As we walk through the pathway of charred trees, I turn around and ask her again.

"Are you sure you really didn't feel anything?"

"No...

Nothing at all..."

...

It couldn't have just been my imagination.

...right?

I tried showing her the quest pointer.

But she didn't see, hear nor feel it.

Even if it's smaller, it's much closer...

She should be able to feel something...

...

Eventually, we arrive at a spot, where the charred path ends.

As always, I signal Aicyna to stop and turn around to look through the straight charred path.

Following that, I bite my finger and create the blood pattern behind me while accumulating mana in my tail.

Still looking straight through the path we just walked, I unleash a spell directly behind me.

[Hell glare]

After the deafening roar passed, I looked at Aicyna, who stood a little further away.

But even though she was nowhere near, her face was full of sweat drops.

Is the heat too much for her?

We then continued on our way.

It was a really peaceful journey...

No monsters or animals ever came to my sight.

I guess that's a good thing...

But I'm eventually going to run out of food I have stored up.

|= Many days of traveling later =|

Type: Location

Name: Dragon's jaw

Fauna: Various kinds of dragons and drakes

Flora: A small amount of silver grass and Sausa mushrooms

Hmm, what a name...

I probably went through this place though...

I just can't remember it.

After many days of walking, we were finally out of the forest.

I expected running out of food, but I had more in storage than I thought.

The thing that actually kind of slowed us down, was Aicyna.

She was not used to walking this much.

Since it couldn't be helped, I carried her with my tail most of the time.

But now, we have to climb mountains...

I guess my tail will have to endure for a little longer.

Since I know she isn't good with sudden movements, I didn't jump up right away.

Instead, I steadily climbed the first rocky hill I found and went from there.

Because of my slow pace, it took quite a while before I could get a good view of the mountain range.

But as soon as I did, I noticed something move behind a rock a little further away.

And right after that, a loud roar was produced from that direction.

"Ugh...what is that?!"

Aicyna voiced her displeasure.

And I agree with her.

What a loud and annoying screech...

...but what is the point of hiding if it was going to reveal its location like this?

With a single hand, I gather dark mana and then throw a spell at that rock.

It hits and explodes, revealing some winged lizard buried under debris.

I was about to examine it when suddenly, I felt the earth move.

Right under my feet, the seemingly stable rocks started to tremble.

Reacting to that, I jumped down the mountains back toward the forest.

"Uaaah!"

After landing, I put Aicyna on the ground and watch the mountains as they split apart.

From their middle, something gigantic starts pushing its way up from the ground.

"W-what the hell?!"

In just a moment, its identity was known.

It was a head of a dragon.

Type: Monster

Name: Draio origin

Gender: Male

Race: Tsunami dragon (titan)

Status: Furious

Level: 2265

Health: 152354/152354

Mana: 272451/272451

Examining it gave me a sense of deja vu...

Did I fight it in the past?

It's possible.

The head then slowly turned toward us and opened its mouth.

"Get back!"

I could see what it was going to do, so I yelled at Aicyna to take cover.

Then, while she was trying to get out of the way, I started gathering mana in my tail.

The giant dragon's mouth started to overflow with mana and soon, a wave of destruction was released toward me.

I unleashed a dark spell of my own to counteract his.

...however, I have underestimated my foe's power output.

My spell was blown away and the blue watery breath hit me as I tried to guard with my tail at last second.

I was launched deep into the forest before I finally managed to stop.

After that, I got up and looked at my enemy.

Besides the head, its claws started to poke out of the ground.

And soon, its mountain-sized wings spread out.

...I could feel this wasn't going to be an easy endeavor.

I reached into my storage and pulled out my sword.

It's been a while since I needed it, hasn't it?

Brandishing my weapon, I started amassing mana.

Then, I jumped back toward the mountain range.

The dragon, however, was already prepared for another round.

From his mouth, another surge of water mana poured out toward me.

In response to that, I grabbed the sword with both of my hands and pulled it backward.

Following that, I stabbed the air with it.

[Phantom annihilation]

Right down the middle of the stream of mana, a hole appeared.

The mana around the hole splashed all over and barely any of it hit me.

The dragon, on the other hand now had a hole in his right wing.

That enraged him and he let out a roar, which caused the entire mountain range to shake.

After that, his claws stomped down and his wings flapped.

And with just that, his entire body shot out of the ground up into the air.

The winds produced by that blew me away and made my body meet the side of a mountain.

And then, when I looked up toward my flying opponent, my eyes met with his.

Type: Monster

Name: Draio origin

Gender: Male

Race: Tsunami dragon (titan)

Status: Serious

Level: 2265

Health: 152354/152354

Mana: 235845/272451

Wait.

Full health?

Didn't I hit his wing?

I don't see that hole anywhere...

Can he somehow heal?

...

This might be a little harder than I thought.

The dragon then spread his wings wide and released mana all around him.

That created a giant cloud attached to him and heavy rain started pouring down on me.

But I soon discovered it wasn't a regular rain.

As soon as I started preparing a spell for another attack, it fell apart.

It was somehow washing off any mana I tried to gather.

Damn!

What the heck?!

While I was shocked by this, the dragon's jaws parted and mana started accumulating between them.

Since I couldn't counterattack, I knew this spelled trouble.

So the first thing I tried to do, was jump to the side away from the rain.

...but it was of no use.

The rain followed me like it was attached to me.

