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It was soaring through the skies, gaining altitude. It looked deceptively tired, but I knew that was just a ruse.

What lingered in its eyes wasn’t weariness, but rage. A fierce anger aimed at me for messing up its territory and hogging its food.

Confirming the presence of the White Deer nearby, I nodded. There was a task I had assigned to the White Deer, who had slipped away with Fairy.

Finally reaching the ceiling, it let out an excited huff. The flicker of flames glimpsed within confirmed its draconic nature. Yet it hesitated to charge at me, sizing me up instead.

‘It’s nervous.’

A wild beast appeared in the birds’ paradise. I, the unknown entity, particularly one who had taken one of its eyes.

“―――!”

The Imeugi roared as it crushed a building with its long tail and then hurled the debris at me. I gauged the distance of the incoming fragments with my eyes.

‘Approximately…’

Having calculated enough, I extended my tentacles to wrap around it. I yanked back instantly to dodge the debris. Using the momentum, I charged at the Imeugi, but it effortlessly sidestepped. I expected it wouldn’t be an easy target.

‘This isn’t the end.’

Like the White Deer before, I too could create footholds from a distance now. Using intuition, perception, and prediction, I fashioned an angled platform to anticipate its next move and dodge.

‘With the rebound.’

Building the recoil around the column I embraced, I swung around and launched myself toward the makeshift platform. Just before the impact could shatter it, I made a sharp change in direction. I slipped into the gaping jaws of the Bichunmang, leaving the Transformation behind, and escaped through the opposite end. With the Transformation left behind, I stretched out my tentacles to grab its molars and leaped high.

‘Got…?!’

I thought I would finally be able to land on its back, but it twisted its body and slammed into the ceiling. I had to give up on riding its back and created a platform before falling to break my descent.

‘Is it this hard?’

With abilities like that, and the Dragon Essence, it could probably slam into the ceiling without a care. Just like the Volcano Ceratops or Earth Serpent, the concept of impact and damage was entirely different.

‘Damn.’

Just slamming into the ceiling was nothing to it. The soft wall felt as useless as jelly.

‘…Riding up its back is indeed tough.’

Showing no signs of shock, it dropped its head as it opened its mouth wide. I saw the flames roaring red in its gaping maw beyond its throat and quickly changed direction. I needed to get as far away from the Roteworld Tower as possible. Surely it wouldn’t destroy its nest, but with the White Deer and Fairy still there, I couldn’t gamble on that.

“……!”

The incoming breath— I thought it might be faster than the Lesser Drake’s, but reality far exceeded my expectations. I used the recoil before my tentacles could reach it. It wasn’t to change direction but to accelerate and suddenly stop mid-air.

“―――!”

Its breath wasn’t just a single blast. It came endlessly, melting and incinerating the city. Even though the Transformation wasn’t a weak fire, it couldn’t withstand its breath for a moment.

‘More than the firepower.’

The output difference was too great. If the Transformation was a gentle breeze, its breath felt like a gale. When its gusts finally ceased, its tail struck the ceiling and shattered asphalt flew like shrapnel. I had to scatter it at impossible speeds.

“――――――!”

The Bichunmang roared, showcasing its might. The Imeugi. Although it may never become a true dragon, it still possessed devastating power. Class A status. Plus, unmatchable aerial skill. Who could let their guard down around such a monster?

But the wolf’s gaze was not on the Bichunmang.

‘Behind me…’

Not to worry. After extending my perception, I confirmed the safety of the two and felt relieved. The Fairy and White Deer wouldn’t be harmed by a mere breath from so far away. In that case.

‘If there’s nothing to catch—!’

My eyes flared bright red.

***

At first, it was anger, but then it morphed into doubt and anxiety.

I felt I could take it down at any moment, but no attack seemed to land. Doubts crept in that maybe it was deceiving me. And a fear that perhaps I couldn’t defeat it.

The growing doubt and anxiety slowly began to gnaw at me. As these feelings spiraled, they eventually transformed into sheer terror. Thus, inside the Imeugi, the wolf began to transform into a monster.

***

Although I had fought aerial battles with Hong Yu-ri, it was my first fight without a ground beneath me. The past three days had been merely devouring time for the wolf, not a fight. Just like how the wings of a tired beast returning to its nest held no meaning, it had been one-sided prey.

‘But.’

The Bichunmang was different. Its flight was manifested through skills. It had no wings and was, fundamentally, not getting tired. It was merely returning to fight me. It dodged the Imeugi’s tail while leaping through the air, causing buildings to crumble. Debris fell off the cliff. I used those as platforms instead of stepping stones.

“―――!”

I followed closely using the bounce. I burst into the wind lingering at my toes and leapt high. Not just wrapping around, I produced instantaneous acceleration akin to the recoil. This idea came when I acquired amphibious skills and generated whirlwinds. Despite exceeding 200 kg without gear, the fierce wind pushed me away in an instant.

‘With this!’

