Chapter 1456: Who is the Muggle?

Down on the arena floor.

Because of the petrification spell, everyone in the arena had been granted a temporary respite.

At this moment, the arena was in utter chaos. The first to reach the exits were the Solondo knights mounted on horses. Yet, when they stood at the threshold, ready to flee, and saw the athletes and cheerleaders being crushed to death in helpless despair amidst the rampage of the monsters, the Solondo knights hesitated for a brief moment. Then, with bloodshot eyes, they let out a roar, raised their banners, leveled their lances, and charged straight toward the building-sized monstrosity!

This spectacle caused the wizards in the stands to roar with laughter, while the corners of the Nephalonians' mouths curved upward in amused smiles.

Ridiculous ants, forever overestimating themselves as they attempt to challenge the gods who cannot be defeated.

As that massive club was about to sweep all the knights into a pulp of flesh and blood, a cruel smile played across the Nephalian prince's lips. Yet, bizarrely, at that exact second, the body of the Dragon-Slayer Gundam suddenly turned wispy like smoke. The giant club passed right through the knights' bodies as if it were nothing more than mist.

Gales howled, the knights' banners fluttered in the wind, and the bodies and horses swept by the club remained completely unharmed.

As they galloped straight through the body of the Dragon-Slayer Gundam, the knights phased right through the heart of the colossal monster, as though this entity were entirely composed of vapor.

The Dragon-Slayer Gundam blinked its eyes in utter bewilderment. It looked down at its giant club, tapped itself on the head with it, and promptly raised a painful bump. The pain made it stamp its foot.

This scene was far too bizarre. The previously raucous stands on the opposite side gradually fell silent. The wizards on that opposing viewing platform craned their necks and dropped their jaws, staring as if they had just seen a ghost—what kind of utter nonsense was this?!

The protective enchantments cast upon that Gundam numbered in the tens of thousands! How could any spell possibly take complete, unhindered effect upon it?!

The court wizards also stared as though they had seen a ghost, blinking hard in disbelief. Princess Nephalia and the prince stretched out their necks like stunned geese, freezing in place. Their minds went entirely blank.

"Well done, Ron," Louis nodded, signaling his next student to step up for the examination.

A dead silence gripped the court wizards. They watched in a daze as another magician calmly walked toward the blackboard, as though this were nothing more than a minor, routine exam.

Francesco, possessing her daughter's body, experienced a sharp constriction of her pupils. She shot Louis a piercing look, then seized the opportunity to chant an incantation. With a grand sweep of her hand, every single knight and athlete down in the arena suddenly vanished. At the same time, a dense cluster of tiny wooden figures abruptly materialized on an ordinary chessboard before her.

Francesco let out a breath of relief, returned to her consciousness, and closed her eyes to rest her mind.

The royal box was exceptionally quiet now, making the formerly grand and eloquent conversations sound jarringly out of place.

"...Which is to say, dragons today have fallen far behind what they were three thousand years ago. They don't even know what their own true names are used for anymore," a magician remarked.

"'Legacy' has many benefits, but no single lineage can pass down all knowledge and magic. Without diligent study, one will inevitably lose much along the way, gradually regressing into beasts."

The magicians discussed amongst themselves, indifferent to the world.

"Are you kidding me? What kind of joke is this?!" Princess Annabella of Nephalia suddenly sprang to her feet, clutching her horns as she screamed, "This is impossible! Impossible!"

Prince Chico of Nephalia stared at Louis with a trembling frame, suddenly recalling those words—'A few little lizards, and you dare to presume yourselves dragons in my presence?'

By now, the court wizards watched in a daze as the 'wild wizard' who had just written on the blackboard stepped back down. The wild wizard unfurled a scroll and jotted down a long string of the Gundam's true names.

Moments later, the Dragon-Slayer Gundam—which had just been unsealed and unbanished by the noble wizards—dissolved once again into nothingness. This left the wizards in the opposing stands frantically tearing at their hair in a flustered panic.

Francesco cast that same searching glance at Louis, while Delphinia, who had just regained consciousness, along with the legion of court wizards, stared at this side as though they had witnessed an apparition.

Spectating nobles broke into applause one after another. The crisp, resounding claps sounded precisely like sharp slaps across the faces of the court wizards—it turned out that what these people had said was entirely true: those court wizards were nothing more than half-baked quacks, exceptionally skilled at nothing but boasting.

To think they had claimed 'true names' were utterly meaningless, rambling on about the glory of dragonhood, and declaring that the monster possessed complete magic immunity and could no longer be subdued.

Total nonsense. They truly were a pack of meddling quacks brimming with misplaced self-confidence.

It seemed this visiting foreign prince was indeed the true magic prince of the Cloud Kingdom. It had been terribly impolite to have been misled by this gang of charlatans earlier.

While the onlookers enjoyed the show, Princess Nephalia and the dragon-descended wizards were nearly driven mad.

"Stop discussing this! Stop using that casual tone to talk about it!" Princess Annabella of Nephalia yelled at the top of her lungs, on the verge of a breakdown, "Stop speaking as if this is all perfectly natural!"

The magicians glanced at her as if she were a fool, completely ignoring her. The next magician simply picked up a piece of chalk and began derivations on the blackboard.

Francesco shot Louis another profound look. The fellow before her was undoubtedly the son of an ancient god.

