The Black Dragon's Rampage
Aiden, the captain of the guard who had rushed over after hearing the commotion, was horrified by the scene unfolding before him. Two beings locked in combat. One was the human called Gaster, whom he had seen many times before. The other was an entity he had never encountered. Though both wore human forms, Aiden could feel it through his muscles.
Twitch.
“Right…… Braum, you were correct. They are not human.”
Flex!
“Bry, you’re right as well. We don’t have time to stand around like this.”
Aiden, an S-rank mercenary who had rolled through countless battlefields and faced numerous powerhouses, understood the moment the tremors from their clashes reached his muscles.
This is a fight beyond even my reach as a human.
His judgment was cold and precise. Though he occasionally acted with simple-minded brute force, letting his fists fly before his brain, he was still an S-rank mercenary. He had earned that title not with fists alone, but with a rational mind as well. This moment was exactly such a case.
Especially that black-haired man.
He’s terrifying.
It was the first time Aiden had ever felt such fear from simply looking at someone. The murderous intent and madness radiating from that body were not things any human could possess.
It’s a different kind of terror than when I saw Lord Albert.
Albert had been frightening enough. The aura he emitted felt like facing a massive cliff the size of a mountain, an overwhelming dread. Yet he had never carried this kind of killing intent. Look at that black-haired man. The thick, viscous bloodlust flowing from his entire body carried a clear, poisonous will to kill.
Two entirely different kinds of fear.
Gaster was somehow holding on.
But the balance will collapse soon. It’s only a matter of time.
Gaster was launching a fierce assault, yet anyone could see that the black-haired being held the overwhelming advantage. He was barely enduring, buying time.
There’s only one thing I can do right now.
“Listen up, guards! Evacuate the people as far away as possible!”
“Lord Aiden, this is an incident happening within the territory. Shouldn’t we help as well?”
“No.”
Aiden spoke firmly.
“This is beyond our domain. Our duty is to protect the territory’s citizens. Prioritize the evacuation.”
“Understood.”
The guards moved quickly at Aiden’s command, guiding the nearby people to safety. They, too, roughly understood the situation.
My muscles are trembling.
Britum is telling me to run……
I’m scared.
I want to flee right now, but…… as a guard, I must protect the citizens.
“Everyone, this way!”
“Evacuate!!”
The citizens fled in haste.
“What the hell! Where did this bolt from the blue come from?! What’s going on?!”
“Hic! W-what is that?! Hot! What the hell are those things?! What kind of territory is this?!”
“This territory doesn’t have a single normal thing in it!!”
The dwarves who had been working in the forge scrambled out in a panic. Then they saw it. The violent clash between the two beings. With every collision, everything nearby was sent flying. Buildings collapsed. The ground was torn open, and even the water pipes they had painstakingly installed were destroyed.
“N-no! I worked so hard to make those!”
“This can’t be happening!”
“Isn’t that one a dragon? Then the one fighting the dragon…… what is it?”
“What else could it be?! Another dragon!”
“These dragons are a pair of absolute lunatics!!”
“W-what do we do?”
“What can we do…… let’s just run.”
The dwarves knew there was nothing they could do here. A dwarf could never hope to interfere in a battle between dragons.
“Damn it, where the hell did that monster go?!”
Hot thought of Albert. He didn’t know why he was thinking of him at this moment. But somehow, it felt like only that monstrous man could end this fight. Hot’s face twisted in frustration. What kind of curse had befallen him in his later years to get tangled up with dragons like this? It was maddening.
“You bastard! Get over here already!! That crazy dragon is smashing your territory to pieces with its twin! How the hell am I supposed to repair all this?!”
“That person is……”
Gaic, the Dark Elf elder, spotted Whydra fighting Gaster. He could never forget him. Fifty years ago, when the elves had been hunting them, this was the only one who had taken them in, kindly providing them with a place to live and even setting up a barrier. It was him.
“But why?”
Joy and confusion struck him at the same time. Why was he fighting Gaster?
“Father! We need to evacuate!”
Ivy grabbed him and pulled.
