Ch.114Chapter 114. Dragon of Despair

“Ah, Marcus. My poor brother…”

The vampire’s corpse, horribly dismembered and spraying contaminated blood.

Even that was crushed underfoot by the plague calamity, who began to weep sorrowfully as he recalled the attachment that had brought him back from death.

“The humanity you devoted your life to protect after sending me away is ultimately being toyed with by arrogant monsters.”

Small spores flowing from his trembling body spread around, beginning to dissolve into the bodies of heroes strewn across the area.

“Yes, perhaps going mad would be better. Even your leaders have chosen to bow their heads to aberrations, wanting to forget reality.”

Crack, creak. With the sound of twisting joints and flesh, his body began to transform.

The screams of the monstrosities revived at the end echoed through the cave, causing fear to rise in those approaching the area.

Despite the heroes’ betrayal, these pitiful beings refused to give up and advanced here.

Toward those whose retreat was blocked by hope, the plague calamity did not spare his sympathy.

“So go forth, heroes! With the remnants of you who came to this world to save humanity, create the reprieve needed for salvation!!”

Wishing to save such pitiful lambs, he sought to send them the remains of the saviors who had descended upon this world.

And to save even more people, he ignored the screams of those at death’s door and directed his steps toward the destination at the end.

“With that reprieve, I shall ascend.”

What he encountered at the end was a space supported by massive bones as pillars.

At its center was concentrated an immense magical energy that remained even after death—powerful energy preserved by the symbol of a fallen world.

“By accepting into this vessel a being who not only transcended death but reached the pinnacle of this world…!”

Blight attempted to dissolve his body before that energy, melting into the mass of magical power.

The spores, reacting to that vast magical energy, rapidly swelled in volume and began to cover the entire area.

And then…

****

“C-Commander! The Undead invasion is growing more fierce by the moment!”

Inside the garrison zone where fierce battle raged.

The situation they initially thought could be contained was progressively turning against humanity.

Because of the infection risk, they had fought defensively, while the undead repeatedly attacked those who couldn’t join behind the barricades, increasing their numbers.

“Fall back! Retreat to the defense line!”

“Carriers have already infiltrated the defense line in large numbers! The clergy can’t keep up with the recovery rate!!!”

Taking advantage of the clergy’s inability to maintain their positions, the plague army spread at an unimaginable rate, increasing the number of deserters from the front line.

But even more serious was that the infected growing in number were becoming exponentially stronger as time passed.

-KRAAAAH!

-KYAAAAAAAH!

The Red Knight of War.

Her magical power gradually spreading across this land was increasing the strength of the undead that had multiplied from the garrison.

Though three heroes were somehow managing to hold back the Red Knight herself, the situation would only worsen unless she was defeated, as her mere presence raised the average combat power of her forces.

If only the heroes who could handle this situation were still intact…

No, if only the White Knight and the betraying heroes could clash, they might have been able to mutually destroy each other.

“Commander! The heroes who betrayed us have become undead and are blocking the passage to the dragon’s heart!”

“Impossible! Nearly ten heroes have already been annihilated by the White Knight?!”

Even that last hope was dashed, as the White Knight had annihilated the heroes and was now using them as her limbs, destroying even the rear guard trying to stop their ambitions.

“Why is this happening?”

The situation where neither battle lines could be reorganized nor belief in stopping the enemy’s purpose could be maintained.

As allies who had fought desperately turned into enemies approaching them, everything they had done until now seemed futile.

“Why does the world make us so powerless?”

Was it because his brother felt this same despair that he willingly chose the path of corruption?

Did he truly awaken as an enemy of humanity because he foresaw a future like this while watching his homeland perish?

-RUMBLE, CRASH!

But the natural disaster crashing into this collapsing world.

It didn’t even allow the luxury of dwelling on such despair.

“Commander! The mountain is collapsing!!!”

At the subordinate’s scream, who first noticed the situation, the gazes of soldiers on the battlefield turned skyward at once.

A massive explosion at the mountain peak.

Like a volcanic eruption, rocks fell due to gravity, while countless tons of soil rushed down the mountainside like a wave toward where they stood.

“Everyone retreat!! Retreat to the opposite mountainside!!!”

RUMBLE, BOOM!

A series of disasters mercilessly swallowing the battlefield.

Bodies crushed by boulders were mangled beyond recovery, even if infected by the disease.

At the moment when disaster struck this land, making even the screams against the undead invasion meaningless…

“Wh-what… is that…?”

Yet the survivors couldn’t bear to look at the terrible scene.

