Shiny scales had dried up and cracked, and the flesh revealed between them was halfway rotten, oozing with pus—this was the Black Dragon.
It’s as if it’s alive while its body is rotting away, huh?
“Ho… What in the world…?”
「A wicked and grotesque power seeped into this child’s body, starting the decay of this living flesh. We tried driving it out using our magic, but… we couldn’t improve the condition; all we managed to do was maintain the current state.」
I approached the suffering young Black Dragon. Hmm… This energy…
“I can sense an aura akin to death.”
While the faint energy from a dead human corpse felt somewhat similar, the energy inside this child was far stronger and stickier by comparison.
I summoned my magical power to try pushing it out of the Black Dragon’s body, but the moment it retreated, it clung back onto the decaying flesh and scales.
Hmm… This energy won’t budge no matter how gently I push. Once again, I unleashed even stronger magical power.
Crack!
This time, the Black Dragon’s half-rotten body began splitting under the pressure of my magic.
“Ah, this child couldn’t withstand such overwhelming force.”
If I use too much strength, the child’s body will crumble. If I’m too weak, I won’t be able to drive the energy out.
Troublesome indeed. Very troublesome.
When physical expulsion fails, helping the child overcome it on their own might work better.
Once more, I channeled my magic into the child, but this time I used a different method.
That energy is necrotic qi, which arises from corpses. So, if I move it further away from death, I should be able to peel it off.
The opposite of death is life. Thus, strengthening the life force within this child could expel the necrotic qi.
Using my magic, I activated the life force within the Black Dragon child.
The tiny bit of life force that had been pushed aside by the necrotic qi seemed to gain strength from my magic and started expanding gradually.
Hmm. If only life force could be quantified clearly, that would be convenient, but reality isn’t so simple.
Still, roughly, I can gauge it. I continued boosting the child’s life force, and soon the life force began actively resisting the necrotic qi.
As if rejecting death itself, yearning for life, the child’s vitality grows stronger with my help.
The necrotic qi being driven out by the vitalizing qi. The life force strengthened by my magic begins pushing back against the death energy, slowly driving it out of the Black Dragon’s body.
Of course, the necrotic qi resisted fiercely, but bolstered by my magic, the vitalizing qi relentlessly pushed forward. After some time,
The necrotic qi covering the Black Dragon’s entire body now only occupied half of it.
Why is it so stubborn?! It should have been completely expelled by now! It should have healed by now?!
Grrr… Is this child’s vitality not enough to drive it out entirely? Still, it seems the child’s life itself is not endangered…
This way, half-alive and half-dead.
And if I forcibly drive out the necrotic qi, the child might die first. Hmm… Troublesome indeed.
Why is the necrotic qi so dense? Even when human corpses rot, they don’t produce such dense necrotic qi!
I’ll need to investigate where the dragons’ bodies are buried later.
「What shall we do?」
“For now, at least I’ve ensured the child’s life isn’t immediately threatened… But I couldn’t completely drive out that energy.”
「Is that so…」
“How did you end up investigating this place anyway? The spirits of darkness are scattered because I assigned them other tasks.”
At my words, the Dragon Lord hesitated before speaking.
「Oh dear! We didn’t know that! Thinking a major incident had occurred, we hastily ordered an investigation.」
“But nothing unusual happened elsewhere, right?”
「But aren’t the spirits of darkness descendants of him? We thought if they moved somewhere, it might mean he has returned…」
Ah, so that’s how it happened.
「Moreover, the place they dwell is where foolish ones are buried. A place we patrol monthly due to its importance. Naturally, when something unusual happens there, we must investigate.」
That makes sense. For the surviving dragons, it’s a place where family members were buried.
If anything happens there, an investigation is inevitable.
This… Was my mistake for not informing the dragons beforehand.
“I apologize. I proceeded without telling you, assuming everything would remain calm since you were keeping quiet…”
「No, no. Creator Dragon God, there’s no need for you to apologize. This child was just too reckless in approaching.」
After those words, we both turned our gaze toward the Black Dragon child.
Half of its body looked dead, and the other half alive—an eerie sight.
“And how did such an energy capable of consuming a dragon appear in the first place?”
「My guess is that the death energy emanating from the bodies buried there condensed due to the spirits of darkness preventing its escape.」
“Condensed?”
「After the spirits of darkness disappeared, the energy surged from beneath the ground and attached itself to this child who came to investigate.」
If such energies burst forth unchecked, it wouldn’t be surprising if all life on the land vanished.
Because of my thoughtless actions, this situation arose… Ugh…
Reflections can wait. First, we need to handle this child.
This time, let’s not just boost vitality but also try another approach.
Forcing it out might harm the child, so let’s lure it instead. If pushing doesn’t work, pulling must.
I injected more magic, enhancing the child’s vitality while simultaneously offering a small amount of magic to the necrotic qi.
Without hesitation, the necrotic qi latched onto my magic, and I immediately pulled it, beginning to extract it.
Though the necrotic qi wriggled like a live fish in resistance, once it attached to my magic, there was no letting go.
Simultaneously, the vitalizing qi seized the opportunity to push the necrotic qi out.
By continuously pulling the magic, occasionally loosening when the necrotic qi seemed about to break free, it felt almost like fishing.
“Ugh!”
A sticky black sludge-like necrotic qi was extracted, clinging to my magic.
Once I severed the connection between the necrotic qi and my magic, the necrotic qi consumed all of it and then stretched out greedily toward its surroundings.
“Hmm… Fascinating.”
I froze the necrotic qi and its surrounding space, leaving it immobilized.
Hmm. It looks eerily like some alien substance from a superhero movie. Oddly, it also resembles a slime…
I’ll need to investigate this separately later.
Anyway, with most of the necrotic qi seemingly removed, the Black Dragon’s half-corpse-like body rapidly recovered.
The rotting flesh began regenerating, rising again, and the dried, cracked scales restored their original glossy black sheen.
After a little time passed, the Black Dragon child, freed from the agony of decaying flesh, began breathing peacefully.
“Is it over?”
“For now, it seems so.”
Its appearance has returned to normal. It’s probably truly over.
“Did you perhaps strengthen the life force to drive out the energy?”
“That’s correct. Expelling death through life proved effective. If I had forcefully expelled it with my power, the child wouldn’t have survived.”
Like giving harsh medicine—it may cure, but the body can’t endure it.
“Therefore, instead of trying to pull out the necrotic qi, I maximized the life force, allowing the child to use their own vitality to drive it out.”
There was a strange surge in vitality… Perhaps it was thanks to the strong will to survive. Hmm…
「Thank you, Creator Dragon God. How can we ever repay this favor…」
“Favor? There’s no need for such formalities. It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
「But…」
I lightly tapped the Dragon Lord’s head with a smack and said,
“Say no more. And stop worrying about the spirits of darkness. There’s no anomaly here.”
「Understood. Then what about that wicked and grotesque energy?」
“That energy, you say?”
I glanced down at the unpleasant energy rolling on the floor.
Even a dragon full of vitality and magic couldn’t resist this energy. Other creatures would likely rot upon contact.
Until now, it seems the spirits of darkness were suppressing it above it…
Hmm… That’s troubling. They still have uses for me.
