CH 323

It wasn’t that the old man’s tone or expression was surprising at all, but somehow, Leeha definitely felt the nuance.  Leeha figured out the situation as soon as he saw the leader of the metal dragons, who had more advanced settings than most NPCs, as well as levels, stats, achievements, and items.

“D-don’t mention it. Thank you.”

Leeha knew what it meant to be recognized at the same level as Alexander by such an NPC. Of course, he couldn’t feel bad.

“Lord Bahamut, I think the praise is too much. Lord Bahamut should know better that no human is stronger than me.”

While Bahamut smiled lightly, Alexander next to Leeha showed signs of discomfort with his arms crossed, but he did not get a reply.

“By the way, why did you…”

“Other cases of damage from Kuzgunak’sh have occurred”

“You mean other than Blaugrun?”

“That’s right. The silver dragon Silvegeld, the copper dragon Copperoth, and the steel dragon Steelen.”

An image appeared in Leeha’s head. The first one to be hit was the bronze dragon. It meant that silver, copper, and iron were affected next.

“The type of metal dragons are- no, I’m sorry to say that it is a type-”

“Aside from Lord Bahamut, who is platinum, there are gold, silver, bronze, brass, copper, and steel dragons.”

Bahamut did not have a clan, but a dragon that existed on its own. In terms of clan classification, in fact, 4 out of 6 metal dragon clans had one of their member’s head got ripped off by Kuzgunak’sh.

“That… I don’t mean to meddle, but didn’t Bailephus-nim inform you of Blaugrun’s death?”

It was only because of him that Blaugrun came out of his lair, and Kuzgunak’sh said that he made use of that and that the metal dragons would notice if Kuzgunak’sh went inside the lair himself.

That was what Leeha was curious about. How could three more dragons die? The question hit the point, and the dragons sitting around the table, as well as Alexander’s expression, darkened.

“……That is why I called you.”

Bailephus opened his mouth again, breaking the gloomy atmosphere.

“Kuzgunak’sh worked together with Bluebeard.”

***

[How dare you enter this place with hostile mana! Even if you have two lives, I will take them both!]

Hooooooool, a soft aura gathered in front of the gray dragon.

A steel dragon’s breath was deadly. A living being would not be able to breathe easily while standing next to it.

“Summon undead, dark promotion!”

kyaruruk- kyaruruk-!

Faust summoned the undead and promoted them. Even the basic skeleton and zombies were stronger than normal skeletons and zombies and with the addition of Faust’s ‘promotion’ skill.

［Kwaaaaa——!]

A poisonous breath went out of Steelen’s mouth and floated in the air. The target was the undead huddled together under his feet!

However, that was a mistake. Steel dragon Steelen’s misfortune was that the main forces of the one who invaded his lair were not living creatures.

The undead drenched in venom slowed down or stopped moving, but they did not turn into ashes. The undead’s resistance to poison proved the level of the beings that Faust summoned and promoted.

[Undead Enforcer and Dullahan? This level of summoning-]

“I was afraid because you were an adult-class, but you’re not a big deal, are you?!”

[This bastard!]

“Bone Shield!”

Even the summoner of the incredible skeleton army and undead monsters was a lizardia. Fundamentally, it was a race that had strong resistance to poison. Faust, who summoned a bone shield, moved as if he would catch Steelen by himself. And that touched Steelen’s pride.

Humans didn’t in droves, and only one lizard was trying to capture him.

[I can’t forgive you, bastard!]

“Huehuehue, come, come!” 

Faust tucked his tail and ran backward.

Undead enforcers with bone bows and crossbows attacked Steelen, and the dullahan wielded a fierce sword, but nothing could stop the angry dragon.

Bababaaang-!

The dragon quickly flew low and mercilessly blew Faust’s summons away. The undead did not stop attacking to break the dragon’s shield with fragments of their bodies.

What was surprising was that their attacks were more effective than expected.

Faust’s ability, which contained Blue Beard’s mana, was no longer comparable to before.

[These troublesome bastards!]

Faust succeeded in running away while Steelen struggled to remove the undead from his body.

The steel dragon couldn’t help but cast magic on the spot.

[You dare against me!]

Shoooooot-!

Steelen flew while ignoring the undead. All the summoned undead will return once their summoner was attacked anyway, and the correct answer from the start was to attack Faust.

The steel dragon’s movement was fast. Even the moment it broke out of the barrier.

“Metal bastards are all stupid.”

“Keulkeul, how many did we kill in the same way?”

[Hmm? You bastards-]

Kuzgunak’sh and Bluebeard gave no further explanation.

Just as if they were doing their assigned word, Bluebeard froze the steel dragon’s mana, and Kuzgunak’sh raised his sharp curved swords and aimed at its neck.

“I will deal with-eup?!”

“This!”

The moment the curved swords scattered light, a white dot appeared in the blue sky.

The moment it gradually expanded and the dots became planes, Bluebeard and Kuzgunak’sh felt super-heated flames.

Sssk-!

As the two beings who felt threatened moved to blink, the ultra-high heat breath swept the place.

[Steelen!]

Bailephus, who confirmed the deaths of Silvergeld and Copperoth, patrolled with all of the metal dragons. However, it was unfortunate for Steelen.

“Stupid dung fly, you’re already too late.”

The slowly falling steel dragon already had no head. Kuzgunak’sh grabbed Steelen’s head and quickly moved away.