Just before I reached the Bichunmang, I shot out spines. Although I couldn’t damage its scales with its Dragon Essence, four days ago, it had lost an eye to this very attack. The painful memory forced it to awkwardly dodge an attack it shouldn’t have needed to avoid, revealing a gap. I clung tightly to the spaces between its body with my tentacles.

Breath. Dragon Essence. Being a partially-formed dragon. On every front, the Bichunmang topped me, but similarities existed between it and the Lesser Drake. And I already had the experience to understand it.

‘To pierce through these scales.’

Ingesting, no, eating it was the only answer. The scales I touched began to dissolve into my tentacles. The more it squirmed, the stronger the viscous trait I’d added became. It wouldn’t shake off so easily.

A massive shadow loomed over me. Its tail swung down to sweep me away. I relinquished my tentacles and fell.

‘From here.’

The colossal tail slammed into itself, and its wind pressure was countered by the storm. Just before I fell, I pulled myself up with my tentacles still attached to its tail.

Realizing I was hanging on, the Bichunmang reacted violently to shake me off. While being dragged up, I dug into the minuscule gaps of its scales with my claws. I swiftly cut the tentacle linked to its tail.

My claws were also a part of me. As the process of consuming earlier had widened the gaps, sufficient space grew for me to leap up. This time, it didn’t thrash against the ceiling. Instead, it dove downwards.

“……!”

Just like the Thunder Hawk, it too broke through the air’s wall. The wall it pierced pushed against me, forcing me to endure the shock. Gritting my teeth, I threw everything I had—claws, fangs, and tentacles—into gnawing and scraping its scales until finally, its flight came to a halt.

‘Damn…’

—From here on out. The battle would ultimately be determined by endurance.

‘I was waiting for this.’

In the end, I had to cling to it to be able to take it down. It was incredibly difficult to take it down in an area with ceilings.

‘You were probably the same.’

In a battleground where neither side could easily topple the other, a single mistake could lead to a fatal error in the empty skies. Finally, the wolf howled, and black flames took the shape of a ghost.

The pitch-black fire surged. The stride from tail to head was unhesitating. The wolf had conviction. Confidence that it could win. All preparations for that had been already completed.

“―――!”

As the dragon twisted and turned, it couldn’t shake off the wolf despite the countless rotations in the air. The stickiness I’d added to my paws held firm until the end. Just as its enormous jaw was about to cover the wolf, it detached from the Imeugi’s body. Below lay the infinite sky and an endless abyss.

As the wolf created a foothold, trying to support itself, a tremendous magical storm ruthlessly shattered it. Unlike the Imeugi, who believed the fight was over, the wolf pondered that it might not be.

With something beneath its feet, the wolf leaped upwards in an instant.

“―――?!”

The startled Bichunmang. What the wolf had stepped on were falling debris, shattered remnants. The Imeugi glanced up, catching a fleeting glimpse of a deer.

‘You figured this out up to this point.’

The wolf had anticipated from the beginning. Initially, the White Deer had cautioned the wolf. It was a reckless and dangerous idea. But the wolf, eyes sparkling, persuaded the White Deer.

‘As long as it doesn’t stray too far.’

The confident eyes had claimed it could block the breath. The wolf had no grand expectations of the White Deer. Only a simple request to time the demolition right, letting the debris drop.

“Truly…”

The Imeugi had merely danced in the wolf’s palm from the beginning. While it was a reckless method disregarding its life, the White Deer could not deny it. It had to be right.

***

Stepping onto falling debris, the wolf charged. The Imeugi tried to distance itself even further, but shaking off the wolf proved challenging. Most of all, the incidental spikes intermittently interrupted the Imeugi’s path.

‘I can do this.’

The debris fell in just the right amount, allowing me to carry out aerial maneuvers without employing magic. The White Deer, with its speed, surpassed the wolf. Although the wolf’s tactics surpassed it, there was no better ally than the White Deer, who could move ahead of the wolf.

‘Now…!’

With all skills summoned, the wolf gripped the Bichunmang’s scales with its tentacles. The tightening spikes dug deep into the cracks, pulling the wolf closer. The roaring black flames continued to scorch the Imeugi.

Once more, a magical storm began to whirl. The threat of a fall was real—except it wasn’t. The storm alone couldn’t shake off the wolf. Even when it had been falling, the magical storm hadn’t pushed the wolf away. It had only shattered the platforms. This time would be no different. The tempest and black flames combined their might to break through.

‘I’ve climbed up.’

Perched atop the Imeugi, the wolf conjured countless tentacles and shadows. Flames blazed, extending tentacles, and writhing shadows. —Finally, the end was drawing near.

***

As the wolf battled the Bichunmang over the overturned city—.

“At last…!”

Slowly, the firmly shut iron doors began to creak open. The goal was to breach Zone 2—many individuals, alongside the clan members who had initially signed up, were gathered, eagerly awaiting the opening of Neverland.

“It’s opening…!”

Hopeful yet anxious gazes intently watched the doors. Soon, the doors swung wide, as the space began to distort until the dimensional rift finally opened.

“Current time: 06:11. From now on!”

Kang Tae-ho, the vanguard commander of the raid group, raised his voice.

“Starting the raid on Neverland—!”

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