Ch.749Meeting

Krrrrrr.

A sound echoes.

Squelch.

The noise of predation—crushing bones, tearing flesh, and devouring.

Crunch, crunch.

The eerie, unpleasant chorus of millions of insects rubbing their bodies together and regurgitating continues to resound.

Deep in the Sky Mountains, in a lake of dark mana that had turned even snow and ice black, Nidhogg was eating and absorbing hunted monsters to rebuild its lost body.

Having lost the dragon remains that would have served as its skeleton, its form was more twisted than before.

Only the head, front legs, and wings maintained a dragon’s skeletal structure.

Below its torn waist, instead of a proper dragon’s lower body, a massive lump of flesh writhed—a conglomeration of various monster corpses melted and fused together.

Like a well-packed mass of meat that had rotted and swollen.

White mold and unidentifiable mushrooms grew across the dark purple flesh, and maggots that fed on decaying corpses emerged through the flesh, wriggling like short fuzz. Black fluid oozed out, emitting a terrible stench.

Too hideous and disgusting to call a successful regeneration. Yet, for the worms that had lost the reference material of a dragon’s skeleton, this was their best effort.

Its combat ability had severely deteriorated, but at least they had succeeded in restoring internal organs, allowing them to halt the approaching death.

—-

【 Krrrrrr…. 】

Nidhogg, submerged in dark mana while devouring monsters, raised its head with a rumbling throat. It had detected something boldly invading its territory.

The distance was too great to identify the intruder, but despite the distance, its presence was unusually irritating and clear.

– Thump!

The dragon’s heart pulsed violently.

Discomfort. Anxiety. Incomprehensible hatred. Why were these emotions surging?

Though inwardly confused by these inexplicable feelings, Nidhogg surrendered to its instinctive impulses rather than pondering their cause.

The massive shadow began swimming toward the surface, its lower jaw clicking.

======[ Haschal ]======

Ophelia’s soul compass guided us to a peak in the northwestern Sky Mountains.

The summit of the massive mountain had been cleanly sliced off as if cut sideways. In the center lay a frozen caldera lake.

I was certain Nidhogg was hiding there.

A massive lake perched atop a mountain peak that few would dare climb. What better terrain could there be for a dragon to conceal itself?

With each step toward the mountain peak, that certainty only grew stronger.

At some point, I began to sense it—faintly at first, but clearly—the acrid residue of dark mana.

One step, then another. With each advance toward the peak, the once-faint smell grew increasingly distinct.

No doubt about it. The beast was there.

“—So, you all wait here. I’ll lure it down here.”

After reaching a relatively gentle snowfield, I stopped my companions who were preparing to climb the towering peak.

In my judgment, fighting up there would be suicide.

The terrain was too narrow and treacherous for battling a dragon, and the footing would be extremely unstable.

No matter how thick the lake’s ice might be, it couldn’t withstand the impact of a dragon and hero rampaging across it.

If someone fell into the lake water while fighting up there, they would freeze to death almost instantly even if pulled out immediately.

Even if one avoided falling in, being swept over the peak by the dragon’s attack would mean plummeting hundreds of meters.

For companions without flight abilities, that alone could be fatal.

So we needed to fight here—on this gentle hilly area where there was no risk of falling to the ground or into a frozen lake.

“Finally, it begins! This time, that worm…”

Asha threw off her bear fur, activating her massive mechanical arm, wings, and fuel tank flight device, along with her pile bunker-equipped lance, smiling.

Nigel, Jahan, Millia, and Asha expressed worried concerns, telling me to be careful just in case, while Demian exhaled something like a sigh of relief, as if he’d expected to be sent instead.

…Is that bastard lying about having no emotions? His expression is so natural he could have retired all his colleagues had he become an actor instead of a knight.

Seeing that expression made me want to tease him, the urge overflowing like a stream during monsoon season, but I decided to mercifully let it slide this time.

If I sent Demian flying and he somehow got eaten in one gulp, I’d be beating the ground with regret.

