An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

As an Alchemist, even if Hajime were to receive an attack exceeding the defenses of the Azantium ore, he could instantly repair it after enduring it for a few seconds. Even if it were to be breached, the second layer of the Hurtal ore had the property of becoming harder the more mana was injected into it. As long as Hajime still had mana, it would be impossible to breach it.

Therefore, the breath that even the Azantium Ore cannot penetrate cannot destroy the shield itself, but it seems possible to use the power of the breath to knock the shield's holder away.

In fact, even Hajime, whose arm strength was beyond human, was gradually pushed forward, and the ground was dug out by the stakes of the large shield and Hajime's feet.

If the situation continues to develop like this, since Hajime has a large shield and diamond, and his defense is beyond ordinary people, he should not suffer much damage. However, without Hajime's shield, Aiko and the others will probably become bait for the breath without any resistance, disappearing from this world without a trace.

Thinking about the possible future, Hajime couldn't help but feel a little anxious. At this moment, he suddenly felt a soft touch on his back.

"Nagumo!"

"Nagumo-kun!"

Hearing the urgent, tense voice, Hajime glanced back over his shoulder. Yuuka and Aiko had actually rushed behind him, desperately trying to support him. Apparently, while Hajime was blocking the breath, they had come to their senses and rushed forward, trying to support Hajime, who was gradually being pushed backwards.

Aiko looked like she was just trying desperately. But Hajime, looking over Yuuka's shoulder, could clearly tell, even in the darkness of black and red, that her face was in a state of disarray. The trembling Hajime felt wasn't just from the impact of the breath, but also from Yuuka's tiny courage, which was about to be overwhelmed by the trauma.

Seeing her like that, Atsushi suddenly came to his senses, and then he shouted to encourage himself and rushed to Hajime's back. Although it was a little late, Nana and the others and Will also rushed over to support Hajime.

The breath continued to be emitted, the surrounding river water was evaporated by the heat wave, and the soil and rocks on the riverside were blown away by the impact, leaving the earth devastated.

I don't know how long I endured the breath attack directly. Even though it felt like forever, in reality, it was only about ten seconds. Hajime gritted his teeth and thought about this, when he finally heard the voice he had been waiting for for a long time -

"—[Calamity]."

The moment the spell's name was announced, a sphere with a diameter of approximately four meters appeared above the dragon's head, swirling with black vortexes. It looked as if it would be sucked in. The dark sphere descended, instantly crushing the dragon to the ground.

“Hurrah!?”

With a loud bang, the black dragon was forced to the ground, screaming from the impact and ceasing to breathe. However, the vortex sphere seemed unsatisfied and still did not disappear, exerting immense pressure on the black dragon, causing it to gradually sink into the ground.

——Gravity magic 『Bad Sky』.

It was one of the Age of Gods magics that Yue had learned. It created a swirling gravitational sphere, crushing its target to pieces with super-gravity proportional to the amount of mana consumed. It could also be used to change the direction of gravity, making it quite convenient.

If gravity magic is cast on oneself, it doesn't consume much mana. However, if it is cast on objects, space, or others, or if the gravity ball itself is used as an attack, even at the current level, Yue needs ten seconds of preparation time and consumes a huge amount of mana. Since Yue hasn't mastered it yet, through practice, she might be able to make the activation time and mana consumption more efficient.

Pinned to the ground, the Sky King painfully tried to prop himself up with his limbs, escaping the pressure. However, Shia, her rabbit ears waving, screamed, "Stop!" as she descended from the sky alongside Drukken. She used a burst of fire to increase her speed, raising her warhammer high, aiming for the black dragon's head and bringing it down from above.

Immediately there was a loud noise and shock wave.

At the moment of impact, the ground exploded radially, creating a crater resembling a bombardment. The destructive force at this moment was incomparable to the fatal blow inflicted on Meredith Rasen in the Great Labyrinth of Rasen.

