Advent of the Archmage

Crack! Crack!

Link slightly increased the frequency of the Demon Slayer Whip. This time, he controlled the whip with one hand while using a space-shattering spell.

Whenever he cut off a tentacle, he would cast a Spatial Rend. When the Spatial Rend arrived, Link would clearly see a ring of transparent spatial ripples form around the cut tentacle. It was like a film protecting the tentacle.

The space continued shaking but was stopped by the ripple. It took a full half second before the Spatial Rend touched the tentacle and pulverized it.

If a single cut tentacle could resist so powerfully, then the power of the entire creature went without saying. Link felt fortunate that he didn't use Spatial Restraint earlier.

After being turned to dust, the tentacle was finally completely dead.

Hiss! The ball of tentacles shrieked. It seemed to be angered by Link. However, it still didn't change its tactics. It still focused on attacking the girl while continuing to just delay Link.

Fighting back in anger is an animal's instincts, Link realized. This thing can control its instincts… This is the product of advanced intelligence!

He studied the thing's structure even more closely, trying to find its core.

Where is it? Where is it? Link looked everything, hoping to find its true weak spot. However, all he saw was a bunch of entangled tentacles.

At this time, the Red Dragon Queen Gretel arrived.

She'd planned on landing directly but around 300 feet from the ground, she discovered a dwarf hiding where she had chosen to land. The dwarf was staring at her in shock.

Gretel recognized him as a member of the Emerald Circle. In order to not squash him, she transformed into her human shape and only kept her wings.

After a few flaps of her wings, she landed slowly. Ignoring the dwarven Magician in the near distance, she strode towards Link while calling, "Link, I'm coming!"

With that, she reached out. Strands of fiery mist appeared in her palm. The mist condensed furiously, and a second later, it formed into a dark purple fireball more than 30 feet wide.

Link had been watching. Seeing the fireball's size, he knew immediately that it was the Void Destructor, a Level-10 fire spell. It was extremely powerful, but from what Link knew, it couldn't kill the creature. The creature would just absorb the energy!

More importantly, the attack could kill the girl inside.

"Don't!" he quickly yelled. "Your Majesty, there's someone inside. A Legendary figure!"

Gretel's brows knitted. She scattered the Void Destructor and flapped her wings, flying towards Link. Around 300 feet away, she paused. "There are spatial runes. Are they yours?"

Link hurriedly explained, "No, they're set by the girl trapped inside, but she's going to die soon!"

Gretel was reassured and quickly arrived by Link's side. With her here, Link was relieved. There wasn't enough time for explanations, so he cut to the chase. "Your Majesty, I can cut off the attacking tentacles. You burn them up."

"No problem." Gretel nodded. She was suspicious about Link's Legendary Dragon Power but now wasn't the time to ask.

Whoosh! Multitasking, Link pulled out a second Demon Slayer Whip and started focusing on attacking.

Now, the tentacle ball felt more pressure. Not only were the outstretched tentacles getting cut off, but Link also started attacking the ball.

As soon as a tentacle hit the ground, the waiting Gretel would quickly throw over a small Void Destructor fireball to burn it up.

The ball of tentacles was forced to give up on the little girl and fully defend itself against Link. The tentacle arrows shot towards Link but were all hit down. It couldn't break into Link's defense.

Thus, the situation returned to how it had been. The only difference was that the tentacles couldn't return to the ball.

Four seconds later, Link had sliced 20 tentacles. The 30-foot-wide ball was now 30% smaller. If this continued, the ball would definitely die.

However, Link's Dragon Power was running out. "Your Majesty, I'm using up my power!"

He still had more than 1000 Dragon Power Points even as it regenerated while he fought. He wanted to have Gretel block the tentacles while he stopped them from returning.

Unexpectedly, Gretel instantly answered, "Don't worry. Continue attacking!"

As she spoke, one dragon wing curled lightly, wrapping around Link. Countless crystal-red runes flashed on the wing. Dragon Power surged from each one, snaking into Link's body.

This was pure Dragon Power and came from the same source as Link's power. Once inside his body, it became one with his own power. He didn't feel any discomfort.

Link checked his Dragon Power recovery rate. It was now a shocking 2767 points per second. With this recovery rate, he could fight with no worries.

