Chapter 297: George, the Wood Dragon Slayer Mage
"He disappeared!"
Ignia saw that George had vanished. He quickly grabbed the falling mirror and inspected it, realizing that the magical traces on it had already been erased. He muttered:
"He actually has mastery over spatial magic too. I'll remember you, little kitty."
He had been careless just now, never expecting that a mere little cat could use such powerful magic, resulting in him only sustaining minor injuries.
If he had been in his dragon form, even a spell of that level just now wouldn't have harmed him at all.
However, having recently sensed the presence of the Black Dragon Acnologia in the Northern Continent, he didn't dare to return to his dragon form, fearing detection by Acnologia.
Though it's said that the Five God Dragons possess power equal to that of the Black Dragon, they themselves know full well that, at best, they only have enough strength to escape from his grasp.
Defeating or killing the Black Dragon? That's absolutely impossible — at least not in their current state.
"Hmph, looks like sealing the Five God Dragons will have to wait until later."
George teleported through the mirror dimension to the nearest city, emerged from a mirror, deactivated the mirror magic, then teleported several more times in succession to avoid being tracked by the Flame God Dragon. Only then did he finally let out a long sigh of relief.
The Fairy Law, which he had activated using a third of his life force, had merely caused light injuries to Ignia's human form. Clearly, Ignia wasn't someone he could handle in a short time.
Normally, when using Fairy Law against an enemy of similar strength, it would hardly consume any life force.
But knowing Ignia's power far surpassed his own, he had expended a third of his life force to amplify the power of Fairy Law.
Given his physique, he should be able to recover that third of his life force within half a year. Using it to test the strength of the Five God Dragons wasn't a loss — it was worth it.
"Let's check out the other two God Dragons!"
Now that he had a rough understanding of the Flame God Dragon's strength, he no longer held much hope for the remaining two. He decided to simply observe from a distance and then return to quietly fulfill his role as an Earth Dragon Slayer Mage.
Following the tracking spell, he first went to the Water God Dragon's location.
He discovered that the arrow from the tracking spell pointed to an expanse of ocean. Realizing the Water God Dragon was likely hidden deep beneath the sea, he chose not to proceed further.
He was not adept at fighting in the sea.
Turning away, he followed the tracking spell to the location of the Wood God Dragon, and a puzzled expression appeared on his face.
"What's going on? The arrow keeps pointing to this mountain. Could it be hidden inside the mountain?"
Following the arrow, he found a towering mountain over 8,000 meters high. On it were five cities built by humans.
At first, he thought the Wood God Dragon was hiding within one of the cities.
However, the tracking spell's arrow did not point to any of the cities in detail — it consistently pointed to the entire mountain. Even after switching to a more detailed trace reveal spell, it remained the same.
This left him puzzled, making him think the Wood God Dragon was hidden within the mountain itself.
But when he landed at the summit, intending to investigate, his whole body suddenly froze.
"No way… that big?"
The moment he touched the mountain, he sensed an incredibly terrifying life force and a dense Dragon Force.
That's when he suddenly realized a shocking truth.
The Wood God Dragon wasn't hiding inside this massive mountain — this 8,000-meter-tall mountain was the Wood God Dragon's actual body.
8,000 meters — that's the size of Mount Everest.
"Is it sleeping?"
George activated his psychic ability and found that the Wood God Dragon's consciousness seemed to be in a dormant state.
"Sleeping? Wonderful, absolutely wonderful."
He hadn't expected to stumble upon such a gift while intending to merely go through the motions.
This Wood God Dragon was actually sleeping, and judging by the fact that the five cities below had existed for many years, it clearly wouldn't be waking up any time soon.
That meant he could stay here for a while and absorb some of the Wood God Dragon's Dragon Force without any real danger.
The Wood God Dragon's Dragon Force had been one of his top choices anyway. Perfect.
With that, he lay down atop the mountain — specifically, on the Wood God Dragon's head — and began circulating his Dragon Slayer Magic to absorb the Dragon Force bit by bit, improving his physique and forming a Dragon Seed.
The process of generating a Dragon Seed takes about a month; it's unlike a Dragon Lacrima, which can simply be embedded into the body.
While implanting a Dragon Lacrima is easier, if the Mage doesn't have enough talent or physical strength, the power of the Lacrima can cause them to explode. It's extremely dangerous.
According to Makarov, when Laxus implanted his Dragon Lacrima back then, it was an extremely risky ordeal.
And so, as the Dragon Force entered his body and gradually improved his physique to form the Dragon Seed, George's vitality surged dramatically.
The third of his life force lost from casting Fairy Law was fully recovered within three days.
A month later, George suddenly opened his eyes. A single dragon scale flashed across his feline face. He leapt into the air, puffed up his cat cheeks, and shouted:
"Dragon Slayer Magic: Roar of the Wood Dragon!"
A green magical whirlwind shot straight into the sky.
Immediately, he puffed up his cheeks again:
"Dragon Slayer Magic: Roar of the Fire Dragon!"
A second Dragon Slayer spell erupted forth.
"Just as I thought — since wood begets fire, my Fire Dragon Slayer Magic has also improved significantly."
At this moment, George had clearly become a legitimate Wood Dragon Slayer Mage in this world.
Moreover, thanks to the Fire Dragon Lacrima absorbed in another world, he could also simulate Natsu's Fire Dragon Slayer Magic.
At the same time, his magical power, physique, and vitality had all undergone a massive boost.
"This Wood God Dragon really isn't any good either…"
Hovering in the sky and looking down at the sleeping Wood God Dragon, George couldn't help but sigh.
After lying atop its head for a month absorbing its Dragon Force, he had discovered something terrifying.
The Wood God Dragon wasn't merely pretending to be a mountain while it slept — it was using its Dragon Force to subtly assimilate all the living beings that stayed on its body.
It was absorbing them as nutrients to strengthen itself.
So, those five cities were actually bait the Wood God Dragon had laid out, luring humans to live in them, only to slowly devour and evolve by consuming them.
He spread his wings and flew over the five cities. He found that all the humans in those cities had already been assimilated by the Wood God Dragon. Those seemingly normal people were now mere puppets of the Wood God Dragon.
"Forget it. I'd better deal with my own matters first."
Though his strength now far surpassed what it had been a month ago when he fought Ignia, he figured that even if he poured all his life force into a Fairy Law attack, he still wouldn't be able to kill the slumbering Wood God Dragon — he'd only end up waking it.
And that would just make things more troublesome.
(End of Chapter)