Ch.711Nidhogg

Prelude.

A violent earthquake swept across the island.

The walls and pillars of buildings unable to withstand the vibrations cracked and twisted, while residents fleeing outside the city under the evacuation order screamed and collapsed.

“Ahhh!”

“Get up quickly! You’ll be trampled!”

“What on earth is happening…!”

Though they followed the evacuation order, they remained completely unaware of the dragon.

The order given to the island’s citizens was simply to leave the city as quickly as possible, without a single word about the dragon’s resurrection.

From the authorities’ perspective, this was an unavoidable measure.

What would happen if they told the citizens that a dragon, believed to have disappeared long ago, would appear in the center of the island?

Not only would many refuse to believe it, but even those who did would lose their rationality to fear and confusion, inevitably causing mass panic.

Therefore, the citizens had to remain unaware of the dragon’s emergence—for the sake of a quick and efficient evacuation.

Of course, hiding information about the dragon couldn’t completely prevent chaos. The powerful earthquake alone was enough to shock citizens who had been living peaceful daily lives.

The collapse that followed was equally terrifying.

– Rumble…!

A thunderous roar echoed from underground. The evacuating people suddenly realized a fact: beneath the island of Extrashafel lay a massive cavity with flowing groundwater.

Normally, this posed no problem as countless pillars supported the foundation…

But faced with the violent tremors that cracked and shook mansions, towers, and houses above ground, could those pillars truly withstand the island’s weight?

“The ground, the ground is collapsing…!”

“Ceres must be angry!”

The answer unfolded before their eyes.

Extrashafel’s paved roads collapsed under the ground-shaking earthquake. Bottomless holes appeared throughout the streets, and broken rocks crashed into underground waterways, sinking with foam.

“Aaaaaahhh!”

“Lord Elpinel! Save us-!!”

Those caught in the collapse reached toward the sky as they fell as if being sucked down.

They either crashed into the underground waterway’s surface and were swept away, or collided with collapsing rocks and perished like crushed apples.

“Damn it! Run! Just run!”

The soldiers’ control was instantly nullified.

The island residents panicked at the sight of neighbors disappearing into sinkholes and turning into pieces of meat.

What reached their ears wasn’t the imperial soldiers’ shouts trying to maintain order, but the deafening sound of collapsing earth, the bursting noise of flesh crushed under rocks, splashing water, and the screams of falling people.

“Stop! If you don’t evacuate according to our control…!”

“To hell with your control!”

A middle-aged man’s fist hammered into the face of an imperial soldier blocking their way.

The island residents, who had already suffered through the Werebeast riot a year ago, still remembered the terror they felt then—and the lesson they learned from that catastrophe.

They knew that when faced with mortal danger, they could trust only their own fists and legs, not the soldiers’ spears and swords.

Terrible experiences often strip people of proper judgment. Believing their irrational lessons to be truth, they ran forward, causing unbearable chaos.

“Ahhh! Don’t push! Stop pushing!”

“Get out of my way, you bastard!”

“No! My baby, my baby!”

Residents who lost balance from the tremors or were pushed by others tumbled to the ground and were crushed underfoot. Children who lost their parents’ hands cried loudly before being flung into walls by the crowd.

Their necks, too weak to withstand the impact, snapped, leaving them slumped in street corners with protruding tongues. It was a horrific sight.

“Imperial Army-!! Kill those who don’t follow orders and cause chaos! I’ll take responsibility. Suppress them now!!”

The situation was so dire that commanders with contorted faces ordered knights and soldiers to cut down citizens.

Though the true disaster had yet to reveal itself, its harbinger alone was enough to blanket the island with screams and death.

—-

About ten minutes had passed since the initial earthquake.

Those who believed their fists and legs more trustworthy than soldiers’ weapons paid with their lives for this simple truth: swords are stronger than fists—and for delaying the evacuation of others.

