The Wizard of Fairy Tale World

Chapter 122: Despicable Rhine

In that fleeting moment, the Eastern Witch’s body swelled rapidly.

Her head elongated into the shape of a dragon’s, her skin and muscles hardened in an instant, transforming into crimson dragon scales.

Even Aurora, with her innate superhuman strength, felt the sudden resistance—her blade could no longer pierce through.

In just a single heartbeat, the witch Aurora had stabbed had transformed into a fearsome, monstrous dragon.

With a powerful beat of its wings, the dragon sent Aurora flying backward.

A gaping, gruesome wound remained on its back where Aurora had struck.

Blood dripped from the wound, falling onto the grass below—igniting the green blades into flames.

Aurora’s ambush, which would have been fatal to a human witch, was nothing more than a minor scratch to a dragon!

“A spell to transform oneself into a dragon…

“You’ve learned Black Witch Maleficent’s signature technique too?”

This magic altered the very essence of one’s life force, automatically triggering the transformation upon receiving a critical attack—rendering the caster nearly invulnerable!

“How much stronger is this Eastern Witch compared to the original story?”

“If fate had played out as expected, when Dorothy’s house got swept into the Land of Oz by the tornado, it wouldn’t have been able to crush this Eastern Witch at all.”

Rhine pondered, his concern growing.

“If I hadn’t intervened, if fate had continued its course, Dorothy might have been devoured the moment she arrived in Oz.”

Aurora, also realizing what had happened, tightened her grip on her sword. A fierce determination flashed in her emerald eyes.

She remembered her mission. She recalled the other dragon she was destined to slay.

The dragon that had once been the Eastern Witch panted heavily, hot steam hissing from its maw.

“Good, good… I paid a steep price to learn this spell from Black Witch Maleficent.

“Even though I’m not as powerful as Maleficent’s true dragon form, dealing with you two is more than easy enough!”

Earlier, the Eastern Witch had been hesitant to transform because her clothes would fuse into her new form and vanish temporarily—only reappearing once she returned to human shape. This was the same reason why Rhine and Aurora always remained clothed after reverting from their transformations.

As a dragon, she could no longer use her enchanted Silver Shoes.

But now?

The Silver Shoes were incomplete anyway—only one remained. It was unlikely to function properly.

So there was no longer any reason for her to hold back!

“Hand over that Silver Shoe!” the dragon roared, lunging at Rhine. Its mighty wings stirred up a tempest, sending grass and dirt flying.

Aurora darted forward like a streak of lightning, placing herself between Rhine and the oncoming dragon. She would protect the mage behind her.

Whoosh—

A scorching blaze erupted from the dragon’s jaws, engulfing Aurora in crimson flames.

However, Aurora strode forward fearlessly, unfazed by the fire licking at her body.

It was as if she was merely walking through a warm spring breeze.

“What? My dragon breath… isn’t working?” The dragon was utterly stunned.

Who was this seemingly ordinary eleven or twelve-year-old girl?

Then, the golden-haired girl let out a sharp cry and leaped high into the air, sword poised to strike.

A chilling arc of silver light cleaved through the sky—

Clang!

A crisp metallic clang echoed as sparks flew.

“Argh!”

The dragon howled in pain, flapping its wings furiously as it stumbled back.

Aurora, meanwhile, landed gracefully on the ground.

“No good. These dragon scales are too tough. I can wound it, but I can’t deal a fatal blow.”@@novelbin@@

Frowning, Aurora glanced at her sword.

This was a blade from the White Kingdom’s treasury, forged by the most skilled craftsmen, honed to an incredible sharpness.

Yet even this sword had failed to pierce the dragon’s scales. Worse still, the previous attack had left a slight nick in the blade.

“The real Maleficent, when transformed into her full dragon form, must be even stronger than this! My own strength and my weapon… they both need to be stronger.” Ṛ𝓪ɴO͍𝐁Ɛ𝐒

Determined, Aurora clenched her jaw and charged forward once more, engaging the dragon in battle.

The dragon’s searing breath, razor-sharp claws, and deadly fangs were completely ineffective against Aurora.

Meanwhile, Aurora’s strikes, though not lethal, steadily chipped away at the dragon—bit by bit, wound by wound.

Though not fatal, they were maddeningly persistent.

At the same time, Rhine summoned more birds and called forth his three monstrous hounds with the Tinderbox, continuously harassing the dragon and preventing it from focusing solely on Aurora.

“Damnable magician!” the Eastern Witch fumed. “Hiding behind a ridiculously powerful warrior while pestering me with magic, forcing me to fight on the front lines alone!”

“This isn’t fair! It’s two against one!”

The dragon roared in frustration, but Rhine didn’t even bother responding.

As the battle raged on, the Eastern Witch—now a dragon—began to sense something unsettling.

The girl before her was growing stronger.

She was quickly adapting to the fight, using her smaller size to her advantage—darting around the dragon’s massive body, slipping between its wingbeats and tail sweeps, searching for openings in its defenses.

Each strike of her sword was becoming sharper, more precise, and more devastating.

“She’s learning my attack patterns? Finding the gaps between my scales and striking them more effectively?”

“No… It’s more than that!”

The dragon’s eyes widened in shock.

As Aurora raised her sword again, the dragon almost thought she was hallucinating.

For just a brief moment, the girl before her no longer seemed human.

She looked like a dragon—one wrapped in human skin.

