Chapter 1216: Evil Dragon

「Is that Bulbora?」

『Yeah. There’s no mistaking it.』

We were right next to Bulbora. Despite Raydoss being a ridiculous distance away, we had teleported all the way here.

「Biscot! Biscot!!」

We turned around to see Klikka screaming. It seems there were several people nearby.

Klikka, Sibylla, the Red Knights, the villagers, Urushi. All of our allies on that battlefield were here, and none of our enemies.

And last but not least, Biscot. He was shrouded in evil energy, with his entire body crumbling away.

I’m sure the Evil God Fragment did something, but it was not enough to save him. I was holding onto a vague hope that he might have been absorbed into me like Avenger, though this proved otherwise.

Biscot’s legs were already gone, leaving only his upper body lying on the grassy plain. Klikka called out his name as she sprinkled a potion on him, but to no avail.

Everyone gathered around, watching Biscot’s last moments with pained expressions.

The villagers knew he was the one who protected them with his body as a shield, and that there was no saving him anymore…

Amidst all this, Biscot put on a slightly distorted smile.

「I… saved everyone, right…?」

「Yes, yes! Everyone is safe thanks to you.」

「Klikka-neechan… Stop crying…」

「I’m not crying!」

「At least… Let me look cool at the end… I did my best, right?」

The village children peeked out behind the sobbing Klikka.

「Mister! Thank you!」

「Thanks for saving us!」

「You were so cool!」

「The strongest guy ever!」

These were probably the words Biscot wanted to hear the most. Perhaps they had connected with each other due to being the same age. The children forced themselves to smile as they praised Biscot.

Seeing this, Biscot genuinely smiled from the bottom of his heart.

「Hehe… Feel free to keep praising me…」

「Nn. Biscot, you were cool.」

「Fran… Thanks…」

Sibylla simply watched the scene quietly. However, it seems we wouldn’t get the chance to send off Biscot peacefully.

「…! Biscot!」

「Ughhh…」

Klikka screamed when evil energy began seeping out of Biscot’s body again, as he grimaced in agony.

Sibylla reached out her hand in haste, but the evil energy repelled her.

Everyone could only pray for Biscot’s safety as the evil energy gained momentum, forming a jet-black sphere enveloping his body. No, perhaps it looked more like an egg shape.

Despite such powerful evil energy, it had surprisingly little effect on the surroundings. There was not even a slight breeze, and none of the villagers suffered from evil intoxication.

After a few seconds that seemed to last an eternity, cracks began appearing on the sphere of evil energy. A cracking egg, that was the only way I could describe it.

The cracks spread throughout the sphere’s surface, with black light leaking out from within.

As if we were watching the birth of something. Despite the detestable evil energy tainting the scene, there was a strange divinity to it.

Finally, the egg shattered. The dense dome of evil energy disappeared so cleanly, as if it had been an illusion, and…

「Kyuu?」

『Huh?』

「?」

It wasn’t just Fran and me. Everyone present had question marks above their heads.

Yeah sure, we thought it looked like an egg, but that was a simile. It wasn’t supposed to be an actual egg…

「A dragon?」

Just like Fran murmured, a dragon had indeed popped out of the egg. Biscot had vanished, and there was a small dragon in his place.

The dragon was covered in scales sharing the same blackness as evil energy, from its horns to the tip of its tail. Everything aside from the color was your common dragon. Well, I suppose dragons aren’t exactly common.

Despite being born this way, I sensed a strange lack of evil in its aura. Almost as if all the evil energy was sealed away inside.

「Kyuo!」

The dragon looked up at the people surrounding it with surprisingly cute, round eyes.

「What… just happened?」

「I-I have no clue either… Are you… B-Biscot?」

「Kyuh!」

The dragon chirped in response to Klikka as if saying, “That’s right!” I attempted an appraisal, learning that the dragon’s race was “Evil Dragon” race and he had no name.

Honestly, I can’t tell if this is really Biscot…

The only thing I can say for sure is that the Evil God Fragment definitely pulled some strings. It was acting all smug, sending some sort of “How’s that!” kind of feeling.

I know I asked for any possible way to save Biscot, but why turn him into a dragon?

『Hey sweetheart, can you hear me?』

「Esmeralda?」

While everyone was completely stunned, a sand rat crawled out from Fran’s pocket. Esmeralda had initiated a remote communication, whispering into Fran’s ear from the rat.

『What happened? Where are you right now?』

「Everyone got teleported somewhere, probably near Bulbora.」

『So what I sensed was correct? You really did teleport?』

It seems the sand rat’s eyes could not function during our intense battle with the superhuman soldiers. Factors such as Fran’s constant movement and the dense mana and evil energy interfered with Esmeralda’s magic.

Thus, it seems she wasn’t able to see anything until we teleported to the vicinity of Bulbora within Kranzel’s borders.

「There’s a lot of Raydoss people here too.」

『…So the enemy got teleported in along with you?』

「No. I think.」

『…What do you mean by that?』

「It’s kinda complicated.」

『…Sigh. Well, I’m listening.』