After realizing that, I stopped running and tried to intercept the incoming attack instead.

Another wave of water mana was released from the dragon's mouth and hit me head on.

Even if I tried to materialize some fire mana to defend myself, it barely had any effect.

I was buried into the mountain by the dragon's breath and I received wounds all over my body.

Ugh...

Status screen: open.

Name: Reiza

Gender: Female

Race: Cataclysmic wolfman (prodigy)

Status: Anxious

Level: 5000

Health: 45153/138105

Mana: 857564/1137823

Vitality: 913

Strength: 1144

Intelligence: 11044

Stamina: 1281

Speed: 1803

...this...is not good at all.

What do I do?

Despite the pain, I got up and looked at my enemy again.

But he wasn't so nice as to wait for me.

He was already preparing another one of his breaths.

...it's do or die.

Looks like I will be using some mana.

I just have to overpower both the rain and his breath.

I really didn't think emptying my mana reserves would ever be necessary...

But here I go.

And then, without thinking of the consequences, I started releasing dark mana from my body.

My tail, my arms, all parts of my body.

The rain was quickly washing it off.

But I could create it even quicker.

I could make it overflow.

A dark cloud, so dense even I couldn't see through it, formed all around me.

And then, I focused most of it into one spot and shot it toward the dragon.

...but the result was underwhelming.

When the dragon showered me with another blast of water, all it did was nullify his attack without doing any damage to him.

Mana: 127652/1137826

This was a bad approach...

Brute force won't work...

But what should I do then?

As I was standing in the rain, thinking about what to do, I braced myself for another attack.

But the dragon didn't start preparing another breath.

Instead, he flapped his wings one more time before lunging right at me.

In response to that, I readied my sword.

Just as his huge claw struck the mountain I was standing on, I propelled myself into the dragon's shade.

Fortunately, the rained seemed to be much milder right under him.

That allowed me to put together enough mana to cast a meaningful spell.

[Phantom annihilation]

With the familiar screeching sound, a large cut appeared across the dragon's entire stomach.

And with that, the dragon's body was pushed upward as he roared.

The rain was visibly thinning out.

But right away, I noticed the cut was getting smaller.

And so, to not waste any time, I poured more mana into my sword.

[Phantom annihilation]

I tried to aim this one at the exactly same place as the first.

Although I was off by a bit, it produced an even deeper hole in its stomach.

And I didn't stop there.

With the remaining bits of mana I had, I did it one more time.

[Phantom annihilation]

This last one tore through his flesh in the same place as the second one.

And with that, I finally saw it.

Light.

Beams of light splitting the shade I was standing in.

The huge dragon's body was cut in half.

Mana: 243/1137827

I fell on my knees out of exhaustion.

But I knew it wasn't safe yet.

The dragon's corpse was soon going to fall and crush me underneath it.

But the body was too big to run outside of the zone where it would land.

So what I had to do, was to be at the place where that cut was.

I tried to frantically find the right spot as the huge entity came crashing down.

All I did, was follow the spot of light in that shade.

But even if I was in that spot, the corpse eventually crashed down and...

...

...

...

|= ??? =|

I open my eyes.

...

I'm lying on the ground surrounded by fleshy walls...

Health: 3842/138105

Mana: 42348/1137826

I survived it...

But that was close...

...

I kept lying down as I squinted my eyes and started thinking about something.

...

Why was he so strong?

He wasn't even half my level.

And his mana was way lower than mine...

...

This is so pointless.

Do levels mean nothing?

What is even the point of levels?

...sigh.

I crawled up and started healing myself.

...and then I remembered something.

...Aicyna!

With that thought, I got out of the dragon's corpse and stood on it while looking around.

I looked at the spot where I last saw her...only to see a crater and a series of knocked over trees.

"Aicyna!"

I just stood there as my voice echoed through the rocky debris.

But there was no response.

"Aicyna! Where are you?!"

I started looking around all over the place.

Found nobody.

I tried to smell her out with my nose.

But all I could smell was dragon's blood and intestines.

Then, I tried to close my eyes and carefully sense mana around me.

...and found a few presences.

None of them matched Aicyna's, but I leaped in their direction anyway.

And after looking behind a rock, I found them.

It was a strangely familiar group of lizardmen.

Their gazes got redirected at me and our eyes met.

...and then they started trembling.

Bonus:

"..."

...

"..."

Hey, I thought you would comment on what happened.

Some nonsense, like being proud of her for defeating that dragon or something like that.

Or maybe saying something about Aicyna.

"I have no such leisure right now..."

...what's wrong?

Why are YOU of all people acting seriously?

"...

An uninvited guest has entered this world."

She sure did...

But surely that alone wouldn't make you turn all serious?

"No, this is very serious...

This world is 'locked'.

Only souls should be able to enter and exit it."

'Locked'?

Then what about summoned heroes?

"A temporary hole is opened for those...

But that's not important right now!

Not even gods should be able to enter here!"

Even gods...?

I thought gods can break world laws?

"Yes, laws that apply to a single world.

At that level, it's not a problem.

But there are higher laws even gods shouldn't be able to break..."

Hmm...

So you are saying she is something more than 'just a god'?

...I can't believe I just said that.

"I have no idea what she is.

From what I have seen through these two, she is a god with a measly divinity sprout compared to my full bloom...

But she might be hiding what she really is...

And she is looking for me.

That can't be good..."

...

It's weird to see you nervous.