Fairy Tail: I Don't Want to Be the Guild Master-Chapter 331: Kill You!

"Red Buff, Blue Buff." Rhodes cast his usual buffs, empowering both himself and Mira before the battle began.

Sol, however, remained composed. "The so-called Fairy Strategist, formerly known as a Beast Tamer. A summoning mage, capable of maintaining multiple summons simultaneously. Wins through sheer numbers. Close combat skills, sufficient for minor threats—"

He twirled theatrically. "But... that won't be enough against us, the Element Four.

Sand Waltz: Rock Concerto!"

A swirling sandstorm erupted in the narrow alley, reducing visibility to nearly zero. Dozens of stone projectiles hurtled forward like cannonballs.

But in the middle of a rainstorm, the sandstorm's greatest accomplishment was coating everyone in a thick layer of mud.

Rhodes' summoned sentinel marched forward unbothered, the stones bouncing harmlessly off its stone body. It raised a massive fist and slammed it toward Sol, only for the earth mage to burrow into the ground and vanish.

Meanwhile, Rhodes scooped Lucy up under his arms and tossed her onto the back of the Brambleback to keep her out of harm's way.

"Ahhh!" Lucy cried out in surprise.

"Hold on tight," Rhodes said flatly. "And don't get off."

Mira caught the motion from the corner of her eye and gave Rhodes a pointed look.

'He's never lifted me like that.'

Still clutching the wooden ridges of the Brambleback's shell, Lucy shouted, "I want to help too!"

"Then do it." Rhodes growled. "No one's stopping you. You've got keys, don't you? Use them."

Rhodes redirected the Blue Sentinel to engage Juvia.

Juvia didn't evade. Wherever the golem's strikes landed, her body transformed into water and reformed elsewhere. "It's no use. Juvia's body is made entirely of water."

She sliced the air with both arms. "Aqua Stream: Twin Blades!"

Mira swept the attacks aside with one arm and surged forward.

"You absorbed Juvia's attack?" Juvia exclaimed, startled.

Before she could react further, Mira's fist buried itself in Juvia's abdomen.

"I told you," Mira growled, "your watery body isn't going to save you from me."

Red light flashed from her hand.

Juvia's body liquified again, but this time she winced. Pain rippled through her core.

"How about this one?" Mira conjured a swirling ball of black magic. "Dark Spark!"

She slammed the orb into Juvia's chest. It detonated on impact, launching the rain mage out of the alley like a cannonball.

"Ahhh!" Juvia screamed as she crashed onto the wet street.

Clutching her chest, she stared in shock as the demon Mirajane walked slowly toward her. The falling rain suddenly felt heavier.

"So this... is the demon Mirajane..."

"Nicely done, Miss Juvia," Sol said, popping his head up from underground.

The Brambleback swiped a clawed limb at him, but only managed to dig a hole in the ground.

Sol reappeared from behind the summoned creature. His monocle was shattered, and Juvia's broken umbrella lay beside it.

He wagged a finger. "Luring the demon away is helpful. But you..." He smirked at Rhodes. "You're nothing without her. What kind of strategist hides behind his girlfriend's fists?"

Rhodes frowned.

He'd attempted several counterattacks already, but Sol's slippery earth magic made it impossible to land a clean hit. Burrowing through terrain, dodging mid-strike... the guy was a real pest.

Rhodes didn't risk using his Krug transformation underground. Sol was an Earth Mage, an S-Class one. Recklessly challenging him in his own domain was asking for trouble.

Better to probe for weaknesses first.

"I'm helping too!" Lucy shouted from atop the Brambleback. "I'm the one who opens the gates to the Celestial Spirit World. Answer my call—open, Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"

"Yo, I'm here!" A man in a ridiculous horse costume appeared, holding a longbow and a quiver full of arrows.

"Why are you in a costume?!" Lucy groaned. "We haven't even signed a contract yet, and you show up like this? Ugh, whatever! You're an archer, right?"

"Absolutely! I'm Sagittarius, your archer, miss—yo!"

"Good. The green-haired guy's the enemy. Hit him whenever he pops up!"

"Roger that, yo! Leave it to me!"

