NOVEL NEXT Chapter 51
Chapter 51: Life and Death (1)
The glossy scales were dried and cracked, and the flesh peeking through was half-rotten, with oozing pus flowing down from the black dragon.
It was as if its body was rotisserie chicken, slowly cooking while still alive.
“What on earth…?”
[An evil and bizarre energy seeped into this kid’s body, causing its living flesh to start decomposing like this. We tried to kick out the energy with our magic, but… we just managed to keep it stable. Improvement? Not even a little.]
I walked over to the tormented black dragon baby. Hmm… this energy is…
“It’s got a vibe that screams death.”
The energy from the corpses of dead humans I had felt before was faintly similar, but the gunk inside this little one was orders of magnitude stronger and way more clingy.
I summoned my magic to shove the energy that’s turning the black dragon kid into a rot-muffin, but it just rolled back in like a bad habit.
Hmm… A little nudge isn’t gonna do anything, huh? I gave it another shot, this time with more oomph.
CRACK!
This time, the black dragon’s rotting flesh began to splinter apart under the pressure of my magic.
[Creator Dragon God?!]
“Oops, seems my power was a bit too much for this little one to handle.”
Too much force and the kid’s body would shatter, too little and I’d be stuck playing tug-of-war with death energy.
This is just peachy. Super peachy.
When you can’t toss it out physically, maybe the best move is to help the kid tackle it on their own.
So, I infused my magic into the little black dragon again, but this time I had a different plan.
That energy was the death sauce that oozes out of dead bodies. If I can get it to move away from death, it should get lost.
The opposite of death is life. So, how about I pump up this kid’s life energy to kick death’s butt?
I activated the life energy—vitality—inside the black dragon kid.
And wouldn’t you know it, the tiny bit of vitality barely hanging on seemed to perk up with my magic, starting to grow bit by bit.
Hmm. If only you could slap a number on vitality, but reality’s playing hard to get.
For now, though, I can feel it somewhat. I kept coaxing the kid’s vitality to rise; soon, it started moving like it had something to prove, pushing away the death vibes.
It was like the child was saying, “Not today, death!” They were positively craving life, using my boost to grow even stronger.
The life force began to push back against the death aura, slowly pushing it out of the black dragon’s skin.
Of course, death wasn’t going down without a fight, kicking and screaming, but my magic-powered life force was relentless. After a short while…
The death energy that had fully wrapped the black dragon decided to forfeit half of its territory to the life force.
What gives? Why’s it so stubborn? By my sole intention, the death energy should be getting kicked out completely, right?! Shouldn’t it be getting better by now?!
Ugh… Is this kid’s life force not strong enough to push it out anymore? I mean, this isn’t quite fatal but…
Half of its body is alive, and half is decomposing.
If I shove the death energy out too harshly, I might poke a hole in this kid. Ugh… What a pickle.
And wait, why’s the death energy so thick? Even with human corpses rotting away, it wouldn’t turn into this thick of a goo!
Maybe I need to check out the spot where they’ve buried the dragons later on.
[How’s it looking?]
“I managed to give it a breather, but I couldn’t completely kick that energy out.”
[Oh, for real…?]
“How did you end up investigating that spot? The dark spirits are currently scattered because I’ve given them other things to do.”
At that, the Dragon Lord’s eyes widened in surprise.
[Really?! Ahem, we didn’t know that and thought something huge had gone down, so we hastily ordered an investigation.]
“They’ve been as silent as a ninja no matter what chaos has unfolded elsewhere.”
[But those dark spirits are descendants of theirs, right? If they started moving around, we thought it might mean he was back…]
Ah, now it’s making sense.
Furthermore, the place they hang out is where the fools went to rest. It’s a place we patrol at least once a month. If something strange happens there, it’s only natural we’d investigate.
That’s understandable. To the surviving dragons, that’d be their family’s burial ground.
If anything happens there, they’ve got to check it out.
