199 – Dragon’s Breath River (3)

Woo-woo-!!

A giant tortoise, large enough to cover an entire river.

Because of its massive body, it looked like a whale at first glance, and it looked like an ‘island’ because of the trees surrounding its shell.

This turtle, who introduced himself as Aspidokelon, was looking at me with very bright eyes.

‘… It’s a burden.’

That’s what the guy said.

Pledge of the great existence, safely move…

It was the way he spoke and looked at me as if he had been waiting for me for some reason.

It just felt like I had to work something out.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to think about it at length.

seureung-

It was because Master was pulling out a weapon when the monster appeared out of nowhere.

“I must have misunderstood. Jaehyun, wait here for a second… ”

“Now, wait a minute, Master!”

I hurriedly restrained Master’s movements.

Due to her nature as an assassin, quite a few monsters can be killed in an instant if she puts her mind to it.

If only it was 3 seconds late…

That turtle must have already become a corpse and floated in the river.

Master tilted her head at my persuasion and asked.

“Why?”

“It seems like a monster related to my rune. I’ll take care of it.”

“The rune of reappearance?”

“Yeah. Wait.”

I slowly approached Aspidokelon.

The guy had already moved his body near the land, and was still looking at me with bright eyes.

And soon, familiar information windows greeted me.

[An ancient phantom beast known to be extinct exudes magic power. Aspidokelon, who has entrusted itself to the great being, is in a state of being free due to special circumstances. Loyalty is still the same, but if the conditions are met, you can sign a contract with him.]

[The ‘promise made by the dragon’ rune and the ‘forgotten dragon knight’s pride’ rune correspond to the ancient phantom beast. By satisfying all hidden special conditions, you can sign a contract with ‘Aspidokelon’. This contract is not affected by Leadership and Rune Levels.]

The two legendary runes reacted in the face of a special situation again.

The information window that appeared when the contract was terminated and renewed with Bond the other day.

It was a similar type of information window.

So I used the [Contract Hand] skill without hesitation.

The reason was that this monster was originally a high-level contractor that I couldn’t make a contract with, and that I could communicate with him only when the contract was concluded.

With the [Language] rune, I was able to hear the words of the monsters, but I was not at the level of being able to spit them out the same way.

[The contract is successful! ‘Aspidokelon (Water/Special)’ is added to the contract target list for the ‘Promise of the Dragon’ rune. This is an abnormal contract, and the contractor’s abilities are partially limited.]

[Current List of Contract Monsters (2/3)]

[I made a contract with the ancient supreme being. Amazing contract results sometimes dramatically increase your understanding of runes.]

[The level of the ‘Promise of the Dragon’ rune has risen.]

[Acquires 4 Leadership with Rune’s tendency.]

Information windows announcing that the contract had been concluded appeared one after another, and soon a dazzling light began to surround Aspidokelon.

A sign that tells you that you are connected by a contractual relationship.

As if to prove him, Aspidokelon stuck out its long head and took a bowing posture towards me.

-God, Aspidokelon. Greetings again to the oath of the great being.

At that, I asked.

‘Are you saying the oath is a dragon knight?’

-The name most commonly known to humans is yes.

It was as expected.

The reason why I was able to sign a contract with an ancient monster I had never seen before after receiving a dungeon buff.

It was because the two legendary runes I had were runes related to dragons.

I then asked questions in succession that I was curious about.

‘Then this is a dragon… No, is it a place where great beings live?’

-no. This is the home of the old minions of the Great One.

‘The home of the subordinates… .’

-That’s right. The Realm of the Great Being can be reached from the edge of this home, the boundary between river and land. I am tasked with transporting the Great One’s guests to its hidden warp gate.

Only then did I understand what this guy said in the first place.

I will transport you safely to the Great One.

In other words, it meant ignoring the general dungeon attack route and transporting it to the end of the dungeon at once.

However, the place is not a boss room, but a double dungeon.

As Master deduced, it seemed that the double dungeon she found was really a ‘dragon-related dungeon’.

Around the time I was talking to him for a while.

Master, who had been watching us blankly, approached me.

