Human-Scaled Dragon

If you were to pick the element that makes people’s blood pressure rise when facing the dragon, the ‘Human-Scaled Dragon,’ that lay dormant beneath the Snow Mountain Crater, it would undoubtedly be the status effect ‘Freeze.’

As the final boss of the Snow Mountain DLC and a dragon with scales as white as snow, all of its attacks filled the freeze gauge.

If you were hit by its breath, you could consider the status effect guaranteed, and even physical attacks like slams or tail swings, which anyone could see were physical, built up the freeze gauge.

Even if you could overlook that, assuming you just had to avoid getting hit given Dark Mode’s characteristic of instant death from a mere graze, the biggest problem was its pattern of laying down freeze AoEs on the ground.

It would frequently spew its breath, forming a freeze zone on the ground that lasted for 30 seconds. If you were on it, not only would your freeze gauge rise at an incredible speed, but your walking and rolling would also be restricted, just like in a poison swamp.

In other words, when fighting the Human-Scaled Dragon, you almost always had to contend with the freeze debuffs: ‘reduced movement speed, reduced natural stamina recovery, reduced natural combat fatigue recovery, and reduced rolling and evasion speed.’

That was bad enough in vanilla, but it was even worse in Dark Mode, where the duration of AoE attacks was extended and both wind-up and recovery times were reduced.

If it were a buff that strengthened enemies, that would be one thing, but it was a debuff that weakened allies, so the feeling of being on the receiving end was extremely unpleasant, to say the least.

Not anymore, though.

ㅡKuoooooooh!!!!!!

The Human-Scaled Dragon let out a massive roar. At the sound of its roar, loud enough to shake the snow mountain, the corpses clinging to its scales shattered into pieces and scattered.

Minerva calmly swung her staff even after hearing the roar. Flames erupted over the ice. A zone of fire covered the entire crater, turning all the snow and ice that had been spread everywhere into water.

ㅡKuaaaak!!!!!!

The creature roared once more and spewed its breath. A breath imbued with extreme cold stretched out towards Minerva. Everything nearby froze, creating strange undulations.

But it was useless. As she flicked her staff, the flames that had covered the crater floor rose up like a shield, enveloping Minerva.

The breath could not penetrate the flames.

‘That actually works.’

She truly was the Eternal Mage, counted among the strongest individuals alongside the Emperor of the Empire and the Popes of the Holy Nation.

Dragons are also described as nothing short of walking natural disasters, yet she was overwhelming such a being head-on. She seemed far stronger than I had thought.

The breath subsided. As the flames died down, Minerva appeared, completely unharmed. Her staff swayed again.

Dozens of magic circles appeared in the air, and chains made of fire shot out, coiling around various parts of the Human-Scaled Dragon’s body. Smoke rose from where they wrapped around it.

The temperature of the chains themselves seemed extraordinary; the corpses near the flames weren’t just melting like ice, but were outright burning away.

“Now, be a good boy.”

Minerva snapped her fingers. The fiery chains glowed even more fiercely red. Then, they constricted the creature so tightly that the areas they wrapped around became deeply indented.

The Human-Scaled Dragon struggled, roaring desperately to break free from the chains, but with a body so massive that you’d believe it was a pig rather than a dragon, it was impossible for it to even move properly.

Minerva, who had approached my side at some point, gave a faint smile.

“This is the magic I wanted to show you, child. It worked out perfectly. I can show it to you while also conducting a practical test.”

Minerva snapped her fingers. Space began to compress into a single point near the dragon’s chest.

The creature seemed to realize something ominous was happening and stopped struggling. Then, it looked up at the sky stretching above the crater and let out a long roar.

Simultaneously, the human corpses that had been clinging to it like scales fell to the ground. Its body gradually shriveled.

‘Phase 2?’

It meant it had entered Phase 2.

In Phase 1, its appearance was like that of a pig, but from Phase 2 onwards, it would fully take on the form of a dragon and even use flying patterns.

Soon, its body returned to that of a perfect dragon. As all the human corpses fell away, pure white scales, like snow, appeared. The fallen corpses formed small hills.

“It’s better than before.”

However, it seemed to make no difference to Minerva. Even though its body had returned to its original form, the fiery chains tightly binding it showed no sign of breaking at all.

Even after it exerted all its strength and the chains remained intact, the Human-Scaled Dragon spread its wings wide, perhaps attempting to fly into the sky.

The sight of its flame-wrapped wings spreading out to both sides was quite a spectacle. It flapped its wings and soared high into the sky.

ㅡThud!

More precisely, it *tried* to fly.

The fiery chains easily withstood even the dragon’s full power of ascent, and since the chains didn’t break, it couldn’t get very high before crashing ignominiously with a ‘thud!’

The entire crater shook, and cracks appeared on the snow-covered ground. The dragon seemed to be so dazed from the impact of crashing head-first into the ground that it couldn’t regain its senses.

“Hmm… it’s not perfect yet. It needs improvement. In actual combat, the activation speed is too slow.”

And the person responsible for turning the dragon into such a state was calmly jotting down points for improvement, saying the activation speed was too slow.

“Still, if I just fix the activation speed, it’ll become quite usable. I’ll be a bit busy for the first time in a while. Child?”

