A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

Seeing Serena's excellent maneuver, some of the mages present were shocked and some were dumbfounded, but the next moment they realized that their most important task now was not to stand there gasping for breath, but to survive the impending collapse of the mountain.

The surrounding buildings were destroyed, and the ground beneath their feet was no longer stable.

Caught off guard, Acnologia landed where it was blasted into rubble by a 'Cave Dragon's Earth Collapse' attack. The energy bombardment was so close that it had no time to react, and the entire dragon plummeted straight down the collapsing mountainside.

Just as it was about to spread its wings and take flight, it was met with three spells of water, fire, and wind, each one a direct slap in the face, leaving it completely stunned: Under the blockade of the hurricane, any object that took to the air would be trapped in a whirlpool of air currents, unable to move freely, rendering the sky-covering black wings useless; and the two opposing yet equally powerful energies of water and fire not only failed to cancel each other out, but instead continued to damage Acnologia's hard, dark blue dragon scales, attempting to destroy this massive body.

"Everyone be careful! The venue is about to collapse! Quickly grab the people next to you!!"

"Damn it! Could this guy also be from 'Fairy Tail'? How can he cause so much destruction?!"

"From the moment I saw those guys start fighting several days ago, I guessed that this venue would be destroyed sooner or later, but I never expected that day to come so soon..."

"Now that's great, the venue is gone. I wonder where the Grand Magic Games will be held from now on!"

"I'm telling you, there's been a landslide!! And you guys are still complaining?? Shouldn't you be rushing to save people??"

With a deafening roar, the entire venue collapsed and crumbled. The central arena, the audience seating area, and the stone sculptures at the four corners were all reduced to dust by these four magical spells!

Chapter 779 Citizens taking refuge...

Within the city of Crocus, having been notified of the emergency evacuation order, the citizens ate dinner early today. Afterward, each person brought their movable valuables and, under the command of the kingdom's soldiers, formed a long line and moved in an orderly fashion toward the east gate before sunset.

However, the city has a population of tens of thousands. How could so many people be evacuated in a short time? In addition, with more people, there are naturally more conflicts. Therefore, after the initial unconditional obedience to orders ended, some citizens began to cause trouble.

One moment an elderly person is unable to walk, the next a child is crying and throwing a tantrum, and then there are all sorts of other troubles, such as noblemen harassing respectable women, blond-haired men taking advantage of the situation, young boys rebelling against the carts, and brainless fans arguing. These things leave the soldiers at a loss and in a state of great distress.

"Why are we having to relocate the whole city in the middle of the night?! Everyone's already exhausted from a long day of work..."

The soldiers were helpless and could only tell them the truth: "We're very sorry, but this is an order! Everyone must obey!!"

"This is dictatorship! The Fiore royal family are dictators!! We are all legal citizens of the Kingdom of Fiore! We also have the right to stay!!"

Seeing the unruly people rioting, the soldiers could only try their best to calm them down: "Everyone...everyone...please be quiet!! We are seeking refuge urgently! Because the king said there will be a great disaster tonight, this is for everyone's safety..."

"This is alarmist! What disaster could there be? There's not a single sign! Is it an earthquake? A storm? Or a volcanic eruption? Is the sun about to rise in the west?"

Suddenly, a voice came from the crowd: "Hey, I think I heard a rumor that the king received a prophetic letter saying that a giant dragon will attack tonight..."

"Are you kidding me?! Where in this world are there still dragons?!"

"King Thomas is blindly superstitious and believes in prophecies!! Can such a king really be trusted?! Will his decrees truly improve our lives?"

"Shut up! Are you out of your mind?!"

"It's better to be safe than sorry! If we don't leave, we might die..."

"So what if I die! I've wanted to die for ages! Maybe dying at the hands of a dragon would be more spectacular than dying a dazed and confused death!"

Soldiers: "..."

What a bunch of lunatics! This world might as well be destroyed by dragons!!

To protect these citizens, the accompanying soldiers included not only Crocus's patrol troops but also mostly regular soldiers from the kingdom. Although Fiore had been at peace for many years and these soldiers had never fought on the front lines, they were used to fighting criminals and apprehending thieves. They were proper 'criminal police officers', not 'police officers,' and had no idea how to handle this situation, which severely slowed down the entire team's advance.

A young soldier who had just resolved a dispute walked up to his colleague and sighed wearily, "Seriously... this is so troublesome! Dealing with these people's problems feels more tiring than regular military training."