Lucy sighed. "Why does every new Spirit I summon make their debut in the middle of a crisis?"

Lucy muttered to herself in frustration, then gritted her teeth and pulled out the whip hanging from her waist.

"You summoners are really fragile," Sol taunted, popping up like a jack-in-the-box. His attacks weren't serious, they were psychological, appearing, throwing out a mocking jab, and disappearing like a game of whack-a-mole.

From the back of the summoned Brambleback, Sagittarius loosed a flurry of arrows. They pierced stone tiles and struck with admirable force, but failed to land a direct hit on the nimble earth mage.

Even though Sagittarius was one of the Zodiac spirits, the gap between him and the Zodiac spirit used by the cloaked woman was clear. That woman's summons had been terrifyingly strong in comparison.

Sol, still vanishing and reappearing, cackled, "Did you know Mirajane once had a younger sister? She died because of her. And now you're her lover? Oh, it's only a matter of time before you die too. No, no, no~ Three no's to correct myself—you're definitely going to die because of her. She's a cursed demon... No, no, no~"

"Miss Mira...?" Lucy gasped, hand flying to her mouth in shock. But then she glared. "That's way out of line!"

Where did this creep even dig up this outdated, twisted nonsense?

"Congratulations," Rhodes said darkly, his tone dropping. "You managed to piss me off."

Scales started to form along Rhode's face. His hands and legs morphed into fierce dragon claws, and wings erupted from his back with a burst of wind.

Lucy's eyes widened. "This magic... It's like that day..."

"No, no, no~" Sol stammered, visibly panicked. "This kind of transformation wasn't in the report!" He immediately dove into the ground like a mole.

Rhodes roared in fury. "I swear, I'm going to tear you apart even if it kills me!"

He slammed both hands against the ground.

"Mountain Dragon Art: Burrowing Tremor!"

BOOM!

The cobblestones beneath them cracked. A massive mound of earth erupted like a mini-volcano, its swelling base shaking the entire street.

The mound swelled higher and higher, quickly reaching more than twenty meters tall, its core trembling like it held something barely contained.

Shops nearby shook. Walls cracked. Rooftop tiles tumbled down. The whole alley quaked.

Lucy, clinging to a vine on the monster's back, screamed, "This is just like last time! What is this?!"

Thankfully, Rhode hadn't fully lost control. The mountain stabilized, forming into what now looked more like a giant earthen cannon aimed at the sky.

The soft outer wall rippled, and something began to rise up inside—then launched like a boulder from a catapult.

Rhode's dragon wings flared open. Wind burst across the street as he soared up after the projectile in a blink.

High above, the earth projectile began to unravel, revealing Sol trapped inside.

"No, no, no—!"

"Mountain Dragon's Fist!"

Rhode's clawed fist crashed down squarely into Sol's face with explosive force, sending a shockwave through the sky.

Sol's face was a mess of crushed features, completely distorted from the brutal impact. He tumbled through the air, screaming incoherently as pain overwhelmed him.

"You... you're a Dragon Slayer..." he gasped, barely coherent.

Rhodes soared after him, delivering a bone-rattling kick to his gut.

As Sol reeled, Rhodes twisted midair and slammed both of his rocky wings outward. "Mountain Dragon's Wing Strike!"

Then, with a smooth aerial spin, his tail swung upward in a sharp arc. "Mountain Dragon's Tail!"

Sol shot skyward again like a ragdoll. Rhodes didn't give him time to recover. He took a deep breath, his lungs drawing in dense magic, and then unleashed it all in a devastating blast:

"Mountain Dragon's... Roar!!"

A swirling storm of jagged stone and compressed wind exploded from his mouth, a miniature landslide launched at hurricane speed. Sol's body flailed helplessly, caught in the dragon's breath like a dead leaf swept into a whirlwind. He didn't even have the strength to scream anymore.

As the magic died down, Rhodes allowed his body to return to normal. His transformation faded, and the heaviness of gravity immediately reclaimed him.

He began falling through the air.

But before the rush of wind or the pain of landing could hit him, something solid and strong caught his back mid-fall—followed by the warmth of soft arms pulling him close.

Rhodes blinked and found his face buried in the familiar comfort of Mira's embrace.