The Imperial Army only regained control after killing numerous citizens, and the evacuation that had been delayed amid the chaos finally began to progress. This was somewhat good news for both the Imperial Army and citizens—at this rate, the evacuation would be completed within twenty minutes.

However, the entity climbing up and causing earthquakes would not grant the imperials such a lengthy reprieve.

– BOOM!

With an explosion that shook the entire city, rocks shot up like a fountain and fell like meteors. It was a magical sight.

Everyone’s gaze turned toward the source of the thunderous sound—both those who had escaped beyond the walls and those still inside.

And they saw it.

Something so terribly horrific it seemed to have crawled up from the depths of hell.

“Ah…uah…AAAAAAHHHHH!”

A chorus of hundreds of thousands of screams echoed.

—-

It shattered the earth with water spray and surged toward the surface like erupting lava.

Nidhogg, the insect dragon, resurrected by attaching millions of insects to a corpse with only remains left. It inhaled the surface air it had finally reached and howled as if in ecstasy.

【 Graaaaaaaaaaaaa!! 】

The sound became a shockwave sweeping in all directions. People sitting dazed burst like water balloons under the pressure, adding crimson coloring to the debris of collapsing buildings.

It was the return of the strongest creature on earth, a dragon species only mentioned in legends from eight hundred years ago.

…Though its form was severely distorted.

—-

“…That’s supposed to be a dragon?”

Perneisia, who had climbed onto the roof of a building that still maintained its frame, looked down at the ground. Despite sweating profusely, she glared at the insect dragon that had finally revealed itself with a face full of disgust.

Unlike her usual drunken state, she appeared completely sober. This was because Ophelia had grabbed her shoulders and shaken her vigorously, warning that if the empire fell, her life would end too—forcing her to sober up and rush out.

“It’s truly disgusting. What is that thing? If all dragons looked like that, Kalix must have been the most handsome of the Dragonborn.”

This was also Perneisia’s first time facing a dragon directly.

Ancient elves who had lived for over nine hundred years might have encountered dragons before, but she wasn’t that old for an elf.

【 Grrrrrrr…. 】

The insect dragon that had burst all nearby humans with just its roar growled, vibrating its vocal cords. As the thick dust cloud gradually settled, the resurrected insect dragon’s body was finally revealed to the world.

“It looks more like a monster than a dragon.”

Lacy, standing beside Perneisia, couldn’t help but agree with her.

To Lacy as well, the creature that had emerged by collapsing the ground had a form too hideous to be called a dragon.

A head like an ant’s magnified thousands of times with an elongated snout. Four pairs of eyeballs protruding from both sides of the head, with antennae behind the eyes and long stag beetle-like horns jutting out below.

Its body was covered with what looked like small scales, but upon closer inspection, each was the carapace of a squirming insect.

Three pairs of thick legs with sharp claws supported the body, while hundreds of small, thin legs covered the chest and abdomen like ribs, repeatedly opening and closing.

The long tail resembled a dragonfly, and the massive wings spread across its back consisted of beetle-like carapaces for the front wings paired with thin rear wings.

Inside its mouth, which opened sideways and downward, a leech-like tongue writhed. Within the cylindrical tongue were thousands of teeth densely packed, dripping acidic saliva.

To anyone looking, it appeared not as a dragon but as a monster created by covering a dragon’s skeleton with all kinds of insects.

Which was actually the case.

【 Gyaaaaaarr! 】

The insect dragon roared briefly again as it completely crawled onto the surface.

“…We’re supposed to stop that thing?”

Millia swallowed dryly as she muttered.

Haschal’s warning suddenly came to mind. He had said that if the insect dragon were to awaken, they should immediately flee the island with Emperor Leopold.

The sight before them made it painfully clear why he had left such a warning.

A massive body easily exceeding several dozen meters. With just one swing of its tail, the surrounding area was shattered into pieces, turning into an empty lot.

It was literally a living disaster incarnate.