I foolishly thought there would be monsters like this here, but…
smaller, and definitely not connected to each other.
…But my thoughts didn’t stop me and Nimue from jointly reciting new spells, and the dwarves from covering themselves with shields and striking the creature with their halberds, even cutting off several legs.
“Ddaear, Taro Fy Ngelyn Gyda’ch Carreg!”
“Saeth tân, Dinistrio’r Gelyn!” we said simultaneously, having long since learned to speak spells at the same time so that our pronunciation wouldn’t interfere with each other’s.
Perhaps we devoted almost as much time to this skill as we did to studying elemental magic itself.
The centipede, meanwhile, clearly had no time for the dwarves anymore.
Because as soon as we finished our words and hand gestures, a stone spike, rapidly erupting from the cave floor, drove between its segments, followed by an equally fast, large arrow of fire flying into its already half-dead head…
And it would seem that this should have finished off the multi-legged bastard…
But no such luck!
It was alive!
Impaled on a steel spike close to its head…
A head that was almost completely destroyed by two pinpoint fire spells…
It was actively moving, trying to get out of its position!
“Why the fuck is this creature still alive?!” someone’s utterly furious howl rang out.
“Come on, brothers, pile o-o-on!”
…For the next few minutes, Nimue and I exchanged smiles, watching this meter and a half of pure rage…
In several dozen copies.
The dwarves, with all their considerable strength, set about chopping off the legs and vulnerable spots of the insectoid, hitting between the segments of its chitinous armor.
And what’s typical — they finished it off!
They even managed to scatter in all directions when black little worms with legs literally started jumping out of the remains of its head.
They didn’t look anything like centipedes; they had no chitin at all.
“Fflam, Llosgi Fy Holl Elynion!” I spat out sharply, raising my hands above my head and lowering them just as sharply.
Defocused flame rushed forward, setting fire to each of these little creatures, which began to crackle in the fire again.
And only when the last of them was either burned or crushed under the dwarves’ boots could everyone in our detachment breathe out.
“It’s not the first time I’ve met such creatures, but…” Gunnrad Fuchs, who had been standing next to us all this time as the safest place, shook his head.
“Especially in my youth…
But they never survived without a head!”
“The fault lies with those small black creatures,” I made the obvious conclusion, crossing my arms over my chest.
“It’s still unknown how they appeared, but…
They couldn’t have gotten through the chitinous shell on their own.
They’re soft, like worms.
They don’t even have teeth in their little mouths…
So someone is placing them inside all these underground dwellers, allowing them to control the bodies and interact even when the brain is dead…
Otherwise, those sharleys would never have survived with such burned and baked bodies.”
“Creepy shit…” the clan head couldn’t help himself, being one of the most influential dwarves in Mahakam and the Continent respectively.
“Looks like the diamonds won’t come to us easily, they won’t.”
“Nevertheless, later you’ll be able to claim that your clan destroyed such a threat…
To the entire mountain range.
Because, given the number of creatures subjugated by these black brain breakers, it’s safe to assume — they’re expanding,” I concluded with a hint of grimness, glancing further into the network of passages and caves.
“Brain Breakers?
Ha!
A fitting name for these worms,” the bearded man grinned, gripping his mace tighter, which he had practically never used.
He understood, after all, that the clan leader shouldn’t rush headlong into battle, even if he volunteered to personally oversee the cleansing of the richest diamond mine from monsters.
“So, then…
We’ll rest a bit and continue on, Lord Sorcerer Dragon?..”
“Just ‘esteemed Merlin’ is enough…” I waved it off, leaning against the cave wall.
“For now, we really should rest.
Speed is important in our business, but what good is it if we all show up for the next battle tired and falling off our feet?..” I shrugged, trying to speed up the process of absorbing magic from nature at least a little.
Alas, it was…
difficult.
The innate ability of dragons and cats didn’t respond to training or any serious influence.
It only increased on its own as the dragon grew — and so it turned out that the bigger the fire-breathing reptile, the faster it recovers magic…
The size of the reservoir also depends on the tonnage of our true bodies.
So, in about ten minutes of rest, I recovered at most five percent of my own considerable reservoir, which, as it turned out, is spent on dragon fire…
Yes, yes, yes!
Dragon flame is a more…
natural type of spell.
Intuitive and innate.
That’s how it is, that’s how the cookie crumbles with little dragons.
…Rushing forward, we quickly marched through several more kilometers of tunnels and several turns, heading towards the largest of the encountered passages, until we finally reached the vaults of an even larger cave…
Oh god, the vault alone was about ten meters high, and certainly no less in width — which means the cave must be even more impressive!
