I had no choice but to admit it honestly.
As I watched the Dragon God flying straight at me, the sheer intimidation was undoubtedly the highest I’d ever felt against any foe.
Yeah, intimidation.
Back when I faced the “Earliest Apocalypse,” there was a chill, sticky, and invisible fear that crawled up my spine.
But the Dragon God was a monster with jagged teeth, fierce eyes, and an enormous size.
It was exactly what you’d call a beast that could crush you with its weight.
“Grab the reins tight! When I give the signal, turn right as hard as you can!”
“I got it!”
Even though I tried to stay as calm as possible, an unexpected variable occurred.
The wyvern, terrified by the Dragon God’s enormous presence, turned away in fear.
“Whoa!”
“Hold on a second!”
If I hadn’t been holding Jane, I would have fallen. As the wyvern ran away with its tail between its legs, the Dragon God shouted mockingly.
“Do you dare show your back to me?!”
A roar that shook me to the core. I felt like the flesh of my whole body was being pushed back by just its voice.
But more than that, calming down the wyvern was my priority.
“How do I calm it down?!”
“J-just wait!”
Jane started to gently stroke the wyvern’s head.
Red mana swirled around her hand and as it spread to the wyvern, it began to calm down a bit.
“Phew, I wasn’t sure it would work with a wyvern. Thank goodness.”
“Can you make it go faster than this?”
“I think it might be possible if I use auxiliary magic.”
“……Save the magic.”
I involuntarily swallowed as I kept watching how far the Dragon God had come. It was already right in front of us.
If it could breathe fire, we would all be dead by now.
“This won’t do. Can it climb higher?”
“H-Higher than this?”
“If possible, straight up.”
“Okay, I will try.”
Thanks to Jane’s magic, the calmed wyvern finally began to fly higher towards the cold sky in a perfect straight line.
The cold air was piercing at high altitude. Jane bit her teeth and shouted.
“I think I can’t go any higher!”
“That’s enough! I’ll draw its attention, so create some distance and get ready to use telepathy!”
Below us, Shakallim was approaching with his mouth wide open. His tough scales and massive size seemed unaffected by our altitude.
“You’ll draw its attention?”
Jane exclaimed, confused, but I was already jumping off the wyvern.
“I-I’m crazy!!”
Jane’s scream faded into the distance as I jumped.
“RAAAH!”
And the Dragon God’s maw was approaching.
My original plan was to stop time, land on its tongue, drive my sword into its gums, and hold out for as long as I could.
But that didn’t happen.
My head throbbed painfully, and the power to stop time wouldn’t activate. Overload had hit me.
“Ugh!”
I almost fainted from the intense headache, but with the sharp wind and cold air slapping my face, I grit my teeth and held on.
But no matter what, going into the Dragon’s mouth was the same.
‘Somehow, I’ll endure!’
Swinging my sword with the little mana I had left, I tried to twist my body, but—
Vrrrrrrr!
The sword reacted to my mana, suddenly stretching out with a metallic sound.
“What the hell?!”
My genuine surprise slipped out as I involuntarily cursed. The blade extended like a chain, bending freely like a whip.
At this point, it made more sense to view it as a chain with a blade attached rather than a sword.
Anyway.
Unexpectedly, I swung the chain sword just before it fell onto the Dragon’s tongue and wedged it into its gums.
Dangling there.
But this was inside its mouth.
Its enormous tongue was about to swallow me whole.
Mana was running low.
The mana lodged in the sword evaporated.
Vrrrrr!
The sword began to revert to its original form. Luckily, the blade part was stuck firmly in the gums, pulling me in that direction.
Thanks to that, I managed to safely reach the gums.
“Wow, this is insane.”
Honestly, I was shocked.
I had no idea such a sword existed.
Sorry to the Chokugen Faction leader, but it looked like it would become mine.
I drove the sword into the Dragon’s gums a couple more times, feeling like a cavity-causing germ.
Its tongue came roaring to swallow me, but I slashed at it a few times, and a part of its tongue ended up getting cut off, causing it to retreat.
‘Staying here won’t deal any real damage.’
