SKREEEEEEEEONGK!!!
The roar hit them with zero warning. It wasn't just loud; it was a physical wall of force.
Frieren squeezed her eyes shut, a sharp spike of agony piercing her eardrums. But her focus did not break. She pushed through the pain, forcing her mana to flow.
Above the roaring beast, the colossal boulders of solid ice finished forming. Gravity took hold.
CRASH! BOOM!
The ice meteors plummeted, slamming into the Blazing Black Dragon's back with the weight of falling mountains. The sheer kinetic energy drove the massive beast straight into the stone floor, completely pulverizing the earthen pillars that had held it in place.
The dragon vanished beneath a mountain of shattered ice and billowing white mist.
The impact triggered a violent earthquake. The dark stone platform shook violently, but the foundation held firm. Frieren's precise control had ensured her attack damaged the target without destroying their only foothold above the magma.
As the tremors faded, Frieren slowly drifted down to the ground. She pressed a hand to her ear, wincing. When she pulled it away, her pale fingers were stained with blood.
Fern was at her side instantly, her face pale with worry.
"Lady Frieren! Your ears...!"
"..."
"Lady Frieren?" Fern asked again, stepping closer.
Frieren looked at her apprentice, her brow furrowing slightly. "Ah, Fern. You're here." She tapped the side of her head. "Did you say something? I'm sorry, my ears are ringing. I can't really hear you right now."
Around them, the tension in the air began to dissolve. The other mages lowered their staffs, staring at the massive pile of ice embedded in the crater. The terrifying aura of the dragon had vanished.
"Is it... is it over?" a young mage breathed.
"I think we actually got it," another cheered weakly.
It was an impressive feat. Frieren's magic was truly on a different level.
The violent blizzard had faded, but the aftermath lingered. The scorching, volcanic heat of the arena had been completely snuffed out, replaced by a biting, bitter cold. Frost began to creep across the dark stone, and the sluggish rivers of magma at the edges of the platform were rapidly turning to black glass.
"Speaking of which," an older mage muttered, rubbing his arms. "Is it just me, or is it getting really cold in here?"
"You're right," another agreed, shivering. "The temperature is dropping fast."
Denken, the veteran Imperial Mage, stroked his long beard and walked over to Frieren and Fern. He intended to ask the elf to dispel the lingering effects of her ice magic before they all froze to death.
But as he opened his mouth, Frieren's eyes widened in sudden horror.
"This temperature... it's wrong! It isn't stopping!" She grabbed Fern's shoulder, her voice rising in panic.
"Tell everyone to get back! Right now!"
"What?!" Denken gasped.
Crack.
A sharp, brittle sound echoed through the freezing air.
Crack. CRACK.
Spiderwebs of fractures raced across the massive mountain of ice.
SKREEEEEEEEONGK!!!
The familiar, metallic shriek tore through the arena once more. The mountain of ice detonated from the inside out, sending massive, jagged shards flying in every direction like shrapnel.
A colossal shadow erupted from the crater, shooting high into the air.
"Shields up!" Denken roared.
The mages instantly deployed their defensive barriers, bracing against the explosive shockwave. A few who had been standing too close were caught off guard and blown backward toward the magma. Thankfully, the others reacted quickly, shooting out tethers of mana to catch their falling comrades before they plunged into the molten rock.
The black dragon hovered in the sky, its crimson eyes glaring down at them.
But it had changed.
It was no longer radiating the blistering heat of a volcano. Instead, pure, absolute zero cold rolled off its scales. A thick, icy mist spilled from its jaws instead of embers.
The shallow dents on its scales proved Frieren's attack had hurt it, but the unmasked, murderous intent in its eyes proved something else. The beast had stopped treating them like annoying insects. It now viewed them as prey.
A freezing gale swept across the platform, dropping the temperature even further.
Alatreon had returned to the battlefield, reborn in ice.
…
SKREEEEEEEEONGK!!!
The dragon didn't give them a moment to breathe. It let out another deafening battle cry and immediately folded its wings, entering a terrifying, high-speed dive bomb aimed directly at Frieren.
But this time, the mages were ready.
Dozens of staffs glowed simultaneously as the mages cast [Sound Nullification]. A dome of silence enveloped the group, perfectly filtering out the dragon's eardrum-shattering roar and saving them from a second wave of sonic trauma.
Frieren looked up. The moment she met the dragon's crimson gaze, she knew she had drawn its complete aggro.
I knew it, Frieren thought, her mind racing. Stell's exams are never this simple.
Facing a beast the size of a building hurtling toward her, Frieren didn't panic. She cast her flight magic, launching herself off the ground and soaring backward at top speed.
She needed to kite the monster away from the group. If it crashed into the clustered mages, half of them would die instantly. By acting as bait, she could create an opening for the others to attack.
A split second after she moved, Alatreon slammed into the spot where she had been standing, tearing a massive trench into the stone.
While flying backward, Frieren spun around and aimed her staff at the pursuing dragon.
"Lightning of Ruin."
A massive, complex magic circle flared at the tip of her staff. A blinding torrent of purple lightning erupted, striking the dragon square in the chest. The thunder cracked, but the spell seemed to wash over the beast's dark scales, doing little more than scorching the frost.
In response, Alatreon prepared a counterattack.
The colossal, backward-sweeping horns on its head suddenly sparked with intense, blue electricity. It was gathering a massive charge of lightning, preparing to unleash it at the flying elf.
Seeing the danger, the mages below didn't just watch.
"Interrupt it! Aim for the horns!"
Beams of concentrated mana, fireballs, and wind blades shot up from the ground, striking the dragon's head. But the magic simply bounced off the beast's incredibly tough hide. It ignored the magical mosquito bites, its eyes locked firmly on Frieren.
But amidst the barrage of spells, one mage tried a different approach.
Using earth magic, someone ripped a massive chunk of the arena's floor, a boulder the size of a wagon, and hurled it into the air with tremendous force.
Unlike the pure magical energy, this was a heavy, physical projectile.
SMASH!
The massive boulder slammed hard into the side of the dragon's head. The sheer kinetic impact jarred the beast, forcing its head to violently snap to the side.
Because its aim was thrown off, the torrent of blue lightning it unleashed missed Frieren entirely, blasting a massive, scorched crater into the distant volcanic wall instead.
Frieren seized the brief window to change her trajectory, flying higher to avoid the falling debris.
Her mind, ancient and calculating, was putting the pieces together.
First it breathed fire. Then it summoned a blizzard and changed its body temperature to absolute zero. And now... it's controlling lightning?
….
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