We Live in Dragon’s Peak – Chapter 57

We live in the foothills of Dragon Peak.

Asher, you’ve gone too far.

The Rotten Dragon glares up at the sky from the valley.
Asher hovers in the vast sky, glaring down.

The ultimate kaiju battle has finally begun.

“Who’s the kaiju?!”

Asher roared at me in response.
Wasn’t Asher nervous at all?

“Why would I be nervous about something like that?”

…That level of threat is something that would kill a weaker person just by looking at it, and that’s considered “something like that” to you?
I can’t comprehend Asher’s strength.

“It’s just a poor match-up, and ultimately, it’s just the degenerate form of a dragon. It’s no match for an Ancient Species like myself.”

I see. So it’s not just resistant to our attacks, but Asher’s attacks are also ineffective against it. Earlier, Asher dodged the fireballs with ease too.

“Nyah, there are people nearby, nyah.”

Following Nimia’s observation, I squinted.
Then, I saw several people above the valley where the Rotten Dragon was. They seemed to be making a commotion as they watched the Rotten Dragon and us.

“They are likely Dragonkin. They must have noticed the Rotten Dragon’s presence and have been monitoring it.”
“I see, Dragon Peak is their territory. So they have to keep watch for dangerous beings, right?”

Earlier this morning, Mistral returned with various reports, but it seems some tribes of Dragonkin had already become aware of the Rotten Dragon.

“They’re just Dragonkin. It won’t be a problem if they get caught up in this.”
“No, no, no! It’s a huge problem. Please fight without involving them!”
“What a bother.”
“You absolutely cannot!”

Asher treats people like dust. Oh, and regular dragons too, I guess. Just how incredible are you!

“If you involve the Dragonkin, Big Sister Mist will get angry, nyah. It’s scary, nyah.”
“That’s right. Mistral swings blunt weapons even at Old Man Sleigsta. Nimia could get hurt!”
“Tch.”

Asher clicked their tongue openly.
Nevertheless, it seems they heeded our plea, as Asher began to fly, guiding the Rotten Dragon to a location that wouldn’t involve the Dragonkin observing from the ground.

However, the Rotten Dragon pays no mind to our intentions.
It fired a giant fireball at Asher, who had started moving.
Asher easily evaded it with a flight pattern that varied in speed and tempo.
Then, as if to return the favor, Asher roared at the Rotten Dragon.

Dragon Peak was rocked by a tremendous tremor.
Immediately after. The clouds that had been covering parts of Dragon Peak were blown away, and the valley surrounding the Rotten Dragon instantly transformed into world of pure white.

I thought it was a snowy landscape, but it was different.

“Mother’s attacks turn everything into white ashes, nyah.”

The earth of Dragon Peak, turned to ash, fluttered into the air, stirred by the strong winds in the valley.
If I hadn’t been told, it would have looked exactly like falling snow.

The Rotten Dragon writhed in agony in the center of the valley, amidst the swirling white ash.
Much of its scales and skin, which covered its surface, had turned into white ash, just like the surrounding scenery.
However, the discolored skin melted away from its body, and its wounds began to regenerate.
The Rotten Dragon regenerated, spewing purplish smoke and emitting gray blood.

“Uwah, that’s disgusting.”

I grimaced at the grotesque regeneration.

“That regeneration is troublesome. It’s resistant to attacks and it regenerates. What a pain.”

Asher circled above the Rotten Dragon, observing its condition.

What if I unleashed a continuous barrage of attacks, so rapid that the regeneration couldn’t keep up? Even if the attacks aren’t very effective, if they are constantly applied before regeneration occurs, wouldn’t it eventually turn into charcoal?

“Ah, a good idea for a human. That would be the quickest way.”

Oh, did I make a good suggestion?

“Well, that would not only involve the nearby Dragonkin, but a portion of Dragon Peak would disappear, creating a second lake.”
“Ah, please reject that suggestion for now.”

Just how powerful are your attacks?! To the point of changing the very landscape.
I was stunned by Asher’s incomprehensible offensive power.

“Guhhh!”

The Rotten Dragon roared.

