The mission was in Lingfeng Zonya, and it seemed to overlap with Gildarts's century-long mission. Caesar wasn't sure if they would run into each other.
Three months had passed since discussing the Fairy Ball with Mavis. On this day, Caesar received an ordinary S-class crusade mission, but the location was a bit interesting. If unlucky, he might run into Gildarts and Acnologia. If lucky, he could finish the mission without meeting them and head home.
Flying all the way there, Caesar arrived near Zonya with a little unease in his heart. On the way to Lingfeng Zonya, he passed a large lake.
Then…
Caesar saw Gildarts sitting by the lake, fishing with a comfortable expression.
"Gildarts?!" Caesar's mouth twitched — seemed his luck was bad.
"Hey, little Caesar? Why are you here?" Gildarts turned, surprised.
"I took an S-class commission and happened to be nearby," Caesar explained briefly. "What about you?"
"Oh, I'm on the 100-year mission," Gildarts said, waving casually. He still had all his limbs, meaning he hadn't encountered the black dragon yet.
"100-year mission? Fishing?"
"That's just a little leisure time during the mission," Gildarts grinned. "It's normal for men to like fishing."
Caesar… No wonder he gets along so well with Natsu and the others.
He sat beside Gildarts and chatted about the guild. Gildarts didn't share details about the mission due to confidentiality, and Caesar didn't pry.
The creatures on the Kiltina Continent were different from those on the East Continent, which made Gildarts obsessed with fishing. Caesar suspected that in the original timeline, most of Gildarts's "100-year mission" time was probably spent fishing.
Like now — Gildarts had been here almost three weeks.
Mission? How could it compare to fishing? Wasn't the mission something you could finish easily?
Caesar reminded him, though he doubted Gildarts was listening. Judging by his look, he definitely wasn't.
Caesar shook his head and checked the time — almost 11 o'clock. If he found his target quickly, he could finish by noon, go home early, and avoid the black dragon.
After all, Caesar was no match for Acnologia yet. Even with unlimited magic recovery, his combat power was only about 1.2 million. Gildarts, without going all out, had over 300,000, but could sustain it far longer.
In short, if Caesar ran into the black dragon now, he'd be killed instantly. Better to keep a low profile.
With that in mind, Caesar bid farewell to Gildarts and flew toward Lingfeng Zonya.
After more than half an hour, he found his target — a troll stone statue made of rock. Its surface had high anti-magic properties, making it resistant to magic and physically durable. A tank of a monster.
Still, not a big problem for Caesar.
He landed and looked at the troll statue disguised as a boulder. Dragon Slayer magic gathered in his hands, causing space to ripple.
Suddenly, he clawed downward, releasing several space slashes toward the statue.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions blasted the statue into stone chips, though the damage was minimal.
"The defense is really strong," Caesar muttered. A glow enveloped him, and his hair vanished.
The troll statue stood, over five meters tall, and swung a heavy punch toward Caesar.
"Ordinary punch."
Caesar stepped forward, meeting it with a hard right fist.
Boom!
The troll statue was blown back into the mountain. The entire Lingfeng Zonya shook. Its right arm shattered, but it tried to retreat.
"Tsk, wasting my magic," Caesar clicked his tongue. He flashed forward, lightning-fast, appearing before it.
The statue's eyes filled with fear, but before it could move, a fist filled its vision.
Bang!
Its head exploded, blowing a hole clear through the mountain.
Caesar scratched his bald head with a sigh. "This is why I don't like taking Saitama-style jobs. Too much collateral damage, and I have to repair it afterward."
He dragged the corpse out, his hair returning in a flash of light. Pressing his hands to the mountain, he manipulated earth and stone to fill the hole.
As he worked, he didn't notice the tremors growing stronger.
Elsewhere, Gildarts suddenly felt it. He dropped his fishing rod and rushed toward Lingfeng Zonya.
Caesar finished repairs, though it cost him some magic power — wasteful in his opinion. He picked up the troll statue's corpse to report back, but paused. The tremors under his feet were continuous now.
"Rift it… I need to learn some kind of spiritual sense like in those cultivation novels."
He put on his combat power detector. The moment he did, it beeped frantically before exploding.
"Rift it! The black dragon!"
Even through the clouds, he felt Acnologia's massive body and magic pressure.
"Retreat!"
He shoved the corpse into his game backpack and teleported away. With his Take Over Dragon Slayer magic, he could jump over 3,000 meters in one go.
After several teleports, he was far from Lingfeng Zonya.
"Little Caesar! Be careful!!!"
He barely had time to relax before hearing Gildarts's shout. The next moment, he saw Gildarts's strongest attack headed his way — Breaking Evil, Revealing the Righteous: One Day!
Caesar's pupils shrank, and he instantly teleported again.