The situation was dire. Buildings all around were collapsing from the clash of the two beings. That wasn’t all. An unknown, sinister energy was slowly spreading from them across the entire territory. It was poison. Gaster was burning it away as best he could, but he couldn’t stop it all.
“We have to run, Father!”
“No. I need to go over there.”
“What? Why? It’s dangerous!”
“That person…… is the one who took us in. I need to find out why he’s acting this way…… or perhaps there’s some misunderstanding. So I must go.”
“But—”
“Ivy, it’s possible he’s rampaging like this because of us. That’s why I have to go.”
“……”
Seeing Gaic’s resolute expression, Ivy bit her lip. She knew. When Gaic wore that look, no one could ever talk him out of it.
“Father…… even if I try to stop you, you’ll still go, won’t you?”
“Yes. I must go. No matter what.”
“I see. Very well.”
The strength left Ivy’s hand as she held Gaic. Thinking his daughter understood, Gaic smiled brightly.
“Thank you for understanding.”
“No one can stop Father’s stubbornness anyway.”
“Ahaha, sorry about that.”
“I understand Father. So please understand me as well.”
“What?”
Thud!
“Gah!”
Gaic’s eyes widened at the dull impact striking the back of his head. At the same time, he felt his consciousness drifting far away. As his mind faded, he saw Ivy smiling while holding a blood-stained club she had pulled from who-knows-where. She looked rather refreshed.
Ivy…… you……
Was all that pent-up frustration finally coming out……? The words swirled in his mouth but never left. As Gaic collapsed, Ivy set the club down with a resigned sigh.
“No one can stop Father’s stubbornness. So there’s no helping it. If you can’t stop it, you have to break it.”
If words wouldn’t work, then force would have to do.
“Since Father wouldn’t listen to me, I had no choice. But don’t worry. We Dark Elves are sturdy, so that much won’t kill him.”
Ivy dragged the limp Gaic away with the others to evacuate. She wasn’t particularly worried. He would come soon enough.
Once Lord Albert arrives, everything will be resolved.
“Kugh!”
“Bwahahaha! How does it feel, you mongrel?! This is the true power of a dragon!”
Gaster could feel the gap in strength between himself and Whydra. In a way, it was only natural. His opponent was a thousand-year-old adult dragon, while he was barely three hundred. For dragons, age was power. Just as wine grows richer with age, so too did dragons. As time passed, their dragon hearts grew larger, their bodies hardened, and their magical abilities became incomparably stronger.
A battle between a thousand-year-old and a three-hundred-year-old. Whydra’s power was overwhelmingly superior.
Moreover, Whydra is toying with me. He could have ended this long ago, but……
He wanted to see Gaster struggle. He was enjoying the sight of Gaster desperately thrashing about, clinging to life.
“I’ve never liked you. A mongrel who isn’t even pureblood—you’re a disgrace to all dragons!!”
Crack!
“Aaaagh!!”
Whydra snapped Gaster’s arm. The sickening sound echoed across the territory, followed by a horrific scream.
“Bwahahaha! Even your screams sound decent for a mongrel.”
Whydra revealed his cruelty. What followed was nothing but a one-sided beating. Whydra deliberately avoided vital points, attacking only to inflict pain.
“Graaagh!”
Gaster squeezed out every last bit of strength. Mana pumped from his dragon heart gathered in his mouth, sparking into a small flame that became a massive blaze. At the same time, Gaster opened his jaws and unleashed it. A Fire Breath erupted. An absolute annihilation magic that burned everything it touched. Even formidable beings would be incinerated by it.
But Whydra was different.
“Hah, how absurd. So this is the final attack you managed to squeeze out?”
He casually raised a hand and blocked the Fire Breath. Though it was absolute annihilation magic against other beings, against another dragon it was merely an ordinary attack. Gaster was only three hundred years old, barely entering independence. His incomplete breath was easily dispelled.
“Something like this.”
Whydra clenched his fist, and the Fire Breath vanished far too easily.
“H-how……?”
“How, you ask……”
Whydra sneered at the shocked Gaster.
“It’s simply because you’re weak.”
In an instant, Whydra’s fist slammed into Gaster’s face.
“Kugh!”
