He slowly rose into the air, lifted by a visible storm of energy.
Every pair of eyes locked onto him once more.
His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan glared coldly at the awakening, flailing Valgang Dragons—at the shadowy rift behind them.
A wisp of black energy seeped endlessly from the crack in the world.
The Black Dragon's seal.
The origin of the greatest calamity in this world.
Ryota muttered to himself:
"So you've poked your head out."
"Let me shove you right back in."
As the words fell—
BOOM!!!
The heavens and earth shook in an instant!
Chakra surged toward Ryota like a gathering storm, and the world itself seemed to warp and twist, the air crumpling like cloth.
Ryota lowered his right hand slightly:
"—Super Almighty Push."
The next moment!
Space exploded outward from Ryota's position!
A massive circular shockwave rippled across the landscape—an unstoppable, all-consuming force of repulsion sweeping through the entire forest!
DOOOOM!!!!!
Air shredded apart. The ground was obliterated.
The Valgang Dragons, barely lifting their heads to fight back, were hurled away before they could even twitch.
One, two, a dozen—
BOOM! BOOM-BOOM! BOOOOOM!!
Under the awestruck, unmoving gazes of the crowd, the towering dragons—ten meters tall—were pulverized like ants, disintegrating into black ash.
The rift in the seal behind them warped violently.
CRACK!!!—
Another thunderous impact.
Fissure spasmed violently, then slammed shut.
The entire Ice Garden looked like it had been blasted clean by a tidal wave of divine power—utterly devastated.
It all happened so fast.
How fast?
So fast they hadn't even completed a full breath cycle.
They saw Ryota soar into the air, then raise a hand.
Then the forest collapsed.
The Valgang Dragons were crushed like bugs in midair, one after another, turning to ash.
Then the sealing rift let out a low thump—like the world's heartbeat skipping a beat—
And that was it.
Nothing more.
The world… fell silent.
No. It returned to "normal."
"…It's over?"
Finn murmured instinctively.
Ottar's fists remained clenched, but he hadn't lowered them.
Lefiya stood frozen in place, lips trembling, unable to make a sound.
Ais tilted her head back, eyes still wide with disbelief, staring at the now-empty sky.
"What… just happened?"
Hedin mumbled.
No one could answer.
They stood there on the leveled remains of the Ice Garden, staring at the clearing, watching Ryota descend from the sky.
There was only one conclusion—
The Valgang Dragons were gone.
The space… had returned to "normal."
Landing softly, Ryota looked down at the scorched, flattened earth beneath his feet, as if confirming something. Then his gaze flicked to the now-closed rift not far away.
Only then did he turn back, eyes sweeping across the two Familia teams standing in a line behind him.
He spoke slowly:
"No need to go to the 61st Floor."
"The Guild's commission is complete."
"Let's head back."
The moment his voice fell, everyone stood dumbfounded.
"Head back?"
"It's complete?"
"That's it?"
"…"
Hedin's expression looked like jammed gears—shock, confusion, awe, and blankness all stuck together. Even his voice was frozen.
Lefiya had been about to ask, "What did you just do?"
But the words caught in her throat, like a fishbone she couldn't spit out.
Not because she was afraid—but because there were no words to describe what they'd just witnessed.
That kind of annihilating power. That mythic, apocalyptic scene.
The word "shocking" didn't even come close anymore.
Yet Ryota just brushed the dust from his hands, smiled faintly, and began walking back the way they'd come.
It wasn't until he had gone quite far that Finn finally spoke up, half to himself:
"He… just saved all of us, didn't he?"
No one answered.
But everyone knew the truth.
As soon as they left the 60th Floor, the mechanical voice returned to Ryota's ear:
[Ding! Main Branch Quest: Explore the Glacier Territory and Return Safely — Completed!]
[Calculating rewards—]
[Reward 1: Special Nine-Tails Chakra +10%!]
[Reward 2: Sage Jutsu Chakra +10%!]
[Reward 3: Hashirama Cells +10%!]
[Reward 4: Kekkei Genkai Unlocked: Wood Style: Wood Dragon Jutsu!]
[Reward 5: Chakra Capacity +200,000!]
Ryota didn't pause his stride, though his eyes flickered slightly.
He turned back briefly to glance at the two teams trailing behind him.
Silence and numbness had settled over them all.
No one spoke. No one cheered.
As if that world-ending disaster they'd just witnessed… had never happened.
But the shattered ice, the scorched ground, and the utter absence of any draconic presence said otherwise.
"It really happened."
"So this is the meaning of the Fusion…"
[Current Fusion Progress: 80%]
"Just 20% to go."
[Ding—New Abilities Unlocked: Tengai Shinsei, Thousand Paper Crane Teleportation, Amenotejikara, Summoning Jutsu: Gedo Statue]
A torrent of new power surged into Ryota's body.
"It's close. Everything is close."
"Just one more to go."
This expedition into the Glacier Territory—from crushing Titan Alm, to subduing Demi Spirit, to slamming the Black Dragon's seal shut with Super Almighty Push…
You could say he had completed everyone's mission by himself.
It was time to move on to the next step.
But for now, he only said one thing:
"Let's return to the safe zone on the 50th Floor and rest."
No one replied.
They just nodded mechanically, as if finally given direction.
And so the long column—Loki Familia, Freya Familia, and the one figure at the very front—
In the howling winds of the Dungeon's depths, began their journey home.
No one noticed the violet glow in Ryota's Sharingan had grown even deeper.