[Abyssal whip]

A long whip made out of dark and pure mana shoots out from my right hand and pierces the dragon in front of me.

I then swing both the whip and the pierced dragon down, crashing it into the ground.

[Blazing dart]

A fiery spell is launched from my left hand and penetrates the dragon's skull.

And that was the last one...

"Thank you very much for doing this for us."

I turn my head and spot Suddon.

"...no problem."

I have already been in the lizardman village for four weeks.

Practicing the new techniques and warding off all monsters that try to attack.

And as a result, I learned these two new combination magics.

Abyss, combination element of dark and pure mana.

Blaze, combination element of fire and pure mana.

Honestly, it wasn't really hard at all.

Compared to hell or phantom, this is obviously at a lower level.

I guess I could just call them empowered versions of the basic elements.

They are quite a bit stronger in fact.

Of course, it also comes with a higher mana cost.

But they should still be very useful.

I also tried to combine pure mana with other elements like air and ice.

But I'm still not experienced enough with those to do it adequately.

Most often than not, when I shift my focus to adding pure mana into the spell, it disperses.

Maybe later I guess...

Now as for the whole 'using spells without a spell pattern'...

I got better at it, that's for sure.

But I just can't perfect it yet.

The better I get at it, the harder it is to improve.

And right now, I have reached a skill barrier of sorts.

I just can't seem to improve past this point...

Well, I guess it's good enough for now...?

|= Two days later =|

"I'm off..."

"Good luck..."

Suddon, Zarrdos and some other lizardmen, who I got closer to during my stay, came to see me off.

"Thanks..."

I turn my back to them and start my march toward the mountains.

I think I should be able to defeat those three relatively easy now.

They aren't that much of a threat individually.

It's their teamwork that really got me last time.

As I approach the mountains, the rain began again.

This time, I closed my eyes and tried to sense mana in the air.

And really, this rain is magical.

The source is...

...

Not the clouds.

It merely looks like it's the clouds.

But there is actually a thin stream of mana connected to the clouds.

And it comes from...

"There!"

[Blazing dart]

I shoot at the source hiding behind a rock.

The spell penetrates the rock and a painful screech resounds from the other side.

I immediately put strength into my legs and jump while lowering my weight.

Type: Monster

Name: Sekundo

Gender: Male

Race: Rain dragon

Status: Panicking

Level: 769

Health: 23642/31612

Mana: 28862/30297

It's the rain dragon...

It seems I have injured his wing...

Perfect!

I pull out my sword as I increase my weight.

As he struggles to start flying I land on top of him while slicing off his other wing.

He lets out yet another scream.

I quickly finish him off by stabbing my sword into his head.

After letting out his final breath, he stops moving.

Health: 0/31612

...

That's it, isn't it?

This is what I needed last time.

To kill one of the three to break their teamwork.

The other two will still cause some problems, but it will be significantly easier.

It's not what I had initially planned...but the situation is even better now.

Now...where are the other two?

I stand up while averting my eyes from the rain dragon corpse.

Then, I squat down and start my mountain climb again.

...

But there aren't any dragons around.

Why aren't they swarming me like last time?

I keep jumping around the mountains while keeping my guard up.

But when I'm almost halfway through the mountain range, they finally appear.

Type: Monster

Name: Prima

Gender: Female

Race: Hurricane dragon

Status: Cautious

Level: 790

Health: 31244/31244

Mana: 48154/50685

Type: Monster

Name: Trios

Gender: Male

Race: Frost dragon

Status: Cautious

Level: 754

Health: 30983/30983

Mana: 29780/29780

Cautious, huh?

So they realized sending hordes of weak dragons wouldn't do the trick after I instantly killed their buddy?

But this is strange...

They aren't encircling me.

They are both in front of me side by side.

What are they planning?

The hurricane dragon lands and sits on a rock while the frost dragon flutters in front of her.

She then spreads her wings and releases the deafening roar she used last time.

So annoying!

[Blazing dart]

My spell is countered by the frost dragon with an ice shard.

However, he miscalculated my attack's power and it flew through, hitting his leg.

I got ready to shoot more...

...but then, the earth started to shake again.

What?!

I jumped away from the crumbling mountains while keeping my eyes on the two dragons.

Soon enough, the massive blue dragon poked its head through the mountains again.

Type: Monster

Name: Draio origin

Gender: Male

Race: Tsunami dragon (titan)

Status: Furious

Level: 2265

Health: 152354/152354

Mana: 272451/272451

Shit!

Why is he here already?

I'm given no time to think as the two small dragons start hauling on me like last time.

Powerful winds combined with ice shards assault me as I try to dodge.

And then, the massive dragon starts gathering huge amount of mana in his mouth again.

...

I raise my sword overhead as I dodge a shard of ice and gather mana.

[Phantom annihilation]

Just as the dragon was about to release his surge of water magic, I cut in his direction.

As a result, his attack was split in two and flew past me on both sides.

Right after that, I dodged another icicle flying at me and looked at the giant dragon again.

