"Vroom—vroom vroom—!!!"
The ear-piercing roar, sounding like ten thousand howling demons, echoed madly within Nidhogg's cavernous mouth, creating a terrifying surround-sound effect.
The dragon's rotting head trembled violently.
It wasn't out of anger.
It was... fear.
For the first time in its massive dragon eyes, which had been eroded by madness and chaos for tens of thousands of years, an emotion called "terror" appeared.
What did it see?
That tiny human, small as an insect, was standing right next to its most painful and sensitive rotten tooth.
The spinning iron saw in his hand, radiating an ominous aura, flashed with a cold, metallic glint as it aimed directly at the dragon's already festering gums!
'Whimper... (No... please no...)'
Nidhogg let out a pitiful whine, like a small puppy.
It wanted to close its mouth.
It wanted to crush this pervert holding the terrifying torture device into mincemeat.
But its upper and lower jaws were locked tight by three eerie forces, making it completely unable to move.
It could only watch as the "dentist" raised his butcher's blade.
"Don't be afraid. It'll be over soon."
Victor wiped a glob of slime—dragon drool—from his goggles, a fanatical smile appearing on his face, the kind a surgeon wears just before excise a tumor.
He didn't hesitate for a second.
The muscles in his arms bulged as he pushed the Rusty Saw of Redemption to its maximum power!
"Break for me...!!!"
Screeeech—!!!!
Sparks flew everywhere!
In the face of the epic-grade weapon's 【Rule Cutting】, the dragon tooth, harder than steel, was as fragile as rotting wood.
The high-speed spinning teeth bit savagely into the base of the massive rotten tooth, erupting in a brilliant spray of sparks.
An indescribable smell of burning and rot instantly filled the entire mouth.
"Roar—!!!!"
Nidhogg let out the most shrill and painful soul-piercing roar in its history.
That sensation...
It was as if someone were taking a red-hot electric drill and dancing wildly inside its brain!
Its very soul shivered and convulsed in this intense agony!
Its massive body twisted and rolled frantically, completely leveling the already dilapidated clinic backyard.
Rocks shattered and the earth groaned.
"Hold it down! Everyone, hold it down!"
Inside the dragon's mouth, Victor was shaken so hard he felt dizzy, as if he were on a runaway roller coaster.
But the electric saw in his hand remained as steady as a rock, firmly nailed into that rotten tooth.
"Almost there! Just a little longer!"
Outside, the three God-Chosen were also reaching their limits.
Mia's arm muscles were tearing from the excessive force, blood flowing freely.
Alice's suture threads creaked under the tension, nearly snapping.
Elizabeth's face was deathly pale, her mana clearly drained to the point of exhaustion.
But none of them let go.
Because they believed in their Director.
They believed that the man who dared to jump into a dragon's mouth to pull a tooth could surely perform a miracle!
Crack—!!!!
Finally.
Accompanied by a tooth-grinding, mountain-collapsing boom...
That massive rotten tooth, which had tortured Nidhogg for tens of thousands of years and had long since fused with the jawbone, along with the ominous 【Ancient God's Calculus】 encased within it, was...
Violently sawn off at the root by Victor's Rusty Saw of Redemption!
Splash—!
A fountain-like eruption of dark-golden pus and blood surged out from the massive tooth socket.
Unable to dodge in time, Victor was hit dead-on by the high-pressure column of blood and sent flying out like a cannonball.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
He tumbled several times in mid-air before landing miserably on the ground, covered from head to toe in that thick, foul-smelling liquid.
Behind him...
A "calculus" the size of a millstone, pitch-black and covered in writhing tentacles, flew out of the dragon's mouth and hit the ground with a heavy thud, smashing a large crater into the earth.
"Awoo..."
With the removal of the "lesion," Nidhogg's frantic struggling stopped abruptly.
Its massive body suddenly stiffened, then slumped limply to the ground as if all its strength had been drained away.
Those massive dragon eyes, which had been filled with madness and chaos, now looked as if they had been reset. The crimson light faded rapidly.
In its place was...
Clarity.
And endless... relief.
It didn't hurt anymore.
It truly didn't hurt anymore.
The agony that had tortured it for tens of thousands of years, giving it no peace day or night and nearly tearing its soul apart, vanished in an instant.
Gone without a trace.
It was as if a mountain weighing on its heart had been suddenly moved aside.
That long-lost feeling of lightness, like being born again, made this world-ending dragon's long-numb heart tremble.
"Haaa..."
It let out a long, long breath of turbid air.
It was no longer the corrosive breath that could wither all things.
It was a... pure dragon breath, smelling of sulfur.
