Ch.750You Understand Better Than I Expected.

Light brothers would give a standing ovation with tears in their eyes for this two-minute aerobatic flight, which finally freed me from the black vomit spewed by the baby dragon.

– Hissssss

Steam filled the air everywhere.

The heat from the dragon’s breath had completely melted the mountain peak, making it as bald as Leopold’s head, and the frozen black lake that had been solid ice was now bubbling and boiling as if it had never been frozen at all.

Perhaps due to the sudden temperature change, wind surged from below, lifting my body gently upward. Looking up, I saw the sky had filled with dark clouds that rumbled with thunderous sounds.

Add to that the increasingly strong stench of rot, and this place was nothing short of hell itself.

…That seems stronger than I’d heard. Breathing fire for two whole minutes—did it fill its stomach with lungs or something?

I’d thought it would be weakened since half its body was cut off, but… whatever other abilities it might have lost, its firepower had actually increased overwhelmingly.

The heat of its breath was ordinary, but its duration alone easily surpassed even dragons that had awakened through normal means.

Was it the steam-filled, hot air making me feel this way, or the gradually increasing tension? Beads of sweat ran down my cheeks, dripping from my chin and forming small puddles beside my stigmata.

I adjusted my posture, gripped Durandal firmly, and looked down at Nidhogg as it began to close its wide-open maw.

“Done spewing? Your breath stinks.”

I raised the corner of my mouth while furrowing my brow, mocking Nidhogg with a tone full of ridicule and contempt.

I wasn’t sure if a bug monster could understand the imperial language, but it was at least worth testing.

“It reeks of rot just like between your mother’s legs. What have you two been doing together?”

A light provocation. Mentioning someone’s mother in front of Hersella was taboo, but… perhaps because it was Isabella, even Hersella showed no particular objection this time.

Though she still grumbled quietly, as if she couldn’t let it slide completely.

[Show some dignity. How can a woman who will become Khan use such vulgar language?]

‘I can.’

I brushed off Hersella’s reproach with a brief retort while observing the dragon’s reaction.

A provocation delivered in the imperial language. Could this bug offspring understand what I meant?

【 Kyaaaak…! 】

Yes, it seems it understood.

It screamed like an orphan venting frustration and surged up from the lake.

Its half-torn outer wings spread wide and its dragonfly-like inner wings flapped frantically.

– Kwaaaaaaa!

With black water spraying up like oil from a burst well, the massive body of the dragon rose from the lake and rapidly approached.

With an enormous mass of flesh attached below its torn waist, it looked much more insect-like than before.

Like a queen ant full of eggs, perhaps. Seeing that form, I understood how it could breathe fire for two whole minutes.

Just as I had joked to myself earlier, it must have created massive lungs inside that flesh mass, which appeared twice the size of its upper body.

To compensate for its weakened combat ability after losing its dragon skeleton with the firepower of its breath.

“You’re just like your mother! She also stuffed all sorts of things inside her belly in her later years!”

I provoked it again while spewing karma flames forward to increase the distance between us. I could probably defeat it alone somehow, but that would take quite some time.

The two-minute vomit show must have been visible from beyond the Sky Mountains. To defeat it before the Dragonborn and fairies could intervene, I needed to lure it near my companions as planned and unleash all our firepower.

【 Kyaaaaaaaa-! 】

Fortunately, it fell for my provocation and pursued me without a moment’s hesitation.

With each flap of its wings, it stirred up storms of snow and steam, and with a roar that shook the atmosphere like a falling meteor, the enraged dragon flew toward me.

Seeing its filial devotion, it must have received much love from Isabella during its insect days.

That must be why its mouth smelled like Isabella’s crotch. That’s the kind of maternal love Isabella would show.

“Later on she even forgot how to speak and just drooled constantly! For all her boasting about being a witch who lived over a hundred years, she couldn’t withstand a few months of torture and ended up like a senile old woman!”

I continued my provocations even while flying. If it had enough intelligence to understand speech, enraging it to disturb its composure would make hunting it easier.

“By that point, I felt a bit sorry for her, so I helped her find eternal rest by incinerating her soul. Isn’t that merciful? If you want, you can consider me your mother’s benefactor!”

【 Kyaaak! jeee vaaais-! Karrrk! teee tuerrrrk! 】

Wow, now it’s speaking.

The growling noise mixed with its voice made it hard to understand, plus the overly elongated pronunciation, but I could guess it was shouting that it would definitely kill me.

I’d often seen humans forget language in their rage, but a monster regaining speech through fury? This was a fresh experience even for me.

“Is that how you speak to your mother’s benefactor? Even if you didn’t receive proper home education, you shouldn’t be so rude. Wouldn’t your mother be sad to see this?”

【 Kyaooooooooo-! 】

Nidhogg roared with hatred, its eyes burning with murderous intent.

