Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys Chapter 1468 - 504: Black Mist (Part 2)

At the far end of the hallway.

The female Goblin interrogator, who had been skewered and left hanging in the air, reacted suddenly. She snatched the whip from her hip and looped it around the iron bars of a cell, using the leverage to violently wrench her body free from the metal spikes.

Despite the significant loss of dark blood, she moved with surprising grace.

She lunged toward Rein with a nimble hop, flicking her wrist to free the whip from the bars before lashing it out like a venomous snake striking its prey.

“It looks like I have no choice but to fight,” Rein muttered. Because the nature of the black mist remained a mystery, he had been careful to avoid direct contact with any creature corrupted by it.

However, a confrontation was now unavoidable.

Trapped between two attackers, Rein’s arms began to bulge, expanding several times their original size. Shimmering dark silver scales broke through the skin, and his hands underwent a radical change, transforming into lethal claws that spanned dozens of centimeters.

Rein had opted for a partial Dragon Vein Transformation.

Moreover, the innate high resistance of his Dragon Bloodline gave him the confidence to engage in close-quarters combat without the constant fear of the strange black mist.

“Clang!!!”

A sharp, metallic ring echoed through the corridor as the ancient Minotaur’s horns slammed into Rein’s fierce Dragon Claws, sending sparks flying in every direction.

The Minotaur’s powerful charge was stopped dead in its tracks by a single hand. Even as the beast’s dark hooves stomped the ground with desperate strength, it could not push past Rein’s massive claw.

“Move!!!”

With a thunderous shout, Rein used his muscular, draconic arm to hurl the charging Minotaur aside with one hand.

The heavy beast was launched backward like a projectile, slamming into the human Wizard who was in the middle of a spell. The two of them collapsed together, tumbling across the floor like rolling gourds.

Deprived of the Wizard's focus, the swarm of metal spikes hovering in the air lost their magical momentum and clattered to the floor with a cacophony of 'ding ding clang clang' sounds.

“Snap!”

The sharp crack of a whip echoed from the opposite side.

A violent gust of wind heralded an incoming strike!

Rein was ready for it. He had specifically used only one arm against the Minotaur so that he could counter the female Goblin interrogator’s assault with the other. As the whip lashed forward like a bolt of lightning, Rein’s Dragon Claw snatched it out of the air and yanked the woman toward him.

Perhaps driven by the madness of the black mist, the interrogator refused to let go of her weapon.

Rein capitalized on this, winning the tug-of-war and swinging her through the air like a spiked flail, aiming her directly at the recovering Minotaur and Wizard.

“Boom!!!”

The female Goblin might have been small, but her body was dense, and Rein’s throw carried immense force. The three enemies collided in a heap, rolling across the ground once again.

As they struggled to stand, a high-pitched buzzing sound filled the air.

Something was rotating at an incredible velocity!

From their perspective, a shimmering line several meters long streaked toward them like a flash of light.

Looking from the side, however, the object was clear: a dark silver metallic disc with a razor-sharp edge was skimming just above the floor, hurtling toward the trio.

“Whizz! Whizz!”

A series of wet, slicing noises followed.

In an instant, the female Goblin, the ancient Minotaur, and even the withered human Wizard went completely still.

A second of eerie silence passed before the results of the attack manifested.

The female Goblin’s body had been carved into three uneven segments. Her head and torso slumped to the floor, while her severed pelvis remained momentarily balanced on two short, upright legs. Because she had been leaning when the ‘Blade-toothed Disc’ struck, her remains lay in an undignified heap.

The ancient Minotaur suffered a cleaner fate, its massive frame splitting down the middle and falling to either side. The single curved horn it had left was neatly trimmed away, leaving it with two symmetrical stumps.

The human Wizard, who was slightly out of alignment with the others, had the top of his head sliced off at an angle, though the rest of his body remained largely intact.

“Thud!”

As the Wizard’s dried-up corpse hit the floor, Rein did not move to inspect the bodies. Instead, he narrowed his eyes, staring ahead with an expression even more serious than before.

Suddenly,

Two streams of black mist rose from the corpses of the Minotaur and the Goblin. Being so close together, the vapors merged instantly, swirling into a large, throbbing mass of darkness.

At that moment, a black beetle crawled out of the Wizard’s severed skull. It transformed into a dark arc of light and dived into the pulsing mist.

The addition of the beetle caused the mist to boil violently, like cold water hitting hot oil. Something grotesque began to take shape within the shadows.

Suddenly, a dark claw reached out!

Rein watched intently, noting that the claw looked like a skeletal eagle’s talon—sharp, powerful, and pitch black. It was wrapped in wisps of dark smoke, appearing as if it had been summoned from the depths of hell.

This single claw was just the start of the transformation, as a second one quickly followed.

“An eagle? Some kind of raptor?” Rein wondered.

But the next stage of the mutation proved him wrong.

Four more limbs emerged from the mist in rapid succession—long, scythe-like blades resembling the forelegs of a mantis, sprouting from what should have been the creature's chest.

“Scythes for arms?”

There was no more need for guessing.

The full figure finally stepped out from the black mist.

Rein’s caution reached its peak.

He had never encountered such a nightmare-inducing design. The creature lacked traditional arms, possessing instead four black scythes on each side of its body. Its lower half stood on powerful claws, and its head was a mass of spikes surrounding a maw filled with rows of needle-like teeth. It was perpetually veiled in shifting black mist, making its form flicker in and out of reality.

It was a being that defied natural laws, looking more like a manifested nightmare than a physical creature.

Furthermore, Rein’s instincts were screaming. He hadn’t felt this level of danger since he became a Dawn Wizard and faced the ancient fire dragon, ‘Anguskin’.

“Is the threat level of this monster actually on par with Anguskin?”

“This black mist is truly a catastrophe.”

“It’s no wonder the capital of the ancient Goblin Empire fell if they faced this.”

Before Rein could finish his thoughts, the shadowy beast lunged.

“Hiss~~”

The monster unhinged its jaw and let out a piercing shriek that sounded like the mourning of a thousand ghosts, a sound designed to shatter one's mental focus.

Simultaneously,

The creature’s claws tore into the metal floor with every stride as it blurred forward with incredible speed. As it closed the gap, it exhaled a wide cone of black mist toward Rein.

“Sss!”

By now, Rein had furthered his transformation. Two additional heads—one of a Void Dragon and one of a Red Dragon—had sprouted from his neck. Facing the incoming mist, Rein met it with his own breath attacks!

“Roar!!!”

“Fiery Breath!” The Red Dragon’s Head unleashed a torrent of flame that grew from a narrow stream into a massive inferno, filling the hallway.

“Void Breath!” At the same time, the Void Dragon’s Head spat out a stream of pale blue fire at the approaching monster.

“Boom!!!”

The black mist collided with the dual dragon breaths, creating a violent explosion. The resulting shockwave tore through the corridor like a hurricane.

Suddenly, a massive dark silhouette leaped through the smoke and debris, its four scythe-like limbs swinging down at Rein!

Rein didn't back down, slashing upward with his own draconic claws!

“Zizz~”

Rein’s claws landed a direct hit on the creature’s scaled hide, but only sparks flew. Despite being born from mist, the monster’s body was as hard as a reinforced alloy.

In the exchange, Rein noticed a new mark on his own body—a shallow but clear scratch across his dark silver scales. While no blood was drawn, the implication was startling.

In a direct contest of physical might, Rein’s dragon form was actually being slightly overpowered by this creature.