Chapter 456 - Episode 439: Earth Dragon Subjugation ②
A massive flame enveloped the entire body of the earth dragon in an instant.
"GYAOOOOOOOOOO!"
No matter if it was an earth dragon, it seemed being engulfed in flames was still hot; it thrashed about while letting out a pained roar. It swung its head and tail, crashing into the surrounding houses and barns.
The wooden buildings collapsed easily under the impact of the earth dragon's heavy body, sending construction materials flying everywhere.
"Not yet! Keep your distance! Wait until the earth dragon weakens and Lord Arqvist moves!"
Gustav shouted while keeping his own golem away from the earth dragon and hiding in its shadow. In other locations, Alain and Yuri, who was overseeing the overall command, issued similar instructions.
A dragon's scales are hardened skin, so though they are as hard as armor, they burn once fire is lit. The earth dragon continued to thrash and roll around violently, and after a while, the fire that had burned through the oil and the surface of the scales finally went out.
"Gruuuuu..."
Having suffered burn damage and exhausted itself from thrashing, the earth dragon was clearly less energetic compared to when it first stormed into the farming village. Seeing this, Noein began to act.
"...!"
Consuming a vast amount of magical power, Noein moved their own dedicated giant golem. It emerged from behind the village chief's house, which served as the command post, and appeared before the earth dragon.
"Guoh! GYAOOON!"
An entity that was clearly an enemy had appeared, and the earth dragon threatened it violently. At that moment, Noein sent the giant golem charging forward.
The giant golem surged ahead with its fist raised, while the earth dragon advanced to face it. The golem was taller, but the earth dragon's total length was more than double.
The two collided—and it was the giant golem that was pushed down. The earth dragon moved its head as if slipping under the giant golem's unleashed fist, then bit into the giant golem's arm and pinned it down.
Compared to the four-legged earth dragon, the two-legged giant golem had a higher center of gravity and poorer balance. The giant golem fell backward pathetically, and the ground shook.
However, it would not go down without a fight. Under Noein's operation, the giant golem moved its remaining intact arm and used it to strangle the earth dragon's neck.
Since golems have thicker and longer arms than humans, the earth dragon could not escape easily. It struggled and writhed, but with the large, heavy golem entwined around its head, it was difficult to move from the spot.
"Now! Claymore, move!"
Yuri shouted, and Gustav and Alain relayed the order. The puppet mages moved their respective golems, attacking the earth dragon from all four sides. Some were blown away by the earth dragon's tail and destroyed by the impact, but many succeeded in clinging to the earth dragon's body.
The golems first targeted the earth dragon's scales. They gripped the scales that had become brittle from being burned and tore them off by force. Or they smashed them. They focused on destroying the scales primarily around the four legs.
"GUGYAAA! GUOOOAAA!"
The earth dragon screamed in pain and thrashed even more violently. Some golems were blown away by this rampage, but units without damage immediately returned to the front line.
The golems, overwhelmingly superior in number, swarmed the earth dragon like ants, dealing continuous damage.
"...At this rate,"
Noein thought, will it work? Just then.
"GOGAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
As expected, it was not that simple. The earth dragon let out a hideous scream, exploding with survival instinct. It actually lifted the giant golem entwined around its neck using only the strength of its neck.
Being a creature that crawls the earth, the earth dragon seemed to possess more muscular strength than a wyvern. The body of the giant golem, which should have been considerably heavy, was lifted up, and the earth dragon tossed the giant golem away by shaking its head.
The giant golem's arm slipped from the earth dragon's neck, and the giant golem, soaring through the air, flew straight toward the location where Noein and the others were.
"Whoa!"
"Evacuate!"
Yuri shouted, and Matilda, who was holding Noein, along with Pence and the Guard surrounding Noein, leaped to the side with all their might. The giant golem, passing through the spot where Noein and the others had been until a moment ago, crashed into the village chief's house.
From that impact, the two-story house was half-destroyed, while the giant golem had one arm torn off and was snapped in two from the waist. With its upper and lower body separated, it was no longer usable.