“contract… Did you? With that monster?”

Master is an S-class holder.

Even though he’s the youngest, he’s an S-class holder who’s been through all sorts of hardships.

Because of the phenomenon that took place in just a few seconds, she noticed our relationship at once.

However, it was clear that he couldn’t believe it at all.

Usually, when it comes to [training contracts], the monster must be in a dying state through ‘magic depletion’ and ‘weakness’ to proceed…

I skipped that process and finished the contract naturally like water flowing.

Even the target was an ancient monster that Master had already seen and knew as a ‘hungry type monster’.

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Just looking at the depth of magical power and huge size, it’s at least A-rank or higher.

She succeeded in signing a contract with such a guy as if she were dating her, so it was understandable to her common sense.

“Yeah. They say it will take us downstairs.”

“If below… You mean the boss room?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I think it refers to the double dungeon Master found.”

“… … !”

Master’s expression was once again full of surprise.

＜The river where the dragon’s breath touches＞.

She organized a party of the highest level to clear this dungeon, and finished the raid by defeating all the high-ranking monsters.

One of the results was this double dungeon.

However, there was actually a way to officially move to the dungeon that only she thought she had found.

It was the giant tortoise, Aspidokellon, that everyone thought was a monster or an Easter egg in the dungeon.

‘There he… Aspidokelon?’

– You can call the contractor a little more comfortably.

When that answer came back, I hesitated a little before asking.

‘Then it’s a bit long, so is it okay if I call it As for short?’

-It is an honour.

[I gave the name ‘As’ to the contractor. Now, this name will serve as a bridge between you and the contractor to further strengthen your contractual relationship.]

[Through conversation and communication, we decided on a name that we would be satisfied with. Contractor ‘As’ intimacy slightly increases, and some stats increase.]

nice.

It worked out right this time.

An ancient monster who also served a great being.

His tolerance was different from that of a monster with a bad personality whose entire body was made of bones.

With a satisfied smile, I continued the question I was asking earlier.

‘As. The woman next to me is also trying to enter that realm, is there any way? This person doesn’t have any runes related to riding.’

Since I am a Contractor, I can ride the Contract Monster even without a special rune.

But Master is different.

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Just as Moon Ga-eun had the [Equestrian] rune when riding on my bond before, I needed the relevant rune to safely ride the monster.

At my words, Asu turned his long head and looked at Master for a moment.

Then he looked at me again and said.

-That person is also a guest of the great being. You are holding the badge of a great oath. Also, I have a rune related to transportation, so don’t worry. Both of you, we’ll move you safely.

After hearing that, I turned my head and looked at Master.

“They say we can both get on and move around.”

“That’s really… Are you?”

“Yeah. Since there are transportation related runes, I think I can safely go there even without riding runes.”

“Transport Rune… .”

“As you can see, Master, this guy moves really fast… I hope it will arrive soon if I take a ride.”

At my words, Master nodded several times.

Since the dungeon has already been cleared, you can move neatly if you follow Master, but…

In fact, if you can go, it’s better to ignore the standard attack path and move right away.

Dealing with the monsters in the dungeon is exhausting, no matter the difficulty.

Even if I brought a lot of potions, I could get tired easily.

Our goal is not this dungeon, but the double dungeon at the end.

If the movement line was minimized, it would of course be beneficial.

‘It’s a pity that I can’t fight the new monsters.’

That’s what I told my master later, so I could come back to this dungeon anytime.

Besides, since I now have 49 runes, it was difficult to acquire new runes.

Parbat- Pad-

widely! Tadak!

After making a quick decision, we immediately moved our bodies and jumped to As’s shell.

The shell of a guy that looked like a huge forest from a distance.

Actually, when I came closer, the trees were really growing thickly on the shell.

“cool. This really looks like an island.”

“I mean.”

By the time we are admiring the unusual shell of a giant tortoise.

As finished all preparations for the move, he told me.

-Then, let’s move. Hold the handle tight.

… where is the handle?

I didn’t even have time to ask about it.

After Aspidokellon finished preparations, it soon started cutting through the water with tremendous speed.