Great Ancient Mage, Confirmed (2)

Two weeks had passed since then. Thanks to the fertilizer made by Evan and the harmony made by the blessings from the Great Mother Earth, the crops in the Necklace world produced a pleasant result. Moreover, the animals in the Necklace world ate some of it. They gained weight, which then ended up increasing their reproductivity. In the normal world, this would take at least several years, but in the Necklace world, it only took two weeks.

“Good, now you guys are ready.”

“Arggh…!”

The union of the different races felt nervous at Evan’s words. But real combat was a must if they wanted to become stronger. It was difficult to raise one’s existence level by training alone!

“Form into the predetermined parties. And head to the dungeon by following the guides.”

“Understood!”

Forming a party with an adequate number of humans and dwarves plus an elf as a guardian. The little witches were grouped into one party, and the most talented humans and dwarves were added to them. They were called the elite group.

“Then let’s head out.”

“Come back safe!”

“We will protect the Mother!”

With half of the elves left behind to protect the World Tree (despite being half, their archery skills increased to the point that they could fight off all of the elves two weeks ago), the allied force made up of humans, dwarves, and elves headed out into the Forest. It was a spectacle that could only be seen in the final stage of Yo-Ma Great War Zero.

“They did become quite stronger than the first time…but can they get strong enough to fight against the Demons of this era?”

Maybell still sounded skeptical. Although she knew the most about the power which Evan’s training contained, at the same time, she was also very familiar with the abilities of the Demons.

“If not for the elves, it would be too much for those humans to fight with the Demons. However, they might be able to hold off the monsters tamed by the Demons without dying.”

“In the end, that’s their limit.”

“It’s important not to die.”

The atmosphere of Yo-Ma Great War Zero was very intense among all the other series. The protagonist maintained a dark and stifling mood, and there were a lot of people dying, unlike in the other series. If other series were based on revolution, the Zero series was about war. As a result of winning against the Demons led by the Devil, all living beings in this land experienced a threat to their lineage. Evan remembered all those horrifying scenes, so he was actively teaching them skills and training them.

“Wouldn’t it be a problem if there are too many survivors?”

“That won’t happen, I think…but if so, they will reduce each other’s numbers. They became strong, so after defeating the Demons, won’t they fight amongst themselves?”

“…Are you saying that they don’t want to die by the hands of the Demons, but they are all right with fighting each other to death?”

“I’m telling you beforehand that they won’t be able to afford that much leisure.”

Maybell seemed to be alerted against the creatures’ possibility in God’s Era becoming too strong due to Evan’s power. Still, she realized that it was a useless worry. God’s Era was too much for people to live in a while planning for the future. It was possible in this world that despite how strong the humans and the earth fairies were, they could go extinct with just one mistake.

Like right now.

“Stop!”

“Grrrrgh!”

“Kiya!”

Something suddenly fell from the sky and attacked the humans. Evan detected it first among the groups and activated Annihilation while reaching out his hand, which caught that object before it clashed with the groups. It was a giant spear made from lightning.

“It finally showed itself.”

Evan lifted his head while thanking that he encountered it before entering the dungeon. A giant creature flying in the sky with large wings could be seen.

“D-dragon.”

Mirole was shocked and murmured. Based on her reaction, it seemed that a dragon flying around like that wasn’t a common thing to see even in God’s Era.

“Zero, what should we do? It’s a dragon! One of them can fight against the entire world!”

[Dragon…as expected, a door connected to their world has been opened. Zero, they are monsters that possess the powers of the disciples of the gods who have exceeded the limits of magic with immortal bodies. You shouldn’t lower your guard.]

Even Fayna, the disciple of the Great Mother Earth, was murmuring to herself. Evan knew that she was really scared of the dragons even in the game, so he allowed her to hide behind him. How would the others react when even the god’s disciple acted this way?

“Run!”

“Fools, don’t you know that the safest place is by god’s side!”

“But now…!”

The union of different races realized that half of them would have been instantly obliterated if Evan didn’t stop it, so they started to become chaotic. There was a limit to calming them down with just words in this situation. Evan sighed while clenching his fist; then he drew it closer to his chest. The thunder spear held and stuck in the air was pulled along with his movement, like an arrow in a bow.

“I should go for a one-shot.”

The dragon seemed to be in a panic. The reason why it didn’t attack further but stood still was that…it was trying its best to manipulate the attack earlier, the thunder spear. However, it was surprised not just with the fact that it got stopped midway but also moved beyond its control.

“I guess it’s trying to cast another spell, Master.”

“It will be over by then.”

Replying shortly to Maybell’s whisper, Evan pushed away from the fist he pulled toward his chest. Following his tempo, the lightning spear in the air vanished as it was absorbed into a hole from the outer dimension that appeared out of nowhere. Then, an outer dimension opened up on top of the dragon’s head. The gigantic thunder spear pierced through the entire body of the dragon.

[Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!]

The dragon’s mighty groan was heard throughout the sky and the ground. The people who were panicking all stopped moving as they saw what happened.

“What did God just do?”

“He enlarged the enemy’s attack and ricocheted it.”

“I clearly saw it! It looked as if the sky was filled…!”

