I'm Not an Earthworm, I'm an Earth Dragon

This was the first time I had ever felt such pressure from a mere gaze. Perhaps it was because the light was dim, making only the orange eyes stand out. Those gleaming eyes were filled with rage.

All that anger, searching for a target, was now directed at me. Ereshkigal, enraged to the point where a person could die from anger alone, was clearly emanating killing intent.

Her elongated body trembled as if ready to pounce at any moment, and her forelegs were clenched so tightly that the ground between her claws was crumbling.

Her tail was also thrashing threateningly, carving up the ground just like her forelegs. I wondered if I had touched a nerve, but I quickly corrected that thought.

My father would try to kill me in earnest, too. If I wanted to use this fight as a lesson, the other side had to be serious as well.

“…I ask this as your follower. Does that statement exclude you from what you said before… can I take it that way?”

I could feel magic power so intense that the horn beneath my feet trembled. As if the aim was already set, golden magical light was emanating from the ground.

Looking around, I saw that my companions had already scrambled up the slope. The only things here were that dragon and the product of her twisted obsession.

I met Myungho’s worried gaze and recalled what he had said. If things got really dangerous, he would tell the dragon to stop.

That’s reassuring. Really.

“Of course. Come at me with the intent to kill.”

As soon as I finished speaking, I felt the ground beneath me surge as if a rock was about to burst forth. It seemed like she was trying to kill me right from the start.

“…I’ll tear you apart until not even a soul remains to head to the underworld, you mongrel!!!”

I channeled my magic into the ground, forcibly stopping the rock that was about to surge. Just doing that made scales sprout from my hands. This wasn’t going to be easy.

However, the dragon, without any hesitation, moved its massive body and tried to crush me with the blade-like appendage on its tail.

I simultaneously drew my greatsword from the earth and leaped to the side to avoid the attack. I could probably block it somehow, but something would definitely break.

The dragon showed no signs of stopping its assault, pre-positioning another rock spike where I was about to land. This time, there was no gap to channel my magic, so I had to take it with my body.

I held up my greatsword diagonally like a shield and covered the hand holding the greatsword with scales to prepare for the impact.

Even though the tip of the sword was dulled as it was split in half, there was no avoiding the heavy impact on my arm.

I managed to avoid rolling awkwardly upon landing and regained my stance, only to have a hand immediately slamdown from above.

I narrowly avoided being crushed, then quickly created a blade and struck at the finger joints.

And it didn’t leave a single scratch. I hadn’t expected to inflict a wound with just that, but the reality was daunting. How could I possibly wound something like that?

The dragon immediately scraped the ground with its hand, trying to smash me. I jumped to avoid it, and rocks shot up from where the claws had passed. I hastily covered my feet with scales to prevent the spikes that pierced my soles from protruding from my pelvis, but I couldn’t avoid being thrown back by the impact.

I immediately leaped forward upon landing, but a wall of rock rose up, and the surface exploded, spewing rock fragments at me like buckshot.

I enveloped my body in magic to block the rock fragments, but then the tail swept across the ground, trying to smash both me and the wall. I jumped up again to avoid it.

Then, again, rock spears rained down on me.

Ereshkigal was repeating really simple attacks, but there was no way to counter them. I had no way to stop her from just relying on her absurdly sturdy body and massive size.

If I tried to use my abilities, she would surely interfere and block them. And, most importantly, the land was already overflowing with her magic, so it wouldn’t move according to my will.

Above all, I couldn’t receive the protection of magic while using my abilities. If I tried to use them, I could be instantly turned into a bloody pulp by the rocks flying from all directions.

Unlike me, whose damage was steadily accumulating, the dragon showed no signs of fatigue and was preparing another attack by channeling magic into the earth.

“…Is there no other way…”

The invisibility cloak wouldn’t be of much help either. Just because my appearance disappeared didn’t mean the vibrations would disappear as well. Most of what I could do, she could probably do too.

If only I could get close somehow, but every time I tried, her size and the rocks blocked me. As I was pondering, an idea came to mind.

I channeled magic into the cloak to conceal my appearance, then infused magic into my legs and ran forward with all my might.

Seeing the dragon’s confusion as both my appearance and vibrations disappeared, I sensed that I had succeeded. If she wasn’t in the center of the pit, she would have been firing rock fragments in all directions to stop me.

But the dragon just widened its eyes and scattered magic in all directions, searching for me.

