Chapter 696

An impossibly enormous claw pierced toward Nigel’s heart with the precision of a surgical scalpel.

Already unconscious, Nigel could not stop Krasias’s claw.

Scales harder than diamond shattered like glass, and muscles harder than steel were torn apart helplessly.

Krasias’s claw reached Nigel’s heart in an instant.

A Dragon Heart was a treasure trove of mana.

An unimaginable amount of mana and power was concentrated within a heart the size of a child’s head.

Among them was also the power absorbed from Krasias’s thought-form.

Reikas sensed the power of Krasias contained within Nigel’s heart and shuddered.

―Foolish, Nigel! To think you sealed away most of this tremendous power instead of using it.

“Sto… stop, Reikas! The moment you covet that power, you will no longer be yourself.”

―Nonsense!

Thud!

Reikas plunged his claw into Nigel’s heart as though his words were not worth the slightest consideration.

“Guh!”

Nigel’s eyes flew open at the agonizing pain coming from his heart.

All of his power was being drained through Reikas’s claw.

The power he had accumulated as an Ancient Dragon, as well as Krasias’s power that he had happened to acquire and which had enabled his explosive evolution, was all being sucked away.

Crack!

His muscles and skin tissues lost all their moisture like a mummy and became emaciated.

It did not take long for his five-meter-tall body to become like dried firewood.

Reikas sneered as he looked at Nigel.

―How futile, Nigel! Did you struggle so desperately just to end up like this? What a waste of your life. I will use your corpse as fertilizer and become complete.

“F-Foolish Reikas. My death will not make you complete. It will make you forget your own self.”

―You’re still spouting such nonsense. I simply cannot listen to it anymore.

Crack!

Reikas squeezed Nigel tightly.

Nigel’s body, having lost all its moisture, crumbled helplessly into dust.

His torso disappeared, and his arms and legs turned to dust and scattered in the wind.

Even the last remaining head began to lose its form.

The vitality gradually disappeared from his eyes as well.

But Nigel still did not let go of the thread of hope.

‘Zeon!’

He had passed his final power on to him.

A power that was of little use to himself, but would have quite good compatibility with Zeon.

‘I entrust this world to you.’

That was Nigel’s final thought.

And so, the Half-Dragon Nigel disappeared from this world without a trace.

―Huuuu!

A strange breathing sound escaped from Reikas’s mouth.

It was because an enormous, terrifying power was filling his three-hundred-meter-long body.

He could feel Krasias’s power, which he had absorbed from Nigel, within his body.

Reikas shuddered at Krasias’s power, which had been powerful enough to open a gate to Earth by himself and attempt terraforming.

Reikas already possessed tremendous power.

He had been strong to begin with, but he had grown even stronger by absorbing the crystals Krasias had left behind on Earth.

In particular, after absorbing the crystal that Dantal possessed, his power had reached its peak.

That was why his expectations were so high.

How much more dramatically would he grow stronger if he absorbed the last crystal Krasias had left on Earth?

With the power he had accumulated so far, he had no equal.

He had blown away Zeon, the Sand Mage who had once posed a threat to him, and had completely killed Nigel, his longtime rival since Kurayan.

Even so, he wanted greater power.

He wanted to absorb the power Krasias had left behind and become something beyond that.

His goal was to become an existence greater than Krasias.

Rumble!

An enormous power could be felt in his heart and blood vessels.

It was the phenomenon occurring as the powers of Krasias that he had absorbed until now merged into one.

Hummm!

The powers that had been scattered until now resonated within Reikas’s body as though rejoicing at becoming one.

The intense resonance gave Reikas a pleasure he had never experienced before.

A tremendous tide of power and authority seeped into every single cell.

The power of Krasias, finally united as one, was truly immense.

It began transforming Reikas’s enormous body starting at the cellular level.

Along with the explosive increase in cells, his muscles grew to an absurd degree.

Rip!

The hardest substance in the world, dragon scales, tore like sheets of paper, revealing pure white flesh beneath.

Just like a lizard shedding its skin, Reikas’s outer skin and scales tore away as he grew.

His growth did not stop at his physical appearance.

His heart, which could be called the source of a dragon, grew at a terrifying rate.

Two times, three times, four times…

As his body grew, his heart expanded proportionally.

Ripppp!

The body that had barely finished shedding convulsed violently once more.

Another shedding had begun.

By this point, even Reikas felt fear.

A power far greater than he had vaguely anticipated was swirling within his body.

Boom! Boom! Boom-boom!

His heart beat furiously, supplying oxygen and mana to his blood.

The scales and flesh above his two pairs, four wings tore apart, and another pair of wings pushed its way out.

Until then, Reikas had not doubted his growing power in the slightest.

But when yet another pair of wings broke through his flesh after the three pairs of wings, he sensed something was wrong.

By this point, his body was easily three times larger than it had been before absorbing Krasias’s crystal.

The body that had been three hundred meters from head to tail had grown to approximately one kilometer.

The sheer scale of the transformation frightened him.

―This is beyond what I expected.

Reikas believed he could control Krasias’s power as much as he wanted.

As an existence born from chaos, Reikas possessed enough power to do so.

But the power of Krasias that had triggered his evolution was beyond imagination.

His evolution was still not over.

Crackle!

Cracks once again appeared across the surface of his one-kilometer-long body.

He was about to shed again.

His heart grew proportionally larger as well.

―N-No!

An evolution beyond this point was an unknown realm that even Reikas had never imagined.

A sense of unease that he absolutely must not enter this unknown realm dominated his mind.

