The legendary Moonlight Sculptor

Castle Bawell was destroyed completely by the Black Dragon Kaybern.

The lord's castle and the city crumbled in black smoke, but beyond it stood the endlessly sprawling residential district.

The architects put their all into building this faulty city!

- Kuooooo!

Kaybern roared and flew close to the ground.

The poorly constructed buildings blew away from the winds, but the residential district was huge!

"We'll do a rough job."

"Yeah… It doesn't need much effort. Just slack. Take it easy."

"Let's build with our feet. Don't bother cleaning out the garbage. Build with those too. Just a rough job."

Leaving the final touch to Kaybern, the architects kept building houses.

The common users contributed a little as well, completing a district with 6 times the surface area of Castle Bawell.

The buildings spanned over the plains to the forest and mountain.

- To ruins!

Kaybern caused an earthquake over a large area of land.

The earth shook like it was dancing, demolishing the buildings. Thousands of buildings were destroyed at once.

But, dozens of buildings collapsing at once led to a few lucky structures that caved into and supported one another.

After seeing it, the architects came up with an innovative idea.

"Kaybern destroys and burns with magic."

"Yeah, seems so."

"We can't stall by increasing the durability of these structures. There is no chance in using that kind of a tactic. Even well-constructed stone buildings and palaces are destroyed with ease.

Castle Aren which was considered as the best landmark in the Central Continent did not hold either.

Kaybern sat on top of the castle and roared!

The structures could not handle the heavy weight and crumbled; broke into shivers by magic attacks.

"If we change the structure, we can solve the earthquake problem."

The architects built a house with a round base.

They built the floor, wall and ceilings in a round shape so that they would roll when an earthquake occurred.

"They are unoccupied. This structure has a free-flow."

"Yeah, we just need it to hold. After all, our objective is to buy more time."

Furthermore, these houses were not built collectively but spaced out.

"Let's build a few stone buildings too."

"That would take some time."

"They need to hold against fire magic as well. We can't do anything about direct impacts, but they will hold against attacks that are slightly off."

This prevented each collective housing area from being destroyed with a single area of effect spell and forced Kaybern to repeat several times.

"The dragon will surely get ticked off."

"Yeah, this will get him good."

To increase fire resistance, they sprayed holy water just before Kaybern arrived.

Buildings constructed in this way did not even make up 1 in 100, but they were strategically and regularly placed, and did their fair share to stall the dragon.

Kaybern poured aoe spells over the entire city, but nearly half the houses remained standing.

Pabo and the architects observed from afar and smiled in success.

"That's buying us so much time!"

"Tell me about it. This is taking three times longer than the other areas."

The architects were prideful of their accomplishment.

Faulty construction left the dragon completely at a loss!

It wasn't an official quest designed by themselves, but the viewers watching the broadcast would acknowledge their project.

Kaybern flew over the residential district and destroyed the buildings one by one with magic or physical force.

It was the Black Dragon, the representation of despair and fear, but somehow it looked very fatigued!

In the end, the vast area of the city along with Castle Bawell burned in flames and turned into ashes.

<The Dragon's Revenge

Black Dragon Kaybern is on the move again to destroy human civilization. The spirits and fairies are warning once again.>

"Kaybern will be heading to Nehaless in a week."

The next target was the old capital of Brent Kingdom, Nehaless.

"It's finally destroyed."

"So, it did really destroy all of that. It ended faster than I expected, though."

"The amount of wreckage is endless."

The users that hid with the architects were sad to see all of Castle Bawell and the houses gone.

It would have been great to stall for longer, but a dragon's magic attack was indomitable.

Kaybern spread its wings and flew up.

The dragon flew a great distance from the ground and roared with a gaping jaw.

- Kuaaaaargh!

Kaybern flaunted its presence from the skies.

Michel witnessed the scene and reported what she saw.

"Weed-nim! It seems Kaybern will head to the lair now."

***

Python and Oberon were fending off commander Bademix, but his sheer strength was enough to make them struggle..

Especially for Oberon who blocked the halberd with his shield each time, the crushing impact sent him flying to the wall.

"K-ugh!"

The dragon soldier was empowered by the dragon's magic. Bademix charged at Oberon with fearsome strength.

Oberon saw Python shouting as he rushed in from the rear of Bademix.

He was a step too late, and that would lead to lethal consequences.

"Rising Shield."

From the corner, Oberon stuck his shield on the ground and ascended.

*Boom!*

He saw Bademix tearing the wall into pieces. It had such a huge impact that it shook the ground, and nearby dragon soldiers were sent flying.