Because Hajime had modified the Drukken. He had applied gravity magic to the compressed Azantium ore, its primary material. However, unlike Ornis, this ore didn't "neutralize" gravity; instead, it had the property of "adding weight." The weight increased proportionally with the amount of magic power injected into it. Drukken's performance was now like the "00-ton sledgehammer" in the manga.

Therefore, if someone is actually hit by a super-heavy blow, they will inevitably suffer serious injuries. Yes, if they are actually hit...

“Garooooa ...

Accompanied by the black dragon's roar, flame bombs flew out from the dust stirred up by Drukken, approaching Yue at high speed. In a panic, Yue "dropped" to the right to avoid it, but the gravity ball magic was also lifted at the same time.

The aftermath of the flame bomb dispersed the dust, and within it, the black dragon could be seen narrowly avoiding the ground-sinking Drukken. It seemed that at the moment it was nearly struck, it relied on the dragon's unique arm strength to barely avoid the attack.

The black dragon seemed to want to vent its anger. It spun its body at high speed after breaking free from its restraints, and swung its huge tail at Shia who had just pulled out the Drukken.

“Waaaa!?”

At the critical moment, Shia used Druken as a shield and jumped up, successfully deflecting the impact while flying far away and disappearing on the other side of the woods.

The black dragon regained its posture following the force of the rotation, and glared at Shi... and Will behind him with its golden eyes.

Hajime immediately put the large shield back into the "treasure chest", drew out the Donal & Hulak and fired.

As the explosions echoed, several red flashes streaked across the sky, striking the black dragon. Facing the inescapable storm of destruction, the black dragon, directly hit, was sent flying, rumbling, and crashing into the river behind it. The river erupted in a massive column of water, as if bombarded.

Hajime knew that Will would be in trouble with the ray, so he took the initiative to attack the Black Dragon, letting Donal & Hulak rotate them in his hands, reloading in the air while firing continuously again, chasing the Black Dragon.

However, the black dragon stirred up the river water, roared, and stood up. Then, ignoring Hajime, it fired a fire bomb at Will.

"!"

In order to prevent Will from being attacked, Hajime deliberately approached and launched a violent attack, hoping to attract the black dragon's attention. However, the black dragon seemed to ignore Hajime's thoughts and sniped Will.

"moon!"

"Hmm—'Pau'."

"Eh!" Will wailed in frustration, shrinking back. A dense wall of water appeared before him, blocking the incoming fire bombs and dissipating into thin air.

"I-We have to help!"

"well."

Seeing the situation unfolding so drastically, Yuka finally regained consciousness. With a look of panic on her face, she drew out her sacred weapon: a throwing dagger. It was a set of twelve daggers, each with the power to attract others. As long as she kept one in her possession, she could retrieve it no matter how many times. She used magic to envelop the daggers in flames and hurled them in a straight line.

Junshi also drew out his own divine weapon - two scimitars. Junshi, who possessed the innate duty of "Scimitar Master", could release sharp wind blades whenever he swung these divine weapons.

However, whether it was Yuka's burning dagger or Junshi's wind blade, they were like throwing pebbles at a huge rock. They were blocked by the black dragon's hard black scales and easily bounced away.

Despite a tragic expression, Yuuka once again grasped her dagger, and Atsushi also swung his scimitar. Seeing their actions, though still trembling with fear at the Black Dragon's majesty, Noboru, Akito, Nana, and Taeko each launched long-range attacks from behind Yue's defenses, but...

“Hooaaaaaaaaa!!”

This time, let alone hitting the black dragon's body, all attacks before that were completely obliterated by the shockwaves from its roar. Witnessing the overwhelming force of the roar and being glared at by those golden eyes, they, like Will, let out wailing "Eh!"s and retreated continuously. Taeko and Nana even collapsed to the ground in fear.

"Tsk! Teacher! Take them back!"

“! Nagumo-kun…but…”

Their tiny attempts at courage were in vain. Seeing Yuuka and the others cowering in fear, Hajime concluded that they were completely worthless and shouted at Aiko to leave.