A shockwave assaulted Asher, shaking Dragon Peak.
Landslides occurred in some areas.
However, Asher, high in the sky, continued to circle without a hint of concern.

Following that, several fireballs were launched, but not a single one hit Asher.
To Asher, flying at high speed through the sky, the Rotten Dragon’s attacks seemed too slow to connect.

After having dodged all the fireballs, Asher roared in turn.
With an even greater tremor, the valley of Dragon Peak transformed into a white world.
Sensing the danger from the collapsing mountains, the observing Dragonkin fled in panic.

However, the Rotten Dragon, its body mostly turned to ash, regenerated rapidly, emitting a strangely colored liquid and smoke.
In the pure white world, only the area around the Rotten Dragon was a dark, blackish hue.

The Rotten Dragon moaned in pain, letting out cries that sounded like “Ooooh, oooh.”
For a fleeting moment, I thought it sounded sad. But that thought was quickly pushed aside by its grotesque appearance.

The Rotten Dragon stretched its neck, opened its mouth wide, and glared at Asher.
Deep within its empty eye sockets, a red light flared. Then, fireballs of various sizes appeared around the Rotten Dragon and flew towards Asher with erratic, high-speed movements.

Asher dodged by flying freely through the sky. The fireballs pursued Asher.
From the ground, the Rotten Dragon fired more fireballs.

“Enough of this, what a bother.”

Asher ascended rapidly, spread their wings wide, and let out a roar.

The world turned white.

It was an infinite cascade of ash snow.

The ash snow fell with impossible speed.

And upon contact with the fireballs, the ash snow exploded, turning even the fireballs into ash.
The ash snow rained down on the valley of Dragon Peak, flashing with intermittent flames.

More destructive than it appeared, Dragon Peak was blown apart, deeply gouged. The Rotten Dragon sank into the valley, scattering its putrid flesh and blood.

However, it still did not perish and continued to groan in apparent agony.

“It sounds pained, nyah.”

Nimia looked at me with a distressed expression.
For Nimia, who couldn’t bear to see others suffer, the current state of the Rotten Dragon was unbearable.

“Still, you must witness it. If you don’t want to fight or cause suffering, you must show overwhelming power and force your opponent to submit.”

Asher said this in a stern tone.

“If you sympathize with the Rotten Dragon, then attain the power to finish it off in an instant without making it suffer.”
“Nyahh.”

Nimia cried out in distress.
This educational approach is too harsh for a young child, isn’t it?
But if I don’t witness this battle and gain strength, I’ll be forced to return with Asher.
Go for it, Nimia.

“Nyahh.”

Oh my, it really hates fighting, doesn’t it? Nimia let out a dejected sound, so I scooped Nimia up.
Nimia clutched me tightly with its small hands.

I have to try my best for myself and for Priscilla-chan.

“I want to stay with Priscilla, nyah.”
“Yes, Priscilla-chan probably feels the same way.”

I smiled at Nimia and turned my gaze back to the Rotten Dragon.

The Rotten Dragon was regenerating in the white world.
Asher probably wants to end it with a continuous assault, but the Dragonkin were clearly getting in the way.

…The Dragonkin are a nuisance? What kind of terrifying world is this?

The Dragonkin desperately fled from the falling rocks caused by Asher’s attacks.

The Rotten Dragon continued to cry out in seeming pain and sorrow.
Seeing the suffering Rotten Dragon, my chest inexplicably tightened.

Why is it crying so sadly?
Its mournful cries are at odds with its grotesque appearance, and I felt a sense of unease.

“It’s strange that you hear sadness in that sound. Humans are truly peculiar.”
“Doesn’t Asher hear it as sad?”
“Not at all.”
“Nyah also sees it as pained, but doesn’t hear it as sad, nyah.”

Hmmph. Is this a difference in sensibility between humans and dragons?

If I look closely at the Rotten Dragon, it’s not just its voice that sounds sad; its expression does too.

“Does that thing even have an expression?”

Asher is right, of course. Its eyes are gone, its skin rotted, and half its body is bone. How could such a face possibly have an expression?
But for some reason, I could still read an expression on the Rotten Dragon’s face.

