Chapter 18: King and Earth Dragon

Chapter 18:
King and Earth Dragon

“HAAAH… HAAAH… You…! NTR!”

I slightly altered the trajectory of the incoming stone with my right hand. The frighteningly huge stone bullet crashed into the ground ten meters to my right. It burst through a cloud of miasma and tore a straight line into the earth with a thunderous rumble.

Each shot left nothing but destruction in its wake. In contrast to its violent landing, the stone bullet sliced through the rock-hard surface of the land as easily as a hot knife through butter.

It was a chilling sight to behold. As we watched, clouds of miasma congealed in the newly formed ditch. From where I crouched, I couldn’t see into its dark, dark depths.

Roughly ten minutes had passed since my first sorcery attack, Earth Spear, was deflected by the barrier. I was locked in a stalemate with the ancient Earth Dragon.

At least Gol was able to move now, if only a little. There was still no way to get her out of this situation. The moment she left my side—for instance, to attack—she would be instantly demolished by a stone bullet. As such, I was forcibly holding her stiff body back as she weakly tried to stand.

Between the gouged earth and maelstroms of miasma, the world around us was the spitting image of hell. The aftermath of a single stone bullet was horrific enough, but as the dragon fired shot after shot, we were now trapped in a disaster zone of unspeakable proportions. Not even the combined force of a simultaneous earthquake, tornado, and meteorite could have wrought such devastation.

And yet, even now, I continued to attempt to break through the dragon’s barrier with Earth Spear. If I could only pierce the invisible shield, I believed I could lay into the ancient Earth Dragon with a sorcery attack.

As of now, that Earth Dragon had withstood the waves of Gol’s attacks in total indifference, and talking in pure destructive potential, my Earth spear couldn’t begin to compare to Gol. However, my Earth spears could stand their ground against that infernal barrier. Being the creation of an Earth spell, Earth Spear was both a tangible object with mass and a jam-packed bundle of mana. As such, I believed an attack from my spear was qualitatively different from Gol’s punches and kicks. If I had any chance of breaking through, my spears would be it.

I knew this was likely wishful thinking on my part. But I had no choice. I had to gamble on the slimmest possibility in this hopeless situation.

Fortunately, my spear could fly freely through the air with only a bit of guidance, making it more of a jet-black surface-to-air missile than an RC toy. As I hindered the onslaught of the Earth Dragon’s stone bullets with NTR, I used the brief interval between its attacks to fire my guided missiles again and again from every imaginable direction, trying to find the right spot to attack the dragon’s underbelly. The storm of black missiles continually streaking toward the enormous dragon looked like a scene straight from a kaiju film.

But every single wave was repelled by the barrier.

“No matter what I do, nothing will…” I panted.

There were no gaps to exploit. Moreover, Earth Spear couldn’t even make a dent in its defense. There was a stark, numbing difference in power between my spear and the dragon’s barrier. And here I thought my spear looked so terrifying and possessed such attack power…

Cowering on the bare ground, I stared up at the towering Earth Dragon. My shoulders shook with each heaving breath. This battle might have looked like a stalemate, but it was rapidly worsening for me. I had begun to scrape the bottom of my mana barrel.

The spear sorcery I could do all day, but NTR depleted my stores at an alarming rate each time I very, very slightly shifted the trajectory of the Earth Dragon’s stone bullets. Basically, I was tapped and out of breath. And frankly, I didn’t think I could divert another shot.

Conversely, the Earth Dragon didn’t seem the least bit exhausted.

If this drawn-out battle continued even a few minutes longer, I would burn up all my mana and lose. The moment I could no longer divert the stone bullets, Gol and I would die.

There was nothing left. I had to find an alternative to Earth Spear.

“But even knowing that, what can I do…?”

I needed another path forward, but we were at a dead end.

I had already pushed my Earth spear to its limit, doubling the power of its violent rotations. As long as I couldn’t break through the barrier, there was absolutely no point in chucking an axe or hammer. The other spells in the introductory book included creating a pedestal; grabbing something from a high place; and a simple, disposable toilet to be used outdoors—all useless.

I take that back—pedestal aside, the toilet was actually quite helpful. It was still of absolutely no use against the ancient Earth Dragon.

Suddenly, a certain beginner spell crossed my mind: Create Pebble.

While the other spells in the introductory book came out normally when I cast them, that spell always ballooned into something much larger than the book described. And if I used sorcery to throw that hulking boulder…it might actually crack the dragon’s barrier. At the very least, I knew my “pebble” was consistently far larger than the Earth Dragon’s stone bullet.

