Parak roared as he forced his way into the battlefield, crushing dozens of Demonkind to death with his sheer physical strength. Yet right after that, he realized that even in this state, the soldiers around him still had not stopped dancing. What was even stranger was that after hearing the music, Parak felt his own hands and feet start to move against his will.
"Th-that is… Someone powerful just arrived!" "Damn it! That's an Ascendant Hall-level Demonkind! Your Magic is insane, it can even control someone at that level?"
As a princess of the the Lord, she had seen secret intelligence files on powerful figures among Demonkind, and she recognized at a glance what kind of existence Parak was. This made the situation feel absurd, since even someone of that level could be controlled by this strange ability. Was this really some kind of ridiculous joke power?
"…Do you still have any way for us to escape right now? I can't keep dancing forever, I'm exhausted!"
For Ham, both dancing and maintaining the background music consumed her own Magic and stamina, so dragging this out was not a solution. If Parak had not appeared, she might have clenched her teeth and tried to exhaust everyone to death. But considering that she could not let Vera collapse, this really could not continue.
"I'll cancel Magic for a bit, then we run!" "If they catch up, we make them dance again, and keep doing that until we find a chance to slip away!"
In the end, this was the only plan she could think of, and she stopped Magic. The Demonkind covering the hills froze for a moment as if someone had pressed pause, then slowly began to move their limbs again in disbelief.
"I… I'm back to normal?" "What was that just now?" "No! The dragon is escaping! Chase them!"
Parak let out another roar, still unable to believe that he had been hard-controlled for so long by such a ridiculous Magic. "I will cut off your head! You ugly lizard who dares provoke Lord Parak!"
The Troll roared and charged straight toward the carrier's position, smashing through everything in his path with blood and flesh flying everywhere. He swung the massive axe in his hand with overwhelming force.
"Die… huh?" "Hurry up and keep dancing!"
Seeing the powerful enemy about to catch up again, Ham hurriedly started dancing once more. Under the dumbfounded stares of the Demonkind and Parak, their bodies once again began to move against their will. A strangely comical scene followed.
They chased and fled at the same time, and as soon as her tail was brushed even slightly, Ham would immediately start dancing and reapply the control. The Demonkind behind her cursed loudly while being forced to dance like they had lost their minds. Even Parak was affected, his expression dark and vicious like a wolf.
This was because he discovered that by using his Laws to defend, he could gradually adapt to the strange Magic. Each time, the distance between them closed a little more.
"This should be some kind of mental ability related to Dragonkin. It's strong, but at my level, it can't fully control me anymore." "But that also means this Dragonkin is high quality, definitely premium prey."
Originally, Parak would never have bothered personally hunting a mere young Dragonkin. However, a series of sudden events forced his hand. Several legions he had recalled from the front lines had lost contact midway and vanished without a trace.
There was not even a single rumor, as if they had all been wiped out. Communication with the southern region had also suddenly been cut off, and Greyfang suspected that nearby lords were responsible, but manpower was already stretched thin. That was why Parak had to personally hunt this prey, secure the prize, end this boring game, and pull back the hunting forces for defense.
"It's time for you to die! A puny Black Dragon only needs one hand from me…"
At the moment the music stopped again, Parak erupted with terrifying power, grinding nearly a hundred meters of terrain behind him into powder-like Shard. His body burst forward at supersonic speed, accelerating even more as he went.
The spiraling Battle Aura around him blasted everything aside, as he poured most of his strength into speed. With his power, he needed only one strike to pin this young Dragonkin to the ground. He aimed for the neck rather than the head, since the head was needed as proof, and he was confident that even against a pure-blood Great Dragon, he could win in raw strength.
Then he saw Ham revert to her human form, actually react to his attack, and swing her delicate fist toward him. This drew a mocking laugh from Parak. It was laughable, since even in true Great Dragon form, he could kill easily, let alone a half-dragon form that limited power.
Just as he was about to split her in half with one axe—
"Boom!!!!!"
