Chapter 89
**CHAPTER TITLE: No Need to Be Afraid**
A calm gaze swept over them.
With the water aura fully mastered, the depths seemed to bow before Rune.
At that exact moment, the effect of the Water Insignia surfaced in his mind.
**Water Insignia** (Binding)
- Received the crest of the Blue Dragon clan and manifested.
- Effects: * Body immune to harm from water. * No restrictions on activity in water. * Greatly increased affinity for water/ice attributes.
※ Special note: Killing any other target who has obtained the Water Insignia will incur a penalty.
‘With this, my servants will gain strong resistance against water power.’
A new ability had been added this time as well.
* Fire and darkness combined to yield a new elemental synergy!
‘Oh?’
Rune sparked a flame in his palm.
The blazing fire was engulfed in dark black flames, then swiftly shifted to cold blue flames.
‘This feeling…’
This time, when darkness took the lead and merged fire and water auras, black shadows and smoke poured out of his palm like flowing water.
He could endure the heat of sulfur flames even while immersed in darkness.
He could also create ice sealed in darkness.
Filling the sea with nothing but darkness to create a Dead Sea was trivial.
It was a far gentler power to wield, yet it was undeniably dangerous.
‘Hmm. It feels like a skill well-suited for making hells.’
After briefly testing the sensation, Rune sensed the gaze Amelia was giving him and withdrew his strength.
“That’s enough. Good work, Amelia.”
“Uh… yeah.”
Relieved by the sense of relief, Amelia leaned against the dolphin spirit Lamel.
“Rune-nim!”
Splash!
Seeing Heungmi dash forward first, Rune’s brows twitched.
“What? What is that.”
Around Heungmi, fire fragments and water droplets bobbed and circled like bubbles.
“They were already causing quite a ruckus on their own. The cold water aura must have startled them.”
Heungmi held out the red ruby brooch hanging from her neck.
It was easy to figure out the situation.
“You can now handle a strong water aura on par with fire. That’s why. Fire and water are opposites after all.”
“Ah! I see. Then I’ll gently calm the others so Heungmi isn’t frightened.”
While Heungmi stared at the fire spirits sealed inside the brooch and muttered something, Rune examined Dullahan.
Strangely, Dullahan appeared completely unchanged at first glance.
‘But the unseen part is different.’
Rune scrutinized Dullahan’s status.
**Name: Death Knight Dullahan**
- His name as a deceased person has been forgotten. - Race: Undead & Spirit - Hatchling condition: Success in fusing a powerful Death Knight’s armor with a deeply resentful superhuman soul may result in rare birth. - Spirit knight following the path of darkness.
※ Special note: - Rare chance of possessing a phoenix feather and gaining an emotion seed. - Personality evolves with growth experiences. - Bound to Lune Eclipse (Lune Eclipse) - Servant status achieved. - Personality: Loyal, gloomy
▲ Beware of Roar ▲
Further details had been added to the explanation.
- Obtained affinity with water and fire. - Despite possessing death aura, not shunned by natural realm spirits.
Rune felt the change as well. Even though his own affinity for water had risen, the flow of water was playful yet sometimes whispered like a lullaby.
It gently caressed his skin, leaving a tender sensation before flowing away.
‘This is the power of affinity.’
It was rather surprising that Dullahan had gained this new sensation.
It meant a dead person and undead creature was now capable of feeling ‘sensations.’
‘Good. Since you were absorbing power through mana cooking, feeling new sensations from fire and water should make you even stronger.’
Dullahan clenched his right fist once, eyes lost in the feeling of affinity.
But only Rune had noticed.
“Lamel!”
Whoosh!
With a vigorous tail lash, the dolphin spirit Lamel approached and circled around Amelia, eyes sparkling.
“Us… to the cursed dungeon… please.”
Whoosh.
Lamel, the dolphin spirit, glanced at the others, then shook his body twice.
No matter how you looked, the gesture was clear: “No.”
“…No, wait, um?”
Kyuuut. Kweuyt.
Amelia gently calming Lamel earned a sigh from Perdikion as he crossed his arms.
“Even my own servants can’t be handled. How can I become a master then?”
He had muttered it quietly, but no one missed it.
As expected, Amelia had stiffened her shoulders after hearing a few words and shot a glare at Perdikion.
“Big brother.”
‘This guy keeps popping out bad habits.’
Rune subtly signaled him with a glance.
Perdikion frowned as well, but he turned away and ignored it.
‘Are the two of them really not compatible at all?’
In reality, a fight would only arise if they tried to interrogate him with just a couple words, so he had stayed silent. Yet Amelia was deliberately avoiding eye contact with him, as if refusing to acknowledge him.
“Th-this… is fine now… L-Lamel, you can… get on his back.”
Amelia began persuading Lamel again to lead the group.
With the others, Rune rode Lamel and fell into thought for a moment.