“Write it down! As he sent back the thunder which a winged creature dropped, Heaven replied to him and sent down a giant thunder…”

Those who were bewildered and amazed had to sit down at the brightness of the thunder that filled up the world. Some regained their senses and started writing the scriptures…Evan promised to keep an eye on the scripts, and he looked at the sky. Surprisingly, the dragon was still in the air after getting hit by Heaven’s Throw with amplified dragon’s magic.

[Krgggggggggggggggh!]

“It’s quite good. As expected from God’s Era, even the dragons are strong.”

“How humble of him, although he made it half-dead in one shot.”

“Ze-Zero? How did you just do…amplifying enemies’ magic and sending it back, what type of magic is it?”

“Ah, umm…unique skill?”

This was how the Great Ancient Mage was born. Evan gave an excuse to Mirole, whose eyes were wide opened, and they started to think. He had never thought of catching a spell then casting Heaven’s Throw. Because Evan couldn’t use magic.

‘It was just an impromptu…is it possible on magic or whatsoever as long as it’s a projectile? Or is it because it was the dragon’s magic? Or is it because my abilities were enhanced?’

Maybe all of those could be the reason. Evan decided to re-try it with Gnar once he got back to the present.

[I will killllllll yoooooooou!]

“Oh, it also speaks.”

When Evan was wrapping his thoughts around Heaven’s Throw, the dragon decided to charge straight from the sky to the ground while aiming towards Evan. The dragon could just shoot out magic without having to descend, but it might have been shocked by Evan redirecting its magic.

“But descending down as-is would cause us quite some trouble.”

Whew, after taking a deep breath, he stood firmly on the ground with his two legs. Then Evan activated his Annihilation while stretching out both of his arms. The dragon descended fiercely as if it were about to crush the ground, and it got stopped in the air as it collided with an invisible wall. Despite stopping at quite a high altitude, the force of collision spread and swept away the groups. The elves summoned the spirits to protect themselves, but some still were blown away.

[Krggh!]

“Ah.”

The damage suffered by the groups was nothing compared to what the dragon received. Its neck was completely snapped when Evan suddenly grabbed it with Annihilation.

“I want to ask: is it dead?”

“Isn’t it a miracle if it still lives?”

However, a miracle happened at that moment. The dragon, who didn’t seem to be breathing, suddenly repositioned its neck into its original place and then opened both its eyes.

[You…are you…human…! The one who killed me…!]

“Are you dead?”

[It’s a temporary magic…that holds…the spirit…!]

Evan was amazed by it casting quite a high-level spell despite being killed before saying something properly after suddenly appearing. Such a spell wasn’t seen even in the games.

[Dragon, why did you attack us?]

Fayna was dumbfounded by the miracle performed by Evan, but she calmed down and asked him a question. But the dead dragon sneered and replied.

[Do we need permission from gods…in killing mortals…?]

“Master, can I kill this guy?”

“It will disappear, anyway.”

[I’m the advance guard…the power of the world, the center of the Spirit Realm…we will take everything in this Forest…]

[Advance guard? Are there more dragons like you, perhaps? Wait, is it from another world…]

The god’s disciple became shocked at the news about the possibility of dragon hoards, where even just one dragon could break the world’s balance. But she seemed to forget about Evan, who just easily crushed that dragon.

[I died…because of…not knowing…about your existence…!]

The dragon ignored Fayna, who tried to gather information at all costs and showed hostility towards Evan. It was an unreal sight where the dragon floated 50 meters above the ground while letting out a strange voice.

[To my brethren, all knowledge was shared…! They won’t…let their guards down now…!]

“As expected, they seemed to have such skills.”

In Yo-Ma Great War Zero, the dragons from another world had a trait like Saint Seiya, where they didn’t allow the same attack to damage them.

“Though I’m not sure if you guys can block my attack after analyzing it.”

[…]

The dragon didn’t seem to be certain on that part, and it remained silent. But it regained its energy and made a declaration.

[Death…will come upon this land. The dragons will be remembered…!]

That was the end. It tried to activate explosive magic onto its body when it died. Still, since Evan was holding its entire body, he could also control its mana. At the last moment, it knew what was happening and died with its eyes wide open. It may have realized too late that it couldn’t defeat Evan.

[Zero, that dragon spoke strange things.]

Fayna spoke quietly next to Evan as he lowered the dragon to retrieve its corpse.

[I thought the dragons scattered in this world were up to something but based on what that dragon said…]

“It may be dragons from the other worlds.”

[As expected…!]

Chaos started in that way even in the original game. A sight where the dragon from the other world and from Middle Earth clashed could be often seen. But then, it didn’t mean the dragons in Middle Earth were all good ones. They also wanted to conquer the World Tree. Yet, they didn’t acknowledge the dragons from the other world.

“As the dragons from the other world have made their appearances, the dragons from Middle Earth will start to make their move.”

“Mother…”

Mirole sounded worried as she looked in the direction where the World Tree was. On the other hand, the allied force of the different races stood still while staring dumbfoundedly as they gave up on understanding a serious event that just took place in front of them.

“Here, did everyone hear that? The dragons are coming. There’s no time to space out!”

“Dragons will be too much even if we grow stronger really fast…”

“But we will die at god’s hands if we don’t.”

“Yeah, you just saw how god killed the dragon…”

“Shush, everyone, silence!”

The morale of the allied force hit rock-bottom on the day of their first battle. Still, the dungeon conquest, which was initially planned, went smoothly without any problems.

…Evan felt a little bit scared by how well they behaved.