[Kuzgunak’sh! I will never forgive you! Get ready, Alexander!]

“Anything to punish evil is welcome, my partner.”

Bailephus rapidly charged toward the red dragon. Alexander sat on it and a 7 m-long spear instantly appeared in his hand.

The charge of the first place in the human ranking and the gold dragon had the power to hit just by thinking,  However, it did not work against a fragment of the demon king.

“Kilkil, you dare ignore me, dung fly?”

Shyuuk- The figure of an old gentleman appeared in front of the gold dragon. Not only Bailephus but also Alexander recognized him.

[Bluebeard?]

“Eeek- Brandish!”

Bailephus suddenly stopped and Alexander hurriedly used his skill.

Keng-! 

However, only the sound of metal clashing was heard, and Alexander’s arm did not move anymore. The swing that blew Pei Wu away, was lightly blocked by the tip of the silver cane.

“Hey, get ready to go!”

“Okay, count-nim! Whisperer smog!”

Hearing Blue Beard’s shout, Faust, who was hiding behind a tree, cast a skill.

“Faust?”

Alexander recognized him, but Faust pretended not to know him. After enough black grains entered the body of the white lizard, it spewed out again.

[Whispering fog! It’s a curse-type mental attack, so be careful, Alexander]

“Hmm.”

Flap- flap-!

Bailephus flapped his wings back for Alexander, opening the distance.

Dispel was only eaten before the magic effect was activated, and he didn’t care, but if Alexander got status abnormality, he would need to fix it with recovery magic instead of dispel.

In other words, Bailephus’ plan was to use dispel only after widening the distance.

[Dispel.]

Shwiiik.

The thick fog that had filled the air evaporated in an instant and disappeared.

The sad thing was that Kuzgunak’sh, Bluebeard, and even Faust’s figure have disappeared.

“We missed. Mana Detection!”

[We cannot detect them. Even if we could, they would notice me approaching them. If Bluebeard and Kuzgunak’sh joined hands, we could no longer drag this on.]

“What do you mean?”

[……I must go to Lord Bahamut. We must call a clan meeting and we have to call someone who can hide mana perfectly.]

Bailephus also realized that it was not a situation where they could protect young dragons with simple advice.

They had to gather all the remaining dragons in Bahamut’s lair. And he had to call someone who could hit Kuzgunak’sh while completely hiding his presence.

“Is there someone like that? Anyone who can handle mana that is not a dragon-class-”

[No, not someone who could handle mana. Alexander, don’t you know. One of the three people who hurt me!]

Shoooook-!

Before Alexander could ask again, Bailephus had already rose and started flying. It took less than two hours for the entire metal dragon clan to gather, and fifteen minutes later, Leeha was summoned.

***

“B-Bluebeard?”

“That’s not all. There was also someone who joined hands with them.”

Leeha asked in surprise, Bailephus nodded, and a more accurate answer came from Alexander.

“Someone? Are you talking about a user, Alexander?”

“There’s a bastard who abandoned humanity and justice. You know him too Ha Leeha. I should have noticed when I saw his dirty job…”

Watching Alexander’s solemn expression fade, Leeha felt something ominous. It’s not like him. In other words, he is a famous person that everyone knows.

“They aren’t a ranker, right……?”

“He’s a ranker 8th in the rankings, Necromancer Faust!”

“……That’s crazy……. No way.”

In an instant, the item from before came to Leeha’s mind. An item that could control monsters that were infected by demonic energy. There are also achievements. Yeah, he hadn’t thought about it, but… there was no reason why other users couldn’t be on the demon kings’ side just because they were users. Middle Earth always gave hints. Can only Faust join the Demon King’s army? It couldn’t be!

‘Could this be like the national war that divided two camps? The fragment of the demon king must be stronger than the Human Alliance, but to split the power of humanity? Middle Earth is crazy! What are they trying to do?’

What Leeha imagined was a terrifying ending. A future in which the Demon King’s army completely wins. Then how will the continent flow?

However, if one looked at the current flow, there was nothing strange that would happen.

In any case, humans were still struggling without harmony, and the Fragment of the Demon King was already moving along with the strongest chromatic dragon.

In this situation, if a large number of ranker-level users switched to the other side, Leeha’s imagination would become a reality.

Most importantly, Middle Earth’s unpredictability was the problem.

He couldn’t predict what would happen, but he had to imagine that everything would be possible.

‘No. That should be stopped. I hope it won’t ruin the game, but I don’t know what the updates would be, anyway- I don’t want such a sudden change!’

A drastic change could not be good for Leeha.

Sooner or later, he might receive a city or castle as a reward.

He is currently trying to establish a stable profit structure in Middle Earth, but what if the Demon King’s army dominated the continent?

All of his efforts would be for nothing!

Not only for the flow of the story but also for extremely realistic reasons, it was necessary to cut off the flow of Kuzgunak’sh and the Demon King’s army.

While Leeha was organizing his thoughts, Bailephus opened his mouth again.

“We have already lost too many clan members. I urgently summoned all of you, but we can’t just stay like this.”

“Ah, come to think of it, all of the people gathered here are metal dragons, right?”

“Yes.”

Leeha quickly scanned the area around the round table. Excluding Alexander, Bahamut, and Bailephus, there were about 30 people in human form.

The number of dragons already hit was four. It meant that more than 10% of the members of the Metal Dragon Clan have died.

(To be continued…)