【Ding!】
【Congratulations, Host! You have completed the mythical-grade surgery: "Ancient God's Calculus Excision Surgery"!】
【Surgery Rating: SSS-grade (Unprecedented and never to be repeated; it is suggested this be recorded in the annals of history).】
【Congratulations! You have received a massive reward: Clinic Points +100,000!】
【Congratulations! You have received a special reward: Divinity Points +100 (Can be used for Godhood Ascension).】
【Congratulations! You have received a mythical-grade material: 《Nidhogg's Dragon Soul Oath》.】
【Detected that the patient's (Nidhogg) favorability toward you has reached MAX (Loyal unto death, willing to guard your home and courtyard).】
"..."
Victor watched the stream of system rewards scrolling like a waterfall and felt like he was about to faint from happiness.
A hundred thousand points!
Plus Divinity Points and a Dragon Soul Oath!
This time...
He truly made a killing!
"It seems the higher the risk of the surgery, the greater the reward."
Victor wiped the dragon blood from his face and climbed up from the ground, a tired but satisfied smile on his face.
He looked at the dragon lying on the ground, which was watching him with an extremely complex expression.
In those eyes, there was gratitude, awe, and even a hint of...
The adoration a puppy shows its savior?
"How do you feel?"
Victor stepped forward, acting like a chief physician who had just finished surgery, and began the post-operative follow-up.
"Tooth doesn't hurt anymore, right?"
"Roar... (Doesn't hurt.)"
Nidhogg let out a low dragon cry. Its voice was no longer mad, but rather weak and docile.
It slowly lowered its head—rotting but no longer hideous—and gently rubbed it against Victor.
Like a...
Slightly oversized...
Big dog.
The rough bone and rotting flesh rubbing against him almost knocked the previous night's dinner out of Victor.
"Alright, alright, stop rubbing. You're covered in bacteria."
Victor pushed the massive head, which was larger than he was, away with annoyance.
"The wound hasn't healed yet, don't move around."
He pointed at the massive, bleeding tooth socket.
"Remember to gargle with salt water every day once you're back. Avoid spicy food and don't eat anything too hard."
"Roar (Okay)."
Nidhogg nodded obediently.
It looked at this tiny human before it.
This man who had just been performing frantic operations in its mouth and torturing it nearly to death...
At this moment, it felt incredibly close to him.
It was he.
He was the one who had rescued it from that endless pain and madness.
He was the one who had allowed it to regain its reason and dignity as the king of black dragons.
He was its...
Savior.
"Roar! (From this day forth, you are Nidhogg's one and only master!)"
The dragon let out an earth-shaking roar, voluntarily offering its loyalty.
On the third floor of the castle...
The old hunter John, who had been hiding behind the window watching the battle, looked down at the world-ending dragon that was now as docile as a Siberian Husky.
For the third time, the pipe in his hand fell to the floor.
He felt like his heart wasn't doing so well.
Slay... Slaying the dragon?
No.
That lunatic...
He actually...
He really cured the dragon?!
And in passing... he took it as a pet?!
"There is nothing in this world... that can stop him now..."
John muttered to himself, his eyes rolling back as he very decisively...
Fainted again.
...
Victor looked at the dragon that had voluntarily acknowledged him as master and rubbed his chin.
Recruiting a mythical-grade creature as a lackey did sound pretty cool.
Except...
"You're too big. You take up too much space."
Victor walked a circle around Nidhogg, his face showing a bit of distaste.
"And you're too ugly. You're leaking black fluid everywhere; it's seriously affecting our clinic's public image."
Nidhogg: "..."
It felt its dragon heart take ten thousand points of critical damage.
"How about this."
Victor thought for a moment and pointed at the clinic's smashed front gate.
"From now on, you sleep at the entrance."
"Shrink your size a bit. Don't scare the patients coming to register later."
"Perfect. Our security captain, Roadhog, has been a bit overworked lately. He needs someone to take a shift."
"From today on, you are the Benevolent Heart Clinic's..."
"Honorary security captain and mascot."
Nidhogg froze for a moment.
Let it, the dignified king of black dragons...
Watch the gate?
But seeing Victor's unquestionable gaze and the three terrifying women nearby who had already started discussing "dragon meat hotpot" and "dragon skin coats"...
It very tactfully...
Nodded.
"Roar (Okay, Master)."
It was good enough just to be alive. Why ask for more?
"Very good."
Victor smiled with satisfaction.
With this mythical-grade watchdog...
Who would dare come here to make a scene in the future?
He looked up at the pale moon and stretched.
"Alright, the final boss of the first volume is settled."
"Finally... I can get a peaceful night's sleep in this godforsaken land."
He turned around and waved at the group of God-Chosen who were completely stunned.
"Don't just stand there."
"Elizabeth, take a note to process the new employee's onboarding."
"Alice, Mia, go move that 'calculus' to the lab. That's a real treasure."
"As for me..."
Victor let out a yawn.
"I'm going to take a shower first. This smell of dragon drool on me... it's about to make me vomit."
"Oh, right, Elizabeth."
"For tonight's midnight snack, I want to eat... grilled dragon steak."
Rate on N.U.
