Ancient Dragon Eruhaben stopped moving for a moment because he was feeling both joy and disbelief.

The Lion Dragon pointed its shield and sharp eagle-like talons toward Eruhaben with no visible expression on its face. The claw behind the shield looked ready to twist Eruhaben’s neck off at any moment.

“Ho, hoho-”

Eruhaben didn’t care as he laughed in disbelief.

‘He wants me, while fighting in my true form, to act dead?’

It was more unbelievable the more he thought about it.

Eruhaben was not the only one feeling that way.

“…I’m going to go crazy. Hehe.”

A quiet mumbling and laughter flew out of the helmet.

Rosalyn and Choi Han made eye contact with each other while turning to look at Alberu, who was laughing with his head down. Rosalyn brushed back her messy hair as she spoke.

“What should we do?”

Choi Han responded without any hesitation.

“I’m sure Cale-nim has his reasons for all of this.”

Rosalyn was thinking the same thing. The two of them looked back at Alberu after confirming that they were both feeling the same way. At that moment…

“Kekeke-”

The place where the three people were currently standing on…

The armored black Bone Dragon’s large body was moving up and down. An oddly joyful Dragon half-blood’s voice could be heard.

“Yes, it should be like this. This is the Cale Henituse I know.”

Nobody could say anything against that.

Alberu finally raised his head and looked toward the City Hall.

“As expected of my dongsaeng.”

He continued to look at where Cale should be right now as he spoke to the others.

“Based on how Raon-nim’s voice is extremely bright, Cale Henituse should have woken up completely.”

Not only was Cale completely woken up, but his mind was also moving faster than it had ever moved before.

‘…He truly is a fearless teacher.’

Mila was observing the cracks on Cale’s body fuse together but couldn’t help but look at the clearheaded Cale in disbelief.

“Teacher, we are going to reach the final stage of Connect Together in a little bit. It’s going to hurt a bit at that point.”

“Okay, thank you for letting me know.”

‘I can deal with a little bit of pain.’

Cale brushed Mila’s words aside. Unfortunately, Cale and Raon did not know Mila very well. If Dodori was here, he would be saying, no, he would be shouting, ‘The ‘little bit’ my mom is talking about is enough pain to pierce a hole through a mountain!’

Cale was thinking through things one by one without knowing what kind of pain he would experience in the final stage of Connect Together that would soon arrive.

‘…The White Star used his head quite a bit.’

Cale was thinking that the White Star was quite smart about his course of action this time.

If the information Ron heard from the Cat tribe leader was correct…

The doors to the temple of the sealed god would open once they kill this guardian.

Ancient Dragon Eruhaben and their allies who did not know that had no choice but to kill this unranked monster that appeared in Puzzle City.

This Lion Dragon was a different opponent, even with everybody on their side charging against it together. Cale’s side would suffer quite a lot of damage trying to kill this monster.

The White Star just had to take care of the weakened enemy after Cale’s side killed the Lion Dragon and opened the temple doors for him.

“It’s killing two birds with one stone for the White Star.”

There was a reason the White Star had not appeared.

Cale’s forces would put all of their efforts toward taking care of the Lion Dragon only if he wasn’t there.

‘That’s why I’m certain he is watching from somewhere.’

The White Star… Was definitely around Puzzle City.

He would be doing something similar to Cale, who was watching the scene through the office terrace window. That bastard should be watching what was happening, waiting for the most opportune moment.

He would have no problem waiting as long as he needed to do so since he has already waited a long time through numerous lives.

‘So I need to make it impossible for him to wait.’

Cale needed to make the White Star anxious. He needed to make it so that the results the White Star was looking for would not appear.

Only then would the White Star show himself.

Cale looked toward Raon and motioned with his eyes.

Raon nodded his head, and Cale started to speak.

“I heard that the Lion Dragon just maintained a defensive position without attacking anybody until Eruhaben-nim appeared.”

Those words were delivered to their allies on the battlefield in Raon’s voice through his magic.

Cale’s points were delivered to Eruhaben’s mind in Raon’s voice as well.

– Ron Molan contacted me about the ‘temple door.’

The temple door.

Guardian.

The Lion Dragon.

The sealed god.

All of those pieces of information were quickly delivered to Eruhaben, Choi Han, Mary, Rosalyn, Alberu… It started with them and then some others as well.

“Ha!”

Alberu scoffed while Rosalyn’s eyes clouded over.

“So we are going to make him tag in instead?”

Some of them heard Cale’s message once again.

– That is why we are going to pretend as if we have lost to the Lion Dragon.

– It is highly likely that the Lion Dragon will stop attacking as soon as Eruhaben-nim pretends to be dead. It is possible that it could attack again, but we can proceed with a different plan at that point.

– But if the Lion Dragon stops attacking after Eruhaben-nim is defeated as we expect…

Alberu opened his mouth at that moment.

