When Gauss entered the battlefield, the Dragon Cultists' death toll crossed a tipping point. The fighting spirit they'd barely maintained through sheer numbers collapsed almost instantly.
Fear spread through the ranks like a plague.
"Run!"
Rip—!
Someone shouted and started to move—only for a burning flame arrow to punch straight through his stomach.
Gauss wasn't letting a single cultist who took part in this operation escape.
"Hold the line! No one runs!"
"Lady Cecilia is coming to support us!"
The master-tier warrior bellowed.
His rough voice rolled across the battlefield like a war drum.
He even cut down two cultists beside him who tried to flee.
And after that shout—especially when they heard the name Cecilia—the crowd forced down their terror and barely held formation.
They raised their weapons and tried to reorganize an attack on Gauss's group.
But in truth, it only changed the battle's direction by a drop in the ocean.
Their resistance could only add tiny, negligible friction to Gauss's advance.
From the corner of his eye, Gauss glanced at Alia floating in midair.
She was still sealed inside a mysterious barrier.
As for the silver wolf, Ulfen, Serandur had already done emergency treatment: the spear in its abdomen had been pulled out, and healing magic had stopped the bleeding and closed the wound.
From the slight rise and fall of its body, it didn't look like its life was in danger.
Alia, however, was in trouble.
With her inside that shield, even Serandur couldn't heal her through it.
He had to end this fight fast.
Gauss didn't slow down.
His free left hand extended black-red energy tendrils, lashing several goblins nearby.
The goblins' bodies twitched—then their flesh visibly began to shrivel under the skin, as if something was being sucked out.
I've almost finished off the ordinary cultists and monsters, he thought. Time to help Alberna and Shadow.
And then the situation shifted abruptly.
Up in the sky—
a crushing presence suddenly pressed down over the entire battlefield.
What?
Gauss snapped his gaze upward, instantly on guard.
In the clouds, under the dazzling afternoon sun, a blue-white skeletal dragon slowly descended.
It wasn't as huge as the adult dragon from the warlock's illusion earlier—but it was still clearly two sizes larger than the red drake, Hephaestus.
There was no flesh on it at all—only thick, twisted blue-white bones exposed to the air. In its hollow eye sockets, two ghostly-blue soul flames burned.
Torn wing membranes clung to its massive wing bones, and every flap sent out a piercing, death-cold wind.
It wasn't just the temperature dropping—it was a soul-deep pressure that made your skin crawl.
"Wooo!"
"Welcome, Lady Cecilia!"
"Welcome, Lady Cecilia!"
The Dragon Cultists, who'd been sagging moments ago, instantly perked up like they'd found their spine again. Morale surged as they screamed up at the sky.
Gauss stared upward, tense.
The woman riding that bone dragon drew all his attention.
She wore a dark red robe and a mask—her face hidden.
But the aura she gave off made one thing clear:
She was terrifying.
"Careful!" Gauss warned the others.
Cecilia, though, didn't seem interested in anyone else.
From behind her mask, those sharp, narrow eyes locked onto Gauss like a hook, pupils shimmering with hungry curiosity.
She licked her lips almost unconsciously.
Ever since becoming a dragon priest, she'd lost many of the "lowly human" desires and emotions… yet now, watching that powerful figure below, her heartbeat sped up on its own, and her ice-cold body felt like it warmed by a degree.
To someone like her—already half-transformed—Gauss's current form was a lethal temptation.
"So you're Gauss…"
She murmured, barely above a whisper.
"What a shame."
If she'd met him out in the wild, she would've taken him for herself—made him her property.
But he'd already been "reserved" by the Green Dragon Queen.
No matter how unwilling she felt, she had to follow orders and deliver Gauss to the queen—or face that dragon's wrath, something a mere dragon priest couldn't endure.
"Let me check your quality."
Cecilia fixed her gaze on Gauss and urged her skeletal dragon into a dive.
BOOM!!!
Like a meteor slamming into earth.
Gauss barely dodged aside. His right hand—now a dragon claw—stabbed into the ground to anchor his body.
The monsters around him weren't so lucky; they became paste beneath the dive.
"So fast!"
"No… I'm slower."
Gauss's heart jolted.
