The Schwer Mountains sat nestled in the northwestern corner of the Central Lands, stretching for hundreds of miles.
They extended from the mainland out into the ocean like the splayed toes of a giant dragon’s claw.
No one could say for sure where the range had come from; it was as though it had materialized overnight.
Thus, the locals often referred to it as “Flying Peak.”
At the far edge of Flying Peak, atop the mountains’ crest, stood a castle.
And all of this was reflected in Serie’s amber eyes.
When she had first taken the request, she assumed the client was merely exaggerating, but now she had her answer.
Walking barefoot along the mountain path, Serie sensed her surroundings using her mana.
“Aside from a magical barrier surrounding the castle to keep away magic beasts, there isn’t a trace of any other spellcraft, nor even a single hint of mana usage.”
It was as if someone had taken the entire mountain range, uprooted it with pure, unadulterated brute force, and carried it all the way here on their back.
Of course, any sane person knew that was completely impossible.
Yet that wasn’t the only intriguing part of this commission.
She had also heard that the last surviving dragon in the world dwelt here—the very same Hero Dragon that had challenged the Demon King half a century ago.
“Don’t disappoint me.”
A cruel smile crept onto Serie’s face.
Long-lived species generally possessed a knack for procrastination, and Link was no exception; even with a major battle looming, he pushed things off as long as he could.
Besides, he had already told Chris to shut the door.
Even if Serie came knocking, she would have to show some manners and knock first, wouldn’t she?
For now, his main task was deciding whether to fight or flee.
With a simple thought, Link summoned his status panel.
[Quests]
[Novice Quest] The Sword of the Hero (Completed)
[Novice Quest] Showcase Mechanics (Incomplete)
Quest Objective: Showcase your mechanics to any hostile target and defeat them.
Quest rewards scale with the enemy’s strength.
[Novice Quest] Passing the Flame (Incomplete)
Quest Objective: Bind any friendly target as a disciple and teach them magic.
Quest rewards depend on the disciple’s final achievement before unbinding.
Don’t ask how he could have been transmigrated as a dragon for hundreds of years and still have two out of three Novice Quests left unfinished.
The answer was simple: procrastination.
In the end, Link had only completed the easiest of the three.
If he chose to fight now, he could cross [Showcase Mechanics] off his list.
But that was Serie!
And if he chose to run…
Link glanced at Chris, his maid, who was waiting for his decision nearby.
Ultimately, he made up his mind.
“We can’t just sit here and wait to die,” Link said with a deadpan, serious expression.
“We need to do something.”
“Wait, do we have backup?!” Chris asked, her eyes lighting up.
“I knew it! You’ve lived this long, Lord Link, there’s no way you don’t have a single friend!”
“Go write a letter to my dwarf buddy. It’s been a while since I last caught up with him.”
Clearly, between fighting and fleeing, Link chose the secret third option: running away to someone else’s house.
“Lord Link! Mr. Magni Bronzebeard explicitly told us that he’s a blacksmith, not a handyman, and we can’t keep calling him every time our house gets wrecked!”
Before Chris could finish her sentence, the main doors of the castle were blasted open by a surge of magic.
Through the billowing dust and debris stepped a petite figure.
Her eyes swept over Link with a look that treated everything in her sight like an insignificant bug.
No matter how poor Link’s eyesight was, he could never mistake that figure.
The Great Mage, Serie.
One of the oldest surviving elves in existence—legend had it that even the Demon King could only trade a few blows with her.
Before she made a move, he had to strike first!
Size advantage?
He had that.
Defensive advantage?
He had that too.
Brains, on the other hand…
[Superhuman Strength: Sacrifices the vast majority of intelligence in exchange for immense physical power—With great strength, miracles happen.]
Since he had traded most of it away for strength, he barely had half a brain left.
He decided to rely on that remaining half-brain to resolve this crisis in the most elegant way possible.
I reckon this’ll work!
Link cleared his throat, trying his absolute best to make his voice sound majestic and authoritative.
“Hello there.”
“A talking dragon?” Serie sized him up with an odd expression.
“Have you eaten yet?”
…Holy crap.
He had stopped being human for so long that when panic struck, he forgot how human speech even worked.
Serie didn’t bother answering such a nonsensical question.
She couldn’t help but feel that this dragon wasn’t particularly bright.
From the moment she walked in, it had been squinting at her with a look of utter contempt for all creation.
Clearly, it wanted to fight.
Serie took a light step forward.
Without any incantation, a orb of golden mana shot forth, slamming directly into Link’s chest.
BOOM!
Dust whirled into the air, and shattered stone rained down.
Serie stood in place, calmly observing the cloud of dust.
As the dust settled…
Link remained standing exactly where he was.
He even wore a completely blank expression that practically said, What did you just do?
[Magic Damage Resistance +1]
Serie’s sharp, blade-like eyebrows knitted together slightly as a flicker of genuine interest sparked within her.
“Interesting.”
“Did you just use defensive magic?” she asked.
Link didn’t answer—mostly because he hadn’t heard a word she said.
His brain was still processing the last few seconds.
How was she so fast?
Wait, did she even attack just now?
In Serie’s eyes, however, the dragon’s silence could only mean one thing: it was too arrogant to bother dodging, and too proud to even answer her question.
The corners of her lips curled up slightly.
“How amusing.”
In all her long life, Serie had never been so blatantly disrespected.
She decided it was time to take things seriously.
This time, her movements were slow and deliberate.
Instead of shooting outward like before, her mana began to condense and gather around her.
Mana was a reflection of the caster’s true emotions.
Even Link, who had never studied magic a day in his life, could clearly feel the crushing pressure and surging murderous intent hanging heavy in the air.
