Chapter 3. “Everyone, retreat!!”

 

The Dragon was a legendary creature.

 

A joint creation of the Goddess and the Demon God made in the beginning.

 

It was a lifeform created by the two gods, who each gave a part of themselves, to regulate the order of the world.

 

As a result, the Dragon was immensely powerful and maintained peace in the world.

 

However, as generations passed, it became increasingly malevolent.

 

The first Dragons were two.

 

An Evil Dragon and a Divine Dragon.

 

As they lived, they split their existence to give birth to offspring.

 

Perhaps they wanted to create a family who could understand them.

 

The offspring born from splitting themselves were certainly strong, but they could not inherit the blessings of the two gods.

 

The power to regulate the world.

 

The Dragons, deprived of this power, grew increasingly evil over the ages and generations.

 

The essence of Dragons was greed.

 

Once the restraints that came with the title of the world’s regulators disappeared, their true nature gradually emerged.

 

Dragons began to cross lines more and more.

 

They transcended material and mortal realms, inflicted harm on mortals, oppressed them, and demanded sacrifices.

 

The Goddess eventually realized the situation and sealed the Dragons, but it was already too late.

 

Dragons were no longer transcendent beings regulating the world but evil tyrants and monsters.

 

———This was the content of the myth.

 

Lesbeligo sighed as he read the book hidden deep within the royal library.

 

“……A Dragon, huh.”

 

He had thought it was just a myth.

 

But it had appeared.

 

Moreover, it had appeared in one of his territories, in a mountain.

 

Honestly, it still didn’t feel real. After all, Dragons were considered mythical beings dismissed as mere rumors even within the royal family.

 

However….

 

“…The Goddess’s Oath.”

 

A true vow and promise made by a hero who offered their heart to the Goddess.

 

Hans had earnestly appealed to the king, even offering his own heart.

 

What I saw was a Dragon.

 

If this kingdom is to avoid destruction by that Dragon, it must offer a sacrifice——

 

——he said.

 

“Damn it.”

 

The king bit his lip and suffered in agony.

 

His lip burst, and blood flowed, but there was no room to care about such things.

 

It was a vow made by a hero.

 

A vow made by offering his heart.

 

There could be no falsehood in that vow.

 

Moreover, Hans was an extremely devoted hero to the Kingdom of Trelinia.

 

He had saved the kingdom several times.

 

So, he had no choice but to believe it.

 

Even if it was an absurd tale.

 

“Bring my vassal.”

 

He had to make a choice.

 

Between the safety of the kingdom and the sacrifice.

 

“Prepare 50 cows, 50 pigs, and 300 chickens.”

 

Hopefully, the Dragon would be satisfied with this amount.

 

Lesbeligo earnestly hoped.

 

While desperately ignoring the fact that the ‘sacrifice’ demanded by the mythic Dragon included the most noble and pure maiden.

 

* * *

 

Since coming to this fantasy world.

 

I had many complaints.

 

Firstly, due to not being able to walk on two legs, I constantly had to crawl on the ground, touching the filthy floor.

 

The inability to talk to humans was also among them.

 

It wasn’t that I couldn’t speak, but most humans would freeze in terror at the sight of me.

 

However, my biggest complaint was….

 

‘It’s tasteless.’

 

The food was tasteless.

 

It wasn’t that my taste buds were strange.

 

After all, everything I had eaten here was strange.

 

A fire-breathing lizard, a dog, a giant worm that moved the earth, and a frog that froze water.

 

All of them were gigantic and wielded miraculous powers, but they were corrupted in some way and harmed and ate humans.

 

Especially those that exuded a dark aura, they looked unappetizing just by their appearance.

 

And as expected, they tasted bitter, like burnt food.

 

I ate them to survive and because I was annoyed by their harm to humans, but I had no intention of eating such tasteless things regularly.

 

I once ate a deer.

 

It was certainly very tasty… but it was too small to savor.

 

At that time, I hadn’t yet learned how to shrink my body and was still unsure of my identity.

 

Now, even if you asked if I could eat it now, it was impossible.

 

The problem was still my size.

 

Although I had learned how to adjust my body size, the smallest I could make myself was still quite large.

 

I was a massive 300 meters long.

 

How many decent animals would I have to eat to fill this huge belly?

 

It was clear that eating until I was full would wipe out most creatures in the mountains, so I refrained from eating animals.

 

That’s why I was always starving for gourmet food.

 

‘I miss Korean beef.’

 

I was salivating at the thought of sizzling Korean beef on a grill.

