53 50 - Dragon Lord
Chapter 50 - Dragon Lord
Written By Dr Armstrong
->The Wyrm's POV<-< p>
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In a second, the Dragon breathed out a flaming blue inferno that should have completely engulfed and incinerated the Spider's entire body.
In another second, the flames utterly vanished from existence as it was sucked into a vortex of magical power, a veritable gate to the void.
It wasn't just a gate, but a literal crevice in the space-time axis.
The Gate to the Abyss resembled a traditional Victorian-style gate, the kind that would typically used in an aristocratic manor.
The Hell Gate was composed of some rocky black material conjured up from nothing, and its design was quite demonic. That so-called 'Gate' was just a giant demon cat's wide-open maw that was shaped into a doorway.
When the doors to that Gate opened, only black nothingness could be seen from the other side, utterly devoid of anything, even the ambient magic power circulating in the Dungeon was nowhere to be found inside that Abyss.
And the damned Gate waited no more than a millisecond before sucking in any and all objects in front of it. It was like a black hole or a singularity, devouring indiscriminately without stopping, only sparing those who were 'behind' the Gate, which only included the Spider herself.
The Dragon's inferno only took half a second before it vanished into the void, the very air of the dungeon wasn't even spared, let alone the magma and rock.
"ROOOOAAAAAR!!!" Rend roared with panicked ferocity as he was dragged by an unseen force, his scales scraping against the very floor as malevolent energies assaulted every part of his being, even his Soul.
This Gate wasn't just a glorified portal with a dominating suction force, it was a Spell from the highest tier of [Dark Magic], appropriately named [Abyss Magic].
[Detection] says that this school of magic is one of the most powerful kinds of magic, amongst the trinity of magics that can harm the Soul, alongside [Heretic Magic] and whatever the highest form of [Light Magic] was.
And thus, with it being a greater form, it wasn't just a portal that sucked in objects, it also sent out shit.
That 'shit' just so happens to be extreme concentrations of the Dark element in its purest and most volatile form.
The Wyrm gritted his teeth as he mustered up the densest and most stable barrier of Light he could conjure, shielding himself from the Gate's effects as he simultaneously made use of the sister elements closest to Light, that being Fire and Lightning, to boost and strengthen the barrier that would serve as the deciding factor to his survival.
"!!??" Even with all of that, cracks began to appear on the barrier's surface before it then abruptly shattered into a thousand million pieces, the fragments of Light resembling sharp glass shards raining down from the air.
'FUCK!' The Wyrm couldn't help but curse as he felt the very gravity tighten and constrict around his draconic body, it was as if he had been bound by rope as a tribe of primitive cannibals dragged his body to their village, eager to feast on his virile form.
The Wyrm could feel the dark energy of the portal assaulting his defenceless body, lacerating and tearing it apart as some of his flesh just withered away into nothing, devoured by the darkness.
He screamed and gripped his face with both hands as it melted into his skull, his eyeballs popping out as dark gas seeped from his pores.
Overwhelmed by the darkness, the Wyrm quickly lost control of the large concentration of Chaos inside his body as he writhed on the ground, several new limbs and eyes growing from the most unexpected of places, including his asshole.
His chest tore wide open as instead of blood and gore, black ash fell out and rained on the floor. His draconic heart could now be seen beating from the outside, a pair of bloodshot eyes growing on it.
The Wyrm was left unable to do a single thing as he dragged ever closer to the Gate of Hell, he could not fight it off unless he fully focused on it, but that would result in the already nigh-uncontrollable Chaos in his body going even more rogue, causing severe problems not only to his body, but potentially his mind and soul.
His body floated atop the air as it was sucked closer and closer to the gate, and just as he was only a few feet away from the Hell Gate, a large object knocked him away from his course as the Wyrm's field of vision spun around before he eventually crashed back down to the ground.
Rend heaved a sigh after he saved the Wyrm by crashing into him, it hadn't been intentional, but it wasn't something he'd take back.
The Dragon roared a great bellowing one as his body was sucked into the gate, his lower half completely engulfed by the darkness as tentacles of shadow erupted from the mouth of the gate and clamped down on his legs, dragging him in.
A twinkle of blue in the darkness caught the Dragon's attention as the young Wyrm dislocated the very dimensions around him and appeared just a dozen meters above Rend's spiky snout.
"Focus on the Spider, Wyrm!" Rend shouted out, not wanting Kumoko to pull a fast one and get in a lucky strike to the Wyrm's weak points when he wasn't looking.
"Forget about her, I can save you, Rend." The Wyrm said with conviction as his horrifically mutated upper half looked down from a glowing portal, his other half a great distance away and tied to the very ground with the use of [Earth Magic] and [Space Magic] so that he wouldn't get sucked in.
