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Chapter 191 : Dwarf (3)
Chapter 191: Dwarf (3)
A cavern so vast it was hard to believe it lay Underground (Space/Passage).
Within a space wide enough to fit even a noble’s mansion, a dragon was roaring.
“Target its horns! That’s its weak point!”
“You never said anything about a dragon!”
“You can do it!”
Niaroti sent encouragement that was anything but helpful as he hid himself.
Aelin tried to grab him, but he had already vanished without a trace.
“Robin, what are you going to do.”
“For now, we scout first…….”
Kwa-kwang!
Sigbard hoisted Serena onto his back, while Robin and Aelin rolled to the side.
The dragon’s tail writhed where they had just been standing.
“Looks like we’ve got no choice but to fight.”
“Tch! Everyone, spread out!”
Sigbard and Serena, Robin, and Aelin each scattered in three different directions.
According to the strategy Niaroti had explained, gathering in one place was unwise.
“Hey! Dragon! Don’t get mad for no reason—let’s talk!”
Sigbard shouted loudly, but it had no effect whatsoever.
“Kwaaaaaaaah!”
“Aren’t dragons supposed to be creatures you can reason with!”
Most people would never encounter a dragon in their lifetime, and so dismissed their existence as legend.
Even so, it was generally believed that dragons could speak and were beings capable of communication.
Sigbard’s question was entirely reasonable.
But there was no one to answer it.
The dragon before them raged as though it knew nothing of conversation.
Just as it tried to slam its claws down toward Sigbard—
Piyuuuuung!
An arrow shot by Aelin pierced straight through the dragon’s hand.
It was a powerful shot capable of penetrating even its tough hide, yet considering the dragon’s size, it seemed little more than a needle prick.
An attack that amounted to nothing more than a sting only fanned the dragon’s anger.
“Aquila, restrain the dragon’s movements.”
An Eagle-Shaped Spirit appeared and beat its wings powerfully.
A whirlwind swirled around the dragon, causing it to falter for a moment.
But only for a moment.
Its wings, larger even than the spirit, snapped wide open, and a gust of wind surged in the opposite direction of the whirlwind.
The wind Serena had raised quickly died down, and the dragon’s eyes turned toward her.
Its vertically slit pupil set within a scarlet iris was the eye of a predator.
“Get behind me!”
Sigbard stepped in front of Serena and spun Beivolg at high speed.
The rod drawing circles became a sturdy shield in itself.
“Krrraaaah!”
Unfortunately, Sigbard’s response had little effect.
The dragon opened its mouth wide, and its neck swelled.
“Don’t block it—dodge!”
When Sigbard looked back, it was just a little too late to evade.
Serena’s lips moved as she summoned spirits.
Water, earth, wind, fire. She manifested no fewer than four spirits at once and prepared her defense.
At last, the breath was unleashed.
Kwaaaaaaaaaaaah!
A pale steam burst forth as if they had stepped into a hot spring.
The water barrier evaporated instantly, and a searing heat wave engulfed the two of them.
They were swallowed by flames in an instant.
“Sigbard! Serena!”
Robin swung his sword anxiously.
Red Light Fighting Spirit surged toward the dragon.
Aelin’s arrow also traced a line through the air, aiming for the dragon’s Heart.
As fierce attacks came from different directions, the breath stopped.
“Are you two alright?!”
He stirred up a gust of sword wind to clear the smoke, revealing the silhouettes of Sigbard and Serena.
He watched with bated breath, fearing the worst.
One second that felt like an hour passed, and at the sound of a sharp intake of breath, Robin felt relief.
“Khuuuuuuuup!”
Sigbard sucked in the surrounding air in great gulps.
Then, as he moved as if nothing had happened, his charred skin flaked off like powder.
“Cough! Cough! We’re fine over here.”
Fortunately, Serena was safe as well.
Though her clothes were clearly scorched, she remained alive without serious injury.
“Robin! Aelin’s in danger!”
The moment the dragon confirmed the two were safe, it chose its next target.
