Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: The Ancient Dragon Awakens
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When they were a fair distance from the village, Yetis appeared as if they'd been lying in wait.
Since they hadn't even begun climbing the mountain yet, there was no need to worry about avalanches. Kang Jin-hyuk swung his baseball bat with abandon.
“Kyaaak!”
The Yetis that charged in while letting out horrific shrieks collapsed one after another, their skulls shattered without exception.
After cutting down all six Yetis, Kang Jin-hyuk stored their corpses in the inventory slot he'd emptied out in advance.
Lucia pinched her nose and recoiled in disgust.
“You're taking those smelly corpses?”
“They might be useful if processed right.”
He'd even prepared a separate empty inventory slot to keep the stench from seeping into his other items.
With every monster corpse worth money, leaving them behind felt like too much of a waste.
“I can't even imagine what you'd process them into. That smell's never coming out.”
“Then I'll just make something that uses the smell.”
If you rack your brain hard enough to find a use for something, you'll come up with something eventually.
Worst case, he could extract the magic stones, so there was no loss.
“Anyone buying that has to be out of their mind.”
She couldn't fathom what anyone would use those bodies for, reeking worse than rotten fish.
There was no real reason to stop him, so she just let him be.
No matter how she thought about it, those monster corpses weren't going to fetch a decent price.
“You never know. Season it right, and it might make for good eating.”
“I'd starve to death before eating Yeti meat.”
Lucia meant every word.
Better to go hungry than put your mouth on meat stinking like garbage if you cared about your mental health.
Even a ghost that died from overeating had its limits.
“Hurry up if you've got them all. I can't take the smell.”
“You're gonna be smelling it the whole way. Why not just get used to it?”
“Yeah, right.”
As an adventurer with years under her belt, Lucia had encountered all sorts of bizarre creatures.
Yetis were the worst of the worst.
They didn't look that grotesque on the outside, but that smell—she still couldn't adapt to it even after years.
They set off again, only to run into another pack of Yetis, and Lucia's face crumpled up like a discarded newspaper.
“Twenty of them this time.”
Kang Jin-hyuk's eyes gleamed at the thought of the money.
Spotting that capitalist glint, Lucia scowled even harder.
If she watched him collect every single one of those, she'd suffocate from the stench first.
Her solution? Aura-infused arrows.
Before Kang Jin-hyuk could even step in, Lucia loosed arrows packed with more mana than the Yetis deserved.
The arrows tore through the sound barrier and, upon impact, shredded the Yetis' bodies to pieces.
Thanks to the Yetis bunching up and charging blindly, she could take out three or four with a single shot.
Kang Jin-hyuk sighed at the gruesome sight.
“What are you doing? Leave the corpses intact!”
“Sorry. My hands are numb from the cold—couldn't control the power.”
“Don't bullshit me! Anyone could see that was on purpose!”
Lucia shrugged nonchalantly, playing innocent.
With only circumstantial evidence, Kang Jin-hyuk couldn't press further.
His best option was to rush in before her arrows pulverized them.
As soon as Kang Jin-hyuk charged ahead, Lucia hurriedly nocked her next arrow.
‘No way!’
‘Stinky monsters like these are useless anywhere.’ That was Lucia's stance.
‘There has to be some use for them.’ That was Kang Jin-hyuk's counter.
Caught between their clashing views, the Yetis were getting mulched at a terrifying rate.
Lucia fired arrows without restraint to obliterate them without a trace. Kang Jin-hyuk dashed around to claim them first.
The higher they climbed the snow-covered mountain, the more Yetis appeared, but they couldn't hold the pair back for long.
Even a massive raid of thirty took less than five minutes to wipe out.
“Damn... We've run into over two hundred, but I've only got fifty.”
“Aw. Should've worked harder then.”
“It's all your fault!”
“Why me? I grabbed all the useful magic stones for you.”
Lucia tossed him the leather pouch from her belt.
Somehow, it was filled with magic stones from the Yetis he hadn't collected.
“Toss the stinky corpses and just take the magic stones.”
She had a point, in a way.
Even Kang Jin-hyuk had to admit the Yeti stench was beyond what most stomachs could handle.
But her attitude sparked his pointless stubbornness.
No matter what, he'd figure out some clever way to use those corpses. He vowed it to himself.
Of course, that didn't change the current situation.
He didn't come up with any real ideas until they were almost at the dragon's lair.
Lost in thought, he even slowed down on hunting Yetis compared to before.
The silver lining? They'd climbed high enough that Lucia started worrying about avalanches.
No more firing arrows willy-nilly, which meant she couldn't powder the corpses.
Left with no choice, she had to watch as Kang Jin-hyuk neatly stacked Yeti bodies in his inventory.
