Pearl in the Sand (2)

The dragon shuddered violently in place. And the parasite was no different—

far more violent than the dragon, in fact.

In less than a single second, the parasite convulsed dozens, hundreds of times. I half-worried that if this kept up, it wouldn't be the lightning but the parasite's trembling that damaged the dragon's brain.

Thankfully, before that could happen, the parasite died with a small pop!

I retracted the lightning quickly, and the writhing dragon went still.

"Kyaaaah…"

After a short, strange cry, the dragon's head lost its strength and crashed face-first into the ground.

Thud— The heavy impact sent sand spraying in every direction.

I'd assumed the soft sand would cushion the fall, but… the sheer size of the creature meant the shock was apparently considerable.

Watching the dragon face-plant into the sand through the drifting dust, my heart lurched.

…Don't tell me it's dead?

I hastily dismissed the shadow curtain and brought my hand to the dragon's nostrils.

But I felt no breath.

…Ah, damn it! I'm wearing the gauntlet.

I yanked the gauntlet off and pressed my hand there again, but still—no breath.

The dragon lay sprawled, utterly motionless.

Oh no. This is bad. I think it's actually dead.

A wave of vertigo hit me. And in that instant, Dobby flashed through my mind.

Could the goblin saint Dobby somehow bring the dragon back to life?

"Dobby! Healing spell!"

"Kkiik?"

"Use the strongest healing spell you've got on the dragon!"

I was grasping at straws. But Dobby didn't cast any healing spell. He just stared blankly at me.

"I said cast the healing spell! What are you doing?"

Frantic and frustrated, I found myself shouting without meaning to, but Dobby only gestured that he didn't understand what the problem was.

"Kkiik! Dragon! Alive! No problem at all!"

"…What?"

Alive? No problem at all?

I distinctly felt no breath, though?

As I gaped at him, slack-jawed, Dobby instead looked exasperated with me.

"Kkiik! Dragon! Doesn't breathe often!"

"Ah, hm… right?"

Apparently, dragons were a species that, like whales, could go a long time without breathing after a single breath.

Right, that's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what it was. I panicked for nothing.

A sigh of relief escaped me of its own accord. What ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a relief.

The dragon was saved, and I'd properly cleared the hidden mission to boot.

Just then, a soft patter of falling sand sounded behind me.

"Kwing?"

The dragon was waking up. Having come to its senses, it shook its head with a shudder.

Its mind was still foggy, it seemed. The hazy, unfocused pupils chased after me for a moment before fixing on me entirely.

Wide, round pupils—and absolutely no hostility in them.

After a brief moment of eye contact, the dragon turned its head toward the empty air.

"Kuaaah!"

It breathed out a blast at nothing.

Probably checking its own breath.

It was weak—nothing compared to what it had unleashed earlier. But mixed into the black flames was a dark green smoke, the exact same color as the dragon's eyes.

So that's the real Venom Flame Breath…

The black flames vanished, but the dark green smoke lingered in the air. Then it began to seep quietly across the chamber.

Hold on. If that's the Venom Flame Breath…

Isn't that poison? Is this thing insane? Trying to poison the person who just saved it?

"Kuang!"

But at the dragon's small cry, the dark green smoke vanished without a trace.

Hm, right. You've thought this through too, haven't you.

Made sense. Now that it had its wits back, poisoning its benefactor would be absurd.

Judging by the flow of mana, it had definitely cast a spell. It was supposedly unable to use magic before, but with the parasite dead, it must have regained the ability.

I checked the notification window again.

The dragon's notification window had changed completely from before. All the negative descriptions were gone.

Still, though—a parasite someone had planted…

Hm, it can't have been the mother dragon. If it were, she wouldn't have gone to such lengths with the guardians to protect it.

So who had planted the parasite?

"Kuaang!"

The dragon's cry cut off my musings.

The black dragon Herkest gave a small call and flopped down onto the ground. Then, belly-down like a dog or a cat, it shoved its enormous head toward me.

It seemed to be asking for pets.

It was cute, but with a creature the size of a mountain doing this, I was a little flustered.

It said its intelligence is still recovering—maybe that's why it's acting like a little kid?

I extended my right hand—the one I'd freed of the gauntlet earlier—and carefully stroked its head.

I felt rough, hard scales. Firm, yet somehow soft.

Did the texture of the scales change with its mood?

Well, either way, the sensation wasn't unpleasant. And the dragon was cute.

As I kept stroking, the dragon's eyes narrowed contentedly, then closed completely.

"Kiiii…"

After about thirty seconds of this, the dragon lifted its head with an odd sound.

A brief ripple of mana.