A thunderous sound erupted as a blast tore outward in a white ring, slashing in all directions. Blood flashed, and something flew backward even faster than before. The Demonkind were thrown into chaos again, flesh scattering as an inverted triangular trench was carved into the ground.
As the dust settled, Troll Parak lay inside, his face mangled and his axe knocked from his grip.
"Huh? It actually worked?"
Ham stared at her own fist in a daze, unable to believe that she had sent such a powerful Troll flying with a single punch. The shock left her momentarily frozen.
"What's going on? Could it be that Ham's hidden power has finally—" "No."
Vera poked her head out of the cockpit and examined Ham through the precision analysis arrays in her lenses. She saw a strange layer of Magic covering Ham's body like armor, remnants from the earlier Dragon Dance.
"I think it's because Dragon Dance stacked attack speed several times." "?"
The reason was simple, because the dragon referred to in Dragon Dance was Belial, not a pure-blood Great Dragon from the Otherworld. From bones to muscles, Belial's structure was completely different from ordinary Great Dragon, and movements like dancing naturally differed as well.
However, Ham's special ability, Empathic Communion, required adjustments to imitate Belial's movements smoothly. The scattered Magic had not been fully consumed, but instead attached to her body in a strange form, becoming mimetic muscles that persisted during the dance and for a while afterward.
In other words, while Dragon Dance as a the Lord effect forcibly controlled dancing, it also granted the dancer an extra effect. It used Magic to simulate Belial's body structure, creating mimetic muscles and massively boosting strength for a short time.
Through her observation equipment, Vera saw Ham as if she were wrapped inside the body of a massive Great Dragon, moving along with it. After stacking the mimetic muscle strength from Dragon Dance several times, it reached an exaggerated level, which was why she could punch Parak away.
"Huh? So I'm super strong right now? Does that mean I can turn the tables—" "Don't even think about it. This state won't last long. Run now. Besides, you only beat him in raw strength, and a true powerhouse is—"
"Boom!!!"
A flying axe was hurled instantly. Ham tilted her head on instinct, and the axe embedded itself straight into a nearby mountain, which collapsed with a roar. A massive ring-shaped shockwave and violent Battle Aura spread through the Demonkind formation, instantly grinding thousands of them into bloody Shard.
A towering shadow of a Troll rose up, axe in hand, while Parak floated in the air, his wounds already healing. His face was dark, veins bulging, muscles swelling as Battle Aura burned like tangible rage around him.
"You've made me angry… insects!"
Parak no longer cared about any so-called competition. Now he wanted only one thing, to chop the two in front of him into Shard. Being sent flying so disgracefully by a mere young dragon was unforgivable.
Once he made up his mind, he decided that no one present would live, whether Demonkind or dragon. He unleashed his true power without hesitation, a massive phantom appearing as he smashed his fist down.
"Die, insects!"
The ground rippled like fragile water, waves spreading in all directions as several nearby mountains collapsed from theRumble. Vera was hiding beneath Ham, her machine body already pressed into the soil by the shockwave.
Ham forced herself upright and used her arms and mimetic muscles to block the enormous fist head-on.
"Ham!" "…That's a lot of strength."
She was struggling badly now, since a fully unleashed Parak was on an entirely different level. Without the armor-like mimetic muscles absorbing part of the force, she would already be bleeding from every orifice. Even so, those muscles were now rapidly dissipating.
Enraged that his punch had still failed to finish them, Parak raised his fist and smashed it down again.
"Boom!"
The ground shook once more, and the mimetic muscles on Ham's body vanished completely. This time, what blocked the blow was the bare metal skeleton of Vera's machine body under her control. It endured the strike directly, but even high-strength alloy frames began to twist and deform, with harsh cracking sounds ringing out.
"Annoying insects, are you done yet!" "Ham! Can you still use Empathic Communion?" "I can only block one more punch for you! This time you must get a Magic that can solve the situation!"