Chapter 386 - 386: The Water God Dragon's Power
Seeing this, Skullion acted quickly. As the towering water pillars hurtled toward the trio, they instantaneously crumbled into ash.
"Ash?!" The Water God Dragon, Mercphobia, couldn't help but be surprised. The sheer density of his aquatic magic should have violently crushed anything in its path, yet the destructive torrents were effortlessly reduced to harmless gray dust.
"Let's retreat for now! The Water God Dragon is far more powerful than we imagined," Skullion declared. His voice was muffled beneath his skeletal mask, but the tactical urgency in his tone was undeniable.
"What?! I waited so long to ambush this guy, how can we give up now?" Kiria snapped, baring her sharp teeth in a feral snarl. "We just started fighting! The three of us can definitely take him down!"
Kiria refused to accept his command. She hadn't even gotten serious yet, nor had she unsheathed the true conceptual cutting power of her magic. How could they retreat like beaten dogs after planning this hunt for so long?
"Madmole, back me up here!" Kiria demanded, looking at the hulking armored man beside her.
Madmole simply nodded. "I agree with His Highness Skullion's assessment."
Although his impenetrable armor had miraculously withstood Mercphobia's initial, casual attack, they were currently fighting on their opponent's home turf. The entire sunken city of Elmina acted as an unlimited, highly pressurized reservoir for the God Dragon, placing them at an overwhelming disadvantage.
"What?!" Kiria barked, her eyes widening in absolute disbelief.
"You two cowards! If you want to leave, then go! I'll take down the Water God Dragon by myself!"
Aggressively channeling her violent magic, Kiria prepared to launch another attack. However, her lower body suddenly began to dissolve, seamlessly turning into swirling clouds of gray ash.
"Skullion, you bastard! Mind your own business!" Kiria shrieked, violently thrashing against the forced teleportation. "I'm definitely settling the score with you when we get back! I won't let you off!"
This was the unique, highly elusive utility of Skullion's magic. By forcibly converting their physical bodies into microscopic particles of ash, he enabled them to ride the wind and cross vast distances, ensuring an absolute escape from the battlefield.
Skullion and Madmole also began to dissolve, their heavily armored forms rapidly turning to ash as they teleported away from the underwater ruins.
Seeing the trio leave, Mercphobia entirely ignored their retreating ash clouds, slowly turning his ancient, piercing gaze toward Ren.
"Human Mage, have you come here to destroy me?" Mercphobia's voice rumbled through the air, carrying the heavy, oppressive weight of a true God Dragon.
"What?!" Karameel was startled by Mercphobia's words. She clung tighter to his side, suddenly realizing that this newly arrived, composed young man was also here to cause trouble for her beloved Lord Water God Dragon.
Ren chuckled softly, entirely unfazed by the immense, tidal-wave-like magical pressure radiating from the deity before him. "That depends."
"I've accepted a commission to seal the Five God Dragons," Ren explained casually, crossing his arms over his chest. "The client only mentioned sealing, not killing, so I'll decide based on the situation."
"I see. Has that fellow Elefseria still not given up?" Mercphobia sighed, a trace of heavy melancholy flickering in his glowing eyes. "It has been over a hundred years, and he remains as persistent as ever."
Mercphobia shook his head slowly. "Human, you are quite confident to make such claims after seeing what just transpired. Your strength must be unusual if you can remain so perfectly calm in my presence."
"However, it is impossible for a human alone to defeat the Five God Dragons. This isn't an exaggeration; it is an unchangeable fact of this world."
Mercphobia wore a polite, almost gentle smile, but his tone carried unquestionable certainty. Dragons were inherently blessed with scales that served as the ultimate magical defense. They were highly resistant to human magic, rendering modern spells practically ineffective.
Furthermore, their physical constitutions were worlds apart from even the most hardened human warriors. Aside from the highly specialized Dragon Slayer Magic wielded by a rare few, all other magic was virtually useless against their ancient hides.
He wasn't just an ordinary dragon, either. He was one of the Five God Dragons of Guiltina, a divine entity who had survived and passively cultivated his immense power for hundreds of years.
Currently operating near his absolute peak strength, Mercphobia knew that even a powerful, high-ranking Dragon Slayer Mage would be completely outmatched by his absolute authority over the seas.
"Don't be so certain. Nothing in the universe is absolute," Ren countered calmly, meeting the God Dragon's immense gaze without a single hint of hesitation.
"I know you're very strong," Ren continued, a knowing smirk playing on his lips. "Strong enough to have instantly killed those three Diabolos mages just now, had you actually wanted to."
"Oh? You actually noticed?" Mercphobia was genuinely surprised.
The human had seen entirely through his restraint. Despite the destructive, city-engulfing scale of his magic, Mercphobia had deliberately held back his lethal intent, ensuring the intruders were only pushed away rather than obliterated into a bloody mist.
"Well, I've fought Dragons many times before, so I have some experience," Ren said, casually waving his hand.
Ren looked at Mercphobia, silently analyzing the overwhelming aura the deity exuded. Honestly, before seeing him in person, Ren had thought the legends surrounding the Five God Dragons were nothing more than exaggerated boasting. He had assumed they were just arrogant lizards who mistakenly believed they could rival the true Dragon King.
But after witnessing Mercphobia's power with his own eyes, Ren realized it wasn't just empty talk. The Dragon Clan was indeed a race heavily favored by the fundamental laws of the world.
