Evan D. Sherden, Out for an Adventure (5)

The battle soon came to an end between the humans, who were as small as an ant compared to their foe, and the Dragon that was over a hundred meters large.

“Heaven’s Press!”

-Kuk, Khaaaaaaaak!

The Dragon stood well against Evan’s punches.

-Krgh, Grrrrrak…! It’s not hu…human…!

“Hah…it won’t be able to move. Great, everyone, get some rest. Mirole, could you watch this thing?

“Understood.”

Of course, the result of being punched to a pulp by Evan was that its wings were torn, its neck nearly snapped, and its short arms and legs were broken as it teetered on the verge of death. But, compared to how the Four Heavenly Kings turned out after their invasion three years ago, this was rather a moderate condition. It was surely stronger than the Kraken.

“Whew, it’s been a while I’ve gone on a rampage.”

“What’s more surprising is that it was easier than expected…!”

“What a shame, I thought it was an opportunity to improve my shield skill…..”

“I’ve learned all possible magical knowledge from the Dragon. Thank you for this precious opportunity, Master.”

“Lua, you are just incredible to learn the dragon’s magic during that short battle.”

This red-scaled Dragon was outstanding in abilities with fire amongst the other dragons that use vast magic. Belois was able to learn the concept of its magic and make it her own just by looking at its manifestation of the powerful yet diverse fire element magic. It was Belois that gained the most in this battle, along with Raihan, who greatly increased his aptitude with the shield.

“Evan, am I alive?”

“Don’t make a big fuss over it; you did well too.”

―Krgh, hu…human…!

Meanwhile, Arisha proved that she had constantly been improving the past three years. In place of Mirole, who promised not to intervene in the battle directly, she took the position of supporting the members by casting wind magic as well as directly attacking the Dragon with her swordsmanship, and she was able to deal some serious damage to the Dragon.

“If it were just me alone, I would’ve been killed before I even approached it…! No, still, how did we manage to win over a dragon?!”

“Master, what would you say if we were to compare the dragon with the Demon King?”

Unlike Arisha, who couldn’t hide her feeling of excitement, Raihan found enlightenment in the shield skill during the battle and was relaxed now as he asked Evan a question. However, Evan was only able to give a subtle answer to his question as if someone asked him who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman.

“Actually, it was only until the Yo-ma Great War Zero that dragons appeared as monsters, so it’s quite difficult to compare their strength…, but it would be weaker than the Demon King at this point. Even more, the Demon King could become stronger if we take the devil rune and the situation in Merdin into account.”

“Hmm, I see…”

“Aha, so you mean a Dragon and the Demon King haven’t appeared together in Evan’s vision. I understand.”

With the help of Arisha’s explanation, whose deciphering ability of the Evan language seemed to improve daily after being officially engaged with Evan, they nodded their heads in understanding.

―Hu…humans…!

“Then everyone, rest well. I’ve got some questions for this guy.”

Surely there wouldn’t be any more monsters stronger than the Dragon, but checking cleared some doubts and showed that their current location was the end of the dungeon’s seventh floor. However, what Evan was looking for so far hadn’t shown up. It was their purpose coming all this way for Steama, the dungeon core that could make bigger bathtubs possible. Evan thought this Dragon had it.

“Dragon, can you start telling me why you are here?”

―It’s not human…! Not human…!

“The dungeon core, you have it, right? Let’s sort things out slowly with a conversation. I don’t want to resort to any more violence….”

―This isn’t a human! Human! Not human!

“…This bastard, it just became like an NPC.”

While playing a game, there were some NPCs that uttered the same words due to the quest progression, and this Dragon was now in that condition.

“Master Evan, I’ve been thinking about something ever since I saw the dragon.”

“Hmm? Mirole?”

Looking at Evan, who was floundering in the midst of interrogating the Dragon, Mirole opened her mouth. She didn’t have even the slightest scratch from the battle, thanks to her ability to protect herself with the power of the Wind Spirit.

“Although this dragon has its magical power greatly enhanced compared to the previous dragons, I believe its intelligence is greatly degraded.”

“Hmm, so you also see it that way, Mirole? Well, the attack pattern it used with its magic was rather simple.”

“Yes. It depended on high firepower magics and just charged straight ahead. Dragons aren’t supposed to be creatures that are easy to fight.”

Of course, even in the Yo-Ma Great War Zero, there were ways to bulldoze through the dragons by leveling up or acquiring good gear, but it felt like this guy acted strange even before the fight.

“In my speculation, this dragon….”

While looking at the giant body of the Dragon, which trembled as it uttered the same words repetitively, Mirole murmured.

“This dragon seemed to have been in a state of enragement.”

“Oh, I see. That’s what it was.”

Enragement was a ‘condition’ wherein physical and magical abilities greatly increase at the cost of losing rationality. Typically, most monsters lived in an enraged state during the dungeon backflow and overpopulation. In other words, it was a condition that would happen when specific conditions were met.

“But the meaning of a dragon becoming enraged is….”

