Chapter 215: Bring Some Popcorn, Jinseo (5) Caw, caw.
As the sun rose over the horizon to the sound of seagulls, the final battle between the dragon subjugation force and the Dark Dragon Evelyn entered its sixth day.
"So only one day left now?"
"I never thought this much time would fly by when all we've done is keep fighting and eating. Still, on the first day of the offensive, I really doubted it was possible to bring that dragon down… but even a dragon gets wounded if you keep attacking. It's amazing. A lot of her scales have shattered, and her skin is torn open enough that blood's running down."
"Anyway, let's go another round today. Judging by her condition, if we're lucky, we might be able to seal her within the day."
Munch, munch.
Gulp, gulp.
Holding freshly made, still-warm Street Toast in one hand and milk cartons chosen to suit their individual tastes in the other, the soldiers maintained formation as they advanced toward the Dark Dragon Evelyn.
"So they really held off the Dark Dragon with just ten people?"
"I'd heard vampires were strong, but this is incredible. So the legends we've been hearing all this time weren't fiction after all..."
The soldiers stared in admiration at the backs of the ten vampires standing before the dragon.
"The darkness disappeared before we knew it."
Beryllus, the Elven Vampire who had fought Evelyn all through the night, smiled as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his fingertip.
"To think I would get to drink the blood of a Supreme Being… it truly pays to live long."
"I've drunk the blood of every sort of race, but that was truly exceptional. It was an unimaginably sweet, intoxicating experience."
"When I first heard the story that we'd be fighting a Supreme Being, I thought it was nonsense, but I'm really glad I listened to you and came."
The other vampires also wore satisfied smiles as they looked up at the Dark Dragon Evelyn.
From the previous night until the next morning, the ones who had faced the Dark Dragon Evelyn were only ten people.
However, all ten of them were vampires, and with Dragon's Blessing upon them, they were in no way inadequate to face her.
On top of that, for vampires, a race that loved darkness more than light, the dark of night was the ideal time for them to bring out their power.
The ten vampires, including Beryllus, freely sucked the blood flowing from the wounds covering Evelyn's body.
At the same time, they turned into dozens of bats and scattered to evade Evelyn's attacks, playing a major role in draining her strength even faster.
"I can understand why Lady Evelyn, who governs darkness, would sink into it, especially while she is still young..."
Beryllus spoke in a tone that suggested he understood Evelyn's attitude, unable even now to let go of her hostility toward lesser creatures, as he remembered the mistakes of his own youth.
"However, if you intend to destroy the world, we cannot simply stand by and watch. We want to get along comfortably with all the other races and live in peace."
He placed his right hand over his stomach, bent at the waist, and gave the Dark Dragon Evelyn a polite bow.
"Then we shall leave the rest to the other races and withdraw for now. We will see you again tonight. Ah, I nearly forgot to say this. It was truly an honor to taste the blood bestowed by a Supreme Being."
"I… never gave it."
When the Dark Dragon Evelyn frowned deeply, drops of black blood fell from her face one after another, staining the ground black.
"And… I understand now."
Boom!
She raised one foreleg high and slammed it straight down onto the soldiers who were still eating.
"My toast! No!"
"Aaagh! I only got one bite!"
Pinned beneath the Dark Dragon Evelyn's foreleg, the soldiers let out aggrieved screams at her sudden sneak attack.
"You people… need to eat a lot?"
If a living being failed to properly take in nutrients, then of course it could not use its strength properly.
That was the natural order, which meant that even in a battle waged over the survival of the world, they still had to eat every meal on time, and in the midst of intense combat, they inevitably had to eat more than usual.
But even taking that into account, the forces fighting her were unusually obsessed with food.
More than ten times a day, they repeatedly hurried out of battle to eat and then jumped back onto the battlefield, and even that was not enough for them, since they were pulling out snacks and eating even during the fight.
Having watched that for six days, the Dark Dragon Evelyn reached a conclusion.
"So then… I just have to stop you from eating."
If she wanted to escape the corner she had been driven into, then she had to annihilate the food truck and the hundred-plus bunsik carts, the root cause supplying food to the troops who would not die and kept charging at her.
"So you finally noticed."
Charlotte, who had been lying on a sunbed enjoying the sea breeze, took off her straw hat and rose to her feet.
"But it's too late. Thanks to how much better those lesser creatures fought than I expected, we can seal you again without even needing to fill out the full week."
She rubbed her shoulder and slowly rolled her neck in a clockwise circle.
"So it should be fine if I deliver the finishing blow myself, right? I'll just give you one light flick on the forehead."
Flaaash.
A massive magic circle formed around her, and light surged up from the ground.
"But if I burn through my mana all at once right now, it feels like the sealing period will get shorter, which is a bit annoying. One hundred years… no, would it be reduced by two hundred? Is there any lesser creature here willing to land that final blow on my niece instead of me? If there is, answer me!"
Charlotte shouted with mana in her voice so the entire force could hear, but no answer came back.
The soldiers were too busy desperately trying to stop the Dark Dragon Evelyn from charging at the food truck, and the mages were overwhelmed maintaining magical barriers to protect the food truck and the bunsik carts.
"Ehh, can't be helped. Eight hundred years is still long enough, so I guess I'll settle for that. Not everything can go exactly according to plan."
Grumbling, Charlotte raised her right hand high to cast the spell.
At that exact moment—
Something came flying from far away at incredible speed, tearing through the darkness the Dark Dragon Evelyn had spread everywhere.