I squeezed out of the Dragon’s lips and was immediately hit by the raging winds.
How dare you mock a god?!
The commotion I caused inside its mouth seemed to annoy the Dragon God, who yelled at me.
Gathering mana, it began blasting spells at me.
It seemed like it was getting the hang of manipulating its mana again, as blue flames the size of a person lunged at me.
I thought avoiding them wouldn’t be that hard, but up here in the fierce winds, staying balanced was more difficult than I expected, so I jumped straight up, and the Dragon God’s body cut through the fierce winds like a carriage.
My body twisted in the wind, but its fireballs lost track of me and floated in the space I had just vacated.
The body of the Dragon God, from its head to neck, back, and waist, passed by me. I infused my sword with mana and reached out.
I felt dizzy from overexertion, but with the mana, the blade pierced the Dragon God’s back. Naturally, as the mana disappeared, I was able to climb onto its back just as before.
Since it was so big, it didn’t even notice that I was on it, searching for where I’d fallen.
I pushed my sword in with all my might and finally pierced its scales.
Thunk! Crunch!
“Wow, this sword is really good!”
With an ordinary sword, I would have broken trying to penetrate this scale, but even if it struggled a bit, it went through reliably.
I decided to call it a chain sword.
“You little bug!”
Feeling pain from the sword stuck in its back, the Dragon God realized I was clinging to it and began gathering mana again. I thought how inconvenient it must be for lizards in situations like this.
Because they can’t scratch their own backs.
Boom!
“Whoa!”
I thought, but then a massive tail slammed down beside me.
It had swung its tail towards its back while drawing in mana.
As luck would have it, its aim was still off due to it not fully regaining its senses, or I’d have been squished.
Anyway, since I was already here, I decided to slice the Dragon’s tail too.
The tail alone should be enough to create a calamity, so I tried to cut it, but the thickness made only a cut’s worth of damage. Still, that was enough to cause the Dragon God, who had been lying in pain, to suffer more.
Are you okay? Where are you?
At that moment, Jane’s telepathy rang in my head.
I couldn’t reply since I was too busy dodging, but she sounded frustrated.
Are you really unable to use telepathy? We’re hiding behind the heel!
I turned my head slightly and spotted the wyvern floating like a speck in the sky.
Just knowing the direction to escape felt sufficient. Maybe Jane could only hold her position and do that much.
How foolish of bugs to have their secret rendezvous in the face of destruction!
The Dragon God interrupted our telepathy, swiping its tail at the wyvern.
Waaah!
A scream echoed through the telepathy, spreading like an infection.
The wyvern managed to dodge by diving inward, following my instructions.
Both Jane and the wyvern reached me as I was clinging to the Dragon’s back.
It worked out well, so I shouted at the top of my lungs.
“We’re lacking in destructive power! Think it through and circle back!”
“What?! D-Didn’t hear—!”
The wind drowned out her voice. With the wyvern unable to come closer, I shouted again.
“Circle back!”
“I can’t hear—!”
“Open your ears, you dolt! Circle back!”
“What? Dolt?!”
Once I called her dumb, she finally understood and snapped back, steering the wyvern.
While that was happening, I had work to do.
‘With my current strength, I can hardly land a solid blow.’
I could deal some damage and pain, but nothing fatal.
To make the Dragon God truly realize the gravity of the situation, I had to present a danger to its life.
First, I twisted my body toward its wings.
Fighting in the air seemed impossible, but just as I thought that, the Dragon God started sweeping its spells and tail like it knew.
Having my sword lodged in its scales prevented me from falling and made dodging difficult.
In the end, I had no choice but to allow a few of its spells to hit me.
Are you okay?!
Jane’s voice rang out in my mind.
It seemed she noticed as I got hit with magic.
Dragoness! Do you defy me till the end? How I regret revealing the heaviest secret to you!
The Dragon God once again interrupted our telepathy.
I could almost hear Jane swallowing hard from the tension.
And then—
Don’t joke with me! When I lent you my name as a god, you acted as if you were disappointed and pretended to sleep! Not knowing this secret would have been better!
Jane’s outburst came forth.
