Chapter 29
‘Alright, we are about 8 to 10 meters deep underground, with about 4 to 5 meters of collapsed dirt to the surface. How much support do I need to dig my way through without collapsing the tunnel?’ Draco questioned.
His grandfather was already going to have a hard time digging out Anita, Rize, and Rita; the last thing he wanted to do was cause more problems by further collapsing their already limited space.
‘Ok, I can do this. I just have to allocate my mind correctly. Think of this as Minecraft’ Draco thought.
Placing his hand on the dirt, he began molding the magical energy surrounding his body into a square shape.
With the addition of the earth element, the dirt became easier to mold.
After molding, he hardened the dirt into a compact slab to make it more durable, reducing the likelihood of collapse.
He also strengthened the edges to prevent excess dirt from falling and filling the empty space.
After experimenting with the first three steps to be safe, he took note of the amount of mind it cost him, the time it took to mold each step, and the time it took to harden the area around it to support the dirt above.
"This isn't going to work," he thought, shaking his head.
The process was too lengthy and mind-consuming; he needed a more efficient method.
So he stopped making stairs and decided to go for a jagged slope.
He would mold a hole and harden the edges in a circle, like a pipe or tube.
The inside wouldn't be smooth and would have jagged edges so he could climb without slipping.
With the plan set in place, he began working.
He couldn't afford to make a mistake; it would be over for him and his unconscious siblings below the stairs if he did.
‘Grandpa John will have to figure something out about his end,’ he thought.
He deliberately avoided thinking about what he would do when he reached the surface where the black dragon likely still lingered.
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Meanwhile, on the surface, the black dragon stared at the house it had now completely pulverized with its claws.
It saw no reaction from the people, no the ants that had run inside.
The familiar smell of blood from them turning into meat paste wasn’t there, indicating that the ants were still alive.
Enraged, it began flapping its massive wings, taking to the sky.
It hovered over the area where the house once stood. Its single eye menacingly staring at the ruins.
It was certain that they were still there somewhere, so it opened its massive jaws.
Gathering energy, it condensed its breath attack and unleashed it in one fiery beam.
A light flashed from its jaws, unleashing a scorching beam at the ruins of the house.
The beam traveled fast, burning through layers of dirt, turning them into molten rock.
It penetrated deep past the middle of the underground cellar and continued on.
After it was done, the black dragon could perceive the familiar smell of charred flesh mixed with acrid smell of molten rock.
‘How amusing’ the dragon thought.
It could still faintly sense the child’s draconic aura beneath the earth but found it amusing that the child might still be alive after its attack.
Even more amusing was that the child’s draconic aura had suddenly spiked up by a significant amount for a brief moment before disappearing.
The only think it could now sense was the remnant of what seemed to be the aura of a water spirit. But that too didn’t last long and soon disappeared.
As amused as it was with the situation, the dragon realized that it had already wasted a significant portion of its time dealing with ants.
For now it was satisfied with its work, so it flapped its massive wings and turned towards the town.
It was going to burn everything down before moving on.
Before leaving, it gave last look at the farm.
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Before the attack, on the other side of the dirt wall, Mark, Chise, and Rose were still unconscious, while John and Marcus were awake.
"Marcus, we have to hurry. Any ideas on how we dig through this?" John asked.
He tried rushing the digging process but it turned out badly.
The more he dug, the more dirt fell from above to fill the space.
Time was running out, and they needed to save Anita, Rita, and Rose quickly.
Anita would normally have been able to shrug off something like dirt. She was a level 5 adventurer, even if retired.
Sadly, she had been in the middle when everything collapsed.
She had been carrying the unconscious Mark while Rita and Rize were carrying the unconscious Rose and Chise, respectively.
When the tunnel began collapsing, they were quick in their thinking and threw those they were carrying towards the other side before being buried.
Now they were stuck under the weight of dirt and rocks, they couldn't move.
They could only pray that the others could dig them out fast enough before they ran out of air.
"We can try sliding the dirt to the edges from the top to fill the space like water; there shouldn't be that much dirt left between the top of the dirt mound and the surface," Marcus suggested.
"Let's get to it quickly; the kids must be scared," John replied.
They immediately got to work.
But how could they have known that their efforts were going to be meaningless.
Rumble!
A rumbling sound followed by the flapping of wings, and then a strange sound reached their ears.
But they ignored it for now; Anita, Rita, and Rize needed their immediate help.
One minute they were digging, and the next thing they knew, a scorching beam of light hit them, ending their lives almost instantly.
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On the other side, Draco was toiling away, trying to make his tunnel to the surface.
