Chapter 143
Translator: penny
Chapter: 143
Chapter Title: Red Dragon's Lair
3
“Chew it thoroughly and eat it.”
When I offered him some seaweed that looked like a mix of miyeok and maesaengi, Louis wrinkled his nose sharply.
“What’s this all of a sudden?”
“It’s the antidote. Senior, you got hit by that merfolk riding a seahorse, right?”
Louis stared at me as if to ask how I knew.
I couldn’t exactly say I’d heard it straight from the merfolk, so I just shoved the seaweed into his hand.
I didn’t forget to give some to Noel, either, who was standing beside me with his head tilted.
The merfolk knight had been the one to give me this seaweed.
It might look like he was poisoning and then curing, but... the knight probably felt bad deep down for having no choice but to use force to drive me off underwater, where words didn’t work.
That must be why he’d used a poison that only drained stamina instead of something lethal.
Anyway, I’d given them the antidote.
Louis, grimacing terribly as he touched the seaweed to his tongue, grumbled that it tasted weird, but Noel squeezed his eyes shut, popped a clump into his mouth, and chewed vigorously.
“Medicines that are good for you are supposed to taste bitter, so eat up, Senior.”
“This doesn’t taste bitter—it’s fishy.”
“Good medicines can taste fishy too.”
Even so, since Louis kept complaining, I stuffed some seaweed into his mouth.
He glared at me like he wanted to kill me, but at least he chewed.
“Anyway, it’s a shame you both dropped out so early.”
The seafloor wasn’t favorable for Noel or Louis.
Underwater, guns didn’t pack their full punch even if you could fire them, malfunctions were likely, and lightning would backfire the moment you tried it—what did you expect?
Still, a true craftsman doesn’t blame his tools—that’s the core philosophy of Mullrat Contio.
Overcoming bad matchups is what makes a true powerhouse, or whatever.
They might feel hard done by, but these conditions applied equally to everyone, so there was no room for complaints.
“Whatever. I only joined thinking it might help with job hunting. Making it to the finals is enough spec on my resume.”
“I’ll prepare harder next year...! I really felt how useless guns are underwater......”
Louis and Noel said this without any sign of dejection.
They probably meant it sincerely.
“By the way, you guys did pretty well score-wise, huh?”
I nodded at Louis’s words.
Leon had gotten a buff potion from Emilia—the undisputed counter to Giacomo—and quickly recovered the relic.
Looks like he’d teamed up with her in my absence and built some rapport.
He’d probably made plenty of allies inside and outside the academy, too.
Seeing them handle things on their own without my help made me feel oddly proud.
Ethan had just held his breath and dived.
Holding out to the ocean floor like that—who knows what his physical specs were like.
After training with Jin, he’d kind of transcended human limits, hadn’t he? Had he quit being human altogether?
Thanks to that, he’d formed some weird camaraderie with the Glacir students and was deep in conversation with them.
Making friends with total strangers for the first time in his life.
Impressive. A real social butterfly....
Truth be told, the scariest one was Kyriakos.
That guy had cast a debuff called “Mermaid’s Song” on himself.
It prevented breathing and talking out of water, but freed up breathing underwater.
Even if underwater exploration was the main event, slapping a debuff on yourself without hesitation was no easy feat.
“Taking first place is insane...!”
Noel, having swallowed the seaweed, grabbed my hand and jumped up and down.
I hadn’t really aimed for first in the prelims, but oh well.
A nagging feeling told me annoying trouble was brewing, but... I just nodded along for now.
Sixteen students had passed the first round of the finals.
The second round would whittle that down to just four—half of half.
Competition would intensify, but... regrettably, the second round unfolded in an even harsher extreme environment.
The reason was simple.
The professor overseeing this Mullrat Contio was Ken Schultz.
Back during the first semester’s practical finals, he’d set the forbidden forest as the exam site—a guy who loved extreme conditions.
In the game days, it was fun just sightseeing the map.
But rolling through it myself made me want to curse Ken Schultz.
