Chapter 803: Intermission: The Path the Red Dragon Took - Part 1

<Author's Notes>

My writing has been slow as of late and I haven't finished the next chapter yet, but I don't really want to leave a big gap between the chapters, so I'll break the ice with an Intermission Chapter. This time, it's a story about Nidzveld, who will be appearing after the Beach Swimming arc.

In the world of Trinia, there exists a monster called Wyvern. In the Human Realm, they are considered as Top-class monsters, but in the Demon Realm, where monsters lurk in every corner, they aren't even considered as Mid-class monsters…… If anything, they were perceived as weak monsters.

Although similar in appearance to winged dragons, the wyverns are smaller in size and less intelligent than dragons, which makes them unclassified as Dragons, they who were known as the strongest monster, and were instead classified as beasts with wings…… winged beasts.

Although they were that weak of a monster,  their meat was of high quality and as they were numerous because they were beings who form flocks, they were quite popular as prey.

Yes, the wyverns are weak beings in the Demon Realm that they were "among the hunted". Especially in the ancient Demon Realm, where the weak are nothing but meat for the strong……

As she was born among the wyverns, "her" path was also filled with ups and downs.

It was unknown whether it was a coincidence, or perhaps, fate…… but when she finally became aware of her surroundings, the flock she was part of was in danger of being annihilated. This was nothing unusual in the Demon Realm of that era. The Red Dragon, which is far stronger than the Wyverns, happened to find them and hunted them down before they could even fight back…… Before her eyes were the corpses of many of her kind and the predator spreading despair around it.

The natural order of the world is that the strong devour the weak…… However, that was something she wasn't willing to accept.

Roaring for the first time in her life, she turned her fangs towards the dragon, which was many times her size. She challenged the overwhelmingly strong with all her might, determined to not let it end like this, and for her life to end just like that.

Bearing countless wounds on her body, being so battered that she could die at any moment…… Even so, she stomped on "the corpse of the dragon she had just killed", and roared with all her strength towards the sky.

She can't allow herself to remain weak. She can't allow the small flame dwelling within her heart to remain smoldering. If the world defines you as weak, beings who couldn't reach the heavens…… Then, with the fire burning within her heart, she swore that she would show everyone how she burns down the heavens……

The was the oldest memory of the challenger, "Freabell Nidzvelt" and her beginnings.

With ambition burning like the fire in her heart, she continued to challenge those stronger than her. Even though she lives in a world where it's the survival of the fittest, and defeat means death, she would always turn her fangs to those stronger than her.

She had suffered so many wounds that her entire body was covered with scars, she had brushed close to death so many times that it was ridiculous to count them, and she had wandered between life and death so many times, but she still kept trying.

What she thought at that time was that it wasn't death that she was frightened of, as she is more afraid that the flame blazing within her heart would be extinguished……

Her body that had gone through many battles…… It was unknown if it was because it had been dyed by the blood of her opponents, or perhaps, the fire burning within her heart had come to surface…… but before she knew it, it had turned into a fiery red.

And by that time…… Her position had changed, becoming one of the strong.

Even so, she didn't stop and continued to challenge those more powerful than her. And thus, at the end of her path, she arrived at the pinnacle of Dragons…… The Dragon King Magnawell.

Magnawell, who had just become independent from Kuromueina's family and became one of the Six Kings at that time, was looking for someone who could be his subordinate, and spotting her, he tried to recruit her.

In response to his invitation, she asked for "a battle with Magnawell"…… As a result, after 100 battles since Magnawell initially recruited her, all of which leading to her defeat, she recognized him as her king and agreed to be his subordinate.

As she had become Magnawell's subordinate, she was then given the name "Nidzveld" by Magnawell.

She…… Nidzveld was the "first wyvern in history into a Special Individual", and astonished upon learning this, Magnawell was deeply impressed by the path Nidzveld had taken.

After that, it was decided that the winged beasts, Wyverns, along with the battle-hardened Wyverns whose scales became as red as Nidzveld, would be recognized as Dragons, and the Special Individual Wyverns were specially given the name "Nidhogg" after her name.

In addition, this was completely unrelated…… A dragon that had been under Magnawell's command for some time before Nidzveld became too enthusiastic…… and the Black Dragon, who was later known as Dragon King's Head Subordinate, told her that "If you want to challenge Magnawell-sama", and as a result, he was beaten up so much that he was slightly traumatized, and after that, he had become extremely reluctant to engage in mock battles with Nidzveld.

Nidzveld was a straightforward person, and once she had recognized Magnawell as her king, she was firmly loyal to Magnawell and worked diligently for his sake.

