Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Chapter 2 - Floor 2 #6
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“Excuse me, my name is Ellie. My sister's name is Lena.”
As he began walking behind the black-haired elf, the green-haired elf sidled up next to him and spoke.
She seemed as full of curiosity as her cheerful voice suggested.
“What's your name?”
It was hard to believe this was the same person who had just been aiming an arrow at him moments ago—her attitude was so friendly.
Because of that, Cheon-ho thought to himself.
‘She must have been bored.’
It was obvious at a glance.
The sisters who served the Forest Dragon.
Unlike her diligent and rigid older sister, the younger one was full of curiosity and mischief.
It was a pattern that had appeared several times in his father's stories.
“Park Cheon-ho.”
“Wow, are you from another world? I've heard that among the heroes summoned to the Labyrinth World, some have unusual names.”
“Ellie, be quiet.”
As her younger sister—Ellie—went on, the black-haired elf leading the way warned her in a low voice.
The green-haired elf lifted her mask slightly and stuck out her tongue, but that was it. She listened to her sister and didn't speak to Cheon-ho again.
“Hmm.”
Clichés weren't clichés for nothing.
They were a pair of sisters with a good vibe.
[My liege, it feels like a strange surge of power is welling up within you.]
“Ahem.”
Cheon-ho cleared his throat unnecessarily and cleared his stray thoughts.
And as if on cue, the black-haired elf leading the way—Lena—stopped in her tracks.
“From here on, only those who bear noble blood may enter.”
Though her eyes were hidden by the mask, it was clear who she was addressing.
As Saschiell's expression hardened, Cheon-ho quickly spoke up.
“Saschiell, I'll be right back.”
They had come here in the first place to seek the Forest Dragon's help.
There was no benefit in causing a commotion.
With Cheon-ho even signaling with his eyes, Saschiell looked displeased but eventually nodded and glared at Lena as she said.
“If anything happens, shout. I'll come running, no matter who blocks the way.”
It felt more like she was saying it to Lena than to Cheon-ho.
Lena met Saschiell's gaze in silence, while Ellie watched the two of them back and forth with evident amusement.
“Got it.”
As always, it fell to Cheon-ho to smooth things over.
After giving a short reply to end the exchange, he signaled to Lena with his eyes, and she turned wordlessly to resume guiding him.
With one step, fog rolled in.
With two steps, the surrounding trees vanished.
By the third step, even Ellie walking beside him and Lena leading ahead had disappeared.
A black sky and fog-shrouded ground.
And the being right before his eyes.
Cheon-ho halted.
He raised his gaze, meeting the eyes of the entity looking down at him.
“Pleased to meet you.”
The voice descended from above.
A deep green dragon gazed down at Cheon-ho.
“Forest Dragon...”
Deep green scales and an incredibly long neck.
A relatively slender body and long wings covering the ground.
Even curled up with its belly to the ground, its head towered nearly seven meters high—a colossal being.
‘It's real.’
The realization hit him anew.
Dragons.
The common king of all land beasts and sky beasts.
The pinnacle of their kind, spoken of in legends.
Dragons had appeared several times in his father's tales.
But no imagination could match the real thing.
With a body tens of meters long moving before his eyes, it was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Because of that, Cheon-ho didn't notice right away.
[Indeed, that explains it. I understand now why the dragon's shrine maidens refused to approach and why the forest elves' pleas were rejected.]
Mitra suddenly spoke in a low tone.
Unlike Cheon-ho, she had seen dragons several times before.
She could instantly discern the Forest Dragon's condition.
And the Forest Dragon was no different.
“The Holy Sword Mitra, is it? I've been honored with two esteemed guests.”
The Forest Dragon recognized Mitra as well.
Still gazing down at Cheon-ho, he continued.
“Noble-blooded one, welcome. My name is Aleyasta. I am the Forest Dragon, guardian of the woods.”
“Park Cheon-ho.”
As Cheon-ho gave a brief reply, Mitra spoke again.
[My liege, the dragon before you stands on the brink of death. It is no exaggeration to say he is like a candle on the verge of extinguishing. He is in a severely weakened state.]
It wasn't poison or an injury like Saschiell's.
It was something far more natural—the result of aging.
‘So that's why.’
Why he had refused the forest elves' pleas.
Why he remained silent even as the Plague God's minions ravaged the woods.
He was certainly different from the dragons in his father's stories—the Forest Dragon Aleyasta before him.
There was no overwhelming presence that dominated the space itself. He was merely a massive creature.
“You are correct, noble-blooded one.”
As if piercing right through Cheon-ho's thoughts, Aleyasta spoke.
After a moment's hesitation, Cheon-ho said.
“Aleyasta, to save the forest elves and thwart the Plague God's schemes, we need your help.”
Mitra had called him a candle about to flicker out, but they couldn't just back down.
At Cheon-ho's request, Aleyasta turned his gaze far and high, then wore a faint smile.
“On this day, at this hour—our meeting must be fated. So be it, noble-blooded one. I shall not spend my final days in false tranquility and peace. As the guardian of the forest, I will meet an end befitting my role.”
His voice remained low and gentle. But the power in his words was different.
Cheon-ho found himself breathing heavily without realizing it.
He circulated his inner energy to steady himself.
And because of that, he was able to ask.
“Aleyasta, there's one thing I'd like to ask.”
“What is it, noble-blooded one?”
“That... what exactly is this noble blood I have inherited?”
[My liege, you truly didn't know?]
Mitra asked in a slightly flustered tone, and Cheon-ho struggled to hide his awkward expression.
As he had said many times, he really didn't know.
‘Asking about my birth secret is harder than I thought.’
