111
111 ― With Fists
The Dragon Tooth Soldiers that had immediately pursued them were dealt with, but the attacks didn't stop. Roots that rose from the ground swept across the dirt floor and flew at them like whips.
There was no time to leisurely chat. For now, they had to flee to a safe place.
"This way, this way!"
The spirit, who hadn't even exchanged names yet, pointed toward the sea of fire and ran. Jin-woo followed her. To avoid the roots attacking from behind, that was the only way.
The problem was that the place was in the middle of a blazing inferno. While cutting down the attacking roots with his sword, Jin-woo asked.
"You're a spirit so you're fine, but what about us? I'm human, so I can't survive in fire."
"Please leave it to me!"
When the spirit gestured, her power settled into Jin-woo and Kalesian. A technique that naturally deflected fire so it wouldn't directly touch them.
Though it was called a technique, for her as a spirit, it was actually something she could do as naturally as breathing.
When they received that technique, the fire really did naturally push away. Rather than being cut off abruptly as if blocked by a barrier, it felt like they had entered a completely different flow.
The party leaped into the sea of fire, and the roots that had been chasing them struck the flames a beat later.
Protected by a mysterious power and not burning well, the roots chased into the sea of fire and thrashed about here and there, looking for Jin-woo's party.
However, they ultimately couldn't find them, and in the end, their strength gave out and they burned to ash and scattered. It seemed they could be active for a while, but couldn't endure for long.
Even after that, they went deeper into the fire for a while before the party finally collapsed on the ground and let out sighs of relief.
"Phew."
"...Sob, we're alive! We're alive!"
Jin-woo caught his breath, and the spirit shed tears of emotion in a prayer-like posture.
Kalesian was silently floating in the air slightly higher than Jin-woo, but somehow his expression looked more solemn than usual. Jin-woo asked quietly so the spirit couldn't hear.
"Are you perhaps putting on airs?"
"Don't we need to extract information from the spirit?"
He really seemed to be deliberately taking on a threatening appearance. Not just his expression, but the mana surrounding him was heavier and sharper than usual.
For Jin-woo, who knew Kalesian's true nature well, especially remembering how he had been hit by the trap he'd set in his lair not long ago and went flying, he could only let out a snicker.
But anyway.
'It feels like I'm submerged underwater.'
It wasn't exactly the same, but it was a similar feeling. Looking around in all directions, there was nothing but blazing fire.
The horrible thought occurred of what would happen if the spirit's power were suddenly cut off and fire came rushing in, but Jin-woo could endure for a while with his own mana. There would be enough time to escape.
"So what's your name?"
After catching his breath for a moment, Jin-woo got to the main point.
"Ah, yes! I'm Rachel! Thank you for saving me, benefactor!"
"I'm Jin-woo."
"Yes, Jin-woo! And that..."
"Kalesian."
"Ka, Kalesian!"
Looking at Kalesian, Rachel trembled once more. She looked like she wanted to run away immediately, but couldn't.
Pressing down her instinctively fidgeting bottom, Rachel moved a bit closer to Jin-woo's side. Seeing that, Jin-woo asked directly.
"Are you afraid of dragons?"
"Of course...! Ah, no. How could I be afraid of someone who saved me, haha..."
Anyone could see she was scared, but she tried hard to deny it. It wasn't pretending to be strong, but rather she seemed afraid that answering that she was scared might offend Kalesian.
Jin-woo snickered and asked what he was curious about. First, he should ask about the monsters from before. About those creatures that Kalesian had called Dragon Tooth Soldiers.
"You said those guys were Dragon Tooth Soldiers."
"Yes, that's right. This forest is territory ruled by the Water Dragon Silvern."
"Silvern?"
"Do you know that name?"
Seeing Kalesian react, Jin-woo asked. However, Kalesian's answer was deflating.
"No. It's the first time I've heard it. At least it's not a dragon that was in the 5th floor during my generation."
"That means it's a dragon from an earlier generation than Kalesian, who ascended to the 6th floor."
"Something like that. Though they wouldn't be counting age anymore at this point, it means they're at least over ten thousand years old."
Jin-woo clicked his tongue at the scale that came from a dragon's lifespan. Even an Elf's thousand-year lifespan was at the level of watching the rise and fall of a nation, but a dragon's lifespan went beyond that to the extent of observing the history of races.
"Does Water Dragon mean they control forests?"
"Yes. She's called the Mother of All Forests."
"Mother of forests..."
It was just a title, but it somehow stirred rebellious feelings. No matter how great being a dragon was, wasn't there the World Tree?
With such thoughts, he watched to see how the glass orb would react, but there was no particular contact from the god of Moonlit Forest. Whether they were ignoring it after hearing or couldn't hear it at all.
"Kalesian. You said Dragon Tooth Soldiers are creatures born from dragon teeth?"
"That's right. They're magical creatures created by gathering all sorts of magical power and matter using dragon teeth as a medium. Think of them as similar to a type of golem."
Jin-woo recalled the appearance of the Dragon Tooth Soldiers he had seen earlier. They certainly looked like tree bark, branches, leaves, and such had been mixed up and plastered hard onto their skin.
The cutting sensation felt like cutting bone, so he could definitely feel that they were made from teeth.
"Why is that dragon targeting this place?"
"That's..."
Rachel pressed her lips tightly shut and pondered for a moment. After deep consideration about whether it was okay to speak, she opened her mouth.
"Could you follow me for a moment?"
***
They followed Rachel to a deep place within the fire. Though she said it would be brief, the travel time was quite long.
Walking quickly and sometimes running for several hours. Only after such a long time had passed that the sun went over did Rachel finally stop.
