Chapter 130 Act 13: Dungeon

Author: Starving Wind	Original Source: Joara	Word Count: 2814 characters
Translator: Anonymouss	English Source: Re:Library	Word Count: 1802 words
Editor(s): Silva

Inside the room, everything was completely golden. I was sure that all the golden colored reflections that were shining in my view were all stacks of pure gold coins. There were also occasionally rare jewels that emitted their sparkle as well, not being able to see the room clearly because of the sparkle. I wondered just how much gold it needed to have the room entirely filled with golden colored lights like this, when…

“A guest, it seems.”

In the very center of the room, I saw that there was a sharp looking young man with green hair sitting with an arrogant atmosphere. I guess people would describe him as having the looks of a chiseled statue, as he had feminine beautiful chin, sharp pointy nose and fine milky white skinned color which would have made everyone think he was a woman if not for the Adam’s Apple that was sticking out of his neck.

‘What a ponce.’

However, that only made me feel even more hostile towards him since for me; beautiful women are gifts from the gods, beautiful men are my sworn enemy. This way of thinking had stuck with me since a young age and didn’t change a single bit after my body changed.

I guess the one thing I should be thankful for is that Katalina and Esther’s eyes were only filled with caution rather than anything else towards the young man in the room. Though there’s no helping that Sermian and Ashley’s eyes were sparkling and filled with giddy.

“Hmm… and you are? I see. Have we not met before, Artoria?”

Just as I expected, it was the green dragon that I had encountered back at the Stone Henge. That is his humanized form apparently.

“It’s been a long time, Chromesche.”

I greeted him back with an expression that looked as if I was really glad to see him again.

“Insolent human! How dare you call my name so brazenly.”

Seeing me calling him by his actual name, the green lizard immediately became enraged. His smooth forehead became crinkled as it narrowed, and his two wicked eyes burned with anger.

“Ugh… what a turn-off.”
“Just as I thought, he’s just a monster.”

Seeing him wearing an angered expression, the two healer’s star-filled eyes immediately became turned off by his change. It was a very good thing to happen. Though it wasn’t my intention, it was certainly a satisfactory result to obtain.

‘In return for your insolence, I will make sure that you will die here.’

Though it won’t be much different in terms of the results in fate, I decided that instead of killing him by cutting off all his limbs, I will instead just cut off his head cleanly to kill him in an instant, which was a very generous thing for me to do for him indeed.

“I’m sure that you didn’t think that we had come all the way here just to be friendly to you though.”
“So you came to fight, huh? Now that I had a look, you certainly became much stronger. On top of that, those auras and wavelengths you emit… Are you perhaps familiar with ‘One Who Walks the Path to Perfection’?”

I was about to raise my own vigor to psyche myself up for fighting against Chromesche, but because of his sudden rambling of words that I didn’t expect, I felt the will to fight suddenly sap from me. Not only that, I felt a slight curiosity about what he said as well.

“The ‘One Who Walks the Path to Perfection’, huh…”

I’m sure the reason why he spoke about that is that it’s related to the new quest that I had received recently, right? I didn’t show any sign of approval or disapproval. This was a secret that only Katalina and I knew about. And I had no intention of sharing the secret with anyone else.

“Hmph, how sly of you. But then again that’s the kind of race you all are, so even you act hypocritically like that.”
“I wouldn’t say that when you’re the one who’s drowning in your own pride.”

He’s just insulting others when he’s the worst one himself, isn’t he?

“Heheh. But you yourself are pretty qualified to drown in your pride as well. How about it? Would you like to acquire the pride and loftiness of becoming a part of a new race?”

[SSS Tier quest (Legendary): Dragon’s Offer
Quest occurrence requirement:
Failed ‘path to godliness’ or receive an offer from a Dragon race – Satisfied
Own at least one Legendary tier item – Satisfied
A friendly relationship with a member of the Dragon race – Satisfied
Complete a raid dungeon within a single day – Satisfied
Minimum level 900 – Satisfied
Requirement of completion of the quest is hidden until activation of the quest.]　

A new quest window popped up as soon as the Dragon finished speaking. Finding out that it was a SSS tier quest surprised me greatly. Though it seemed definitely tempting, if I were to take this quest I would need to give up on the path to godliness.

