Chapter 44
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 44
Chapter Title: Dragon's Demise and Narrow Escape
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Ian could finally let out a sigh of relief after confirming with his own eyes that the dragon and demon lay completely still, without even the slightest twitch.
‘Whew, I really thought we were goners.’
With the tension draining from his body, Ian collapsed right there on the spot. No exaggeration—he'd truly believed they were in mortal danger, yet here he was, alive!
‘I might've tangled with the demon somehow, but a dragon? No way...’
It wasn't that the demon was weak and the dragon strong.
It was because mages and dragons had a severely disadvantageous matchup.
As a mage himself, taking on a dragon—the sovereigns of magic—and winning was next to impossible.
Sure, if his skills grew even higher, it might be feasible, but right now? No chance.
Even with his body stuffed full of cheat-level stats and traits, squaring off against a dragon was a stretch too far.
That's why he'd hoped for a mutual destruction scenario...
‘To think our Ddol Ddoli pulled it off!’
What a champ, Ddol Ddoli!
“Heh heh heh. Good job, Ddol Ddoli! You're the best, as always, aren't you?”
Thrilled by Ian's praise, Ddol Ddoli thumped its chest like a gorilla in celebration.
Stone dust flew everywhere like snow, but who cared? They were alive!
“Lord Ian. What about me? Didn't I do well?”
“Of course you did, Lara. Without you, we never would've found the secret spot.”
“Ehehehe.”
Ian quickly composed himself and scanned the surroundings. His heart raced at the sight of the massive treasure hoard before him, but this wasn't the time to celebrate.
‘Grab what we can and get out fast.’
If things went as expected, they didn't have time to dawdle.
‘If even one more dragon shows up, we're deader than dead.’
In dragon society, hatchlings and young adults not long into adulthood were considered protected species.
What did that mean?
Mess with them, and you'd have a swarm descending on you.
Even just touching one sparked talk of vengeance and chaos—but killing one outright?
‘They'd raise absolute hell.’
And of all the rotten luck, this one was a juvenile.
Damn it all.
He wanted to deny it, but the dragon had boasted about it itself, so it had to be true.
Dragons rarely lied, after all.
‘No wonder it wasn't as huge as I'd imagined.’
Past-life gaming memories kept Ian on high alert, refusing to let him relax with assumptions like "none will come."
Hunting one dragon had led to four much larger ones swarming in, ending in a game over. Turned out it was a young one.
He'd only learned later from community guides.
Never hunt juvenile dragons.
Like fishermen releasing baby fish or young crawfish.
‘They might already be en route.’
His gut screamed it.
“Lara, come here a sec?”
“Yes!”
“Can you purify this demon corpse?”
“I'll give it a try!”
Lara uses the skill 'Light Purification'.
Lara closed her eyes in focus for a moment before casting her holy magic. A radiant glow emanated from her small frame, touching the demon's corpse. The demonic energy within began to wash away.
The purged energy took form, soon shaping into a sword—a massive double-edged blade embedded with what looked like priceless gems.
Obtained 'Imperial Sword Labris'.
Sword secured.
Using skill 'Soul Extraction'.
Now for the soul extraction.
It was slow—frustratingly so—but it succeeded.
Obtained 'Cunning Demon Soulstone'.
Just in case it tried to slip away again, he stashed it in his inventory pronto. Demon loot complete.
Next up: the dragon...
‘Whoa. It's ridiculously huge.’
The massive body, easily dozens of meters long, sprawled like a black mountain.
He'd love to dismantle it piece by piece and take everything, but that was impossible in reality.
How long would butchering this take? No joke—a month or more.
‘Grab the valuables and bail.’
The prize? The dragon heart, naturally.
“Lara, can you send out your fairies to scout the area?”
“Sure. But why?”
“Yeah. More dragons might show. Keep watch for anyone approaching.”
“Huh? More dragons coming?”
“Yep. It's important—please.”
“Got it!”
“If you spot a dragon flying in or anything with powerful mana heading this way, tell me immediately. Got it?”
“Leave it to me!”
Scouting duty to Lara.
Time for dragon item looting.
An auto-loot feature would be heaven, but sadly, no such player skill existed.
Disappointing, but not unexpected.
They gave summons but no unsummon—what more could you ask for?
