Bahamut, who was also known as Nauseating Bahamut, was a Mythic-rank monster at the very least. I had data on his movement patterns, attack patterns, physical abilities, physical features, special skills, and unique abilities.

However, no one could say for sure whether the data that I had collected was accurate. It could be said that the Bahamut who had been chasing after Rafael was not at his peak power. The fact that he was extremely careful not to damage the feather told me that he had skills that he dared not use during his chase against Rafael.

‘He definitely has a ranged skill.’

Perhaps it was something similar to a dragon's breath, or perhaps he could fire a beam from his finger. He could also throw a rock at Rafael with great accuracy. Regardless of what it was, Bahamut definitely had a ranged attack.

In fact, a monster of Bahamut's caliber definitely had a ranged attack. It was unheard of for a monster as powerful as Bahamut to lack any ranged attacks, and I had personally never heard of a monster like that.

'I'm sure pre-corruption Bahamut can cast spells.’

He could definitely cast spells back then, but this issue was a no-brainer. I was sure he wouldn't stand by and watch the feather disappear with Rafael.

The nauseating demon's movements were being restricted by the feather, and it was also an amazing debuff. The majority of Bahamut's attacks were sealed—technically, he could use them, but he was scared of damaging the feather, so he opted not to use them.

All he could do was move around; he couldn't even cast his spell as if he was under a Silence spell. The feather was falling to the ground, and the enemies were sandwiching him, so what could Bahamut do in this situation?

There was only one thing he could do—curl up on the ground.

‘No wonder it looked so holy.’

Who would have thought that a mere glowing feather would achieve that kind of effect?

The Angel of Sacrifice had to have foreseen that something like this would happen, so they left that feather behind. The feather had not only immobilized the vicious demon, but it had also revealed the demon's glaring weakness.

The monster used its colossal frame to withstand the expedition group's attacks, and it was full of openings. I was sure this sight was inspiring hope among the allies.

The holy light and the tiny miracle of the small feather raised the morale of the allies.

‘Can we really defeat that monster?’

Could a mere human truly go up against such a monstrous demon?

They were not expressing it in words, but I was sure everyone was worried.

Despite the fact that the continent and mankind had overcome crisis after crisis, they still felt hopeless in the face of an unimaginably powerful enemy. They couldn’t help but instinctively feel fear in the face of a terrifying, immortal monster. ȑάƝő𝖇ЁŞ

The Angel of Sacrifice’s feather had united those afraid, worried, and anxious.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

It became a symbol and their source of strength.

It reminded us that we were strong.

“Chaaaaaaaaarge!”

“Fire! Fire!!! Use everything!”

From the ordinary adventurers…

“We have our mission!”

“His outer shell is really strong… so concentrate your attacks on one place.”

“Start the mission.”

To the heroes with their own goals…

"For the Priest of Prophecy!"

"For the Priest of Prophecy!

"The time has come! The moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here."

"We’ll bring back the light! We’ll bring our light back! It’s the reward we’ve been waiting for an eternity!"

From the holy spirits who had been waiting an eternity for the darkness to disappear to the troops who had gathered with their own goals but had the dignity, the honor, and the will to protect the continent… they had all been waiting for this moment.

‘I wouldn’t call this a counterattack.’

It was more like we were piecing together the puzzle pieces.

‘Basically, we just need to exacerbate his wounds.’

We had to attack the parts of his body that were oozing with a pitch-black fluid.

Those wounds weren’t inflicted by us. He had harmed himself and had inflicted those injuries on himself over time. The key to this raid was cutting off his hands and feet, immobilizing him. The most effective way to do that was to attack his joints and major muscles.

‘Finishing blows won’t be effective on him, anyway.’

"

Roooooooooar!

"

Kaboooooooooooom!

There was no need for us to make any adjustments, as he was making it easy for us to target him.

A massive column of light fell, and the giant spear that the spirits had manifested pierced the monster's back. He could have easily dodged it by moving away, but he couldn’t do it.

He wasn’t sure whether he could protect the feather by blocking all attacks from all directions, and it was all due to the fact that this was not his first rodeo.

He knew just how persistent and annoying humans could become.

‘What are you going do?’

“Fire! Fire!”

‘Are you going to run?’

He had no idea what to do.

‘Or will you fly up?’

He had four eyes. Two were on the feather, and he used the other two to look around.

‘How about breaking through the encirclement? There are places you could easily break through. Yeah, over there. You should be able to get out of here if you move that way.’

"

Wuaaah…

"

Kaboooooooom!!!

Boom!

Rumble. Kaboooooooooom!

"

Roaaaaaaaaaaar!

"

‘You don’t think that will work? It looks like a trap, right?’

I was sure it looked like a trap because it was indeed a trap.

It wasn’t dangerous to him, but it was dangerous for the feather that he was desperately protecting. He had to move carefully—he had to move one step at a time. He wasn’t courageous enough to take risks while protecting his most valuable treasure. He was trying to avoid even the tiniest risk. The only thing he could do was move his tail, but…

‘We've figured out the attack range of his tail.’

The members near his tail stepped back while the others stepped forward. He had made a mistake with his turn, so his treasure was in danger.

And that was when I saw him inhaling the mana particles in the air.

‘Is he going to use Breath?’

He couldn’t do that. It was funny to see a beast like him attempting a bluff, but we had the advantage here.

The vanguards had been deployed as well, so...

‘Lift your head, and it’s over.’

