"They got here before us."
The moment the island came fully into view, Ethen’s voice carried across the deck as his eyes swept over the shoreline. His expression immediately darkened.
They were late.
Several ships had already anchored themselves around different sections of the island, their sails lowered as dozens of figures moved back and forth across the beach. Even from this distance, weapons glinted beneath the sunlight while summoned beasts patrolled the shoreline, making it abundantly clear that the enemy had long since finished preparing for their arrival.
"Shit... man the crossbows!"
Nicolas barked the order almost instantly, his relaxed attitude disappearing without a trace. Crew members rushed towards the mounted weapons he had spent years dreaming of installing, hurriedly loading the oversized bolts while others adjusted the sails to keep the ship steady against the constantly shifting waves.
No one aboard had expected this.
They had left the harbour first.
They had maintained their course without stopping.
Yet somehow...
The five ships that had pursued them had still reached the island ahead of them.
Nobody knew how.
Whether they had taken another route or possessed some other method of navigation no longer mattered.
The enemy was waiting.
And they held the advantage.
From this distance, they could already make out groups of armed men spreading across the beach, positioning themselves between the shoreline and the island’s interior as though protecting something hidden further within.
Naturally...
That only confirmed Ethen’s suspicions.
Tywin was already here.
Unlike Nicolas and the rest of his crew, however, Ethen, Kang and Vira paid little attention to the soldiers gathering along the shore.
Their eyes were fixed somewhere else entirely.
Far beyond the island.
Far beyond the enemy fleet.
A gigantic serpentine creature slowly coiled through the distant ocean, its enormous body disappearing beneath the waves before emerging once more several kilometres away. Every subtle movement sent walls of water crashing outward while dark clouds gathered endlessly above its head.
Simply existing...
It dominated the horizon.
Yet strangely enough...
Neither Nicolas nor any member of his crew reacted.
Not a single person looked towards it.
Not a single person showed even the slightest sign that such a terrifying creature existed before their eyes.
Ethen frowned.
They couldn’t see it.
Whether it was because of the dragon itself...
Or something else entirely...
Only those connected to this conflict seemed capable of witnessing its existence.
"This will be hard."
Vira finally broke the silence.
Turning towards Kang, her calm expression remained unchanged despite the overwhelming pressure radiating from the distant Celestial Dragon.
"So let’s give it everything we’ve got."
Kang silently nodded.
For most summoners, especially those who had reached great heights through another class, summons eventually became secondary. Powerful warriors like Tyrant Blade users often relied upon their own strength instead of constantly fighting alongside contracted beasts.
After all...
Their personal combat ability had already reached terrifying levels.
Kang was no exception.
Within Bark, he stood among the kingdom’s foremost Tyrant Blade users. His reputation had never been built upon overwhelming numbers.It had been built upon himself.
Summoning too many creatures unnecessarily could even be viewed as admitting the class alone wasn’t sufficient.
Normally...He would never do it.
Today was different.
Today...The class alone truly wasn’t enough.
"I understand."
The moment the words left his mouth, mana exploded around the ship.
Two gigantic sea serpents erupted from beneath the surrounding waters, their massive bodies circling protectively around the vessel before releasing thunderous hisses that echoed across the sea.
Above them...
A large wyvern descended from the clouds with a powerful flap of its wings, circling overhead before settling into formation.
Each creature radiated traces of Tyrant Force.
The pressure surrounding them immediately intensified.
As the ship continued closing the distance towards the island, Kang never stopped. One summon became three.Three became six.Six became ten.
By the time the shoreline was only a few hundred metres away, eighteen contracted beasts surrounded the advancing vessel.
Sea serpents.
Lesser dragons.
Winged reptiles.
Each stronger than the last.
Each prepared for battle.
The enemy naturally responded in kind.
The figures waiting upon the beach simultaneously raised their hands as countless summoning circles illuminated the shoreline.
One after another, contracted beasts emerged from the light.
The empty beach rapidly transformed into a battlefield before either side had even exchanged a single blow.
The balance between them shifted almost instantly.
Not through individual strength...
But through numbers alone.
"Let’s level the playing field."
Just before the ship reached the shore, Ethen finally moved.
Raising one hand calmly, two summoning circles appeared beneath Arthur and Morgan almost simultaneously.
Neither of them hesitated, Arthur drew his sword before thrusting it into the air.
In response, three brilliant pillars of light erupted around him, each condensing into the figure of a heavily armoured knight clad in silver plate. Their armour bore the crest of the Round Table, each carrying a different weapon as they stepped forward without a word.
Morgan merely smiled.
Dark mana spread from beneath her feet like ink flowing across water before countless lesser dragons crawled out from the shadows one after another. They varied greatly in size, some barely larger than horses while others possessed wings broad enough to blot out sections of the sky, but each radiated an unmistakable draconic aura.