It was a kind of premonition.

There were lines in this world that must never be crossed.

Right now, he stood at the boundary of such a line.

An uneasy premonition came over him that if he crossed any further, he might no longer be himself.

Reikas tried to restrain his growth at this point.

He tried somehow to suppress Krasias’s power, which was recklessly accelerating his growth from within his body, with the authority and will of a dragon.

But Reikas’s will had no effect on Krasias’s power.

That was when it happened.

Reikas felt something taking root inside his mind.

Like a seed that had slept through winter taking root in the earth when spring arrived, something awakened deep within his mind and put down roots.

The roots quickly took control of Reikas’s head.

At that moment, Reikas felt something being overlaid atop his own mind.

It was an existence with a self far greater than his own.

Reikas realized the identity of that existence.

―Krasias?

There was only one existence that possessed such tremendous power and such a deep sense of self.

The countless selves and powers scattered throughout the world finally became one within Reikas’s body, being reborn as Krasias in his complete form.

Boom boom!

The one-kilometer-long body shed its skin once again and became three kilometers long. Another pair of wings was added to the four pairs, making a total of five pairs, ten wings, lining his back.

A gigantic shadow fell beneath the ten wings as they spread wide.

Reikas’s red eyes were gradually turning purple.

At that moment, a fierce battle was taking place within Reikas’s inner self.

The seed that had finally taken deep root in Reikas’s brain had sprouted.

―Guh!

Reikas’s face twisted grotesquely.

Dragons were beings with mental strength stronger than that of any other life-form.

Naturally, their mental barriers were unimaginably sturdy and impervious to outside influence.

There was no being capable of breaking through a dragon’s mental barrier.

Reikas was overwhelmingly powerful even among the dragons that had crossed over to Earth.

That was why, despite Nigel’s warning, he had never worried.

Although Krasias possessed power surpassing that of a god, he was an existence that had disappeared from the world long ago.

No matter how powerful his thoughts were, Reikas believed they could not possibly do anything to his mental barrier.

That was why he had absorbed the crystals containing Krasias’s thought-forms without the slightest hesitation.

Indeed, the thought-forms he had absorbed until then had barely affected him.

But the moment the final fragment that Nigel possessed was added, the situation changed by one hundred and eighty degrees.

The thought-forms that had been broken into pieces and drifted apart like oil and water perfectly merged into one and became a complete whole.

The complete mind took root in Reikas’s head, spread its branches, and began taking control of his mind.

Reikas resisted Krasias’s thought-form, which was taking control of his mind, with all his might.

* * *

A gigantic whale appeared on the horizon.

The whale flying through the sky flew rapidly toward where Reikas was.

―Piiii!

The whale cried out in fear upon seeing Reikas.

The whale was Gaia.

Gaia also possessed a gigantic body.

She had grown considerably over time and had become as large as her deceased mother.

Because of that, in terms of sheer size alone, she surpassed even an S-rank monster.

But even Gaia could not compare to Reikas, who had shed his skin several times.

The sight of a monster at least ten times larger than Gaia floating in the air with its wings spread wide was nothing short of terrifying.

But for some reason, Reikas remained motionless, merely staring with his eyes wide open.

“My God!”

“Hmm!”

Brielle and Damho, riding atop Gaia’s head, both let out low groans.

Neither Brielle nor even Damho had ever seen such a gigantic life-form.

The presence of a gigantic dragon more than three kilometers from head to tail was beyond imagination.

It was as though a colossal mountain were floating in the sky.

“Crazy!”

A deep shadow fell across Damho’s eyes.

He had experienced five worlds and faced countless enemies, but he had never once seen a life-form this enormous.

It was as though the very existence of the apocalypse had manifested in the form of a dragon.

Just then, Brielle spotted Levin buried in the sand.

“Levin!”

Brielle immediately descended to the ground and hugged Levin.

Levin’s face was deathly pale, without a trace of color, and there was no sound of breathing.

Brielle hurriedly put her ear against Levin’s chest.

She could not hear a single heartbeat.

He had been struck by Reikas’s Dragon Language.

“This can’t be!”

Brielle immediately took a potion out of her pointed hat.

It was a special potion made from the essence of the World Tree.

Brielle opened Levin’s mouth and poured the potion into him.

But Levin’s breathing still did not return.

“Please!”

Brielle desperately pounded the area over Levin’s heart with her tiny fists.

Perhaps her earnest wish had reached him, because color gradually returned to Levin’s face.

“Cough!”

A moment later, Levin opened his eyes, exhaling a great breath.

“Are you all right?”

“B-Brielle?”

“Waaah! You scared me, you idiot!”

Brielle buried her face in Levin’s chest and burst into tears.

Levin stroked Brielle’s head and looked up at the sky.

Seeing Reikas, who had grown nearly ten times larger in the meantime, Levin cursed.

“Fuck!”

Levin realized it.

Nigel had died, and the thought-form of Krasias that he possessed had become Reikas’s.

Just then.

Vitality returned to Reikas’s vacant eyes.

After blinking for a moment, Reikas raised his head and let out a tremendous roar toward the heavens.

―Kuwaaaaaaar!

The atmosphere trembled at Reikas’s roar, and the clouds were pushed away.

His cry spread thousands of kilometers.

Every living creature that heard Reikas’s roar collapsed onto its back.

Humans and monsters alike were no exception.

With a single roar, every living creature in the world had been rendered helpless.

At that moment, Levin realized.

The dragon floating above his head was not Reikas.

“Krasias!”