Come to think of it, I could often read Old Man Sleigsta’s expressions and emotions too.
Ever since I first met him, I’ve somehow been able to understand Old Man Sleigsta’s emotions just by his slight lip movements, the way his gaze shifts, and his tone of voice.

“Hmm, a Dragon Heart, perhaps.”

Asher said this as if something had clicked into place.
See, I understood its feelings now too.

I’m curious about what a Dragon Heart is, but right now, it’s the Rotten Dragon.

I looked at the Rotten Dragon again.

The Rotten Dragon was still regenerating, emitting pained, sad moans.
It was already returning to the form it had when we first encountered it.
What incredible regenerative power.

The Rotten Dragon looked up at Asher in the sky.
However, from the red light in its hollowed eyes, I could only sense sadness.

Not hostility, but sadness.

An intense sense of incongruity, my intuition signaled something.

“Asher, won’t you reconsider defeating this Rotten Dragon?”
“Hah, what are you talking about? If we leave it be, who knows what kind of damage it could cause. Besides, I refuse to let go of anyone who has ever shown me hostility.”
“But look. The purpose this time is to show Nimia a battle, and defeating the Rotten Dragon is just a secondary objective, right?”
“Why the sudden change of heart? Why are you defending the Rotten Dragon?”
“Just because. It’s just… because.”

I faltered for words.
Because, it really is just “because.”

But all I feel from the Rotten Dragon now is sadness.
I am fully aware that leaving it unchecked might lead to harm elsewhere. Nevertheless, for some reason, I felt as if I shouldn’t defeat it.

“Good grief, you are truly a peculiar human. So, what do you propose? Should we let it go and head back?”

Letting it go would likely be easy. The Rotten Dragon couldn’t possibly pursue Asher’s high-speed flight.
Defeating it is difficult. No matter how destructive Asher’s attacks are, the Rotten Dragon is resistant to attacks from dragons, and its regenerative power is immense, so it’s unlikely to die easily.
If I were to unleash an attack capable of finishing it off, it would undoubtedly have a significant impact on Dragon Peak.

So, what should I do?

I thought.

“Um, I’d like to try talking to the Rotten Dragon.”

Asher returned my strained, forced smile with a look of exasperation.

“Talking to a Rotten Dragon? Even with a Dragon Heart, have you lost your mind?”
“No, I haven’t. But for some reason, I feel like I want to talk to that Rotten Dragon.”
“And what is the basis for that?”
“……My intuition.”

What unconvincing words.
But it really is just intuition.
My intuition is sometimes right. Things at the ruins, the incident with the Fake Dragonkin, Old Man Sleigsta’s pranks. I understood them all vaguely through intuition.
Relying solely on intuition is dangerous, but for now, I want to trust my gut feeling.

“Good grief, am I entrusting my beloved daughter to a truly bizarre human?”

Asher looked at me with a troubled expression.
Nevertheless, it seemed they were conceding to my request, as Asher began to descend while circling.

The Rotten Dragon fired a fireball at Asher as it descended.
Aside from sounding sad and pained, the Rotten Dragon attacked any enemy before it mercilessly.
However, the fireball’s trajectory was deflected by Asher’s wing beats, sending it flying in a completely different direction.
Then, Asher landed in the valley, scattering the freshly fallen white ash.

As Asher landed, another fireball was launched.
I thought it would be a direct hit, but the fireball exploded just before reaching Asher.
The heatwave assaulted us, but I only felt a slight warmth.

“Mother’s wind barrier is powerful, nyah.”

I see, a barrier. So the Rotten Dragon’s attacks don’t need to be dodged and are ineffective anyway.

“Now, come on, go talk to it. Nimia and I will protect you.”

Asher urged me on, glaring at the Rotten Dragon with sharp eyes.
I untangled Asher’s fur from around my waist and stepped onto the white ash-covered ground.
Nimia also descended, returned to its original size, and walked towards the Rotten Dragon with me.

The Rotten Dragon roared as if to intimidate us, but it retreated from Nimia’s answering roar.
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