Having witnessed an eruption once, when the mountain began to tremble, Victor did the responsible thing.

“RETREAT!”

Gorynych immediately flew away, Vainqueur wisely following right afterward. Within a minute, a resonance spread through the crater, its powerstones fracturing; within the blink of an eye, the crystal landscape shattered like glass.

Instead of an eruption or a fiery explosion, powerstone shards simply flew in all directions. A destructive rain of crystals fell upon the mountainside and the surrounding forest, although both dragons successfully navigated through them. The shards pierced the earth like arrows, becoming shining hills.

“Gorynych saved master from shiny stones!” his mount said with pride, as the stone rain quickly ended. “Gorynych is a good zmey! Oh yes!”

“Holy…” Kia pointed a finger at an enormous shape breaking through the crater.

Mag Mell’s monster had woken up and escaped.

The creature was a true titan, and a terror to behold; a gigantic, one hundred and thirty feet long dinosaur straight out of prehistoric times. The colossus had six limbs, four legs carrying it while two served as its arms. Meanwhile, the crimson beast’s horned head reminded Victor of a T-rex, albeit one with armored plates protecting most of its upper jaw. A spiky bone carapace covered its back like a turtle, and its long tail ended in a scorpion stinger.

The creature was twice as big as Vainqueur, and the dragon could already lift a horse with one hand!

Worse, it was fast. The last of the powerstones hadn’t even landed, and the creature had already climbed down the mountainside, trampling trees below its clawed feet.

“A Tarasque!” Kia immediately recognized the monster, even before Victor analyzed it with [Monster Insight].

Tarasque Emperor

Type: Reptile/Giant

Strong against: Debuffs, most magical attacks, Drain, Disease, Fire, Mind-affecting effects, Paralysis, Petrification, Poison, status ailments, Fairy.

Weak against: Acid, Cold, Giantslayer, Scaleslayer.

This progenitor of all lesser Tarasques is a prehistoric dinosaur which grew to gigantic size thanks to powerstones, and one of Outremonde’s superbosses. Magical attacks are reflected back at the sender by its carapace, and it can regenerate from almost anything. Programmed to destroy Murmurin by Mag Mell's [Worldshaker Ritual], it will move in a straight line towards it, trample half the world on its way there, and finally return home to sleep. Real estate crisis incoming!

Recommended party level: 75.