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“Missy, what did you just say?”
“Um… the dragon. It’s dead.”
“T-There’s no way!”

Pinky’s report was so outrageous it was almost impossible to believe.

Dragons are living creatures, sure, and they’ll eventually die one day. But most of the time, it’s due to old age. The dragon lurking in these mountains was far from that point in its life. Could it have been attacked by something? Unlikely—only another dragon could kill a dragon.

“Maybe it was just asleep or something?”
“I don’t think so. It looked… dead to me.”
“This is getting us nowhere. Where did you see it!?”
“Uh, well, I don’t really understand all this, so maybe you should take a look yourself! Up we go!”
“H-Hey, wait! What are you—why are you lifting me up!? Aaah!”
“Watch your tongue, don’t bite it off!”

In an instant, she hoisted me onto her back, and with her absurd strength, took off up the mountain like a madwoman. I’d forgotten just how reckless this girl was. I should have warned her to be more careful from the start.

“Let’s see… it should be right around here… Oh, there it is!”
“W-Wait, hold on! I’m gonna be sick… ugh!”

As she carried me, bouncing and jostling far worse than any cart, a sickeningly sour feeling rose in my throat. Just then, the stench of decay hit my nose, a smell I’d unfortunately encountered a few times before. It was unmistakable—the smell of rotting flesh.

“How about now, Ms. Kusuf? It sure looks dead to me…”

After charging up the rugged path, the mountain’s panorama opened up before us, revealing a hidden depression surrounded by sheer rock walls. And right in the center of that hollow, it lay.

No, it hadn’t been hiding—it had always been visible. I just hadn’t realized it, mistaking it for part of the mountain itself because it was simply that massive.

“……Dead.”

Its scales, once vibrant, were now dull and gray-brown, and its wide, lifeless eyes stared out blankly. Bits of flesh had already started to rot and fall away. Just as she’d said, anyone could tell at a glance that this dragon was truly, undeniably dead.

“What… what the hell…? Impossible… was this you?”
“N-No way! It was already like this when I got here!”
“Hey! Don’t just leave me behind… ugh! What is that smell?!”
“You’re late, old man. Look over there.”
“Huh? I hurried all the way to catch up with you… What is this?”

Judging by his reaction, we weren’t just seeing things—this was real.

My mind felt like it was on the verge of snapping. Why was the dragon dead? Who could’ve killed it? And more importantly… was whoever did this still nearby?

“…Let’s go back. We can’t go any further. It’s too dangerous!”
“But, Ms. Kusuf, if we leave now, won’t that be a breach of contract…?”
“To hell with that! What’s important is staying alive!”

This was an extraordinary, unnatural event—a dead dragon, for no discernible reason. This was way beyond us. Just bringing this information back would be enough of a feat; with any luck, we might even earn a pardon just for reporting it.

“A dragon died here, and something scary enough to scare wyverns away is lurking around! I’m not risking a single second more. We’re retreating, now! Answer me!”
“Y-Yes!”
“O-Okay…”
“Grrrr…”
“Alright you three, let’s head back. Wait… three?”

The pink-haired girl and the old man exchanged glances. There were definitely three replies just now.

Including myself, that made three of us, but I hadn’t spoken. So, who… or what… had let out that growling sound?

“Um… Ms. Kusuf, can I ask you something?”
“What is it, you idiot? Say something stupid, and I’ll pluck that hair off your head.”
“Uh… I just, uh, had this feeling… Did the dragon… just move?”
“What?”
“Grrrrr…”

Right now, there were only three humans here, including myself. Humans, that is.

But there was a fourth presence—the one letting out that growl like a howl from the depths of hell itself.

I didn’t think myself foolish for not noticing it sooner. After all, this was beyond the rules.

“Grrrrrr… AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!”
“The ground shall shatter and fall away! Deep Ones!”

My chant came just in time—a stroke of luck as great as any I’d ever had in my life.

“ “Gblblblb… blub-blub-blub!?” ”
“Stop talking! Use wind magecraft to pull air to your mouth! You’ll die as soon as you reach the surface!”

I manipulated the ground as if it were water, letting us ‘dive’ into it. That was my unique magecraft.

I could pull others in as well, but the more people, the faster it drained my magic power. With two of them along, I had no more than five minutes underground. I couldn’t afford to waste a single second.

“Gblblbl… gasp! Phew… what the hell was that!?”
“How would I know! The only thing I get is that ‘dragon’ and ‘common sense’ don’t belong in the same sentence! Moving after death is a sick joke!”

The dragon’s body was without a doubt decayed. I wasn’t seeing things. And yet, it had roared, forcing its crumbling, rotting body to move. If I hadn’t gotten us underground in time, we’d have been wiped out in an instant.

“Blub-blub…”
“Oh, damn! Sorry, missy—I forgot you can’t use magecraft, sorry!”
“Forget it and stop dawdling! My magecraft isn’t perfect, you know. If that dragon starts rampaging for real—”
“AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!”

A horrific scream reverberated even through the depths, flipping my vision upside down.

My magecraft had a few weaknesses, one of which was that I could only ‘dive’ into places I recognized as ground. If someone were to pull a stunt like that arrogant young wizard did once, flipping the ground over entirely, my magecraft would be forcibly canceled.

“Waaaahhhhhhh!!”

What would take a human an immense spell to accomplish, the dragon had done with a single stomp.

The mountain quaked, the earth split, and the ground erupted around us, pushing us back to the surface like dirt unearthed by a giant hand. Its sheer scale was impossible. No creature should be this powerful.

“Aaaaaarrrrrr…”
“Eeek…!”

Back on the surface, we found ourselves face to face with the dragon’s enormous, decaying head.

Its cheekbone was exposed, its right eye socket hollowed out, and its breath came as a concentrated stench of rot that overwhelmed the air. By all appearances, it was dead. And yet, it moved, as though pulled by some unseen force.

And the reason was all too clear.

“No… no way…”

Peering out of the dragon’s empty eye socket was something I’d never wanted to see again—the writhing, sickeningly familiar tendrils of that cursed ghost ship.

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