Third-Person Point of View - Valaris District
On a street filled with families strolling, merchants selling their wares, and children playing, everyone's attention was suddenly drawn to the south, toward the park where Althair and his friends had been.
Extremely thick smoke billowed from the park area, rising slowly into the sky, making people realize that something had happened.
When the smoke cleared, what stood within was a massive dragon, 30 meters tall. It was not just any dragon, but an Elder Dragon. Its body was adorned with bluish-silver scales that shimmered like moonlight. Its long, curved horns signified an age that surpassed a thousand years, while its blood-red irises burned with fury. It was an SS-rank monster.
A monster that one was not advised to fight alone. The public stared, frozen like statues. There was no sound; they were all in shock. Is this a dream? Is the monster before us real? Their thoughts were interrupted when royal soldiers arrived and gave orders.
"Remain calm! This way! Our comrades will keep the dragon busy."
Instantly, the people snapped out of their stupor and followed the command. A father immediately scooped up his child and wife; a vendor abandoned his shop and ran. Everyone scrambled to flee in terror.
The dragon noticed the activity of the citizens and opened its mouth. The power of fire gathered within—'dragon breath'—and launched towards the crowd.
But from a distance, a man was flying toward the Valaris district. It was King Arthur von Stellaris.
Arthur's Point of View
While I was in Carsel's room, I noticed a spike in the density of mana nearby, a sign that a powerful spell was being used in the vicinity.
I immediately flew toward the location from the window, not forgetting to close all the doors and windows I had used in Carsel's room. I also cast a protection spell on Carsel.
As I was flying, I saw an Elder Dragon, an SS-rank monster. An SS-rank monster had the power to destroy a city; it was not recommended to fight one alone.
Except for me.
I saw it using its dragon breath to attack my people in the Valaris district. I immediately cast the spell 'Stellar Time.' It was a technique of the Stellaris family, capable of slowing down or speeding up time in a specific area. I chose the area where the dragon was.
Instantly, the dragon's movements became sluggish. The flames it spewed to attack my citizens slowed to a crawl.
"Leave the dragon to me," I commanded the soldiers. "Evacuate the citizens from this area. I don't need any help. If you try to help, you'll only be a burden."
Because of my last sentence, the soldiers abandoned their intention to assist and focused on evacuating the citizens.
I immediately summoned a magic weapon, a longsword, in my right hand. My aide, Tharlic, appeared beside me and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty."
"Yes."
"It's too dangerous to clash here. It would be better if we relocated the dragon."
"Then move it."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
I kept my gaze fixed on the dragon, which was still breathing fire towards the Valaris district. Tharlic immediately cast a spell. A magic circle instantly surrounded the ground beneath the dragon, and...
It vanished.
"Where did you move the dragon?"
"I moved it to the usual place, Your Majesty."
I just nodded and teleported as well. The place where the dragon and I now stood was on a remote island.
When I arrived, the dragon was released from my Stellar Time spell. It looked at me with a furious gaze, its eyes grew sharper, the irises contracting into vertical slits.
I extended the mana sword in my right hand, increasing its length to 10 meters. My blade shone with a golden light.
We faced each other, staring into each other's eyes.
Elder Dragons have affinities for fire, lightning, ice, and wind, I thought to myself. Plus, it can combine all four of those affinities at once. However, it won't use an AoE spell, because its target is only one person.
The dragon initiated the attack, casting the magic spell 'Tempest Fang.'
Blades of wind shot towards me. I immediately flew to evade them, dodging while advancing toward the dragon. Then, I raised my sword from my upper right and swung down to the left.
The dragon also cast the spell 'Firelightning Dominion.'
A flame combined with lightning. The two attacks clashed, and a nuclear-level explosion erupted on the island.
Third-Person Point of view
It wasn't just in the Valaris district; citizens in the other 12 districts were also being evacuated. A-rank, S-rank, and SS-rank monsters were attacking from outside the capital, trying to break in but being held back by the Empire's Archmages and Sages.
There were many A-rank monsters, but only two S-rank and SS-rank monsters each. The S-rank monsters included Adult Dragons, Elder Liches, and Primordial Elementals—monsters manifested purely from the elements themselves. The SS-rank monsters included an Elder Dragon and a Celestial Fallen. None of them were a match for the Archmages or Sages. An Archmage only had a 40% chance of victory against an S-rank monster. A Sage had a 70% chance of victory against an S-rank, but even a Sage could not win against an SS-rank. A Sage only had a 40% chance, and that required at least two of them working together.