Therefore the answer had already been set in my mind. But I wasn’t satisfied with just that. I had realized that this was amazingly useful information.

I hurriedly tried to check the rewards section by clicking ‘detailed information’ before the time limit reached zero. Amongst numerous titles I would receive on completion, I saw one amazing reward as well.

‘Change race into Dragon’

I then finally understood what Chromesche meant by his words. His offer was the same as him recommending that I become a part of the Dragon race.

This implied a lot of things. It meant that the race that a user could be inside of the game was not limited to only being human. I wasn’t sure how this information would impact everyone in the game, but I was sure of one thing. The game will become even more complicated in structure, and that things will change even more.

“Now, will you give me an answer?”

Chromesche urged me to decide faster, as it seemed like the time limit to accept the quest was nearing its end.

“A charming offer, but I’m afraid I will reject it.”
“Hmph. So you prefer to experience pain and suffering instead. There’s no helping it then. If that’s what you truly wish, both you and your companions will die here by my hands!”
“If you can, that is!”

Seeing that the battle between me and Chromesche was finally about to begin, Katalina, Esther, and the two healers stopped quietly listening to the conversation and got into combat mode.

[Hellfire]　
[Hellfire]　

As expected of a Dragon race monster, it completed the incantation of the spell instantly and threw it towards us. The moment I saw it, I realized that I had made a mistake.

I was sure that his plan was only to buy time in order to completely change back to his original form. But unlike Wine’s Hellfire attack, just taking this Hellfire attack would be too risky. He was still a raid tier boss monster after all. His intelligence stat would probably be similar to Katalina’s amount or could even be higher. If that spell were to hit me directly on, it was sure to be a lethal wound.

It wasn’t wise to make such a gamble even before the fight began. Though it was a shame that we had to spend our time blocking it and let him use the chance to transform back into his original shape, there was really nothing we could do.

[Holy Defence]　
[Holy Defence]　

Sermian and Ashley both stepped up and unleashed their powerful shield at the same time. Once again confirming that they had sharp reflexes and senses too.

Slam!

Soon the Hellfire spells clash against the Holy Defence shield. In the next instant, I could see that the shield was turning visibly thinner due to the damage from the hellfire.

“Please deactivate the Holy Defence shield before it breaks and step back.”

The two healers nodded after hearing what I said, each deactivating their respective shields. Since the Hellfire spell had mostly disappeared due to the Holy Defence spell already, the remaining attack that came through with the deactivation of the shield felt like just a hot breeze blowing towards us.

“I will make sure to seal away his magic attacks.”

Katalina spoke while looking up to the Green Dragon which had already completed his transformation. As the dragon had high magic resistance, Katalina opted for sealing his mana instead of attacking with a spell of her own.

“I’ll leave it to you then.”
“Okay.”

It was fine for me to be the only one taking all of the damage.

“Esther, could you protect Lina for me?”
“But…”
“Hmm, are you not putting your trust in me, Esther?”
“N-no, not at all!”

Though it would have definitely been better if Esther had supported me in this battle, that would mean the healing have to be divided between me and Esther, potentially leading Esther to trouble.

Just as I had experienced a while ago, if Esther were to be in danger I would end up jumping in that danger as well. In any case, Esther didn’t go against what I asked her to do anymore, as it seemed like she noticed that I had already decided to battle the Green Dragon alone.

[Magic Seal]　

Katalina’s two arms began to glow blue, and soon that blue aura spread throughout her golden pupils. Seeing the Dragon flinch as he saw that, I realized one thing about Katalina.

‘She reached the 9th circle in magic!’

It meant that she had finally reached beyond level 900 in her class. As I hadn’t checked the levels of the top-ranked users in the game for a while, I couldn’t help but be surprised by the fact.

Anyways, the two healers positioned themselves around Katalina as if to protect her as she focused, while Esther stood in position in front of them. Esther seemed to be planning on acting as their shield if need be.

Knowing that they’re properly taking care of themselves, I take a step forwards with my heart feeling a little lighter. I even had a silly thought such as if Chromesche was a Golden dragon then he would blend with the surroundings even more.