A hero-class knight, especially a flying one, shouldn’t become a mere snack…but you never know.

This idiot might just hover around the dragon trying to compete with its flight speed and get stupidly devoured, which wouldn’t be surprising at all.

—-

For that reason, I left my companions on the hill, shot upward with Karma flames, and flew like a comet toward the mountain peak where Nidhogg was likely coiled.

Looking down, I could see clearly.

As I expected, Nidhogg was hiding in the caldera lake on the mountain peak.

There was no room for doubt. The entire frozen lake had been stained with dark mana, turning pitch black.

[ What a terrible stench. Truly unpleasant. ]

‘I know. The smell of rot is overwhelming.’

Clicking my tongue at the stench that grew stronger as I approached the black lake, I concentrated Karma flames at my fingertip when I was close enough for the rune flames to reach the lake.

“Kenaz.”

Ultra-high temperature flames, compressed again and again, rippled like crimson dew.

At the tip of my index finger pointed toward the lake, a beam of Karma flame was charged—one that would pierce, melt, and burn everything in its path.

This is going to hurt, you bastard.

With a smirk pulling at the corner of my mouth, I aimed my finger at where the dark mana felt strongest, about to fire the concentrated Karma flame as a crimson beam—

– KWAAAANG!

—when just before I could, the black ice erupted like a volcanic explosion, and a massive head shot up above the surface.

An ant-like head with stag beetle-like jaws and horns, four pairs of eyes. Exactly as Nidhogg had been described to me by my companions.

【 Gyaoooooo-! 】

The sphere of dark mana concentrated in the middle of its gaping maw was also just as described.

Dragon’s breath.

The essence of destruction that had brought down Lacy, the Saint of Elpinel, with a single blow and turned half the islands into lava was harbored in its mouth.

It must have detected me from beneath the surface and swum up while preparing to unleash its breath.

[ Dodge it! ]

“Kuk…!”

I hastily released the compressed Karma flame and redirected the flames to my back and legs.

The Karma beam I had charged was now meaningless, but there was no time to regret that.

Firing it now would only result in a clash with the dragon’s breath, and what could be more foolish than engaging in a power struggle against a dragon’s strongest weapon?

This was no time to cling to a technique that had lost its purpose.

– KWAOOOOOOO!

Almost simultaneously with the beast breaking through the surface, a waterfall of black flames filled my vision, pouring toward me.

The heat alone was enough to melt all the snow and ice on the mountain peak, revealing wet soil beneath.

Even with my fire resistance, I didn’t dare face it head-on.

…The trajectory was linear, so I could potentially avoid it by flying faster than the approaching breath, but—

“Isn’t this a bit much for a welcome greeting?”

Cowardly like the worm it is.

Attacking with a killing move without even a greeting—where did you learn such manners? Your lack of maternal guidance really shows.

I narrowly avoided the breath by expelling a torrent of Karma flames behind me, then turned in mid-air and shot toward the beast like a meteor, flames streaming from both legs.

All while infusing Durandal with immense achievement.

【 Kyahaaaaak! 】

Nidhogg’s response was simple yet effective. It maintained its breath while continuously turning its head to follow me.

An utterly base attack method.

Faced with the dark mana breath that swept everywhere relentlessly like a broom clearing dust, I had to abandon any attempt to approach and instead dodge the breath with all my might, like a mosquito evading a fly swatter.

For a full two minutes.

True to its emergence from water, its lung capacity was no joke.

Even the dragons in the original work couldn’t breathe fire this long—was that some kind of balance patch for the players?

During those two minutes, I found myself newly grateful to Orhan who had shown me that humans could fly, as I desperately avoided the dragon’s breath.

Truly, it was fortunate that I had developed my own flight technique after seeing Orhan fly with his fists. If I were still jumping around on the ground, I could never have avoided this.

Thank you, Orhan.

I’ll prepare a lavish memorial table for you someday.