“Puhahaha! Fighting in human form is rather amusing! I never knew tormenting the weak could be this entertaining!”
He laughed cheerfully as he stomped on Gaster. Even though he had destroyed the territory that everyone had worked so hard to build, he showed not a shred of guilt. He looked thoroughly pleased. To a dragon, such a territory was no different from a sandcastle at the beach. Whether it remained or vanished mattered little.
“How weak. So weak. This is why mongrels are no good. A dragon with only this much power……”
Looking displeased, Whydra pressed down harder with the foot pinning Gaster.
“Graaaagh!”
“Half-wit. Did you really think you could protect something? With that pathetic strength, what could you possibly defend? The weak can protect nothing.”
A black light flashed from Whydra’s body, and the surrounding buildings collapsed once more. A being of calamity and destruction. Faced with Whydra’s boundless malice, Gaster trembled slightly.
“How ridiculous it is to see the weak flailing about, pretending they can protect something. What could someone like you possibly guard? You couldn’t even protect your own mother……”
“You……”
“Getting angry? But it doesn’t matter. You’re weak. If you’re upset, try pushing me off! Prove your worth with strength!”
“……Is tormenting someone as weak as me…… really that fun?”
“Of course.”
There was no hesitation in his answer. His eyes curved into crescents as he smiled, radiating both ecstasy and deep madness.
“I love nothing more than stomping weaklings like you to death. Whether human or mongrel mixed with their blood.”
The killing intent and madness emanating from him surged to an unprecedented level. He was about to crush Gaster underfoot. But then—
Boing!
A slime that appeared from nowhere leaped high and extended its tentacles to attack Whydra. Whydra frowned.
“A slime? How dare……”
Sparks flew from his eyes. Among all monsters, slimes were the weakest. The fact that such a creature had attacked him was deeply unpleasant.
Threat. Master. Command.
Gluttony charged without hesitation. It knew the opponent was strong, but Albert’s orders had to be obeyed absolutely. Absolute obedience. Even if the command was something as absurd as leaping into hellfire, it had to be followed.
Attack.
“Get lost!”
Whydra swatted away Gluttony’s attack with a burst of force, then thrust out his hand.
“Die, Poison Dark Lightning.”
Black lightning imbued with poison shot toward Gluttony. Such an attack was somewhat excessive against a slime, but it was punishment for displeasing him.
“How insolent, attacking someone like……”
Then, something astonishing happened. The slime opened its mouth wide and swallowed the Poison Dark Lightning in one gulp. Normally, any being touched by it would be poisoned, melted, or fried by the lightning and annihilated. But the slime was unharmed.
“How?”
His surprise lasted only a moment.
Digest. Reverse. Release.
The slime opened its mouth again, and from it spewed the very same Poison Dark Lightning Whydra had just used.
“My magic?”
Caught off guard by an attack that perfectly replicated even the poison unique to black dragons, Whydra failed to dodge.
“Kagh!”
The Poison Dark Lightning coiled around his body. While the poison wouldn’t affect him, the lightning carried his own power and was quite potent. Grin—
Gaster, pinned beneath, saw Gluttony and immediately deployed a defensive spell to endure. He smiled.
I was shocked the first time I got hit by that too.
How flustered he had been when he first experienced it. Thinking back on that day, he still couldn’t count how many times he’d kicked off his blanket in embarrassment.
You must be flustered and bewildered too, right? And your pride must be wounded! Serves you right! How satisfying!
“Kugh! This little bastard!!”
Whydra waved his hand, and the lightning vanished. But Gluttony silently extended its tentacles for the next attack.
Attack.
“You think I’ll fall for the same trick twice?! Something like you……”
“My, thinking Gluttony is the only one would be a grave mistake.”
“You……”
“I am Pride, the fallen Earth Spirit who serves the great Lord Albert Legrian as my master.”
Pride finished his dramatic self-introduction and stomped the ground hard. At the same time, sharp stone spears erupted from the earth.
“……Where the hell are these mongrels coming from!!!”
Whydra erupted in fury. A massive aura burst forth in response, blocking Gluttony and Pride’s attacks.
