259. The Water Dragon’s Demise

Chapter 259. The Water Dragon’s Demise

The Water Dragon’s Demise
The Midgard Wyrm wriggled its body as it rapidly darted through the sea at an incredible speed.
Fortunately, the Algieba wasn’t its target. It was instead headed straight for the water dragon warship, seemingly because it wanted to attack the monsters in its vicinity.
Or at least that was what I’d thought at first.
「Nn? Midgard wyrm disappeared?」
『Did it dive out of view or something?』
Wait, wasn’t it supposed to be heading straight towards the kraken and water dragon?
The midgard wyrm resurfaced the moment I questioned its actions.
「Gyagogoggoooooooo!」
It attacked the still entwined dragon and kraken from directly below, a tactic likely derived from its instincts rather than its intellect.
The midgard wyrm raised their bodies about 10m into the air as a testament to its brute strength before leaning itself on the water dragon warship. Unable to handle the monster’s ridiculous weight, the symbol of Sheedran’s might creaked and snapped it in two.
The resulting shockwave caused the ocean’s tides to turn violent and rock the Algieba as would a heavy storm.
「Uwawawawa!」
「Don’t fall into the sea!」
The midgard wyrm’s sea anemone-like mouth once again emerged from the ocean with a water dragon’s neck and several kraken tentacles hanging from its mouth.
「Kuooooon….」
The plesiosaurus-like monster, which normally would’ve had the might to decimate a large city, whimpered feebly. It was no longer capable of action.
「Gyoooooooo!」
The midgard wyrm’s proud cry echoed throughout the sea, as if to declare its victory.
「This is looking bad. Hurry the ‘ell up, you bilge rats! We need to get outta here immediately!」
「Yessir!」
「Can we actually escape a midgard wyrm, Captain?」
「No clue. It’s way faster than us, but we might be able to get away if it decides to attack some more kraken instead of chasing us down.」
Jerome’s response to Mordred’s question was grim.
Mydgard wyrms swallowed things whole, so they didn’t have to stop to chew. In fact, eating didn’t inhibit them from moving in any way which. They were known for consuming up everything in an area and then slowly digesting it all later.
Still, we would have more than enough time to get away if it first went after all the kraken and the pirates that’d fallen into the sea. But unfortunately, things weren’t going to work out that conveniently for us.
「Looked this way.」
『It’s heading for us cause our ship’s bigger than pretty much anything else it can find it seems』
It swiveled its head around a bunch and examined its surroundings before finally looking back at us.
Following its instincts, it headed towards the biggest prey it could see, our ship.
It rapidly closed in on us.
「Black Lightning Princess! I need you to do us a favour!」
Jerome ran over to us. Behind him were several sailors carrying a huge barrel.
「What?」
「I need you to fly again, and dump this barrel somewhere off opposite the direction we’re headed. It’s filled with stuff midgard wyrms love, it should be attracted by its scent and stop chasing us.」
「Nn. Got it.」
「Thanks. Here’s to hoping it actually works.」
The barrel was normally supposed to be used while before the wyrm got as close as it was, but Jerome hadn’t had the chance to issue the order. He had been preoccupied by the water dragon/kraken fight. He didn’t know how much effect it would have given the lack of distance, but he wanted to at least try gambling on it nonetheless.
『Alright, let’s try dropping it.』
「Nn. Urushi, go.」
「Woof!」
Fran took the barrel, leapt on Urushi’s back, and had him run straight behind the midgard wyrm before dropping the cylindrical, wooden casket into the sea. It broken open as it hit the water’s surface and spilled its contents all over.
『Is it working?』
「Nn… No.」
『Tsk.』
The red, yellow and brown abomination was more attracted to the Algieba than the stuff it apparently loved due to the ship’s proximity. And as such, it continued to rush the ship down.
Looking at the wyrm from our angle really emphasized its size. The goddamn thing was massive.
『What about getting its attention by attacking it?』
「Nn! Thunderbolt.」
「Grooooowl!」
『Flare Blast!』
We fired spells at the midgard wyrm’s exposed back so we could draw its attention away from the ship. I figured that, if we were lucky, we’d be able to draw its attention to the barrel—but we weren’t.
『Damn it! It’s totally ignoring us!』
It was too big. Our weaker strikes were too insignificant for it to note.
『How about this then!? Thor’s Hammer!』
A thunderbolt struck the midgard wyrm dead on and caused an explosion, but not even that was enough to stop the creature’s charge. It cared much more about eating than it did our attacks.
（Master, what now?）
『Well… Honestly, our only hope at getting its attention is probably going to be getting between it and the ship. Looks like it’s either sink or swim.』
Fighting the midgard wyrm head on was our only choice. I wasn’t confident we could beat it, but we didn’t need to. We just needed to hit it hard enough to stop it in its tracks.
We went back to the ship and its captain that we were going to hit the monster really hard. We also made sure they were aware that Fran would end up exhausted thereafter. She wouldn’t be able to fight anymore.
「Don’t be ridiculous! There’s no way you could beat a midgard wyrm, is there!?」
Jerome was shocked by the suggestion.
「Might at least slow down.」
「I guess you’re right… Our only choice is to leave it up to you.」
「No problem.」
「Make sure you come back in one piece, alright?」
「To adventurers, own life most important」
「Gahahaha! Good point. Then do your best. Show that thing hell.」
「Nn!」
The task entrusted to us was a simple one. All we had to do was put all our power into one attack and blast it right at the midgard wyrm before retreating.
『Urushi, focus all your efforts in making sure Fran stays safe on her way back, alright?』
「Woof.」
And if worse comes to worst, I’ll think of something and hopefully handle the situation myself. But enough of that for now. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.