As Cheon-ho gained this peculiar new insight, Aleyasta shook his head.
“That you do not know the origin of your blood means the source of that blood did not wish it revealed. In that case, I too shall keep the secret.”
In short, he wouldn't tell.
“Hmm.”
Given the flow, he had half-expected something straightforward(?) like dragon blood, but the reaction was beyond imagination.
‘As expected of my great father.’
He still didn't know his mother's true identity—her race—but it was likely something beyond an ordinary dragon.
To marry such a mother, his father was truly remarkable.
[That face suggests you're spinning some bizarre logic.]
Mitra's insight was subtly sharp.
Cheon-ho cleared his throat to compose himself and said to Aleyasta.
“Understood. I'll find out on my own.”
“You will learn in due time.”
With that, Aleyasta lowered his head a bit more.
“You must have sought aid from the Treant clan as well. If I step forward, they will surely join. So, noble-blooded one, how do you plan to fight?”
Time was not on their side.
Considering the time to rendezvous with the Treants, they realistically had only about a day.
This battle was different from the one on the first floor.
Its scale was much larger, and there were hostages to rescue.
How would they fight?
Before answering, Cheon-ho took in Aleyasta's full form. Meeting his eyes again, he said.
“I have one method in mind.”
“I shall hear it, noble-blooded one.”
This would be the Forest Dragon Aleyasta's final battle in life.
Cheon-ho began his explanation.
&
The next morning, as Cheon-ho descended the path, a very welcome face appeared before him.
“Hero!”
Lucille beamed and waved. On her shoulder sat Aris, the village chief of the forest elf village, and behind her stood a massive tree-man resembling the demonic tree Casablonda—but nearly twice its size.
“Lucille.”
Unlike anyone else, Lucille was a true angel. Just facing her smiling face made something in his heart melt away softly.
Ellie, watching their greeting quietly, chuckled to herself behind her mask.
“Hello, I'm Ellie, the dragon's shrine maiden.”
Ellie hugged Cheon-ho's arm as she said this.
The sudden, rather intimate skinship left him flustered, but Cheon-ho reacted as always.
“Hmm.”
He simply fell silent.
It definitely wasn't because the sensation against his arm felt too good.
[Lewdness Lv3 experience gained.]
[Poker Face Lv2 experience gained.]
[The System is honest.]
As Mitra murmured softly, Lucille blinked.
She unwittingly pursed her lips, then spoke in a slightly subdued tone, wary.
“I am... Lucille, the angel who serves the Five Goddesses.”
Ellie let out a small laugh behind her mask at the satisfying reaction.
And at that moment, Lena, who had sighed behind her mask, grabbed Ellie by the nape of her neck, pulled her away from Cheon-ho, and introduced herself.
“I am Lena, shrine maiden serving Aleyasta.”
It was a plain greeting, but Lucille took a liking to Lena immediately.
With a soft smile, she introduced Aris and the Treant behind her.
“This is Aris, the village chief of the forest elf village, and the leader of the Treant clan, High and Great Branch.”
Aris rose from Lucille's shoulder and bowed, while the Treant behind slowly—but surely—nodded and spoke.
“I am—High and Great—Branch.”
“Pleased to meet you. I'm Park Cheon-ho. The one behind me is Combat Angel Saschiell.”
As Cheon-ho bowed and introduced himself, High and Great Branch spoke again.
“I am High and—Great Branch.”
[Treants don't know many words. You have to grasp the general meaning from the nuance.]
“Hmm.”
Somehow, it felt like a setup he'd heard before.
Lena stepped forward and continued.
“High and Great Branch, Aleyasta has resolved to fight the Plague God's minions. Lend us your strength.”
“I am High—and Great—Branch.”
“Thank you for accepting so readily.”
“Hmm.”
Cheon-ho was last.
It seemed Lena could understand the Treants' speech.
[With practice, you could do it too.]
He wasn't sure if it was worth practicing, but on second thought, it might be necessary.
After all, he had the demonic tree seed.
‘If I raise it well, does it become something like that?’
High and Great Branch looked even stronger than Casablonda, likely due to its much larger size.
“I think that's enough introductions. Time is short. We need to prepare for battle quickly.”
It was Saschiell.
As she said, time was limited. They had to account for the trip to the capital and rejoining Aleyasta—they couldn't afford to waste any.
“High and Great Branch, hear my words.”
“I am High and Great Branch.”
“Thank you.”
It couldn't be a refusal, surely.
Glancing at Lena for confirmation, Cheon-ho explained the plan.
&
The apostle of the Plague God, Scabronde, was no fool.
The ratmen who attacked the forest elf village had been annihilated.
He could easily guess who the culprit was.
The one who destroyed the altar on the first floor.
The apostle of the Healing God whom he wanted to tear apart.
Scabronde believed the foe wouldn't simply flee. He was certain to appear to disrupt the ritual.
Scabronde looked into the distance.
Atop the towering altar stood a massive statue of the Plague God.
Before the statue, shrouded in thick green miasma, lay a blood altar for sacrifices, where bound forest elves lay sprawled.
Scabronde gazed at the sky again.
Night was falling.
The time for the moon's fragment to rise was near.
Thus, Scabronde's senses sharpened further. He tensed, glaring toward the forest elf village.
And then, at some point.
“Squeak! Squeak!”
Giant rats began screeching noisily from afar.
Faint vibrations reached through the ground—shocks that would surely shake the earth from farther away.
They were coming.
Scabronde roared. He barked sharply at his ratmen subordinates, and hundreds of them surged into motion at once.
Night had arrived.
With twilight's end, the battle began.
&
[Chapter 2 - Floor 2 #6] End