Aiko couldn't help but hesitate. Since Hajime was also Aiko's student, was it okay to leave him in front of a powerful monster? She was hesitant because she wanted to fulfill her teacher's mission.

During that time, the black dragon blew away the surrounding river water and flapped its wings to fly into the sky, while not forgetting to fire fire bombs at Will.

Even though Hajime had been firing the electromagnetic cannon continuously since a while ago, he couldn't attract its attention at all. The black dragon's scales were as strong as those of the scorpion-like creatures of the past, so even if it was hit by the electromagnetic cannon, it would only slightly shatter the surface.

The black dragon stubbornly targeted Will, acting like a robot faithfully obeying orders. Unless it was directly prevented from killing Will by using gravity restraints, as it had just done, it would not take him seriously.

Although Hajime didn't understand why it was so persistent in attacking Will, since the target was clear, it would be easy to deal with it. So he gave Yue an instruction:

"Yue! Focus on protecting Will! Let me handle this guy!"

"Well, leave it to me!"

Following Hajime's instructions, Yue quickly moved towards Will with a "Descent" technique, blocking him. Yue turned slightly and saw that Aiko and Yuka hadn't taken any action in this situation. He couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed, but considering their level, there was nothing he could do. He shrugged and said:

"...If you don't want to die, get behind me."

As for Yue, she didn't care what happened to Yuka and the others, but Aiko was different because she was someone Hajime cared about very much. In order to prevent her from dying, Yue just said so to her. By the way, she didn't forget to remind them to stay well and not get in the way.

Taeko, Nana, Noboru, and Akito tumbled to her side, unable to react to Yue's words. However, Yuuka, Junshi, and Aiko, feeling powerless and their bodies unable to respond, bit their lips and took refuge in Yue's ice wall.

They had the strength to fight a bit, but even if they knew Hajime was still alive, even if they recovered enough to stand up again, that day, they were nearly killed by Behemoth and the Nightmare Warriors, and Hajime's fall into the abyss made them feel the sharp and real sense of "death". The psychological trauma that spread through Yuka and the others at that time made it impossible to let them go so easily.

Furthermore, even if they could fully unleash their true strength, they still didn't think they could contend with a black dragon of a different strength. Therefore, they could only stare at the other side of the transparent ice wall (which was beautiful).

Hajime believed that as long as Yue was there, Will's safety would be guaranteed, so he focused on the attack.

The black dragon soared into the air, still focusing its efforts on destroying the barrier created by Yue, while Will was still behind it. However, perhaps realizing that the flame bombs could not penetrate the barrier, it leaned back again and concentrated its magic power into its mouth.

"Ha, this is the first time I've been ignored to this extent... Then I'll make sure you never ignore me again, no matter what."

Hajime holstered the Donner and, seemingly from thin air, pulled out the electromagnetic acceleration anti-target rifle, the 'Shurajan,' from his 'treasure vault.' He immediately activated 'Thunder Wrap.' The two-and-a-half-meter-long, menacingly shaped weapon erupted in a burst of red electricity.

The black dragon probably realized that Shi's next attack was dangerous, so it turned its mouth towards Shi. As Shi had expected, it seemed unable to ignore him any longer.

As the black dragon released its breath of death, Hajime's Shurajan finished reloading and opened fire.

Accompanied by a powerful flash, a deadly storm, and a fierce conflict between the black and red flashes in the middle.

The moment of collision, an incredibly powerful shockwave was generated, uprooting the surrounding trees. If we only looked at the power, if we only compared the power, it would probably be - evenly matched.

However, the two flashes were of different natures, so there was no confrontation, but a clear winner. While the breath flash possessed excellent durability, Shurajan's powerful, penetrating attack was a breakthrough, inevitably breaking through the breath flash and reaching the black dragon.

The black dragon exhaled, and its head flung back as if it had been ejected, because the full metal shell made of Huytal ore broke through the breath and hit the black dragon's jaw.