In the beginning, she didn't have enough subordinates, so she was given the task of conveying words of recruitment to Dragons that Magnawell had spotted in various places…… those Magnawell had considered as beings with the potential to be his executives.

And now, she was standing upright on a sheer cliff with her arms folded in unison with her wings, her gaze fixed on the sea below the cliff.

After a little while, the sea faintly glowed, and a resounding voice could be heard.

"……You've got some nerve, don't you? You want me to be someone's subordinate? I don't know who this guy who claims to be the Dragon King is, but I'm the ruler of the Demon Realm's seas. I have no intention of working for anyone. In the first place, I won't be the subordinate of some coward who only sends his subordinate instead. If he wants to negotiate with me, then that Magnawell dragon should come directly to me."

(…………………..)

Her words were probably due to her pride in being the ruler of the Demon Realm's seas. Thus, she was confident that she wouldn't be defeated by anyone in the sea……

"In the fir———- Eh? Why is there fire here……"

From the bottom of the sea, the Sea Dragon tried to continue, but a fireball grazing her cheek immediately stopped her words.

That should have been impossible. After all, the Sea Dragon is at the bottom of the sea, a fair distance from land…… a depth of several thousands of meters. There should be no way for a fireball to reach the Sea Dragon.

Yes, that fireball that obliterated everything in its path, as if it was digging a hole under the ground, was something that she thought of just her imagination, but as she tried to keep her composure, she saw the red wyvern that carried the Dragon King's message, plunge into the water.

And then……

"My apologies! I got cocky! I will listen! I will properly listen, so please have some mercy!"

A huge, battered Sea Dragon was vigorously pulled out of the sea, and screaming in grief, she was literally dragged somewhere.

Later, when she finally managed to return to the sea…… Eingana, who was now Magnawell's subordinate, tearfully muttered at the bottom of the ocean.

"……That red wyvern…… is so strong. She's seriously scary."

A similar incident had occurred elsewhere.

Although he couldn't reach Magnawell's size, a Hell Ground Dragon with a massive physique that sets it apart from normal dragons…… no, even from other living creatures…… It was when Nidzveld had arrived to recruit that Earth Dragon.

"I～ see～. I～ un～der～stand～ what～ you're～ sa～ying. I've～ heard～ a～bout～ how～ there's～ a～ Dra～gon～ lar～ger～ than～ me～, so～ I～ sup～pose～ I'll～ li～sten～ to～ them～."

(………………)

Nidzveld had been quietly listening to the Earth Dragon's words with her arms crossed as he spoke in an extremely slow and slugging tone, but her expression changed with his next words.

"How～ e～ ver～ , you're～  his～  e～ xe～ cu～ tive～ ? I～  won～ der～  why～  a～  shor～ ty～  dra～ gon～  like～  you～  be～ come～  an～  e～ xe～ cu～ tive～ ?"

(…………………)

The Earth Dragon was a physiquist…… one of those monsters who believed in the idea that the bigger the body, the stronger the person. Dragons are classified according to their length: namely small, medium, large, and colossal…… and the overall length of Nidzveld, which was originally a wyvern, was 4m80cm…… classified as a "small-sized Dragon".

Incidentally, the other executives, Fafnir, Eingana, and of course, Magnawell, are all colossal-sized Dragons, and all of Magnawell's subordinates who hold great power are large or colossal-sized Dragons…… and if she were to be honest, she was very concerned about this.

After breaching this topic and even making condescending remarks about it, the Earth Dragon…… the being who would later be called Grandiereus became so traumatized that he never mentioned another person's physique again.

In addition, he had even become frightened of wyverns themselves, but later coming to the conclusion that "she was the only one with abnormal strength", he was able to overcome his fear of wyverns……

<Afterword>

The Trauma of Three of the Four Great Demon Dragons

Fafnir

A wyvern as small as a baby (from Fafnir's viewpoint) had rudely picked a fight with the King of Dragons, and bravely saying that this was his first job as his subordinate…… and she was so strong that she beat him to a pulp. He never wanted to  fight her again.

Eingana

She doesn't know what this Six Kings whatever that is, but to send an inferior monster like a wyvern, that only had a different color, to her as a messenger, she thought that she was being completely looked down on, so she took a strong stand as the ruler of the Demon Realm's seas.

……Now, she regrets it. She really regrets it.

Grandiereus

He is a physiquist, which is rather common among monsters, but because he said it to the wrong person, whose topic is a completely landmine, he had become traumatized to an excruciating degree.

He still shudders every now and then when he thinks of it.