Chapter 24

Having lost one of its hind legs, the dragon couldn’t maintain its balance and toppled over. It began to thrash about wildly, flailing its tail and front legs. Every minor movement sent tremors through the earth. I retreated to avoid being caught in the carnage. If I took a direct hit, I risked being blown far away, which would leave Alice and the dwarves vulnerable to attack—the most undesirable outcome.

The tide of battle was in our favor. There was no need to rush; I just had to finish it off steadily. As long as I repeated my attacks at the right timing, victory was assured.

I pulled the pin on an Adhesive Bomb and threw it. The bomb struck the dragon’s belly and detonated. The blast itself was only powerful enough to singe the surface, but in its place, the jelly substance scattered and adhered to various parts of its body. Now, the creature was vulnerable to magic. In other words, attacks accompanied by mana would be more effective—and that included my fantasy-style bombs.

Maintaining my distance from the dragon, I shouted back toward Alice and the dwarves.

“Third volley! Let ’em have it!”

A guidance pattern was projected onto the dragon’s other wing—the one that hadn’t been damaged yet—as the creature struggled to stand. Missiles swarmed toward it without mercy. This time, the dragon didn’t even have the leeway to intercept; every single round hit home.

Explosive flames raged. The dragon shrieked in agony as its wing was torn beyond recognition. Flight was now a lost cause. It wouldn’t be able to escape. The scenario where it took to the skies to flee once cornered would have been a headache, but it seemed that concern was now resolved.

Despite being covered in wounds, the dragon forced itself up. It was bleeding from everywhere, its scales peeled away to reveal raw flesh. Countless areas were scorched, and the stump of its severed hind leg prodded the ground. It looked as if it could die at any moment. Yet, the hatred radiating from it hadn’t withered in the slightest. The dragon hadn’t given up. I felt inclined to respect such tremendous tenacity.

The dragon took a running start and leaped. Following a parabolic trajectory, it plummeted toward exactly where I was standing—a crushing attack relying on its massive weight. It was doing well for a creature that had lost a leg.

I sprinted to escape the impact zone. Seconds later, the dragon’s landing triggered an earthquake. The storm-like shockwave easily lifted me off my feet and sent me flying.

“Whoa!”

Tossed about by the sand and wind, I squinted to control my posture. Timing it right, I performed a rolling landing. After sliding across the ground with the momentum, I made my way back to Alice and the dwarves.

Laughing, I jerked my thumb toward the dragon. “See? Now that we’ve actually tried it, killing it looks easy, doesn’t it? It’s already half-dead. It’s not some invincible opponent.”

There was no response from the dwarves. Every one of them looked bewildered. What a pathetic bunch. Don’t they feel any pride in having pushed a dragon this far?

I snatched a large-caliber rifle from one of the dwarves and fired it at the dragon. A dull metallic crack echoed. The bullet struck the dragon’s face, splitting scales and flesh to send a spray of blood flying. Even from this distance, I could wound it. As expected, the dragon was weakening.

“See? It’s just a wild animal. No need to be afraid. It’s like a stray dog that’s just a little bit big.”

Even after I demonstrated this and questioned the dwarves again, I still received no reaction. They averted their eyes, looking awkward. I had no idea what was bothering them. Well, fine. Now wasn’t the time for playing diplomat anyway.

The bleeding dragon slowly raised its neck. There was no sign of it dying yet. It was more stubborn than I thought; it seemed to possess an extraordinary vitality that matched its appearance.

‘…No, something’s wrong.’

I narrowed my eyes and observed closely. White smoke was rising from the parts of the dragon’s body that had been hit by the missiles. The scorched, blackened flesh was writhing, swelling up to seal the wounds. Before long, the bleeding stopped, and the shredded wings began to gradually regain their original shape. A supernatural phenomenon was transforming the dragon’s entire body.

“Regeneration ability. It seems it activated it after sensing a mortal threat. It will likely be able to move again soon,” Alice explained nonchalantly.

Come to think of it, I’d heard that they had such a biological trait. To put it plainly, this was the dragon getting serious now that it was cornered—ultra-high-speed recovery that disregarded mana consumption. This was incredibly troublesome. If it went on a suicidal rampage, we’d be forced to take significant damage. If possible, I wanted to end this with zero casualties, but that was becoming difficult.

“Our best bet is to either keep dealing damage that exceeds its regeneration speed or destroy a vital spot for an instant kill,” Alice noted.

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I prepared this.”

I rummaged through the golem car and pulled out a silver gauntlet. It was a piece of arm armor, prepared only for the left arm.

Along the forearm from the back of the hand to the elbow, a flat box-like apparatus was attached. From a distance, it might have looked like a small shield—just the right size to block an incoming blow. However, this was no shield. Its application was the polar opposite.

I slid the gauntlet onto my left arm and opened and closed my fingers. After confirming there were no issues with its movement, I readjusted my grip on the massive nata in my right hand. Now, my equipment was complete. This was my genuine trump card for facing a dragon.

“Right then, I’m going to finish this.”

“Be careful,” Alice said.