“Ddoli, can you pry open this wound?”
-I'll try.
Ddol Ddoli grabbed the gaping wound on the corpse with both hands and ripped it wide. A chilling tear of flesh echoed as the chest wound split open grotesquely.
“Ddoli, reach in there and pull out the heart. Can you do it?”
-I'll try.
Ddol Ddoli obeyed without hesitation, thrusting its hand into the gruesome, blood-gushing corpse. It rummaged around, shaking its arm.
“A bit more to the left. No, up. A little further... There! It should be right around—”
-Found it.
Ddol Ddoli yanked its hand out. Ian's eyes went wide at the objects clutched in its grip.
Not a single heart, but several shards like shattered gem fragments.
Dragon Heart Fragments
(Legendary Grade - Incomplete)
“Oh, fuck yes!”
-Oh, wrong one? Sorry. Ddol Ddoli will look again...
“No, that's it! Good job!”
-Ddoli good?
“Yeah!”
-Ddoli good!
Ian's mouth stretched into a massive grin. What a windfall!
Mere heart fragments, and they were legendary grade.
A complete one would've been insane.
But this was already a massive haul—and he wasn't stopping here.
Ian pulled empty flasks from his inventory and frantically filled them with whatever he could see.
Dip into the pooled dragon blood, swirl, seal. Done.
Obtained 'Flask Filled with Dragon Blood' x3.
Obtained 'Triangular Flask Filled with Dragon Blood'.
About a dozen bottles later.
Obtained Dragon Scales xSeveral.
A decent haul of scales too—sawing them off took serious mana, as they wouldn't even budge regular weapons.
Obtained Dragon Foreclaw Tendon.
Obtained Dragon Fang.
Bonus tendon and fang, and inventory full.
‘Heh heh. Look at all this worth.’
He couldn't wait to get back and dive into alchemy.
World Tree materials on hold, now dragon loot too?
Ah, mouth watering already.
Finally, soul extraction.
Using skill 'Soul Extraction'.
Extracting...
But damn, it was taking forever.
The demon soulstone had been quicker.
Dragon made the difference, probably.
“At least it's progressing...”
“Lord Ian! They're here!”
Lara's voice cut him off as she returned from scouting.
“Here? What?”
“Dragons! Dragons are flying this way!”
“What?”
It hit him like a bucket of ice water, snapping him fully alert.
“For real?”
“Yes! Two gold dragons and one red dragon—heading straight here!”
“Fuck.”
‘I hoped it wouldn't happen, but they actually came?’
What incredible bastards.
How could they be this precise?
Death detection system equipped or something?
Extracting...
“Ugh, hurry the hell up!”
Ian stomped in frustration. Panic set in.
Flying in true form without even polymorphing? They were pissed beyond measure.
‘If we run into them, we're toast. Dead for real!’
The hourglass effect mocked him.
“Lord Ian! They're getting closer! How much longer?”
“Almost...!”
Why did time crawl like this?
Every second felt like an hour.
“Hurry! Dragons inbound—five minutes tops!”
Extraction complete.
Obtained 'Arrogant Dragon Soulstone'.
“Run!”
“Yes!”
“Wait—one sec!”
“What? No time!”
“Gotta erase traces!”
Mana residues and tracks wiped clean.
Ddol Ddoli churned up the ground on request—even dragon wordspeech couldn't track this.
Then they bolted.
No magic, lest traces linger—just gritted teeth and sprinting.
Ddol Ddoli charged full tilt too, surprisingly fast with repeated rushes.
“Huff... gonna die! Huff!”
Ian slumped in some bushes, gasping raggedly.
No clue how far they'd come.
But dragons had arrived at the scene, for sure.
-KROOOOOOARRR!
The spine-chilling roar echoed even from afar.
“Heh heh heh.”
“Why laugh?”
“I'm happy.”
“Happy?”
“Yeah. We're alive.”
‘And scored big loot.’
“Right? We lived!”
“Alive means happy.”
-Owner happy, Ddol Ddoli happy!
“Heh heh heh.”
Truth be told, dying solo would've been fine.
Spare lives existed, after all.
‘Though untested.’
But Ddol Ddoli and Lara? Different story.
No reviving them.