One of the scales near the dragon's neck detached without a sound and floated up into the air.

"Kuang!"

With the dragon's cry, the scale slowly descended onto my earlobe.

There was no hostility in the gesture, so I held still. A brief sting.

I raised my right hand and touched my ear—the scale had become an earring.

"Is this for me?"

"Kuang!"

Whether it understood my words or not, the dragon answered my question with a hearty cry.

The sight brought a smile to my face despite myself. Cheeky little thing. Guess it was worth saving you.

Hm, it felt a little gauche to inspect a gift right in front of the giver, but an earring made by a dragon had my curiosity stirring. I examined it.

Oh.

Without any intention on my part, my lips curled all the way up to my cheeks.

The poison resistance and magic were one thing, but the biggest gain seemed to be that dragons I encountered from now on would be more likely to act friendly toward me.

With a description like that, it meant the item would surely prove useful on the floors to come.

"Thank you. I'll treasure it."

"Kuang!"

Whether it liked seeing me happy, the dragon's mouth stretched into a long, wide grin.

Suddenly, a thought from the past flashed through my mind.

I'd rescued Dobby too, and he'd ended up climbing the Tower with me…

Was this one going to climb along with me as well?

Barely had the thought formed before the Tower's messages updated.

Hm, the message differed from the one on Floor 1.

Unlike Dobby, the dragon wouldn't be coming along, apparently.

A little disappointing, honestly.

Well, I supposed a dragon tagging along would have been far too overpowered anyway.

This was goodbye to Herkest. I smiled and bid the dragon farewell.

"Take care. Let's meet again if fate allows. Until then, stay well—and don't forget the debt you owe me."

"Kuang-kuang!"

The dragon roared as if to say it understood.

And then my vision inverted.

The moment I arrived in the Waiting Room, a string of notification windows popped up in rapid succession.

Probably because I'd cleared new floors since the Floor 10 rest area—the message announced the Waiting Room was being upgraded.

It definitely said this was a first-place reward. Was it something only offered to the top ranks, like the rest area?

I couldn't tell just yet. Either way, it was no bad thing for me.

A quick sweep of the Waiting Room confirmed it had clearly changed. For one, the room itself was more spacious, and there were now two beds.

I'd been planning to buy Dobby a bed when I had the spare points…

What a relief. One unnecessary expense cut.

Perhaps overjoyed at the appearance of a bed, Dobby suddenly bolted toward it as if to fling himself onto it.

"Kkiik! Goblin! Bed!"

"Dobby! No!"

"Kkiik?"

Thankfully, I managed to stop him before he threw himself onto the mattress.

I understood the urge to rest after all his hard work, but…

Where did he think he was going, covered head to toe in sand and dust?

"Wash up first."

"Kkiik?"

"You're going to lie down like that? Go wash up, now."

"Kkiik, okay!"

The sight of him smeared with blood and grime bothered me too, but I had no choice. If I washed first, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dobby would track his filthy body all over the room.

Sulking, Dobby trudged toward the bathroom. As the door swung open and shut, I caught sight of a bathtub.

Oh… so there's a bathtub now, too.

I decided I'd soak in it later. It seemed perfect for melting away the fatigue in body and mind.

And what's that?

Now that I looked, there was also a new door beside the bathroom—one I'd never seen before. Probably that training dojo.

I wanted to check it out right away, but I had something to do first.

Strength had broken 100, and Agility had just barely cleared the threshold.

Hitting 100 didn't change anything dramatic, but it was a pleasant sight to look at all the same.

With stats in the nineties, I hadn't expected much, yet every single one had risen substantially and evenly.

Even though my Magic stat was lower than the others, the growth margin wasn't that different…

Most likely, the skill acquisitions and hidden mission rewards had boosted my overall stats across the board.

Staring at the window a while longer, I noticed that Agility in particular had surged upward.

I was pretty sure it had been lower than Constitution…

Could the battle in the black door, the fight in the darkness, have helped that much?

Come to think of it, I did learn Flash Step…

It might have been a stat gain from the skill's effects.

I turned my attention to the skill window.

Essence of Lightning, Indomitable, Battle Focus…

Most of my skill levels had gone up, and Poison Resistance stood out in particular. Thanks to the earring Herkest gave me, it had reached level 9.

Hm, clever little thing.

A smile tugged at my lips of its own accord.

That said, the skill window was getting steadily more cluttered. The skills I'd started with, plus the ones that kept appearing on top of them—the list had grown to the point where it was hard to read.

I gave the newly acquired skills only a rough once-over before closing the status window.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Just then, a message arrived from Ha Heijeong.