He heard Raon’s voice at the same time.

“It’ll be an endless stalemate.”

– It should turn into a stalemate.

The Lion Dragon would focus on defense, as it had done earlier.

The Roan Kingdom’s forces would not be able to easily attack because the ancient Dragon had fallen.

It would be an extremely tense situation that could go on for days without ending.

– The bastard who would be the most anxious about that stalemate is…

Eruhaben looked toward the Lion Dragon that was observing him and started to speak.

“The White Star.”

– That damn White Star bastard.

The Dragon half-blood started to speak.

“The antsiest bastard will step up.”

That was exactly what Cale was thinking.

– We need to make it so that that damn White Star bastard fights against the Lion Dragon.

Everybody’s eyes clouded over as they heard Raon’s voice.

They were able to imagine the rest at this point.

Alberu raised his gun again.

“While we look to be in despair after ‘losing’ to the Lion Dragon, we will make the White Star, who needs to quickly open the temple, fight the difficult battle against the Lion Dragon.”

He then started to smile.

Once both the Lion Dragon… and the White Star…

Once they are both tired and weary…

– In that final moment… We just need to take everything away from them.

The Lion Dragon’s life… The White Star’s life…

And even the sealed god’s existence.

They were hearing Raon’s voice, but it oddly felt as if they were hearing Cale’s relaxed and nonchalant voice.

“How entertaining.”

The moment Alberu said those words…

Swiiiiiish— Swiiiiiiiish—-!

A strong gust of wind started to roar around them.

“Ugh.”

Even Archie, who was watching from the ground, had to cover his eyes with his arm and step back as he was suppressed by the strength of the wind.

“…T, that is?!”

The golden dust that had covered the sky over Puzzle City as if it was the Milky Way started to gather in one spot.

There was a large golden whirlwind with Eruhaben at the center.

Archie walked over to Witira. (TL: Author likes to use descriptors like ancient Dragon Eruhaben, and this sentence was ‘Whale Archie walked over to Future Whale Queen Witira,’ but I’m just going to drop those filler words. Good? Good. K thx )

“It looks as if Eruhaben-nim is preparing a big attack. This looks like it is going to be no joke.”

Witira just nodded her head with a stiff expression on her face.

‘Sorry.’

She apologized to Archie internally, as she knew that he had not heard Cale’s message from Raon and was being honestly surprised at Eruhaben’s actions.

‘Raon-nim must have forgotten about Archie.’

Witira looked away from Archie, who looked quite innocent as his eyes were sparkling with anticipation about the ancient Dragon’s attack.

But Archie was not the only one with such feelings of anticipation.

“…Ah! Finally!”

Outside of Puzzle City’s walls…

The soldiers and knights waiting there could feel their hearts beating wildly.

Swooooooosh-!

The golden dust whirlwind swirled together, making extremely fierce noises that could not be compared to any noise it had made until now.

The Ancient Dragon at the center of the whirlwind had his wings spread wide as he observed the monster.

Anybody could tell that the Dragon was about to attack with everything it had.

“I think that the aftershock of the attack will be intense! Captain-nim, should we make the soldiers retreat farther back?”

“The city walls are sturdy! Don’t retreat! Move the shield bearers to the front!”

“Yes, sir!”

Everybody started to move quickly to prepare for this strong attack.

“Please! Dragon-nim, please get rid of that monster!”

“Look at that whirlwind! It looks like he’ll do it this time!”

The soldiers could not hide their anticipations.

“…My goodness, I can’t believe the mana is so dense.”

“The level of cohesion is quite amazing!”

The mages at the Puzzle City plaza who had followed Rosalyn over could not even gulp as they had chills all over their bodies from the intensity of the Dragon’s mana.

“It’s his final attack.”

One of the mages commented, and nobody could object.

That was the thought on everyone’s minds.

‘The attack to finish this battle or at least to have some kind of positive results is about to start.’

“…Intruder…kill……”

As for the Lion Dragon that was feeling this strong power from the closest point… The monster raised its shield with one hand while pointing its sharp eagle-like claws toward Eruhaben with its other hand.

The gold-eyed Dragon responded to it.

“Like hell you can kill me.”

The ancient Dragon then charged toward the Lion Dragon with the golden whirlwind around him.

Choi Han started to speak.

“Should we help?”

Alberu shook his head at Choi Han’s question.

“No. Not you.”

“He’s right. You should stay out of it.”

Rosalyn stopped Choi Han as well. Choi Han had stepped backward with a stiff expression on his face.

“Your highness, should we at least pretend?”

“Sounds good.”

Alberu, Rosalyn, and the Dragon half-blood rushed forward.

Eruhaben was in front of the Lion Dragon. The Dragon half-blood was behind it.

Eruhaben and the Dragon half-blood… As the two slightly different shades of golden eyes made eye contact… Eruhaben caused a large explosion that shook the entire area.

Baaaaaaaaaang-!

