Chapter Thirty-eight: Assault
“Fog Moon, Rest Day. I’ve found it, that dragon, the legend is true.”
Li Wen walked at the back, carefully reading the notes, aided by the light that constantly shifted between bright and dimness.
“…At dusk today, not only I, but everyone accompanying me saw it, the dragon flew past us. Its scales were so dark they blended with the night, each one as enormous as a mountain rock, truly an incredible creation…
“Fog Moon, Morning Day. Five days have passed, and we still haven’t found any related clues. It was as if it appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as quickly… But it couldn’t have been an illusion, absolutely not. There must be a dwelling for it on this land, otherwise, why would it be called Black Dragon Territory?
“Harvest Moon… A month has passed, and we’ve still found nothing…
“Frost Fall Moon, it’s Sunday today, but I have no heart for it. Noren says he has an idea, as expected of a genius mage… According to his research, the Aether in this land has been in a state of chaos. We don’t know the reason, but the chaos of Aether undoubtedly affects Mana and elemental composition, even causing scenes from other places to appear in locations where they shouldn’t be at specific times… The native inhabitants here often see clusters of large buildings or ruins in the wilderness; this is inseparable from the chaos of Aether…
“Frost Fall Moon, Cleansing Day. We have reason to believe there is a massive void layer beneath the Black Dragon Territory… Noren proposed using Alchemy to create a machine that could continuously excavate downwards, directly digging through thousands of meters of earth. But we refused, it would be too slow. Solonica couldn’t wait any longer… Teleportation, that’s the only solution.
“…Frost Fall Moon. Today is the day for action. Unfortunately, Noren didn’t accept the proposal, thinking it too dangerous and preferring to return to Solonica to find other solutions… Doesn’t he know? We have no other path left… Either success or death.
“How long has it been since I last wrote? Never mind… We succeeded, or rather, I succeeded. Although they all died, thankfully, I found that Black Dragon and obtained what I needed from it… With this, my research will surely be a great success. Now, I need a quiet place to slowly…”
The posterior of the notes was blurry and difficult to decipher.
However, the readable content alone was enough to glean a lot of information.
The owner of the notes should be the master alchemist, and he was a figure from at least two hundred years ago, as both Fog Moon and Frost Fall Moon were terms from ancient calendars no longer in use for two centuries.
For reasons unknown, the master alchemist came to the Black Dragon Territory seeking the legendary Black Dragon, and he actually achieved his goal.
Afterward, the alchemist should have established an underground laboratory in the Black Forest, conducting unknown research on what he obtained from the Black Dragon…
But this still didn’t explain why there was a dungeon here, unless the alchemist needed prisoners for human experimentation, but was that truly within the scope of Alchemy?
Putting away the notes, they had emerged from the secret passage and arrived at a place that finally resembled an alchemy laboratory.
It was said to “resemble” only because the place was in complete disarray, as if it had been subjected to some natural disaster or man-made destruction, with smashed vessels, torn papers, unknown liquids, and various mixed pieces of flesh and limbs.
There was almost not a single intact item on the ground.
“The bodies are still fresh, the blood has coagulated, it should have happened not long ago.”
Moria glanced at the tragedy on the ground and then directly at Jotes.
“It’s other adventurers,” Li Wen noticed weapons and shields scattered on the ground, items that shouldn’t be here. “They must have arrived here before us, and then were torn to shreds by some unknown force… perhaps some kind of Monster.”
The Dwarf kept scratching his neck and body. “I, I honestly don’t know anything!”
“Jotes, is this a place you’ve been to before?”
The Dwarf nodded repeatedly.
“But that’s not what I saw! They, they…”
“Alright, I understand,” Moria’s tone and expression remained almost unchanged. “There might be other dangers here, you two be careful and don’t stray too far from me.”
Li Wen didn’t take his words to heart. She searched everywhere but couldn’t find anything resembling the alchemist’s research subjects. The liquids on the ground, aside from bodily fluids, were mostly mixed Potions, but these potions had lost their efficacy due to prolonged contact with the air.
The cut surfaces of the bodies on the ground were uneven, supporting Li Wen’s idea of “torn apart by a Monster.” Besides that, there were clear claw marks on the floor. These marks weren’t particularly large, which reminded Li Wen of the underground dungeon she had been in before; the claw marks on the cell walls were almost identical to these on the floor…
Li Wen frowned. Before she could sort out these connections, she suddenly felt a chill down her spine. a clear, malicious attention focused on her.
Almost subconsciously, Li Wen rolled to the side.
A giant force directly pushed her away, and the sharp sound of flying gravel and tearing floorboards reached her ears.
But quicker than that were sharp claws, inches away from her, right in front of Li Wen’s face.
It was clearly visible to be a human palm, but it was covered with sharp, curved fingernails, and the skin was covered with scales that were somewhere between bone and rock.
Li Wen remained incredibly calm and directly thrust the Bone-Corroding Short Sword she had been holding towards the claw, the short sword imbued with its corrosive poison easily piercing the palm.
Accompanied by a pained roar, Li Wen directly severed the attacker’s claw.
“Watch out above!”
It was only then that she had the presence of mind to warn the others.
At the same time, her gaze remained fixed on the attacker, vigilant of its every move.
The attacker might have been an Elf or a Dwarf; the reason for not being able to confirm was that its body was covered with a layer of tumors, as if infected with some skin disease. Only its slightly taller stature than a human and its pointed ears allowed for a rough guess.
Its pupils were ghastly white, clearly having lost its sanity, making conversation impossible. Thus, Li Wen decisively unleashed Spell-less Arc Light, allowing a faint glow to adhere to the Bone-Corroding Short Sword, and then swung it to cut out the light.
The arc-shaped light blade instantly struck the attacker, who was still immersed in the pain of losing a hand, easily severing its head.
Upon witnessing this, Moria finally removed his hand from the hilt of his sword.