But I hadn’t entertained the use value of Create Pebble thus far for a reason: its lengthy creation time. It took a considerable amount of time to complete—by my internal clock, several minutes. Then again, I was typically so freaked out by its ostentatious manifestation—not to mention the consequent destruction—that I felt time slow down whenever I cast it. But even if I took my mental paralysis into consideration, using Create Pebble wasn’t brief.

There was a fixed interval between the Earth Dragon’s bullets. Additionally, it took time to ready its ammunition. And it definitely wouldn’t wait around for me to ready my own. I might need to avoid one or two shots from the Earth Dragon while I prepared my spell.

Was I capable enough to utilize NTR while simultaneously executing spells?

“No choice,” I muttered. My mana supply was nearly tapped; worse, I’d be cutting it close. I didn’t even have time to hesitate.

I pointed my right hand at the ground and focused. “I’m counting on you… Create Pebble!”

I prepared myself for the whirlwind of dirt and torrent of mana. As I did, an awful thought occurred to me: Would I still be able to intercept the Earth Dragon’s stone bullet inside that horrible blinding storm…? This might be even harder than I expected.

Sweat gathered on my brow at this realization, and I focused on the Earth Dragon’s mouth.

Then I noticed something strange. I didn’t feel the usual torrent. No mana-hungry flood, no blinding dirt tornado blocking my view, nothing…

Wait. There was something.

What was it? I panicked and looked at my right hand. I was stunned by what lay there: a pebble, no larger than the tip of my finger.

Why…?

I was profoundly disturbed. Hadn’t my Create Pebble ended with a mountain-sized boulder that demolished its surroundings when I tested it before? My memory wasn’t mistaken; there was no way I could forget. The aftermath of that destruction was where I had planted the seeds of my favorite fruit in this world…and where I buried that poor girl I discovered at the bottom of the well.

Just as my mind was about to go blank, Gol’s stiff fingers desperately grabbed my sleeve. Startled, I looked up.

A sea of dirt particles was gathering in the Earth Dragon’s open mouth.

“NTR!”

An explosion and shockwave rang in my ear. The ground shook beneath me, and a terrible cloud of dust and miasma flashing with purple light blew past. Shards of the stone bullet shattered like buckshot, and one of them cut my forehead, spraying blood everywhere.

“Ugh, damn…”

The sound and shock reverberated in my ears. My vision narrowed and I was horribly dizzy. That had been dangerous. In my stunned state, I was late in diverting the bullet. The stone nearly got us.

Worry kicked me in the gut and I inspected Gol, who was still sheltered in my embrace.

Good… She’s safe.

I lowered my head, relieved. As I did, several drops of blood from my cut fell on her white cheek, staining it red. Something was different about her…

Her eyes were fixed on the bleeding spot on my forehead. Those usually ruby eyes were now a desolate blue.

“Your eyes—” I cut off.

Are you crying, Gol…? Don’t be like that. You’ve lost a whole arm; I’m sure you’re in way more pain.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m fine.”

To be honest, I wasn’t fine at all. But I had to say that. I didn’t want her to cry.

My consciousness was beginning to fade from the fatigue, blood loss, and mana burn. I didn’t think I’d be able to defend against the next shot. I laughed at my sorry state, and the Earth Dragon opened its vast mouth even wider. Particles of dirt gathered once more, forming a rock far larger than the previous one.

Did it intend to end the battle with this attack?

I raised my right hand to engage the Earth Dragon and pushed my concentration to its utmost limit. I’d long since passed the point of caring how much mana I allocated to this maneuver. I mustered all my strength and shouted at the top of my lungs: “N-T-R!”

The Earth Dragon fired; the colossal stone careened toward us. Yet to me, it looked almost like it was coming in slow motion. It was even larger than I had expected. Even at full power, my sorcery couldn’t catch up; the color change crept far too slowly.

Please make it in time. I beg of you. Please, I beg of you.

However, my prayer was in vain. The looming shadow of the rock began to look more and more like the cloak of death. The ungodly huge boulder and its vortex of miasma were upon us.

Ah, no good. I knew it. I couldn’t make it in time.

As I felt the cold hand of death crawl up my back, a single regret crossed my mind: Gol, my precious partner. I’m sorry for not being able to properly protect you…

“Storm Cannon!”

