Chapter 56 – Dragon (3)

At the words that the dragon was a friend, the faces of both men hardened stiffly. 

Sun-woo turned his head to look at Daniel. 

“Didn’t you know?” 

“Not at all.” 

It seemed Daniel was hearing this for the first time too. 

“I didn’t tell you before because there was no need to. I’m sorry.” 

Daniel nodded at her words. There was no way she could casually talk about being friends with a dragon. 

Now she was telling them because they were heading to the dragon’s nest, the lair, but otherwise she definitely wouldn’t have mentioned it. 

But Sun-woo felt several doubts about her words. 

“Didn’t you say the dragon was dormant? How did you make contact? Moreover, when even the guardian monsters have all changed, the possibility that the dragon is fine doesn’t seem very high…” 

At Sun-woo’s question, she made a somewhat troubled expression. Unlike Daniel, Sun-woo was checking everything point by point. 

“It’s a kind of alarm magic between Zigmund and me. Regardless of dormancy, if something goes wrong with the lair, it lets me know. You could say I’m also one of the guardians bound by contract.” 

“Ah, I see.” 

“There are almost no beings that could harm her, but I’m very worried because the guardians have become strange during dormancy.” 

Daniel seemed to accept her explanation, but Sun-woo felt somewhat uncomfortable. It seemed like the explanation had changed slightly from what she’d said before. 

The nuance might have changed during automatic translation, but Sun-woo thought she hadn’t told them all the secrets. 

But it wasn’t easy to probe further. Because killing intent was beginning to surge. 

“It’s guardians. This place wasn’t supposed to be territory guarded by guardians…” 

The monsters that appeared were similar to the monsters that had fallen from the cliff and died. 

Brown-furred four-legged two-headed monsters with wolf and fox appearances, black-furred bear-type monsters with monkey heads and bear heads attached – all monsters with multiple heads came rushing toward the party, or rather toward Isabel. 

When the monsters charged, Daniel ran out to meet them. He ran out in front of Isabel, raised his greatsword forward, and blocked the monsters’ advance. 

Thud! 

Flames shot up from both hands of Isabel, who was standing behind Daniel who had blocked them, and shot forward. 

The flames first poured out like a flamethrower, then fireballs that looked like burning spheres were thrown toward the monsters. 

The monsters engulfed in flames rolled on the ground trying to put out the fire, but the flames blazed even more fiercely, and Daniel’s sword swung toward such monsters. 

Occasionally there were monsters that jumped over Daniel and the burning monsters to rush at Isabel, but she lightly dodged the monsters and then struck them with her flaming hands, sending them flying to the side. 

When the monster was hit by Isabel’s hands, the flames transferred to it, and as it rolled on the ground, its whole body became engulfed in flames, then Daniel ran over to finish it off. 

Shortly after, except for the monster corpses burning on the ground, there were no more monsters charging. 

Isabel spread both hands toward the monster corpses that still had flames remaining and were beginning to burn the surroundings. Cold air poured from her hands and began covering the flames. 

Soon the flames were extinguished and the monster corpses and their surroundings were covered with ice. 

After the fight ended, Daniel and Isabel looked at each other and smiled. 

Daniel was pleased by Isabel’s skills that hadn’t changed from the past, and she was also impressed by Daniel’s greatly improved abilities. 

But what Isabel was really impressed by was something else. Isabel turned toward Sun-woo. 

“How do you use goblin sorcery more skillfully than goblin shamans?” 

Around Sun-woo standing in the back, monster corpses were lined up. 

Monsters half-buried in the ground with their heads severed, monsters pierced by spear-like jutting earth mounds, monsters that had killed each other thanks to <Illusion Arts>. 

More monsters than Daniel and Isabel had killed lay dead by Sun-woo’s hand. 

But Isabel showed more interest in the sorcery Sun-woo had used than in his skills. As far as she knew, there had never been a case where humans could use goblin sorcery. 

As a mage, she couldn’t help but be curious. 

“It’s a secret.” 

But Sun-woo refused sharply. If it were someone else, he might have made various excuses, but Isabel was a woman who could figure out even what the other person hadn’t said. 

Inside this contaminated area, it was impossible for aftermath processing teams to come. It was better to keep secrets as much as possible. 

At his answer, Isabel’s eyes widened and Daniel also made an uncomfortable expression, but Daniel also couldn’t tell her about the summoned’s secrets. 

