Natural Causes?
Ching ching ching!! Gold coins swept in. Piles of gold coins stacked like mountains, along with high-end jewelry and gems that only royalty might flaunt, were scattered everywhere. It was an amount that wouldn't look out of place in some kingdom's vault. No, maybe even more than that.
The man with a hefty axe strapped to his back was busy shoving gold coins into his inventory. Ching ching ching!!! The satisfying sound of his inventory filling up with gold. He couldn't hide his grin as he watched not just the coins but the jewelry and gems claiming slots one by one.
"Hey, Weapon! No weapons? If we snag just one dragon weapon..."
"Wait, let's sweep up all the gold first. Selling this'll change our lives. Insane!!"
"Holy fucking shit."
Each gold coin was worth about 40-50k in real money. And there were mountains of them...
'The game's not the issue.' Selling all this would make them stupid rich in reality—extremely likely. No, guaranteed. They'd be rich in real life and smack-top rankers around in-game with top-tier power.
"Hahaha!! This is nuts! The place is insane! No way she'd hog all this alone? Can't let that slide."
"Weapon! I'm hunting for weapons!"
"Dude. Loot fast and bail. Waking the dragon'll fuck us."
"Hold up. Still tons of inventory space left."
Ching!! The man ignored his friends' chatter, hands flying. He'd shelled out big bucks for inventory expansion just for this—might as well max it out. Plus, the dragon was still snoring away. No way an ant-like human would wake a dragon napping peacefully.
How much longer did he keep at it? His inventory hit 70% when someone urgently tapped his shoulder.
"Hey, hey..."
"What? Like you said, loot quick and bounce. Looks like even more epic stuff deeper in."
"That's not the point right now..."
"Sword Dancer's handling the back? He's been weapon-obsessed since we set out, so whatever. Let him..."
"Dude...!"
"What? Loot faster—"
Grrrrrr... Silence. The dragon's deep rumble echoed through the entire nest. The chilling sensation froze him solid; he creakily turned toward the source.
Come to think of it, the vault felt oddly brighter...
"Uh...?"
"Guts spilling out, huh."
The dragon—nest's owner. The red dragon's massive eyes fixed on the secret vault interior.
The man strained to move his rooted feet. I'm dead. Gotta dodge. But since that growl, they were glued to the ground.
'Just escape...! Escape and I'm good!' He'd already grabbed plenty of gold. Enough for a luxurious life forever—as long as he didn't get caught. Escape, and the loot was his!
"What the hell's wrong with your heads?"
"......"
"Drop it now, and I might just rough you up. Could be lack of manners."
"......"
"Painful, but better than dying..."
"Yajin!"
"Y-yeah?"
"Use that!"
At his words, his buddy Yajin—shaking—pulled out a scroll and tore it.
Fwoosh! As it split, mystical light freed the thieves' feet.
The dragon's eyes widened. More puzzled than panicked.
The gap gave him his shot.
"Run!"
'Scroll: Advanced Status Effect Removal.' Bought from the elusive 'Black Merchant' for seven gold coins' worth. High-end raid gear for top guilds. He'd saved it to sell big...
'Wasted like this!'
The man, Yajin, Sword Dancer bolted past the dragon. Haring the climber was still out cold on the far side, but no time to care. A bit farther, and they'd escape the nest—rich forever.
...Or so they thought.
"...Natural causes?"
Flap. Right before the dragon swooped at them.
BOOM!!! A massive forepaw crushed them flat.
Climbed around like crazy for weeks chasing that climber gallery's hidden dragon nest tip. Finally found it after insane effort.
Got there, and the climber was passed out in the nest. (Photo of knocked-out Haring)
Looked like she was on a dragon quest—kinda shitty she didn't share for a month, but left her be. Anyway, rummaging the nest, found the treasure vault and went ham looting.
Then boom. (Photo of dragon's glaring eyes)
She wakes up, stares us down—total chills. Suddenly couldn't move my feet, some dragon fear bullshit? Burned a status removal scroll to break free??
Thought we escaped the nest, then dragon flies up and smashes us all with a dive. Respawn, and [Failed to Escape the Flame Dragon.]—all looted gold and gear confiscated. Fuck.
Don't normal thieves keep at least 30%? Confiscation is bullshit.
👍 811 / 👎 189
That much wealth? Snag it, you're rank 1 guaranteed, basically king shit.
But no way through dragon ham. Ignores most attacks by size, one dive or breath wipes. Even rankers'd get rekt.
👍 209 / 👎 7
Hmm...
"Ugh."
"Awake?"
"...Flame Dragon?"
After the commotion died down, I poked at the trashed spot where the mercenaries had been, then turned at the footsteps.
Haring—who'd slept through the chaos from exhaustion—stretched with pops and toddled over.
"What happened? Nest's a total mess."
"Thieves broke in."
"Huh? Thieves?"
"Yeah. Raided my treasure vault."
"They're nuts? Daring to hit your nest, Flame Dragon."
Sane or not. Hmm. Arms crossed, she muttered it.
...She'd been the same at first, though.
"Weren't you gonna loot too?"
"Nah, just here for teachings. I circled the nest hard earlier."
"Not fully."
"...100 laps is a lot."
"Can't? Out."
"Tch. Anyway, what'd the thieves look like?"
"Like you, gear-wise. But one weird thing."
"What?"
Crunch... I squatted, scraped the floor, then stood.
After paw-smashing them, I'd reclaimed the stolen loot. All intact, luckily. But one mystery...
"No bodies."
No corpses. Like they'd evaporated.