A Demon Lord’s Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss

Chapter 131

Pride — Part 3

Roar after roar rang through the Wicked Forest as the black dragon known as Gilordio Gyogarr writhed about on the ground . The cut that ran along his face burned with fiery agony while the eye that had been crushed by his foe ached with a powerful throbbing pain . It almost felt as if it something was eating at the damaged socket .

To him, pain was an unfamiliar sensation, one that he had almost never known . Nothing he fought had ever inflicted upon him anything beyond a minor wound . Every single creature he faced was so far below him that he considered them mere insects he had to squish . And thus, the pain he now had to bear was the most severe he had ever experienced .

"Hmph . " The Supreme Dragon snorted scornfully . "An unsightly display . I am shocked to think that you would call yourself a man . "

Gyogarr turned his remaining eye up towards her and gave her a death stare . And as he did, he learned that she was looking at him as she would a piece of garbage . Her eyes were cold as ice, and the smile on her face almost seemed to exist only to declare that she wished to insult him .

"The pain that Yuki felt was much more severe than your own . You dared to insult him as he endured it and continued to fight . And now you have proven that you are much less a man than he," she mocked . "A tiny wound has caused you to squawk and chirp like a fledgling . You are pathetic . I cannot believe that one so miserable would be crowned Dragonlord . "

"Speak of him no longer, Leficios, for I have already ended his life! I have crushed the insect that you held so dear!"

Gyogarr had eaten one of the insect's arms and two of his wings . And then, he had fallen . The black dragon had even gazed upon him with his remaining eye to ensure that he remained still . And he had indeed confirmed it . He was certain that the insect Leficios appeared so obsessed with had remained unmoving . It had met its demise .

The Dragonlord's original intent was to use fangs and tear him apart before swallowing him whole, but losing an eye had thrown off his ability to perceive depth . And thus, he had failed to perfectly replicate his intentions . Still, he knew that he had won . That much was fact .

His certainty was what had driven Gyogarr to fearlessly provoke Leficios, to mock her with his death . And yet, she remained unfazed . Her scornful smile never wavered .

"An interesting claim to make, whelp, for I see no evidence of Yuki's defeat . "

"What…!?"

The Supreme Dragon's words caused Gyogarr to crane his neck around in alarm and gaze upon the insect that he had supposedly crushed . Doing so caused his face to warp in a mix of shock and disbelief .

He didn't understand how it was possible . He was sure that he had killed him .

But even so, the insect had gotten back to his feet .

He was injured . His body was so covered in wounds that he would sooner be identified as a corpse than a member of the living . But even so, he continued to march . He continued to move towards the Dragonlord, one step at a time with his sword brandished in his mouth .

Every step he took, unstable as it was, was filled with purpose . He sought none other than Gyogarr's life .

The Dragonlord did not understand the sight before him . He was incapable . The insect's wounds were fatal no matter how one looked upon them . It simply did not make sense for him to be able to move . Gyogarr would have understood if he had done as he had earlier and drank a potion in order to recover his stamina . But the fact that he was still covered in injuries evidenced that it was not the case .

And yet, he somehow continued to step forward .

To threaten to take Gyogarr's life .

"You are weak," said the Supreme Dragon . "Attacks as pathetic as yours could never slay the partner that I have chosen . "

Her words swirled around in his head . They almost seemed to echo within his mind . And as they did, they led him to a conclusion .

The insect, the creature before him was abnormal . There had to be something wrong with him . The air about him was bizarre; it was almost as if he was giving off a domineering aura, one that threatened to devour the dragon whole . And the longer he watched the insect, the more at risk he felt of being consumed .

As the dragon gazed upon the man, he too craned his head upwards to look at the dragon .

Their eyes met .

And then, half a heartbeat later, the man began to grin .

A shiver ran up the black dragon's spine .

He didn't know exactly when it had happened, but he soon realized that he had retreated . He had been intimidated to such an extent that he had taken a full step back away from the creature that sought to deprive him of his life .

"T-take not another step! Do not come any closer!” The dragon couldn't help but scream a frantic command as he swung his tail .

The attack landed . It caused Gyogarr's foe to skid along the ground, but it didn't stop him .

He got to his knees, and then to his feet, and once again began to march . It was like the attack had never landed to begin with .

Again, a shiver ran up the black dragon's spine .

And then, he had an epiphany . He finally began to understand why the man refused to fall .

He was immortal .

The man was like a member of the undead, only more . He was a monster, a freak that would never fall no matter how much he was attacked .

He was dangerous . Too dangerous . The black dragon realized that he would have to do something to slay the man immediately else run the risk of being hunted .

His physical attacks were too weak . They were sure to do nothing to him . Not even his fangs had managed to end him . Gyogarr realized that he would have to completely erase the man in his entirety if he wished to truly kill him . He would have to ensure that no trace of him was left behind, that every scrap of his flesh was removed from this world .

Which meant he would have to resort to his most powerful spell: his roar .

The black dragon opened his mouth upon coming to the conclusion and took a deep breath as he began to channel his magical energies .