It was clear which of the attacks launched by Robin and Aelin from either side had been more lethal.
The Fighting Spirit that had extended from Robin’s sword left only a shallow wound on the dragon’s forearm.
Meanwhile, dark red blood streamed from a small hole in the center of its chest.
It had barely missed the Heart.
Though Aelin’s arrows did not have a wide impact range, each shot was threatening.
Buuuuuuung!
The dragon swung its left hand diagonally upward.
Though it failed to strike Aelin directly, a fierce gale arose from the motion alone.
An ordinary human would have struggled to keep balance, but Aelin’s senses had long surpassed the ordinary.
She flipped three times in midair before landing, evading the attack as if mocking it.
“Over here! Dragon!”
Robin approached the dragon and slashed his sword.
It was an extremely dangerous act, but it was effective.
The dragon, which had been pounding the ground where Aelin darted about as if trying to crush a mole, turned its head toward Robin.
“Niaroti was right! Remember the strategy!”
Before they faced the dragon,
Niaroti had instructed them to attack in turn from different directions to draw its attention.
He had said it would work since its intelligence was not very high.
Unlike the dragon of imagination, the one before them truly shifted its focus with surprising ease.
Ssssk—!
Just as breath was about to rush toward Robin—
Sigbard struck the dragon’s leg with full force.
Though to the dragon he was no more than a gnat in size, the strength Sigbard delivered was not something to ignore.
The dragon’s body tilted momentarily, and the breath shot off in a completely different direction.
“Urvea, drop the rocks.”
Before Serena could even finish speaking, the head of a bear burst out from the ceiling.
It roared directly above the dragon, and large, sharp rock fragments jutted out like icicles.
Just before its claws came crashing down on Sigbard—
Dozens of rocks poured from the ceiling like a sudden downpour.
“Kwoooaaaar!”
The attack unleashed by the earth spirit proved fairly effective, as rock fragments embedded themselves into the dragon’s back.
It lashed its claws uselessly at the ceiling, but the spirit had already vanished.
“Good! Keep it up like this!”
Niaroti’s strategy was working far better than expected.
If his advice had not been empty words, then the claim that the dragon’s weak point was its horns must also be true.
As they took turns one by one to stall for time, they began to grasp what they needed to do.
“This time it’s my turn! Look over here, dragon!”
When Sigbard disrupted the dragon’s balance, Serena dropped rocks over its head.
When it lifted its head toward the ceiling, Aelin fired arrows.
When it swung its tail and forearm in an attempt to catch Aelin, Robin sliced at its hide.
Within the repeating pattern, they gradually increased the number of attacks aimed at the dragon’s horns.
Just like its Heart, they must have been a vital point, for even in its frenzied state the dragon thrashed wildly to protect its horns.
However, time was not on the dragon’s side.
Zeeeeeeung!
An arrow fired by Aelin finally struck the dragon’s Heart.
No matter how powerful a dragon was, it seemed guarding both its Heart and its horns at the same time was too much.
Clutching its chest in an attempt to stem the gushing blood, the dragon’s end was not so different from that of a human.
“Krrraaaah…….”
It tried to unleash one final breath, but even that was thwarted by the water spirit Serena had summoned.
Robin climbed atop the staggering dragon’s head.
He intended to cut off its horns to ensure a definitive end.
After sheathing his sword and taking a stance to deliver a clean cut with a draw slash—
The dragon’s eyes flashed and locked directly onto Robin.
With a nauseating lurch in his lower abdomen, his vision flipped upside down.
Kwaang!
Gathering its last remaining strength, the dragon slammed its head into the ground.
He wondered what it was trying to do at this point, but cracks spread rapidly from the spot where it struck.
“Robin! Are you unharmed!”
To the dragon’s regret, Robin was not crushed against the ground.
However, as it had all happened in an instant, his head rang slightly.
“I’m fine!”
“The dragon has fallen! We’ve won—!”
Sigbard’s voice was cut off midway.