There was a cave burning like a furnace, and inside, all kinds of animals were huddled together sharing each other's body warmth.
"I'm back."
"Rachel! Rachel's back!"
"You're safe!"
From small animals like lizards and squirrels to a jaguar with red silk-like fur. There were crow-like birds and beings that weren't animals but just floating clusters of light.
All different various animals. The common point was that they were all spirits.
"This place is..."
"The more spirits gather, the greater power they wield. Since it's a difficult situation, it seems all the nearby spirits have gathered."
A spirit alone can't really exert great power. Even a high-ranking fire spirit alone can't exert greater power than a human mage.
Their true value comes from numbers. Two entities, three entities, or more.
The more they gather, the greater their influence on the world increases, so even if alone they have the power of about a candle flame, when gathered they could create such a sea of fire.
"Dra, dragon!"
"It's a dragon! It's a dragon!"
"Screeech!"
Seeing Kalesian poke his head in, the inside fell into great chaos. All the animals fluttered about frantically and screamed shrilly.
"Wait, wait, everyone! It's okay, so please listen to me!"
Rachel had to shout for a long while to calm them down. Even so, when the commotion didn't subside, a small shadow sitting at the very back raised its body.
"...Enough, enough. Everyone, be quiet and listen to Rachel and our guests' story."
An elderly man's voice. Though it was a gentle tone, there was power in those words that calmed everyone's commotion.
"Father..."
"Yes, Rachel. What's the story?"
Jin-woo was surprised to see the owner of the voice. At first, he thought it was a small shadow, but the closer it came, the more enormous it became.
Eventually, its revealed identity was a snake enormous enough to fill the wide cave.
A snake with red scales slightly different from Kalesian's.
Finally, Rachel was able to get time for an explanation.
***
"...That's how it happened."
After Rachel finished explaining everything, she watched the snake's expression. The snake seemed to savor the story for a moment, then lowered its head smoothly to meet Rachel's eyes directly.
"That was reckless."
"Pardon?"
Rachel was startled by the suddenly reproaching voice.
"I know you're the strongest among the children, but going alone into the Water Dragon's forest was wrong. Though your spirit is admirable, it was close to reckless bravery."
"That's..."
"Moreover, bringing unknown individuals to our family's sanctuary - have you lost your mind?"
"But, but they saved me..."
"That is, of course, something to be grateful for. But just because they're benefactors doesn't mean it's wise to reveal our sanctuary."
Rachel, who grew more tearful, was now really shedding tears, drip drip. Anyone would feel wronged after going through such dangerous events and barely returning, only to be scolded. Moreover, the snake's words weren't wrong but sound reasoning, which made it even worse.
"Look here. Don't make such unreasonable demands of the child."
Unable to watch any longer, Kalesian interjected. The snake that had been scolding Rachel turned its gaze smoothly to look at Kalesian.
"Unreasonable demands - what do you mean by that?"
"Just because that child tries to hide it doesn't mean it can be hidden. Do you think it can be concealed by telling trivial lies in front of me?"
"There are things that shouldn't be spoken even if one is prepared for death, no, even until the moment of actual death."
"Do you think you can avoid my magic with something as trivial as death?"
Kalesian and the snake's gazes clashed violently as if trying to gouge out each other's eyes.
After some time of staring contest, the first to look away was the snake. However, rather than looking away because the gaze was burdensome, it was closer to returning to its original posture.
The snake's head, raised again, was at a height that nearly touched the cave ceiling. From such a high place, he looked at Kalesian.
"Even a young dragon is still a dragon, I see. That haughty nose seems to be a species trait."
"The high thing would be your head."
Though they had ended the staring contest, the war of nerves continued. Jin-woo shook his head and came out of the cave. If they fought like that, it would just be unnecessarily troublesome. He didn't want to get involved.
"I'm sorry..."
She had followed Jin-woo out, wiped her tears with her collar, and spoke.
"That spirit seems to be the leader here. Did you call him father?"
"That's right. He's the one who raised all of us and helped us shed this appearance."
Originally, there was only a handful of flames and one snake in this place. And the lowest-level spirits, whose only ability was to emit a bit of light without self-awareness or abilities.
That snake was the one who cultivated those flames to grow this much and took in the spirits, helping them gain self-awareness and abilities.
"That guy called Silvern must be targeting that snake and expanding the forest."
"Probably..."
To be blocking that - his personality might be nasty, but he has the ability. Even if he had established his position first, the opponent is a dragon.
―Boom! Boooom!
Just then, explosive sounds came from the cave behind them, and the spirits came rushing out. The spirits that burst out screaming scattered into the fire around the cave.
Continuous roaring sounds came from inside the cave. Sounds as if they were conducting a bombardment.
A moment later.
"Jin-woo, were you here? It's fine to go in."
"Kalesian. Are you alright?"
"Hmph, this level can be healed quickly with healing magic."
Kalesian's condition when he came out was terrible. Some scales were peeled off, and the burn wounds were horrific. His wings were also injured somewhere, as his flying posture wobbled, unlike usual.
At his words that it was fine to go in, Jin-woo and Rachel looked at each other briefly, then went in together.
Inside, the expected snake was coiled up with its head hanging down, but the snake's appearance wasn't normal either.
He had more wounds than Kalesian, but it was impossible to tell whether it was simply because his body was bigger or because he had taken more damage.
"Hmph, what's already known can't be helped. I'll treat you as guests and welcome you."
A blunt voice that didn't welcome them at all. Still, since he had spoken it aloud, power and responsibility dwelt in those words. Especially for spirits who value contracts.
Rachel clapped her hands, saying it was fortunate that things were resolved well, and Jin-woo sighed. It seemed they had somehow reached an agreement through fistfights.