“What is it?”

“Watch closely, child. This is the fruit of our combined efforts.”

With an expression that was subtly fitting yet unfitting, the swirling orb that had appeared at the dragon’s core shredded everything in its vicinity.

Everything around it being sucked into the vortex was exactly like in the game. It was an instant-kill skill, one of the patterns added if you brought Minerva a scroll.

ㅡKuoooooooh!!!!!!

The Human-Scaled Dragon, which had let out one last great roar, weakly dropped its head. Red blood slowly spread near its chest. The ground, covered in pure white snow, was stained red.

It only twitched its body slightly, showing no sign of movement at all.

For something that bore the grand title of a BD4 DLC boss, it was such a simple end that even I, watching it, felt a sense of emptiness.

“Child!”

Perhaps overly excited by the success of the magic she had researched from ancient scrolls, Minerva completely abandoned all decorum and came bouncing and running towards me.

Her chest, wrapped in a single bath robe, bounced tremendously. Her thighs parted, and her underwear was on the verge of being revealed.

“How was it? How was it? Huh? Huh?”

Minerva, completely unconcerned with her attire, grabbed my hand, her silvery-white pupils sparkling brightly like a child showing off a perfect test score to their mother.

“Uh… it’s incredibly amazing?”

“Right? You think so too, don’t you, child?”

“Cough.”

Even though it was a very formal compliment, perhaps the mere fact that I had complimented her was more important, as Minerva hugged me with a wide smile.

My face was deeply buried between her cleavage. The unique warmth of her chest and a sweet milky scent flowed into my nasal cavity. And, just a hint, a fresh lemon scent too.

Minerva, who had been bouncing around happily for a long time with my head tucked between her breasts, only released her arms after a good 10 minutes had passed in that state.

“Aren’t you enjoying this a bit too much?”

“It’s the fruit of our combined efforts, yours and mine, isn’t it, child? It’s only natural to be happy about it.”

‘…Is she saying that on purpose?’

As I remained somewhat nonplussed, Minerva’s expression turned slightly serious. She seemed to have recalled what needed to be done next.

“I did as you wished, child, but… are you really sure it’ll be okay?”

“You just need to do as I said. Just like before.”

“Just like before… I understand, child. I just need to stand by your side while you absorb the dragon’s soul, right?”

“Yes. You can do just that.”

I left Minerva, who was smiling brightly and waving her hand, and drew out the Wingless Nightmare, approaching the creature. The Human-Scaled Dragon was in a near-death state, only gasping for breath.

Its vertically slit pupils glanced at me, but that was all. Whether it had accepted its fate, or if it didn’t even have the strength to resist, it offered no resistance at all.

‘It’s a miracle it’s still alive after half its chest was shredded.’

I plunged the Wingless Nightmare deep into its head. My vision went dark. A feeling of my mind being sucked somewhere, while my body remained, filled my head.

When I slowly opened my eyes, I had arrived at a place where everything was pitch black. According to the lore, it was where the lingering consciousness of dead dragons resided.

It was here that one had to absorb the dragon’s lingering consciousness, or soul, and accept its knowledge to understand the Draconic Language. Furthermore, one could even use the Draconic Language.

It was especially essential to use the Draconic Language to properly fight the World Eater in a boss battle.

‘I don’t know if it’ll work here, but it’s better than not trying.’

Honestly, it was quite a shock for me too. In the game, it was just a ridiculously strong dragon, but to think it had a showdown with the god of the Holy Nation and overwhelmingly crushed them.

I felt a ripple behind my back. It was probably its residual consciousness. I turned my head. Just as I expected, I saw an orb the same color as its scales.

“…Huh?”

But it was quite different from my memory.

The soul, which should have been pure white like its scales, was stained with all sorts of black and red blotches, as if it had been corrupted.

“What the…”

While I was bewildered for a moment, the entire space warped, and my mind was sucked out, just like when I absorbed a spirit in the game.

When I opened my eyes, I had returned to the exact state of having plunged the sword into the Human-Scaled Dragon’s head. With a bewildered gaze, I pulled out the sword. Minerva greeted me with a smile.

“Are you back already, child?”

“…How much time has passed?”

“Not even a few seconds, child.”

Actually, time wasn’t very important. In the game, there was no way to tell how much time had passed unless day and night changed. The truly important thing was something else.

“What’s wrong, child? Your expression isn’t good.”

Minerva asked with a worried expression.

“…It’s nothing. I just have something to think about for a moment.”

“That’s not the face of someone who has nothing on their mind, child. If it’s something you can’t talk about, I can’t help it, but remember that two heads are better than one.”

“I appreciate your words, but for now, it’s a problem I need to think about by myself.”

“If you say it like that, I can’t force you, child. Instead, will you tell me anytime if you need my help?”

“I understand. For now, how should we dispose of this dragon corpse-“

And before I could even finish my sentence, a shockwave-like force burst out from me.

The dragon’s corpse took a direct hit, its limbs disintegrated and floated up, then slammed into the crater wall, splattering blood everywhere.

“…Huh?”

Minerva and I, both dumbfounded, stared at each other.

Just now, was that… Draconic Language?