The Uninvited Guest
Otherworldly Wagyu. Or wait, was it black horned bull? Either way, it melted in my mouth. Moreover, the flower necklace around its neck seemed to be some kind of herb. With every chew, the bitter grassy aroma and the uniquely rich, oily flavor of the black bull created an exquisite harmony inside.
“If a dragon wants to eat, then it eats! If you’re upset about it, go be born as dragons yourselves!”
Behold. Your precious asset has become nothing more than a snack for this grand self. Feel the cruelty of dragons deep in your bones amid your rage and despair.
That was what I thought as I wore an arrogant smile.
“The ritual! The ritual to open the heavens has been ruined! You trampled the entire altar with your feet! You chewed up and ate the offering! This world is finished!”
The green-haired shaman with an animal skull on her head collapsed onto the dirt floor, tearing at her hair as she screamed.
“……Huh?”
How ridiculous.
“Just because one cow was eaten the world ends? Is the world of you humans really that fragile?”
“It wasn’t just any cow! It was an offering dedicated to the heavens! The perfect key to open the gate to the sky! A vessel we had carefully raised for today, when the positions of the stars and the tilt of the moon perfectly aligned!”
The green-haired shaman rolled across the ground in a fit. Aaaaaah—!
The other shamans prostrated behind her all wailed in unison.
Wait a second. So they hadn’t prettily packaged up that black bull as a meal prepared for me? It wasn’t a tribute offered in anticipation of the advent of the great dragon known as Yumitas? It was an offering to some unheard-of strange “heaven”?
‘How dare they prioritize some insignificant god over this grand self?’
My mood was instantly ruined.
I am the strongest chaos dragon in the world. The mere fact that they tried to offer meat to another being right before my eyes was extremely unpleasant.
“Tsk tsk. Falling for such baseless superstitions.”
It was then.
“To think that with this grand self, the true terror, standing right before you, you’re still babbling about some nonexistent gate to the heavens. How utterly stupi—”
Wooooong!
Before I could even finish my sentence, the bizarre totem poles surrounding the clearing all began to vibrate with an ominous hum.
“Eh…? Ehh?”
The green-haired shaman looked up at the sky with a dazed face. I, too, lifted my head and stared into the void.
Crack!
The empty air was splitting open. The middle of the blue sky fractured like shattering glass.
“It’s opening…! The heavens are opening!”
Craaaack—!
A pitch-black fissure tore wide.
“No, this can’t be. There’s no offering—how is the gate opening? Ah, no. This isn’t right… Forcing the heavens open… How could this…”
As she said, whatever lay beyond the gate seemed rather impatient. Something was forcing its way through the gap.
Sliiide.
First came the black mist. The instant it touched the grass of the clearing—
Hiiiisss!
The lush green weeds instantly lost all moisture and withered into pitch-black husks.
“Hieek!”
“Get back! Don’t touch the mist!”
The shamans recoiled in terror, but the mist spread far faster than their feet could carry them. The edge of the fog brushed the ankle of one fleeing shaman.
“Urk… ugh…!”
That shaman couldn’t even scream. He froze rigid where he stood. His pupils lost focus, white foam poured endlessly from his lips, and his entire body twisted in grotesque convulsions.
“Brother! Come to your senses!”
The green-haired shaman cried out, but those exposed to the mist began collapsing one after another, writhing on the ground. The clearing turned into a scene of hell in an instant.
The stench of a rotten sea. The musty reek of old dust. An unpleasant odor crept all the way to my nose.
‘…Ugh, seriously.’
I had just enjoyed some delicious beef and even let out a satisfied burp. At the exact moment I should have been savoring that post-meal relaxation, some sewer-stinking mist was ruining the entire atmosphere.
“Hey. You thing beyond the boundary.”
I spat the words toward the rift in the air.
“What kind of barbaric etiquette is it to kick up dust at someone else’s dinner table?”
Of course there was no answer. Instead, something glistening poked out from between the cracks in the split sky.
A massive tentacle of grotesquely mixed purple and black slime. That hideous mass of flesh, covered in hundreds—thousands—of suckers, squeezed through the gap and groped at the air. And across its surface were countless eyeballs embedded like grotesque jewels.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
“The heavens—the stars are looking at me!”
“Something’s crawling inside my head!!!”
A repulsive form. Colors that provoked instinctive revulsion. Sticking eyeballs all over a tentacle—clearly a creature with zero aesthetic sense.
“Aaaah… Aaaaaagh…!”
The moment the green-haired shaman saw the tentacle she covered her eyes with both hands.
“Great one… The god we were trying to serve… No, that’s not—that’s not a god! There’s no way such a horrible thing could be our savior!”
She lay flat on the ground, denying it over and over in a trembling voice. It seemed a fragile human mind couldn’t even bear to look directly at the being beyond the gap. Crushed by unknown terror, barely able to breathe—it was honestly rather pitiful.
Of course, to me it just looked like a gross octopus head.
“Don’t scatter dust while I’m eating.”
I spread the wings I had folded behind my back. Fwoosh!
Dragon mana erupted from between my scales, brightly illuminating the gloomy clearing. I gave the spread wings one light flap.
