Promise

The Death of the Dark Dragon

A whirlpool of ice crystals came toward the two as they were ready to exit the Dark Dragon Temple's second floor. Dima slowly emerged from the ice crystal vortex and approached Anthonius and Omar.

"Your manna detection is weakening. I came here at Alyosha's request to check on everyone." Dima became quiet for a while. Every scrape in the room caught his attention as he gazed about. Dima attempted to speculate as to Anthonius and Omar's fate. Dima then questioned, "You were attacked?"

Omar grinned, perhaps making fun of what he and Anthonius had just gone through. "Almost died!" Omar muttered.

"Alyosha asked me to warn you about a creature resembling a banshee or something similar. That thing assaulted him a while back, but luckily Division II's Rudolf was on patrol close to where he passed out. I hope you don't go through what Alyosha did."

"We just got it!" Anthonius exclaimed, shocking Dima at once.

Anthonius handed Dima a crystal bottle that had been left by someone who had assisted them and contained a potion. "Can someone tell me the origin of this crystal bottle?!" exclaimed Anthonius. "I heard that the alchemists in the city have a special code for each bottle they use. I would like to express my gratitude to the bottle's owner."

Dima stood motionless, gazing at Omar, who was giving him a perplexed look in return. They appeared astonished and perplexed. This was the first time Dima had ever seen Anthonius show such interest in the identification of someone who had nothing to do with their work.

With great attention, Dima studied the crystal bottle in his left hand. Searching for a serial number that might be on the glass, it was discovered that the crystal bottle does, in fact, have one. Someone can easily identify the owner of the crystal bottle that belongs to the city's alchemists thanks to its serial number. In Terra, this is a rule. The intention is for an alchemist to always exercise caution when doing their tasks. Because it would be easy for someone to discover who manufactured the poison or potion if he were to engage in malpractice one day.

"Alright," Dima replied. "But... why did you end up entering this temple?" He was intrigued when Anthonius and Omar made the decision to look for the victim's body up until they reached the dark dragon's temple.

With a low laugh, Anthonius seemed to be making fun of Dima. Anthonius said, "You apparently didn't realize it either, did you?!"

Disoriented and unable to decipher Anthonius's meaning, Dima gazed at Omar in perplexity. "What?" Dima inquired.

Anthonius's statement, "The dark dragon may have died…!" instantly stopped Omar and Dima. "At first, I thought my abilities had declined because I hadn't been on the battlefield for quite some time. Since I haven't utilized or trained it in a long time, my sense of manna or magical energy may have diminished. Because I was unable to locate the dragon's manna as soon as I stepped into the city!"

Dima was surprised. He just realized it, apparently. He looked so astonished that his face became white in an instant. "I... just realized it after you said it," Dima replied. Then Dima got his two-handed sword ready. "Eternal snow is not a part of me, but I still want to know what happened to the black dragon. I cannot determine the dragon's exact position at this time," Dima said.

"So what about the two bodies of the witches that we have to find? When are we going to look for them?" Omar was asked. They must promptly return to the outskirts of the City of Winnei by 3 PM tomorrow, which is a very short window of time. The old man will return them to the villages surrounding Lake Nyos, but after he finds out the truth, Omar is unsure if he would board the old man's boat again.

"I have evacuated the bodies of the two sorcerers and placed them near the gates of Winnei City. They said some soldiers from the Lazuardy Sword would come to take them to Filanesia." Dima glanced around. Despite his persistent attempts, he was unable to detect the presence of the black dragon's manna. "I cannot find the presence of the dragon," Dima replied.

Thereafter, they proceeded through the Dark Dragon Temple's second floor until they came to a spiral staircase with multiple broken stone orc guardians. The stone orcs seemed to have a number of odd metal swords imbedded in their bodies. There are even Orcs that have become shards of stone.

