The girl seemed out of it, barely holding onto her wand as she swayed on her feet.
Now that he looked closer, yeah. She definitely looked familiar.
"Oh, right."
With a flick of thought, Belial turned off his energy field. The moment he did, the girl froze like a statue.
"There. That's better."
He nodded again, satisfied.
He lowered his head, peering at the crowd of humans below. He was hoping to spot someone particularly snack-worthy. But his attention shifted, he noticed something deeper in the city.
His eyes lit up.
"A treasure ?!"
What did he see? A glowing zone in the city, practically screaming loot cache. Not just any treasure either, this one looked like a legendary-tier drop, far beyond anything he'd seen from monsters or mine before.
The mana source was so enormous that just one bite might be enough to break the system's built-in limits.
His core buzzed with excitement.
It felt just like the moment a cloud storage app stops throttling your download and lets you binge your entire library in one go.
In that instant, he completely forgot about the girl under his claw. With a mighty flap of his wings, he lifted off toward the glowing center of the city.
Still, he wasn't careless. He gently nudged the girl out of the way with a gust of wind, picked up her fallen hat, brushed it clean, and placed it neatly back on her head.
"Jackpot incoming, legendary loot bundle, get ready to break the system!" Belial's excited roar echoed as he soared deeper into the city.
***
Syltra was emotionally wrecked. She'd had enough today. First came a beast wave, an event so rare it shouldn't have happened in a hundred years. She'd already used up her emergency scroll and her most precious ice crystal just to make it out alive.
Then that monstrous thing appeared and ripped through the city like it was made of paper. It didn't just destroy buildings, it crushed hope. And, just her luck, she ended up being the first person it targeted.
Why did she stand up and fight it? She didn't even know anymore. Maybe something in her just broke.
She knew her attack wouldn't work. At most, she hoped to give the creature a minor headache. Even in her best condition, she'd need her master's help and a top-tier magic scroll to stand a chance against something like that.
…Was she just being stupid?
But before she could think any deeper, it happened.
A freezing storm poured from the sky, roaring down like a divine avalanche.
The wave of white energy crashed down on the monster, swallowing it whole, dragging it, and all the horror it brought, into oblivion.
Then, BOOM. The earth shook again.
Another massive shadow appeared overhead. A sudden gust blew her mage hat off into the sky.
She looked up A dragon. No, another dragon.
This one was covered in radiant snow-white scales that reflected the sun like a mirror. It had a long tail tipped with frost, sharp crystal-like spikes lining its back, huge wings, and a body packed with pure muscle. Everything about it felt overwhelming, like a living fortress made of ice and rage.
And the pressure...
It was unbearable.
Her knees gave out. Her breath caught. Even mentally, she'd never felt this level of fear, not from any monster, not even from her master during training. It wasn't just physical. This thing crushed her spirit.
"…Dragon,"
The word barely slipped from her lips. Her throat was dry. Her thoughts froze. Her usually sharp, analytical brain couldn't come up with a single strategy. She just stood there, paralyzed.
Her whole body trembled.
Even her bones felt like they wanted to run. And somehow, she knew, there was no way out.
No scroll. No spell. Nothing would save her.
When something is that powerful, survival tricks don't matter anymore. Only fear remains.
Syltra barely managed to push the word out of her dry throat. Her mind couldn't even begin to comprehend how powerful the dragon towering over her was. Normally, she could break down spells and magic in seconds, always sharp and quick to think. But now? Nothing. Her brain had gone completely blank.
Her whole body shook. Every muscle tensed, and her bones felt like they were about to snap from the pressure. It was terrifying. In the wild, even tiny lizards can drop their tails to escape a predator. Most living things have some way to survive.
Humans should too.
But Syltra couldn't even think about running. Her body had already made the decision for her, frozen in place before her mind could catch up.
Deep down, her body knew what her brain hadn't accepted yet.
There was no escape. Only death.
When something is that powerful, no trick, no spell, no training can save you.
She watched as the dragon slowly lowered its enormous head, and for the first time, its glowing eyes met hers. Just like that, the suffocating pressure vanished, as fast as it had come. It was like a heavy wave crashing down, only to roll back into the sea.
Her trembling stopped. A strange lightness took over. Even though her mana was gone and her spirit drained, her muscles loosened. She felt… calm.
'Was this... safety? Did he ease off the pressure just for her?
W-wait, what…?'
She didn't even have time to process it before the dragon leaned closer, its glowing yellow eyes locking onto her reflection. Its icy breath brushed gently across her cheeks.
"D-don't… don't look at me like that. I know I'm not much to look at, okay? C-could you maybe stop… staring…?"
Syltra forced a nervous smile, but her insides were screaming. Then, as she looked closer at the dragon's face, the jagged fangs, the long, curved horns, the terrifying features, something clicked.
She'd seen that look before.
She had studied dragons in detail with her mentor, especially black dragons. They even dove into rare cases, wingless adults, undocumented mutations, all buried deep in ancient tomes. That research eventually shifted their focus to close-range magic, preparing for things normal mages weren't ready for.
She knew a lot about dragons. The average adult stood somewhere between 23 to 32 meters tall. They kept growing and evolving with age.
The oldest were known as "Ancient Dragons", walking fossils of history. But even they showed their years. Cracks in the scales. Fading power.
This one? No signs of aging at all.
Its limbs were thicker, its neck was shorter but sturdier, and its back had more sharp spikes than any known species. It wasn't shaped for balance or flight.
It was built to fight. Even the crystals growing along its spine weren't normal. They didn't resemble water or ice-element types at all.