Chương 286: Meeting: The Dragon Slayer

The sky fractured slowly at first, thin cracks spreading across the heavens like stress lines through glass. One by one they branched outward, multiplying until the blue expanse above the ocean resembled a shattered mirror moments away from collapse. Fragments peeled away from the rupture and drifted downward in glittering silence, yet before any shard could touch the sea below, it dissolved into silver dust and vanished into the wind.

Beyond the tear lay something impossible: a vast cosmic void filled with endless golden stars, a space that looked less like another world and more like the exposed skeleton of reality itself. For several moments, the phenomenon appeared almost natural, beautiful even in its terror. Then the roar came. It was not merely loud. It was primal, colossal, the kind of sound that reached into the instincts of every living creature and reminded them they were prey. The entire kingdom of Irea fell silent beneath it.

Along the coast, civilians flooded toward the shore despite their fear, unable to look away from the monstrous wound splitting the heavens apart above the ocean. A gargantuan claw suddenly seized the edge of the rupture. The thing's talons dug into reality itself as though climbing from a grave. Its surface was blacker than obsidian, yet veins of crimson and azure pulsed through the bone-like armor coating it.

The claw tightened with enough force to distort the edges of the tear further, and another guttural growl echoed from the void beyond. At the top of the colosseum, Vale stood beside the iron railing with narrowed eyes, though outwardly he remained calm. The wind whipped through his dark hair as he watched a second claw emerge from the fracture, followed by the outline of something impossibly massive dragging itself into existence.

"Heh… boss," Vale said quietly, never taking his eyes off the creature, "what category is that thing?" The man beside him did not answer immediately. Instead, he watched with the faint amusement of someone observing an inevitable disaster unfold exactly as expected.

"That," he finally said, "my dear Lionheart…" The beast forced its skull through the rupture. Vale's breath caught in his throat. The creature's head was grotesque beyond comprehension. Flesh barely clung to it. Charred black bone remained exposed to the air, streaked with glowing crimson fractures and veins of dim azure light. Ten uneven eyes stared downward without blinking, their lids seemingly long since rotted away. Every gaze carried an hunger devoid of mercy or reason.

"… would be a Category Seven." The words settled heavily over the group. Slowly, the rest of the monster clawed its way free from the broken sky. Its body looked malformed, as though several incompatible creatures had been stitched together by a god that despised symmetry. Blackened skeletal structures protruded entirely outside its flesh, arching over translucent skin that revealed pulsing organs beneath.

Jagged spinal blades ran down its back like enormous spears, and three elongated tails swayed behind it, lined with rows of exposed bone spikes sharp enough to impale buildings. Then gravity claimed it. The colossal beast crashed into the ocean below. The impact detonated across the sea. Gargantuan waves erupted outward in every direction, smashing against Irea's coastal defenses and rocking the entire shoreline. Ships in the harbor were tossed violently aside like toys.

Vale stared silently as one of the creature's four immense claws rose from the ocean floor and planted itself against the seabed. The shattered heavens behind it repaired themselves almost immediately, the cracks sealing shut as though reality desperately wished to forget what had just entered it. The monster slowly rose to its full height. Hundreds of meters tall. Perhaps more. Water cascaded from its body in torrents as it stood amidst the ocean like a living apocalypse.

Six limbs supported its grotesque frame, two colossal hind legs and four massive forelimbs capable of tearing apart mountains. The sea around it churned violently merely from its breathing. Vale let out a low whistle beneath his breath before chuckling nervously.

"So," he muttered, leaning further over the railing, "who exactly is supposed to kill that thing?" The boss smirked.

"Not who," he corrected.

"What." Vale glanced sideways at him.

"Our job," the man continued casually, "is merely to stall." Vale closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"Figured." Far below, the beast's countless eyes finally settled upon Irea. Intent. Pure destructive intent. Even from this distance, Vale could feel it. The creature had chosen its target.

"Heh, Korin," Vale called over his shoulder, "shouldn't a Sentinel be helping with the 'stalling' part?" Korin crossed his arms and looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"…I don't think so." Vale frowned.

"That confident, huh?" Instead of answering, Korin simply nodded toward the Royal Guard tower overlooking the city. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Vale followed his gaze. At the tower's summit, Commander Ares stepped into the open air. The wind rolled around him violently, carrying his dark mantle behind him like the wings of a dragon.

Sunlight reflected off the black draconic features lining his body, giving him the appearance of some celestial war deity descending onto a battlefield. At the same time, the Category Seven released a low growl. Azure light began building within the exposed cavities of its skeletal body. Veins of energy spread through its bones like lightning trapped beneath glass, gathering toward its jaws in increasingly violent currents. The ocean around it trembled from the pressure alone.

Vale's attention remained fixed on Ares. The commander did not appear concerned in the slightest. He simply raised one fist. The beast opened its maw. A beam erupted. Azure annihilation tore across the ocean, vaporizing seawater in its path and splitting the sea apart as though the world itself had been cleaved open. Tidal waves rose behind the attack while the beam crossed the distance toward Irea at impossible speed. Ares inhaled deeply once. Then he punched. The motion was fluid. Effortless even.

An invisible shockwave detonated through the atmosphere. The beam shattered instantly. The compressed force continued forward without losing momentum, slamming into the Category Seven with catastrophic power. One of the beast's gargantuan forelimbs exploded apart, torn clean from its body in a storm of black flesh and fractured bone. For the first time, the creature screamed in pain. The sound shook the heavens. Yet only seconds later, new bone erupted from the severed limb.

Flesh followed immediately after, regenerating the arm almost completely before the remains had even fallen into the sea. Vale's eyes shook.

"I thought abilities were impossible here," he muttered suspiciously, glancing toward the boss. The man noticed and grinned knowingly.