Their gazes were fixed on the upper part of the mountain where the dragon’s heart was believed to be.

The thing that had torn through the mountain peak began to display its presence, crossing through the spore smoke spreading from its body.

“Kuhaha, hahahahahahaha!!!”

Its head alone was as large as a castle, towering over a mountain.

Smoke made of spores gradually attached to that skull, beginning to solidify into a physical form.

“Pitiful mortals, behold!”

Through the head that had been constructed, albeit incompletely, the calamity declared:

“Witness clearly before you the return of a being that once drove this world into despair, a being beyond comprehension!!!”

That what existed here clearly possessed will.

And simultaneously harbored malice toward humanity.

-KWAAAAA!!

A body gradually rising from the mountain, starting from the head.

With bones as its framework covered by spore smoke, its form began to unstably reflect what it had been in life.

“A… dragon?”

Humanity immediately recognized what the revealed form was.

“Really, a dragon…”

“The dragon’s corpse, as an undead…”

A being incomparable to the army of the dead that had been driving them back.

They realized that a great calamity that should have disappeared into history had been constructed at this moment, carrying the will of one dead man.

“Do you still think there is hope in this world?”

As this calamity looked down at humanity, it slowly began to reveal its body buried under the mountain.

“Because we pitied you, we have risen from our graves to save you.”

The spores forming flesh and muscle around the bones gradually hardened, trying to raise that body.

The awakening was not yet perfect, insufficient to fully reflect the great being.

But it was enough to annihilate humanity.

The plague dragon, feeling the power boiling within its body at this moment, was overwhelmed by an uncontrollable sense of exaltation.

“So despair, slaves of hope!”

Spreading the wings of the constructed body with that momentum, it shouted:

“Know that in this world, so cruel to the living, preparing for death is the only salvation granted to you!”

The dragon, feeling even that was insufficient, finally opened its mouth to prepare to exhale its breath toward those present.

A breath containing contaminated spores more cruel than the landslide’s debris, capable of engulfing anyone exposed to countless diseases.

“For those who still wish to fight, I, the Plague Dragon—Blight, proclaim! Beginning here, I will spread plague throughout the world, driving all living things to death!”

Even though that breath was about to engulf everyone present, no one could think of fleeing from it.

“…The end.”

Despite fighting with all their might, they felt powerless, and the hope they believed in repeatedly betrayed them.

In addition, now a calamity beyond their control was displaying its existence, so all a mere human could do was simply give up everything.

“Truly, the end…”

The knees of the legion commander, who had finally lost his will in the face of such a bleak reality, began to sink to the ground, unable to overcome despair.

That was the fate awaiting humans who pursued hope until the end.

All that was permitted at the end was acceptance.

Whatever happened afterward, they could only watch and accept.

-WHOOSH!

Just before that breath was exhaled, the sky split open.

The sight of a massive flash of light falling from it, pressing down on the widely opened mouth and smashing it into the mountainside.

-RUMBLE, CRASH!

Yes, something descended at that moment.

The impact closed the mouth that was about to spread its breath, causing the massive body to tumble and once again send tremors through the earth.

“Wh-what is this. What on earth…”

Blight, regenerating his shattered body, painfully raised his head to assess the situation.

Something with enormous power had attacked him.

Humans? Or a hero?

“I am the ultimate being! Yet who dares…!!”

Whatever it was, he had become a dragon.

A part of this world and a small being with will.

He had mixed himself into the vast energy remaining in the remains and was rapidly progressing toward reviving the body in its prime by restoring the records remaining in the corpse.

“You sure like the word ‘ultimate.'”

A massive being that mockingly slammed down its foreleg on such firm belief.

The heat emanating from it pressed into the ground, causing the soil to crumble like sand and eventually transform into lava.

“With just a few bone fragments cobbled together for show, do you really think you can compare yourself to me?”

An overwhelming presence that burned everything around it just by existing.

When that presence transformed into killing intent aimed at him, fear began to sprout within Blight, who had defined himself as the ultimate being.

“Y-you…”

“Whatever you are, if you claim to be some lizard thing, you should know. We’re all beings who absolutely hate when someone intrudes on our territory.”

-BOOM!!

The massive dragon struck the ground with its foreleg.

But unlike him, it wasn’t merely imitating by covering a corpse.

The flames burning its body at this moment proved it was undeniably a living being.

“Kid.”

At this moment when the “promise to bring about humanity’s extinction with her own hands” began to crack, that being spoke:

“I hope you’re prepared for the consequences of touching someone else’s prey?”

The last ember remaining in her body.

Began to blaze fiercely.