"Save me? I need no saving! I have survived the great Broodmother, a measly magic trick from one of her despoiled spawns will not despair me!" Even as he said that the Wyrm didn't quite believe him.
The darkness stabbed into his lower half and tore the Dragon to shreds, yet the pride in his eyes never left him as he resisted the pull with auspicious willpower, Rend truly wasn't just all bark.
But even if the Gate couldn't kill the Dragon, it would still greatly wound and weaken him. Something the Wyrm didn't want as he would be forced to not only battle the Spider alone but also prevent her from getting close to the Dragon so that she wouldn't get a huge EXP boost.
The Wyrm shook his head in disapproval before going back into his portal and vanishing from view as the Dragon closed his eyes and got ready to take the full brunt of the Gate's malevolent magic.
"!!!" But just a nanosecond after that, Rend opened his eyes wide before his jaw dropped in pure shock.
「You are attempting to subjugate the Entity [Fire Dragon Rend — LV 20]. Because this creature has not yet been weakened enough, consent from it is required.」
"Wha—WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" Rend roared in outrage as the voice of the System rang loudly in the Wyrm's mind.
The Dragon most definitely received a similar notification to the one the Wyrm had gotten, just representing him as the other party.
"You're too large for my [Space Magic], so the only other option is to use [Summoning], which requires you to be my familiar." The Wyrm explained immediately as he didn't want any unnecessary misunderstandings.
"I refuse! The only one I bow down to is the God—" Rend denied it outright, but stopped as he turned his head.
There she was, Kumoko the Spider, hanging upside down from a silvery thread of her silk attached to the roof.
The Dragon, who now had everything below his shoulders inside of the gate, roared out a blast of blue flame, which the Spider then easily dodged by swinging to the side and titling her thread.
Rend gritted his steel-like teeth as his eyes glowed a dangerous orange as if they were pools of lava burning with hatred.
"You have no other choice." The Wyrm's voice rang aloud in Rend's ears, and the Spider heard it too, but to her, it was just a series of strange growls as she was not a draconic monster.
There was no need for [Telepathy] with Dragons when one knew the draconic language.
Every Dragon and Wyrm alike inherently knew the tongue that their God spoke, though normal Wyrms could only understand it but could not actually make coherent sentences, as they were less intelligent.
The author forgot to explain it, but the pair of Fire Dragon and Chaos Wyrm had been speaking in this language the entire time. Whereas the Wyrm had to use [Telepathy] to speak with the Spider.
"If you can really withstand the power of that gate, then that Taratect would just kill you, and you know what would happen if she manages to..." The EXP from killing the ruling boss of the Middle Stratum would be enough to evolve Kumoko.
As for how the Wyrm knew Kumoko was a Taratect when he couldn't see her status? It was a mere assumption, he had encountered a couple of Spiders back in the Upper Stratum and they all belonged to that species, so it was logical to assume she was one.
"Then I'll just have you kill me, it's better to meet the Lady of Death than be—" Yet again, the Dragon was interrupted.
"Enemy of God...that's what you called me, right? The Dragon God not only made me a target for all of his children but even gave me the title of a Freak. Now what would he think if he found out is his Little Red Riding Rend willingly gave his life to me?"
"..."
"You're already somewhat crossing the line when you decided to subjugate me instead of just outright killing, yet God did not interfere. But what would happen if you gave me an evolution—"
"Fine, I submit!" No matter how wise and intelligent a Dragon of the Dungeon was, Rend would naturally not be able to even comprehend the silver tongue of a former citizen of 21st-century Earth, he was not the DnD-type of Dragon, after all!
All he knew was how to fight and dominate over simple animalistic Monsters, the only ones he had ever properly conversed with were the other Dragons, the Dragon God, and the occasional Human or Demon who could speak Draconic.
「Congratulations, you have successfully convinced [Fire Dragon Rend — LV 20] to become your subordinate familiar!」
「For this outrageous achievement, the Title [Dragon Lord] has been bestowed!」
「The Skill [Fire Wyrm] has levelled up several times, LV 10 reached.」
「The Skill [Fire Wyrm — LV 10] has evolved into [Fire Dragon — LV 1]!」
「The Skill [Dragon Lord — LV 1] has been acquired.」
「For turning the tables and subordinating your former master, the Title [Lucifer] has been bestowed.」
「The Skills [Stupidity] and [Taboo] have levelled up.」
「The Skill [Subjugation Nullification] has been acquired!」
"ROOOOAAAAARRRR!!!" Rend let out yet another bellowing roar as his entire body was almost enveloped in complete darkness before a strange green light erupted from his snout and covered his body in green flame, the Dragon vanishing instantly afterwards.
'Now...for the other problem...' The Wyrm silently thought before his gaze confronted the Spider's, all of her eight eyes staring into his.
It was time to finish this...
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"...In the next chapter, lmao." - Remark
Stones = Chapter.