Oof… I messed up by not informing the dragons before launching into all this.
“I’m sorry! I should’ve told you about this first, thinking nothing major would happen since you guys were lying low…”
[Ah, no worries. It’s not something the Creator Dragon God needs to apologize for. This kid was just reckless.]
Right after that, we turned to look again at the black dragon child.
Half of its body was lifeless while the other half looked like it was partying—super weird.
“By the way, to think an energy strong enough to devour a dragon has appeared. How did we end up with this headache?”
[My guess is that the death energy leaking from the buried bodies became trapped and concentrated due to the dark spirits.]
“Concentrated, huh…”
[And when the dark spirits disappeared, it shot up from the ground, attaching itself to this curious little one trying to figure out what’s going on…]
If this keeps bubbling up, it wouldn’t be surprising if all life on the surface just ghosted.
All this because I made a thoughtless move… Hmm…
Reflection can wait; right now, I’ve got to sort this kid out.
This time… I’m not just going for vitality boosting; let’s try some different tricks.
If I force the death energy out, the kid will be as safe as a cupcake surrounded by angry bees… Let’s lure it out instead. If pushing doesn’t cut it, sometimes you gotta pull.
I pumped more magic power into the child, raising its vitality while slipping in a little magic right near the death energy.
The death energy immediately latched onto my magic like a toddler to candy, and I started pulling, yanking the death energy out.
The death aura flailed around like a fish out of water, but once it latched onto my magic, there was no going back.
Just like that, as the death energy was getting pulled out, the vitality jumped in too, nudging the death energy away as if to say, “Don’t you dare go anywhere!”
I kept drawing on my magic, easing up when the death energy looked like it might snap, guiding it out like I was fishing.
“Aha!”
Out came the gooey, black death energy—sticky as mud—yanked right out of there.
Once I severed the magic connected to the death aura, it gobbled up the leftover magic power as if it was starving, then started spreading out like it wanted to take over the world.
“Hmm… Fascinating.”
I froze the death energy and the space around it, immobilizing it completely.
Whoa, this looks so much like that creepy black goo from some superhero flick! Reminds me of slime-like stuff too…
Might be worth a closer look later.
Anyway, with that, most of the death energy that had gone deep into the black dragon’s skin was finally extracted, and the half that looked like a corpse began reviving almost instantly.
The rotting flesh started regenerating and filling out, while the dried, cracked scales slowly regained their original black shine.
After a little while, the black dragon child began to breathe comfortably, as if the torment from its morbid state had vanished.
[Is it all over?]
“Seems like it for now.”
Looks like it’s doing better on the outside, so I’m betting we’re in the clear.
[You managed to drive out the energy that was munching on magic power and flesh… Did you use life force to kick it out?]
“Yep, if death can take a hike, then life had to be the answer! If I had forced it out purely with my power, this little one wouldn’t have stood a chance.”
It’s like trying to use a super potent medicine—sure, it heals but also kinda wrecks the user.
“So, instead of forcing out the death energy, I thought I’d pump up the vitality and let it throw out the death energy on its own.”
Plus, the way that vitality was moving around so eagerly… It looked like it had quite the will to survive. Hmm.
[Thank you, Creator Dragon God. How can I ever repay this kindness…?]
“Kindness? Pfft, it isn’t that big of a deal.”
[But…]
Uh-oh, here comes the flood of gratitude! I gave the Dragon Lord a light flick on the forehead.
“Enough of the mushy stuff. And forget the dark spirits for now. It’s not an extraordinary situation.”
[Understood. Then what about that evil and bizarre energy?]
“Oh, that energy, huh?”
I glanced at the unpleasant gunk writhing on the floor.
If a dragon, filled to the brim with life force and magic, can get eaten alive by this energy, then other creatures wouldn’t even stand a chance.
The dark spirits around it were probably keeping that energy in check until now…
Hmm… This is quite the headache. I actually had a plan for those spirits.