"In the end, it was nothing but a sham, we almost died yet we couldn't find the so-called last bit of hope as that scammer called it…"

Having already turned around after reaching the Withering Forest's periphery, the faces of the two running figures were full of dejection. Even though they both acted nonchalant about it and didn't believe that 'prophecy' on the surface, deep down both of them really hoped that it would be true enough to manifest out of nothing, that was especially the case for the subordinate who wanted to leave the forest before they even got here.

Now that they really found nothing, the non-caring facade that made one assume that he only cared about his life could no longer be recognized as his speed was starting to slow down while sorrow covered his face, he deeply contemplated just giving up trying to escape from their chasers.

"...Hope or whatever, at the very least we finished the mission and confirmed the objective. No matter what, now that this false hope has vanished, we can finally steel our hearts and decisively give our all even if it means taking those traitors down with us!"

Looking at his leader's resolute face, the subordinate gave himself a tight slap as he shook his head a few times before giving a firm nod.

"Yes, it's not time to give up yet, those frenzied chasers should at least lose a few of their gray heads before they take our lives!"

As the leader was just about to nod in satisfaction, his head dropped down, resisting the urge to smack his subordinate's head…

"Fool! Why are you slowing down?! We still need to be alive to report our findings so that we can all move on with decisiveness, it's not time to die yet. We are almost back at the center of the forest, we should be able to get out if we use the Towering Rock Trees there as a distraction, speed up!"

"...Right!"

Feeling a bit weird about his resolution being logically refuted like this, he gave it a deep thought before strengthening his resolution even more.

'That's right, only I should sacrifice myself so that Leader can have a few more chances at escaping!'

Just as they were a few dozen meters away from the concealed center of the Withering Forest, the subordinate was about to stop his movement completely as his claws started to lengthen, but just as he turned back and was preparing to dash in the opposite direction, he realized that the leader didn't even notice what he did.

'That's how it should be!'

Believing that the leader has accepted his sacrifice for the greater good, the subordinate smiled and took a deep breath before taking his first step, only to stop in the next second…

'Something's wrong!'

A huge shadow encompassed both him and the leader and a portion of the forest! Realizing this anomaly, the subordinate could only give up his thoughts of immediate action as he turned around once more, only to find that the leader was staring at the sky with a weird expression.

It seemed that the actual reason behind the leader's silence was that he didn't even notice his actions and sacrificial intent!

However, the subordinate's mind immediately forgot about this thought as he simply joined his leader in staring...

"Hey, maybe… we gave up too fast?"

The leader's expression was hard to comprehend, feeling as if he was staring for a very long time instead of a single second, the target of his eyes simply exceeded his understanding!

A giant being simply appeared out of nowhere just above the Withering Forest and it was about to crash!

Furthermore, the faint voice that seemed to come from it could finally be heard clearly… a simple and short cry.

"Meoooooooowwww!"

`~~`~~`~~`

'Now!'

Normally, having a big figure as one falls from high up would only make the gravity more ferocious as it pulls the huge body down.

However, the same rules don't apply to a petite body that suddenly became huge just a few seconds away from impact!

Although it would cause the impact itself to still be a bit faster as well as intensify it, such results wouldn't affect a huge body much, the trade-off was obviously worth it.

Of course, for me, the actual experience of 'Full Dragonization' itself held great value, especially since I wouldn't be able to test in normally after I land for quite a bit as I planned to lay low and grasp the situation of the yet to be revealed domain.

As such, reaching the point I already designated for myself, I immediately activated the new ability in anticipation!

Dragon scales quickly manifested from my body and within a tenth of a second, I was already in full dragon armor suit mode, this was obviously 10 times faster than normally suiting up using 'Dragon Scales'!

The transformation of my body naturally didn't stop there, it felt like something was inflating between my original body and the dragon scale suit…

Feeling the changes that seemed to proceed at breakneck speed, I immediately fetched my bag and put it in my palm that had already expanded to 5 times its original size, using the other palm to hold it firmly against my chest. After all, while all of my belongings were inside my spatial ring, Light was still deeply sleeping within the bag.

Unlike me who had over a 90% chance of survival even if I used my normal body to smash down, Light was obviously still an infant whose age could be counted in months and days, even though his stats were astonishing for his level and age it still had its own limit.

'It's a bit uncomfortable, but…'

The transformation finally reached an end as I grasped the feeling of being exactly at the core of the huge dragon body, even though the huge body didn't feel like it was mine, I was still the one in control, it felt like I was in charge of wielding the body as if it was some sort a mech-

Thud!

Naturally, my comprehension of state only lasted for less than a second before I finally met the ground…

"Meoooooooowwww!"

It seemed like the impact woke up Light as it let out a long wake up meow.

However, it seemed like there was no time to contemplate Light's cuteness as I immediately deactivated 'Full Dragonization'.

'Someone is here…'