However, the blow was far from fatal. Apparently, the force of the breath had altered the bullet's trajectory. Despite vaporizing several of its fangs, it still narrowly missed the side of the black dragon's head, severing one of its flapping wings.

“Gurglea ...

Perhaps feeling pain, the black dragon screamed and fell to the ground in a spin.

To dodge the breath, Hajime used his 『Aerodynamics』 to evade the air, and taking the opportunity to flip his body, he activated his 『Aerodynamics』 and 『Shrinking the Earth』, descending rapidly at super high speed, and used his 『Go Ki』 to kick the supine black dragon in the abdomen.

With a thud, the sound of impact echoed throughout the surroundings, reaching deep into the dragon's abdomen. The black dragon's body buckled, and the ground was cracked in radial directions by the impact.

Although the black dragon let out a roar that was almost a scream, the damage was not great because the armor on its body could withstand even the attack of the electromagnetic cannon.

However, Hajime had anticipated this. To continue his pursuit, he swung his left prosthetic arm vigorously. A sharp mechanical "Ji----!" emanated from the prosthetic arm, and before it fell, Hajime activated its mechanism—"Vibration Crusher."

"Have you ever been punched in the stomach?"

Hajime's eyes flashed with a fierce smile, and he mercilessly struck the black dragon's belly with his Fist of Destruction—capable of shattering a huge rock flying at high speed.

A dull "bang!" sound echoed, and the scales on its abdomen began to crack. Since this attack was designed to transmit shockwaves, it should have caused considerable damage to its internal organs.

“Gurrua ...

This unprecedented shock caused the black dragon to utter another agonized cry, spitting blood profusely, its golden eyes wide with confusion. Perhaps sensing the danger of continuing this way, it poured explosive prana into a single wing, whipping up a storm and instantly forcing itself back from its supine position.

Hajime used his "Aero" once again to leave the spot, leaving behind a gift.

The black dragon looked at Hajime, who had fled into the air, with a wary gaze. At that moment, a massive explosion erupted beneath its abdomen. The blast impacted the black dragon's massive body, sending it flying about two meters into the air. That was the gift Hajime had hurled beneath its abdomen as the black dragon flipped over—the "explosion grenade."

“Guwaa ...

The same spot was struck again, and this time the black dragon couldn't even wail, only letting out a dull growl. As if enduring the pain, it lowered its head and crouched, blood oozing from the corner of its mouth. Perhaps it was an illusion, but its growl seemed to have become much weaker.

The black dragon seemed to see Hajime as a threat, and its gaze shifted from Will to Hajime. Then, it opened its mouth and fired a series of flaming bullets.

Like anti-aircraft artillery fire, dazzling flames shot into the air, but none of them hit Hajime. Hajime combined his 'Aero' and 'Shrinking the Earth', crisscrossing the air. Before he knew it, he was even trailing an afterimage behind him. Using a hit-and-run technique, he continuously inflicted heavy blows on the black dragon.

Just as he saw him using Donar & Hulak to shoot at the claws, gums, eyes, base of the tail, buttocks and other parts that the black dragon found disgusting from a medium distance, the next moment he immediately approached and used a combination attack of "Vibration Smash" or detonating shotguns and "Brave Arms" to hit the black dragon's head or flanks.

"Gurgle! Gurgle!"

The black dragon's voice began to churn, no, it truly began to weep. Cracks appeared on its scales, and blood dripped from the corners of its mouth.

“How amazing…”

From the safety of Yue's rear, Junshi watched Hajime's battle and couldn't help but blurt out a thought. Even without saying it, Yuuka, Aiko, and the others nodded silently in agreement, unable to take their eyes off the one-sided battle. Will, on the other hand, watched Hajime's fight intently with excitement, unable to tell that he had just been trembling with fear at the black dragon's majesty.

Incidentally, Shia had returned at some point and wanted to join the battle, but Yue, sensing Hajime's intentions, stopped her. Shia then watched the battle alongside Yue. She was actually a bit frustrated, as evidenced by the weak drooping of her rabbit ears.

