This Is What You Forced Me to Do

What was more dangerous than facing a trapped dragon?

The answer was facing a dragon that was about to break free and had regained some of her mobility!

Raymond knew very well that with the power he currently possessed, confronting an Adult Red Dragon head-on was practically no different from seeking death.

Especially since his earlier attempt to have her sign a magic contract had clearly angered her.

Obviously, the "negotiation" had failed.

The highly vengeful Red Dragon had long since transferred her hatred for Astar onto everyone in the mage tower.

After all, to her, those low-level undead creatures outside posed no threat to her life whatsoever.

Once the powerful magical restraints placed on her failed, Vermees could carve a bloody path out at any time with the protection of her sturdy dragon scales.

As for whether the terrifying plague outside would affect a True Dragon, she clearly was not worried about it at all.

Or rather, she had never even considered such a possibility.

Faced with such a desperate situation, Raymond not only showed no sign of losing control, but also abandoned his previous humble attitude. He put away the Magic Scroll with its powerful binding effect and smiled self-mockingly. "All right, I hereby declare Plan A a failure. It's time to activate Plan B. Remember, you forced me to do this."

"Plan B?"

Seeing that the little runt before her had not only failed to kneel and beg for forgiveness and mercy, but had instead threatened her, the Red Dragon immediately revealed a startled expression.

"Yes. Besides tricking you into signing this magic contract, I also prepared coercive measures in case the negotiation failed."

As he spoke, Raymond stuffed the scroll back into his satchel, rummaged through it for several seconds, then pulled out a glass bottle filled with an amber-colored translucent liquid.

Besides the amber preservative fluid, a large piece of soft tissue was soaking inside the bottle.

Its torso was as large as an adult's palm and looked somewhat like an octopus.

However, six metal rings had been embedded around its brain and central nervous system.

Each ring was set with a gemstone of a different color.

Below its torso were four octopus-like tentacles with barbed hooks at their tips.

With an extremely practiced motion, Raymond unscrewed the sealed jar and used Awaken Creation to grant intelligence to the most dangerous—and also the most powerful—Oddity among all the magic items he had personally made.

In an instant!

That limp mass of soft tissue, which had shown no signs of life, suddenly came alive.

It wrapped its slimy tentacles around its master's arm and wriggled gently, expressing the intense joy deep within its mind.

At the same time, it faintly emitted a kind of energy fluctuation completely different from Arcane Magic.

"Do you know?

Whether humans or dragons, the brain is the most vulnerable organ in the vast majority of living creatures.

Because without the protection of the skull, even the slightest impact could cause irreparable damage to the brain.

The brain, meanwhile, connected to the neural network spread throughout the body through the spine, controlling the body.

In other words, if the connection between the brain and spine were severed, then replaced with a new controller—

Even if the creature's consciousness remained awake, it would lose control of its body..."

As Raymond spoke, he took out a blue Magic Card.

Magic Card: Enhancement

LV2 Blue Card (Cannot be upgraded)

Card Quality: Rare

Effect: Enhances an existing spell effect for thirty seconds. The degree of enhancement is directly proportional to the Planeswalker's level; the higher the level, the better the enhancement effect.

Using this card requires payment of two points of blue mana symbolizing the ocean, flow, and control; or two points of generic mana; or double the amount of another type of mana.

After taking effect, this card automatically enters the graveyard to await rebirth. The waiting time is two days.

Before Vermees could react, the magic on the card activated.

Just one second later!

The Red Dragon, who had been on her feet for less than two minutes, once again felt the Binding Formation beneath her, which had previously weakened, suddenly become more than twice as powerful.

Her limbs simply could not withstand such immense pressure.

With a thud, she fell flat on her face.

Her furious and embarrassed appearance formed a stark contrast with the pride and arrogance frozen on her face.

Because the enhanced spell had limited duration, Raymond had no mood to stop and admire the irony of the scene.

He quickly took out a fire protection potion and drank it, then brought his awakened Oddity straight toward the dragon's head.

Perhaps sensing danger, Vermees struggled to open her mouth and unleash lethal fiery breath to force him back, even though she could not move her body.

Unfortunately, the enhanced Binding Formation was far more powerful than before.

She could not even unleash half, or even one-third, of her dragon breath's full power, let alone open her mouth and breathe out a complete blast.

After struggling for a long time, she only managed to spew a two-meter fan-shaped flame from between her teeth and nostrils.

Without exception, every bit of that flame was absorbed by the energy barrier formed by the potion.

Unharmed, Raymond stepped over the lingering embers and used the interval needed for a dragon to replenish energy after breathing fire to place the octopus-like creation in his hand near the Red Dragon's eardrum.

In the blink of an eye, the intelligent creation crawled into her ear canal.

Less than five seconds later, Vermees began struggling wildly in terror and shouted, "No!!!!!!! Get this damned thing out of my body!"

"Sorry, it's too late. It might hurt a little later, so please bear with it. Trust me, the process won't take long. The pain is only temporary."

After saying that, Raymond quickly retreated, intending to keep a safe distance.

The moment anything went wrong, he would immediately turn around and run.

After all, this was also his first time using Awaken Creation, the special ability of the Creator class.

He had no idea whether that dangerous creation would break free of his control after succeeding.

If he had not been driven into a corner, Raymond never would have risked awakening and releasing the thing inside that jar.

One of the main materials used to create that Oddity was the head of a monster known as a Mind Flayer.

Anyone who had heard of Mind Flayers' notorious reputation knew how terrifying and difficult they were to deal with.

These evil creatures, which enjoyed eating brains and enslaving other races through Mind Control, were naturally gifted with a power called Psionics.

Most adventurers and ordinary people without mental protection equipment would lose consciousness after a single encounter and become obedient slaves.

About six months ago, after opening a portal, Necromancer Archmage Astar had accidentally discovered a group of these monsters hiding in a city sewer and preparing to establish a secret base.

After learning of their abilities and equipping himself with the appropriate amulets, he easily flattened that half-built secret base using undead and Constructs that were completely immune to Mind Control.

Most of the slaves and Mind Flayers were killed in the battle.

Only four injured, unconscious unlucky ones became captives.

Raymond had been fortunate enough to participate in the research on those captives.

After Astar lost interest in the Mind Flayers' bodily structure, Raymond suddenly had a burst of inspiration. He cut open the skull of a Mind Flayer that had barely any life left and used its not-yet-completely-dead soft brain tissue and tentacles to create a terrifying magical Oddity without rest.

According to the original design, once awakened, the Oddity would gain abilities partially similar to those of a Mind Flayer.

After crawling into a creature's ear or nose and reaching its brain, it would attempt to sever the connection between the brain and spine, then replace it.

That way, this thing could use the abilities it inherited from the Mind Flayer to distinguish what the signals transmitted from the brain meant, then take control.