"Isn't that a Goblin Priest?"
A member of the Royal Party pointed at the Goblin Priest, who was chanting while levitating in the air.
"He seems to be preparing a large-scale AOE attack."
The leader of the Royal Party stared at the Goblin Priest, his mouth wide open.
The Royal Party was a group of ordinary guys who lived in the same housing complex. Their leader had only recently reached Level 4 and hadn't yet undergone his fourth Heavenly Trial.
They usually hunted regular monsters and would flee the moment they encountered an Elite one.
"Grey, what should we do?"
A party member turned to Grey, the leader of the Royal Party.
After all, they had only read about Goblin Priests in the handbook recently printed by the Mayor's Office. None of them had any idea how to stop one from chanting.
"Let's just run away," one of the members suggested.
The Goblin Priest looked distracted, and now seemed like the best time to escape.
"But go where? Can't you see that massive ball of fire hanging over there?"
Snapping out of his daze, Grey pointed toward the giant fireball floating above the last patch of the Dark Forest.
"No way... is the Goblin Priest planning to attack the town?"
Staring at the fireball—which was still growing—fear gripped the Royal Party. Their legs turned to jelly.
Just as they were trying to make sense of what the Goblin Priest was doing, Eric burst out from the woods and launched an attack.
Leaping from the ground, Eric struck at the Goblin Priest.
But the Priest, still hovering in the air, simply shifted to the side, easily dodging the attack.
"Lachi, Lucha, Lachi, Lucha, Lachi, Lucha…"
The Goblin Priest continued chanting, gliding through the air to avoid Eric's blows.
"Grey, do you think we should help?"
The Royal Party, who had already retreated when they saw the massive fireball, now watched Eric fight the Priest alone—and hesitated.
"You guys stay back. I'll go."
Grey didn't want to put his teammates at risk, so he decided to head out alone to figure out what was going on.
"Hi, friend! Do you need any help?"
Approaching Eric, Grey called out from a safe distance.
"Yes! Quickly, use your most powerful attack and stop the Priest from chanting—otherwise that massive fireball is going to destroy everything!"
When Eric had left the woods, he'd seen the Royal Party members retreating. At first, he wanted to ask for help, but before he could, they had vanished from sight.
"Okay!"
Hearing the urgency in Eric's voice, Grey didn't hesitate and instantly activated his most powerful attack.
[Tiger Roar]
Channeling his Gift, Grey gathered a large amount of Ki into his chest—and unleashed a powerful roar.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!!
The roar echoed across the forest, shaking the surroundings. The Goblin Priest, who was about to finish chanting the large-scale fireball spell, suddenly clutched his head in pain.
"Ahhh!!!"
Since [Tiger Roar] didn't discriminate between friend and foe, Eric also felt a sharp pain shoot through his mind. His sword slipped from his hand, and he collapsed to the ground.
However, the Goblin Priest only felt a stabbing pain, like a needle piercing his mind. Gritting through it, he continued chanting.
"Lachi, Lucha, Lachi, Lucha… Finally, you all die!!"
Finishing the large-scale AOE spell, the Goblin Priest sent a mental command—and the massive fireball began to descend upon the Dark Forest.
"Is this the end?"
Tony, who had just finished killing the last two Hobgoblins, looked up and saw the fireball hurtling down.
"Clara… I'm sorry. Daddy isn't going to make it back home."
Images of his daughter flashed before his eyes as the fireball grew closer and closer.
[Dragon Descent]!!
As Tony closed his eyes and embraced what was about to come, a majestic Eastern dragon made entirely of Ki flew in from the direction of Blue Wing Town and collided with the massive fireball.
Boom!! Boommm!!!
Shockwaves rippled through the Dark Forest as the Eastern Dragon and the fireball clashed in mid-air.
The Eastern Dragon tried to push the massive fireball away with its claws, but no matter how hard it struggled, the fireball didn't budge.
Instead, the massive fireball overwhelmed the Eastern Dragon and continued descending toward the Dark Forest.
[Clone]!!
Suddenly, out of thin air, another dragon materialized beside the first Eastern Dragon. Together, the two dragons began pushing the fireball back.
"This…"
Tony was dumbfounded when he opened his eyes after hearing the shockwaves.
Looking up, he saw two Eastern Dragons pushing the massive fireball back into the sky.
As the dragons forced the fireball upward, they ensured it had reached a safe distance before whipping their tails at it.
The moment their tails struck the fireball, cracks began to appear, and seconds later—it exploded like a supernova.
Booommmmm!!!!!!!
The explosion shattered the sound barrier, and everyone in Blue Wing Town heard the deafening blast.
Meanwhile, both Eastern Dragons vanished the moment the fireball exploded—and a man descended from the sky at incredible speed.
—————
"Where am I?"
Upon waking up, Kai looked around in confusion. The last thing he remembered was running away from the Goblin Priest.
"Finally, you're awake. Now quickly leave the bed—Eldon still has to check other patients."
As Kai was looking around the room, a fairy flew toward him and urged him to leave.
Still in a daze, Kai got down from the bed and walked out of the room. With each step he took, fragments of memory returned, and he finally recalled what had happened.
"I was running… then I crashed into a tree. After that, Oliver gave me a healing… and then I lost consciousness."
Kai held his right hand to his forehead as he walked through the hallway.
"Wait… this is a clinic. But where is everyone else?"
As he continued down the hallway, he saw rooms with patients lying on beds.
Kai had heard of the fairy doctors before, but he had never actually visited one. As a result, he was unfamiliar with the clinic's layout.
"That was crazy. Who was that? He had a B-Rank Gift, [Dragon Descent], and a C-Rank Gift, [Clone]. Do you think he was a member of the Blaze Party?"
"Blaze Party? I don't think so. Only the leader of the Blaze Party has undergone his fifth Heavenly Trial, and his Gift is the B-Rank [Multiplier]."
"I think it was the Mayor. After all, no one has ever seen the Mayor use his Gifts before."
Still wondering where everyone went, Kai unknowingly arrived at the waiting area.
"I heard it was the Candy Party that led the Goblin Priest toward the outskirts of the forest."
"Candy Party? You mean the one ranked 51? The one with that beautiful archer?"
"Yeah, them. It seems they killed too many goblins, and the Goblin Priest was after them for revenge."
Kai stood silently, overhearing the people nearby talk about various topics, unaware that he was now standing in the waiting hall.