Chapter 122
Chapter 122
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 122
Chapter Title: Greedy Dragon Aranbalon (3)
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Crackle! Crackle-pop!
Through the flowers of electricity blooming in the air.
A German girl with snow-white skin ground her teeth as she stepped out.
“You crazy bastard!”
The woman glaring at me with venomous eyes was Floa.
“You cleared Theme 2, so leave it at that. Why the hell are you messing with a dragon now? Do you all have a death wish?”
Her tone was rough.
But.
I could sense the worry buried within it.
Of course, her ranker presence was as intimidating as ever.
“Who’s that…?”
“An examiner…?”
It was then that my frowning teammates took a slight step back.
“Thunderclap?”
The middle-aged man stepped forward.
“Oh! Could you be Thunderclap?”
“Who’s this guy?”
Flinch.
Floa retreated a little.
“Oh, Thunderclap! To meet my country’s hero like this in a foreign land! I’m deeply moved!”
“What, he’s German?”
Come to think of it, this middle-aged man.
I still didn’t know his name.
I only knew he wasn’t on good terms with Olivia.
And that he was a swordsman who wielded a blade.
“Yes, I’m A-rank Swordsman Maximilian! It’s an honor to meet the Thunderclap I’ve always admired!”
The middle-aged man gave a slight bow in greeting.
Thanks to that, the tense atmosphere eased a bit.
“Anyway!”
Floa, who had momentarily lost my attention, glared at me again.
“This won’t do! As an examiner, I have the right and duty to stop participants’ reckless actions! You all can’t either! Everyone, lower your weapons!”
“…….”
“Think about it. You were doing so well with great scores, so why go off the rails now? That dragon is different. It’s truly, utterly horrific. The kind that makes the poison fog you ate look like nothing.”
“I know that.”
I’d seen the dragon before.
It wasn’t my first time.
“You know and you still do this? Do you have some disease where you suffocate if you’re not reckless?”
“Not that, but.”
I smiled.
“A hunch.”
“What?”
“Just a hunch. Someone I respect told me.”
The Old Man of All Arts.
“I’ve already mastered Heavenly Luck among the Ten Thousand Arts. And now my heart is telling me. To catch that dragon.”
“What kind of bullshit is that?”
“Catch that dragon, and it’ll be a huge jackpot.”
“……?”
Suddenly, Floa looked utterly baffled.
If I had to describe her face, it was [What kind of guy is this?].
“Anyway.”
I said.
“If you’re stepping up to stop me, doesn’t that mean I could try if you just look the other way?”
“You madman? That’s your logic to convince me?”
Crackle-pop!
Electricity gathered in Floa’s hand.
“You won’t persuade me with that crap. If you’re going, step over me first!”
“Hmm.”
It was a tricky situation.
Who would’ve thought an examiner would block the way.
I could use the other wish voucher from last time, but.
It felt a bit iffy.
Even if she stepped aside, it didn’t mean I could fend off all the examiners.
That was when.
“……Intriguing.”
Floa’s murderous aura cut off abruptly.
At the same time, the surroundings fell silent.
The murmuring teammates, my breath and Floa’s—all vanished.
Only that voice remained, reaching my eardrums clearly.
“A participant stepping up to hunt a dragon here is the first since the trials began.”
The one who said she’d opened the trials herself.
“Most just clear it without even noticing the dragon’s existence. Hmm, this is tricky indeed. How should we handle this?”
World Ranking 5th.
Dungeon Maker Delaila.
She slowly revealed herself.
I swallowed hard.
My teammates looked shocked too.
We never expected to encounter someone even rankers rarely see, here in Theme 2.
“Delaila…….”
“Yes, this is our first time meeting in person. Skeleton King.”
Ah.
Am I talking to World Ranking 5th right now?
Anyway.
Her stepping forward personally.
Was highly encouraging.
Like bickering with an employee in front of the company gate, only for the boss to show up right there?
I asked straight out.
“Can I hunt that dragon?”
“Hmm.”
Her gaze swept over my face.
“Impressive indeed.”
“…….”
“You’ve scrapped Theme 1 so it can’t be used again, and now you’re trying to destroy Theme 2 too. Thanks to you, the next participants will have to proceed in an entirely new theme.”
Words with bite.
But I focused more on her phrasing.
‘She said destroy.’
That meant.
It was finally confirmed.
‘This place is another world.’
Not a fabricated virtual world, but a real existing one.
She didn’t make dungeons.
She just connected them.
Not a Maker, but a Linker.
Just like experiencing other worlds through intermediary dungeons.
Perhaps Delaila herself was the bridge between worlds?
“Hmm, I’m worried.”
It was then that Delaila looked at me with concerned eyes.
“King, you’re rewriting the history of my trials. If you just endure as is, you’d be the greatest output I’ve produced since the Berserker. It’d all be for nothing if you lose your life to reckless challenge, wouldn’t it? Bad for you, and a waste of my time.”
“Yes.”
I nodded.
“That could be.”
I opened my mouth confidently.
You have to be bold in times like this.
Lose your momentum, and even winnable fights slip away.
“But there’s no growth in the world without crisis. If we were just going to play it safe, there’d be no need to open these trials. That statement doesn’t fit the purpose.”
