Chapter 240: A Proper Dragon
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 240: A Proper Dragon
Skreeeee—!
The flame-filled maw of the Eldyokul swung wide with a harsh grind, a massive pillar of fire surging up from its throat.
Normally, if a large amount of flammable liquid gathered in one place were to catch fire, the flames would simply spread across the surface of the liquid.
The problem begins when that flammable liquid isn't just sitting there, but is instead sprayed as a fine mist.
Sssssss....
The flammable liquid secreted from the creature's salivary glands was sprayed in a massive, fine aerosol mist. The moment it made contact with the heat rising from the Flame Core deep within its throat—
BOOM!
It instantaneously devoured the vast amount of oxygen in the area, erupting into a colossal inferno.
The blue-tinted flames swelled from thermal expansion, engulfing the peak of the barren mountain ahead. In an instant, the edges of the cold stone mountain were reduced to molten lava.
"Good grief...! It’s a total monster!"
Well, it actually was a monster, so the statement wasn't wrong.
* * *
"Is this the second Dragon Heart?"
"There is no Dragon Heart."
"Eh? Why not? Wasn't the Eldyokul a dragon?"
Based on everything I’d heard so far, it seemed like a classic fantasy dragon—a creature that harbored immense heat in its chest and breathed fire.
"It’s a Sub-Dragon Species."
"You mean... like a Drake?"
"Yeah."
Among lower-grade explorers, the distinction isn't always clear, but the scholars of the Page of Arcana have drawn a very firm line between true Dragon Species and Sub-Dragon Species.
After all, lower-grade explorers almost never see a true Dragon. And since they want to feel like a 'Dragon Slayer' after taking down something dragon-like, they tend to be generous with the labels.
"It's a Wyvern."
"Like... an Ice Drake?"
"Exactly."
Actually, an Ice Drake isn't a Drake either. Sub-dragons that crawl on the ground—the ones with freakishly short forelimbs, like a Tyranno Caretaker—are called Drakes.
Sub-dragons whose forelimbs have evolved into wings for flight are classified as Wyverns, and even these are a far cry from true Dragon Species.
The difference is as vast as that between an earthworm and a snake; they just happen to look like dragons because of how their bodies adapted.
"Then why does everyone call them dragons?"
"Because they're big."
"Just because they're big?"
"And they're strong."
"Hmm."
It just so happened to have a Flame Core that emitted incredible heat, and it just so happened to have flammable salivary glands that synergized with it to allow fire-breathing.
"You called it a Flame Core."
"Now that I think about it, you're right. Dragon Species don't have Mana Cores."
While Dragon Species possess a completely different organ called a 'Dragon Heart'—which combines the functions of a heart and a Mana Core—the Eldyokul has a standard Mana Core.
Despite that, through its accidental breath ability and its sheer physical scale, it had achieved power rivaling that of a true dragon.
"A Wyvern sad that it couldn't become a dragon, huh?"
* * *
In an instant, a massive wave of fire sprayed across a wide area, melting and shattering the edge of the stone mountain.
I quickly modified my leg muscles and threw myself off the peak, shifting my entire body into Combat Form.
I spread my wings to maintain air pressure and rapidly descended, piercing through the clouds to vanish from the creature's line of sight.
"A big target is always nice."
Grind...
Dozens of Evil Eyes poured out of the Void Dimension through magic circles. All at once, purple beams of mana shot upward, piercing the sky and painting patterns into the clouds.
Before long, the stifling upper atmosphere was cleared, revealing the situation above.
"Just as I heard...!"
There wasn't a single scratch on the Eldyokul's body. While the Evil Eye's mana beams are designed to clash with and melt an opponent's mana, that only works if the user's Mana Grade is higher.
These weren't Evil Eyes that I had swallowed and spat back out after infusing them with my own mana through a skill.
They were pure Evil Eyes pulled directly from the Void Dimension using the Lich's power I had plundered.
"Return."
I didn't have the time to swallow and spit them back out right now. Not even a smudge of soot had appeared on its scales, but the Eldyokul had realized it was being attacked.
'Here it comes.'
The creature twisted its long neck attached to its massive torso, looked down, and poured blue flames toward me.
The heat was so intense that in the thin air, where flight was already difficult, I couldn't completely escape the range of its attack.
Sizzle...
"Damn it...!"
I had a feeling this would happen. The feathers on the tips of my Gargoyle wings—which usually have high resistance to temperature fluctuations—began to char, making a sound like boiling oil.
I had deployed a barrier using Amelia's Mana Core, but it seemed it couldn't protect the very tips of my wings.
In aerial combat, the most important things are holding the high ground and getting on the enemy's tail.
No matter how excellent a flight skill is, few can take the high ground against this thing because of the thin oxygen.
And to get behind it and land a meaningful blow, you have to enter the range of its long, dangerous tail.
Of course, I had a way to effectively solve the former problem.
"Hup...!"
I gathered Horus's mana to pull the air from the ground all the way up to the clouds, using it as a foothold to take a position even higher than the monster.
