<h4>Chapter 533</h4>


    <i>Bam! </i>There was a heavy thud as L’s fistnded squarely on Serpina’s cheek. Although she was a mage, L could easily beat down a young adult man with her blows, and Serpina’s face turned the other way while the rest of her body wobbled. However, Serpina’s physical body was also L’s. Likewise, her body was iparably stronger than most mages. Furthermore, Serpina’s body had been simply materialized by the World Tree, so she didn’t receive much damage. Serpina slowly turned her head and stared at L again.


    “You asshole!”


    “You realized it just now?”


    L raised Windur and moved her mana. She nned to halt Serpina’s summoning at this instance. Yet, she didn’t disappear.


    “It’s useless.”


    “…You fixed your mana into your body.”


    “As the flow of the mana from the World Tree’s clones was disrupted and too much pressure was ced on the crystal, it became possible for me to do so. Of course, if the World Tree’s mana regains order as time passes, things will turn back to normal, but you should give up for now.”


    L acted swiftly after hearing what Serpina said.<i> Whoosh! </i>She swung Windur at Serpina. If she couldn’t stop the summoning, she could physically eliminate her opponent. Even though a sword was more efficient at a close distance, it was still very umon for a mage to swing a sword before magic, and the fact she did so disyed L’s strong will.


    Her swing was so swift and clean that even Zich and Hans would have admired it. Yet, Serpina easily evaded the attack. After biting her lips, L prepared a spell. As Windur amplified her mana, her spell waspleted instantly and it shot toward Serpina right away. Yet, Serpina easily nullified L’s attack again.


    L’s opponent was Clowon''s princess. Inparison to L who didn’t have most of her memories, Serpina surpassed L in most areas, and the difference in knowledge was critical for a mage. Yet, L didn’t give up and quickly prepared for her next spell.


    <i>Wiiing!</i> However, a powerful burst of mana began to bloom out of the crystal. L looked at the crystal in surprise. It seemed like the wildly fluctuating mana inside would destroy the crystal at any moment. L gritted her teeth, red at Serpina, and jumped into the ss container again.


    “It’s meaningless. That mana isn’t something you can repress. It’s impossible even for me—I’m sure you know that too.”


    L ignored Serpina and tried to restrain the mana by injecting hers. Serpina watched her calmly as she did so and made no attempts to stop L—it was because there was no need for her to do so.


    <i>Craack!</i> L’s effort was futile and there was a loud burst. The new line across the crystal’s surface widened and became arge crack. More mana seeped out of it.


    “Damn it!” L mmed her fist against the ss container. Then, she got out of it again and approached Serpina.


    “Confess!” L demanded.


    Even without a proper exnation, Serpina easily understood what L meant. She shrugged. “I don’t like repeating myself, but considering your pitiful position, I will say it again. There’s no method to stop that.”


    “There must be a method to control the dragon!”


    “Ah, that’s what you meant? Unfortunately, there’s no method like that. This central base was created to maintain the Brushel System. It doesn’t have a function to control a living creature.”


    “Then how are you going to kill Zich?”


    “Like I said before, I have no ns on controlling the dragon. My n was to simply awaken it, and everything else will naturally fall ording to my wishes.” Serpina sounded aggravatingly carefree. “It’s not as if we raised that dragon. We simply needed one for the Brushel System, so we captured a wild one and forcefully stuffed it inside the crystal.”


    Unlike Serpina who was proud to be part of the system and obediently followed her fate, it seemed like the dragon had a more ‘normal’ state of mind.


    “I’m sure it will have great loathing for the Clowon Empire, and if it wakes up, it will want tosh the fury it had umted for so long. Unfortunately for it, the Clowon Empire has long since fallen. Its anger will not subside from that fact, and it will look for beings rted to the empire.”


    “…And that’s Zich?”


    “Yes. He is the owner of the Clowon emperor’s sword. Wouldn’t that make him a perfect target for the dragon?”


    “Windur is with me now though.”


    “But he still reeks of Windur, and a dragon will be able to find him easily.”


    “There’s Hans’ Estede and Glen Zenard’s Tornium too.”


    “They will also be the dragon’s targets. As long as I can kill Zich, I don’t care what happens to the others.”


    “…I thought this ce and I were your primary goals. Weren’t you nning to restore the Brushel System using me? How will that work if I also die?”


    “Don’t worry about that. We are safe.”


    “What sort of nonsense are you saying? If what you say is right, wouldn’t the dragon target this ruin first in its anger against the empire?”


    “Even if the crystal breaks, the dragon won’t wake up right away. It won’t have its right sense of mind for a while, and it’ll hazily recall the fact it had been locked up until now. Thus, it will immediately try to move away from this ce.”


    “If a dragon of this size tries to break through the ground, this ruin will also be buried.”


    “Is that all you can think of? I thought the dragon’s expertise in magic is still known to this day.”


    <i>Magic</i>—that made L think of another possibility.


    “…Teleportation.”


    “Yes, as soon as that crystal fully breaks, the dragon will teleport and disappear.”


    “You are quite certain. Do you not think your predictions might go wrong?”


    “The Brushel System wasn’t made sessfully the very first time. It was made with many trials and efforts.”


    “Does that mean the dragon escaped many times before?”


    “Yes, and there were others besides this one.” The might of Clowon’s power that it could capture several dragons and experiment on them astonished L once more and made her think that the empire was even greater than what she had imagined. However, this wasn’t the time for her to stand there gaping in awe.


