From far above the devastated campus, hovering in the cloud layer, Elric finally saw the dormant entity clearly for the first time since it had begun its metamorphosis.
The colossal monster buried beneath the university grounds looked eerily similar to the Ten-Tails.
But somehow, this thing was even worse.
When it had first violently emerged weeks ago, its main body had measured nearly a kilometer tall—already incomprehensibly massive.
Now, after its extended period of dormant growth—
It had swollen to almost three full kilometers in height and width.
Its impossibly colossal mass lay coiled like a sleeping god of apocalypse, half-buried beneath shattered campus buildings and torn earth. Its surface pulsed faintly with rhythmic movement as if the entire structure were breathing.
Elric hovered motionlessly in the clouds, golden dragon eyes narrowing with concern.
"It's grown substantially again..."
The rate of development was genuinely alarming.
BOOM.
The monster suddenly stirred from dormancy.
From its massive central core, thousands upon thousands of ash-gray tentacles erupted explosively outward in all directions, spreading across the landscape like the roots of some world-devouring nightmare tree.
They pierced through streets with ease, smashed concrete pillars like toothpicks, tore through abandoned vehicles, and actively searched for any signs of life to consume.
A mutated feline creature—already grown to seven or eight meters tall through its own apocalyptic evolution—leapt desperately to escape the questing tentacles.
Too late.
One thick tendril wrapped around its torso with crushing force and dragged it screaming back toward the central mass.
A massive vertical maw—previously hidden—split open near the monster's base.
No visible teeth lined it.
Just a bottomless void of absolute darkness.
The mutant beast was swallowed whole in a single gulp.
Crunch.
Gone. Digested instantly.
But the tentacles did not stop their hunting after a single prey.
They shifted direction deliberately—extending outward five full kilometers away—toward what had once been a commercial shopping district.
Several grain and oil supermarkets still stood partially intact there, their supply-filled interiors having attracted desperate survivors.
A refugee cluster. Hundreds of people sheltering together.
The building windows shattered explosively one after another.
Tentacles slipped inside like intelligent serpents, wrapping around screaming victims.
People were dragged out bodily, hauled into the open air.
Men. Women. Even children.
Four... five hundred people at minimum were hoisted through the air like helpless livestock, struggling uselessly against supernatural strength.
"No—NO! PLEASE!"
"Someone help us!"
Desperate cries echoed across the ruins.
One by one, systematically, they were fed directly into the monster's gaping maw.
Consumed. Absorbed. Added to its growing mass.
Elric watched this horror unfold silently from his position in the sky.
He did not move to intervene.
His Clairvoyance had already scanned the crowd—no qualified adopters among them who met system standards.
Therefore, no compelling reason to waste energy intervening.
This monster was clearly not ordinary prey that could be casually defeated. Even for him, fighting something this massive would mean significant energy consumption and risk.
Better to observe, gather intelligence, and—
He started to turn away deliberately—
Then stopped abruptly.
His gaze snapped back sharply to the crowd of victims being dragged through the air.
Among them—
He saw a strikingly familiar face.
Ivy.
His former neighbor's oldest sister.
Before the apocalypse, when Elric had been adopted into family and treated like an unwanted outsider by most relatives—looked down upon, dismissed, practically invisible—
She had been different.
She had helped him when no one else cared. She had spoken up for him when others criticized. She had actively protected him.
The sisters, three remarkable women who lived in the adjacent apartment:
Eldest: Ivy — a cold, capable corporate executive in her mid-thirties, commanding and intelligent.
Second: Daisy — a gentle, elegant teacher with impossibly long legs and patient demeanor.
Youngest: Ruby — lively, youthful, energetic—still a college student when the world ended.
He had only glanced at the struggling crowd for a moment—
But he was absolutely certain.
That was definitely her. Ivy, being dragged toward certain death.
Elric's golden dragon eyes hardened.
"ROAR—!"
The massive dragon head emerged fully from the concealing clouds.
WHOOOOSH!
A blazing Heat Breath erupted from deep in his throat—a concentrated beam of apocalyptic flame.
The fire slammed directly into the monster's root system with devastating impact.
BOOOOOM!
Tentacles vaporized instantly, reduced to ash in milliseconds.
The intense heat spread outward like molten sunlight given physical form, severing every grasping connection.
All captured refugees fell free from disintegrating bonds.
Including Ivy, who collapsed onto rubble but immediately scrambled backward.
The rescued survivors looked upward in absolute terror at the emerald dragon now hovering prominently in the clouds above them.
Was this another monster come to devour them?
Or... impossibly... their salvation?
Elric did not descend to ground level yet to explain or reassure them.
He was preparing to shift back to human form and retrieve Ivy personally—
When the parasitic abomination retaliated with shocking speed.
Its single massive eye—previously closed—snapped open with awareness.
A crimson glow filled the entire area, painting everything blood-red.
From deep within its colossal body, energy gathered—
CRACK—BOOOOM!
Two absolutely massive bolts of lightning fired upward at incredible speed, targeting the dragon with obvious lethal intent.
They struck Elric head-on before he could dodge.
Dragon scales blackened from the electrical discharge.
Ash scattered from impact points.
But—
No actual pain registered.
Only a faint, almost dismissive itch.
