I'm Not an Earthworm, I'm an Earth Dragon

My whole body is burning. I don’t even have the strength to stand, so I just sat down. Normally, it wouldn’t hurt even if I fell, but it felt like my bones were breaking.

Even after vomiting so much, something still came up from inside, and I coughed up something black and burnt, along with blood.

I tried to force myself to breathe, but my throat was so burnt that I couldn’t breathe properly. As I forced myself to breathe through the burning pain, my scales became brittle and fell off.

These were the clothes I had just gotten, and they’re all torn up from the fight. It was a wonder that the invisibility cloak and the dog tag were still intact.

I suddenly wondered what had happened to my nails and teeth. My nails were blackened and cracked as if they were about to crumble.

My teeth were surprisingly fine. It’s funny. I used up all the iron in my bones, but my teeth were left alone.

It was so absurd that I laughed, but it ended in a coughing fit mixed with blood. My legs twisted back to their original form, causing me to fall forward, but I didn’t even have the strength to scream. I could only groan in pain, breathing shallowly.

That’s good. If I had screamed, I would have coughed up more blood. My body was a mess, but I was still glad that I had won.

So I can endure the pain. I saw hope that I could kill my father.

I tried to get up by supporting myself on my knees, but my scales crumbled and fell off. I stumbled a few times before I finally managed to get my balance. I was about to go to where everyone was, but I heard a voice I shouldn’t have heard.

-To think a half-breed could use a breath attack. Could you be that person’s child? But he couldn’t have left a trace. No, that doesn’t matter. I commend you for that power.

It was a feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time. Fear. I was sure I had blown her head off, but for some reason, Ereshkigal was not dead.

Before I could turn around to check, Ereshkigal grabbed me and lifted me up. Unlike when I was crushed under her foot earlier, I didn’t have the durability of my scales or the protection of my magic, and my bones were weakened from using the breath attack. She didn’t seem to be gripping me that hard, but all my bones were shattered.

“…Ugh… Ahhhhh… Arghhhhh…!”

Every bone in my body was broken, piercing my internal organs and muscles. My heart was beating like it was going to explode, desperately trying to pump blood to every part of my body.

Being squeezed, I screamed involuntarily. Something was wrong, and unlike before, blood gushed out from my mouth and nose.

The blown-off head of Ereshkigal bubbled with bloody foam, and bones and muscles grew like plants, returning to their original form.

“…Now, pay the price for daring to provoke and even kill the mistress of the underworld.”

I tried to resist, but I was too busy screaming in pain to do anything. I still had things to do. Was I going to die like this? No, I can’t…

As she slowly tightened her grip, my mind went blank. Something kept breaking. I couldn’t breathe.

“………Altera…!!”

A distant voice shouting my name and saying something. That was the last sound I heard before I lost consciousness.

– – – –

“As someone who knows, I say, Ereshkigal! Stop it right now and let Altera go!!”

I thought she would retort as usual. But seeing Altera lying limp, I felt something was wrong.

When I saw Altera coughing up blood, I urgently shouted Ereshkigal’s name and told her to stop fighting. I had been saving my command in case this happened, so it’s a good thing.

…I hoped I wouldn’t have to use it.

As soon as Ereshkigal heard me, she growled roughly and threw Altera to the ground. Altera bounced once and rolled a few times, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.

Without any time to protest, I ran down the slope like crazy and asked Akash what had happened. How could she be alive when her head was blown off?

“What happened? How could the mistress of the underworld die in the underworld? How foolish. It was a losing battle from the start. Both you and that woman are foolish.”

So, even if it was a fake, as long as it was the underworld, Ereshkigal was immortal. You should have told me sooner!

I told Yuna to carry Marie, who was a little behind, and ran to Altera. As I got closer, I could see her condition at a glance.

The scales covering her body like armor were brittle as if they were about to fall off, and the exposed skin was covered in terrible bruises.

“Altera!! Altera!! Can you hear me?! Answer me…!”

I carefully turned her over, and her appearance was revealed. Every bit of exposed skin was a mess, and most importantly, she wasn’t breathing.

My mind went blank. What should I do? Potion? Could she even swallow anything in this state? And would that even work?

As I stared at Altera with shaky eyes, Akash asked me coldly if I was just going to stand there and watch.

Right, Akash. I grabbed Akash’s shoulders and shook him, asking if there was anything he could do. But he said he couldn’t fix something like that.

“I don’t know how to fix a half-breed between a dragon and a human. I’m sorry. I know a prayer to send off the dead. I can do that much. What? Don’t look at me like that. What can I do when there’s nothing I can do? If I could save her, I would.”