The motion of her sword strike mirrored a dragon’s aerial dive, fangs bared, ready to tear into its prey.

“She’s even imitating the way dragons fight? She’s using a human body and a sword to replicate a dragon’s techniques?”

“What kind of monster is this girl?”

Rhine, noticing the dragon’s astonishment, smirked.

This was exactly why he had led Aurora into a prolonged battle against the Eastern Witch.

Aurora had a unique ability—she learned from her opponents as she fought them. She absorbed their battle rhythms, integrated them into her own attacks, and grew stronger in the midst of combat.

And in the future, Aurora would have to face an even more formidable dragon—Maleficent.

This was the perfect opportunity for her to gain experience in slaying dragons.

“She’s using me as a sparring partner?!”

Realizing this, the Eastern Witch panicked.

“This has to stop. I’m not here to be her practice dummy!”

In a split-second decision, she flapped her massive wings violently and shot up into the sky.

From the ground, Aurora could only watch helplessly as the dragon soared higher and higher, putting more distance between them.

“Ugh! Why can’t I fly?!” Aurora huffed in frustration, clenching her fists.

“Hahahaha! Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”

Seeing Aurora stuck on the ground, unable to do anything, the dragon let out a triumphant laugh.

Let’s see you handle this now!

What, was the girl going to suddenly sprout wings and chase her into the sky?

And as for that pesky magician—there was no way he had the strength to drag a dragon down from the air!

Opening her jaws, the dragon began chanting a sinister incantation.

Even in this form, she could still cast spells—though it was a bit more cumbersome and took longer to complete.

“I’ll turn you both into toads!”

The dragon roared, unleashing a dreadful transformation curse.

Against a warrior as physically resilient as Aurora, the curse’s success rate was low.

But the Eastern Witch didn’t mind.

She had the aerial advantage now—she could keep trying until she finally turned Aurora into a disgusting little frog!

However, just as she thought victory was within her grasp, something unexpected happened.

She watched as Rhine suddenly grabbed Aurora’s shoulder from behind.

The next instant, both of them vanished into thin air—phasing out of existence, dodging the spell entirely.

“Damn it! Where did they go?!”

The dragon’s head swung from side to side, scanning the landscape.

Then, she spotted them—Rhine and Aurora had reappeared near the lake, the very one where many of her enchanted birds had drowned earlier.

Even more concerning—Rhine was now holding a sapphire-blue staff.

“Hah! Found you!” The dragon sneered. “Hiding won’t save you!”

That golden-haired brat might be absurdly strong and skilled, but she couldn’t fly.

What could she possibly do? Hide forever?

“Wait… Why did they go to the lake? They can’t seriously be thinking of hiding underwater, right?”

Just as the dragon puzzled over their motives, Rhine raised the sapphire staff high.

“Water, obey my command.”

The Staff of the Ocean!

Even though this wasn’t the sea, and the staff’s full power couldn’t be unleashed, it was still enough to manipulate the lake.

The dark waters of the lake suddenly churned and surged.

Then, the entire lake was lifted into the air—forming a colossal serpent of swirling water that coiled toward the dragon.

“What are they planning? Trying to use water to attack me? Or are they trying to drag me to the ground?”

“Heh. Pointless. A dragon’s strength and defenses are far beyond such petty tricks. That won’t even tickle me.”

The Eastern Witch—still in her dragon form—mocked the two below:

“You brats should stop struggling. Hand over the Silver Shoe, and I’ll make your deaths a little less painful!”

However, in the next moment, something felt… off.

The massive water serpent didn’t fly toward her.

Instead, it slithered beneath her.

“What… What are they doing?”

The Eastern Witch was utterly confused.

Why wasn’t the water attacking her?

Why was it just moving around below?

Then—

Her entire body suddenly plummeted.

It felt as if she had been filled with lead—no matter how hard she flapped her wings, she couldn’t stay in the air.

From hundreds of meters high, she fell straight down.

BOOM!

The dragon crashed into the earth, sending a cloud of dust and debris flying.

“What… What just happened?!”

The Eastern Witch was dazed, her head spinning from the impact.

Why had she suddenly lost the ability to fly?

Looking up, she saw Rhine standing beside the lake, smiling gently at her like a patient teacher explaining a lesson to a slow student.

“Oh dear,” he said with mock concern.

“You don’t even recognize your own magic?”

“I seem to recall… this lake was enchanted by your own spell—a spell that causes anything flying above it to lose its ability to stay aloft and crash into the water. Isn’t that right?”

“I just moved the lake beneath you.”

The Waters of Certain Descent!

Realization dawned on the Eastern Witch.

She had cast that spell.

And she had never bothered to learn how to undo it—because at the time, she hadn’t thought it necessary.

Now, her own magic had been used against her.

Rhine twirled the Staff of the Ocean, and the dark lake waters spread outward, covering the entire battlefield.

“With this, you won’t be able to fly anymore.”

“Lady Eastern Witch, your magic truly is amazing! Even a mighty dragon can be taken down by it.”

He grinned.

“Absolutely remarkable.”

“YOU LITTLE—!!!”

The Eastern Witch’s fury erupted like a volcano.

How many times had this magician infuriated her today?!

First, he tricked her into losing her Silver Shoe.

Then, he let that absurdly strong girl use her as a training dummy.

And now—

He had turned her own magic against her!

What kind of underhanded, lowly, shameless tactics were these?!