I don't know how that thing can breathe so high up, but as long as the breathing issue is solved, I have no problems.
"That back of yours looks terrifying."
Barely maintaining 1 atmosphere of pressure, I propelled myself forward to match the Eldyokul's flight speed.
The pressure radiating from its massive body was considerable, but it must be consuming an incredible amount of calories to support that weight.
If I could just increase its weight beyond its lift capacity, the Eldyokul would lose its strength and plummet to the ground.
"Here, take this."
A monster standing about 6 meters tall as an adult. A beast filled with muscle, weighing an average of 6.6 tons.
"Mindless Troll Drop."
I dumped the hundreds of Snowfield Trolls I had 'stored' while climbing up here onto the Eldyokul's back.
Snowfield Trolls are creatures that naturally climb stone mountains, supporting their massive bodies and ton-heavy weight with the grip of their hands alone.
About half of them managed to grab onto the Eldyokul's scales and hold on, while a few immediately fell toward the ground to become mush.
Unfortunately, the ones that landed on the wing membranes tore through them due to their weight, even if they held on well.
The ones that grabbed near its face were instantly incinerated and fell to the earth.
Nevertheless, about sixty Snowfield Trolls remained on the Eldyokul's back.
ROAAAAAAR—!
The creature thrashed violently, trying to shake off the trolls clinging to its back scales, but a significant portion of its wing membranes had already been damaged.
It even breathed fire into the empty air and flew through it, turning most of the Snowfield Trolls into charred lumps of meat.
Grrrrr...!
With its wings compromised, the Eldyokul lost its lift and began to slowly lose altitude, falling toward the ground.
Before long, the descent began to accelerate. The creature spread its wings as wide as possible, trying to prevent its bones from shattering upon impact with the earth.
Of course, I wasn't about to just watch.
"Let's go."
A blue aura began to coat the Orichalcum greatsword I pulled from my artifact. I poured out the monster byproducts I had consumed until now to drastically increase the weight, plummeting toward the ground like a spear.
Rumble—!
Hundreds of tons of meat falling from the clouds, shattering the wind. At the very bottom was the Knight Lord's sword, acting as a powerful spearhead.
A mace crushing with immense volume and weight, and a spear capable of piercing even the toughest scales, fell together onto the Eldyokul's back.
SWIIIIISH—!
'What incredible toughness...!'
The Eldyokul timed it perfectly, swinging its massive tail like a mace. The impact scattered most of the meat that provided the weight, significantly reducing the power of the strike.
The eyes of Queen Arachne on my face and the vision of the Umbra Valkyrie had read the attack, but with this massive weight attached to me, I couldn't perform an evasive maneuver in an instant.
Furthermore, the path of the sword falling with the meat was deflected, and the propulsion generated from the descent was slightly diminished. However, Hersha's swordsmanship wasn't something that could be defeated by that alone.
Slice—
The greatsword, coated in blue aura and falling from the sky, drew a clockwise circle, slicing through the creature's back scales and damaging its spine.
I had wondered how it survived the Evil Eye's Mana Disintegration Ray, and now I knew.
'Incredible mana defense.'
Come to think of it, the Cave Drake, a 3rd Stratum sub-dragon, also showed an incredible level of defense against magic. I had relied on its parts for a long time, using them for my gauntlets and as the main material for my tail.
According to Iris, the Eldyokul was an ancient sub-dragon that had lived for hundreds of years, transcending the natural limits of its kind.
Old dragons are called Ancient Dragons, but since the Eldyokul is a sub-dragon...
'An Ancient Sub-Dragon, then.'
Previously, when I tried to cut through the wall Amelia was trapped in back in the 4th Stratum, I couldn't even leave a scratch despite using the Knight Lord's Aura Blade. Yet, after Hersha took control of my body, he had sliced it into perfect squares.
Now that I had truly grasped Hersha's sword for myself, I could finally feel the difference.
"If you can't fly, you're just a big lizard."
Scales of unimaginable thickness and strength. Magic defense on a level that could shrug off most rare metals. Even so, it couldn't stop the Knight Lord's sword.
BOOM—!
With a powerful sound that seemed to cleave space itself, the creature's arms—its wings—were severed from its body and fell to the ground.
GROOOOAR—!
The Eldyokul thrashed in agony, trying to bring me into its sight, but its body was so massive it couldn't even roll over.
The heat from the Flame Core was so intense that the ice and snow around its crash site were slowly melting, revealing the bare earth.
Even for me, standing on its back, the heat was difficult to endure. I only managed thanks to my Frost Core.
"Whew."
No matter how long its neck was, it couldn't breathe fire at me while I was on its back. Normally, if something stuck to its back, it would breathe fire into the air and fly through it as it did before, but it couldn't do that now.
"Rest in peace."
A final blow, delivered with the respect due to the Monarch of the 60th Floor.
A vertical slash following a Knight's Oath.
"You are a proper dragon."
* * *
"Oh, boy."
As the mindless trolls fell to the ground and turned into mush, Iris ended up buried inside the mountain cave.