Elric laughed coldly, the sound reverberating across the ruined campus.
"So that's your answer to my intervention?"
Thunder began crackling visibly around his enormous claws, electricity dancing between talons.
"Fine then."
"Today—I'll end your existence permanently."
The emerald dragon roared with fury, massive wings spreading wide enough to momentarily blot out the sky itself.
Elric's anger finally surged free.
Since he had already crossed weapons with this abomination—already committed to confrontation—
He might as well thoroughly test exactly what this monster was truly capable of.
"Heat Breath—Tenfold Barrage."
Flames gathered deep within his throat, compressed again and again through supernatural control, reaching absolutely terrifying density.
Then—release.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Ten consecutive pillars of concentrated dragon fire slammed downward like falling suns.
Each one carried enough destructive force to vaporize city blocks.
The massive explosions overlapped, creating cascading shockwaves.
Firestorms swallowed the entire battlefield in apocalyptic conflagration.
When the overwhelming shockwaves and flames finally faded enough for visibility—
Elric narrowed his eyes, assessing damage.
The monster's body was almost completely unrecognizable from its previous form.
Half of its massive torso was simply gone, vaporized entirely.
One colossal arm was missing, burned away to nothing.
Only part of its hideous head remained intact.
"That's it?" Elric muttered with genuine surprise and slight disappointment.
"So weak after all that buildup?"
He had genuinely expected far more resistance from something this large and menacing.
With a calm, almost contemptuous flick of his claws, he prepared to finish the clearly defeated creature—
Then—abruptly—
A brilliant crimson light erupted from deep within the monster's damaged core.
The shattered, burned flesh began knitting itself together at a horrifying, impossible speed.
Bone structure regenerated from nothing. Flesh surged back into existence. Mass reformed with supernatural efficiency.
In less than three seconds—barely time to process what was happening—
A completely restored colossal body over two kilometers long stood whole and undamaged.
Even worse than simple regeneration—
A thick layer of blood-red crystalline armor spread rapidly across the monster's entire surface like living metal, covering every vulnerable point.
Elric's pupils contracted sharply with realization.
"Oh?"
His voice carried new interest mixed with concern.
"Not just regeneration... but adaptive evolution in real-time?"
He reassessed the threat level dramatically upward.
"Fine then."
"Twenty Heat Breaths simultaneously."
"If ten attacks won't permanently kill you—then I'll simply crush you through overwhelming force."
The sky itself seemed to ignite.
Twenty compressed fire beams manifested and struck simultaneously in perfect coordination.
The resulting explosion was apocalyptic in scale, drowning out literally every other sound within kilometers.
Yet—impossibly—
When the flames and smoke finally cleared enough to see—
The monster stood completely unharmed.
Not a single crack in its new armor.
Not even scorched or discolored.
Absolute immunity.
Elric froze for the first time in this entire encounter, genuine shock registering.
"...What?"
Just moments ago, his Heat Breath had torn the creature apart with ease.
Now, after a single exposure—
Complete immunity to the same attack.
Before Elric could properly analyze this disturbing development—
A massive cavity split open vertically in the monster's armored chest.
Inside the pulsing interior—
Thousands of barbed crimson spears formed from condensed blood and bone.
WHOOSH—!
They fired upward in a deadly storm, completely saturating the air.
Elric didn't bother dodging the projectile barrage.
The spears struck his dragon scales repeatedly—
Clang. Clang. Clang.
They shattered completely uselessly against his superior defenses.
Lightning attacks hadn't worked at all.
Physical projectiles were utterly meaningless.
The monster fundamentally couldn't harm him through conventional damage.
But—critically—
He apparently couldn't permanently kill it either.
Every wound regenerated.
Elric's eyes narrowed dangerously.
He raised his massive dragon head deliberately.
Two blazing tears of compressed plasma slid from his dragon eyes.
They transformed midair into twin molten gas-whales, screaming forward with terrifying speed.
BOOOOOM!
The whale-shaped flames burned completely through a massive section of the monster's central body, creating a gaping wound.
But—predictably now—
Regeneration triggered yet again within seconds.
Elric immediately struck the exact same location a second time before healing completed, attempting to overwhelm recovery.
This time—
The flames dispersed harmlessly on contact.
No damage whatsoever.
No visible effect at all.
Complete immunity achieved already.
"I understand now," Elric's voice was cold.
"This abomination learns and adapts to every attack method."
"Once damaged by any specific technique—it becomes permanently immune."
"Which means it cannot be worn down through repeated attacks."
"It has to be completely erased."
"In a single, overwhelming strike."
Decision made, the dragon descended rapidly.
His colossal body slammed into the ground with earthquake force and immediately coiled tightly around the monster's mass like a python crushing prey.
The earth cracked extensively from the impact.
Surrounding buildings collapsed entirely into rubble.
Then—without pause—
Elric began to spin his entire serpentine body.
Faster. Faster. Building momentum.
As he rotated with increasing speed, three different abilities activated simultaneously in devastating combination:
Superheated magma coated every single one of his scales, glowing white-hot.
The blazing heat melted directly into the monster's regenerating flesh continuously.
At the same time—
Millions of compressed wind blades erupted outward in all directions from the rotation, slicing with sharpness.
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