"Normally? They are," he replied.

"But there are always exceptions to every law." Vale rubbed his forehead.

"It generates its own internal energy," he guessed.

"Like an organ specifically evolved for it." The boss pointed dramatically at him.

"Bing bing. Right on the money." He immediately doubled over coughing afterward, clutching his stomach.

"Damn disease…" he wheezed before straightening again with visible irritation.

"Anyway, Ares could handle this alone if he absolutely had to." The boss's smile returned.

"And even if he couldn't," he added calmly, "there are still two others capable of killing it." Vale blinked. He already knew one answer.

"Drago," he said slowly.

"And…" His voice trailed off. The boss looked at him with dark, amused eyes.

"Oh, I'm sure you've heard of the other one," he said.

"You did read his book on Nirvana, after all." Vale froze. A single name surfaced in his mind. His eyes widened slightly as he whispered it beneath his breath.

"…Siegfried." Vale stared blankly into the distance for several long seconds, his mind completely detached from the world around him.

'Both of them are here?' The thought echoed through his head in stunned disbelief. His eyes remained fixed on nothing as realization slowly began to settle into place. But how? He had spent months in Irea. He had met nobles, commanders, Sentinels, scholars, merchants, and figures influential enough to shape entire districts with a single order. Yet never once had he encountered the legendary creator of the book of Nirvana.

Siegfried was less a man and more a myth, a name spoken with the same reverence reserved for ancient heroes and impossible monsters. Then another thought struck him. Wait. Vale's eyes narrowed sharply.

'How does he even know I read that book?' His head snapped back toward the boss, suspicion immediately replacing his confusion.

"How do you know I read Siegfried's book on Nirvana?" Vale demanded.

"And how do you know him personally?" The man merely chuckled to himself, almost childishly amused by Vale's reaction. He leaned lazily against the railing overlooking the ocean while the wind rolled through his bronze hair.

"Oh, dear Lionheart," he said with a widening smile, "I think it's finally time you knew." Vale frowned. The man turned fully toward him. Dark eyes met Vale's own.

"I," he said calmly, "am Siegfried." Silence. For one brief moment, Vale's thoughts ceased functioning entirely. Shock froze across his face. Lucias nearly choked on his drink while Korin's brows shot upward in visible disbelief. Even Vale himself struggled to process the statement. The man standing before him, the sarcastic, alcohol-drinking owner of a colosseum, could not possibly be the same individual whose writings had reshaped entire schools of combat theory.

Yet before Vale could form a response, A roar erupted across the ocean. It was monstrous. Horrifying. The sound slammed into the kingdom like a physical force, tearing Vale's attention away instantly. He twisted toward the coastline just in time to see the Category Seven surging through the sea toward Irea with catastrophic speed. Entire walls of water rose behind it while its massive limbs crushed through the ocean floor beneath the waves. Vale's instincts screamed immediately. It cannot reach the city.

Panic surged through him for the briefest instant. But one instant was enough. The ocean exploded. Massive onyx tentacles erupted from beneath the sea without warning, each one large enough to coil around fortress towers. They moved with terrifying precision, wrapping themselves around the beast's limbs before it could react properly. The Category Seven roared furiously.

Azure energy ignited throughout its skeletal body once more as it opened its jaws to unleash another annihilating beam, but several more tentacles shot upward and wrapped around its maw, forcing it shut with overwhelming force. The beast thrashed violently. The sea churned into chaos around it as it struggled to tear itself free, yet the tentacles only tightened further.

Their surfaces were lined with countless blade-like protrusions, and every attempt at resistance merely carved deeper wounds into the monster's body. Black and crimson blood flooded into the ocean in enormous quantities. Then the crushing began. Vale's eyes widened slowly as the tentacles constricted tighter and tighter around the creature's limbs, folding its exposed bone armor inward with sickening cracks. The Category Seven shrieked in agony, a sound so loud the air itself seemed to tremble beneath it.

And still the tentacles did not stop. They lifted the colossal beast entirely from the ocean, suspending it helplessly above the waves like prey caught in the grasp of some ancient abyssal god. Then, almost leisurely, they tore its limbs off. One by one. The sound of flesh ripping apart echoed across the coastline while the creature screamed endlessly. Yet each time a limb regenerated, the tentacles simply ripped it away again. There was no urgency to the violence. No rage. Only methodical cruelty.

Vale stared silently at the scene unfolding before him, horror slowly settling behind his eyes. He had heard stories about the Goliath of the Reef before. Every citizen of Irea had. Sailors spoke its name in hushed voices, nobles treated it like a natural disaster, and even Sentinels avoided discussing it directly. But Vale had never imagined this. The ocean itself seemed to belong to the creature.

After several moments of torture, three enormous tentacles twisted together beneath the Category Seven's body, intertwining into a single colossal spear. The construct sharpened itself as it formed, black surfaces gleaming beneath streaks of crimson light. Then it struck upward. The improvised spear pierced directly through the monster's chest, impaling its heart completely. Black-red blood erupted from the wound in torrents as the Category Seven released one final broken shriek. Then silence fell.

Its body went limp. Dead. For several long seconds, nobody spoke. The tentacles slowly lowered the corpse back into the ocean depths before dragging it beneath the waves entirely. The sea closed over the carcass as though swallowing evidence of the massacre itself. No celebration followed. No triumphant display. The Goliath of the Reef simply disappeared back into the abyss after saving the kingdom once more. And somehow, that mercy was exactly what made it terrifying.

Because nobody truly understood why it protected Irea. Nobody knew what it wanted. Nobody knew what it was thinking beneath those endless waters. And perhaps worst of all, Nobody knew what would happen if it ever decided to stop being merciful.