Chapter 965: Counterattack
Strax continued watching the images appearing inside the cracked crystal, but his expression showed neither fear nor surprise. The structures forming within that incomplete reproduction were easy to interpret: reinforced wings, plates resistant to heat, muscles prepared to withstand sudden changes in temperature, and a core capable of alternating between opposite extremes. The network had analyzed his attacks, his defenses, and the way he used White Fire and Black Ice. It was trying to build a predator specialized in hunting him.
The mistake, however, lay precisely in the confidence placed in that analysis.
The thing beneath the desert knew the powers Strax had shown during a few battles. It did not know everything he could do and, most importantly, it did not understand how he made decisions.
Frieren was still examining the crystal when Strax approached Monica and pointed toward the center of the map.
"We are not returning to Asgard."
The administrator immediately raised her eyes, already understanding what he intended before he continued. Strax placed the tip of one finger over the region where the eleven lines converged and explained that the central organism needed time to complete the new creature. Retreating would allow them to organize their forces more effectively, but it would also give the enemy exactly what it needed: enough hours to mature the cocoon, process everything it had learned, and produce other units with the same specialization.
"We just severed one of the outposts. They are still trying to reorganize the network. This is the first time in decades that thing has truly been wounded. If we wait, we lose that advantage."
Monica did not reject the reasoning, although she was unwilling to simply allow him to advance alone. She fully opened the map over a stone and began calculating the distances between the outposts, troop routes, and the time required to send messages to Asgard.
"An attack against the center without destroying the other points would be useless. The outposts are feeding something and probably also function as escape routes. If you strike the core now, all the matter may be distributed through the network before you can destroy it."
Strax agreed.
That was exactly why he did not intend to attack alone. He wanted every outpost struck almost simultaneously, forcing the network to divide its attention at the same moment he reached the heart.
The decision transformed the reconnaissance expedition into the beginning of a complete military operation. Monica removed three communication crystals from her bag, handed one to Cassandra, and activated the other two over the map. The images took several seconds to stabilize, but the faces of Rogue and Beatrice soon appeared across their surfaces.
Monica wasted no time. She explained that the threat was not concentrated in a single nest and that they had identified eleven additional facilities around the desert. Rogue was to mobilize adventurers capable of traveling quickly and send groups toward four positions in the west. Beatrice would take responsibility for the northern points alongside Tiamat and the knights of Asgard. Samira, Daniela, and Kali would receive the three locations closest to the migration routes, while the regular troops isolated villages, railways, and roads to prevent any organism from reaching civilian areas.
"I do not want prolonged battles," Monica said, keeping one finger over the center of the map. "The outposts must be destroyed, not conquered. Enter, locate the core of each facility, and sever the connection. If you find cocoons, burn or freeze everything. Do not leave bodies behind, because they reuse matter. Everyone attacks when I send the second signal."
Rogue confirmed the order immediately, while Beatrice only asked where Strax would be during the operation.
Monica looked at him before answering.
"At the center."
The silence from the other side lasted only briefly, but it was enough to show that no one liked that part. Even so, there were no pointless objections. Everyone knew Strax well enough to understand that preventing that decision would require something better than concern.
Mercedes approached the map and indicated that she could accompany him, but Strax refused. Her cold was the most efficient way to contain the matter found inside the outposts, and Monica would need someone capable of freezing any propagation route if the network tried to escape toward the north. Frieren would also be more useful analyzing the crystal and tracking the underground responses, while Cassandra should coordinate protection of the specimen until it was completely destroyed.
Strax did not treat this as an opportunity to prove his strength.
He was placing each person where they could cause the greatest possible damage.
"I do not need you to come with me. I need every outpost to disappear when I reach the center."
Cassandra watched him for several seconds before asking how he intended to locate the main facility beneath kilometers of sand.
Strax pointed toward the ground.
Even after severing that outpost, he could still feel pulses traveling through the deeper layers. The network transmitted energy, matter, and information through those channels. The more outposts they attacked, the stronger the central core’s reaction would become.
"I do not need to search. When you begin cutting the connections, it will scream through the ground. I only need to follow the point from which all the responses are coming."
Monica finished calculating the timing and informed them that the first teams would need a little under three hours to reach the designated positions. The most distant groups would use short-range portals prepared by Frieren and the mages of Asgard. The attack would begin at nightfall, when the heat of the desert decreased and Strax’s Black Ice could spread across the surface with less resistance.