"Pesty dwarf… Die now!"

Oberon barely escaped by hanging on the ceiling but soon faced another threat.

- Tiny friend, a delicious prey.

A shivering voice tickled his nape.

'Zultan!'

It was the appearance of the assassin guarding the dragon lair.

Oberon only heard stories about the assassin.

As a warrior who leads the frontline, the assassin was a natural predator, but it was better to trust his comrades at helpless situations like so.

- I will cut up that small body of yours.

*Slash!*

A scythe flew in from nowhere and sliced through the air.

He was hanging on the ceiling and below him were Bademix and a swarm of dragon soldiers. Beside him was assassin Zultan!

"Zealous Defense!"

Oberon saw no other way than to activate his skill and take the hit.

Holding a few seconds on the ceiling meant distracting Bademix and Zultan for that much longer.

'This is the best I can do right now…'

*Slash!*

*Sluck!*

The scythe sliced Oberon's body, decreasing his health points in an instant.

< Critical Strike! >

< Decisive Strike!

Zealous Defense was depleted. >

< Life is in danger… >

< You are incapacitated. >

He fell into danger in just 3 attacks under the defense skill.

Zultan's body was revealed temporarily while swinging the scythe consecutively.

It was a vicious being that wore a mask made of bones.

< Overwhelming fear stiffened your body. >

It posed an intimidating presence like the assassin type boss monster it was.

'I'm pretty much dead even without that…'

That moment, Oberon caught a shadow weaving behind Zultan.

'Was I hallucinating? Or was that a skill?'

The shadow elongated and grabbed the dagger in hand. Then, the hand stabbed Zultan right in the neck.

- Who dares!

Zultan took significant damage and backed off.

The shadow changed into a human figure and grabbed Oberon by the waist as he was about to fall.

"I'm late, aren't I? Sorry. This guy is so elusive… It took a while to track."

Though he was wearing a black robe, he was a neat-looking man.

Oberon had an idea who it was and spoke up.

"Are you one of Weed-nim's comrades…"

"Yes, I am an assassin too."

He spoke quickly as if he was trying to stop Oberon from speaking.

"Seasoned…"

"K-hmm. Let's focus on getting out alive for now."

Oberon thought it was impossible for him to survive in a state of decapacitation and isolation.

"Leave me and escape on your own."

"I won't do that. I can survive, but I also can't leave anyone behind."

"This is impos…"

*P-p-poof!*

That instant, a smokescreen arrow came flying and exploded.

"Now, let's go!"

Seasoned Crab, with Oberon hanging on his side, kicked off from the ceiling and ran along the wall.

He sprinted with incredible speed as the attacks of the draconic warriors trailed behind him.

"You are so good at dodging!"

"Sure! I have to be! I'm an assassin unlike you. If I couldn't, I would die in a few hits."

"Oh…"

They had to go through Bademix in order to reach the safe zone.

"Will we make it?"

"I will make it happen. It will work, hopefully!"

- Pulverizing Slash!

Bademix spinned its halberd in midair.

In a place with no cover, it was preparing a devastating attack.

*F-f-fwoosh!*

In an instant, over 50 arrows rained down at once.

Exploding, freezing and tearing through the air, various kinds of magical arrows caused a chain reaction and held down Bademix.

Seasoned Crab passed Bademix by a hair.

"Defend!"

"Protect Oberon-nim!"

Once they got inside the lair, the dwarven warriors scrambled and stacked their shields in rows. Their armor was stained and crumpled, but they were desperate.

"Leave the draconic warriors and shoot down the mages first!"

Pale continued to lead the battle with the archers.

At the lair entrance, innumerous draconic warriors and monsters squeezed through one after another.

Behind them was a cluster of overlord-level monsters capable of magic.

They were the dungeon boss monsters of Ulta mountain pass.

- Surrender! That is the will of Kaybern-nim!

Bademix pounced at the dwarves again and let out some of Kaybern's aura.

Nearby dwarves instantly passed out.

"We need more to push, so the wounded can back out!"

Oberon recovered his health points from the healing spells of priests. He dragged his half-healed leg to go against Bademix.

- Swift Coldwind: The situation is getting worse. The monsters of Ulta mountain pass are gathering. Monsters are spawning from every single dungeon. It's doomsday outside the lair. The trees are being mowed down… It's a flood of monsters.

An avian user delivered the news through the communication channel.

It was that monsters were gathering in response to the call of Bademix.

"If the attacks continue like this, we can't defend…"

That moment, Oberon caught Weed and the dwarves dragging the Brazier of Sacrifice.

(To be continued…)