Last Egg: Reincarnated as a Dragon in a Game-Chapter 430 The Crystal Madness
The crystallized human moved faster and faster, and its screeches echoed through the night, sending shivers down the dragon's spine with their torturous tones straight out of a horror movie.
'Is it ally or...' Before he could even finish his thought, a ringing of crystal echoed and a sharp pointy crystal shot from the human's palm. The air ruptured with shockwaves passing through it as it shot straight toward him like a bullet fired from a sniper rifle.
The storm flashed around him and enveloped the crystal, crumbling it into dust before it could even get close to reaching him.
'That thing must lack even a semblance of intelligence as it dared to attack me.'
"Griiii!" The mutated human stopped and opened its mouth, screeching while its body spasmed and vibrated.
Vesuvius could feel every molecule in the air oscillate in a rhythmic pattern that constantly oscillated between various frequencies.
'It is communicating like a radio!' He immediately connected the dots and realized what it was doing, making him frown slightly.
With a single flap of his wings, he crossed over the fields and pastures, reaching the crystal thing instantly, the shockwaves from his flight still making the clouds swirl.
His huge form hovered above it, the pressure pressing the crystalized human to the ground, paralyzing its entire body.
Ding!
// 𝐟𝓇𝒆𝐞w𝐞𝙗𝓷o𝘷𝐞𝒍. c𝐨𝒎
Analyze result:
Name: //Erased//
Species: Human (infected/crystalized)
Occupation: NPC/Chad/Hunter
Level: 26
Danger level: pathetic
//
'Don't tell me that this so-called ally just spread some infection across the world changing humans into those things?' A slight frustration made him frown as he could imagine the damage it would cause to his economy and even his own population.
'Ahhh! This is simply such a bad idea as using a rocket launcher to dig a ditch. The collater damage it will cause will be as big as the damage to my enemies.'
Suddenly the thing stopped trashing around, and its body froze before its head slowly turned to face the dragon.
"Grrriiih!" It bent its knees. Its muscles strained, and its bones cracked as it tried to move against the dragon's pressure.
The next, Vesuvius sent a command to his domain, and a bolt of lightning struck from the sky. The electricity and plasma pounded the crystalized human. Only the charred, smoking flash and broken crystal shards remained in the middle of a circle of burned grass.
'The question is if this is some sole incident or is there a bunch of those things running around and killing or even worse infecting everything in their path.'
Without delay, Vesuvius flapped his wings and raised into the sky, expanding his domain as far as he could. He felt every blade of grass and every grain of soil and dust.
'Shit!' In a panic, he turned to face a distant forest as he caught dozens, no hundreds of crystals quickly approaching. Everything, from the bugs to the animals, was transformed and crystallized.
All of them were sprinting and moving through the thick forest straight toward the spot where the last one died.
"Griiih!" Hundreds of glowing crystal blades launched from the forest, all rising into the sky toward the dragon. They all gleamed in the light of the red moon, and the wind shrieked as they accelerated.
'No, no, this can't be.' With a single flex of his mind, thunders rumbled above him, and dark clouds quickly submerged everything in absolute darkness. Then a blinding light erased all the shadows as hundreds of lightning bolts descended from the clouds, crackling and sparking.
Instantly they struck their targets with absolute precision, the sounds of shattering glass resonating from every direction.
The crystallized animals shattered into billions of shrapnel, and all the blades were erased mid-flight before the attackers dissipated in light flashes.
'Please tell me that...' The time stopped with clouds and the raining crystal shrapnel freezing on the spot as if they turned into a photo.
The only sound was a clapping coming from above and the beautiful voice oscillating on perfect frequencies and in perfect harmony of tones, "Haha, well done! Still, you will not stop what must be done."
Vesuvius tried to turn his head, but he couldn't even move, no matter how much he tried. It was as if his mind was separated from reality around.
'So this is what gods can do...'
"You are young and your methods are too gentle and slow. Do you think that you can reform mortals of this world? You think you can convince them to stop worshipping and empowering our own enemies on time?"
He wanted to speak, though he couldn't, not because he was forbidden, but because he had no words to refute it.
"Our enemies are numerous, if we want to win we must be resolute and decisive! Those mortal gods are different than us, they need the worship of mortals to increase their power. Without them, they will weaken and we will compensate four our small numbers."
'So the most pragmatic answer to that problem is to simply erase mortals...'
Even though it was practically, it simply went against his draconic values of protecting what was his, "No, give me a time."
He had already conquered the entire continent, and everything on it, including the population, belonged to him. He simply refused to allow someone just to annihilate and destroy it all.
"Time for what?"
His heart pounded as he quickly tried to come up with a solution. He knew the crystal god was right, which made it even worse, yet he refused to just concede so much of his assets.
"Let me choose those to be spared. Three months should be enough." He simply couldn't annihilate his entire population. He was their ruler, and with it came not only privileges but also duties, duties to protect what was his. If not all, he wanted to at least choose the most valuable ones to save.
'No, there is no need to protect those unworthy of it and those just waiting to betray me. I just need to protect the healthy part of my empire... the rest can just pray for survival.'
Still, if it was on him, he would use much more subtle methods of slow transition as he planned instead of this drastic measure to avoid excessive damage and a huge setback to the level of development and production capacity.
'Wars require drastic measures....'
This way, at least, he would gain a fresh beginning amidst the ashes or crystals of the old world. He would rebuild the world with the best of the best.
"Very well, young Vesuvius. I will give you three months before I unleash my punishment on this world." just as he wanted to sigh in relief, laughter erupted above him, "Hahaha, but it will be useless. MY HORDES WILL SWEEP THIS WORLD once I unleash my power."
'That is alright, I can isolate the chosen populace to save...'
"I will give you a single favor. Select those mortals that shall live and I will guarantee none of them will be transformed in the initial wave... but I will not be able to protect them from the WRATH of my hordes!"
Finally, the world moved again, but all the crystal shards were gone as if they had never existed, leaving behind only the smoldering black spots after the lightning strikes.
Just in the single frame, everything was changed.
'This is simply madness.' He would never call himself someone abiding by morals or even caring about them, but unleashing such a large-scale catastrophe upon the world made even him frown.
'What worries me most is that this solution is best if we want to win this war.'
He had three months to select those worthy of surviving and secure their safety. On top of that, he was sure the gods would make their own move by attacking him.
He didn't know where to start with the arduous task, 'Who to save?'. In his mind, he wanted from the ashes to raise a new, better society and civilization.
'I have already started to project of separating my original kingdom into districts. That can work as a base for this.'