“Although it’s inferior to Sherden, this place is also a dungeon. If anything went against the rule of the dungeon, it’s possible that even a dragon received such a condition, can it not?”

“Yes, I understand. There are many possibilities.”

Monster enragement happened every so often in large dungeons like Sherden and in small dungeons where the blessings of God couldn’t reach. Elite monsters that appeared when a trap was activated were also in an enraged state, and in situations where someone started a battle with a boss, even if the event conditions weren’t met, the boss could be put into an enraged state. Then, this time, perhaps….

“Either the party ahead of us put the dragon into the enraged state, or me breaking the entire dungeon caused this.”

“So you’re saying an all great and mighty dragon whose intellect far exceeds mankind and is called the Great Being can be enraged by crushing the dungeon?”

“Normally, that wouldn’t be the case. But Arisha, this guy is fully assimilated with the dungeon’s core. You can treat it like the dungeon itself.”

“Ah…!”

Nobody knows why the Dragon made the stupid choice of assimilating with the dungeon’s core, but because of that, it was tied to the dungeon and could no longer escape. No, perhaps it was in a situation where that was the only choice to survive. With all other dragons gone at this point, that was the most persuasive theory.

‘Well, only the damned production staff who made this dungeon with a dragon as its final boss would know…’

But still, the difficulty of the seventh floor went crazy when compared to the sixth floor. If it weren’t for Evan, there would’ve been countless deaths. Damn production staff, get engulfed in flame breath and die!

“Anyways, what’s certain was that this dragon was enraged, and thanks to that, the battle went rather easy..”

“That’s right, a dragon that chose power over intelligence would never win against Evan. And it actually lost.”

“Arisha, what do you mean? Huh? What are you trying to say?”

“Then, we got to kill this now. It’s difficult to turn enraged monsters back to normal, and there’s no reason to take risks for the sake of gathering information.”

Mirole interrupted Evan with good timing as he tried to question Arisha. Evan clicked his tongue and turned back.

“I wanted to separate the dungeon core before killing it…will this mean I have to give up my plan on expanding the bathhouse?”

“How is that happening? The best monster core that can make anything happen is just right there.”

“Hmm…!?”

How stupid! What Mirole was talking about was the highest grade of all high-grade monster cores, the origin of the monster core, the ultimate energy source which all mages and alchemists dreamed about…a Dragon’s heart!

‘Dragons didn’t appear in the Yo-Ma Great War series, and alchemy wasn’t introduced in the Yo-Ma Great War Zero, where you can acquire the Dragon’s heart…… well it was fair not to have noticed it though!’

It was just as Mirole said. If the Dragon’s heart could be acquired, bathhouse expansion was possible by just using a portion of it. And that wasn’t the end of it! Everything Evan had been dreaming about could be made into reality. To the point that one would be too hesitant actually to make it happen because of the tremendous outcome!

“…Everyone.”

Evan spoke quietly.

“What we did here today, the dragon hunt, it’s a secret.”

“Understood.”

“By your will, Master.”

“I knew this would happen.”

Everyone realized what concerned Evan, so they nodded. The name of a dragon was just too captivating to the point that power, fame, and wealth could be forgotten. All continents of humanity would take interest and seek for the treasure that was its heart. Evan had the confidence to resolve all conflicts, but he didn’t want to start them in the first place. Really, not even close.

“Keep it as a secret even to those people waiting outside…alright? I only intend to tell Grandpa Bernard about it.”

This was even a secret to Ctheasil. She would definitely start a fuss if she saw the Dragon’s heart. The members understood the importance of this, so they nodded once more. Well, it didn’t seem to be a big deal since Evan defeated a dragon too easily.

“Good, everyone, keep it to yourselves. Now, there’s the problem of looting.”

―Human, hu, human…!

The Dragon kept stuttering on the same phrase like a broken radio. Looking at its condition, Evan fell into deep thought.

‘What’s the best part to loot so that everyone will praise us…well, it’s not like people should know about this, but…’

First and foremost, the Dragon’s heart must be looted, but that was just a basic reward given after defeating the monster…

“Bone? Hide? Scale?”

“Dragon Bone, Dragon Leather, Dragon Scale …… They have the word Dragon in front of them, and with that modifier, they sound astonishing.”

“But most of our guild members have all the necessary equipment. There are even those who got their hands on endgame equipment.”

Even Evan had five artifacts equipped right now, and there was room for one more after lifting the artifact limitation thanks to the kingdom’s Limit Breaker, made with the help of Serena….

“No, wait.”

In the middle of brainstorming, Evan’s eyes went wide. He remembered a promise he made with someone precious a long time ago…!

“That’s right, that matters more than anything else!”

“M, master?”

“Evan…?”

Leaving behind his party members looking at him with surprise, Evan walked toward the groaning Dragon.

―Human, no, no……!

“Thank you, Dragon. I will never forget your kindness.”

Evan held both his hands as if he were making a prayer. Then, right after, Evan started looting right away.