VIP Chapter 424: Second Time Stop
“It understands that you can stop its time and attack its weakness directly. Therefore, it definitely won’t choose to fall from the sky.”
“No, that can’t be possible!? Why would it know that… what kind of Dungeon BOSS is so thoroughly aware of the killing moves adventurers can use?”
“There’s no special reason. Before this, it was already the Fire Dragon that understood adventurers the most.”
Liya spread her hands.
“In short, if you can stop time, all you need to do is climb onto its back, take out its ‘core,’ and you’ll win. You can even skip its phases and bypass its defenses.”
Of course, Liya used a “metaphor,” as she hadn’t cleared the End Ash Dungeon herself. The ‘cockpit’ weakness that Al himself revealed at the time sounded too abstract.
“But, if it never descends from the sky, what will you do then? The method to victory is simple, but the path to achieving it is incredibly difficult.”
Liya brought up this crucial, one-hit-kill question, crossing her arms and looking at Iaar, expecting her to provide the answer.
For Iaar, the Fire Dragon was indeed not an opponent she could handle. Moreover, the thought that Ya’er, originating from the Witch clan, was inside the Fire Dragon made it difficult for her to truly strike a killing blow.
“There is a way. And it’s a very simple way.”
Iaar raised her eyes and spoke with great confidence.
“Since it doesn’t want to come down, then… why not make the sky lower?”
“As long as the sky isn’t that high, no matter how much it flaps its wings, it will have to descend.”
She said these two sentences so casually that Liya wondered if the girl had a problem with her brain.
“What nonsense are you talking about? You’ve been to that Dungeon too! You know better than anyone how high the sky is there!?”
“Indeed. It’s a height so high that you can’t even see the ceiling… rarely seen even in Dungeons. However, if it’s the Ice Array (Attack) known for its control, it’s not impossible.”
As they discussed, Iaar’s eyes gave the impression of a reckless “madman.” Once she decided on this seemingly enormously difficult method, she was determined to complete it.
“Even if such magic exists, it requires ‘time’ to set up the formation. You must know, the Fire Dragon on the other side is no less skilled in magic than we are present—”
“Iaar is right, it’s a method we can try.”
“Hmph, Will, don’t just go along with her impulsive ideas—!”
“However, to accomplish this, as you said, Liya, it requires ‘time’.”
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At this moment, the Ice Blue sky rapidly descended within five seconds, suppressing Al’s wings with insurmountable power and forcefully pushing it towards the ground.
No, perhaps “push” isn’t strong enough. It was more like directly crushing it towards the ground.
Amidst the blood-red sunset, an ice storm also whipped up as giant blocks of ice descended.
“Phew… that’s it!”
Iaar’s palm seemed to control the sky. The moment she clenched her fist, the descent of the sky stopped.
She stood on the ground, looking at the “blue sky” that she had forced down to only about ten meters high. While this height was still considered “spacious” for her as a human.
But…
For Al, it was an enormous “oppression” that was very difficult to accept.
The entire dragon couldn’t lift its “neck” and could only prostrate itself on the ground with its head bowed.
Even its proud wings couldn’t flap or extend as they did before. It could only, like a captive, slightly raise the tip of its beak and aim its eyes at Iaar.
“I… I did it… Ha… ha… I’m so tired, but this magic I read about in books, I actually did it.”
This Ice Array (Attack) magic was the most draining she had ever experienced since entering the battlefield.
Even she found it hard to believe that the magic that only existed in books could appear before her eyes today in such a magnificent and powerful way.
The Ice Blue ceiling, which was extremely close to a “mirror,” reflected the figures below.
What was once the “apocalyptic twilight” of the End Ash had, from this moment on, become a control zone of Ice Blue attribute.
The descending ceiling didn’t just seal off the Fire Dragon’s flight space; it also suppressed large-scale flame-attribute attacks, preventing Al from unleashing its full strength.
“Now you can’t fly up anymore, right? Then, just a little closer… and I can completely finish you.”
Iaar’s only remaining problem was how to approach what was called its “core” location.
But for Iaar, who could stop time, this wasn’t a problem.
It was just that now she needed to recover a little stamina and the circulation of her pathways. As long as she could get close enough to touch within the range of time stop, she could…
“Making the sky fall, you… you truly did something excessively powerful and bold for a user of Ice Array (Attack).”
Al didn’t attack. Instead, it gave an extremely “straightforward” evaluation.
“However, I am curious, how exactly did you manage it? This is a large-scale magic, and to use large-scale magic successfully requires sufficient preliminary preparation.”
Al spoke like a “seeker of truth,” earnestly discussing the possibilities with Iaar.
“Just as my explosion and flame magic require time to accumulate, you must have also needed some preparatory work.”
Although its voice still sounded like a young girl’s, its tone gradually became “aged.”
It was as if an old professor was discussing an “academic problem” that had bothered him for many years.
“But I didn’t see any of these preparations, so… could it be…”
“That’s right, she stopped time.”
It wasn’t Iaar who interrupted the Fire Dragon and provided the answer.
It was Will, sitting in his wheelchair behind Iaar, who seemed to be a “spectator” of the normal battle. The Fire Dragon hadn’t intentionally attacked him, giving him a sufficiently safe “viewing seat.”
“W-Wait a moment! Young Master, this… this is dangerous. Let’s… let’s wait until everything is over…”
Iaar, who had been so domineering just moments ago, panicked upon seeing Will and wagged her tail, wanting to push him back.
“…When did you stop it?”
“Didn’t anyone tell you that stopping time can only be used for defense, evasion, and killing blows?”
Will didn’t retreat as Iaar wished. Instead, he chuckled and faced the Fire Dragon’s questioning with a rather imposing counter-question.
Author’s note: I messed up the chapter number again in the last chapter. I’m such an idiot (lol)
