Chapter 37: At a Complete Loss

A massive torrent of Mana surged across several mountain peaks, slowly dispersing. Yet that head still floated in the air, a few wisps of white smoke rising from its face due to the intense heat.

Completely unscathed.

“As expected… magic attacks don’t work on it.”

Sophien, in her dragon form, stared at that head, her heart filled with wariness.

‘Can I only use physical attacks like Miss Maid? But even Viscount can’t hurt him…’

Before she could think further, countless tentacles sprouted from the neck of that head. They kept merging and intertwining, quickly forming a grotesquely twisted body.

The next instant, the thing vanished from Sophien’s sight.

Then Sophien felt a tremendous force strike her body, sending her flying backward at an extreme speed.

With a deafening crash, the ground was smashed into a crater nearly a kilometer wide.

“Damn it, what kind of monster is this?”

Blood continuously gushed from Sophien’s abdomen where she had been hit. She struggled to her feet; her rich combat experience told her she had to get away from this spot as quickly as possible.

Just as she flapped her wings to flee, another massive explosion rang out from the pit.

‘If this keeps up, even if this form can hold out for now, once the thirty-minute time limit is up, it’ll be game over for me…’

She concentrated mana, and the wound on her abdomen healed instantly.

‘Lord Mann… still hasn’t returned?’

She had to admit, against this monster that was immune to magic damage and had maxed-out mobility and attack power, she was at a complete loss. But if Mann could assist her, making up for the mobility gap, then there was a chance to severely wound it with physical attacks.

At least, that was the ideal scenario.

As she was thinking, the head in the pit attacked again.

It was so fast that even before Sophien could react, one of the wings on her back was torn clean off.

After a pained roar, Sophien began falling toward the ground.

“Damn! It’s gotten faster!”

She suddenly realized a terrifying fact: this monster hadn’t even reached its peak state, and it was growing stronger at an exponential rate.

She couldn’t even sense its intentions—it was like a newborn child, acting purely on instinct.

‘How much stronger will it get…’

She quickly repaired the damage to her body and flew backward without hesitation, choosing to put distance between herself and this bizarre thing.

This time, however, the head didn’t pursue her. Instead, it took the massive wing, and its body transformed into a huge maw.

The next moment, countless sprays of blood burst out, instantly staining its whole body red.

“…It ate the wing?!”

The bloody scene made Sophien gasp. The monster’s aura began to swell ominously.

‘I don’t know what’s happening, but there must be a reason for this sudden behavior. No, I have to stop it!’

Now was also a chance to attack!

She immediately unleashed a violent torrent of Mana at the enemy, using the Mana as cover to charge straight at the monster.

But just as Sophien was about to land a hit, an even more explosive Mana current surged toward her.

“What?…”

Before she could even react, her body was swallowed by the Mana current and sent flying backward.

When she finally stopped, the pure white scales on her front had been torn off in large patches, revealing bright red flesh beneath.

After barely managing to get up, her body began rapidly repairing itself.

But in front of her, the enemy had grown a huge wing on its back, covered in densely packed rolling eyeballs that made one physically nauseous.

Its form was slowly changing, becoming the shape of a pitch-black dragon, with the original head embedded into its chest.

It had grown even stronger.

“Is this… what a demon looks like?”

Even Mann, who had just returned, was stunned by the sight.

“Sophien, how are you? Can you hold on?”

She kept her eyes fixed on the enemy in front of her, not daring to be distracted for even a moment.

“Barely… but I can’t say the same in a little while.”

Mann knew exactly what she meant. In the original novel, this form had a time limit.

“We need to hurry…”

Sophien grabbed Mann in her hand. The next instant, her form shot forward like a black arrow, leaving afterimages in her wake at such speed.

“Retrospection.”

A deafening roar accompanied by flying sand and rocks spread outward. When the dust cleared, only the monster was seen at the center of a massive crater.

“Phew… that was a close call!”

If Mann hadn’t reacted in time, that attack landing solidly would have likely ended the fight.

Sophien placed Mann on top of her head.

“What do we do next?”

“Just focus on attacking.”

Mann said calmly.

“If I’m not mistaken, it should have the same property as the tentacles—Mana interference, right?”

“Not just that. This thing is immune to magic attacks entirely.”

“I see…”

Mann didn’t say much more. With a gentle Mana fluctuation, Sophien’s hands were covered in the Divine Light that Mann had used.

Even her mental pressure lessened considerably.

“What’s this?”

“Get ready! It’s coming again!”

As he spoke, Sophien’s form vanished from the spot, and the monster lunged at nothing.

Almost instantly, Sophien appeared behind the monster. She grabbed onto that eye-covered wing with all her might and tore.

Countless streams of pitch-black blood spurted out. The disgusting wing snapped off with a sound, and the monster let out a pained roar.

“Now! Don’t let it recover!”

Of course, Sophien thought the same.

Taking advantage of the monster’s pain, she launched a storm of attacks.

Soon, the dragon-like black body was torn to shreds.

In the end, only the head remained, staring straight at the two of them.

Its gaze gradually turned fierce, and an ominous fluctuation grew stronger.

Just as Sophien’s next attack was about to land, her form suddenly shifted to another location.

The next moment, countless sharp spikes burst out from where the head had been.

Instantly, a series of deafening explosions rang out.

After a long while, the head’s attack finally subsided.

The surrounding terrain had been completely changed, with the ground riddled with holes.

But no matter how it searched, it couldn’t find any trace of Sophien or Mann.

Until it heard a sound of breaking wind approaching. It looked up, but it was already too late.

Sophien’s claw, condensed with Divine Light, slashed down at extreme speed from above its head.

This time, she finally succeeded in splitting it in two.

But…

The expressions on the two halves of the head kept changing.

One half was ferocious and angry, the other dejected and pained.

They kept writhing around each other. In the sky, the dark clouds grew thicker, and dark purple lightning struck more frequently.

The terrifying oppressive aura gradually transformed into a murderous intent aimed at the two.

In the blink of an eye, the two halves merged back together. Its crimson pupils turned pitch black as it glared at them with rage.

“Even after that… still no use?”

“Not only no use, it even got stronger…”

Mann stared at the enemy before him, his expression growing more serious.

“Sophien, how much longer can you maintain your Dragon Transformation?”

“Five minutes.”

“At this point, we can only try Rewind…”

This skill required all of his Mana as a cost to activate. This might be their last chance.

“Sophien… create an opening for me…”

“Are you sure about this?”

“I… don’t know.”

As they spoke, the head was already upon them. This time, even Mann barely reacted in time.

If they kept stalling, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Both of them were acutely aware of this now.

Sophien immediately gathered a massive amount of Mana and launched it at the head. At almost the same time, Mann used Jump, and the two instantly appeared on the other side of the head.

But as they got close, they suddenly realized it was just a phantom left behind by its incredible speed.

“Above, Sophien!”

With a fierce roar, Sophien struck upward violently.

The next instant, a massive shockwave spread in all directions.

However, Sophien could only hold out for a moment before being knocked down to the ground.

In the huge crater, her body slowly began to shrink back to its original form as she lay helplessly on the ground.

“Lord Mann… it’s up to you…”

Up in the air, Mann stood on top of that head.

He slammed his palm onto the head, and his Mana began draining away at an extreme speed.

“Rewind!”