Whooooosh!
With a single flap the black mist covering the clearing was blown away in an instant. The totem poles were uprooted and sent flying. The tentacle hanging in the air twitched as if startled and froze.
Creak.
Those thousands of eyeballs rolled in every direction before snapping into focus—all of them aimed straight at me.
I didn’t back down either. I held my head high and glared right back at those disgusting eyeballs.
“What are you staring at? Wanna go a round?”
In that brief moment our gazes crossed, a strangely distorted voice flowed from beyond the rift.
...Still... a dragon remained, huh...
Sluuurp— The tentacle slowly withdrew. The hideous masses of flesh that had been forcing their way out hurriedly tucked themselves back into the crack like a scolded animal. Crack. Snap. Fwoosh!
The forcibly opened black gap healed, returning the sky to its original clear blue. The unpleasant stench and chilling cold vanished in an instant.
Swaaa— A gentle breeze shook the leaves once more, and peaceful birdsong drifted from afar. The world’s ordinary sounds were fully restored, as if nothing had happened at all.
“Hmph. It got scared and ran the moment it saw this grand self.”
I looked up at the now-closed sky and snorted. As expected of a dragon—the pinnacle of nature and the world’s balancer. Even a bizarre octopus from who-knows-where couldn’t meet my eyes and lowered its tail before my majestic form.
“Kaha! The thing actually knows its place! Even an ugly octopus seems to understand who the true owner of the world is.”
It was quite a satisfying ending in its own way. I had deliciously devoured the offering and personally driven off the uninvited guest disturbing my meal.
“Hey. You insignificant bugs. Are you all still alive?”
The moment my voice fell—
“Ah, aah…”
“Huk…! Huuuh…!”
“My… my legs won’t move…”
The shamans who had been foaming at the mouth and convulsing stopped one by one, gasping for breath. Some sat frozen in terror and wet themselves. Some hugged their knees and laughed like madmen. Some buried their faces in their hands and wept silently.
“We…”
The first to regain her senses was the green-haired shaman.
“We… were trying to summon something like that horrible monster…!”
She wrapped her trembling hands around her cheeks and muttered in a hoarse voice.
“Aaaaaagh! What have we done! What were we almost doing?!”
The green-haired shaman began to wail, slamming her head against the ground.
“Our foolishness almost destroyed the world!”
“We were blinded and served a demon as a god!”
“Please forgive us… Please forgive us…!”
The other shamans followed her lead, prostrating flat on the ground and weeping loudly.
‘Oh. That’s quite an excellent reaction.’
Come to think of it, it was obvious. To lower lifeforms, that tentacle monster would have been an overwhelming opponent. And who was it that chased the terrifying creature away with a single glance? Me—the great and wicked dragon, Yumitas.
‘Yes, exactly!’
When lower lifeforms face a dragon, it’s only natural they grovel on the ground begging for their lives! I was already sick of the gathering tribe and hunting tribe from before going on about “benevolent dragon god” and getting moved without reading the room.
“Kk, khem! Good that you understand! You’ve realized how worthless that pathetic faith you believed in truly was, yes?”
Then the green-haired shaman flinched. She slowly raised her head and looked up at me. Her face was a mess of sweat and tears. Her lips trembled as she panted. Her pupils shook. The eyes that had been clouded with despair and fear suddenly swirled with a strange new light.
“Aah…”
Still on her knees, she crawled pathetically until she was right before my claws.
“You knew all along.”
“Huh?”
“How foolish we were. How horrific the ruin lurking beyond that gate was… From the very beginning, you, the great one, had seen through everything.”
No, I just ate it because the beef looked tasty.
“So you personally descended, took our offering to halt the ritual… and then with a single flap of your wings scattered the monstrosity that poured out of the forcibly opened gate!”
A strange fervor gradually seeped into her voice.
“Please forgive us! Forgive us for failing to recognize true greatness, bewitched by empty voices!”
The green-haired shaman rubbed her forehead against my claw, breathing with overwhelming emotion.
“Great one! Thank you for awakening us! I will never forget this grace of liberating us from the whispers of the horrible Outer God, not until the day this life ends! From now on we will worship only you as our one and only god!”
Thud! Thud! Thud!
“We will serve only you!”
“Bow before the great dragon!”
“The true god has descended!”
The humans who had been prostrated behind her poured out frenzied praises in unison. The same people who had been dancing to summon an Outer God had instantly converted and were now bowing to me…
‘Tsk tsk, such spineless creatures.’
Truly weak souls who can’t survive without clinging to something. Still, thinking about it, it wasn’t a bad outcome. Grace? Liberation? Sole god? The wording was a little annoying, but in the end the humans were prostrated at my feet, trembling and swearing obedience.
‘Finally, my reign of terror is taking effect!’
Not just smiling and offering fruit, but proper slaves who submit with genuine reverence and awe before overwhelming power!
“Hmph. For mere bugs, your situational awareness is quite fast. Very well. If you realize this grand self’s greatness and beg to become slaves of your own accord, I shall gladly take those pitiful lives under my protection.”
Perfect. For the time being I would stay here and enjoy the tributes.