I swallowed a sigh inwardly, and then a Hecate Academy student with pale aqua hair approached me.
“You’re Theo Agrit, right? I was impressed watching you fight that merfolk knight.”
“Yeah, but impressed how?”
Invisible observers always trailed Mullrat Contio participants.
These magitech devices, blending engineering and magic perfectly, broadcast participants’ actions live.
So it wasn’t weird that they’d seen what I did via observer.
However, I’d completely sealed off the area with dimensional magic while talking to the merfolk knight.
No observer could’ve seen what went down.
Even before the isolation, it had just been a back-and-forth without anything noteworthy.
So I asked, puzzled.
But the Hecate student just smiled and leaned in to whisper.
“Stock up on fire resistance gear.”
A chill slithered up my spine like a snake hissing.
Not because of the sly tone, but the content.
Mullrat Contio’s second round finals were in a volcano.
Fire resistance gear was practically mandatory.
But this was top-secret info.
No regular student had any way to find out.
“Hey! You...!”
I reflexively twisted to grab the Hecate student.
But he’d vanished long ago.
“Did you call me?”
Louis asked, still chewing seaweed.
I shook my head and looked around, but the Hecate student was nowhere.
Someone was desperate to keep me from dropping out.
They’d entered under a doll mimicking me for Mullrat Contio registration, and now disguised as a Hecate student to approach and leak info.
At least they weren’t hiding that it was their doing.
One step further, and the masterminds were targeting me.
Shady bastards.
I didn’t want to play along, but bailing now would drag bystanders into it.
If worse came to worst, I’d escape with dimensional magic.
Haa... no choice.
Let’s see how far this goes.
4
“So hot....”
“Volcanoes really are hot, huh.”
Students fanned themselves with their hands and began shedding outer layers one by one.
Anyone would strip off their coat facing a volcano steaming with haze.
But I did the opposite, wrapping myself in a bright red robe embroidered with flame patterns in gold thread and pulling the hood low.
Surrounding stares treated me like a lunatic, but I ignored them.
This was Memphis’s handmade fire resistance gear: the Flameproof Robe.
I remembered he’d made a prototype before heading to Balamut, so I borrowed one.
Of course, he’d begged for time to make something better... but I’d already commissioned him anyway, and time was short, so I took it by force.
Memphis had clenched his teeth and handed over the robe, looking ready to wail.
Anyone would think I’d stolen it from him, but the reality was the opposite—that was the weird part.
If I went back home now, I’d probably spend a week as his mannequin?
Terrifying in its own way, but I’d worry later.
With the hood pulled low, it wasn’t cool, but the volcano’s heat didn’t touch me.
Relaxed in the comfort, I stretched.
We were on Karno Island, the southernmost volcanic isle in the kingdom.
Bomber Volcano, still active, was Ken Schultz’s chosen site for the second round finals.
“This round’s objective: retrieve a Blue Flame Harpy feather from those nesting in Bomber Volcano. No holds barred! Even picking up a stray feather you luckily find counts!”
Even in front of the volcano, Ken Schultz bellowed energetically.
Students, barely over yesterday’s diving fatigue, listened intently despite being sweat-soaked.
To me, with experience, it sounded brutally cruel.
Blue Flame Harpy feathers self-ignite seconds after being plucked.
Finding a dropped one was impossible, and even if you lucked into one, you’d have to return before it burned.
Physically impossible.
There was only one way to pass this round.
Capture a live Blue Flame Harpy, bring it here, then pluck the feather.
Fail to realize that, and you’re out.
“Alright, everyone get set in place!”
Ken Schultz raised his hand high.
All sixteen students took starting positions at the volcano entrance.
“Begin!!”
They all dashed off at once.
With the whole volcano to search, no time to waste.
Of course, I knew all the harpy nests, so I took it slow.
Dimensional magic would’ve been handy.
But the ground here was unstable—mess up, and you’d plummet straight into the volcano.
No plans to become a magma diver, so I walked obediently on two feet.
