After that, the black dragon and I continued our back-and-forth battle.
I dodged or endured every one of its attacks, so I had almost no external injuries.
But I'd already renewed my buffs ten times.
The headache had reached its peak, and nosebleeds kept flowing.
I knew my body was screaming its limit, but every time blood dripped, I roughly wiped it away with my left hand and ignored it.
In contrast, the black dragon had gouges in its abdomen, back, and other spots.
Its right eye was crushed, scales shattered all over its body, and it bled from countless places.
The number of mist tendrils had dropped from ten to just two.
Both of us were battered beyond words.
Our altitude had dropped considerably—now only a few meters off the ground.
Finally, the black dragon could no longer keep flying and landed on the ground.
Seeing that, I landed too.
"Haa... haa... Finally... came down, huh."
Honestly, that was close.
If it had stayed airborne any longer, my chances would've plummeted.
Intuitively, I could only use magic a few more times at most.
Renewing buffs by activating thirty spells nearly simultaneously was impossible now.
Doing that would knock me out instantly.
I released my right hand from the sword hilt.
The sword naturally fell to the ground with a sharp clatter under gravity.
Ignoring that, I thrust my right hand forward.
The spot where I now stood was—the exact place where I'd activated magic on the ground after first reflecting the fireball with [Reflective Wall].
As if responding to my movement, a massive magic circle with a ten-meter radius appeared on the ground.
"...[Destruction Magic Sword]."
Muttering that, the ground at the circle's center rose up, forming a pitch-black mass.
When my right hand touched it, a pressure so intense it felt like a gale erupted from the mass, shaking the very space around us.
The pitch-black mass then reshaped itself into a gigantic, ominous greatsword as tall as I was.
[Destruction Magic Sword] originated from [Earth Weapon], a support magic that hardened surrounding ground into an impromptu weapon.
By combining it with [Mana Convergence], I created this [Destruction Magic Sword].
The sword formed by [Destruction Magic Sword] had mana converged to its absolute limit.
Its destructive power far surpassed special-grade magic—even without [Instant Capability Super Rise: Impact].
A sword made by converging mana—hence "magic sword."
Dragging the magic sword, I slowly approached the black dragon.
Perhaps intimidated by the pressure it emitted, the black dragon recklessly attacked with its remaining two mist tendrils.
"...[Reflective Wall]."
I activated [Reflective Wall] on the ground and stomped down on it with full force.
This was the same wall that had effortlessly reflected the black dragon's attacks before.
Naturally, my stomp didn't break it—instead, I was launched straight upward.
"[Reflective Wall]... [Reflective Wall]!"
This time I activated another [Reflective Wall] in midair at an angle.
Twisting my body, I touched the wall and was bounced again—straight toward the black dragon's head.
Above the black dragon's head, yet another [Reflective Wall] lay parallel to the ground.
Touching it sent me plummeting straight down vertically.
The black dragon, having just used all its mist for attacks, had no way to intercept me diving from overhead.
"[Weight Up]!"
I made the already heavy magic sword even heavier.
Relying on my forcibly boosted physical abilities, I spun and swung the magic sword down with everything I had.
It was a recreation of my opening strike—except for the weapon in my hand.
If recreating the first attack, then naturally—
"[Instant Capability Super Rise: Impact]!!!"
Right before the blade connected, I activated my signature move—the one that had supported the hero party all this time: [Instant Capability Super Rise: Impact].
The magic sword struck near the neck, ignoring all resistance and slamming the black dragon into the ground.
Yet the momentum didn't stop.
It cleaved straight through the neck, then cratered the surrounding area deeply before finally halting.
◇
The black dragon, its neck severed in two, had stopped breathing.
I stabbed the magic sword into the ground and leaned on it, barely managing to stay upright.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
(I somehow... won... Head hurts so much. I just want to sleep right now... Oh yeah, is everyone else okay?)
In the second half of the fight, I'd completely forgotten about them.
Turning my gaze toward where the "Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky" members were, the air felt frozen.
Some looked relieved the threat was gone, others still couldn't accept reality—reactions varied.
But what they all shared was—fear toward me.
Even Selma-san, the top fighter in their clan, was terrified of the opponent I had defeated alone.
Of course they'd feel fear.
(I thought I was prepared to be looked at like this... But it still hurts. —Wait, 'still'? This is the first time I've ever gotten looks like this, right? So why did I just think of it as something I'd already experienced...?)
There was a sense of something important I'd overlooked just now.
But in my exhausted state, I had no energy left to think further.
(Well, as long as everyone's safe, that's enough. I don't want to think anymore. Anyway... what do I do about cleanup... I have zero strength left...)
As those thoughts crossed my mind, a pale blue light enveloped me along with every other explorer present—and the black dragon's corpse.