The reason why Hajime didn't use high-powered weapons like Shurajan or Alcorn to solve the problem right away was because he felt that this was a good opportunity to let Aiko and the others see his strength.

The black dragon was indeed powerful, and its blows were formidable. However, its enormous size made it easy to hit, and its attacks were also quite monotonous. Therefore, as long as he fought calmly, he could truly practice the ironclad principle of "as long as you don't get hit, it doesn't matter." This was a relatively easy task for Hajime.

Therefore, in order to ensure that after she parted ways with Aiko and the others, even if she informed the church, the country, or the heroes about Hajime and the others, the other party would not take harsh measures, he thought of showing his strength now.

Because of this, the poor black dragon was beaten up purely for Hajime's convenience, but Hajime actually admired it. Although the black dragon's body was covered in cracks, none of them had completely broken, showing its remarkable resilience. Hajime, remembering the scorpion-like creature, tried using the "Mineral Identification" skill on the scales just to be on the safe side, but there was no reaction. It seemed like it wasn't a mineral that could be refined.

Hajime, figuring that Aiko and the others had almost fully grasped his strength, decided to deliver a fatal blow. He instantly rushed in front of the black dragon and used his "Gao Ji" to kick its massive body upward, sending it sprawling onto its back once more. Then, he pulled the Pile Bunker from its "treasure vault" on the slow-moving black dragon's belly.

Although he could hear the noises of Yuuka and the others—or rather, Atsushi and the other male students—Hajime ignored them, shooting out his anchor, securing the black dragon with a bracket, and unleashing Thunder Wrap. Hajime had chosen the Pile Bunker because it hadn't been fully utilized in the Great Labyrinth of Lazen, so he wanted to test it out in actual combat.

The pile with the shell of Azantium ore inside began to rotate violently, and the Pile Bunker emitted a red electric current. If this continued, the four-ton pile would mercilessly pierce the black dragon and kill it.

However, just like the saying goes, "A cornered dog will leap over the wall," one should be most careful when a wild beast is injured, and the same applies to the Black Dragon.

“Gahhhhhhhh!!!”

As the black dragon roared, a violent gust of wind erupted, spreading in all directions. It was an explosion of pure mana. Furthermore, in that brief moment, it seemed to have undergone maximum physical strengthening. Its already strong muscles generated explosive force, uprooting the anchors holding the pile bunker along with the ground, its bulging muscles prying apart the supports. Then, as if to strike down Hajime, it instantly reversed.

“Uuuuu!?”

Hajime stumbled, taking several steps in place. The Pile Bunker, ready to launch, launched skyward, accelerating at full speed. Hajime squinted at the streak of light rising into the sky and stored the Pile Bunker in his "treasure vault," confirming that the black dragon was about to charge at Will in a final struggle.

"Tsk, Shia!"

“Yes, yes!”

Hajime clucked his tongue at his own mistake and called out to Shia. Shia understood his intention and, stepping onto the ice wall, leaped high into the air, rallying herself. This time, she was determined to hit the target. Using the speed of free fall and the recoil of the shotgun, she descended towards the black dragon like a meteorite.

If it was the original black dragon, it might be able to dodge, but as the name suggests, it was making its last struggle and had no room to dodge, so it could not avoid her meteor-like hammer.

Shia raised and swung the incredibly heavy Drukken, injecting magic power into it, causing its weight to increase explosively. With a resounding thud, it struck the black dragon squarely on the head.

The black dragon's head sank into the ground, and the force of the impact caused its lower body to float upside down, as if in an upside-down position. After a moment's pause, it slowly fell to the ground, making a rumbling sound.

"Huh~ That fixes the mistake, eh? Just how durable is this dragon..."

Shia moved Druken away from the black dragon's head buried in the ground, her eyes widening in surprise.

This is no wonder, because only the surface of the black dragon's head was broken. Although there were huge cracks, it was not completely broken. It really has a terrifying defensive power.

"Hmm? Indeed, its durability is comparable to that of the monsters from the abyss. How many mountains did it have to cross to get here?"