The nearest harpy nest was near the summit.
Hood low over the Flameproof Robe, I climbed steadily.
The robe only blocked the volcano’s ambient heat.
It couldn’t stop body heat rising from the grueling rocky ascent, breathing growing ragged, sweat pouring in proportion.
No kindly paved trails here.
Clambering over rocks by force, sweat soon rained down like biblical drops.
“Ugh...!”
A bead rolling down my forehead stung my eye.
Clutching it in pain, I went to wipe the sweat—crunch!
A ominous dry crack echoed from underfoot, vision tilting sideways.
Too late to react.
I was diving into the active volcano’s interior, toward the lava.
Dizzying floatiness, heat closing in gradually.
Even Memphis’s Flameproof Robe wouldn’t hold in lava.
Fire gear made it tough, not invincible.
Ah, dangerous.
If I fell like this, Mullrat Contio observers would spot it and rescue me, but who knew what’d happen meanwhile.
No time to be picky.
I hurled my magic sword at the nearest wall.
Crunch! As it embedded with a dry thud, I teleported my body to it via dimensional magic.
“Guh...!”
Dangling from the magic sword, my arms went numb instantly.
An application of the high-speed movement I’d used for course registration.
I’d figured it possible, but first time trying.
“How am I... supposed to climb this......”
Looking up while hanging, I’d fallen far in that short time—the vent looked distant.
Climbing to the exit with dimensional hops... would be tough.
Mana depletion would drop me again before reaching it.
Climb the wall by hand?
Sadly, I wasn’t Leon or Ethan—impossible.
No way up.
Sighing as I looked down... a small cave came into view below.
It might lead outside.
Even if not, better than dangling.
I teleported carefully to land in the cave and ventured inside.
The cave was massive.
Big enough for two carriages side by side, but devoid of life save stone.
Withered corpses of unidentified plants everywhere—must’ve been lush once.
At least lava wouldn’t flood this far in.
Securing minimal safety, I pressed on awhile.
As caves do, the passage ended, opening into a vast cavern.
I swallowed unwittingly.
In the cavern’s center sat a being gleaming with fiery red scales.
A pair of wings cloaking its body, a tail sharpened like a morningstar from morphed scales, twin horns crowning its head proclaiming existence.
What folks called the Red Dragon.
Such a monster slumbered peacefully before my eyes.
Why the hell was a dragon here?
A Red Dragon didn’t even appear in Broken World!
I wanted to shout it, but noise might wake it.
Comically, I realized why the tunnel was so wide now.
Had to be, for a beast that size!
I backed away reflexively.
That instant, the Red Dragon’s amber eyes fixed on me.
Awakening without warning.
Meeting those unreal, hyper-saturated amber eyes froze my limbs.
“Hmm... I smelled Dresia on you, and here’s a little human. Did you receive a scale, by chance?”
The dragon’s unique draconic tongue hummed into my mind.
The white dragon Dresia’s scale in my pocket felt heavy.
A white dragon’s scale wins dragon favor.
Remembering that late, I nodded.
What if I hadn’t had it?
I didn’t want to imagine.
“That crusty white dragon gave you a scale? Then you must be more impressive than you look, little human. So, what brings you to my nest, Jurt’s?”
The Red Dragon Jurt blinked slowly.
Only then did my stiffened limbs loosen.
Thanks to the faint goodwill in Jurt’s voice.
“I fell in by unlucky accident. Tumbled inside the volcano looking for an exit.”
“I’ll tell you the exit. But volcanoes are dangerous for little humans like you.”
“Extremely dangerous. I need a Blue Flame Harpy feather. ...Could you help?”
With Jurt’s aid, escaping the volcano—not to mention passing the second round—would be easy.
Just catch a harpy and descend leisurely.
I tested the waters.
Jurt blinked slowly.
A brief silence hung.
Then the Red Dragon spread crimson wings wide, rising its massive frame.
“Simple enough. For a friend of dragonkind, I’ll gladly leave this cave.”