“Well, this is troublesome.”
Pulling back, Pride sighed as he looked at Whydra.
“A black dragon. I’ve heard they’re famous for their foul tempers, and it seems the rumors were true. This has become quite bothersome.”
Moreover, the opponent was clearly an adult dragon over a thousand years old. It was problematic. No matter how strong Gluttony and Pride were, they couldn’t defeat an adult dragon. Furthermore, the two were subordinates contracted to Albert. Without his permission, they couldn’t use their full power.
“So then.”
Pride looked down at Gaster beneath his feet. He had pulled him out during the brief clash earlier. The purpose of the attack had only been to divert attention for a moment.
“You need to hurry and bring Lord Albert here.”
“……Cough…… He’s strong. If I disappear, he’ll go even more berserk.”
“Aaaah, that doesn’t matter. We’ll hold out until then. So please bring him back as quickly as possible.”
“……Understood.”
Gaster knew as well. The best option right now was to inform Albert and bring him here. Fortunately, he could use the mana from his dragon heart for two more teleports.
These two…… are the summons that guy called forth……
“Hold out until I return.”
“Don’t give me orders. The only one in this world who can command me is the one and only great Lord Albert.”
Boing-boing!!
At their reply, Gaster vanished in a flash of light.
“Now then……”
Until Albert arrived.
“Shall we try to hold back this lizard a bit?”
Boing-boing!!!
“Bwahahaha! You insolent fools! Do you even know who you’re challenging?! I am Whydra! The great black dragon!!”
Whydra laughed maniacally as he stomped on Pride. A scene of cruel destruction. Black smoke rose around them, and the ground was being consumed by Whydra’s poison. A darkened sky. The moment calamity descended upon the territory that had been peaceful until yesterday, this place had turned into hell.
Gluttony and Pride tried their best to hold him back, but they were no match for a dragon over a thousand years old. Without using their full power, it was impossible.
“Did you really think you mongrels could stop me? How foolish.”
Whydra pressed down harder with the foot pinning Pride.
“I’ll crush you to death like this.”
“Kugh……”
Pride let out a suppressed groan at the intense pain in his head.
“Because of you mongrels, I let the one I shouldn’t have missed get away. No matter. I can just follow the trail. There seem to be dark elves nearby as well.”
There was much to do. The first priority was filling his hungry stomach. Dealing with these fools had taken some effort, and now he was hungry. He planned to eat first, then pursue the target.
“Now die.”
Whydra intended to crush Pride’s head outright. But then—
“Wow, you really smashed this place up good. How much am I going to have to work the kids to fix this…… and how much is the repair cost going to be……”
A single voice from behind. The moment he heard it, Whydra felt his body stiffen. An indescribable pressure. The aura pressing down on his entire body made him doubt whether it could possibly belong to a human.
What the…… what is this……?
Whydra slowly turned his head. And he saw it. An existence with the exact same black eyes and black hair as himself. Those black eyes were staring sharply at him.
“Hey? Is tormenting the weak fun for you?”
Albert had returned, furious. It was the first time Whydra had encountered an existence radiating such overwhelming presence and pressure.
Aside from Lord, this is definitely the first.
For a moment, he thought it was a fellow dragon. Only another dragon could emit such a presence and pressure capable of overwhelming a dragon. But—
There is no black dragon like that.
Black hair and eyes were characteristic of black dragons. Yet this being was not a dragon. There was no trace of a dragon’s unique aura from him.
Human.
That meant he was human. Whydra looked at him in disbelief and asked.
“Hey…… who the hell are you?”
At those words, Albert’s eyebrow twitched. At the same time, his aura intensified, and the fighting spirit stabbing at Whydra’s skin felt as though it would slice his throat at any moment. Albert spoke heavily to the stunned Whydra.
“Hey? You’ve got some nerve. After turning my territory into this mess, you have the gall to ask that?”
In that instant, Albert’s figure stretched forward like taffy. The next moment, a crisp impact rang out. Albert’s fist struck squarely in the center of Whydra’s face. Albert exhaled roughly, hissing through his teeth.
“I’m the lord brother of the territory you just trampled, you bastard.”