Anthonius took one of the metal blades available, then compared it with the metal blade he brought from the place where he was previously attacked. There were so many similarities between the two objects, but what made Anthonius certain that the monster that attacked them was the same creature that destroyed the orc guard statue was the remnants of manna left on each shard of metal that the creature had left behind.

Dima looked up. Staring at the third floor connected by the spiral staircase in front of them. "This is just my guess... that the creature that attacked us might still be up there. I felt a very strong mana pressure just moments after we got close enough to this staircase.” Anthonius readied his sword, as did Dima and Omar.

"Dima, you are the front guard in this team. You serve as this team's front-line member. Give me an opening to launch an attack!" Anthonius called out, issuing orders. "Omar, you can create a good magical barrier; strengthen the defense for me and Dima, and also help me incapacitate that creature. I'll use my manna to cover the magical barrier you make as well. A standard magic barrier cannot resist the sharpness of that creature's ice shards."

Omar and Dima both said, "Okay!" simultaneously.

Dima walked at the front. To ensure the safety of his teammates, Omar created a magical barrier that would repel any sudden attacks. They then walked up the spiral staircase, continuously heightening their vigilance around them to anticipate sudden attacks like the ones Antonius and Omar had previously experienced.

When they reached the entrance of the third floor of the Dark Dragon Temple, Anthonius suddenly ran off, leaving his two companions behind. Something that glimmered from afar drew Anthonius's eye.

"Are dragon scales black?" Antonius became quiet. When he saw that the sparkling thing that had captured his attention was now strewn all over the third-floor room of the Dark Dragon Temple, his hands shook and his face became white.

At that moment, Anthonius realized one thing: that the dragon might be in danger. Anthonius looked around; the room he was in was completely dark, so dark that he couldn't see anything even within a 4-meter range. Using simple general magic, Anthonius created thousands of fireflies that appeared randomly throughout the room. As everything began to dimly appear with the help of the light emitted by the fireflies, Anthonius finally realized that the dark dragon was lying helplessly, with streams of black blood flooding the entire floor where it lay.

Dragon scales were even scattered around. The relatively small amount of damage in the room indicates that the fight that took place did not last long. At that moment, Antonius increasingly realized that the gap in strength between them was too great.

"Is that the Dark Dragon?" asked Dima, who had just arrived.

"The dragon has been killed," said Omar. Both of his hands trembled, and his face instantly turned pale.

"It seems that the older man's suspicion is correct. Enough to finally make me realize that what you said earlier about the clones being created based on their creator's memories is a reality. That old man is just a collection of magical energy, because Dima and even you still don't know that the dragon is dead. If this is the case, then it means there is a very terrifying creature, possibly even much stronger than the Meuz, wandering out there. Slaughtering the sorcerers, or even other dragons, with purposes and reasons that we still do not know. We should keep this hidden; if others find out, a much bigger uproar could happen in Terra." Omar laughed quite loudly, but at the same time, his heart was shattered. Fear enveloped his body, even making his hands tremble. "The witches are just waiting for the time to become extinct. It appears that the witch purge that happened a few hundred years ago... will happen again!”

Dima and Anthonius were silent. Staring at the body of the dark dragon. The dragon's scattered scales and the puddles of blood reflected the light of the fireflies that filled the room.

"Is there a possibility that the creature is still here?" asked Omar, breaking Anthonius and Dima's reverie.

"What will happen out there if someone knows that the dragon has been killed?" Anthonius could not imagine the chaos that would ensue if this were to be known by the people of Terra. "They have already been made fearful by the case of many witches being killed. I don't know... I can't predict what will happen in Terra. I actually hope for a bit of peace and tranquility in Terra after the great disaster and that Meuz governs quite well. Even uniting the existence of elves, wizards, and humans so that a harmonious life is created. I never expected that even at my age, which is almost 400 years, I would have to get involved again in such a troublesome matter." Anthonius snorted, as if he hated every chaos that had occurred in Terra.