Taming The Villainesses novel Chapter 356

──!!!

With a thunderous roar, a massive foreleg burst through the earth. The sheer size of the limb alone was enough to crush an entire building—it was overwhelming.

KUUUUUNG—!

The ground shook violently. Eliesel opened his eyes wider than ever before and cried out:

"What in the—!? The ancient dragon corpse sealed beneath the temple!? The very dragon that not even Hero Yudas could subdue!? Impossible!!!"

KRKKKKK.

A long tail erupted from the ground, collapsing buildings in its wake.

And at last, the full figure of the monstrous beast revealed itself.

When I beheld it—

I could do nothing but be overwhelmed by the same despair and terror that humanity must have felt in the ancient age, back when this world still belonged to beasts and fairies.

So this is the creature said to have once soared through the skies of old.

Not a wyvern, not a pseudo-Draco—this was a being on an entirely different scale. The strongest of all living things.

It opened its enormous jaws and let out a mighty roar.

━━━─━!!!

It sounded like thunder crashing down from the heavens.

Its eyes, glowing red, were like burning suns.

━R-Red eyes. It’s not under control. That proves it’s out of control! We can’t stop it!

The problem was, as they said, the thing that had returned from death—the dragon—was not under any control whatsoever.

As with most things brought back from death, it seemed filled only with hatred, lashing out with forelegs and tail to destroy everything in sight.

Narmee trembled and shouted,

"Sis, it’s your turn now!"

Mirna responded by forming hand seals with her fingers.

At the same time, she turned to me and said,

"Sir Teo, now’s your chance. Use the dimensional gate."

"But, Lady Mirna. That thing is—no matter how you look at it—a monster. Is it really okay to leave you two alone here...!?"

That colossal beast looked like destruction and dread made manifest, sculpted in scale and bone.

To defeat something like that, even I would have to unleash maximum output at the cost of my own lifespan.

As if to confirm it, I could feel Bael—the spider lurking within me—bristling with tension.

━GRRRRR...!!!

If Bael was baring her fangs like this, then the thing was certainly no pushover. Yet Mirna stopped her chant and simply looked at me.

In the midst of all this chaos, her ruby-red eyes sparkled so brilliantly that the entire scene felt unreal.

"Sir Teo. From this point on, it’s our battle—Narmee’s and mine. This is the Draco family’s battlefield. You go fight your fight."

"But..."

"...Idiot, go already...!"

Mirna’s sharp cry snapped me back to my senses. She was right. This was their battlefield. The place I needed to fight was somewhere else—farther away.

━The annex is on fire!

━Put it out! Send more troops to guard the Hall of All Gods!

While everyone panicked at the appearance of the monster, I sprinted toward the dimensional gate.

There were some who tried to stop me, but the anti-magic formation had already been destroyed, so I used the attack spell Paimon to blast them all away.

"Activate."

I chanted the trigger phrase to start up the dimensional gate.

VOOOOOOM.

Mana surged from my body.

At the same time, the giant dragon’s hollow red gaze fixed on me. I didn’t know why—but it looked like it had chosen me and the gate as its target.

CRAAAACK.

It opened its cave-like maw wide.

I saw a red glow flickering in its mouth. I couldn’t be sure what would happen next, but I couldn’t afford to just stand there.

Should I use a mana shield?

No—if I lost focus, even for a moment, on the dimensional gate spell that was already activating, the coordinate values might corrupt, causing a massive disaster.

Bael—do something.

━GRRRR...!!!

Bael couldn’t calm down in the presence of the dragon. Were spiders and dragons natural enemies? Whatever—it didn’t matter. Just help me! If I die, you die!

━Hiiioooong...

VMMM—

There.

With Bael’s help, the dimensional gate finally stabilized. At the same time, I cast a mana shield to brace for any incoming attack. And right then—

"─O ancient ruler of bygone days. Cast aside thy wrath. We offer dance and song in thy name."

Through the chaos, I heard Mirna’s voice clearly. It sounded like a poem—or a song. A mysterious chant. Her voice gently rippled through the crowd.

"Thou who fell from grace. Serpent of old. Swallow thy fury. Withdraw thy claws and hide thy fangs."

At that strange invocation, the dragon’s hollow red eyes flickered uneasily. _{freёwebnovel.com}

Shhhhhhh—

The glow that had built inside its maw faded a little. Its movements slowed, and people stopped what they were doing to look up at the sky.

━It stopped.

━Look—its eyes are turning blue.

━It’s just like the old legends. So there really was a dragon corpse beneath the sanctuary...

━The two ladies are controlling the dragon!

As people murmured, it seemed that Mirna had successfully gained control of the great dragon’s corpse.

When our eyes met, her lips moved.

"Hurry. This won’t last long."

I couldn’t hear her voice, but—

I was certain that’s what she said.

***

Tick, tick.

Elga grew increasingly anxious watching the time tick by.

As she sat at the same table, Stella finally commented,

"Elga dear, why so restless? Did you bet money on this year’s tournament or something?"

"......"

Stella still didn’t understand what was going on. Probably because they hadn’t fully brought her in on everything yet. Elga found her kind of annoying—but also envied her.

If she too knew nothing, maybe she’d be able to sit here peacefully.

Now, with noon—the time of the opening ceremony—fast approaching, and no sign of the half-fairy or the Draco sisters, Elga was under immense stress.

If Leonoi weren’t with her, she might have exploded already.

In that sense, Elga suddenly realized—wow, I’ve really grown up, learned to restrain myself. When did that happen? She didn’t know. She’d just come to her senses one day and found herself like this.

"You’re getting a wrinkle between your eyebrows. Just like your father, Reinhardt. What are you so deep in thought about? Tell me."

Stella spoke again.

Maybe it was just the typical nosiness of older people, but it got under Elga’s skin enough that she answered.

"My father?"