The aura and Magic fluctuations on these creatures proved that each of them was at least Gold Rank. Beyond them, many other monsters close to peak Silver rank also appeared. They burst out of the ground from all kinds of places, some even erupting from inside human bodies, as dozens or hundreds of blank-faced people melted together into a single warped monster.
Every one of these creatures had been carefully prepared by Salva, mixed with Blessed Power, and each possessed at least one specialized ability meant to counter a Great Dragon. There were several dozen in total, and some of the sacrifices still bore the shapes of humans who had once been powerful fighters in earlier battles. Now, monsters of all sizes formed a tight ring around the Great Dragon.
This did not mean that Salva could casually pull out this much combat power at any time. In fact, being able to bring out so many here was thanks to a certain dragon. These were originally meant to be mixed into the Beast Tide as the vanguard attacking various cities.
Everyone knew how brutal Belial Map had been earlier, with large numbers of Beast Tide wiped out halfway by the Great Dragon before they ever reached their targets. Not a single one survived. The original plan of Salva and Kwenfield had been to snowball through battle, feeding war with war, and these creations were still unfinished prototypes.
Later, that dragon hunted too fiercely, cutting off their resources, leaving these projects with no future except to gather dust. Then Kwenfield himself was punched apart by a passing, well-meaning dragon. That same dragon crushed the original plan down to a single basic objective.
Only then were these projects restarted, with Kwenfield providing massive unused resources from other areas. This included precious Blessed Power and believers no longer needed in other cities. Salva was overjoyed and worked nonstop, finally finishing this batch of modified monsters, each with a unique trick and a hidden weapon meant to surprise.
Both of them took this matter far more seriously than expected. Their target was only one thing, that dragon. One feared that if the slaughter continued, the foundation of his plan would be smashed, while the other felt the same and was also deeply interested in the dragon itself.
Salva was not careless and could even be called extremely cautious, pouring effort into every step of the plan. The problem was that no matter how highly he estimated the enemy, his imagined upper limit did not even reach the opponent's lower bound. At that point, planning itself became meaningless.
"I am surrounded by death."
Standing at the center, Mephist casually swept his gaze around, dragon pupils reflecting one experience pack after another. These were all the red-dot targets that had been hiding earlier. There were also corpses everywhere.
It was clear that the mastermind was probably right here. The largest red dot was still inside the collapsed castle and had not moved at all. At worst, the enemy had been crippled by this small counterattack and could only lie there unable to move.
Or maybe something vicious was being prepared in secret, whether calling reinforcements or activating a hidden reserve. Either way, judging by the strength of these experience packs, he was not afraid at all. Still, it was obvious that the other side was getting desperate.
Everything that had been hidden was thrown out at once, either because their mentality collapsed or because they wanted to stall for time. With the advantage in hand, Belial even felt like watching to see what else they could pull off, temporarily ignoring the central red dot. If they were calling more people, that would be even better.
So he turned his head and looked around.
"Who's coming first?"
No one could understand his words. The surrounding monsters also did not decide who would go first and instead charged together. As planned, their forms differed but their coordination was tight, with several large and obviously durable ones rushing in while others retreated at high speed, Magic light flaring as Magic Array appeared.
A massive black slime, its surface flowing with corpse fragments, wrapped tentacles formed from its body around the Great Dragon's limbs. At the same time, light flared again on Belial's body, and a familiar pressure descended. Other monsters released wide-area Magic domains that forced back large amounts of Ice Element and pushed Magic into a sluggish state.
A strange monster with a spiral, razor-sharp bird beak seized the moment to charge forward. Beneath its beak hung a visible dark green venom sac, containing enough poison to drown an adult. This was one of the monsters chosen in advance, meant to weaken the Great Dragon's body and Magic with toxins, while the slime's flexible, sticky body handled restraint.
With other monsters providing Magic support, it formed a simple but effective killing move. Or at least, it was supposed to. That idea collapsed instantly.
"That's disgusting. Get away from me."
Terrifying cold surged directly from the gaps between his scales. One of the prepared plans was completely useless. Even ignoring the freezing organs inside his body, the surface alone was covered in scales formed from highly concentrated Ice Element.
With a casual exertion of force, the water-filled tentacles froze into brittle ice and shattered easily. His claws plunged straight into the liquid body and precisely crushed the core. After absorbing its Magic, he smashed it to pieces with a tail strike, ending it on the spot.
Belial calmly activated Space Claw, clenched his fist, and punched the charging monster. The overwhelming force and destructive energy crushed the beak, harder than diamond, from the tip all the way to the root. The pitiful howl was driven back down its throat, followed by a brutal blow to the head.
The skull burst like an eggshell, the brain instantly charred, and the so-called deadly poison was neutralized. The energy did not stop there and surged through the opening into the body, destroying vital organs from the inside under Belial's precise control, then blasting it apart with Rend. The result scattered everywhere.
The negative domains meant to counter Belial had almost no effect. Their biggest drawback was simply blocking his view, which made the next target obvious. The spines on his back lit up, and the deathly cold light appeared again, frost already forming on the ground from the warning alone.
The enemy was not worth charging up for. A quick ice breath tore through the battlefield, ignoring the giant bear that jumped out to serve as a shield. Its specially treated body, supposedly highly resistant to Ice Element, shattered like a fake, with half its body frozen and crushed instantly.
The icy Magic torrent smashed the flesh apart, pierced through an emergency fire wall Magic, and struck the casting monster directly. There was no suspense, as it died on the spot. Even a simple attack was stronger than the earlier charged breath that had spread its power too widely.
The frozen ground beneath Belial's feet suddenly softened into mud, the earth flowing like waves of sludge. He did not even look down, simply lifting his foot out with brute force. Ice-blue light flowed between his claws and scales as Gravity Tornado activated, crushing the refrozen ground and pinning the troublesome monster beneath it.
"This is boring. Can you do something interesting?"
A bat-like monster spread its wings but never managed to take off. A castle spire, broken earlier by Gravity Tornado, was accelerated past the sound barrier, and under the added gravity it slammed down like judgment, nailing the creature to the ground.
Less than five minutes into the fight, the once highly anticipated modified monsters were dying at an extreme rate. Not a single one lasted more than three moves. This was a situation Salva had never considered.
The carefully arranged plan at the center was smashed to pieces by absolute violence. However, backup plans existed for precisely such impossible situations. To be honest, Salva had never truly considered this one as a real plan.
His charred body lay beneath layers of collapsed stone and brick. The earlier attack had not killed him, but it reminded him of one thing, the absolute gap between enemy and self. His voice was low and filled with obsession.
"That thing is really a dragon? I really want to take it apart and see."
Salva did not repair his broken body. Instead, it began to melt, flesh, bones, and organs dissolving into a pool of flowing black mud. Even his brain liquefied, yet he could still think, calm and filled with an even more intense madness.
That absolute power, the deep intelligence hidden beneath savage appearance, and every unfamiliar structure of that body felt like art. Everything was beautiful to him beyond measure. His voice trembled with fixation as the thought repeated again and again.
"I absolutely have to take you apart and look."
Magic containing the element of darkness began to flow, using the shattered brain in the castle as a focus. This madness-filled Magic spread through the ruins and into the minds of the surviving flesh puppets. The time bought by those creations was far shorter than expected, but it was enough.