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—Darkness Dragon, Glasya Labolas.

The Great Demonic Beast whose domain is in the Antarctic Continent.

Also, it is called the strongest and oldest Great Demonic Beast.

It is unknown when it spawned.

There have been depictions of the Darkness Dragon in the wall paintings of ancient ruins, and if that’s true, it would mean that it existed since the mythological era.

A monstrosity that is beyond the realm of the 3 Great Demonic Beasts of the South Continent.

And its most distinctive feature is that…

“When was the last time the Darkness Dragon was seen?” (Eugene)

“30 years ago. Far back before we were born.” (Claude)

Claude answered my question.

The Darkness Dragon has a short active time.

It appears rarely in human history, but most of them have been ‘it showed up from afar’ or ‘I heard the voice of the Darkness Dragon from the horizon’.

It is said that the Darkness Dragon is sleeping in the Antarctic Continent most of the time.

“Why did it suddenly appear here?” (Eugene)

“I don’t know. But we have received communication that there was a Clairvoyance from the Destiny Oracle-sama of Caldia. That’s why we are going there to scout.” (Ralph)

I am currently riding the wyvern of Claude and we are heading to the southern tip of the Antarctic.

By the way, Soran is riding the wyvern of Ralph-san since his body is big.

That one is a size bigger than Claude’s.

In exchange, Claude’s wyvern is apparently the fastest in the Dragon Continent.

“It is coming to sight…the Red Lighthouse.” (Soran)

I hear the voice of Soran. I raised my head and there was a red light stretching straight into the sky.

“The Darkness Dragon’s turf is ahead of that light from the Red Lighthouse. The sailors have been strictly told to not go further south than this.” (Soran)

“I see…” (Eugene)

It seems like this is common knowledge for Soran, Ralph-san, and Claude, but this is my first time hearing about this, so it was interesting.

The sky is blue as always, but the sea is muddied in a gray color.

Looks like this is also the turf of the black mermaids.

(That said…the sea is awfully dark… It is pitch dark like the sea at night.) (Eugene)

Has the miasma of the sea gotten even thicker than before?

I peeked at the water surface and…

“Ralph-san, please stop! Something’s weird!” (Claude)

Claude raised his voice and stopped the wyvern dry.

“What’s the matter, Claude?” (Ralph)

Ralph-san also asked in a loud voice.

“Was there always an island like that there?” (Claude)

“What?” (Ralph)

“Muh?”

The place Claude pointed at was a small island that only has sharp rocks jutting out slightly to the right of the Red Lighthouse.

“It is an island that’s not in the maps.” (Soran)

“There’s a lot of underwater volcanoes. It might be a newly made island.” (Ralph)

I hear the conversation of Soran and Ralph-san.

I don’t know the geography of this place at all.

I can only leave it to the judgment of these 3 locals.

I once again look around the gray sea.

(Hm?) (Eugene)

I saw something resembling a small island that was different from the one Claude and the others were discussing.

(I don’t remember seeing that a moment ago…) (Eugene)

“Eh?”

“What’s the matter, Eugene?” (Claude)

It is not only one.

Small islands were rising one after the other as if surrounding us…

“Claude, we have to get out of here!!! Escape higher up!!” (Eugene)

I shouted loudly.

“Ralph-san, let’s escape from here!” (Claude)

Claude ascended with the wyvern at full power just as I asked.

“Got it!” (Ralph)

Ralph-san did so without asking anything.

The sea was getting further and further away.

That’s when I saw it.

Right below us. Something gigantic was slowly emerging.

That’s most likely the mouth of a gigantic creature.

What looked like several small islands were actually the fangs of the giant creature.

A giant maw that I couldn’t see completely in my vision was approaching from both sides of the 2 wyverns we were riding.

“R-Ralph-san!!” (Claude)

“Uooooh, evasive maneuvers, Claude!” (Ralph)

The wyvern of Ralph-san is slightly slow because of its big size!

*Whoooooooonnn!!!*

A sound like a giant gate closing.

*Splaaash!!*

And the sound of water clashing echoed.

The two wyverns continued flying up with those sounds at their back.

I don’t know if it is the rider skills of Claude and Ralph-san, or the survival instincts of the wyverns, but I have never seen wyverns fly this fast.

Once the two dragon knights judged enough distance was taken, they turned and looked behind.

““““………””””

Not a single person spoke at that sight.

A giant monstrosity that’s way…way too gigantic had shown up from the sea.

I was the very first one to react as someone who was well acquainted with the Colossal Beast Haagenti.

“This is…the world’s oldest Great Demonic Beast… The Darkness Dragon, Glasya Labolas, huh.” (Eugene)

It is called a dragon, but I have never seen a dragon like this one.