And even if, not the same ones.
Ian was overjoyed they were safe above all.
Gold Dragon Zargalax peered down at the ground. His kin's limp corpse sprawled below, dead.
-Truly deceased?
-Breath ceased. No life force. Heart shattered and gone.
Despite the gruesome state, Zargalax's emotions barely stirred. Nor did the others'. Balteros wasn't a hatchling, after all.
Young, yes, but he'd undergone the adult rite—a full-fledged dragon. He'd proven self-reliance; the clan elders acknowledged it. His death was his to own.
Yet clan rules demanded protection for the young—even recent adults.
Without that, they wouldn't have come.
Why protect a fool dragon who got its horns broken by lowly non-dragons?
‘Idiot. I warned him to lay low for centuries.’
The young one's death was regrettable, but that was it.
Dragons weren't invincible; ignoring advice to stay cautious until maturity and dying wild?
Deserved.
Still, duty called.
They polymorphed to human form, circling the corpse, investigating. Anomalies spotted quickly.
“Heavy demonic traces.”
Thick demonic residue. Some holy power midway, but minor.
The density—enough for demonization—that mattered.
“Demons.”
Zargalax's face hardened.
“Died fighting a demon, looks like.”
“From the looks, mutual destruction. You all agree?”
“Same here.”
“No other explanation.”
Demon incursion? Unshocking—they always eyed the human realm.
Problem: kin died battling it.
That demon downed a dragon, young or not.
Dragons don't fall easily.
Unforgivable.
“Convene clan council immediately on return. Objections?”
“None.”
“Mandatory.”
“Check surroundings, just in case. Shameless humans might've aided.”
“Understood.”
Flames seemed to flicker in Zargalax's eyes as he recovered Balteros's body.
Back in the capital, Ian handed the sword to Astheon.
Astheon, who'd never dreamed Ian would retrieve it, gawked wide-eyed.
“Heh heh heh. Good eye on my part. Well done.”
“Just doing my job.”
“How the hell'd you find it? Told my guys to search—nothing.”
Ian pondered Astheon's words. Multiple failed attempts to recover lost Labris, clearly.
‘No surprise. Nightmare's Altar's too well-hidden.’
No 7th-circle mage could've found it.
He had Lara's help.
“Luck.”
“Luck my ass. Then my guys were unlucky?”
“...”
“Be straight. I don't mind. It's skill. You nailed it 'cause you're good. Right?”
“Yes.”
The guard captain barked again but held his tongue.
“Heh heh. That's it—I like honest guys. Keep it up. Really growing on me. Got it?”
“Yes.”
Ian nodded, then paused.
“Huh? Keep it up how?”
“What, shocked? Keep doing great work, answering straight.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I take care of good workers. No worries.”
‘What now?’
Curious, but querying the crown prince? No way. He stayed mum.
“Anyway, rewards time. What'd you want?”
“Teleportation magic tomes and advanced magic circle inscription books.”
“Right, those two.”
Astheon repeated it like committing to memory.
“I'll get 'em. Wait a couple days? Say two?”
How? Ultra-rare tomes unobtainable anywhere—Ian wondered.
Wonder resolved soon.
Rumors flew: Crown Prince Astheon ransacked the White Tower.
‘Tearing up the Tower for my tomes? For real?’
World was absurd.
Not for nothing the spoiled prince rep.
But if that brat's on your side? Unbeatable backing.
Where else such support?
The White Tower's Imperial Capital branch—usually serene—erupted in chaos. Crown Prince Astheon's sudden visit.
“We see the Empire's rising dawn...”
“Enough. Who's in charge? Not the Lord, right? Elder? Get the elder. Now.”
“Elder? He's out...”
“Ugh. Out where.”
“If not rude, may we ask the purpose of your visit?”
“Need something. Gimme.”
“Pardon?”
“Got into magic. Practicing, need tomes.”
“Of course! Which ones?”
“Warp tomes.”
“Pardon?”
“And magic circle inscription advanced.”
“Pardon?!”
Mages' eyes bulged.
What?
What'd he need?
“Those two. Bring 'em.”
“Pardon?”
“Argh, why repeat? Deaf? Warp tome and inscription advanced tome!”
Astheon slammed the reception desk. Mages sweated bullets.