Chapter 41: Dungeon

A map? Save that for last; by her tone, it was more precious than all the treasure and equipment on her person.

Garos glanced at the scattered coins she had pulled out, then fixed his gaze on the rogue.

"If I kill you, all these things will be mine."

He said, "You try to trade my things for your life? That seems unable to buy your life."

The rogue knelt on the scorched earth, her trembling hands holding a roll of yellowed parchment map; she had stripped off her leather armor, her underclothes long soaked through with cold sweat, and blood from her companions still splattered on her temple.

In the moonlight, the edges of the map in her hand faintly shimmered with a metallic luster, like anti-counterfeiting patterns woven from mithril thread, something no ordinary adventurer could possess.

"If you kill me, you can only get an ordinary map; it requires a special method to reveal the paths."

The rogue begged, "I ask for nothing else, only to be allowed to live; please forgive my earlier offense."

Garos did not answer; his tail gently curled over the map, each of his dragon scales sharp as a blade at the edge, yet under his control they fitted tightly without scratching the map.

With his claw, Garos picked up the map and examined it closely.

On it were chaotic, disordered threads, showing no trace of a map at all, as if encrypted by some method.

"Raise your head and look me in the eye."

"Speak: where did a low-level adventurer like you obtain the clue to a legendary alchemical item?"

Garos asked.

Though a young dragon, his words already carried an undeniable command that made the rogue instinctively raise her head.

This was a naturally born, still-in-the-young-dragon-stage super evil dragon; our luck was too terrible, to have encountered such a dragon kind. The rogue trembled with fear, her body shaking under the gaze of the red iron young dragon's black dragon eyes, and said, "It is like this."

She recounted the events in broken, halting fragments.

Because of her present fear and terror, her words were somewhat confused, yet Garos still understood the specific process.

In short.

This map was obtained by the rogue in a tavern, through seduction and theft skills, from a novice adventurer who had just set out.

While drunk.

The novice adventurer boasted that this map concerned the whereabouts of a legendary alchemical item; it came from the lost Gray Dwarf Dungeon, and the place marked upon it was 【Malnes】, that is, the site of the former dungeon.

Within Malnes Dungeon lay the corpses of tens of thousands of Gray Dwarves.

Its fall was said to be due to the loss of control of a legendary alchemical item, and that legendary alchemical item was subsequently lost within the Gray Dwarf Dungeon.

The Gray Dwarf Dungeon, Malnes.

It indeed existed, and once flourished, producing many powerful weapons and equipment; even now, some ancient equipment still circulates.

Only that, through the passage of time and the turning of ages.

With the destruction of Malnes, buried beneath the earth, few people know exactly where this dungeon is located.

News of the legendary alchemical item still attracts many adventurers to explore, but because the location of Malnes cannot be found, they return with nothing.

At first, the rogue did not believe the novice adventurer's map, which recorded the location of the Malnes Dungeon.

But later, a count in her city-state flew into a rage and issued a warrant.

Only then did she learn that the adventurer was the count's son.

Because he was obsessed with adventure stories, the count's son stole this map from home, wanting to form a party to explore, only to suffer a heavy blow from reality.

Before even leaving the city, before the party was even assembled, the money pouch and the map were both snatched by the rogue; if not for the crowd and the noise at the time, he probably wouldn't have even a pair of underpants left.

Garos shook the map and said, "The words in your mouth sound like an empty, vague story, not fact."

The existence of the Gray Dwarf Dungeon was mentioned in his inheritance.

That it is a dungeon buried in the torrent of history is true.

As for the cause of its destruction, opinions vary widely; the most widespread is the rogue's account: destroyed by the loss of control of a legendary alchemical item.

Besides that, there are other accounts.

For example.

It touched the true essence of alchemy and was thus unacceptable to the gods, destroyed by divine punishment.

Hmm. Among many bizarre accounts, the credibility of destruction by loss of control of a legendary alchemical item is actually quite high.

As for the Gray Dwarves.

These intelligent beings belong to the dwarves; they possess the dwarves' strength and outstanding talent in forging, but their character is entirely different from normal dwarves: sinister and vicious, hating most races, generally unwelcome by any other creature race, and they dwell permanently in dungeons.

At the same time.

The rogue urgently swore, saying, "I swear by the peace of my dead companions! I swear by my grandfather and grandmother! Not a single word I speak is false!"

Garos grinned: "You know the price of deceiving a dragon is ten times more terrible than death."

He looked at the rogue and threw the map back to her.

"Show me the location of the dungeon."

Hearing this, the rogue hesitated.

This was her only bargaining chip with the dragon before her; she did not want to throw it away directly.

After thinking for a moment, a humble, ingratiating smile appeared on the rogue's face, and she tentatively asked, "Noble dragon, after you know the coordinates of the dungeon, can you forgive my offense?"

Offense?

Garos took no notice of this.

He smiled and said, "I swear by my mother's name that I do not care about your offense; I permit you to walk out of my territory safely. A weak existence like you, whether you live or die, is not worth my attention."

The situation was laid bare before her.

The rogue had no room to bargain and feared angering the evil dragon before her, so she agreed, flattering the dragon: "I believe your promise; a dragon's promise is more precious than gems; an excellent dragon like you, one word weighs more than ten thousand gold."

Immediately.

Holding the map, the rogue walked to an open space under Garos's gaze, raised the map toward the moonlight, and then tore the map to shreds.

The fragments flew apart, yet did not fall to the ground.

They danced in the air, spun, and gathered once more, reforming into a brand-new map.

Garos picked it up again to look.

It was etched with a portion of the wilderness terrain, including the Ironwood Hills, featuring wastelands, lakes, and forests, rendered with exquisite delicacy; in the southeast corner, a circle was outlined in silver thread as a special marker.

"According to the map's markings, the Malnes Dungeon lies beneath an abandoned mine."

The Rogue flattered, "With your power and wisdom, you will surely obtain the legendary alchemical artifact and one day become a mighty dragon that shakes the wilderness."

Garos stared at the map, ignoring her, and merely waved a claw at her; Samantha, curious, stretched her neck to look, her gaze falling upon the map.

The Rogue slowly retreated.

Garos glanced over but did not stop her.

Seeing no intention in the other to prevent his departure, the Rogue turned and walked into the thick night, then fled for his life, not daring to pause for a moment, darting between the massive ironwood trees on the hills.

(End of this chapter)