Yes, she was fast—but he also felt his movement being suppressed, as if the air itself had turned heavy.
"Not bad."
Perched on the dragon's back, Cecilia nodded like she was appraising merchandise.
Up close, she could even smell something "sweet" coming off him.
A tiny devil-voice whispered at her ear:
Why can't he be mine?
But—
"No!"
Her reason crushed the impulse instantly.
She'd visited the adult green dragon many times. She knew how terrifying that creature truly was.
The queen couldn't freely enter human kingdoms—but neither could Cecilia.
And other Dragon Cult higher-ups would happily sell her out for the queen's favor.
Cecilia's eyes sharpened.
This man was wrong in some way.
She shouldn't be this unsettled.
Was it a charm? Some illusion she hadn't noticed?
"Then I'll just have to subdue you first—before you 'bewitch' me and mess with my mind."
She let out a bright, girlish giggle.
But the sound that reached Gauss was cold enough to raise goosebumps.
And her words made no sense.
Bewitch? He hadn't done anything.
Still—one thing was obvious: she was about to get serious.
She raised a staff as tall as a man.
Icy, sinister energy flowed around her like tangible smoke.
Crack-crack-crack!
In the blink of an eye—too fast to react—
the ground beneath Gauss turned blue.
Then razor-sharp ice surged up around him, interlocking into a dome-shaped coffin—an inverted bowl of crystal spikes.
And it began shrinking tighter and tighter.
"Magic Missile!"
Gauss fired several volleys.
The missiles shattered off the ice, only spraying frost chips. The prison didn't break.
"Ridiculously tough!"
Urgency slammed into him.
His instincts screamed: letting that ice coffin close on him would be disastrous.
Once his space narrowed, escaping would become even harder.
"Just surrender."
"Why struggle?"
"If I wanted you dead, it would be effortless."
Cecilia pointed lazily.
An ice blade slid past Gauss's cheek.
Rip—!
His energy scales split, and blood trickled down.
Gauss's face stayed blank.
He looked at the dragon priest seated above, and at her eyes—playful, amused—like he was already caught.
He understood it now, with brutal clarity:
This was the strongest enemy he had ever faced. Bar none.
From the corner of his eye, he saw new ice spikes forming along the coffin's surface.
Each strike could shatter his current defenses.
This opponent was outside his normal limits.
And she was clearly trying to capture him alive.
Those spikes had been warnings—taunts—not aimed at vital spots.
"…Heh."
In that moment, Gauss's lips curled into a faint smile.
His blood began to heat.
Against weaker foes, it had been slaughter.
This—this was a fight.
"Sure, you're stronger than me right now… but a cornered rabbit still bites."
Those molten-gold pupils flicked to his teammates, to Alia unconscious, to Cecilia on the bone dragon—then hardened into something icy and sharp.
His humanity began to drain away.
Something terrifying rose in its place.
Far away, Hephaestus—the red drake, barely stabilized by Serandur—suddenly felt a familiar yet alien power swelling in one direction.
It shivered.
Its half-mended wounds throbbed as if reopening.
And it remembered the first time it met Gauss—remembered the fear of being utterly dominated.
"Ghoul Form—ON!"
Gauss growled low, like a dragon's wrath made voice.
Mana erupted from his body, violent and unrestrained.
His hair surged longer, bleached into a pale, bone-white cascade.
Crack!
His bones thundered. In a blink, his body stretched taller, larger.
Intricate, beautiful spectral scale-armor spread across him.
With a tearing sound, a pair of wings unfurled from his back—several meters long.
An ancient, domineering power woke inside him.
Cecilia's pupils snapped tight.
Behind her mask, her expression turned serious.
"This…?"
If earlier Gauss only felt dragon-like…
Now, in her senses, his aura was indistinguishable from a true dragon's.
Not the fake drake under her—an actual dragon.
She'd seen dragons, served dragons—no one understood their terror and majesty better than she did.
"Interesting."
"Very interesting."
In her eyes, Gauss became a treasure beyond price.
The Dragon Cult's grand dream—made flesh.
Was he the key for humans to become dragons?
Her plan changed completely.
Forget delivering him to the Green Dragon Queen.
This… belonged to Cecilia. It had to.
"Vampiric Touch!"