“Ugh!”

“Ugh! “Shields, raise your shields!”

“Shit, hurry up and cast a shield!”

It looked as if a piece of the sun was exploding in the sky above Puzzle City.

Baaaaaang- baaaaang–! Baaaaang!

The explosions seemed to go on forever.

The wind, dust, and loud explosion made it difficult for anybody to figure out what was going on.

“This is the Dragon’s true powers……?!”

“Holy **! This is **ing crazy!”

There was not much they could say. It was difficult to watch the clash between these two behemoths, as it made it seem as if the battle until now had been a warm-up.

Archie started to frown.

“…Fuck! I can’t see anything!”

There was a bright light when the golden dust exploded that nobody could see the Lion Dragon and Eruhaben’s battle properly.

Baaaaang! Baaaaang—!

They could only tell that the fight was still going on because the golden dust continued to explode without stopping.

“Ah!”

It was at that moment.

The golden dust surrounding the ancient Dragon and the monster suddenly split.

The whirlwind ripped as if it had been sliced open by a sword.

What came piercing through the whirlwind was a large white shield.

The shield shined so brightly and looked as if it would never break.

“N, nooooo!”

“No way!”

The soldiers covered their mouths in shock.

The knights and mages could not even breathe properly.

They each had bad feelings about this.

The shield slowly started to break apart the whirlwind.

They could see a bit of the Lion Dragon’s face now. There were still no changes at all to its expression, and people felt fear and got chills all over their bodies while looking at the stoic expression on the monster’s face.

Tang-!

They heard something head toward the shield at that moment.

The black Bone Dragon along with the crown prince, Rosalyn, and Choi Han on its back charged through the opening in the whirlwind caused by the Lion Dragon to attack it.

It was dangerous to charge into a battle between two such strong individuals.

“Ah, your highness!”

“Tower Master-nim–!”

The others clenched their fists as they watched more people looking like they were giving everything they had to attack the Lion Dragon as the ancient Dragon had done.

Unfortunately, the shield did not break.

Tang, tang!

All of the bullets were blocked by the shield.

Crackle–!

The burning petals of flame could not scorch the shield even a little bit.

The swordsman who had continued to attack with the black Yong earlier in the battle was a step behind them, kneeling with his head down.

“Ugggh!”

The black Bone Dragon was sent flying as its armor crashed into the shield.

An ominous feeling swept through the allies when they saw that happen.

Their worst fears turned into reality.

The monster grabbed the shield with both hands and swung it towards the front.

Baaaaaang—–!

The golden gust of wind was suppressed by the shield and ripped into pieces.

The monster used its eight Dragon wings to charge forward through the exploding golden light.

And finally…

“N, no—-!”

The monster saw a heavily breathing Dragon at the end of the whirlwind as someone screamed in despair.

“Huff. Huff.”

The Dragon was breathing heavily, as if it had poured out every ounce of mana it had.

Crack. Crackle.

Mana could not gather properly around the Dragon. There was only one thing such a great and mighty existence could do when it no longer had the strength to even gather mana.

As the remaining bits of the golden whirlwind crashed into the shield…

This great and mighty existence… The Dragon crashed into the Lion Dragon along with the golden light.

Baaaaaaaaaang-!

Golden light exploded once more and dyed everyone’s sight white once again.

As that instant of whiteness disappeared and they could see…

They could see the white monster standing firmly in the sky like a knight, and then they looked down.

“…Ah.”

The great and mighty existence was falling down.

The monster was in the sky.

The Dragon was crashing to the ground.

The Dragon’s eyes were closed, its wings were limp, and nobody could say anything as they watched this majestic Dragon fall.

They were shocked and astonished.

As those two emotions swept over Puzzle City…

Boom-!

The Dragon plummeted to the ground.

* * *

Once the falling Dragon slammed down…

A man whose face and body were covered by a robe reached his hand out to touch the mask on his face that covered everything above his nose.

“I guess an ancient Dragon who is close to death was not strong enough?”

There was a video recording device in his hand.

He watched a person bleeding out from what seemed to be his entire body as he ran toward the altar.

The video of Cale Henituse was playing on the recording device on repeat.

This man was naturally the White Star.

He quietly observed the video recording device he received from Bear King Sayeru as he started to speak.

“…There is no way Cale Henituse would be able to fight in such a condition, so we can consider him out of action for now.”

He then turned toward where the Dragon had fallen.

“The somewhat reliable ancient Dragon looks like that.”

The White Star raised his head. The monster in the sky just stood there without attacking.

“…I guess I should just keep watching for now.”

The White Star slowly stepped back and hid himself.

While he was doing that… Someone else, Cale to be specific, gasped while watching the plummeting ancient Dragon.

“Wow. I guess some acting skills do come with age!”

Clap, clap, clap.

Raon clapped next to him.

“You truly are amazing Goldie gramps!”

—