 

‘Hm?’

 

Something was approaching the cave.

 

At first, I thought the rumbling of the ground was caused by a monster, but it wasn’t. There were too many of them. As I expanded my senses to grasp the situation more clearly….

 

There were hundreds of knights.

 

Had they come to subjugate me?

 

Such a thought crossed my mind. It wasn’t unusual for knights dispatched from the kingdom to subjugate monsters.

 

‘Animals?’

 

No, it wasn’t.

 

The knights were leading animals.

 

Pigs, cows, and chickens.

 

Very familiar animals for a fantasy world.

 

The knights led the animals and carefully pushed them into the cave.

 

…What was this?

 

Were they telling me to eat?

 

I tried to understand their intention for a moment, but it was impossible.

 

And above all.

 

I couldn’t resist the allure of such tempting prey any longer.

 

Although their numbers were quite small… I gratefully swallowed a herd of cows.

 

‘!!’

 

Delicious.

 

Incredibly delicious.

 

The cow was dancing in my mouth.

 

Its tender texture that melted as I chewed, and the rich juices from being well-raised, were superb.

 

My body trembled with emotion.

 

It was a simple meal that ended in one bite, but I savored the taste as much as I could, swallowing slowly.

 

Then came the pigs and chickens.

 

Each bite brought back memories; they were incredibly delicious.

 

Gratitude towards the humans who had brought these animals surged within me.

 

With the intention of giving them a simple thank you, I approached the knights.

 

“Ah, aaah!! The Dragon is furious!!”

 

“E-everyone! Retreat!!”

 

The knights desperately fled.

 

…Why?

 

* * *

 

There was a testimony from Hans, the Hero of Survival.

 

He said there was a Dragon.

 

And that they had to offer a sacrifice to that Dragon.

 

‘Nonsense.’

 

Keles, the commander of the Trelinia Kingdom’s knights, scoffed.

 

A Dragon, really.

 

Was that even possible?

 

It was probably just some mediocre lizard that had caused a fuss.

 

The commander cursed Hans while dragging the livestock.

 

‘Thanks to that bastard, what a mess this is.’

 

On this hot day, he was fully armored and climbing the mountain with livestock. The sweltering heat made his anger flare, but he suppressed it as he reached the cave.

 

“Everyone, halt.”

 

The entrance to the cave was enormous.

 

So large that it looked like a monster with its mouth wide open.

 

He gulped unconsciously but soon composed himself and drove the animals into the dark, seemingly endless cave.

 

He thought nothing would happen.

 

At most, a lizard that looked like the Dragon Hans had seen would move around.

 

However, an anomaly occurred.

 

Rumble——.

 

The ground shook.

 

“C-commander!”

 

“What is this…!”

 

The tremor was overwhelming.

 

Was the monster Hans had seen rampaging inside?

 

Crash.

 

Nearby, giant trees snapped from the tremor, and lightning struck the sky.

 

Heaven and earth were in upheaval.

 

It felt as if.

 

A colossal being was enraged.

 

“Could the Hero’s words be true…?!”

 

“Don’t be ridiculous! There’s no way a Dragon exists…!”

 

At a knight’s muttering, Keles shouted irritably. It was absurd. If Dragons existed, how could they survive?

 

Rumble——.

 

Even at that moment, the tremor continued.

 

The ground shook so violently it was hard to stand, birds fled to the sky, and lightning and rain poured from above.

 

Keles stared blankly at the scene.

 

He had heard of such a sight.

 

When heaven and earth were in upheaval, and the world was enraged and in turmoil.

 

In myths.

 

When the divine beings he couldn’t even fathom were angry.

 

The world changed drastically.

 

Keles felt like he was living through that upheaval.

 

No, he couldn’t even breathe.

 

The enormous pressure of the heavens and earth made it hard to breathe.

 

“……Why.”

 

Was the sacrifice insufficient?

 

Or was it punishment for his grumbling?

 

Keles desperately prayed for this situation to end.

 

Perhaps out of pity for him?

 

The upheaval soon subsided, and everything returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

 

“It’s… over?”

 

A knight muttered.

 

A gigantic, being, approached.

 

Scales as black as night, vertical blue pupils.

 

A size too immense to comprehend at a glance.

 

Faced with that being.

 

Keles’s mind was filled with only death.

 

“What… is that.”

 

Finally.

 

As he met the blue eyes.

 

“Ah, aaah!! The Dragon is furious!!”

 

“E-everyone! Retreat!!”

 

Keles screamed instinctively.

 

A scream for survival.