Ba-dum.
A stopped heart sprang to life.
Congealed blood began to circulate again; lungs sought oxygen.
A wheezy inhalation sucked in a massive amount of dust.
“Hack, cough, cough, gack.”
It hurt to breathe, and a pounding headache signaled a lack of oxygen and a need for air—fresh air.
“Ventilate.”
The one waking up at the bottom of an open hole brought in fresh air before reflecting, mind still foggy from the lack of oxygen.
Now, how did I end up here, again…?
“Drops of Life.”
Forming a makeshift bowl with their hands, the awoken drew droplets of water glowing white, gulping it down in one go. With clearer thoughts now, their cells began to wake up one by one, strength settling back in the body.
The awoken used a burst of flame magic to widen the hole in the ceiling before lightly leaping out of the underground cellar to find the Fell Forest and familiar charred earth—the land of death.
“Swallowed up by the forest, huh? I guess I slept for a while…”
As they scratched their heads and shook off the little mound of dust, earth dragons caught wind of magical power emanating from a human and cut paths through the trees to find the source.
Boom. Boom. The earth dragons advanced. They had to be over three yards tall. With their long tails, the dragons had the appearance of enlarged raptors, except they walked on four legs. All the legs were thick, short, and sluggish, but they carried an impressive mass, and their skin was like steel armor.
This was the Fell Forest. Since all the monsters left their meat behind there, bodies did not vanish even in death. If someone could obtain the materials of a sturdy, tough earth dragon, they could procure riches galore.
In fact, before the establishment of the Black Iron Freight Corps, Dick and Malraux had challenged earth dragons here, selling the materials they obtained to start the Corps. Of course, the creatures were foes worthy of their rank, and it would be impossible even for Dick to challenge multiple dragons at the same time. They had hunted the dragons with Malraux skillfully leading, staying in contact, and ensuring they fought one-on-one.
There were three of these earth dragons. Drooling over the tasty morsel, they surrounded the human.
“Ah! That’s right! I forgot about these…though I thought there were more of them.” The human remained unconcerned. One of the earth dragons looked at its prey. Its eyes shone faintly, just before stone spears blasted out of the ground.
“Stone Lance.”
It was earth magic controlled by the dragon. The creature wasn’t nimble, but it could use this type of magic to catch its prey before greedily devouring it. It was a formidable enemy with solid defense that was hard to breach. It wasn’t just hardy; its magic attacks were quick as well.
But the awoken nimbly launched into the air, alighted on the tip of a Stone Lance, and complained. “Booooring.”
Oh, right. Back then, these dragons used to make these lances snap and crack from the ground, too. It had been so annoying, the awoken melted everything in one go.
“O flames, my kin, sing and dance together. Summon Dancing Flames,” called out the awoken, the Sage of Calamity.
It was as though all heat in the atmosphere had condensed. Flames shot forth in a blazing vortex, sweeping up the stone spears and the earth dragons. Even with the scales they were so proud of, the swirling flames had sapped oxygen from the air, and the heat was so intense that nothing could escape being burned. Surrounded by the flames, the Sage of Calamity watched the earth dragons fall to the ground with strangled cries of death.
Twisting an arm in the air—perhaps performing a dance, or perhaps conducting the flames—the Sage beckoned the pillar to vanish without a trace. All that remained were the smoldering earth dragons letting off puffs of smoke.
“Aw, man. I overdid it. Can’t eat them now.”
At the time of the Stampede, the earth dragons had invaded a safe house, which caused the Sage to lose control and launch magic at full power. The Sage’s house had been razed to the ground—and the earth dragons with it—but the sturdy cellar had been unharmed. The cellar had been wonderfully constructed. The Sage was quite proud of it, even though it was the work of a carpenter.
Back then, the Sage had scrambled to the cellar after nearly exhausting their magic. Today, they had tried to use a relatively weak fire, but keeping fire in check was hard. Good meat was rare to come by, but it wasn’t edible like this.
For the Sage, it was hard to handle a small fire for a lantern, which had been why there had been a lantern with plenty of oil installed in the cellar with a Magic Circle of Suspended Animation. It was perfect.
“Hmm? Wait, the lantern’s…flame? Ohhh…” With a miserable groan, the Sage of Calamity sank into a crouch.
The awoken normally spent their time outdoors punching enemies, so they forgot—lighting a fire in a locked room would just deplete all the oxygen. Even when the Stampede was over, the Sage must have continued to sleep indefinitely until the melted, hardened entrance had opened with time.
“How long was I asleep……?!”
The Sage of Calamity’s grief echoed fruitlessly through the forest.
✦ ✦ ✦
This misery lasted about ten seconds. Unlike a certain alchemist, the Sage recovered quickly.
“Oh well. She’s probably up, too. I’m starved! Guess I’ll go home for once!”
After stripping the magical stones and materials from the earth dragons—with the ease of plucking flowers from the side of a road—the Sage of Calamity began walking toward the Labyrinth City.
The rain had stopped, and sunlight shone through a gap in the clouds.