Pushing aside the unhelpful Akash, who just shrugged, I racked my brain to think of what I could do. What can you do for someone who isn’t breathing…

CPR. How do you do it? They taught us every year in elementary, middle, and high school, annoyingly so. I couldn’t remember.

If I had known I would need it later, I would have paid more attention. I felt like crying, but Altera would hate it if I cried like a girl, so I held back.

“So, um… tilt the chin to open the airway… and close the nose…?”

My memory was hazy, but I didn’t have time to hesitate. Oh, right. Is her heart beating?

With trembling hands, I placed my hand on Altera’s chest and focused on the sensation. Beyond the crumbling scales, I could feel her heart beating faintly.

Apart from that, I couldn’t feel her ribs. Judging from the blood coming out of her mouth and nose, it seemed like her internal organs were damaged, and on top of that, her bones seemed to be shattered.

…For now, I should do what I can. I laid Altera flat on her back, pinched her nose, and without hesitation, put my mouth on hers and breathed in.

I breathed in until her chest rose, then took my mouth off. Without even realizing that it was my first kiss, I put my ear close to her mouth to check if she was exhaling.

She was exhaling. But something was wrong, and I could hear a gurgling sound. I kept breathing into her until Yuna arrived with Marie on her back, but there was still no change.

I thought it might be a futile effort, but I couldn’t stop, so I kept breathing into her. Suddenly, she coughed up a large amount of black blood.

“Altera…!”

I was afraid that I had made things worse, but I soon heard her breathing and sighed in relief, realizing that it wasn’t all bad.

She was still in a precarious state, but she was breathing on her own. I had done all I could, so now I should leave it to Marie.

I asked Marie if she could heal Altera. She licked the blood from Altera’s mouth, then touched and tapped various parts of her body, as if to assess her condition.

-…Blood magic concentration, critically low. Oxygen level, low. Multiple internal bleedings detected. At least five compound fractures detected. Thoracic damage. Abdominal membrane damage. Multiple organ damage. Lung function impaired. Unconscious. Heart function, normal.

Marie sang and informed me of Altera’s condition. I understood that it was serious, but I couldn’t grasp the exact situation, so I asked her to summarize it briefly.

-Pessimistic. Prognosis uncertain. Insufficient information on the subject.

“…Heal her. Anything is fine!”

She’s still alive, isn’t she? I told Marie to heal her immediately, regardless of anything else. Marie said something I couldn’t understand again and pulled out her own finger.

Before I could question why she was self-harming when I told her to heal, I saw a shining thin tube instead of blood coming out of the extracted finger and was shocked to realize that her finger was a syringe.

-Administering hemostatic agent, regeneration accelerator, painkiller, magic concentrate, and customized enzymes.

As I watched anxiously as something was injected into Altera’s body, I heard a movement from behind.

When I looked, it was Ereshkigal, who had her hand on top of our heads, with bloodshot eyes.

“…Even if I have to become a beast, get out of here before I make you like that woman.”

Ereshkigal was threatening to crush us with her hand if we didn’t leave immediately.

We can’t attack her. But Akash, with a stiff expression, asked if she was serious.

“Serious? You’re asking if I’m serious? After barging into my domain, ruining my plans, stealing my lover’s future, and dragging him away from eternity, you think I won’t crush you?”

As soon as Akash heard Ereshkigal’s words, he scratched the back of his head with a troubled look and said it would be best to leave immediately.

“…Why? You stopped her from attacking by using her name. Or can she actually do it… something like that?”

“She can. If she’s willing to give up her wisdom, her magic, her lifespan… everything. But look at her eyes, they’re completely bloodshot. She’s not joking, she’ll give up everything to kill us.”

Then shouldn’t we just dispel the spell that makes us look like the dead? I asked, but he said Marie was the problem.

You cast it on Marie too. What’s the problem?

“I only cast it on her womb. I don’t know what will happen either. Whether only the womb will be pulled up, or if she’ll just come up as she is. If we take her with us, we can definitely go together. What will you do? The decision is yours.”

…I couldn’t take the risk.

Altera was in no condition to walk, even under the most generous assessment, so someone had to carry her.

Yuna? But both Yuna and Akash said in unison that I should be the one to carry her.

Could I do it? I was worried, but getting out of here was the priority. I slid my hands under her thighs and back, and carefully lifted her as if handling a fragile object.

And she was absurdly light. Unlike what she had said about being heavy.

“…Let’s go up.”

I should have stopped her. I should have stopped her even if I had to use the brush. I moved my feet, blaming myself. As Ereshkigal’s gaze shifted from looking down to looking up, Altera trembled and wrapped her relatively intact arm around my neck.

“Altera?! Are you conscious?!”

“Dad… Mom… It hurts…”