Suddenly, a sphere of whirling wind flew in from the side and collided with the Earth Dragon’s stone bullet. The clash between howling hurricane and terrifying stone sent the brown miasma flurrying in every direction.

For a few glorious seconds, this ball of ferocious wind wedged against the stone and stopped its approach. It even pushed the stone back by precious centimeters. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

However, that was the end of the miracle.

The power of the ancient Earth Dragon’s sorcery was truly fearsome. Once those seconds passed, the whirlwind was overpowered by the boulder’s oppressive strength and dissipated, becoming nothing.

In the end, this sudden eruption of wind couldn’t do anything to mitigate the stone bullet’s inevitable destruction, let alone stop or slow its trajectory. All it did was delay the end by a few seconds.

In a normal fight, this wouldn’t even have been considered buying time. Such a short period of relief would ultimately prove meaningless…

However, this breath was more than enough for me. The giant boulder had turned utterly, completely black.

I looked in the direction the whirlwind had come from. A single person stood on top of a cliff made by the gouged earth, surrounded by miasma. It was a thin middle-aged man in tattered clothes. He wore a pair of cracked glasses and a glittering turquoise crystal earring on his right ear. His hair was horribly disheveled, making him look awfully unreliable. But right now, this man was mesmerizingly cool.

Mister Speria!

Covered in wounds, Mister Speria cried out with all his strength, “Go, Nemaki!”

I turned back to the enemy I had to defeat.

I glared at this dragon the size of mountain ranges. Its thick scales made it unable to move its face. Yet, for the first time, it seemed to have an expression. One I knew. One with which I was very, very familiar. It was like the thing the dragon trusted most had been lost. For example, if its wife of many years had betrayed it with the plumber.

Ah, that expression. To think it could make such a fantastic face.

“That’s right, you damn lizard. I was dying to see that look.” A terrifying voice echoed from deep within my throat. I didn’t even know I could produce those sounds.

I have a confession to make: This behavior was absolutely unbefitting of a reasonable and cultured man, but from the moment I saw Gol crying, I was, frankly, pissed.

“DIE!” I howled.

As if in response to my enraged cry, the black boulder slowly turned over to face the Earth Dragon.

The Earth Dragon flinched and took a dragging step back, as if it were scared. Practically at the same time, the black boulder crashed into its invisible wall. The collision led to a tremendous shockwave that shook the earth and atmosphere. Streams of dirt, miasma, and dust clouds burst into the air. However, I kept my eyes open and continued pushing with my attack.

The move I named NTR was complete when its target turned black. After that moment, I required no mana to manipulate it. Or if I did, it used so little that I barely noticed. But I had poured an absurd amount of mana into the spell before that moment. I didn’t question where the surplus had come from. Just then, I wasn’t thinking of anything besides slaughtering the lizard that made Gol cry.

The jet-black stone pushed the barrier back by a hairsbreadth, and it suddenly began to emit an even darker presence, accompanied by an oozing black miasma. Just as it did, the barrier broke. The miasma-soaked rock slammed into the Earth Dragon’s flank with horrifying velocity. It smashed scales, gouged flesh, and punctured organs, all while dripping that dreadful black.

I locked eyes with the Earth Dragon. In those enormous black voids, I saw a reflection: that of a man wearing a terrible scowl.

Ah, how could that be? I was a cultured man who promoted friendship and love. The face in that darkness was that of a total delinquent.

The Earth Dragon’s eyes were stained with fear and despair. Light vanished from its pupils, and the body of the giant beast swelled before bursting into pieces, sailing upward on an ominous black flash of light.

I watched the ancient Earth Dragon’s last moments with Gol still in my arms. Lacking most of its body, the Earth Dragon slowly toppled to the ground. The remains of its flesh began to slowly crumble. It looked just like my golems and the black demon did when they’d met their end.

While the body largely disappeared, a portion of the old, rotting skeleton remained. The words “half spirit” came to mind, as Mister Speria had said. The part that didn’t disappear had to be the physical body of the Earth Dragon. However, I suspected the rest of the corpse would disintegrate before the end of the day.

I finally turned away and looked over Gol, nestled in my arms. She was quietly staring at my face. I showed her a cheerful smile and said, as casually as I could, “See? There was no need to worry. This is what happens when I get serious.”

Mind you, this was a lie. I was on the verge of dying. Yup, I was bluffing my partner.

Gol’s eyes were red.

Ah, it’s so much better when you’re smiling.