“I admit that. But.”
“I’ll win.”
“…….”
I infused my voice with certainty.
“I have plenty of ideas, a good chance of victory. I’ve even caught one before.”
“You’ve caught a dragon……?”
“You want to produce the strong, don’t you, Delaila?”
Trials.
Her trials gave rewards matching their escalated plausibility.
Examiners or Delaila didn’t interfere.
They just managed.
So I thought.
“You want me to get stronger.”
She was raising me.
Helping me.
I didn’t know the exact reason.
But for now, that was enough.
“I’ve heard that the gap between rankers widens exponentially in the single digits. The Berserker said it. Even at World Ranking 20th, he was just a three-move foe against the Heavenly Demon at 3rd. And that proud man said it.”
The single-digit wall was that massive.
And the gap was as vast as the universe.
“I’m not aiming to be an ordinary ranker. Since I’ve started, I want to rise above all rankers. To do that, I can’t clear with ordinary methods. I need to force the plausibility in these trials to claim the rewards.”
“…….”
“I’m grateful to you.”
It was the dream of my life.
The obsession of my life.
Becoming a ranker.
She’d systematized it, institutionalized it.
No matter the circumstances, she’d given me a chance.
A chance to soar higher.
“That’s why I want to repay you. By getting stronger. Ultimately, surpass you and become strong enough no one can challenge. Isn’t that what you truly desire?”
I looked at her.
“…….”
A long silence followed.
Then.
Pfft.
A breath leaked from her lips.
“So right now.”
Delaila smiled.
“You’re telling me to gamble? With your life on the line.”
“…….”
“To push you even harder with trials beyond this? Nearly to death, no, to actual death.”
No, I didn’t mean actually die.
Did I say something unnecessary?
My heart pounded.
“Well, fine.”
Delaila nodded.
“I’ll accept that gamble. Jackpot or bust. This’ll be fun.”
At the same time, she flicked her hand.
“Theme 2 is extended for now. I’ll reissue it as a hidden quest concept. From this moment, all examiners withdraw from Theme 2. Additionally.”
She looked at my teammates, excluding me.
“You all may proceed to Theme 3 if you wish.”
“No need.”
Judge Window shook his head immediately.
“I follow my friend even to hell.”
Firm tone, even against Delaila.
Just like Judge Window.
“We don’t need it either.”
One of the cat spirits said.
“I was already prepared.”
Kapu nodded too.
“To be friends with a madman, I gotta be mad too.”
“They say the dragon’s great at magic? As a mage, I can’t pass without seeing it.”
The other teammates were the same.
No one tried to run.
They stuck close to my side.
Grin.
I smiled.
Not because I was grateful they stayed.
I’d be fine alone anyway.
‘Just.’
My new comrades were courageous.
Full of potential for growth, and that made me glad.
Probably.
If we survived.
They’d all rise high.
At this rate, maybe we’d all match each other?
“Indeed.”
Delaila smiled.
“This batch is beautiful.”
[Ding!]
[Hidden mission arrives.]
[Stage: Dragon Hunt!]
[The seven team members must ‘cooperate’ to defeat the Greedy Dragon ‘Aranbalon’ in the central Giant Castle.]
“May your courage shine as brightly in results.”
[Delaila wishes you luck.]
It was a hard-won opportunity.
* * *
[Aranbalon furrows his brow.]
[Speaks to the otherworlder.]
[Asks if you’re breaking the covenant.]
[Aranbalon rages at the silence.]
* * *
Rumble!
At that moment.
The white door vanished.
The ‘treasures’ scattered everywhere disappeared too.
The ground shook like an earthquake, and atop it stood the massive dragon.
Its bright yellow eyes stared down at our seven.
- I thought you were loyal scoundrels.
Ah.
I shuddered.
Power so overwhelming it made me wonder how we’d ever planned to catch it.
“Hup!”
My breath caught.
Dragon Fear.
Just watching triggered an instinctive terror creeping up from my soles.
Goosebumps prickled across my body.
It was worlds apart from seeing it in Kapu’s video.
Yes, this wasn’t a dragon.
This was a god.
A Destruction God that seemed ready to shatter everything.
- You’re just clueless fools.
Indeed.
Delaila had kept her promise well.
She’d originally planned to toss only Eldrin through the white door.
But she’d personally brought us right before the dragon.
‘Damn.’
No need to go that far.
I glanced at my companions.
They all craned their necks up, bodies rigid.
This wouldn’t do.
If we stayed like this, we’d be trampled into meat paste in seconds.
“Snap out of it!”
Whoosh!
I transformed ‘Sealed Seven Spirits’ Spirit (1/7) into a gauntlet.
At the same time.
Boom!
I slammed it forcefully into the ground.
“Wh-what!”
“Hun?”
“Everyone, snap to and fall back!”
I shouted.
Running wouldn’t change much anyway.
But it was better than standing here frozen.
‘The real meaningful action.’
Is this.
“Eldrin!”
“Yes, Master!”
“Unseal it right now!”
“Got it!”
Black energy rapidly spread from Eldrin’s grasp.
Rooooar……
Like the wail of a demon from the abyss.
We had unleashed here.
The Giant Dragon.