Buzz! Buzz!
Along with the low murmuring chant, an utterly terrifying surge of magic power suddenly spread out from deep within the purple-black mist. The oppressive pressure was so overwhelming that even the rampaging monsters nearby froze for a brief moment.
Erza and the others were struck dumb, their faces filled with shock.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion rang out as a massive black shadow shot out of the fog like a cannonball, crashing violently into the forest dozens of meters away.
Crack, crack, crack!
The momentum didn't slow in the slightest. The black shape smashed through dozens of towering trees and massive boulders, carving a clear path through the dense forest before finally grinding to a halt.
"That is…?" When Erza and the others finally saw what the shadow was, their pupils instantly tightened.
The massive black shadow was none other than the black-scaled monster. Its neck had twisted into an unnatural angle. The left side of its face looked as though it had been struck by an overwhelming blow. Broken bone fragments even pierced through the flesh in places.
"…Such terrifying strength." Erza's expression grew solemn.
To send a monster of that size flying with a single blow and kill it instantly was power beyond imagination.
As the black-scaled monster lay dead, the purple-black mist gradually dissipated, slowly revealing Ur's figure.
Erza stared at Ur, the doubt in her eyes growing even deeper. 'Is he really this strong? Or could it be that Ur has already...?' She pondered silently.
At the same time, Natsu stared at the black-scaled monster that Ur had sent flying, his eyes sparkling as if they were about to shine.
"A-amazing!"
"Ur, you're incredible!"
Smack! Smack! Smack!
That idiot rushed over excitedly to Ur's side and began slapping Ur's back repeatedly with loud pa pa pa sounds, nearly knocking him straight to the ground.
Although Ur's physical condition was far stronger than that of an ordinary mage, one had to remember that this fool practiced Dragon Slayer Magic. At its core, Dragon Slayer Magic was about turning humans into dragons, wielding draconic power to fight dragons. In other words, even if Natsu couldn't yet compare to a real dragon, his physical strength was absolutely at a monstrous level.
What's more, Ur was still injured. With the way Natsu hit without holding back, the fact that Ur wasn't coughing up blood already was only thanks to his exceptional physique.
With a deathly pale face, Ur shot the idiot in front of him an annoyed glare. And then, that idiot grinned even wider, flashing a mouthful of bright white teeth.
Clearly, he hadn't understood the meaning of Ur's glare at all. In his mind, he probably thought Ur was praising him.
Ur could only sigh helplessly. When it came to Natsu, this overgrown child of joy, he genuinely didn't know what to say anymore. With that level of intelligence, even if Ur tried to explain what that glare meant, he doubted he'd manage to make it clear in this lifetime.
The power of Lava Beast Armor was immense, but its consumption was equally terrifying. With less than a hundred points of magic left, Ur couldn't sustain it for long. That was why he had wanted to end the fight quickly.
Originally, he planned to restrain the black-scaled monster's movements to prevent it from dodging when he attacked, but he hadn't expected the monster to choose a head-on collision instead.
And just like that, it died.
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"All units, listen up! Don't let a single monster escape!"
"Hurry up, move faster!"
"Maintain formation, don't break ranks!"
Scattered shouts rang out as the reinforcements from the Magic Council finally arrived. After Mirajane requested help from the guild, Makarov not only dispatched guild members for support but also reported the matter to the Magic Council.
After all, the involvement of a dark guild placed this matter squarely under the Council's jurisdiction. If Mirajane and the others hadn't already been directly involved, Makarov might not have sent any guild members at all.
While "eliminating dark guilds" was everyone's responsibility in theory, in reality, how many guilds truly devoted all their resources to fighting them?
Everyone understood the saying "When the lips are gone, the teeth grow cold, but they also understood "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down."
Otherwise, why did the Magic Council's troops arrive neither early nor late, but precisely when the battle was about to end?
Don't forget—Makarov had notified both the guild members and the Magic Council at the same time. So why did the Council's forces arrive so much later, and with such impeccable timing?
A mere coincidence was hardly enough to explain that.
The appearance of the Council's detention force served only one purpose: speeding up the end of the battle.
When they left, they also "incidentally" took Singer, the so-called spoils of war, straight from Ur's hands. If Ur hadn't been completely exhausted, he wasn't sure he could have restrained the urge to draw his sword and start cutting people down.
Aside from that, the Magic Council didn't really find any other "spoils of war" on the battlefield. Not because they couldn't find them, but because the remaining spoils had already been collected by Ur long ago.
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Next Chapter: The End
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