If Amelia was the fragile, delicate type who had always hidden her pain alone, Perdikion was the one who needed the strength to face pain and adversity head-on.
Rune had no intention of declaring who was right or wrong.
The real problem was that neither could communicate with someone who possessed a different value system.
‘Since they’re hatchlings, I thought we could just leave it, but there wasn’t enough time for them to naturally get to know each other.’
Forcing friendliness would only backfire.
They needed something that would allow them to speak naturally together.
But they had just met, and their personalities were complete opposites.
‘At least if they had something in common that made them the same value, it would be ideal. What could that be?’
Changing existing values wasn’t easy.
Especially for dragons.
‘We need to think of a way while clearing the dungeon.’
The priority was first to conquer the cursed dungeon that had begun appearing before them.
Before they could even approach, thickly polluted darkness and curses filled their surroundings.
When the dolphin spirit and Amelia shrank in fear.
“Don’t stop.”
Rune wove a membrane of water infused with darkness around them.
The disorderly spread of curses and darkness seemed to slice through the membrane, but they soon dissipated helplessly.
The curses laid across the area collapsed before the darkness Rune controlled, and the membrane remained unharmed.
“I’ll make sure there’s no need to fear the path ahead.”
With a calm gaze, Rune looked beyond the chaotic, tangled scenery.
Cold, gloomy loneliness spread.
And beyond that, a place where terrifying, raging waves crashed.
A sea cave with a black mouth gaped before them.
Amelia let out a startled sigh.
“T-this… is bad. B-before, there should have been an entrance to the Temple of Water… but…”
The once-white, transparent temple radiating purifying aura had vanished without a trace.
What remained were the ruins of the broken temple and the pitch-black underwater cave filled with burning darkness inside.
The group circled around and descended toward what seemed to be the entrance pit.
A fetid poisonous aura and an indescribable stuffy, heavy feeling began pressing down on their bodies.
“Amelia. Use Purification Language.”
“U-uh!”
Amelia held her staff upright.
Standing atop Lamel, she took a deep breath and drew power from quiet focus.
“**Purify!**”
Whoosh!
Clear aura spread from Amelia’s body.
The darkness that had been rolling like tumbleweed suddenly retreated as if chased by something, yet it remained outside the reach of the Language’s power, encircling them.
‘The power of the Language is barely enough to drive it away. Recovering this dungeon with only the Blue Dragon clan’s strength would have been impossible.’
Rune assumed Amelia’s parents had known this fact as well.
He secretly let the corner of his mouth curve into a faint smile.
‘The Blue Dragons granted the Water Insignia too easily.’
It was true that the water clan had been friendly.
But not solely because of the naive reason of “repayment” that Amelia had thought.
If the darkness they carried into the dungeon had fully dyed them, he could not have guaranteed they would return to the original Wave Dungeon.
Even if they somehow endured, once young Rune grew up and became even slightly cunning, or if they had taken a rotten heart?
They would have had no choice but to hand over the dungeon, their domain, entirely to the darkness clan.
So, giving them the Water Insignia to prevent betrayal and aid the water clan was the best method.
With extremely adult-like calculation and judgment, Rune felt ‘That’s why.’
‘Well, it was showing maximum sincerity as the representative of the clan since Amelia herself was stepping up to help.’
Rune took out a pitch-black pearl from his pocket.
“T-that’s… what is this?”
“Recently, I sent you pearls and giant clam monsters through Christina, right? This is the amulet created because of that.”
“Amazing… This black pearl… I’ve never seen one before.”
Black Pearl.
The pearl dyed in darkness was itself an excellent mana tool.
Now that Rune could master water aura as well, he had instantly granted the group related water abilities.
Everyone stared in surprise, but the reason was simple: black pearls had not existed in this world until he artificially created them.
“You can slightly adjust water and darkness. Having them will be convenient in many ways, and you can track where they are.”
By simply holding the black pearl and adjusting darkness, Amelia could obtain the same purifying ability.
“When did you prepare this?”
“A few days ago, I received the pearl through Amelia. Since darkness and water have good compatibility, I tried it once.”
Perdikion glanced at Amelia, then quickly looked away and let out a small laugh.
‘Compared to the equipment of the dwarves in my lair or the fire mana stones, it’s still far short.’
Seeing Perdikion shrug his shoulders, Rune gave him a worried look.
‘You shouldn’t get too arrogant. Even with fire as your main power, this dungeon is still tough.’
Using the power of the pearl, Rune manipulated the sticky dark mass.
After teaching the others how to use it, Rune reminded them not to lose it again.
‘While practicing with scrolls, I made this. It turned out more useful than I thought.’
It felt similar to the protective talisman from his previous life. Simply carrying it granted the power of darkness control, shielding them from harm by darkness, curses, and poison.
In case of emergency, the power of the black pearl should help Perdikion as well.
‘Oddly, even though this guy looks the most confident, he’s the one I’m most worried about.’
In a way, Perdikion was the most consistent one.