Perhaps it was as sensitive about mother insults as Hersella—the pleasure of provoking it was truly sweet beyond measure.

—-

The flight speeds of the monster and myself were nearly equal, so despite its frantic wing-flapping, it couldn’t easily catch up to me.

It seemed to need more time before it could breathe fire again, and any spikes or chains it formed from dark mana were too easily shattered by Durandal’s blade.

Occasionally it would create magic circles in the air to bombard me with dark mana from all directions, but such attacks were easily avoided just by changing my flight trajectory.

As a result, I was able to lure it to the hill where my companions were waiting without suffering a single wound. So far, everything was according to plan.

The only problem was… despite successfully bringing the dragon here, my companions were in no condition to battle it.

“Millia, Ophelia! Don’t leave Lena’s side!”

“Damn pointy-ears…!”

“Kaaaaaaah!”

“Alvheim…! Do you truly intend to make an enemy of the Empire?!”

“It’s not just the fairies! The Dragonborn too…!”

“Everyone be careful!”

The hill I finally reached had turned into chaos.

…What the hell is this?

I let out a groan as I looked down from the high altitude with a dumbfounded expression.

Only ten minutes had passed since I left. Just ten minutes, yet in that time, the snowy hill had transformed into a battlefield where fairies, Dragonborn, and humans were entangled in war.

“Hurry! We must eliminate the obstacles before the target arrives…!”

Spirit arrows shot by fairy guardians and patrollers collided with Demian’s greatsword and exploded, while a high-ranking elemental that suddenly appeared was torn apart by a Dragonborn’s claws.

“Kuhaha! The vermin have gathered! How dare you scaleless creatures covet dragon remains—your impudence knows no bounds!”

A Dragonborn with a lizard-like snout opened wide and spewed fierce flames. Though not comparable to a dragon’s breath, the high-temperature flame stream surpassed ordinary high-level magic.

An ice elemental that blocked the Dragonborn’s fire with its body melted away in a cloud of steam, and Ophelia’s lightning, shot through the gap, penetrated the Dragonborn’s scales and discharged intense electricity.

Fire and ice, lightning, light, boulders, shadows, claws, blades, chains.

All kinds of killing intent swirled like a storm, entangling with thunderous sounds and spraying blood and flesh in all directions.

It was a massive melee that looked like a mural of racial warfare taken straight from a cathedral wall.

[…Things have gone awry. Again. Yet again. Were you perhaps born under an unlucky star? Every time you make a plan…]

‘……’

I had nothing to say in my defense.

How did things get so tangled up like this?

I had expected fairies or Dragonborn to come looking, but I never imagined they would start slaughtering each other before the dragon even showed itself.

My prediction had gone completely wrong.

Even if they harbored hostility toward us, I thought they wouldn’t launch a preemptive attack unless we were in a situation where we couldn’t escape and would be annihilated—since they would need to destroy all evidence to avoid Imperial questioning.

But the fairies and Dragonborn seemed to have no interest whatsoever in destroying evidence. Did they no longer fear Imperial questioning?

[What will you do now? The plan to quickly subjugate the dragon and drive away the gathered non-humans has fallen apart from the start.]

I know. What should I do about this?

My provocation worked too well—the dragon was still pursuing me with unwavering determination, regardless of the chaos unfolding below.

There was no time to stop and think of a solution. If I stopped, the dragon would catch up to me in less than 5 seconds, and while Demian’s group was fighting well, they were barely holding on against the superior numbers of fairies and Dragonborn.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone’s life ended within a minute.

A battlefield below, an enraged dragon behind me.

How should I handle this situation…?

“Kyaak!”

In that one second of hesitation, Lena, whose cheek had been grazed by a spirit arrow fragment, groaned while clutching her burned face.

“……!”

At that moment, I made my decision.

‘Ah, whatever. Let it be…!’

I flipped my body downward and, shooting karma flames from both feet, plummeted toward the ground like a comet.

【 Kyaoooo! 】

Naturally, Nidhogg followed me, beginning its descent like a meteor.

Toward the formation of fairies gathered like a pack of dogs in the middle of the hill that had become a battlefield.

“Target sighted! No, wait, behind it…!”

The fairies who looked up at the thunderous sound from high above gaped in dismay at the massive carapace falling behind me.

I stared at them with a beast-like grin.

You want to kill a dragon? You want its corpse?

Go ahead and try.

And, seconds before impact with the ground, I activated Defying Fate and sharply altered my flight direction.

My vertical descent trajectory bent dramatically into a diagonal line.

– Kwadududududuk!

My body collided obliquely with the snowy hill, sliding across the snow field and spraying snow in all directions. A perfect landing.

Unfortunately for the fairies, Nidhogg wasn’t nearly as agile.

“It’s Nidhogg-!”

The next moment, along with someone’s scream-like shout, a powerful earthquake shook the mountain range.

An avalanche like a tsunami swept through.