Health: 121578/152354

Mana: 238754/272451

My attack injured his jaw.

There is a vertical cut on it now.

...but he is nowhere near dead.

The titan dragon lets out even louder roar as the ground around me starts to shake.

Once again, I jump away, but as the ground below me crumbles, a giant claw shoots up from it.

[Air blast]

I try to push myself away mid-air to dodge it, but the claw still grazes me...

And rips off my left leg.

"Gh!"

The air pressure created by the claw also sent me flying through the air uncontrolablly.

After spinning around in the air, I crashed into the side of a mountain.

"Gah!"

I spat out some blood and tried to stand up.

But the moment I looked up, I saw a giant shadow looming over me.

The shadow was caused by the giant claw, which then fell down on me and...

...

...

...

I open my eyes.

I'm lying on the bed.

...

Shit...

I get up and exit the house.

"Ah...good mor-."

Zarrdos tries to greet me again, but takes a step back when he looks at my face.

...

This again...

I was sent back all the way here...huh?

...

Damnit...

"Something...happened?"

I look into his eyes.

"Let's just go to the storehouse..."

"Eh...?"

"Err...s-sure...?"

And so, we walk again.

Shit, why did the big one come out so soon?

...

The roar?

That's right...

Last time as well.

As I was about to kill the hurricane dragon, it let out a really loud roar.

And shortly after that, the big guy appeared.

So that roar must have been a call for help.

That must be it...

...

Does that mean I won't have to fight the big one if I can prevent them from calling him?

...

This is worth a shot...

We arrive at the storehouse.

|= The weeks later =|

I spent those two weeks strategizing, training and explaining my situation to them.

Unlike last time, I told them what happens when I die.

Obviously, nobody believed me at first.

But when I told them about few things I experienced in the previous loop, at least Suddon and Zarrdos accepted it.

In all those days, I improved my control of abyss and blaze a lot.

And I also learned how to use abyss without spell patterns partially.

Or rather, I still need to use spell patterns with it.

However, I can take the liberty to dissolve the pattern while the spell is out and control it manually.

Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for the spell to fall apart after that...

But I think it will still be useful.

I'm trying again today.

Why didn't I try earlier...?

...

I don't know...

I'm pretty sure I could have handled it sooner.

But maybe I just liked the company of the villagers.

I can't sit here forever though...

I need to accomplish this quest.

If I don't go...

The god probably won't be happy.

So I must go.

|= A few hours later =|

"Roaaaaaa-"

The rain dragon's roar is ended as I pierce its head.

Just like last time.

I followed what I did last time since it worked till now.

But I need to change up what I do.

Number one priority is to prevent the big guy from being called.

That means I need to kill the hurricane dragon as soon as possible.

Once again, I put strength into my legs and jump.

...

And as soon as I spot the two dragons, I attack.

[Blazing dart]

The frost dragon tried to intercept it, but got hit in the leg again.

Meanwhile, the hurricane dragon landed and opened her mouth.

[Abyssal whip]

Whip of darkness shoots out from my right hand and heads toward the hurricane dragon.

The frost dragon tried to intercept with his claw, but I simply bent the trajectory around him.

My attack pierced the hurricane dragon's throat and then coiled around her jaws to make sure she is quiet.

...success?

As the whip kept piercing through the hurricane dragon, The frost dragon started roaring full of anger instead.

But it wasn't nearly as loud as the hurricane dragon's usual roar.

[Blazing dart]

He dodged out of the way by flapping his wings and continued roaring.

But what he didn't expect, was my abyssal whip attacking him from the back after I dissolved the spell pattern.

It pierced his wing and he lost balance.

Soon after that, the whip melted and splashed all over the mountains.

[Blazing dart]

As he was falling down, my attack penetrated his skull.

Health: 0/31512

After confirming the frost dragon's death, I look over at the hurricane dragon.

Health: 0/31244

...

Alright...

Now, will he come or will he not?

...

I close my eyes.

...

...

Nothing.

The earth isn't shaking.

I can't sense that huge concentration of mana.

He didn't wake up.

I avoided fighting him.

I...won.

Bonus:

Isn't overpopulation little bit of a problem if there aren't any diseases?

The monsters can't possibly be dwindling the population enough, right?

"Ah of course..."

"That's exactly why I brought the whole hero vs demon lord concept here!"

"The massive war that happens every so often causes the demons and the other humanoids to thin out."

I was certain you did that just for fun.

"That too of course!"

"But man...it got boring real quick..."

"That's why I started building a dungeon to pass time and..."

"Well, you kinda know the rest."

We sure do...

...

Also, what about the monsters?

Why didn't the powerful monsters take over the world yet?

"Well, as for the monsters..."

"They just die to stronger monsters."

"And I made it so that the stronger a monster is, the less fertile it is and the harder it is for it to reproduce."

"That's also why it's not really possible to inherit true power."

"You have to work for it yourself!"

Hmm, I see.

So the strongest creature in the world will never reproduce?

"Oh..."

"Y-yeah..."

"Hopefully that thing will never reproduce..."

...?