The earth dragon, having thrown the giant golem, looked straight at Noein and the others. It had clearly recognized them and had locked onto its target.
"...This is bad,"
Noein muttered with a stiff expression, but in the brief moment that followed, the earth dragon shook its now-lightened body to brush off the clinging golems, let out a roar, and charged forward.
What stopped it was the sniping unit led by Rick. Positioned on rooftops and other structures at a distance from the western entrance of the farming village, they unleashed a simultaneous volley of sniping crossbows, aiming for the earth dragon's eyes.
Because the earth dragon had been moving its head violently, no arrows scored a direct hit on the eyeballs, but still, being targeted in the eyes caused the earth dragon to flinch slightly and slow its movement.
At that moment, two golems attacked from the left and right. The two golems, identifiable by their markings as the units operated by Gustav and Alain, clamped the earth dragon's head from both sides and crushed its eyes.
"GUGYOOOOOO!"
Whether it was because it was extremely painful, the earth dragon let out a strange scream. Losing its vision, it writhed and struggled haphazardly on the spot.
Once again, the golems rushed in. Noein also poured magical power into the two golems they normally used and sent them toward the earth dragon.
From there, it was a one-sided slaughter. The golems focused their attacks on the earth dragon's legs, smashing and peeling away scales and claws, and punching the fragile flesh to crush the bones. Even while being blown away at times, they stubbornly continued their attack.
A four-legged earth dragon has no means of resistance once those four legs are crushed. The earth dragon, reduced to a wretched state with its belly on the ground and its neck, torso, and tail twisting, was pinned down by all the golems, and finally, Noein's two golems snapped the earth dragon's neck.
The earth dragon's body shuddered once, and then it stopped moving.
"...Just in case, I'll completely crush the brain,"
Noein muttered, remembering how the Orc Kaiser had rampaged with a half-dead body.
Since Noein had been forced to concentrate their mind to operate two golems immediately after the giant golem they were supplying with magic was destroyed, their concentration was at its limit, so they left the task of crushing the earth dragon's brain to Alain.
In parallel, under Yuri's instructions, the Grand Duchy army confirmed the damages. Fortunately, there were no deaths. There were only about ten people with light injuries who had been hit by debris from the buildings the earth dragon destroyed. Three ballistas were heavily damaged beyond repair.
There were no notable losses in the armies of Viscount Kyuel or Baroness Bianca Lamprecht. As a result of a battle against a giant earth dragon, it could be called the best possible outcome.
"—Four golems are heavily damaged. Five are partially destroyed. If we perform cannibalization repairs, it is expected that three can be used as they are."
Listening to Gustav, who was reporting the golem damages as the captain of the Claymore, Noein let out a small sigh.
"That means six are unusable... The spare golems have decreased to only four remaining, but considering the opponent was an earth dragon, I suppose it's damage within the acceptable range."
"If we ask, we can receive provisions of golems from within the territories of the House of Count Kivileft or the House of Marquis Bittenfeld, so it should not be a problem,"
Yuri said beside Noein. As long as quality was not a concern, golems existed in large noble territories. There were also magic item craftsmen. They likely wouldn't match the golems for the Claymore that Daphne manufactured and maintained, but it was better than nothing.
"True. I'll ask for a few golems to be provided while I'm at it... As for the giant golem, there's nothing that can be done."
Where Noein directed their gaze, the separated upper and lower body of the giant golem, along with the detached arm and broken fragments, were lined up.
"Since only Daphne-san can handle this, after all."
"There's only one, and there are no spare parts... Daphne will be sad when she sees it."
Maintenance and repair of the giant golem take time. Even after returning to the Grand Duchy, they wouldn't see it moving for a while.
While Noein was feeling apologetic toward Daphne, a soldier from Radley's unit, who had been operating as a separate detachment, came running over.
"Lord Arqvist, I have a report... We have detained the enemy's servant mage, who is believed to have been controlling the earth dragon, and their escort unit."