He listened to the entire plan, but his eyes remained fixed on the horizon.
The network was building something to face him. Every minute allowed bones to grow, muscles to connect, and instincts to be inserted into the still-sleeping body. Waiting three hours seemed like too long, but beginning too early would allow the outposts to reinforce the center.
Strax walked to the remains of the white creature and placed one hand over the broken shell. Small movements still traveled through the tissues even after the core’s destruction. It remained alive in a fragmented form, searching for a connection to any nearby matter.
He released White Fire through the entire structure but did not allow the flames to spread uncontrollably. He concentrated the heat inside each plate, burning from the inside out until no fragment retained the ability to regenerate. Then he covered the ashes with Black Ice and compressed them into a mass so dense that the material shattered into powder when Cassandra struck its surface.
The network would not receive that body again.
The captured specimen began reacting as soon as the remains of the white creature disappeared. Its plates opened, and a sequence of filaments tried to cross the containment matrix, but Frieren expanded the seal while Mercedes froze the interior.
Strax approached before Monica could ask what he intended to do and placed two fingers against the barrier.
"We have learned enough."
Frieren agreed with a short nod. She deactivated only the outer layer, allowing Strax’s energy to enter without releasing the organism. White Fire and Black Ice crossed the body at the same time, one consuming its energy while the other prevented any structural alteration. The creature tried to adapt to both extremes, but the fusion severed the connection between its cells before it could find an answer.
Within seconds, only a rigid and inactive structure remained.
When every preparation was complete, Strax moved away from the group and began releasing the true extent of his presence.
The transformation did not occur like an uncontrolled explosion. His human body expanded in a heavy and continuous process, bones reorganizing beneath the skin, muscles growing in layers, and white scales emerging along his arms, chest, and face. His legs sank into the ground as his weight increased, while enormous wings opened above the slope and threw dust across dozens of meters. His neck lengthened, black horns curved backward, and his tail passed through part of the observatory’s wreckage.
When the change ended, the dragon occupied much of the elevation, covered in pale scales crossed by dark lines where Black Ice circulated like blood.
Even those who had seen his true form before felt the difference.
Strax was not only larger.
The pressure released by his body seemed more organized, as though every part of him were prepared for a long war. White Fire illuminated the inside of his throat and escaped between his teeth, while black crystals grew over the joints of his wings, reinforcing the structures without restricting movement.
He lowered his head toward Monica, who remained standing before him without showing hesitation.
"When you receive my signal, attack."
She placed one hand against a scale near his snout and replied that the second signal would be sent as soon as every team confirmed its position.
"Do not destroy the center before then."
Strax released a hot breath over the ground.
"I will not promise to wait if that thing finishes being born."
He opened his wings and departed.
The first impulse destroyed part of the slope. Compressed air scattered stones and dust while his gigantic body climbed almost vertically before leaning toward the southeast. Strax quickly gained speed, crossing the low clouds and leaving Asgard far behind.
The terrain changed beneath him in a rapid sequence of forests, dry plains, and rock formations. As he approached the desert, the underground pulses became clearer.
The network had noticed his direction and was beginning to react.
The first aerial creatures appeared before he reached the dunes. They were not true dragons, although they had long wings and bodies covered in plates. Dozens emerged from holes opening in the ground, propelled by air sacs rupturing beneath their shells. Some had wide membranes for gliding. Others used four smaller wings and changed direction with irregular speed.
All of them advanced against Strax without any defined formation, spreading apart to observe how he would respond.
He did not offer them a simple answer.
Strax closed his wings and allowed his body to fall between the first creatures. Two tried to follow, adjusting the angle of their membranes to repeat the dive. At the last instant, he opened only his left wing and turned around his own axis, using his tail to strike both in different directions. One was thrown upward. The other fell toward the ground.
Before the rest could understand the pattern, Strax beat his wings and released an air current strong enough to make three smaller organisms lose stability and collide with one another.
A second formation approached from the front, opening heat-resistant plates over their heads. They were clearly expecting White Fire. Strax filled his lungs, and the creatures closed their membranes to protect the inside of their bodies.
Instead of flames, he roared.
The sound wave crossed the plates prepared for temperature, ruptured internal structures, and sent the bodies falling without any visible external wounds.
The network had learned how to defend itself against his elements.
It had not yet learned that a dragon possessed far more than fire and ice.
