Ham instantly lost consciousness with a soft sound. A humanoid figure made of light guiltily hid a hammer behind its back, then grabbed the golden thread and stuffed it into a small glowing bottle. The figure hurried out of that space, flew up into the sky, took aim, and threw the bottle from afar.
It hit a passing dragon squarely on the head.
"Hm? What just happened?"
Sylvia seemed to see Belial's head pause slightly. Belial himself was confused, since a trace of familiar light power had just smashed into his head, and its nature was very strange. "That meaningless light again. It looks like a decent sort, so I will take a look."
While flying, he routed the strand of light into his System. After unpacking it, he found something quite interesting. "This bit of power looks like a two-way channel. If I had to describe it, it is basically click here to connect."
"If I am one endpoint, then who is on the other end?" "What is this supposed to mean, adding a friend?"
Thinking this, Belial became cautious. What if it was a trap, someone trying to mess with him? He carefully peeked along the channel toward the other side.
"Oh…?! Damn, are those not the two teammates I am supposed to protect? Why are they getting beaten this badly?"
Belial saw countless ferocious Demonkind surrounding Vera and the unconscious Ham inside a circular golden barrier. "So that is what this is about. Calling for backup, huh? Fine, no problem, I will accept this friend request."
He agreed readily and, after some thought, temporarily rewrote his own System to create an output port. He was not happy about it, but it should connect.
"…" "What is going on? Did I space out just now?"
When Ham came back to herself, she found only a pitch-black, chaotic space. The earlier emotions were gone, leaving only scattered points of light drifting around, while glowing patterns surged across the sky. "What is this place? Right, I came here to resonate."
The place felt instinctively unfamiliar yet somewhat close. As that thought arose, countless orbs of light appeared in the sky.
It was a gigantic tree of light. From an origin point whose source could not be seen, dense roots spread outward, extending into countless branches and leaves made of light. The branches covered the sky like a massive being spreading its wings, with its head in the heavens and its tail reaching into the unseen Abyss.
Ham stared in a daze but did not forget her purpose. "So this is what using resonance looks like? It feels strange. Why does it seem different from before?"
Touching the aching back of her head, Ham realized she could no longer sense Sylvia's light. "Wait, what now? Forget it, I will just search."
She looked for a long time until her eyes ached from the glowing branches, yet she still could not find that familiar presence. With no choice, she decided to search at random.
She wandered to a branch and started looking for the Spatial Magic she needed. "Hmm… what spell is this?"
Ham touched a glowing node, and text popped up as if someone had handwritten it. She read it, then frowned. "Just an ordinary Fireball? Looks useless, discard."
How strong could a normal Fireball be? Ham would not even blink using that through a connection, and she could bathe in magma herself without trouble.
She found another orb that felt a bit cold. "Trash-clearing spell? Another useless one."
Her head started to feel dizzy, and the mental strain was obvious. She realized she could not last long in this place and had to find something that could solve the situation quickly, even if it was not spatial.
"What do you mean Electromagnetic Catapult exploding fists? How am I supposed to use fists in this situation? Discard." "Boil… hotpot? Why is there some weird cooking method recorded here?"
Ham was about to lose it. "Big Ivan spell? Golden Arches spell? Why are they all so useless just from the names?"
Her head felt like it was about to explode. Why was everything she found this pointless? Was this supposed to be a joke on the enemy?
"Huh, this one seems a bit different."
Ham noticed the name of a light orb and her eyes lit up. "Dragon Dance: Dora-gon Dang-si? It sounds kind of weird, but it should be useful."
Just the words Dragon Dance sounded impressive, and it even ended with the word death. It had to be some kind of lethal spell. Even though it was not the Spatial Magic she wanted, if it killed everyone, that would also work.
Feeling her mental limit approaching, Ham grabbed the orb and vanished.
Back in reality.
"Ha!!!"
Vera slammed the lever with all her strength. As her final trump card, Unit Two, now reduced to a gray-white skeleton frame, swung its light blade and cut dozens of Demonkind in half. The Barrier had long since collapsed, so she activated this last option and fled with Ham into a cave.
She had planned to hold the tunnel like a choke point, but she had underestimated the enemy. The traps laid along the cave were cleared by the Demonkind piling up their lives. Now the entire mountain had been punched through, and Vera could only keep retreating with Ham.
She glanced down at Ham in the cockpit. "Stupid dragon, are you done yet? I seriously cannot hold on much longer."
The unit's energy was almost depleted. Just then, Ham's eyebrows twitched and she opened her eyes.
"You are awake? Great. Did you get Spatial Magic? Take us out of here right now." "Uh… I did not find it."
"What?"
Vera felt numb. This was real despair. Even calling for backup and cheating had failed. How was this supposed to be played?
"But I found another one called Dragon Dance. It is a very strong Magic. The range is enough to cover that whole group outside."
"…Dragon Dance?"
Vera frowned. The name felt familiar, but there was no time to worry about that. Something was better than nothing. "Are you sure it works? As long as it can tear open a breakthrough, that is enough."
"It should. The full name of this Magic even has the word death in it. But let me out first. It seems I need to turn into my Great Dragon form to use it."
When the Demonkind outside saw the heavy metal hatch finally open and a black-haired girl jump out, then transform into a more than ten-meter-long Black Dragon, they burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, she finally came out. That Black Dragon head is mine." "What are you talking about, brat? It is obviously mine."
They all charged forward excitedly. In their eyes, this was clearly the enemy's last stand. With their numbers, what was there to fear?
Then something felt off.
Both the heavy unit and Vera in the cockpit were stunned as they watched Ham push her legs back, straighten her upper body, and stand upright. She began to move in a very strange posture, and a familiar, oddly humorous song from ancient Terra's 2K era echoed out of nowhere.
"Hahaha, what is this…" "This dragon is crazy… huh?"
The laughter died quickly. The Demonkind realized their own limbs were moving uncontrollably as well. Packed too tightly, some still held weapons and ended up chopping allies in the head with their own dance moves, only to have their necks cut by another blade moments later.
Mass casualties and trampling followed. Flying serpent beasts fell from the sky, writhing on the ground and crushing groups of Demonkind.
"What kind of cursed Magic is this?" "Cover your ears, do not listen."
It was useless. Even blocking their senses did nothing, as all of them were still forced to twist and dance under that unknown power.
What in the world was this?
Every Demonkind, including Vera, was thinking the same thing. Vera's eyes were practically bulging out, since the background music was painfully familiar to her.
"Damn it. Why can I still see this meme dragon even in Otherworld?" "So this is what you meant by Dragon Dance?"
"…I do not really get it either, but it looks pretty useful."
Ham was just as confused. She had imagined some grand ritual Magic, but who could have guessed the Dragon Dance was literal?
"I am pretty sure I read it right. Dragon Dance: Dora-gon Dang-si. That is exactly how the Magic name was written." "…Damn."
Hearing something even more familiar, Vera's face darkened. Looking at the mountains full of dancing Demonkind, she sighed. It barely achieved the goal, so she accepted it.
"Could you at least exclude me from the target selection of this Magic? Let me stop dancing."
She was suffering badly. The cockpit was cramped, she kept bumping into things, and worst of all, the entire skeletal frame of the unit was dancing along with her. She felt like last night's midnight snack was about to come back up.
"…What is happening over there?"
Parak had not received any reports and finally rushed to the hunting site himself. What he saw was a scene he had never witnessed before. Mountains full of Demonkind and a Black Dragon in the center were all dancing together under an eerie background track.
"What are you all doing? Hurry up and grab that Black Dragon for me…"