The slightly older soldier captain asked, "What's wrong? Tell me about it?"

The young soldier pointed behind him with his thumb: "It's that guy over there. He just got his butt touched by that old man, what's the big deal?"

What?! I got my butt groped by that creepy old man?! I can't believe someone in the capital would dare commit such a despicable act so brazenly? And while I was trying to escape a disaster?!

Upon hearing this, the soldier captain flew into a rage: "How could such a thing happen?! Who was it? I must condemn this person severely..."

"We're all men, not delicate little girls. What's wrong with being touched? You agree, right, Captain?"

"Huh?? They're all men...??"

Upon learning that both the attacker and the victim were male, the soldier captain fell silent, swallowing the word 'behavior' back. "This...it seems...it doesn't seem right either, does it?"

The laws of the Kingdom of Fiore don't specify how to handle situations where the victim of harassment is male...

Listening to the young soldier's continued complaints and sensing his nonchalant attitude, the soldier captain was almost dumbfounded. He slowed his pace and stared blankly at the young man beside him, who had only been in the unit for less than a month.

Shocking! Nan Tong is right next to me? Are young people these days so open-minded? Isn't this a bit too trendy? Am I too old? No, that can't be right, I'm only 29!

The captain of the soldiers was utterly shocked. His gaze, momentarily fixed on the young man's retreating figure, slowly moved downwards, his thoughts racing: "This kid doesn't even care about this kind of thing? Does that mean he...?"

Wait! What am I looking at?! I'm a normal person!! I would never—

Rumble!!

Before the soldier captain could even realize what was happening, he heard a deafening explosion behind him.

"What was that sound?!"

The huge commotion directly interrupted the already slow-moving procession. Soldiers and civilians alike stopped in their tracks and looked back curiously. However, the first thing they saw upon turning around was not what had happened, but rather a gust of wind.

When I opened my eyes again, I saw the mountain to the west of Crocus, a mountain that had existed for hundreds of years and was said to have been leveled by a paladin with a dragon-slaying sword. The Thomas Brau arena, which had been built on top of it and used to hold the 'Grand Magic Games', was being ravaged by several terrifying energies at the same time and was collapsing at an incredible speed!

"That's... the mountain was destroyed??"

No way... Although I always complained that I was tired of that mountain and that it blocked the beautiful sunset, it had been there for so many years and had been with me for decades. And now it's just been destroyed like this??

I haven't properly said goodbye to it yet!

The soldier captain felt somewhat lost and bewildered.

"Hey, Captain! Is that the disaster they were talking about that will happen today?" the young soldier asked, turning around.

"Huh? Ah... I guess... I think so!"

The soldier captain answered haltingly, still in shock at seeing the mountain destroyed, wondering what kind of energy could have caused such damage.

A citizen suddenly said with regret, "What a pity! I haven't been there much yet."

No sooner had the words left his lips than another young citizen's voice rang out, tinged with a hint of relief: "I did go, just these past few days. I went there to watch those mages compete in a 'Grand Magic Games.' To be honest, the magic flying around was quite a sight, and the best part was, it was free! Why not go?"

"I really envy you guys! Actually, I wanted to go too, but I couldn't because I had to work."

"What work? This is such a rare and important event, you should definitely take time off to go see it!"

The voice that had been there before fell silent. It was unclear whether it was internally criticizing young people for not knowing the difficulties of society, or regretting that it hadn't taken a chance.

At the very back of this refugee group, a group of mages from various magic guilds, who had little combat ability, were responsible for covering the retreat of the citizens. They had also noticed the commotion at the Grand Magic Games Arena.

"Is that... the disaster the president mentioned?"

"What a commotion! What happened?!"

In fact, not only the eight guilds that participated in the 'Grand Magic Games', but also the other magic guilds that came to Crocus received a request from the Fiore royal family, which also asked them to join forces to deal with this disaster.

However, unlike the mages of the eight guilds on the mountain, the mission of the other magic guilds is to guard the royal capital.

Since the 'Dragon Attack' mentioned in the prophecy letter was to occur at the venue, King Thomas divided the combat power of all guilds into two parts: the main force at the venue, namely the mages of the eight strongest magic guilds; and the deputy force guarding the capital, which consisted of mages from dozens of magic guilds who had registered to participate in the 'Grand Magic Games' but failed to pass the first day's preliminary rounds.