In that explosive dragon-ghoul form, Gauss gained overwhelming physical power and spellcasting output.
A full-spectrum buff.
The only cost was terrifying energy burn—and damage to his body.
He slammed into the ice coffin.
Black-red tendrils exploded from him, swelling into a thick whip that smashed into the ice.
BOOM!
This time it worked.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the coffin.
A second lash—
The ice coffin shattered!
Ice fragments sprayed everywhere.
Gauss didn't hesitate.
Wings spread, flight magic + raw burst speed.
A white afterimage lingered where he'd been—
and in the next instant, he'd flashed right up to Cecilia.
CLANG!
Cecilia reacted instantly.
Her staff snapped up, and a barrier flared between them.
"Fireball!"
A spark ignited in Gauss's clawed palm.
It formed in seconds—ten times faster than usual—then he shoved it straight at her.
ROOOOAR!
Like a volcanic eruption.
Heat that could melt bone surged outward in that split-second clash.
The ground cracked; fire swallowed Gauss, Cecilia, and the bone dragon.
Through the smoke, a white figure blasted backward—Gauss.
A blue water-shield had already formed in front of him, absorbing part of the shockwave and converting it into recoil thrust to fling him out of the blast zone.
Even with holy water protecting him, his scales still shattered; blood seeped out.
That hadn't been a normal fireball—it was a reinforced, point-blank detonation.
Gauss coughed, blood on his lips.
His eyes snapped to the nearby monsters.
Vampiric Touch lashed out, ensnaring them.
In seconds, they dried into husks—life force ripped away—while Gauss's wounds sealed shut.
On this battlefield, most enemies were just blood bags for him.
He looked back through the thinning smoke.
The bone dragon reappeared—its skeletal frame visibly damaged.
On its back, Cecilia's mask was gone.
And beneath it…
A face like dried parchment: no flesh, only tight skin clinging to bone.
Her expression was ugly.
She'd thought this was a guaranteed capture.
Instead, her "prey" had hurt her.
"You're a little too naughty, child."
Her voice was cold, squeezed through her teeth.
She'd held back to avoid damaging him.
Now she couldn't afford that.
The bone dragon beat its wings and rose.
Cecilia lifted her staff.
The sky filled with wind and snow.
The ice blades that had injured Gauss before reappeared—one, two, then countless—spiraling in a storm.
Far away, Shadow and Alberna both disengaged from their opponents, staring at the sudden change in the weather.
Wind tore the clouds apart.
The bone dragon hovered inside the blizzard.
Below it, Gauss stood alone.
Then—
"ROAR!!!"
A roar answered back.
Hephaestus, still injured, surged upward, flames bursting from its body.
It flew to Gauss's side.
Its presence wasn't just back to normal—it felt stronger.
Gauss swung up onto Hephaestus's back.
Heat poured up from the drake beneath him, and inside Gauss a strange energy stirred—linking him and Hephaestus together.
Is that you? Gauss thought.
But there was no time.
Hephaestus's mouth overflowed with molten fire, barely contained.
"Only us, Hephaestus!"
Gauss pressed a hand to its neck. Their intent snapped into alignment.
Two "dragons" in the air.
They charged.
Blizzard and flame tore at each other.
On their backs, Gauss and Cecilia traded spells—enhanced magic slamming through the storm.
Slash!
An ice spike carved Gauss's waist.
No good.
A pure spell duel was a losing game.
He wasn't fighting Cecilia and her bone dragon—he was fighting the sky itself.
In under a minute, he was already shredded with injuries.
The bone dragon could tank his attacks like it didn't care.
His energy was draining fast. Even with Hephaestus feeding him power, he couldn't win an attrition grind.
And Cecilia was patient, waiting to cook him alive slowly.
Then—
death-forward aggression.
"Get in close! Bite it apart!"
Gauss stood on the dragon's back, eyes feral.
Even if he died, he'd die swinging—not bled out and exhausted.
And he could tell: Cecilia still wanted him alive.
That was a leash.
The more reckless he became, the more she had to hold back.
He flared his wings and launched himself into the air.
In aerial combat, he could be a dragon too.
Ice spikes screamed toward him; he twisted through them, wings flexing, and with Hephaestus flanking, both of them dove toward the bone dragon.