However, the consecrated fireball sent ahead showed a complete absence of any creatures that should have reacted to it…
So we slowly moved forward…
And…
It seems I was wrong to run that logical chain in my head at that moment, thinking that since the local mountain was copied from Erebor, this dungeon might be another underground stronghold of the short bearded folk — Moria…
Moria, which has its own Balrog.
Because right in front of us, a rock dragon that had previously gone undetected by anyone or anything dropped from the ceiling.
(The head of a Balrog and a rock dragon respectively — don’t you see any similarity?))
A body about ten meters long, wiry, with brown, ragged scales and wings pressed close to its back, not the largest…
Even with all its smallness compared to other dragons, it still looked like a Goliath against the backdrop of dozens of little Davids.
I immediately tried to reach my brother’s mind with telepathy, but…
“Kree-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e!” a piercing, deafening, and in some ways even squeaky, multi-voiced chirping rang out in my head, instantly driving me out.
Hot liquid ran from my nose, and I nearly recoiled.
This…
This was something terrible.
A huge, huge Overmind…
A Hive…
It was a Hive…
All these creatures were a single collective unconscious hive…
It seems like another relic of the Conjunction of the Spheres, having come here from another world.
Otherwise, the elves would have learned about such a Konis over thousands of years.
And this thing…
If I were an ordinary human sorcerer and tried to intrude into their Overmind, I would have died instantly — the psionic power was more than impressive.
In fact…
Because of the realization and understanding of all this, I didn’t have time to react to the further actions of my rocky brother.
A brother subjugated by the hive, which, thanks to the large mind of the huge reptile, had increased its strength and power.
Allowing itself to control so many of the creatures we encountered…
If I correctly understood the essence of this creation in our Mental Contact.
Disgusting!
How dare they…
And the rocky brother, for some unknown reason, opened its mouth wide — dragons of its kind don’t spew anything…
But instead, a multitude of various worms flew out of there, sometimes even without legs — the hive’s offspring…
Which are slowly devouring the dragon-hive carrier.
…I managed to cover myself and the dwarves standing nearby with a flashing magical dome, created even without speaking — with just gestures and dragon will.
But the others…
Just ten seconds.
That’s how long it took for the suddenly accelerated members of the Hive to crawl into the noses and mouths of the dwarves, who tried to fight them off — but it was all in vain, the creatures were too small and there were too many of them.
Covering myself with the dome, I began to slowly retreat back towards the cave vault.
“Get back.
Run away,” I said in a hoarse tone, and seeing the lack of understanding on the faces of the clan head, a couple of gnomes and dwarves, and Nimue.
But the latter knew me well — and ran first.
“Get out!” my telepathic scream, reaching the minds of the short folk, rang out.
It worked — they, after hesitating a little, ran after Nimue.
I turned back to my shield, through which the very quickly subjugated dwarves were trying to break through.
Rolled-back eyes with worms squirming in them — twitching movements…
All this told me that it’s much harder for them to subjugate fully sentient beings, but if they are allowed to adapt the captured brains in addition to the considerable dragon brain…
These mountains are going to have a very bad time.
“Hu-u-u…” I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling the dwarves pounding against my magic — and the subjugated dragon itself slowly walking, intending to help the rest of the Hive.
Ho.
So that’s what it is.
That’s why he was so slow…
The Hive hadn’t realized I was the same kind of dragon, because of the difference in our species and the unique, established magical mutations of gold dragons, which are supposedly what grant us telepathy and super-powerful metamorphism.
“Pŵer!
Hud!” I shouted loudly, clapping my palms together with all my might as my eyes snapped open.
And immediately after, following my echo, a wave of pure magic began to spread in all directions, unconnected to either the primary or mixed elements.
It washed over the subjugated dwarves and the Hive’s small black Brain Breakers, pushing them further away from me.
It even slowed the advance of the rock dragon’s carcass for a moment — it was as if it had slammed into an invisible wall.
And without wasting a single moment, I returned to my draconic form.
The cave was large enough for me, but I still shouldn’t lift my head up — I wouldn’t reach the ceiling in my normal form, but it wasn’t worth the risk.
In my true form, I didn’t hesitate either and opened my jaws wide — surpassing my opponent in height and size by more than twice, I had no fear of parts of the Hive landing on my head.
The light of my flame sharply illuminated the darkness that had engulfed the cave after the dwarves were subjugated, and their torches fell to the floor and quickly began to go out — including under the influence of the movements of the dwarves’ bodies themselves. This chapter was copied from NovelPing without permission.
After all, the Hive didn’t really like the light, and in its memory I had caught glimpses of a vast, dark world with a violet (!) sun.
Meanwhile, my fire began to actively and greedily devour the dwarves, feeding on their bodies and the Hive’s limbs, and even starting to melt the stone.
“Kreeeeee!” a loud mental howl from the Hive rang out, nearly interrupting my stream of flame, as many of its members perished in an instant.