His two Demon Slayer Whips flew continuously, and light kept flashing in the air. Tentacles dropped to the ground, only to be lit on fire by Gretel.

Link was a bit worried that Gretel would run out of power and took the time to check her stats. Last time Link checked, all he saw were question marks. This time, he could see them.

Red Dragon Queen Gretel

Level-11 Legendary Pinnacle Dragon

Dragon Power Limit: 23340 points

Dragon Power Recovery Rate: 98 points per second

Description: Gretel was born more than 2000 years ago. Three hundred years ago, Gretel accepted the essence inheritance of the previous queen and became the Dragon Queen. Now, she is one of the strongest dragons in history.

(Note: A queen loved by all. Currently worried about the next generation.)

Link was stupefied by this information. Gretel was at Level-11, and her Dragon Power upper limit was twice as much as his. It seemed that he didn't have to worry about her using up her Dragon Power while fighting the tentacles.

With the worries gone, Link became calmer. His attack frequency increased, and the huge, worm-like tentacles continuously got chopped down and burned.

The ball of tentacles in the distance got smaller, and the white light inside started becoming clearer. Link could vaguely see a silver-haired girl and her aura leaked out.

She was a Neanderthal.

Gretel glanced at the girl and was shocked. "No wonder I thought the runes were familiar. It's her!"

"Huh? You know her?" Link was surprised.

"Of course. She's Lucia Silverstar, one of the six major Astral Magicians of the Emerald Circle. She looks young, but she's already 236 years old."

Link was speechless. He'd thought that she was just a little girl. Since she was an ally, he naturally had to do everything to save her.

The tentacle ball became smaller and smaller. He could see that there were only ten tentacles left. It was close to the end.

Just as it was about to collapse, the ball suddenly screamed. The tentacles let go of the Neanderthal and condensed into a tiny ball less than three feet wide. It was covered in a layer of transparent spatial ripples.

Inside the ripples, the tentacles struggled like writhing snakes. It seemed to snake into some hole; it was quickly lessening and about to disappear.

The girl was alarmed. She'd recovered some consciousness, and her eyes cracked open. "It's a Void Tyrant," she struggled to say. "D-don't let it escape!"

Then she fainted.

Link didn't need to be told. He'd already cast a Spatial Sphere. "Restraint!"

The tentacles were immediately disturbed and slowed slightly.

At the same time, Link stabbed with his sword. A Despair Ball appeared at the tip. After entering the ball, the sword tip emerged outside the spatial ripples. Link added more power and Boundless Sharpness went into effect. The Dragon King's Fury sword buried into the spatial ripples.

"Spatial Rend!" Link cast another spatial spell. Dragon Power flowed into the spatial ripples along the sword. It constructed a Mana structure, and the space started to vibrate.

Hiss! Everyone present heard an extremely piercing scream. Then, the visible tentacles broke apart and turned to dust.

"Is it dead?" Gretel asked.

Link's expression was hard. "No, it escaped. Its body isn't completely in Firuman. The other part is in another realm!"

In the earlier confrontation, Link had sensed the tentacles' conscience for an instant. It hadn't entered Firuman at all; only its tentacles had reached in!

No wonder Link couldn't find its core.

Even more terrifying, Link clearly felt that the thing wasn't that powerful—only Level-10—but it was humongous. The tentacles that they'd just destroyed were less than one-tenth of the entire body.

"But you forced it out of Firuman," Gretel continued.

Link still shook his head. "It's not that useful. There are spatial cracks everywhere. It'll find a suitable crack somewhere and then reappear. However, there's something I don't understand."

"What is it?" Gretel asked.

"The crack here isn't that big. It can't get through at all. The entire way here, I saw cracks much bigger than this. Why did it choose to appear here? It's strange."

He didn't understand at all. He vaguely suspected that the dead Yabba half-dragon had done this. However, he didn't have evidence and didn't know her motive.

Gretel pointed at Lucia Silverstar on the ground. "Let's take her to the Dragon Valley. When she wakes up, we'll know what happened. I have many things to ask you too."

Compared to the Void Tyrant that had been forced away, Gretel was more interested in what happened to Link.