It has dorsal fins like pine trees which is a trait of sea dragons, but it has rare gigantic arms unlike a sea monster.

It has more than 8 fins on its back that look like wings.

Its scales are black, suiting its name of Darkness Dragon.

It is not like its whole body is out of the sea, so I can’t tell how its lower half looks.

The only thing I can say is…

“It is bigger than Haagenti…” (Eugene)

“Is that true, Eugene?” (Claude)

Claude’s voice was trembling.

It should be the first time Claude has seen the actual Darkness Dragon.

“Yeah, just the part out of the sea is already bigger than the Colossal Beast. So there’s something like this…” (Eugene)

“Did our ancestors really fight that monstrosity…?” (Claude)

Claude is looking at the red spear, the Dragon God Spear, that is on his back.

The God Spear that’s said to have crushed one of the many hearts of the Darkness Dragon.

I know that the Dragon God Spear is a sacred treasure that’s as powerful as a Holy Sword.

But I also had the same opinion as Claude when faced with the pressure of the Darkness Dragon that I can’t see wholy in my vision.

The Darkness Dragon was looking around cutely, completely contrary to its threatening appearance.

The Darkness Dragon’s big frame slowly sunk into the sea.

The sea rose big waves like a storm with the shockwave of this.

Silence returned.

“So that’s…the Darkness Dragon, huh…” (Soran)

Soran muttered this.

“Have you seen it before, Ralph-san?” (Claude)

Ralph-san shook his head silently to the sides at the question of Claude.

“No, this is my first time seeing it in person too. I have met a number of people who have said they saw the Darkness Dragon though… But they are most likely liars. No one said it would be this much of a monster.” (Ralph)

“…I see.” (Claude)

In other words, no one here can tell whether what we saw just now was the Glasya Labolas.

Even so, I was certain that monstrosity is the Darkness Dragon.

There’s no way several of those exist in this world.

“……..We will regroup with the flagship.” (Ralph)

“““…Yes sir.”””

We responded heavily to the words of Ralph-san.

◇◇

“Eugy-kun!”

“I am back, Sumire.” (Eugene)

A lot of people were waiting for our return to the flagship.

“So you were fine, Ralph-san!”

“Soran, nice to see you back!”

“Claude! I am so glad!”

Everyone was happy at our return.

The two wyverns that carried us were completely exhausted at the deck, and Claude and Ralph-san are giving them water and food.

“Turn the ship around! We are leaving this area of the ocean posthaste!”

““““““““““Yes!””””””””””

Everyone answered briefly at the shout of the captain.

I looked around and everyone’s face showed fear from the unease.

“Sumire, how much does everyone know?” (Eugene)

“It is bad! A Godzilla-like kaiju suddenly showed up! We saw it from all the way here! Isn’t that bigger than the Great Demonic Beast in your homeland, Eugy-kun?!” (Sumire)

“Godzilla…? Kaiju…?” (Eugene)

“Aah, uhm…that’s how it is called in my world…” (Sumire)

Sumire scratched her cheek as if troubled by how to explain this.

I heard this and was shocked.

“You had monsters like that in your world, Sumire?!” (Eugene)

“No, I didn’t! Godzilla is a fictional monster!” (Sumire)

Sumire hurriedly shook her head.

“So a mythological creature, huh…” (Eugene)

“Hmm, something like that, I guess.” (Sumire)

The ship was moving away from the Black Sea while I was having this conversation with Sumire.

At that moment…

*BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!*

A loud explosive sound raised a giant pillar of water from afar.

“That’s…?” (Sumire)

“Must be the explosion magic set on the human dolls, Sumire-chan.” (Claude)

Claude came here.

Looks like he has finished taking care of his wyvern.

“Then, did we manage to subjugate the queen of the black mermaids?” (Eugene)

“Who knows. Even if we did manage to, an even more troublesome one showed up.” (Claude)

Claude said with a tired voice at my question.

—Uoooooooonnnn~~~

A strange sound rang from afar that’s too low for it to be the sound of the wind…

“Sailors say that’s the rumbling of the Darkness Dragon’s stomach when it is hungry… Sailors have been taught to leave at once when you hear that noise. I thought that was just superstition until today though…”

The captain said this, extremely annoyed.

(The Darkness Dragon has woken up from hunger…?) (Eugene)

I feel like that sounds plausible.

Can’t do much even when we know that though.

The creepy sound continued echoing even when we returned to the Gold Country.

■Comment Response:

>The oldest and strongest only entails between the Great Demonic Beasts, right?

-Right.

It is the strongest within the Great Demonic Beasts.

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