I Received System to Become Dragonborn-Chapter 1226: Stronger

Above them they saw the sky burned and fractured as powers far beyond mortal scale collided.

King Gulben, Aurdis, Aerchon, Saeldir, Sylmirs, Arty, Adrius, Lysander, Adrien, and Billy flew hard toward the front line, their eyes fixed on the spectacle unfolding above them.

They felt it immediately.

The Magic pressure rolling down from the clash was immense. It pressed against their senses, distorted the air, and made the space around them vibrate.

Each explosion of lightning, earth, and ice clashed against the darkness, sent shockwaves rippling through the sky, and every recoil of the dark clouds warped the atmosphere further.

And yet, something was different.

They were not struggling to breathe. Their limbs did not feel heavy. Their minds did not blur or strain under the weight of it.

Despite being dangerously close to what could only be described as deities clashing in the open sky, none of them felt threatened by the pressure.

The suffocating dominance that had crushed them earlier was gone. What remained now was raw overwhelming and violent power, but no longer something that crushed their existence like before.

That realization hit them almost simultaneously.

This was far beyond anything they should have been able to endure before entering the Dungeon World. Back then, even a fraction of this pressure would have forced them to retreat or collapse.

Now, they flew steadily forward with their eyes clear and bodies stable, Magic flowing naturally within them.

They had grown stronger. Far stronger than they had realized.

Inside the Dungeon World, they had faced horrors that were beyond reality, monsters that ignored logic, and battles that pushed them beyond their limits again and again.

Compared to those experiences, this overwhelming power no longer felt incomprehensible. It felt dangerous, of course, but not impossible.

The contrast became painfully clear.

Their old selves were gone.

What remained were warriors tempered by relentless combat, refined by essence power, and reshaped by survival against things that should never have existed.

They finally understood the scale of their growth now that they stood in the real world again.

A clear determination spread through the group.

There was fear and no one could deny that.

Zerathul's presence still represented annihilation on a world-ending scale. But it was no longer paralyzing.

It no longer made them feel small. Instead, it sharpened their focus and hardened their will.

If they had survived the Dungeon World, then they would not break here.

That shared understanding passed between them without words.

Shoulders squared. Grips tightened. Their hearts beat harder as they closed the distance.

Only seconds later, they arrived at the frontline battlefield but the destruction was already staggering.

Vast sections of the sky had been torn open. Clouds were vaporized or frozen before shattering apart.

Black fragments rained downward like ash, dissolving before reaching the ground. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The air crackled violently with lingering lightning and distorted Magic currents.

Even arriving late, it was obvious they had stepped into the aftermath of an opening exchange powerful enough to scar the sky itself.

King Gulben raised his sword high and the golden aura Magic poured out from his body. The blade vibrated as power flowed into it. It spread outward in controlled waves, anchoring the battlefield around him.

Saeldir and Aerchon reacted instantly. Both also drew their swords, and silver light flared to life along their edges.

Their Magic did not compete with the King's Magic but aligned with it. The three auras resonated, gold and silver intertwining into a unified presence that cut cleanly through the chaotic pressure of the sky.

King Gulben pointed his sword forward.

"We must cut the tentacles," he ordered. His sharp and absolute voice carried without effort. "Do not let them regenerate."

Then his gaze snapped toward Aurdis.

"Aurdis," he continued, "take Thar'Zul-Vekar. Get them to the ground now."

Aurdis did not hesitate. She nodded once, her expression focused, and broke formation immediately.

Her body flared as she accelerated upward and sideways, angling toward the weakened ancient forest god.

As she reached them, her Magic wrapped around Thar'Zul-Vekar's falling body, stabilizing their descent and shielding them from the lingering corruption still drifting through the air.

The moment Aurdis moved, King Gulben raised his sword again.

"Everyone else," he said, voice rising over the thunder, "move. Now!"

They moved together.

Saeldir and Aerchon surged forward beside the King, their blades cutting arcs of silver light that cleaved through the nearest descending tentacles and severed corrupted limbs cleanly, leaving no chance for immediate regeneration as the remnants burned away in flashes of light.

Adrien and Billy charged directly beneath them without weapons.

Their bare hands glowed as they leapt into the air, smashing into tentacles that slipped past the front line. The impacts carried their refined power, shattering corrupted mass through raw physical power reinforced by Magic-hardened bodies.

Sylmira hovered slightly back and raised her arms. Pure Magic gathered around her, dense and focused, before releasing in precise bursts that pinned tentacles in place or ripped them apart from within.

Her control was calm, exact, and relentless.

Behind her, Adrius and Lysander planted their staffs midair, anchoring themselves with flowing Magic.

Twin streams of structured power poured forward, weaving together into sustained beams that burned holes through the darkness and kept the sky from closing in again.

Arty drove straight into the thick of it. Her gauntlets flared as elemental energy surged through them, shifting between fire, lightning, and compressed force. She punched and every punch detonated on impact, tearing apart tentacles at close range and blasting fragments outward before they could reform.

The battlefield exploded again.

Tentacles fell in pieces. Light carved through shadow. Corruption screamed as it was torn away.

They had arrived late but they were ready.

—

Zerathul reeled within the vast body of the dark clouds.

The sudden resistance was not something he had anticipated. The sheer density of their power sent ripples of irritation through his consciousness.

This was not how mortals were supposed to respond to him.

They were too strong too abruptly.

That realization stirred something sharp and unpleasant.

This was not natural.

The Gravebringer's presence darkened further as his anger rose. The clouds thickened, churning violently as more mass folded inward.

His will pressed down harder to test them again, searching for signs of weakness.

Yet beneath that anger, a thin thread of unease formed.

But Zerathul did not retreat. He had no reason to. His power was not stagnant either.

They had grown faster than expected. But so had he.

And in the vast, endless sky he tightened his grasp, preparing to answer their defiance with overwhelming force.

—