Arthur’s eyes swept across them.
Without needing a command, the newly summoned knights immediately mounted the waiting dragons.
Arthur himself did the same.
It was one of the greatest strengths of his class.
Dragon Riding.
Any dragon willing to acknowledge him could immediately become both mount and companion in battle, allowing him to command the skies with terrifying efficiency.
One after another, the dragons rose into the air, circling above the approaching ship before slowly advancing towards the beach.
Their shadows passed over the sea like dark clouds.
"ROAR!!"
The Mind Dragon suddenly released a deafening roar.
An invisible wave of mental energy exploded outward, washing across the battlefield before either side had even reached one another. Dozens of enemy summons instinctively faltered for a split second, their movements becoming noticeably sluggish as the psychic pressure swept through them.
At almost the same moment...
Ethen launched himself into the air.
His body landed lightly atop the Mind Dragon’s back while his crossbow was already raised in his hands.
A bolt rested quietly against the string.
His eyes calmly searched for their first target.
Nobody needed to announce the beginning.
Nobody needed to issue another order.
The battle erupted naturally.
Harpoons flew across the water from Nicolas’ ship.
Enemy bolts answered almost immediately.
Summoned beasts crashed together in midair while sea serpents twisted violently beneath the waves, attempting to drag one another into the depths.
The peaceful shoreline disappeared beneath explosions of mana almost instantly.
Each side possessed its own advantage.
Tywin’s forces had numbers.
Ethen’s side possessed quality.
Vira was perhaps the clearest example of that difference.
Outside battle, she often appeared calm, refined and almost fragile.
Anyone meeting her for the first time could easily mistake her for a noblewoman with little combat experience.
That illusion never survived an actual fight.
The moment battle began...
She became something entirely different.
Most of her summons belonged to bird species or semi-avian creatures, each specialising in speed rather than brute strength. Eagles, hawks, feathered wyverns and strange winged predators streaked across the battlefield like living blades, constantly changing direction before striking from impossible angles.
None of them lingered.
They attacked.
Withdrew.
Then attacked again from somewhere completely different.
Even experienced summoners struggled to keep track of them.
Kang’s summons stood in complete contrast.
Where Vira relied upon speed...
Kang relied upon pressure.
His serpents controlled the sea.
His lesser dragons dominated the air.
At the centre of them all flew his strongest summon.
An A-Rank dragon.
Its immense wings beat heavily against the air while torrents of Tyrant Force rolled outward with every movement, forcing weaker creatures to retreat almost instinctively.
Together, Kang and Vira immediately occupied the enemy’s three Tier Five summoners.
Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table quickly joined them, their dragons repeatedly diving into the melee to prevent the opposing summons from gaining complete control of the battlefield.
Even then...
Suppressing them was all they could manage.
Neither side possessed enough of an advantage to overwhelm the other outright.
The battle quickly settled into a brutal stalemate.
Meanwhile...
Ethen barely paid attention to any of it.
His gaze had never left the island itself.
Beyond the shoreline...
Beyond the fighting...
Deep within the forest, he could feel it.
Tywin.
Even without seeing him clearly, Ethen instinctively knew where he was.
The young man stood inside an enormous magic circle carved directly into the earth, his body trembling as another deafening roar burst from deep within his chest.
The sound wasn’t human.
It carried traces of something far older.
Far more majestic.
Each roar challenged the heavens themselves, spreading across the island before rolling out over the surrounding sea.
It wasn’t an attack.
It was a declaration.
A challenge.
A call.
As though he were shouting towards the gigantic Celestial Dragon waiting beyond the island.
I’m here.
Come to me.
Again.
Another roar echoed through the skies.
The ocean answered immediately.
Far beyond the battlefield, the colossal serpent slowly raised its head.
For the first time...
Its enormous golden eyes shifted.
Its attention had finally been drawn towards the island.
The exchange was almost invisible.
No attacks were launched.
No words were spoken.
Yet an overwhelming clash of wills silently unfolded between man and dragon.
Neither intended to yield.
Neither intended to look away.
No one noticed...
Not amidst the chaos consuming the beach.
Not amidst the countless summons tearing into one another.
Not even Ethen himself.
On the opposite side of the island, where the fighting had yet to spread, a lone woman silently stepped onto the shore.
Her long white hair swayed gently in the sea breeze.
Delicate silver-white scales ran gracefully along her neck before continuing across the parts of her body no clothing covered, giving her an appearance that was neither entirely human nor entirely dragon.
She remained perfectly still.
Her crimson eyes looked deep into the forest with exactly the same unwavering intensity that Ethen’s did from the opposite side.
Both had arrived for the same destination.
Both carried unshakable resolve.
Neither knew...
The other had already arrived.
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