In King Thomas's view, the mages of the former guilds are stronger, but the latter have more people. If quantity makes up for quality, the overall combat strength of the two sides should be about the same. Therefore, this is the most perfect arrangement.

It's fortunate that he didn't choose to have the former defend the city while the latter went to the front lines; otherwise, those dozens of guilds and hundreds of mages would have become cannon fodder the moment Acnologia landed.

Among the mages covering the retreat of the citizens, several mages from Fairy Tail were anxiously watching the collapsed mountain, their faces pale.

"You must survive..."

Biska looked worried and hugged Aska even tighter.

Chapter 780: Serena's Inescapable Fate

When the mountain collapsed, everyone's heart jumped. They wanted to quickly take a deep breath, but after taking half a breath, they belatedly realized that they had inhaled dust particles and immediately covered their mouths and noses again.

"Cough cough..."

"That Serena guy... he really doesn't care about the consequences when he attacks..."

"I'll teach him a lesson he'll learn one day!"

Amidst the smoke and dust, several figures rose one after another. They first fanned away the dust particles in front of them with their hands, then brushed the dirt off their bodies, and began to survey their surroundings.

They had now landed beneath the former Grand Magic Games arena, which, unsurprisingly, was a massive cavern. Inside, there were obvious signs of time: stalactites, weathered stone pillars, piles of debris from an unknown era, and huge bones buried even deeper beneath their feet.

"Beneath the venue... inside the mountain, there's actually a place like this?!"

Princess Emerald emerged from beneath Arcadios's cloak, curiously surveying this place she had never been before. She appeared somewhat disheveled, but her eyes shone brightly.

"This used to be a graveyard for dragons..."

As the leader of the Knights, Arcadios naturally knew this place and had been here more than once. Therefore, while he wouldn't say he knew the terrain by heart, he was at least very familiar with it.

King Thomas jumped down from Arcadios's arms: "Thank you so much this time, Arcadios..."

“It’s still what I should do!” Arcadios said humbly. “But right now, the most important thing is Acnologia!!”

After the meeting place above collapsed, the three of them fell to the edge of the graveyard. Acnologia, on the other hand, was in the center of the graveyard in the mountains. At her feet, in front of her, and in all her sights were irregular stones and people climbing up from the ruins.

The cramped terrain made Acnologia feel slightly uncomfortable. With a quick glance from its scarlet eyes, it recognized what it was standing on—the remains of a dragon it had slaughtered here countless years ago.

call--!!

With a flap of its massive black wings, two powerful gusts of wind were whipped up, dispersing the smoke and dust. Only then did the mages, who had been trapped inside, finally see where they were.

The original mountain peak had been shaved off again by the previous magic. To be precise, it was as if someone had looked down from the top of the mountain towards the waist in a certain direction. However, because of the cave in the middle, it was connected and became half a mountain connected to a curved mountain wall. The curved mountain wall encircled about three-quarters of the mountain peak. Above the mountain wall was the ground where the venue used to be. Looking up from below, three stone sculptures could still be seen standing steadily on it. If the angle was right, one could even see the audience seats that had been destroyed beyond recognition.

No one expected that the place they had been staying in for the past few days, or even until a few minutes ago, would become such a 'lofty' ruin.

The person who created these ruins is now standing unharmed in the center of this cave, facing Acnologia.

The mages, who were initially shocked by Serena's appearance, now felt aggrieved by this undeserved misfortune. Yet, they couldn't find fault with him, since he had used such powerful magic to deal with Acnologia—although Acnologia's defense was higher, causing his magic to fail.

"Is this the real master? He can destroy half a mountain with a single move?!" The mages were stunned, amazed, and deeply impressed.

Upon entering the graveyard, these mages, whose appearances clearly indicated they couldn't be of any help in the battle against Acnologia, quickly found cover, hoping to survive until the battle between the big shots and Acnologia ended.

They huddled together in twos and threes, but because the big shots like Kira and Jura hadn't spoken up yet, they didn't dare to do anything out of line.

"Storm Dragon's Storm Snow Moon Flower!!"

In the center of the battlefield, Serena shouted and spread his arms. His abundant magic power instantly created four or five tornadoes, each tens of meters high, that swirled around him. Under his control, these tornadoes then roared toward Acnologia's enormous body.

The wind howled, carrying dust and dirt, turning the originally formless tornado gray. Although the night was dark, the tornado was so powerful that everyone could see it clearly.