"Aldoron has been here the whole time," Mercphobia said, pointing toward the distance. "Look. That's him. He's grown even bigger than I remember..."
Everyone followed his gaze.
In the distance stood what looked like a mountain so huge it blocked out the sky, its shape almost like some enormous beast lying across the land.
That was Aldoron, the Wood Dragon God.
"You're saying that mountain is Aldoron?" Gray stared at it, his mouth falling open.
The thing was ridiculously huge!
It had to be at least five times the size of Magnolia, and yet this massive thing was actually one dragon?
"Yeah. When he first came to Guiltina, he wasn't anywhere near this big. Back then, he was probably only about the size of a city."
Mercphobia tried to think back.
It had been a long time since he had come here or seen Aldoron in person. Honestly, even he had been startled by Aldoron's current size.
"He built several cities on his own back and let humans live there," Elefseria said through gritted teeth.
"Then he fed on their life force to keep himself alive and grow stronger. Year after year, he kept growing until he became larger than mountains and taller than clouds."
"He was always part of the war faction," Mercphobia added. "He never saw humans as anything worth caring about. Before fleeing to Guiltina, he should have fought Acnologia and suffered serious injuries. After that, he settled here to recover. Don't expect him to change sides. Aldoron will never stand with humans."
That matched Elefseria's information.
Aldoron had spent all these years feeding on human life to heal his wounds.
He was also older than both Mercphobia and Ignia.
Unlike those two, who had never directly fought Acnologia, Aldoron had been beaten half to death by the Black Dragon before escaping to Guiltina.
In other words, he was probably one of the dragons who hated humans the most.
He had already looked down on humans from the start, seeing them as weeds or food, and then he had been badly wounded by Acnologia, who had once been human.
Expecting a dragon like that to take humanity's side was basically impossible.
"So he's old an school and stubborn as hell."
Marco nodded, understanding Aldoron's position.
In that case, there was no real need to hold back.
The main issue was that this dragon had genuinely been eating people, and he had been doing it for years.
His body count might be higher than all the other Dragon Gods combined.
"But what's wrong with him right now?" Marco watched Aldoron for a while, his expression turning strange.
"Why isn't he moving?"
Aldoron lay there completely still, looking almost dead.
Mercphobia shook his head. He did not know the details since he had not visited this place in years.
"He's been like this for a long time," Elefseria said.
He had been keeping an eye on the Five Dragon Gods whenever he could.
Information on the others was hard to get, but Aldoron never moved from this spot, so Elefseria had naturally come here before to investigate.
"Something's off."
Marco frowned.
This was the kind of situation he found annoying. There was clearly more going on beneath the surface.
The best-case scenario would have been simple: fight Aldoron head-on, then destroy him cleanly!
"Give me a moment."
Marco closed his eyes and looked into the future.
Buzz.
Under the gazes of Mercphobia, Elefseria, and Gray, only a few seconds passed before Marco opened his eyes again.
"I see."
The moment his eyes opened, his thoughts became clear.
"He's in a similar situation to Mercphobia. His power has grown to the point where even he has trouble controlling it, so he temporarily sealed his own strength."
Mercphobia went quiet.
He had not expected Aldoron, of all dragons, to be dealing with something similar to him.
Both of them had reached a point where their power was no longer fully under control.
"Then... do we even need to bother with him?" Gray raised a hand. "If he sealed himself and can't even move, is he still a threat?"
"We cannot ignore him," Elefseria said at once. "There are still five cities on his back. The people living there will continue being drained as food for generations. His body will keep growing, taking up more land and attracting even more humans to live on him, only to become his nourishment. We absolutely cannot leave him like this!"
Mercphobia nodded. "And it's only a temporary self-seal. He can undo it whenever he wants."
Marco nodded as well. "Exactly. If we touch him, he'll wake up."
Calling it a "self-seal" sounded generous.
In reality, Aldoron had only done this to better control the power he had gained.
It was more like a form of training.
Unlike Mercphobia, he was not worried about accidentally hurting people with power he could not control.
"Okay, then how do we start?" Gray scratched his head as he stared at Aldoron's massive body.
He really had no idea where to even begin.
Aldoron was far too big!
Just the part that looked like his head might already be half the size of Tenrou Island.
"Simple."
Marco smiled.
Big was not a problem.
If anything, it made the target easier to hit. Especially when that target was not moving.
Aldoron was basically a living bullseye.
Marco had plenty of ways to deal with a giant stationary target. He did not even need to think too hard.
One Athena Exclamation would be enough to give Aldoron nowhere to run.
No matter how thick his body was, Marco could blast straight through him.
"The real problem is the humans on his back," Mercphobia said.
He also did not think defeating Aldoron was the hard part. Aldoron's size was impressive, but size did not stop someone from getting beaten.
The real trouble was the huge number of humans living on him.
"We have to get them away first," Elefseria said.
Of course they could not just ignore those people.
Once the fight with Aldoron began, everyone living on his body would be caught in the disaster.
They had to evacuate them before anything else.
Marco sighed. "They're already beyond saving."
He had naturally considered that too, but the truth was ugly.
Those people were no longer in a state where rescue had any meaning.
"What do you mean?" Elefseria frowned.
There were five whole cities of humans up there.
That number was far too large to give up on lightly. What did Marco mean by "beyond saving"?
"Come on. I'll show you."
Marco did not explain further.
He activated teleportation and brought the group directly onto Aldoron's back.
There were five cities built on Aldoron's body: two on the backs of his hands, two on his shoulders, and one at the center of his neck.
In the middle of his spine stood a towering tree that reached into the sky.
Marco brought them to the city on the back of Aldoron's right hand.
At first glance, the city looked normal.
The residents looked like ordinary humans too. If one did not look closely, there seemed to be nothing wrong.
But Marco's eyes could see through everything inside their bodies.
With one glance, he could tell that these people had already been completely soaked in Aldoron's magic power.
They were no longer normal humans in any meaningful sense.
They were storage vessels wearing human skin.
The moment Aldoron wished it, all of them would turn into nourishment and be absorbed by him.
"They look normal to me," Gray said, blinking. He could not see why Marco said they were beyond saving.
Mercphobia frowned.
He had also noticed that something was wrong. As a dragon, he was much more sensitive to Aldoron's magic power.
"No... these people are already..."
Elefseria noticed even faster than Mercphobia.
He truly was a magical genius.
His Dragon Slayer Magic was Law Dragon Slayer Magic, so his sensitivity toward magic was naturally stronger than most.
Elefseria's Law Dragon Slayer Magic had been completely self-taught. It had not been taught to him by a dragon, and he had not used a Dragon Lacrima either.
He had learned it entirely by reading books, which was honestly absurd.
So far, he was the only one who had managed something like that.
More importantly, the results of his self-study were not inferior to anyone else's.
He had sealed Dogramag, the Earth Dragon God, by himself and even awakened Dragon Force.
His talent was truly terrifying!
And now, Elefseria could clearly sense it too. Aldoron's magic had sunk deep into these people and fused with them completely.
"They're already Aldoron's puppets," Marco said, shaking his head. "Even their minds have been twisted. There's nothing left to save from them."
It was a cold thing to say, but everyone present knew there was no real solution.
None of them could rewind these people's bodies and souls back to before Aldoron's magic had fully eaten into them.
"Damn you, Aldoron!"
Elefseria tightened his grip on his staff, anger burning across his face.
Aldoron was practically the perfect example of an evil dragon!