After all, I wasn’t holding back; I hit it with my flame as hard as I could…
And while all the others quickly began to char, my subjugated brother still had scales and flesh resistant to fire, so he wasn’t harmed…
And he began to retreat.
The Hive, though it had a completely alien mind, clearly understood that I could destroy it with my fire — after all, they had subjugated the rock dragon only because it lacked fire, freezing breath, or even poison.
But did I let it?
Of course not!
And snapping my jaws shut, I lunged forward.
A dragon’s ears, generally similar to those of ordinary reptiles, were fairly well protected from the front by sharp, backward-growing bony growths, and I protected my nostrils with the extremely hot air exiting through them.
Any small creatures in there would be roasted alive.
However…
The Hive didn’t even try to attack me with parts of itself.
Apparently, I had already killed enough.
The only thing left for it was to try to kill me using the capabilities of the host dragon.
Abomination!
Disgusting…
How dare these creatures!
— I echoed my earlier thoughts.
I echoed them as I collided with my brother in fury, gouging furrows into the cave’s stone, knocking the tips off stalactites with my head.
Then, stretching my head up and back, I began to literally tear apart the scales of my brother, who had suffered a terrible fate, with the claws on my paws.
But he was no slouch either — lacking the ability to breathe anything dangerous, evolution had given rock dragons claws and fangs gigantic for their size.
That’s why my absolute dominance, which would have allowed me to immediately crush a smaller opponent, didn’t manifest in close combat.
Especially since my powerful jaw, with a bite force ten times or more that of the largest crocodile — wasn’t involved in this battle.
After all, I still remembered how quickly those worms had penetrated the dwarves’ bodies, and I didn’t want the same outcome.
An outcome against which I would have only one recourse — to turn into an elf and hope that the process would annihilate the creatures if they got into my head.
So my mouth was shut, and I emitted neither flame nor roar.
Blow after blow.
Gash after gash…
Blood began to drip from both sides.
Now he scratches my chest with his curled horns on the sides of his head, now I bring my right front paw down on his head with all my might.
My three claws on my fingers sank deep inside, to where half the skull was already gone — only swarming worms remained, connected to the remnants of the brain.
This became practically the decisive moment — or rather, its precursor.
Convinced that he wouldn’t get rid of my embedded claws so easily, I stoically ignored the deep gashes actively forming on my chest.
Then, I somehow grabbed his lower jaw with the three very mobile fingers of my left front paw, digging my claws into it as well.
After that, using all the strength of my more powerful muscles, I pulled out the claws of my other paw and grabbed the upper part of his narrow jaw, again helping to hold it with my claws.
And straining my muscles even harder, truly overpowering myself, I began to artificially open the subjugated dragon’s mouth — he wasn’t dead yet, but as soon as the Hive disappeared, he would die instantly.
…Only when I opened my own mouth did the worms with legs realize what I was about to do.
And they began to thrash even faster inside my brother’s body, inflicting even more wounds on me.
But a dragon’s endurance was phenomenal — and he hadn’t even reached my ribs.
Then…
Then I brought my open mouth close to his own…
He desperately tried to spit almost all the remaining worms inside him at me, but…
The flame I had poured almost all my remaining strength into literally incinerated them in mid-flight.
Because of that, it even took on a slightly bluish tint…
A tint that illuminated the open mouth of the rock dragon, into which my flame burst literally as if it were coming home.
And it began to furiously burn first the Hive, which shrieked on the mental plane, and then continued down the long neck, reaching the insides.
Which, from the inside, were nowhere near as fireproof and durable, especially since they had been eaten away by the black worms with legs.
Without stopping, I continued to spew a stream of fire, melting and roasting my brother from the inside, wanting to burn everything, everything.
So that the temperature inside would be such that not a single one of those creatures would survive — because there was surely some kind of conditional Hive Center here.
Even if some creatures remained elsewhere, they should be of poorer quality and shouldn’t be able to restore their numbers in the near future — and then we could equip a new expedition and burn everything here for good.
“Die.” I slammed the dying mind of the Hive with a single telepathic word, which in that state could no longer offer me any resistance.
Soon, streams of fire began to burst from the former eyes, nostrils, and the holes I had left in its head, somewhat resembling peculiar geysers.
And after a minute of intense roasting, I abruptly stopped spewing flame, immediately coughing from the black smoke coming from my throat and nostrils — I had overdone it with the amount of fire, after all.
Meanwhile, the dragon carcass I had released fell to the ground with a crash — all that was left of it now was scales and bones, the most resistant to flame, and therefore not even planning to burn or char.
“As they say…
As I’ve said before…” I then coughed, expelling even more smoke.
“I love the smell of napalm in the morning…”