Chapter 102

Don't take dragons too seriously. The gap between dragons is greater than that between humans.

In the pitch-black tunnel, a smiling little girl stood ahead, while the knight behind remained cautiously alert.

After all, this is a dragon.

The ultimate boss of countless legends, the apex of nature, and in this world, it seemingly possesses something akin to divinity.

Most dragons don't live to adulthood; at least eighty percent of juvenile dragons die. The growth period for young dragons lasts nearly a century, and their parents barely care. If you don't find a safe place to develop, greedy adventurers will soon come to skin you and dig out your bones.

Uh, you just said something pretty terrifying, and you're hinting at something too.

The last time my senior came here, this region had only one juvenile black dragon. It's been only a few decades—there's no way it could have grown to adulthood.

Alright, it's been spelled out. Li En was curious how many years exactly.

The span from juvenile to young dragon (adult dragon) can be eighty years, but seeing how things are, it's better not to ask too clearly.

This did ease Li En's mind—if an adult dragon is roughly the size of a house, then a juvenile's maximum size would be no larger than a carriage.

The small ones are only two meters long and barely know any spells—they're nowhere near the same power level.

If it's just this level, this big shot should be able to solo it!

"Sssss. I told you before—just turn it into medicine right away. But you insisted on letting it grow for a while until adulthood. Hmph, now it's spoiled, aren't you regretting it?"

It seemed the magical girl's mascot had said something terrifying.

After leaving the caravan, the契约兽 Mei Lu'er became more lively, perhaps because her usual "speech" was a kind of pollution even to ordinary people.

"I don't regret it! The quality hide of a juvenile dragon isn't even enough to make a purse—why not wait a few years? Isn't that what you said back then?! Don't blame me!" The girl pouted, speaking words that were girlish yet deeply horrifying.

Who, then, is the real monster?

No wonder you spotted that dragon so easily—you'd been watching it all along.

But now, Li En realized his own vigilance had been foolish. He'd better just be a happy new recruit, following the big shot for experience and materials.

Li En's relaxed expression made Zi Qiangwei cover her mouth and laugh softly.

On a date, you should be cheerful. Why tense up and stay on full alert?

Trouble? Threat? Sister will handle it all!

Thus, Young Lady Zi Qiangwei became even more lively, leaning in like a junior student, chattering away about many adventure anecdotes.

Li En, now relaxed, adjusted his state and responded cheerfully.

It seemed he had indeed overreacted.

As they walked along, Li En had assumed they hadn't been attacked because the target was small—but in truth, this entire region had no safe zone at all.

Li En had no stealth ability; his body heat, scent, even his dragon scent, continuously drew attackers—except that.

"Wuuuuu!"

Amidst bushes and mushroom clusters, an暗精灵 assassin was desperately whimpering.

He couldn't move at all, didn't know what had happened, and on his exposed skin, ink-like snake patterns were slowly spreading.

Bit by bit, rising from his feet to his waist, the patterns crept slowly, finally covering his forehead.

It was gone.

His pupils widened in terror, yet he could not stop the end of it all.

He blindly pulled out his dagger, but the snake pattern on his lips clamped shut his mouth, turning every roar into a whimper.

Finally, the raised dagger, under the control of hands covered in snake patterns, slowly plunged into his eyes.

Entered through the forehead, exited through the back of the skull.

The lifeless corpse lay on the ground, tears of terror clinging to its cheeks; the snake patterns finally released him and began to recede.

Li En had no idea that horror films were playing constantly around him—he thought his concealment technique must be excellent, since he'd walked all this way in heavy armor without encountering any enemies.

Having adjusted his mindset and become a sidekick chasing experience, since the big shot wanted to chat, his own words naturally increased.

Li En truly enjoyed chatting with Zi Qiangwei—her voice was sweet, her appearance beautiful, and she always gave him useful intelligence and guidance.

Li En did know many things; the memories of the Heroic Souls had granted him countless world-level secrets—but as a newcomer, he lacked much in terms of practical adventure experience, conduct, and etiquette.

Especially regarding the underworld, he was utterly blank.

"The dark elves have always been a theocratic race, but they've shattered badly. The last种族神, the Spider Queen Roos, perished several eons ago. The current seven dark elf deities all claim to be her successors. Some are good, some are bad—I don't even know what stance the current dark elf city holds."

The rationality of a theocratic nation is guaranteed by its deities and clergy; the behavior of that race and nation is essentially identical to the stance of its deity.

Of the current seven dark elf deities (three others are too weak to matter), one is good, two neutral, four evil—the odds of drawing a highly aggressive faction are still high, but far better than in the Roos era of previous eons.

"I've got a pretty good guess about these bastards—they dared to touch my jar of cookies!"

The furious Zi Qiangwei looked adorable, though the content of her words was deeply odd.

Li En figured it out—her "cookies" were almost certainly the juvenile black dragon she'd eyed earlier!

It seems this involves deities and dragons scheming? Are we really jumping into this level of content so early? I'm just a first-rank knight—why am I being thrown into this?

Li En now only hoped the Zi Qiangwei before him would pull through, like a veteran player clearing everything for him.

Don't be like those game cutscenes where the mighty senior appears for a few minutes and then vanishes (for all sorts of reasons), leaving the newbie hero to face a dragon and the Dark Lord with only a short sword—if the plot kill doesn't come, he's dead!

"It's definitely that bastard 'Silver Mirror Maiden'—she loves dragging powerful lifeforms into the Shadow Plane."