By this time, the banishment spell had been undone by the opposing gallery. The Dragon-Slayer Gundam charged furiously toward the viewing stands here, attempting to climb up. This sight terrified the nobles out of their wits, and the court wizards were paralyzed with fright—somehow, utilizing some unknown magic of the Red Queen, the Dragon-Slayer Gundam was now completely ignoring the maze-array barrier!

It had attained absolute magical immunity!

Seeing the Dragon-Slayer Gundam storming forward, the noble wizards across the way burst into raucous laughter, while a sweet, delicate voice suddenly echoed across the royal box.

[If you don't send someone down into the arena, all your subjects are going to die, oh~ ahahahahaha...]

At that very instant, the charging Dragon-Slayer Gundam was banished once again.

The laughter cut off mid-chase, abruptly silenced. The wizards in the opposing stands sprang to their feet like madmen, grabbing handfuls of their hair. Figures rose one after another across the opposite gallery in a wave-like motion, creating a truly magnificent spectacle.

A beam of angry crimson light suddenly struck the Dragon-Slayer Gundam. In a fraction of a second, the blood vessels all over its body bulged, and its physique expanded twofold.

The Gundam's skin shifted from grey to a brilliant scarlet, and under the reinforcement of various magical buffs, the creature turned an eerie, vibrant green. Its rolls of fat morphed into hard blocks of muscle. Rows of barbed spikes sprouted along its spine, horns grew from the crown of its head, and a bone-spiked tail emerged from its back.

The banishment spell was broken as a result, but the Dragon-Slayer Gundam had also gone completely berserk, no longer obeying the Red Queen's commands. It rampaged across the venue, tearing at its own body and howling at the top of its lungs.

Yet, bizarrely, perhaps due to the potency of the true names and the scroll, the raging Gundam found itself physically unable to approach the viewing stands.

At that moment, over a dozen bizarrely shaped steam tanks rushed in from outside the grounds, roaring out through a grand gateway. These behemoths bore a striking resemblance to Archie's juggernaut, save for an extra array of wheels and heavy treads. Mounted atop them were heavy machine guns and artillery barrels—though small in caliber, they were bona fide howitzers.

Upon entering, the steam tanks opened fire on the colossal entity, their heavy machine guns spitting tongues of flame. Yet whenever their firepower struck near the Dragon-Slayer Gundam, flashes of light illuminated the air—evidently the protective wards cast upon the beast by the wizards.

During the tanks' second simultaneous volley, however, the barrels didn't fire shells—they shot fireworks instead!

With a furious roar, the Dragon-Slayer Gundam uttered a passage of Draconic language. Then, despite its formerly sluggish movements, the creature vaulted forward with incredible, dizzying agility, leaping over a hundred meters straight toward the tanks. Moving at blistering speed, it slammed into a steam tank and kicked it high up into the air.

Francesco hastily reached out with a grab, causing several more tiny wooden figures to appear on the chessboard, seemingly rescuing the drivers from those tanks. She knew that the current Dragon-Slayer Gundam could never be handled by a dozen mere tanks.

Sure enough, before long, the steam tanks were either kicked into the air like footballs or batted away like baseballs.

Witnessing this, cold sweat broke out across the foreheads of the court wizards. The current Dragon-Slayer Gundam was utterly unbeatable—this must have been a trump card kept hidden by the Red Queen!

Everyone turned their gazes toward the Nephalian prince, signaling for him to head down immediately.

Yet the prince, who had been so eager to volunteer just moments ago, was now frozen in absolute terror.

Was this a Goron?

You call this monstrosity a two-headed Goron?!

What kind of damned magic were these Red Queen wizards using to turn that giant into this abomination?!

With that kind of agility and terrifying strength, it would pulverize a dragon with ease!

Had he known the Red Queen had made such preparations, he would never have volunteered!

They were leading a dragon to its slaughter!

As cold sweat streamed down the Nephalian prince's face, he watched the gleeful two-headed green giant get banished once again.

The prince and the court wizards clutched their hair and stared at the magicians as if they had seen ghosts—what on earth was happening?! Even like this, it could still be banished?!

Were the protective spells in the opposing stands made of paper?!

The wizards on the opposing gallery had likewise leaped to their feet, tearing at their hair and shouting at the top of their lungs, their faces etched with utter disbelief.

For a moment, occupants from every viewing stand stood up in unison—a truly spectacular sight.

"Impossible, impossible! How can this be..." Princess Annabella stared blankly down at the arena, her mind on the verge of shattering, "A few wild wizards with fragmented magic—how is this possible, how is this possible!"

Prince Chico's eyes grew entirely vacant. Delphinia's eyelids twitched wildly, while the court wizards stared like stunned geese toward Louis and his magicians.

The magicians cast a sidelong glance at those individuals, their expressions dripping with arrogant contempt, looking much like people watching a group of fools they couldn't even be bothered to argue with.

Numerous court wizards felt a wave of dizziness wash over them, while even more stared ahead with lifeless eyes and blank expressions.

"Teacher, this is the third time. The effect is growing weaker," the magician in charge of scoring suddenly said to Louis.

"Mm, that's about enough. Let's not meddle blindly anymore. Today's match needs participants, after all. Several thousand people on both sides are waiting eagerly. Her Majesty the Sorceress Queen has already set the roster, and Prince Chico of Nephalia, who volunteered just now, has been waiting for quite a while."

With that, Louis looked expressionlessly toward the blank-eyed Prince Chico, pointed down at the arena, and said, "Apologies for wasting your time, Your Highness. Our class is finished—please, go right ahead."