Belial was stunned. He'd seen that kind of item in stories used by all kinds of protagonists, whether they were in fantasy worlds or modern-day settings with magical elements.
They were ridiculously convenient if you could get your hands on one. But this girl's looting speed was something else.
'Was she really just here to grab the loot and go? The old man might still have been breathing for all she knew.'
Belial lowered his head to check, but by the time he looked back up, she was already gone, taking the old man with her at a speed that left him speechless.
"Wait… did she misunderstand me? Ah, right. My aura might still be active."
That would explain her sudden escape. Even without doing anything, his aura could be deadly to weaker creatures.
With his current monstrous appearance, it was no surprise that she took off the moment she could. He glanced down at the tiny ring still caught between his claws, unsure where to put it. But then he noticed something strange around him.
The ditch where the earth dragon had fallen, where its blood had soaked the ground was now a dark tunnel. It had escaped.
"…What?" Belial blinked.
That thing had been bleeding like crazy. It should've had internal damage too. Yet somehow, it had still managed to get away.
Creatures from this world really didn't play by normal rules. To move like that with injuries like those, it was insane.
Then it hit him: the dragon might've just dug its way out. If it was part of the earth element, burrowing could be second nature to it.
Maybe it had slipped away during his scuffle with the old man without him even noticing. But Belial wasn't about to let that slide.
"!?!" Who said Godzilla couldn't dig?
He flexed his claws and charged straight into the tunnel. Dirt and rocks crumbled under his strength like crushed crackers.
Thankfully, his dorsal plates weren't too large yet, so they didn't get in the way. He followed the scent trail left behind there were enough blood traces and leftover smells to guide him. His instincts, whether they came from his dragon heritage or his Godzilla side, gave him a surprisingly good sense of direction underground.
The dragon had even tried collapsing the tunnel behind it, but that was useless. Belial tore through the debris like it was nothing. Whatever this earth dragon was trying to do, it wasn't getting away that easily.
After digging for a while, Belial finally broke through into an open space bathed in a faint, shimmering glow. Inside, he spotted the earth dragon, hunched over and licking its wounds.
"Ha! I'm Godzilla!" he shouted, channeling the spirit of a classic monster movie with giddy excitement, before charging forward and delivering the final, crushing blow.
With the dragon dealt with at last, Belial took a breath, his rush of adrenaline fading. He looked around and found himself inside what appeared to be a natural cave, massive enough to fit even his hulking frame.
Scattered all around were stones embedded in the ground and walls, glowing faintly with soft, magical light.
Thanks to those glowing rocks, the place wasn't pitch dark like it should've been. Instead, it gave off a quiet, eerie glow. Belial's eyes widened as he took it all in.
This was beyond anything he expected.
Until now, he hadn't found a replacement for the nuclear energy Godzilla usually relied on, but these magical energies might just do the trick to fuel his core reactor.
That's why he'd been hunting powerful magical beasts they were like living batteries, packed with energy he could absorb.
His long-term dream of evolving into a beast that could survive in space, breathing fire hotter than the sun, needed that kind of power. But what he saw here completely shocked him. The magic in the air was strong enough that he could feel it without even absorbing anything.
Even more exciting, the soil and glowing rocks were full of elemental magic, actual power just sitting there. "This is amazing!" Belial cheered, thrilled by his lucky break.
It felt like a mouse falling into a jar full of cheese. He was surrounded by treasure. Not caring how ridiculous he looked, he scooped up a handful of soil and stuffed it into his mouth.
Almost instantly, a warm surge spread through his body. The magic was being pulled in and absorbed fast. The energy wasn't overwhelming, maybe a bit weaker than he hoped, but still it was just a handful of dirt.
The whole cave was covered in this stuff!
If he devoured everything here, it might finally kick-start the atomic furnace inside him.
Eating dirt didn't bother him one bit. He'd already discovered that parts of his origin had fed on all kinds of things, including raw earth and minerals. Practically anything he swallowed could be broken down into energy.
Compared to Godzilla's usual diet radiation, weird particles, and who-knows-what, this was child's play. Rocks were nothing.
With a treasure trove like this in front of him, worrying about human contact could wait. Right now, nothing was more important than feasting on this magical jackpot.
"Maybe this is why that earth dragon was trying so hard to come back here," Belial muttered, glancing at the now lifeless corpse.
No wonder it had been so strong, it had been soaking up energy from this cave the whole time. Any monster living here long enough could grow terrifyingly powerful.
"Don't worry," he said with a grin, "I'll make good use of all the power you left behind."
The surrounding mana clung to his body, swirling around him like steam rising from freshly spilled blood. His wounds were already closing.
But he didn't just lie down and sleep off the battle. Every now and then, he fiddled with the odds and ends stored in his spatial ring, which had just about a cubic meter of space.
It was full of strange trinkets given to him by a girl, the first time in both his lives that someone other than his mother had ever gifted him anything. He couldn't figure out where to wear the ring. It didn't fit on his fingers or even his teeth.
In the end, he realized he could just swallow it. It wouldn't get digested and he could throw it back up whenever he needed it.
Inside the ring were books he couldn't read, jars of strange liquids he tried but didn't affect him, odd-looking plants, and weird mechanical parts. None of it was very helpful. He didn't have that dragon instinct to hoard stuff, so most of it just sat there, untouched.
He spent most of his time asleep. With so much magic in the air, he didn't wake up starving anymore. He was starting to feel more like a real dragon, sleeping for days, soaking in power from the air around him.
Once in a while, he still hunted for food, but not as often. His appetite had dropped now that he didn't need to convert every bit of food into energy for his atomic reactor. He no longer needed to constantly move around and eat nonstop just to stay alive.