The remaining creatures began reorganizing their wings to absorb vibrations, but Strax had already changed his approach. Black Ice appeared in the air around them in hundreds of small fragments, not as spears launched directly, but as obstacles distributed across the entire route. The organisms avoided the first crystals and encountered others positioned exactly along their new directions. Their wings touched the ice, lost flexibility, and broke under the pressure of the wind.
Strax crossed the formation without slowing down, destroying the larger bodies with his claws and burning the remains before they reached the ground.
The network continued observing.
So did he.
Every reaction showed the time required to share information, which creatures received the adjustments first, and the distance at which communication remained efficient. Strax realized that the organisms closer to the ground adapted before those flying above the clouds. That meant the network did not transmit information instantly. The signal traveled through the underground veins, rose through the growth points, and only then reached the distant units.
Destroying the outposts really would reduce the enemy’s speed.
The first crystal attached to a scale near his neck vibrated. Monica’s voice emerged through the interference.
"All teams are in position. Northern, western, and southwestern outposts confirmed. Two groups remain."
Strax did not respond with words. He released a small pulse of mana into the crystal, confirming that he had heard, and continued toward the center.
Below him, the desert began to move.
The dunes sank in long lines, revealing black structures crossing the sand like the ribs of a colossal creature. Hundreds of organisms emerged at the same time, some running, others digging, and several opening wings that were still incomplete.
They were not merely trying to reach him.
They were forming a barrier between Strax and the point where the pulses were concentrated.
Then he felt something different.
At the center of the network, the cocoon contracted.
The presence that emerged did not possess the instability of the other creatures. It was heavy, organized, and far too close to his own signature. The organism had received enough White Fire, Black Ice, and draconic energy to create a functional imitation. The network had not yet completed the process, but it knew Strax was approaching and began accelerating the birth.
Monica’s voice returned through the crystal.
"Everyone confirmed. Beginning the full counterattack in ten seconds."
Strax fully opened his wings and stopped his advance for a brief instant. Beneath him, thousands of creatures covered the dunes. Around the desert, eleven teams waited for the order to strike the points feeding the underground mass. At the center, something built specifically to kill him pushed against the walls of a gigantic cocoon.
When the countdown ended, eleven explosions appeared across the horizon.
Columns of fire, ice, light, and mana rose in different regions, each marking the attack against one of the network’s outposts. The underground pulses immediately fell into disorder. Some lines went dark, others began transferring excess energy toward the center, and every creature over the dunes hesitated for less than a second.
That was all Strax needed.
He folded his wings, surrounded his entire body with White Fire and Black Ice, and dived toward the desert like a mass of destruction. The barrier of creatures tried to close, but he crossed the first group before they could complete their adaptation. The impact opened a gigantic crater, threw sand into the sky, and ruptured the nearest underground veins.
Without interrupting his movement, Strax drove his claws into the black structure beneath the dunes and pulled.
The desert opened before him.
Layers of sand and stone gave way, revealing a colossal cavity illuminated by thousands of cocoons attached to the walls. At the center stood a much larger structure, surrounded by channels pouring matter and mana into its interior. The wings had already torn through part of the membrane. An elongated head pressed against the tissue from within, and two white eyes opened before the body was completely free.
Strax descended into the opening, destroying smaller cocoons with his tail as he landed in front of the unfinished creature. The central organism tore through its own membrane and fell onto four still-deformed limbs. White scales covered half of its body. Black crystals grew over the rest. Between its newly formed teeth, a pale flame began to gather.
The imitation raised its head and released a pressure almost identical to his own.
Strax observed every detail without retreating. The network had copied his strength, his elements, his resistance, and even part of his presence. However, when he looked at that thing, he did not feel as though he were standing before another dragon.
It was only a weapon built from stolen pieces, incapable of understanding what it meant to possess its own power.
He slowly opened his wings inside the chamber and bared his teeth.
"So this is what you did with everything you learned?"
The false dragon answered with a disorganized roar, and White Fire exploded from its throat.
Strax walked through the flames without slowing down. The heat burned several outer scales, but it did not stop him. When he reached the creature, he did not use fire, ice, or any technique the network could recognize.
He simply seized the incomplete neck with both hands and slammed its body into the ground with enough force to make the entire underground facility tremble.
Asgard’s counterattack was already destroying the surrounding outposts.
Now Strax began his own.