These ancient entities, having hidden in the shadows of Guiltina for over four hundred years, were genuinely terrifying forces of nature.
However, that comparison was only valid when measuring them against Acnologia under normal circumstances. Even a God Dragon was completely incomparable to the absolute nightmare Acnologia had become after devouring the power of the Space-Time Rift.
In Ren's analytical view, Mercphobia's current strength was roughly on par with the legendary Fire Dragon King, Igneel, before his soul had been sealed. It was an unfathomable, world-shaking level of power, but it wasn't invincible.
Mercphobia couldn't help but feel a rising sense of intense interest in the young human standing before him. "Fighting Dragons? You don't possess the scent of a Dragon Slayer Mage, yet you claim you can fight them. Who exactly did you face?"
Ren held his gaze, his expression unchanging, and answered casually, "Acnologia."
Mercphobia's pupils suddenly constricted into tiny, reptilian slits. The surrounding magical pressure violently spiked, the water around the city churning and boiling in direct response to the God Dragon's sudden, violent emotional turmoil.
Although Mercphobia had never formally crossed paths with Acnologia in combat, the horrifying legends and the suffocating fear of the man who had single-handedly ended the Age of Dragons were etched into the very genetic makeup of all surviving dragons. It was a primal trauma woven deeply into their souls.
It was that lone, apocalyptic man who had mercilessly slaughtered millions of their kin, ripping wings from their backs and bathing the world in a torrential downpour of dragon blood. Mercphobia and his peers were currently known as the mighty Five God Dragons—a title that sounded infinitely grand and divine.
But the humiliating truth was that, four hundred years ago, they were little more than terrified stray dogs fleeing the continent of Ishgar in sheer, animalistic panic during Acnologia's tyrannical rise.
Even though their strength had grown exponentially over the centuries, reaching a level where they confidently felt they were no longer weaker than Acnologia, none of them dared to test that theory.
They still didn't have the courage to set foot back on the continent of Ishgar, simply because the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse remained securely entrenched there, forever prowling the skies.
"Impossible! A human cannot possibly be a match for Acnologia!"
Snapping out of his brief, instinctual panic, Mercphobia immediately denied the claim. Although he had never seen Acnologia in his prime, he knew full well the terrifying, absolute nature of his magic.
Any magic, even the Dragon Slayer Magic specifically designed to kill their kind, was completely useless against that monstrous man. Acnologia's unique attribute allowed him to devour all forms of magic indiscriminately, instantly converting his enemies' attacks into his own limitless power.
Four hundred years ago, Acnologia had forcefully carved his bloody path to the absolute peak of the world, stepping over mountains of his brethren's corpses and devouring the strength of all Dragons.
Even if that monster's strength was theoretically at a low point now, a mere human—and one who wasn't even a Dragon Slayer Mage—couldn't possibly stand as his opponent and live to tell the tale.
"Yeah, that guy is indeed very troublesome," Ren admitted with a nonchalant shrug. "I'm not his match yet, but I can't say for sure about the future."
Ren honestly acknowledged that he was currently inferior to the Black Dragon. It was a simple, pragmatic matter of logistics.
If he utilized his System to activate his [Template: Escanor], he might briefly surpass the current Acnologia in sheer, explosive physical force during that single, invincible minute of 'The One' at high noon. But dealing fatal, lasting damage to someone as impossibly durable as Acnologia within a mere sixty seconds was highly improbable.
By taking on his [Template: Minato Namikaze] and entering the brilliant golden shroud of the Kurama Link Mode, Ren possessed the god-like speed and destructive output required to barely hold his own against the Black Dragon. However, he severely lacked the endurance necessary for a prolonged war of attrition.
He hadn't faced Acnologia directly using his [Template: Uchiha Madara] yet. While Madara's overwhelming visual prowess and the towering, indestructible armor of the Perfect Susanoo definitely offered a much higher ceiling of destructive strength than Minato's Kurama Mode, the fundamental issue remained completely unresolved.
The persistent, frustrating problem was his insufficient magic capacity. His current System rating of [Magic Power: 7.5 Stars] was an immense reservoir by human standards. With that sheer volume of energy, he easily ranked among the absolute top tier of mages across the entire continent of Ishgar, effortlessly eclipsing the combined might of the Ten Wizard Saints.
But in the realm of high-intensity, cataclysmic combat against an apocalyptic being like Acnologia, this amount of magic power was still severely lacking. A prolonged, world-breaking battle would inevitably drain his reserves dry long before he could exhaust the Black Dragon's bottomless stamina.
That was exactly why Ren was so anxious to aggressively complete these high-tier Guild Missions. He desperately needed the massive influx of system points to pull Legendary Cards and recycle the unused ones, all to artificially expand his magic reserves to a true, god-like tier.
Mercphobia slowly descended from mid-air, his bare feet lightly touching the submerged, coral-lined cobblestone streets of Elmina. The oppressive, tidal-wave-like magical aura surrounding him retracted slightly, pulling back like a receding tide, replaced instead by a profound, calculating sense of curiosity.
"You seem a bit different from the assassins who came before," Mercphobia noted, his deep tone softening considerably.
He had originally thought Ren would be another foolish boaster blinded by human arrogance. But after seeing the young man honestly and calmly admit his own inferiority to Acnologia without a single shred of shame, Mercphobia realized this human was incredibly grounded. This objective, pragmatic self-awareness thoroughly piqued his interest.
Ren raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to attack? Even though I'm different from those assassins, I'm still here to seal you."
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