Chapter 319: Conclusion

If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again319 – Conclusion

“UoOOOOOOoOh!”

Azalea, the half-dragon monster, leaps in front of me. It appears he’s trying to land a solid hit on my vitals while staying out of reach.

I swing my body towards him, but he stoops low and drives his claws below my head. His movement isn’t particularly fast. His attack is focused only on power, resulting in a clumsy swing with all his weight behind it.

But I can’t avoid it. With my legs crushed, my magic power gone, and my consciousness hazy, even standing is a struggle.

His claws dig in deep into my chest where my claws and skin have burnt off. My gouged out flesh and blood dance through the air as sharp pain runs through me.

“GuoOh!” “Gaaah!”

Both my partner and I stretch out towards him with our fangs bared. As though reading our movements, he distances himself and restores his stance.

He should be out of MP by now. Looking at his status, perhaps as a demerit of [Dragonisation Technique], his health is continuously falling. Compared to a dragon taking a human form, it seems the burden on a human that transforms into a dragon is greater. And yet why is he still able to move with such composure?

My body feels heavy. The longer I can draw this out, the better thanks to my automatic recovery, but it doesn’t look like I’ll be given the chance. After all, he must be reaching the limit of maintaining his dragonised state. An even more violent attack is surely coming.

I never would have thought he’d go as far as to bury his subordinate and the Lithovar children in the cave with me. He’s quite the hardcore bastard. His actions are ruthless. It’s also painful that he was able to hit me with a heavy attack while I was trying to recover inside the collapsed earth. Were it not for that, I would still have plenty of leeway. I should have quickly escaped and crushed him.

Because I never felt my life to be in danger ever since I became an ouroboros, I might have been more timid than I had to be and prioritised easy safety measures. My aim for a perfect victory backfired. Both in terms of intuition and battlefield experience, my opponent is far superior.

Azalea holds his claws ready and bends his knees in preparation to jump towards me.

“Uu, UuUU…”

But, perhaps having run out of MP, he falls to his knees. I feel a brief moment of relief, but then an obsessive gleam reignites in his eyes, and, his legs trembling, he returns to his feet.

“UoOOoOOOOOOOhh!”

He howls as though to encourage himself. It’s an incredible show of willpower. But this must be as far as he can go. If I can endure the next attack, he should completely run out of MP.

He jumps in front of me, swinging his right arm in a wide arc. I drag my body back in retreat. He stretches his arm out further, trying to close the distance. He must be in a hurry, almost out of time. His movement is very simple.

“Gaaaaaah!”

My partner bites into his right arm. Then with her fangs deep in his shoulder, she tears her head to the side. His entire right arm rips off. She loosens her grip part way through, tossing the arm far away.

The battle is decided ― The instant I feel relief, Azalea bends low and thrusts his left shoulder below my jaw. Having thought he’d received a decisive blow, I am completely taken by surprise. Taking any more damage is bad. While squeezing the dregs of my MP into [Autoregeneration], I put all the strength in my body into a haphazard tackle.

He should be faster than me. But the upward swing of his left arm stops part way through. He turns his gaze away from me and stares down at his left arm in shock. It only lasts a moment, but his appearance is strangely striking.

Then his body shrinks rapidly. He must be out of MP. As I swing my claw toward him, I get the impression of a faint smile on his face.

“You’ve chosen a difficult path haven’t you, monster. Had I just one person who understood me, I would have been satsifed.”

My foreleg pierces Azalea’s body. His body splits in two. His upper half thuds to the ground a short distance away.

【784 experience points have been acquired.】

【Due to the Title Skill [Walking Egg: Lv -], an additional 784 experience points have been acquired.】

【The level of [Ouroboros] has risen from 90 to 91.】

I lie flat on the ground. Just for a bit… I want to rest and restore my HP and MP. If possible, my injured legs and chest… Though I might have to put off healing my wings.

My gaze lands on Azalea’s upper body. I stare at him for a few seconds. In his last moments, he spoke as though he saw through me. His normal and characteristic skills were exceptional, and he had all sorts of unusual skills. Perhaps he was treated as a monster.

『…What is it?』

My partner calls out to me telepathically. No, it’s nothing. I reply with that, and take my eyes off Azalea.

I now need to catch Tolman before he does anything to the feared gods. But there’s not much I can do. After all, I have no idea where he could be. Maybe I really should focus on my wings with [Autoregeration]… Hmm?

As I dimly look around, I notice a plume of smoke rising in the distance. Of course, it’s within the forest.

Wh-why… No way, is it Tolman? Did he light fires as a means of harassment? Or is the fire related to their objective somehow? I don’t know the reason, but I no longer have a choice in what to do. If I take my time, he’ll do things that can’t be undone.

I use the MP I automatically recover to restore my missing body parts with [Autoregeneration], then return to above the collapsed remains of the cave and cut the ropes binding the children and transfer them to my body. Crying, they cling to the base of my neck. They must have been quite anxious.

I spare a glance at the fallen felis huma swordsman, Nell. When the cave collapsed, he used his body to protect the children who couldn’t move from falling rocks, and fell into a comatose state. We tried using [High Rest] as light first aid, but he has yet to regain consciousness.

“Dragon-god-sama… That person… Umm, are you going to kill them?”

One of the children asks me falteringly. I quietly shake my head. When the cave started to collapse, he quickly went back for them. I don’t think he’ll be a threat to the Lithovars any longer.

After getting them out of the collapsed cave, I put the children down. I point my head in the direction of the village, then look towards the ominous smoke rising from the forest. They’re quivering in fear, but upon seeing the smoke and realising it’s not a small matter, they nod their heads in understanding. I’d rather take them all the way back to the village, but time is of the essence right now.

I breathe in deep and gather magic power into my abdomen, then with a “GUOOOOOOOOOH”, I roar towards the village. The sound spreads far through the forest. This way any Lithovars that hear or Aro will come to rescue them. Monsters should avoid them too.

I move a short distance away from the children and hit the ground with my tail to initiate a roll. Trees will be knocked down, but… There’s no helping it. It’s far better than the forest burning up. This way I don’t need to wait for my body to recover. Even with my legs in tatters, it’s not a problem for [Roll]. My body should be in a much better state by the time I get there thanks to automatic recovery.

I hit the ground with my tail every now and again to speed up. The trees in my path topple over entirely. Were I to look back, I would surely see a clean path straight through the forest.