Normally, hers shouldn’t have lasted this long, but thanks to the interruption from the Dragon God, the connection felt completely open.
You told me to create a nest in Laretot, and the locals burned down centuries-old villages! But you crushed everything with your breath because you didn’t like the nest!
I heard that the Dragon God had been sleeping for hundreds of years, so perhaps this was a history even the Dragoness had never experienced.
She began reciting history like a top student.
You told your people to gather gold, and every dragon collected gold for you. Even reopening sealed mines filled with magical beasts cost countless dragon lives.
Yet, you are still unsatisfied and greedy for gold! Do you know how much blood is on that gold you have, meant simply for decoration?
I’d heard dragons had always been greedy. From jewels and gold to beautiful luxuries, it was one of their intuitive reasons for living through their long lives.
You shout at me just because a little bug’s blood is smeared! You don’t know how many external threats I protected you from!
I know! The Battle of Shulitz! The Battle of Beleos Hill! The magical beast flood in the Salaman Sea! You saved us during the Great War where your kin were almost wiped out by humans!
Knowing that……!
Exactly because I know! We worshipped you and treated you like a god because you protected us until now!
I infused my sword with mana, taking advantage of the Dragon God’s focus on its argument with Jane.
The chain sword revealed its true form again.
You might have protected us for your own satisfaction, but you saved us! That’s why we served you, worshipped you, and followed you!
A plea filled with frustration erupted.
Since Jane was someone closest to the Dragon God, her resentment and turmoil pierced through our telepathy.
And for hundreds of years! We waited for you! You left us to rot out of boredom! Without proper traditions, institutions, or worship methods, all sorts of bizarre things sprang up!
She seemed to be referring to bizarre hybrids like a dragon combining the words of a dragon and a wyvern and building inefficient structures modeled after dragons.
Enough!
I swung the chain sword to score a hit on the attachment between the Dragon’s wings. It was still notably thinner than its other body parts, but it was still challenging to attack properly.
So I coiled my chain sword around it and allowed myself to get propelled into the sky.
The tightly coiled chain sword tightened due to my weight.
The Dragon God seemed to feel the pain and desperately tried to react, but it was already too late.
Jane arrived with tears streaming down her face, reaching out to me.
Forget the Dragon God and live! We will live our own lives! We no longer need a god like you!
Mana flowed through Jane’s hand into me. Instantly, the chain sword grew even longer, and I was able to mount the wyvern.
I quickly tied the safety strap from the wyvern’s saddle around my waist, patting Jane on the back.
“Fly at full speed!”
I turned away, positioning myself on the wyvern with all my strength in my legs. It was my time to shine.
“You’ve worked hard, but just once more. Just one more time!”
Jane’s magic seeped into the wyvern again, and it began to fly away from the Dragon at its max speed.
The chain sword bound to the wings tightened even more. I felt like my arms might pop out, like my muscles might rupture.
It pulled so hard that I could feel smoke rising from my palms where my flesh was burning.
Jane was holding the reins and cast auxiliary magic on me while also gripping the sword’s hilt.
“Are you…! Feeling good?”
“Is that the time to ask?!”
I forced a smile because I probably wouldn’t get another chance to ask.
“If that’s all you thought would comfort me, it really sucks.”
Wiping her tears, the Dragoness put on a bright smile.
“Like you said, if we’re dragons, let’s crawl on the ground.”
The Dragoness tied a few more safety straps around my waist. In the end, she even unclipped her own safety strap and tied it to me.
“Daniel!”
Unable to withstand the pulling force, I fell off the wyvern’s back, but dozens of strong safety straps still connected us, and the chain sword linked me to the Dragon’s wing.
“Keep flying!”
My waist felt like it would break, and my insides felt like they were about to rupture.
The wyvern couldn’t fly properly, flapping its wings violently but almost remaining in place, but our tug-of-war continued.
CRACK!
The sound of a colossal tree crashing shook the sky.
“GUAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
The Dragon God’s roar echoed, sending clouds scattering as one of its wings was severed, blood spraying into the sea.
The massive body of the Dragon God began to lose balance and fell.
Literally.
A god was falling.
