Rewind time to ten minutes ago.
At this time, Takatsuki had already gone with the rest of the Familia to attack the black dragon.
But he once again realized how exaggerated the opponent's defense was.
The black dragon didn't know what it was thinking. It simply lay on the ground without resisting, closing its eyes and allowing others to attack it.
"Takatsuki! This guy's defense is so strong that even The Hand can't tear through it!"
The Hand's attack doesn't target objects; it directly erases space.
But when facing the black dragon, this power swept across the dragon's scales, leaving no trace.
It was the same for Takatsuki. Dragon Slayer Magic, Dragon Slayer Magic, was just a nice-sounding name. In reality, this magic had no special attack effect against dragons.
"It's moving! It's moving! It's moving! Everyone, put in more effort, don't let this guy move!"
Because the black dragon hadn't fought back or even roared for several minutes, everyone even thought that this monster, which had once annihilated Orario's largest Familia, was nothing special.
This mindset caused them to have no awe when facing the black dragon. They even actively climbed onto the black dragon's body, attempting to smash its scales with hammers and similar weapons.
Roar!!!!!
A colossal dragon's roar erupted from the black dragon's mouth.
"Ah!" *N
The enormous dragon's roar carried a very obvious deterrent effect and impact. Adventurers closer to the black dragon were caught off guard by the sudden roar, entered a brief daze, and were then thrown back by the impact caused by the roar.
The black dragon, having driven away all the surrounding "bugs," spread its wings.
It was then that someone noticed that the black dragon's right wing, which had a hole, had actually healed.
"This guy! He was healing his injuries just now!"
The black dragon had just kept its wings tightly folded against its body, so no one had noticed if its wounds had healed. Only now did everyone understand why it hadn't fought back.
With a flap of its wings, a massive storm swept through the area, blowing away weaker adventurers.
Fortunately, during the black dragon's self-healing earlier, some ordinary people who couldn't participate in the battle had already escaped the area.
The black dragon flapped its wings, lifting its body into the air, turning, and its dark single eye fixed on Takatsuki's direction.
It remembered that only this human had just broken through its defense, so it was clear whose threat was greater.
Scorching dragon flames accumulated in its mouth, then spewed towards Takatsuki.
"Watch out!" *N
Flames engulfed Takatsuki's figure, but to everyone's astonishment,
A figure still stood within the dragon flames that had melted even the ground.
And there was a sound like a water pump.
"He's absorbing the black dragon's flames!?"
Soon, someone noticed something was wrong, because the dragon flames enveloping Takatsuki were continuously decreasing, not disappearing naturally, but flowing towards the center as if being absorbed by something.
As the dragon flames diminished, everyone finally saw that all the flames were absorbed into Takatsuki's body as if he were drinking water.
"Hah…"
Before absorbing all the flames, Takatsuki let out a long breath. With the dragon bloodline and the modification of Dragon Slayer Magic, Takatsuki's lung capacity had reached an exaggerated level, allowing him to inhale all the flames in one breath.
"Flames, returned to you!"
The black dragon's dragon flames transformed into pure magic power, which Takatsuki exhaled from his mouth as dragon breath once more.
"Hey, hey, is this really a human? A humanoid dragon?"
There are no Dragonoid races in the DanMachi world, but Takatsuki's performance was just like a dragon's.
Breathing fire from his mouth and engaging in a breath weapon duel with a dragon was something no human would dare to imagine.
Although the scene looked terrifying, Takatsuki knew that his attack had not caused any damage.
The black dragon's attack power and defense power were completely disproportionate. No wonder it only paid the price of one eye back then and didn't destroy the entire Orario.
But this can't go on.
Defense itself is a form of power. As long as the opponent isn't injured, they can slowly kill everyone.
"I originally wanted to save some."
Takatsuki dodged the black dragon's claw attack, then grabbed its claw and slammed it heavily onto the ground, causing a large section of the surrounding buildings to collapse.
Although its defense was strong, the black dragon's strength couldn't compare to Takatsuki's. But even so, slamming it down didn't cause it any damage.
Takatsuki wasn't trying to cause it damage, but rather using this time to open the support function in the system.
[Please select a keyword]
The support system allows choosing a keyword to determine the character's direction. Takatsuki unhesitatingly chose "sword."
Although "Dragon Slayer" might be a better choice against a black dragon, there were simply too many Dragon Slayer characters, and Takatsuki might not get the character he wanted.
The support system completely grants the character's abilities to Takatsuki, so he also wanted to learn something from these characters during this opportunity.
Because even if he couldn't kill the black dragon, he already had a way to protect Orario.
Although his Stand's abilities were useless against the black dragon, this guy was purely a highly defensive target for him.
He couldn't kill it, but he could restrict it.
After investing a thousand crystal stones, a figure appeared on the system interface.
[Sword Saint Sodros]
Takatsuki felt a powerful force descend upon him, and even his personality underwent some changes.
His aura paused, and he stretched out his hand. A massive greatsword appeared in his hand.
This was not the support character's weapon, because support characters had a drawback: they wouldn't have equipment, only abilities, physiques, and techniques.
But Takatsuki's own abilities could still be used.
Il-Yong Sword: Choice
This was Sodros's commonly used weapon.
Looking at the black dragon, which had gotten up again and was attempting to take flight, Takatsuki raised the sword in his hand. A dragon-shaped sword aura appeared around him.
Because he still had the characteristics of a fire dragon, the originally colorless sword aura took on a fiery form.
Severing Sky Slash!
The blade cut across the black dragon's body, and the immense force struck it down, but…
"The feel is wrong."
Something Takatsuki hadn't been able to sense before, but relying on Sodros's experience, Takatsuki judged that his previous attack had failed to penetrate the opponent's defense.
Looking back, there was a white mark on the black dragon's scales, apparently caused by the recent attack.
But…
It wasn't enough.
The Il-Yong Sword: Choice is a powerful weapon, but what Takatsuki held in his hand was ultimately not the original.
However, it was much better now than before; at least the weapon could leave a mark on it.
One should know that weapons thrown from King's Treasure could only shatter against the scales without leaving any trace.
"EX Iai Slash!"
Ever-changing sword techniques were meaningless against the black dragon; he needed powerful attacks, attacks that could penetrate its defense.
But even the strongest attack skill, EX Iai Slash, failed to leave a scar on its body.
Perhaps it was because the greatsword wasn't sharp enough?
Perhaps a blunt weapon could attack its interior with impact?
Sodros was skilled in many weapons and sword techniques, so he had plenty of means to experiment.