The situation with Althair and his friends
Sensing the battle outside and the appearance of the dragon in the middle of the city, Althair and his friends immediately took action.
Althair cast the same teleportation spell as before, intending to return to their previous location.
"We have to help them. We just need to speed up the evacuation and fight any monsters that get past the Archmages and Sages," Althair commanded.
Alex, Alicia, Rio, and Clara nodded.
But their position was on the edge of the Empire. For context, the capital city of Stella is vast, but the park Althair had been in was on the outskirts of the capital, in the Elaris district. The capital was currently under attack from all directions, like a circle, so Althair's position was not actually safe.
As Althair and the others formed a circle to teleport, Althair began to cast the spell, but suddenly the ground shook and vibrated violently.
Realizing this, they canceled their plan and formed a defensive circle to see what was causing the tremor.
From the distance, a massive, imposing monster appeared. It was 12 meters tall, its entire body was pure muscle, with veins bulging as if they were about to burst from its skin.
Rio, seeing it, broke into a cold sweat and said, "A Corrupted Titan, an A+-rank monster."
"We'd better fight it here and now. If we let it go, it will attack the soldiers fighting on the front lines," Clara reasoned.
Everyone agreed. Althair prepared his hands to cast a spell. Rio, Alex, and Alicia drew their swords from their storage rings. Clara stood behind them all; she was a support-type healer who could heal, give buffs to her friends, and apply debuffs to her enemies. Rio's affinity was lightning, Alex's was earth, and Alicia's was fire.
"You have to hit it with powerful techniques! Its skin is extremely tough!" Althair warned.
Rio immediately charged toward the Titan. He ran straight at it, coating his sword blade with lightning combined with sword aura.
From the back, Clara buffed Rio, increasing his speed, damage output, and granting him a protective shield on his body that could shatter if hit by a strong attack. Clara also applied a debuff to the Titan, reducing its attack speed by 30%.
The Titan attacked with its bare hands, punching toward Rio. But Rio executed a Flash Step, instantly appearing behind the Titan and launching a powerful attack.
"Ultimate Lightning-Destroying Slash!"
A powerful, but not a finishing, move. The slash, coming from top to bottom, wounded the Titan's skin. A vertical gash appeared on its back. Rio immediately retreated.
"Shit, its body is so hard. I couldn't even split it in two, even after using my ultimate technique buffed by Clara."
A-rank Titans and above have regenerative abilities, but the lightning effect caused by Rio disrupted the Titan's system.
"Hey, where are your attacks?!" Rio asked.
Receiving no answer, he looked toward his friends and saw that there wasn't just one Titan, but three more, for a total of four including the one in front of him. Each of his friends was fighting a Titan alone, except for Althair, who was fighting while protecting Clara.
"Alright, looks like it's just the two of us here," Rio said. His hair floated upwards, his dark blue irises glowed brightly, and his body became wreathed in electricity without harming him.
Rio immediately dashed forward at a speed of 100 m/s. He began to unleash a flurry of slashes at the Titan—thrusts, vertical cuts, horizontal slashes. All of his attacks left wounds on its body.
It's strong, but not enough to defeat it, Rio thought.
As Rio was circling the Titan while slashing, a large, muscular hand suddenly clamped down on his head.
"What?"
Rio was, of course, shocked. The Titan had been debuffed by Clara, and he was in his Over-Thunder mode.
The Titan threw the object in its right hand—Rio—up into the air. As Rio fell, the Titan punched him in the stomach with its left hand.
THWACK!
The shield Clara had given him shattered. Rio was sent flying 30 meters back, crashing into a large boulder.
CRUMBLE
Rio coughed up blood.
VOMIT
"Haaa, haaa... damn it, I underestimated it. After all, it's a monster that's almost S-rank. If I hadn't gotten Clara's protective buff, my head would have been crushed, and my stomach would have a hole in it."
Rio glared at the Titan. The Titan stared back.
And then...
The Titan ran with incredible speed, its body moving like a professional sprinter. It then launched a devastating kick with its right leg.
BOOM!