"Jinseo! Look at that!"
"Huh? Th-that's… a meteor?"
Seeing the meteor-summoning magic he had only ever seen in movies or comics, Jinseo's mouth fell open.
KWAANG!
The instant the meteor struck the Dark Dragon Evelyn on the head, an intense light spread in every direction and the explosive impact shook the earth.
Boom!
The Dark Dragon Evelyn staggered after taking the meteor head-on to the head, then collapsed sideways.
At the same time, shattered meteor fragments scattered everywhere and rained down to the ground, but the dragon subjugation force, protected by Dragon's Blessing, remained entirely unharmed.
"She… she fell?"
"She's not going to get right back up again, is she?"
Even after confirming that the Dark Dragon Evelyn had collapsed limply, the soldiers still could not relax and prodded at her fallen body with the weapons they were holding.
"Grrgh..."
The soldiers stood there blankly for a moment after confirming that the Dark Dragon Evelyn could do no more than groan and could not rise again, then they looked at one another and began to laugh.
"W-we won?"
"She's down! The Dark Dragon Evelyn really went down!"
"We won! We really won!"
"Waaaaah!"
They began jumping around wildly, shouting with joy.
Watching the soldiers throw their weapons high above their heads and embrace one another in celebration, the mages released the magical barriers they had been maintaining and let out sighs of relief.
"We really won… we did it..."
"When she started aiming for the food truck, I really thought we were in serious trouble. Thank goodness."
"To think Lady Charlotte had prepared such a powerful spell! As expected of Lady Charlotte!"
Even so, they did not forget to praise Charlotte's meteor-summoning magic for delivering the decisive blow.
Yet Charlotte did not rejoice, and instead tilted her head while glancing around.
"That wasn't my magic."
"What?"
"Th-then who in the world pulled off magic that powerful?"
"Let's see… looks like it was that mage over there. Anyway, it wasn't me. And I was really only planning to hit her hard enough for it to feel like a flick on the forehead. In what world does that look like a forehead flick? That's stoning. Ugh, even I think that would hurt if I got hit by it."
Charlotte rubbed her own head with her left hand, then pointed with her right toward someone standing behind the food truck.
"Huff, huff..."
The unidentified mage, his face hidden beneath a hood, was breathing roughly as he dropped to one knee.
At once, the other mages swarmed around him.
"Who is he? I don't know which kingdom he's from, but if he was skilled enough to perform Meteor-Summoning Magic alone, there's no way we wouldn't know him."
"He seems to be a distinguished mage… who are you?"
Pushing his way through the other mages, Painfolt approached the person responsible for completing the Meteor-Summoning Magic alone.
"Brother..."
"What?"
When the unidentified mage pushed back the hood covering his head, Painfolt's eyes widened instantly.
"It's me. Me..."
"Rainfolt...?"
His twin younger brother, Rainfolt, who had been said to have died after failing to carry out a mysterious magic together with twenty grand mages.
Like everyone else, his elder brother Painfolt had believed that his twin had passed on from this world.
However, after the conflict with his only granddaughter, he had set out on a long journey in place of her and begun traveling across the continent of the other races, searching for the whereabouts of his twin younger brother.
He met other races who had known his brother and followed the traces Rainfolt had left behind, waiting eagerly for the day they would meet again.
Then, from his granddaughter after she returned from Korea, he learned where his brother was.
However, after hearing his brother's answer that he could not return because of his guilt toward the companions who had died before him, he had felt regret but respected his brother's decision.
While praying that one day his brother's heart would change.
"It's really you… my brother, Rainfolt?"
Painfolt's voice trembled violently as he looked at his younger brother, who had appeared far more aged than he had ever imagined.
"That's right..."
"You've… grown old."
The twins, reunited after more than ten years, embraced each other and began to cry.
"M-master?"
Julien, who had only just pushed his way through the other mages, trembled when he saw his master, who had the exact same face as Painfolt but had aged more from the suffering in his heart.
"You've grown so much..."
Rainfolt reached out his hand toward his disciple, who had changed from a boy into a young man.
At once, Julien lowered himself and took Rainfolt's hand, guiding it onto the top of his own head.
So that the master he had met again after more than ten years could rest his hand there.
"I heard everything. Because of your worthless master, a clever child like you went through a great deal."
"N-no, absolutely not! Thanks to you, Master, I was able to come this far."
"Thank you..."
Painfolt and Rainfolt, the two brothers, together with Julien, clung to one another and could not hold back their tears.
"Ah, so that mage was Rainfolt. He really is more skilled than his brother, just like I heard. Looks like that family's issue is resolved now… so I should finish dealing with the issue in our family too."
While everyone's attention was drawn to the brothers' sudden reunion, Charlotte strode toward her niece, who was sitting on the ground with both legs together.
With both her stamina and mana nearly depleted, Evelyn could no longer maintain her original form and had reverted to the same human girl form she had worn when she was sealed.
"Evelyn, have you come to your senses yet?"
"Urgh..."
"Judging by your eyes, not yet. Then again, you always were far too stubborn."
Pssht.
Charlotte opened a can of cola, took a gulp, and then handed it to Evelyn.
"Drink."
Gulp, gulp.
The eyes of Evelyn, who was encountering cola for the first time, snapped wide open.
"This is..."
"Your first time, right?"
At Charlotte's words, Evelyn obediently nodded.
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