Then ground and walls began shaking, followed by a sudden spike in the temperature.
Looking back down the stairs, he could see that the dirt wall blocking the other side suddenly began glowing red.
Quickly, he stopped what he was doing and rushed toward his unconscious siblings who were close to the bottom of the stairs.
Quickly, he rushed and dragged them further up as fast as he could.
The dirt around the area soon melted into what looked to be molten rock, revealing the devastation on the other side.
The air was thick with the stench of charred flesh and the acrid scent of the molten rock.
Amidst the hellish scene, Draco's eyes stared wide with horror, his heart shattering into a million pieces.
His family and teacher, the very foundation upon which his world had been built, had become nothing.
The searing heat of the dragon's breath had stripped away their vibrant lives, leaving behind only molten rock.
“A.... aaaa…..aaaaaah” understandable words refused to come out and got stuck in his throat.
Dropping to his knees, Draco clutched his chest with one hand, his fingers trembling, his heart pounding and his eyes desperately darting around as he tried in vain to find any remnant of life.
But all he could see was molten rock and dirt.
Tears streamed down his face, hot and unrelenting, as the weight of his loss crashed down upon him.
The world around him faded into a blur, the hissing sounds of molten rock clashing against an underground water source faded into the background.
In that moment, adrift in a sea of despair, Draco sat on the dirt, silent, refusing to comprehend what had just happened.
'Are our lives so insignificant?' a thought popped into his head.
His hands clenched into tight fists, nails digging into the palms of his hands, as a primal scream of anguish tore from his throat.
The sheer intensity of his grief threatened to consume him, leaving him feeling utterly powerless and lost.
With each passing moment, Draco felt his reason slipping away, like a flickering flame in the face of a raging storm.
His emotions were transitioning between confusion, despair, partial realization, to rage, the strongest being an unbridled hate for the one eyed black dragon.
In the entirety of his existence both past and present, he had never hated anyone as much as he did now.
He even failed to realize the alternating elements, responding to his emotions.
As the weight of his loss threatened to drown him, Draco found himself questioning the very purpose of his existence.
His body twisting and turning into a monstrosity, responding to his rage.
'Should I just let everything go, wouldn't it be so much easier?' a passing thought crossed his mind.
He was about to give into the madness that threatened to consume him.
His tail slowly swaying from side to side, his eyes hollow staring at the lava , as he considered the option.
He fell into a trance, slowly isolating his mind from the outside world.
The transformation began with, his body convulsing violently, bones cracking and shifting beneath his skin.
His spine elongated, vertebrae protruding further, extending and reshaping into a powerful spiked tail.
Sharp spines erupt along its length, the scales hardening into a crude, jagged armor.
Draco's hands and feet contort, fingers and toes lengthening and sharpening into razor-sharp talons.
His nails blacken and thicken, curving into vicious claws capable of rending flesh with ease.
The bones in his forearms cracked and bulged, muscles rippling as wings slowly unfurl from within, leathery and bat-like.
His face distorted the jaw unhinging and extending outwards.
Rows of serrated teeth emerged, dripping with caustic saliva as his mouth widened into a feral, gaping maw.
His pair of horns elongated further from his temples, curved and deadly sharp.
Draco's eyes sunk back into his skull, the sclera blackening as his irises shifted into a slitted, red reptilian pupil.
His nose flattened and broadened, nostrils flaring with each breath he took.
Scales began to creep across the rest of his body, glimmering like polished onyx.
Crystal like protrusions began extending from his scales with pointed tips across his body.
The transformation was nearing completion when …………..
“Draco-nii” a soft childish voice called out shakily, sounding sacred.
Dimitra had woken up only to find a horrifying creature that somewhat resembled her brother.
Slowly turning its head, its horrifyingly chilling gaze stared back at her, sending shivers down her spine.
Dimitra took a step back, she wasn’t sure if this creature was her even her brother.
Looking at the person that called out, Draco could see that it was Dimitra, her innocent eyes stared at him in fear, jolting him back to his senses.
'What will happen to them if I let myself go?, What about Clair who lost all her family ?' he thought, staring at Clair and his siblings.
The thought of losing them too because he couldn't control his emotions felt even worse, forcing him to somewhat calm down.
'Calm down, Draco; Breath . Think of them, they are just 7 to 8-year-old kids who are unaware that we just lost our family. You have to be the adult in their lives,' Draco advised himself.
He keenly aware that in the wake of such devastation.
The once-vibrant tapestry of their lives had been ripped apart, leaving them to confront the harsh reality that nothing would ever be the same again.