The dragon’s belly swelled, and the surrounding air grew scorching hot.
“This is bad.”
Though none of them had heard that a dragon exploded upon death, they all realized it at once.
Serena created water barriers for her companions, but Robin could not feel reassured.
After all, he was the closest to it.
In the slowed passage of time, he watched the dragon’s belly turn redder by the moment, and cold sweat streamed down his face.
The instant a drop of sweat fell from his chin and touched the ground—
Chwararararararak!
Something grabbed the back of his neck and yanked him violently.
Peeeeooong!
With a deafening explosion, blazing flames filled the cavern.
The cracked ground collapsed, and the massive body sank downward—just as expected.
Even as they fell, Sigbard, Aelin, and Serena did not panic but instead slowed their descent in preparation for landing.
While everyone else fell deep underground,
Robin alone was pulled back up toward the entrance they had come through.
Thud. Kuguuuuuung.
The thunderous crash from the completely sunken ground jolted Robin’s senses awake.
In a moment where he might have died,
The one who saved him was not his companions, but someone else.
“You weren’t too late. That was quite dangerous.”
“Niaroti, what was that just now.”
“Ah, this?”
Niaroti tugged at his left hand.
Something occurred that could never happen within the structure of a human body.
Clank.
Niaroti was not a human made of flesh and blood.
Where bones should have been, what connected to his hand was a chain.
His extended hand even moved freely in that state.
“…What are you.”
“This is why I tried to hide it, tsk……. But now that you’ve seen it, it can’t be helped. I modified my body. More than half of it is made of this kind of iron.”
“That’s even possible……?”
“I may not look it, but I’m quite handy.”
“That’s not something you can explain so simply.”
“Shouldn’t you first thank the one who saved your life?”
There were many things he wanted to question, but Robin closed his mouth.
Niaroti was right.
He had indeed saved him from the explosion.
“Thank you for saving me.”
“Just as expected. A polite young man.”
“Still, let’s make one thing clear. Did you know this would happen.”
The timing with which he had saved Robin was far too precise.
It would have been impossible without prior expectation and preparation.
“No, I didn’t know the ground would collapse. I certainly didn’t expect that spirit mage friend of yours to summon an earth spirit to that extent.”
“So you were watching the whole time.”
“Indeed. I wanted to see with my own eyes how you fight. And…….”
Niaroti reattached his left hand to its original position and looked down at the sunken ground.
“Not just you—your companions were impressive as well. They far exceeded my expectations.”
“You said we could do it, yet you didn’t believe in us.”
“To be honest, I had my doubts.”
A hollow laugh escaped Robin.
Niaroti had known the danger of the dragon.
Yet he had made the contract as if it were nothing.
Robin suppressed his irritation at having been deceived.
If the hedgehog-shaped earth spirit had not nudged at his feet, he might have revealed his Killing Intent.
“All three of them are safe?”
The hedgehog nodded and scurried about.
The words it scratched into the ground were simple.
[See you at the Dwarf Kingdom]
When Robin glanced at Niaroti, he shrugged.
“I have no intention of breaking the contract. It’s a pity I couldn’t collect parts from the corpse, but it’s not going anywhere. I can retrieve them later.”
“You’re going to escort me?”
“That’s right. Do you object?”
If Serena said they would meet at the Dwarf Kingdom, it meant there was a path below.
If he could descend, there would be no need to follow Niaroti.
Just as he considered recklessly going down, the hedgehog scratched letters into the ground again.
[Don’t even think about coming down]
Whatever the reason, if it said that much, it was better to follow.
Though his trust in Niaroti had wavered, the man had never shown malice.
The contract remained valid.
“Alright. Niaroti, guide me to the Dwarf Kingdom.”
“As you command.”
After patting the hedgehog once, it spun in a circle and slipped into the ground.
It would convey Robin’s intentions to Serena.
“This way.”
Niaroti moved ahead confidently along the path that branched into several directions.
Robin prayed inwardly that they would reunite safely at the end of this path, never letting his guard down.