That’s right. No matter how crazy she was or how consumed by rage, she wouldn’t throw rocks at her beloved. My joints were about to be twisted, so I wanted to end this somehow.

As I clung to her head, the dragon immediately started slamming her head against the walls and the ground, going berserk to shake me off.

I dug my claws into her carapace and held on, determined not to fall off no matter what. The dragon, who had been occasionally scratching at her own eyes with her forelegs to dislodge me, seemed to have calmed down a bit, perhaps exhausted.

Taking advantage of the lull, I forced open her eyelid and stabbed at her eyeball with my hand.

This part wasn’t as tough. When I pulled out my hand, blood spurted out, and I heard an ear-splitting roar.

One down. But before I could destroy the other eye, the dragon regained its strength and, ignoring the tearing of its eyelid by its own claws, pried me off and slammed me to the ground with its full weight.

The pain of my body being crushed made me scream, but I hated the thought of losing control. I wanted to fight to the end with my own will.

The dragon, not satisfied with just pinning me down, dragged me along the ground with all its might and slammed me into the wall.

…

I was still conscious. My joints were twisted, my horn was extended, and my whole body was covered in scales, yet I was still conscious.

Why? I could think about that later. There was only one thing to do now. I subtly channeled my magic into the earth and burrowed underground.

The dragon, thinking it was over, reacted late and started mixing up the earth nearby. I was already long gone, so I wasn’t going to be ground up in there.

In the meantime, I seemed to have recovered somewhat. The pain that felt like my bones were broken was gone, and my body was overflowing with strength. But I was still at a disadvantage.

Even if I had become stronger, it wasn’t enough to deal with that size. My durability had improved, but I was still in danger if I got hit properly by the tail swing.

I avoided the spikes that shot up from below and, like before,became invisible and charged towards the head, but the dragon encased itself in a dome of rounded rocks, blocking me.

As soon as I touched the dome, it sensed my vibrations, compressed the rocks forming the dome, and then detonated them.

Thinking something might be different now, I poured the overflowing magic directly into the earth and tried to make a giant spear rise from under the dragon, but, as expected, it was blocked just before it could emerge.

My means of approach were blocked. Attacks were ineffective. Blocking wasn’t the answer. The frenzy would eventually subside, and if I tried to attack from a distance with the overflowing magic, it would be blocked.

There had to be a way. There must be a way.

…There was something, one thing.

I had never been conscious during a frenzy before, so I couldn’t recall it until now. But there was one method etched in my blood, in my instincts.

I exhale.

I gather the magic not in my horn, but in my heart.

I collect and compress all the metals in my body to a dangerous degree, melting them within me.

For the first time in my life, I use magic not to infuse or use abilities, but to cast a spell.

Magic circles of unknown meaning appear before me.

“…No way, it can’t be. A mere mongrel, a mere mongrel can’t use that…!!”

The dragon, realizing what I was about to do, was horrified and hurriedly channeled its magic, but it was already too late.

I inhale until my lungs feel like they’re about to burst, then, following my instincts, I forcefully exhale.

──────────!!!!!!!!!!!!!

– – – –

The beam of red light emitted by Altera illuminated the darkness that had descended upon the underworld, completely vaporizing the dragon’s upper jaw.

Whatever that was, the dragon, having lost more than half of its head, collapsed with an absurdly anticlimactic thud.

“…Did I get it?”

I knew it was a cliché, but I couldn’t help but say it. Honestly, from the moment we started exchanging blows, I was sure I had lost, but I didn’t expect to outright kill it.

“D-did… did the dragon just die…? Was that thing really not a dragon…? Or… a dragon…”

Yuna, witnessing the shocking scene, couldn’t speak properly and was just babbling incoherently. Only Akash was staring at the dead dragon’s corpse with a blank expression.

“…Breath, huh. For a mere hybrid to use something like that… Impressive. Myungho, prepare yourself. That thing isn’t dead yet.”

Breath. I’ve definitely heard of it. Among dragons, there are exceptionally powerful individuals who can use their breath as a weapon.

It is said that their breath can bring down kingdoms and melt mountains.

I thought such flowery language was just the usual exaggerated boasting of bards. But seeing that just now, I realized it wasn’t a lie.

“…Wait, it’s not dead?”

My thoughts seemed to have buffered. Akash’s words “it’s not dead” only registered much later. And as soon as I said “it’s not dead,” the fallen dragon suddenly raised its upper body and grabbed Altera.