    “It should be impossible to teleport inside Clowon’s ruin.”


    “When the crystal breaks, the seal will be temporarily broken. Ah, don’t think you can restrain it with the system. This is a phenomenon that happens because of the gap caused by the momentary distortion of the ruin’s mana. It’s apletely physically induced event, so you won’t be able to stop it even if you gain control of the entire ruin. However, this will all happen in an instant. The mana flow will calm down soon and teleportation will be blocked again—all thanks to Clowon’s excellent design.”


    “…Did they perhaps establish that function to prevent the ruin from copsing in case they identally awakened the dragon?”


    “You’re exactly right.”


    “If the dragon has such high detection capabilities that are strong enough to detect Windur’s energy, wouldn’t this ruin be the first target of its attack?”


    “This site even nullifies teleportation. Of course, it has a function that blocks mana from flowing outside this ruin, and it goes without saying how powerful this function is.” All possibilities were perfectly blocked.


    L turned her head toward the crystal. She quickly began incanting spells, and a huge fireball appeared on top of her head. L threw the fireball at the crystal.


    “How pointless.” Serpina clicked her tongue as she watched L, but L deliberately ignored her.


    <i>Bammmm!</i> The mes that hit the crystal caused a huge explosion, and hot wind swept past L and Serpina. The force was so strong that it seemed as if it would easily melt the crystal into a puddle. However, L saw the result of her spell and bit her lips. On the contrary, Serpina didn’t show much emotion as if shepletely expected this result. L’s spell was able to make a dent in the crystal, but considering how powerful her magic was, the damage was minuscule. Moreover, considering the size of the crystal, it was no different from an elephant getting bitten by a mosquito.


    However, L didn’t give up. She continuously dished out spells as if she was trying to fight with quantity over quality. Her magic steadily damaged the crystal, but the speed at which she damaged it was very slow.


    “The surface of the crystal is very strong. It’s only natural since it was used to seal the dragon despite also supporting mana for the World Tree’s clones. Of course, with your magic, you’ll be able to break it eventually, but you won’t be able to break it in time. If you do manage to break it in time, what are you going to do? The dragon will just wake up in this ruin. Are you going to face the dragon by yourself?”


    Even while Serpina mocked her, L didn’t stop. She agreed with Serpina’s line of reasoning, but L couldn’t just sit still. She wasn’t making ast-ditch effort. Even if her actions were futile, L couldn’t give up and do nothing.


    Serpina no longer spoke either. She realized that no words would reach L right now, so Serpina folded her arms and watched L’s desperate and useless struggle with a leisurely attitude.


    <i>Rummble! </i>The vibration grew even worse. This vibration could also be probably felt by those on top of the ruin, and judging by the size of the shaking, it may have transmitted quite far outside the ruin’s surroundings. There was now a crack on the surface of the crystal. However, that crack was only a fraction of the entire crystal, and it was extremely small in proportion to the entire crystal.


    <i>Halt!</i> The shaking stopped. It stopped so suddenly and quickly that the shaking almost felt like a dream. However, it was slightly difficult for L to find her bnce as her body couldn’t immediately get used to the sudden change.


    <i>Crk! </i>A louder sound than all the previous soundsbined together rang out of the crystal. A huge crack formed on the surface of the crystal like a spider’s web.


    <i>Blink!</i> L felt a shudder run through her body. Serpina must have also felt the pressure as her rxed attitude also disappeared. Something bright yellow was shining inside the crystal. The long red eyes that soon appeared into view looked like the embodiment of destruction itself. The dragon’s eyes moved all around as if it was trying to grasp the current situation. However, it also was unable to focus. L recalled that Serpina had told her that the dragon wouldn’t be able toe to its senses for a while after it woke up.


    <i>sssh! </i>Mana gushed out of the dragon’s body. As mages, L and Serpina could feel the dragon’s powerful mana better than anyone else. The mana flowed out haphazardly but then soon settled down and began to move in a specific pattern and order. The movement of the mana was so precise and beautiful that L momentarily forgot about her situation and was amazed. Shepletely understood why despite their disappearance long ago, dragons were still known for their mastery in magic.


    ‘Is it trying to teleport?!’ Considering the huge amount of mana, it seemed as if the dragon was trying to move to a very far ce.


    “…Do you know where the dragon is going?” Even though L really didn’t want to talk to Serpina, the only person who knew a lot about the dragon was Serpina. For Zich, L lowered her pride and asked Serpina for help again. L added, “It’s using too much mana for it to merely move right above the ruins.”


    Serpina replied, “It’s probably going to where itsir used to be. Dragons tend to go to theirir in situations like this. It seems like they feel the safest in theirirs.”


    Of course, there was no way that the dragon’sir would still exist during this time. L asked, “Where is that?”


    “It’s probably around the boundary between the Steelwall and Pinne Estates.”


    “…You. Did you think that far and…!”


    “No, that part was really a coincidence. Of course, I won’t deny that it’s a coincidence in my favor.”


    The boundary between the Steelwall and Pinne Estates was the area where the war was currently in full swing. It was also the ce where the dragon’s targets—Zich, Hans, and Glen–were all gathered together. At that moment, the dragon’s mana reached its limit, and the mana moved vigorously around the dragon. Then the dragon disappeared. All that was left was a huge, empty crystal with cracks and dents here and there.