Many shadow dragons (幽影龙) aren't naturally born—they're ordinary dragonkind that fell into the Shadow Plane and were corrupted into strange half-shadow, half-flesh entities.

The Silver Mirror Maiden is one of the seven dark elf deities; theoretically, she leans neutral.

But in dark elf terms, "neutral" is merely the difference between "I came to you and killed your whole family" and "I saw you—now I'm considering whether to kill your whole family." This goddess is said to dwell in the Shadow Plane and loves transforming powerful lifeforms into her followers.

So, the black dragon previously targeted by Zi Qiangwei, residing in the domain of the Shadow Goddess, becoming a shadow dragon was perfectly normal.

"How foolish—to surrender for power. No wonder many say shadow dragons can't even be called true dragons."

Zi Qiangwei looked up and smiled, her words brimming with malice.

". You agree, don't you, little dragon?"

At that moment, Li En froze, instantly drawing his sword in response.

With his Dragon Eyes opened, he finally noticed that a shadowy monster, as large as an elephant, was crouching atop the stone pillar.

The dragon-shaped creature lay sprawled on the stone pillar, claws and fangs bared, but at the center of its gaping maw, a shadowy breath was coalescing.

It was brewing a dragon breath!

【The most dangerous stalker in the Underworld is the Shadow Dragon; you wouldn't want to encounter a dragon's ambush.】

Gazing at this upside-down Shadow Dragon, Li En instantly recalled Purple Luo Si's earlier words; these idle rumors truly had not a single superfluous sentence!

"Evil," staring at this Shadow Dragon, Li En instinctively drew his sword.

Yet from the very start, something was amiss; the radiant Jin Guang instantly ignited everything, his blood boiled, and he was filled with loathing for the shadowy monster before him.

This was a desecration, against the dragon, against life, and against the entire Material Plane!

This fury stemmed from his bloodline, yet also from the Paladin's instinct; the radiant power to break evil was fully activated.

Radiance and positive energy, shadows and negative energy—natural mortal enemies!

"Break Evil." Since the heart had stirred, let action follow.

Li En leaped up violently, meeting the great dragon to deliver his strike.

"Boom!"

But the next moment, he was slapped back down faster than he had risen.

Completely overpowered by strength, Li En felt his entire body ache; muscles and bones groaned together.

The evil dragon easily swatted away the charging heavily armored knight without even pausing its coalescing shadow dragon breath!

However, a distinct crack had appeared on one of its dragon claws.

The dragon's face showed surprise, seemingly unable to comprehend how its hard dragon scales could be pierced by the weak knight before it.

The black blood flowing forth, and the annoying flames upon the wound, irritated it.

"Indeed, I should have disguised myself better and launched the shadow breath ambush from a safer place."

Originally, had it not been discovered, it would have unleashed a face-washing dragon breath as an opponent passed directly beneath or to its side.

A young dragon is mediocre in both melee combat and magic; only its dragon breath is worth mentioning.

Shadow Dragon Breath might be the weakest of dragon breaths, yet it possesses the advantage of extreme concealment, perfect for ambushes!

As for the dragon race's pride? What does a young dragon need pride for?

"Snap!"

But suddenly, the gathered dragon breath energy dissipated after a single finger snap.

The little Shadow Dragon plummeted violently to the ground, as if something were binding and entangling it.

"Roar, roar, roar!" With a mighty roar, the bindings were broken.

It struggled violently to rise, preparing to tear and bite the mortal female who had provoked it, but

"Hiss, hiss, hiss (Come out.)"

After a moment of calm speech, a bizarre scene unfolded.

"Roar, roar, roar!" The Shadow Dragon rolled around in agony on the ground, collapsing once more.

At this moment, pale purple tentacles drilled out from the Shadow Dragon's ears, mouth, and nostrils!

They churned wildly; the young dragon fell to the ground in pain, unable even to maintain its semi-shadow state, reverting directly to a flesh-and-blood body.

【94】 Just as Li En encountering a young dragon was equivalent to facing a level-one challenge boss, basically equivalent to seeking death.

Just as Li En encountering a young dragon was equivalent to facing a level-one challenge boss, basically equivalent to seeking death.

A little young dragon meeting a mature magical girl was the same situation and result, especially given the young dragon had long been marked and targeted.

It had been implanted with a "seed" from the very beginning, merely waiting to be triggered and harvested.

Watching the pitiful Shadow Dragon as tentacles continued to spread and develop upon its orifices, Li En shivered.

Does this magical girl playing with tentacles have a bit too heavy a taste?

"Can it?"

And the smile of Purple Luo Si, who suddenly turned her head, became even sweeter.

Yet the content and tone were as casual as a young girlfriend buying groceries and cooking for her boyfriend, asking if this "fish" was edible.

Li En was stunned for a moment, then realized; she was asking if this dragon could serve as evolution material.

Glancing at the struggling Shadow Dragon, Li En instinctively felt a loathing from the bottom of his heart; he shook his head. Even without Ku Ku's guidance, he felt his body and soul both rejecting it.

Just as Purple Luo Si had said earlier, the Shadow Dragon could no longer be counted as a dragon; after being assimilated by the Shadow Plane, they were more like shadow creatures mixed with dragon blood.

Such things entering his body would be dirty.

Since the "little boyfriend" didn't want to eat, then, let's get down to business.

"Little Dragon, tell me everything you know, and I'll let you go. Rest assured, I won't eat little fish, especially rotten ones."

But the moment this "Little Dragon" opened its mouth, it left both of them stunned.

"Another magical girl, another monster."

(End of Chapter)