As a noble flying unit, Link couldn’t care less about standing his ground.
He leapt straight into the air, dodging the first wave of attacks.
Immediately after, Serie unleashed an even greater barrage of offensive magic toward him.
Flames.
Frost.
Wind blades.
Thunderstorms.
In a matter of minutes, dozens of distinct offensive spells cascaded over him.
Fortunately, Link held the high ground in flight, and with his Adaptive Defense backing him up, taking several dozen rounds head-on caused him zero real damage.
If anything, his magic resistance was steadily climbing higher.
After an indeterminate amount of time, the battlefield shifted from inside the castle all the way down to the grassy plain at the foot of the mountain.
“Now I finally understand why the dragons were wiped out by the demons while you alone managed to survive.”
Serie’s battle intent gradually receded; she was getting a bit tired of slinging spells.
Taking the hint, Link landed back on the ground.
Having thoroughly farmed his resistance stats, Link collapsed onto the grass in pure satisfaction.
Seeing that Link had finally come down, the petite elf stepped forward, raised her bare foot, and planted it firmly on the bridge of Link’s snout.
She intended to thoroughly humiliate him.
That’s way too degrading for a dragon!
Chris thought to herself as she watched from her hiding spot.
When the master is humiliated, the servant must fight to the death!
Grasping her broom, the human maid launched a fearless charge against the pinnacle of Great Mages.
[Body-Freezing Spell]
Serie casually cast a spell without even turning around, bringing Chris’s charge to a screeching halt.
Now, the maid could only watch helplessly as Link was subjected to humiliation.
Ignoring Chris entirely, Serie pressed her foot harder against Link.
“I’m not used to looking up at others.”
She stood on her tiptoes, chin raised high, her tone dripping with arrogance and disdain.
She was deliberately trying to goad Link.
In her view, proud and conceited creatures like dragons were easily provoked into a frenzy.
Once enraged, it would use its full power, allowing her to enjoy a proper, exhilarating battle.
Unfortunately for her, this particular dragon was far from stereotypical.
Link leaned in slightly and sniffed the foot right in front of his nose.
[Poison Damage Resistance +1]
Although his vision was mediocre at best, Link’s dragon sense of smell was naturally sharp.
“It only smells like grass and soil?”
Appearing somewhat dissatisfied with the result, Link took a deep, epic breath into his lungs, but failed to catch any other scent.
How are elves so unnaturally clean?
Link couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of disappointment.
But then he remembered that the tongue possessed far more sensory receptors.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Disturbed by Link’s bizarre behavior, Serie was so startled her spine practically went rigid.
Like a startled cat with its fur puffed out, she leapt high into the air and landed on a patch of open ground a short distance away.
Her verbal insults hadn’t landed at all, and instead, she was the one left flustered and annoyed.
Left with no choice, Serie reached for the most venomous words she could think of to continue mocking him.
“You don’t possess a single shred of your kin’s ferocity or unyielding pride. You aren’t a dragon at all.”
“You’re totally right,” Link replied with a wide grin, not bothered in the slightest.
Wagging his tail, he added, “And that’s precisely why I’m still alive.”
Serie was forced to re-evaluate this dragon—a creature that wasn’t just thick-skinned physically, but possessed a shamelessly thick face to match.
After a long pause, as if coming to a realization, she spoke to him again.
“How about this? Let’s make a bet.”
“Face me head-on in a duel. Use every ounce of your strength. If I take even a single step back, I lose.”
“If you lose, you hand over the Sword of the Hero. If you win, I’ll teach you any magic in existence.”
Link’s brain immediately went into overdrive.
If I can get any magic in existence, wouldn’t that complete my [Passing the Flame] quest too?!
Two birds with one stone!
“For the pride and dignity of dragonkind, I accept your bet!”
Link agreed to the terms.
Seeing that she had successfully reined him in, Serie let out a slight smile and announced loudly, “Your opponent is the Great Mage Serie.”
“Hero Link.”
They exchanged names as a sign of mutual respect.
Then, Link shook his massive frame, unfurled his pitch-black wings, and flapped them to soar into the sky once more.
Sky and ground.
They were separated by roughly five hundred meters.
When the gaze looking down at the earth met the gaze looking up at the sky, the battle officially began.
Eager to see what fascinating technique Link might pull off, Serie activated her parsing magic right away.
The mana analysis finished almost instantly.
He isn’t using magic at all?
He’s relying purely on raw, brute strength?!
Before she could process it further, Link plummeted like a king descending from the heavens.
Even Serie, standing at the absolute apex of the magical world, felt her heart skip a beat.
A subtle, creeping sense of danger wrapped itself around her.
Instead of intimidating her, this danger made Serie all the more exhilarated, the mana within her body churning violently.
Once it reached a certain threshold, the torrent of mana crashed into Link like a colossal wave sweeping across the earth.
Link didn’t even attempt to dodge.
[Magic Damage Resistance +1]
“What is this force… It’s practically comparable to the Demon King…” Serie murmured under her breath, increasing her mana output even further.
[Magic Damage Resistance +1]
It was a clash between ultimate magic and ultimate strength, and the latter was undeniably unstoppable.
“No. He isn’t that weak.”
“Serie, do you want to guess why the Demon King has been hiding inside the Demon King’s Castle this whole time?”
[Magic Damage Resistance MAX]
The moment the words left his mouth, Link threw a single downward punch.
Forced to yield to the overwhelming impact, Serie took a step back as the ground behind her shattered and cracked wide open.
[Ping!]
[Quest: Showcase Mechanics Completed]
[Quest Reward Distributed]