The general moved the spoon behind his back and pointed his other hand at me.
"Lotus Explosion Cannon"
A dragon made of fire instantly formed around his arm and shot straight toward me like a flaming spear.
I immediately slammed the magic-core end of my staff against the ground and shouted—
"Fortress Wall"
A massive square wall of hardened earth instantly rose in front of me.
The next second, an explosion erupted as the general's magic slammed into the wall.
When the smoke from the blast finally cleared, the wall was still standing completely intact.
Not even a scratch.
"Fortress Wall" was an advanced earth-element magic. I wasn't using ancient magic because 2052 years of power was already enough to deal with the general.
"Impossible!? Exploding Fire Dragon Punch!"
The general looked shocked, but he refused to accept it and immediately used another magic.
A dragon-shaped flame ignited around his right arm, so hot that even the rain evaporated before touching it.
Wait... where did his spoon go?
Whatever.
The general charged forward and punched the wall.
The impact thundered across the wasteland—
But the wall remained completely unharmed.
Which meant the general had lost.
"What?!"
The panic on his face was absolutely priceless.
I felt incredibly satisfied watching it.
As for why I knew what he was doing despite supposedly standing behind the wall?
The moment I cast the spell, I immediately moved off to the side to watch his desperate struggle from a safe distance.
Honestly, I'd just been worried the wall might not actually withstand dragon magic.
Then I called out to him while canceling the magic.
"Just surrender already. Become my underling."
Since the moment the general threatened me, I'd already decided I wanted to make him my subordinate.
After all, dragons could fly.
That made them excellent transportation.
Hearing my voice, the general turned toward me and suddenly raised his hand toward the sky.
"Never! Starfire Explosive Scatter!"
A massive fireball shot upward from his hand.
Once it reached a certain height, it split into countless smaller fireballs that rained down toward me.
So it was an area-of-effect magic.
Too bad it was slow.
Before the fireballs could even hit the ground, I sprinted straight up to the general and smashed him across the face with my staff.
"Gahhh!"
The general crashed to the ground.
Only then did the fireballs finally land behind me, exploding like meteors and blasting countless craters into the wasteland.
Still, there was something I'd been wanting to say for a while now.
"Why does every single one of your magics have the word "explosion" in it? Were these names created during your cringe phase?"
"Damn you!"
Instead of answering, the general cursed and slammed his fist into the ground.
A blinding red light burst out instantly, forcing me to shield my eyes.
At the same time, I realized what it was.
Transformation light.
This liar was breaking his promise. He'd said he wouldn't turn back into a dragon.
"You liar! Don't run— Ahhh!!"
While covering my eyes and yelling at him, something enormous suddenly slammed into me before I could react.
I was sent flying, rolling across the wasteland until I finally crashed into one of the craters created by the fireballs.
Because of the rain, the ground had turned muddy.
My entire body was covered in dirt now.
I was seriously pissed off.
When I finally opened my eyes, I realized what had hit me—
The general's tail.
He had already transformed back into a dragon and was now airborne, his wings beating powerfully against the rain.
Then he shouted down at me.
"No matter how fast you are, you'll never be faster than me flying straight to Aimebisalon!"
Looks like he was completely cornered now.
I quickly stood up and pointed my staff at him.
"Get back down here!"
"You can wait."
The moment he finished speaking, he shot off through the sky at incredible speed.
Which meant I'd have to shoot him down.
"Rock Spear"
A massive cone-shaped stone projectile resembling a stalactite launched from the tip of my staff toward his wing.
But it missed.
Looks like earth magic simply couldn't keep up with the general's flight speed.
Then I'd just have to use light magic instead.
Light traveled at light speed.
I closed my right eye and held the metal staff slightly beneath my left eye like a sniper rifle, aiming carefully at the general's wing.
But the rainstorm reduced visibility too much.
I couldn't get a clear shot.
No choice then.
I'd clear the clouds first.
Ancient magic had a range of one kilometer per year of power, so reaching the clouds was effortless.
"Laser"
A nearly white beam shot forward instantly.
In less than a second, before I could even fully follow its trajectory, a faint glowing ring appeared in the distant storm clouds.
Then I gave up trying to snipe him from where I stood and instead began sprinting after him at full speed.
Within only a dozen seconds, I'd already passed several villages and towns.
The closer I got to the glowing ring, the more obvious it became that the opening in the clouds was absolutely massive.
But that didn't matter.
The wind was already shifting the clouds, causing the hole to slowly close again.
The moment I saw the general approaching the clearing, I stopped running and aimed carefully at his wing.
Then I fired.
"Laser"
Another white beam flashed across the sky instantly.
This time it struck perfectly.
The general's wing vanished along with another massive hole blasted through the distant clouds.
And without both wings, a dragon couldn't stay airborne.
The general immediately began falling from the sky.
I took off running toward him again.
I'd only destroyed one wing.
He still had the other one, which meant he could still use magic.
If I didn't break it quickly, this fight would just fall back into that endless cycle again.