He definitely thought of humans as mere ants, but so what? What was he going to do if one of them jumped at him to snatch away or destroy his feather? I was sure Rafael was pretty annoying in his eyes as well.

He hadn't been able to catch Rafael because the latter had wings.

"

Wuuuh… Uhhh…

"

He couldn’t fire it.

Kabooooooom!

“Cast your spell!s”

Kaboooooooooooom!

"Hey, you."

— Rank One Field Commander, Codename Genius, reporting.

"Please set up camp at the designated coordinates."

— Excuse me?

"Set up camp at the designated coordinates and tell the mages and ranged classes to take a break. I’ll divide the mages into seven groups and manage them myself. Except for three groups, tell everyone else to take a break."

— Yes… sir.

"..."

— D-Do you… really want me to do that?

"You just need to follow my orders."

I felt like I knew what Genius was worried about.

It truly didn't make sense to pull out the members and tell them to rest when they had painstakingly surrounded the monster.

Moreover, the enemy's power was beyond their imagination.

If Bahamut wanted to do so, he could easily break the encirclement.

However, Genius had reason to be scared.

‘He’s nothing but a beast.’

The rearguards cautiously took a few steps backward with doubtful faces.

‘Maybe I should drink some coffee.’

Obviously, the encirclement weakened instantly. The number of magic spells and arrows had decreased significantly as well. They were attacking from time to time, but there was a clear difference when it came to the firepower.

Despite that, the monster remained unmoving.

The monster was still curled up. He was examining the battlefield while catching his breath, but in the end, he chose to do nothing.

"He's scared,"

Jin Cheong remarked.

"Is that what he looks like to you, Commander?"

I asked.

It was true that the monster was scared.

He was scared because he had no way of checking what we were about to do, why we had pulled out some of our troops, and why the attacks had decreased in number and intensity.

No, even if he had a way to know what we were trying to do here, he would still hesitate.

After all, he had already lost the feather earlier.

"…"

"Looks like you’ve been overdoing it. Do you want to take a break?"

I asked.

"Don’t make me laugh. It’s you who should be taking a break,"

Jin Cheong replied.

"Ah, thanks. Then I’ll go enjoy a cup of coffee. I’ll leave this place to you, then,"

I replied.

"It looks like it’s going to take a while, so I’ll take a break as well, Commander Jin. Oppa, should we make them change shifts every four hours?"

Lee Ji-Hye asked.

"That should be fine,"

I replied.

"In case you're not aware, let me remind you that this is going to be a long, drawn-out battle. That monster's recovery rate is astounding as well," Jin Cheong remarked.

"I think it’s best to keep attacking to ensure that it wouldn't fully recover. Ha-Yan will recover soon, so until then… I think it’s best if we use siege weapons,"

I suggested.

The beast obsessed with the Angel of Sacrifice’s feather probably thought that everything was a trap. The beast probably believed that he was in a field of mines. He was afraid of taking even just a single step, as there was a possibility that the ground beneath him could explode.

Of course, we were just bluffing here, but the monster couldn’t make his move so easily.

“Hee-Ra noona, do you want a cup of coffee?” I offered.

“Are you feeling better, darling?” Cha Hee-Ra asked.

“Thanks to you,” I replied.

After acting cute, I took a sip of my coffee and kept an eye on the monster.

I told Commander Jin that I was going to take a break, but I couldn’t trust Commander Jin to run this entire thing by himself.

A ballista with massive chains attached to it pierced the monster’s body.

"

Roooooar!

"

The magic engineers immediately began working on the chains.

I was sure that mere chains weren't enough to hold the beast down, but it would limit its movements. The monster had just been skewered and tied down by chains, but it showed no reaction whatsoever.

And that was when I heard rumbling noises..

.

‘Huh?’

There was a loud crack, and the ground beneath the curled-up monster cracked open into a spider web-like pattern.

‘That can’t be.’

There was no way he would take that risk.

There was no chance of him escaping underground, and there was no way that the ground beneath him could shatter through his power alone.

‘I've calculated it.’

I had already calculated how much force and weight the ground beneath Bahamut could withstand, and I was extremely thorough with his plan, so there was no way I was mistaken.

"Stop attacking! Stop attacking!"

I heard Commander Jin’s urgent voice, but arrows were already in mid-air.

Bahamut wasn’t doing anything, but the ground beneath him cracked open, and he fell down. I was busy looking for the feather, and I was sure the monster was doing the same.

And then, among the falling debris,

we

saw the feather…

"...!!!" The monster let out an indescribable cry. It caught me off-guard, but I quickly came up with my next course of action, as I had contingency plans in case the situation went awry.

The monster walked away slowly, and he was no longer under my control. Before realizing it, he started running until he was panting, and the tears he had been holding back were flowing down his cheeks.

Why was he crying?

“Baha… mut…! Bahamut!”

Was he crying because of his injured friend? Was he crying because even though he was a hero, he ended up getting corrupted and had been spending time as long as eternity inside that deformed body? Or was he crying because he was an idiot who hadn't done anything other than stare at the Angel of Sacrifice's feather?

“Bahamut! Bahamut!”

I was reminded of that brief interaction in the Underground Temple, and it had been such a long time that it had become a faint memory lingering in the minds of the Angel of Sacrifice and the hero of the distant past.

Who would have thought that those two would reunite after so many years?

It was a long-awaited reunion—a beautiful summer reunion.