I sprinted toward the dragon. In the short time that had passed, it had already recovered slightly. It was pulling itself back from the brink of death. However, one of its legs remained severed halfway down, and both its wings were far from functional. Most of its mobility appeared to be lost. I decided to focus on a combat style that exploited that weakness.

As I mapped out my movements in my mind, the dragon suddenly leaped. Spinning mid-air, it swung its tail down, driving it with the force of centrifugal force.

“You’re still trying to pull off reckless moves in that state…!”

I could keenly feel its stubborn, gluttonous will to survive. Coexisting with that will was a significant amount of murderous intent directed at me. Of course, I didn’t have the slightest intention of letting it win.

As the tail came crashing down from above, I swung my nata upward in a high guard. A piercing, sharp sound of impact rang out. The sheer force of the blow caused the ground beneath my feet to collapse slightly.

“Wh-whoa?”

With a sharp crack, a fissure ran through the nata. The crack spread across the blade in seconds. It seemed guarding against the tail was a mistake. At this rate, the strike would break through my defense. Realizing this, I poured enough strength into the hilt to nearly crush it and swung the nata in a flashing horizontal arc to push back.

“Hyaaah!”

With a spray of sparks and shaved-off scales, I knocked the tail’s trajectory to the side. The parried tail tore into the earth. The spot where it had collided with the nata was deeply gouged. Fresh blood began to seep into the cracks in the ground.

I tossed aside the nata, which had snapped cleanly in two. It had reached its durability limit just now. Alice would be angry with me later; she had warned me not to use it recklessly. Since I had broken that rule quite spectacularly, I resigned myself to the lecture.

The dragon, having landed from its leap, stumbled heavily. It was likely the effect of the missing hind leg. Taking advantage of the opening, I jumped onto its tail and ran upward without looking back. Before it could interfere, I transitioned from the tail to its back. I gripped the scales with the gauntlet on my left hand to ensure I wasn’t thrown off.

From there, I scrambled up like I was rock climbing. Moving from the back to the long neck, I gradually approached the dragon’s head. The dragon was slow to react to me, groaning in agony. It was being peppered by missile fire and rifle snipes from the dwarves at a distance. They were relentlessly battering the dragon’s defenseless torso and feet. It seemed Alice was fulfilling her role as the guide by projecting patterns onto precise locations.

“Nice assist.”

Using the time they bought me, I reached the dragon’s head in one burst. I pulled my face right up to the dragon’s right eye, which was as beautiful as a crystal. Its vertical pupil dilated to its limit. We were at a distance where we could have kissed.

Flashing a gentle smile, I raised my left arm with the gauntlet. I flipped a lever on the side to release the safety lock. Then, with my fist clenched, I aimed it straight at the dragon’s right eye.

“A Christmas present from me. Savor it, okay?”

I gave my fist a light shove. A heavy recoil traveled through my left arm. An explosive boom thundered from the flat box attached to the gauntlet. A blade, ejected at high speed from the interior, pierced through the dragon’s right eye. The blade buried itself completely inside the eyeball. Vitreous fluid sprayed from the punctured eye.

The dragon wailed. Clinging to its head, I grimaced at the excessive volume. I should have prepared earplugs. Despite my internal complaint, I couldn’t hide a genuine smile.

This gauntlet and box were a blade-launching device. Using an internal explosive charge and a magical mechanism, it could attack just as it had now. It was similar to a weapon commonly known as a pile bunker. I had figured that to instantly kill a regenerating dragon, crushing its brain through the eye socket was the best method. This pile bunker was the result of that idea. I had brought it as a one-hit-kill weapon, and I was glad it proved useful.

By the way, the blade was made from a dismantled Magic Sword. It was a trophy I’d taken from the female knight when escaping the city where I met Alice. I hadn’t known what to do with it, so I put it to good use.

The dragon shrieked, thrashing its head about. What incredible vitality to still be alive. The Magic Sword I’d driven in should have reached its brain. Perhaps it had simply missed a vital spot by chance.

“Fine then, here’s an encore explosion service.”

Before I could be bucked off, I pulled out a Dragon Claw Bomb. I pulled the ignition pin, gripped it tight, and thrust it into the gouged eye socket. Once it was at a suitable depth, I left the bomb inside and yanked my arm out.

I immediately let go and jumped off. The now one-eyed dragon went into a frenzy. Then, its head exploded.

The massive frame suddenly stopped moving. The flesh, blood, scales, bone fragments, and brain matter that composed its head mixed together and scattered in every direction. I fell through the air, showered by the debris. I landed with a forward roll, taking care not to slip.

The headless dragon slowly toppled backward. It never rose again. Its physical regeneration stopped, and it simply lay there, leaking gore.

Drenched in the dragon’s blood, I let out a boisterous laugh.

“Haha! What a magnificent sight! It’s a shame I can’t take a commemorative photo!”

I cheered in front of the corpse. It was a sensation of pleasure that surpassed even the finest wine. Blowing up the Imperial Capital had been good, but this felt wonderful too. Achieving my revenge for that first encounter was a big part of it. I continued to shout, making no effort to hide my surging emotions.

And so, I blew up the dragon, the absolute pinnacle of power.