Only to collapse where he stood .

***

"W-Wh…!?" Half-dick tried to speak, but he couldn't so much as manage anything more than just a wheeze .

"Took…long enough…"

That said, I wasn't all that much better off . I had to exert myself to squeeze out my words . Still, I was content . I smirked as I watched the douchebag that had kicked my ass collapse . So heavy he was that the earth shook as he hit the ground .

The mentally challenged lizard was confused . His eye darted about as he tried to figure out exactly what had happened . He even tried to speak, but his mouth wasn't working right . He couldn't voice his thoughts no matter how hard he tried .

"I'm glad… my plan… worked out…" I muttered under my breath as I came to the conclusion that bearing with the pain he had inflicted upon me had ultimately been worthwhile .

Numbskull had collapsed . And for a simple reason at that .

I had set him up .

Dragons were terrifying creatures . Their scales were so hard that normal weapons couldn't even hope to scratch them . They were so fast that my eyes had trouble keeping up with their movements . Their bodies were capable of handling high altitudes with ease, they possessed incredible quantities of magical energy, and their spells had an excess of firepower . They were the predators that stood at this world's apex . And that was the catch .

Being predators meant that they too were living things . They had needs . And living with Lefi had taught me more than everything I needed to know about draconic biology . Like me, they had to eat . Like me, they had to sleep . Like me, they had to breathe .

Their reliance on breathing meant that they were vulnerable to something that basically every other living creature was weak to: an odourless, colourless toxin known to the world at large as carbon monoxide .

The dungeon was my realm . So long as we were within it, my word was law . And that was why I could freely alter any property that I was aware of . The air's precise composition was no exception .

I knew that this world wasn't quite the same as my last . The air was filled with a mysterious substance known as the magic particle . But that aside, the air composition was more or less the same as that of the world I'd lived in prior to my reincarnation . Of course, I didn't know if the exact percentages of the different gasses were anywhere near identical, but I did know that the very same gasses did at least exist . There was oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and basically everything else . The experiments that I had run whilst teaching the girls about combustion had demonstrated that their properties were no different from what they had been back on Earth .

Even in my past life, carbon monoxide had been a fairly well-known poison, one that many were familiar with and guarded against .

Mere exposure to a concentration of air that contained 0 . 15% carbon monoxide was enough to render one dizzy enough to collapse . Anything greater than 1% of the stuff was enough to knock someone out and kill them . It was a terrifying poison, one that was lethal to basically every sort of living thing . Although dragons were apex predators, I expected that they too would be affected .

And my expectations proved correct .

I had won my bet .

The dragon seemed to have wished to finish me off with a roar or something . And as a result, he took an incredibly deep breath, thereby flooding his own lungs with a sudden influx of carbon monoxide . His body was unable to rid itself of the toxin, and so, he swooned . Man, I've been hella gambling lately . At this rate, I might as well start introducing myself as the Demon Lord of Gambling .

Carbon monoxide had been my poison of choice because it was the most likely to fulfill its purpose . Fighting the retard had led me to realize that he had literally no skills that enhanced his ability to detect it . Thus, it was a much better option than a more traditional poison, as such a poison would likely come with a telling scent .

The many explosive traps that I had set all over the place had only existed in order to bolster the deadly gas' concentration through incomplete combustion . In other words, they were there to trick him, to cover up the fact that I was using the dungeon's settings to manually alter the air composition .

Of course, Lefi had seen through the trick immediately . She had even created a protective, wind-based barrier around herself . And so had I . Both of us had used primordial magic to ensure that we wouldn't inhale the toxin . And yet, the piece of shit that I was up against somehow never noticed .

He never realized that I was too busy keeping my barrier active to cast any magic . Hell, he hadn't even seemed to find my lack of magic the slightest bit suspicious . Seriously man . You really gotta learn to pay more attention . I guess that'll have to be what you work on while you hang around in hell . Work hard down there . If you're lucky enough, you might actually get another chance at life . I know I did .

With Zaien still held in my mouth, I slowly dragged my body over to where the dumb lizard had collapsed, step by step .

Muffled screams leaked from his throat as I slowly inched my way towards him . His terror was reflected in his eye . Seeing it caused my lips to spread into a huge grin .

"I kant… ell vat… you're sain…"

Though, you probably can't tell what I'm saying either . Besides, it's way too late for you to try talking things out now . This might've turned out differently if you tried using diplomacy from the start . Actually, naw, who am I kidding . You and I never could have gotten along . Oh well, don't worry . I won't be mounting your head on any walls for the sake of keeping trophies . I don't want to use that gross ass body of yours to make myself new gear either . I'm just going to turn you into DP, into fertilizer I can use to strengthen my dungeon .

So feel free to do me a favour and die .

I finally reached him as I finished entertaining the idea of murdering him in cold blood .

“Shee ya in hell, douchebwaag . ”

I swung Zaien with all the force I could muster . She had absorbed so much of his blood and grown so much more powerful that his scales could no longer defend him against her blade .

Her edge easily sawed through his flesh .

And split his head from his neck .