“Hahaha! This is what they call a guild leader's cheat map!”
Kang Jin-hyuk relished seeing Lucia tremble and grit her teeth against the stench.
He was suffering too, but he basked in pointless triumph anyway.
“Pack it up already and move. We're almost there.”
“Got it.”
They needed to reach the presumed dragon's lair before sunset.
Kang Jin-hyuk quickly finished up and followed Lucia toward a rugged cliff face.
He lightly leaped over the not-too-high cliff, and the view beyond came into sight.
“Is that... a lake?”
What Kang Jin-hyuk saw was a vast frozen lake.
Surrounded by snow-blanketed mountains like a folding screen, it looked like a painting.
“No wonder they say dragons live here.”
“But you never know till you check yourself.”
Keeping avalanches in mind, Lucia gripped her bow again, which she'd slung over her back.
“What now?”
“What else? Call out the dragon.”
White Dragons spent more than half the day asleep, so they rarely stirred without a strong prod.
If you wanted to meet before sunset, the best way was a powerful stimulus to jolt it awake.
“Let's see that pretty face of yours.”
Grinning mischievously, Lucia released the fully drawn bowstring.
The heavy steel arrow crafted by the dwarf sliced through the wind, amplified by aura.
It flew straight across what looked like several kilometers, embedding in the center of the icy lake.
Upon colliding with the ice, the arrow unleashed its stored aura in one burst.
Boom!
An explosion too massive for a single arrow rocked the lake violently.
The solidly frozen surface shattered completely, and a massive water spout erupted from the center.
Bursting through the spray was a dragon covered in pure white scales.
But it differed somewhat from the dragons Kang Jin-hyuk knew from games and novels.
The dragon's wings, emerging from the lake, had scales elongated like feathers, resembling a bird's.
Kang Jin-hyuk, who'd expected bat-like membranes, was caught off guard.
『Who dares.』
The dragon's voice resonated directly in their minds, not their ears.
For something rudely awakened from sleep, it was remarkably calm.
“We did it in one shot!”
He never thought he'd see a dragon with his own two eyes.
Witnessing its majestic form up close, Kang Jin-hyuk's heart pounded with excitement.
“What now? Shoot another arrow and end it?”
Eager for a fight if needed, he turned to Lucia with fierce resolve.
“Hey, why the face?”
Kang Jin-hyuk was puzzled by Lucia's expression, pale as a sheet.
She looked like someone who'd just seen something unbelievable.
And she'd fired the arrow herself to summon it. From his perspective, it was downright weird.
“What's wrong?”
“Yeah. Something's very wrong.”
Hearing her, Kang Jin-hyuk recalled the unease he'd felt before coming here.
Right—things in this world never went that smoothly.
As if he'd half-expected this turn, he let out a deep sigh.
“That's not just any White Dragon, is it?”
“......”
Lucia didn't answer, but Kang Jin-hyuk knew his guess was spot on.
“Just to confirm—that's the Ancient Dragon, right?”
“Heh heh heh... Sharp as ever.”
Lucia laughed like a madwoman before snapping back to reality.
Before the dragon could turn their way, she hurriedly ducked low.
“What are you doing? Get down!”
Seeing Kang Jin-hyuk still standing tall, she yanked him down by the arm.
“It hasn't spotted us yet. We can bolt now.”
“Really?”
“......No.”
Thinking it over coolly, Lucia shook her head, negating her own words.
Given the Ancient Dragon's abilities, it was impossible for it not to find them.
Sure enough, as they held their breath and hid, the dragon immediately scanned the surroundings.
Not with its eyes, but with mana, sweeping the lair like a scan.
『Did you think you could hide?』
Ignoring the Yeti presences scattered around, it zeroed in on the culprits bold enough for such an act.
Spotting Kang Jin-hyuk and Lucia, it lightly flapped its wings, closing the distance in an instant.
『So here you are.』
The dragon's face loomed suddenly before the crouching pair.
Spotting the bow in Lucia's hands, it pegged her as the perpetrator.
『What possessed you to disturb my sleep?』
There was no anger in the dragon's tone.
It seemed more puzzled over how to handle the prank of some impudent child.
『Give me a satisfactory answer, and I'll kill you painlessly right here.』
The faint hope Kang Jin-hyuk and Lucia harbored shattered instantly.
The dragon wasn't angry, but it had no intention of showing mercy to those who'd woken it.
‘Screw it. All or nothing.’
Death was coming anyway. Might as well go down fighting.
Kang Jin-hyuk gripped his baseball bat and snarled.
“Came here wanting a real fight, you bastard!”
The dragon burst into booming laughter at his words.