“More than that, the monsters’ movements were quite organized, weren’t they?” 

“Rather than organized, they were moving targeting me.” 

Isabel corrected Sun-woo’s somewhat roundabout way of speaking. As she said, all the guardian monsters were targeting Isabel. 

Thanks to this, Daniel and Sun-woo’s fight was easier, but with incomprehensible things continuing to happen, their worries could only increase. 

“Several hypotheses come to mind, but I think we’ll have to actually arrive at her home to know. They’re somewhat nonsensical hypotheses.” 

At her appearance shaking her head, Sun-woo could no longer ask questions. 

The party left behind the frozen and buried monster corpses and continued crossing the mountain range. 

As they gradually approached the dragon’s lair, guardians appeared frequently, but thanks to Sun-woo, fights didn’t occur many times. 

The method of hiding bodies underground and disguising with <Illusion Arts> worked on guardians too. 

Of course, they couldn’t avoid them 100%, but even that greatly reduced fights. 

Eventually, the party was able to arrive at Zigmund Valley where the dragon’s lair was located by evening. 

The valley was a giant jar-shaped terrain made of high rock walls, with a huge cave carved into the inner cliff. 

“My goodness, that cave is the entrance to the dragon’s lair.” 

Standing on the cliff overlooking the cave, Daniel let out an exclamation. At his appearance, Sun-woo tilted his head. 

He knew the location and the path here didn’t seem impossible, but Daniel’s appearance was as if he was seeing a scene from legend. 

“Originally, magic is spread around the valley so humans can’t enter here. We were able to enter because I temporarily stopped the magic.” 

Seeing Sun-woo’s puzzled look, Isabel immediately explained. 

“Mr. Sun-woo seems like he’s not from this world. Your appearance is unusual too.” 

At Isabel’s casual remark as she finished speaking, both men broke into cold sweats inwardly. 

They hadn’t even had much conversation, but Sun-woo’s identity was about to be exposed. 

Daniel hurriedly changed the subject. 

“There was no problem coming here, but it won’t be easy to enter inside there.” 

He was right. In the forest spread before the cave, giant monsters larger than trees were wandering around. 

The giant ogre they had seen before was walking around with two heads, and there was also a monster like an ancient carnivorous dinosaur. 

And in the sky, several wyverns were patrolling the area. 

At a glance, they were monsters positioned to block enemies entering through the entrance. 

“The inside of the cave will be even more formidable.” 

As Daniel said, the dragon’s nest was plastered with numerous guardians and various traps prepared for dormancy. 

As things stood, there was no way to reach where the dragon was. 

“Don’t worry about that.” 

But Isabel didn’t seem worried at all. 

“As expected, was the space under that rock a secret passage?” 

Sun-woo pointed to a rock jutting out at the cliff’s edge. According to what Sun-woo had grasped with sorcery, a passage starting from under the rock continued downward. 

Isabel’s expression changed strangely. 

“Could it be sorcery derived from Spirits of the Earth?” 

“Similar.” 

“You’re really a fascinating person. Goblin shamans didn’t know how to use it that way.” 

She looked at Sun-woo with a meaningful smile, then walked to the rock Sun-woo had pointed to. 

Soon Isabel placed her hand on the rock and incantations began flowing from her mouth. 

In tune with the low-flowing incantations, a magic circle appeared on the rock’s surface, and soon the rock floated up into the air. 

Under the slowly rising rock, a passage piercing straight down underground and endlessly continuing stairs could be seen. 

“It’s a path my friend told me about. Oh, and it could be dangerous if you don’t go with me, so even if you have occasion to come alone later, don’t carelessly take this path.” 

Isabel warned Sun-woo, and Sun-woo, who had briefly entertained such thoughts upon seeing the revealed passage, felt embarrassed. 

The passage was extremely long. 

Perhaps thanks to magic, light flowed from the floor wherever the party moved, so there was no inconvenience in traveling, but it was a distance that would tire people just by walking. 

Leading the way down the passage, Isabel occasionally chanted incantations quietly or placed her hands on walls. Each time, magic circles briefly appeared and disappeared in the air and on walls, so it seemed magic traps were positioned throughout. 

“Really, if it weren’t for Isabel, passing through this passage would have been impossible.” 

Seeing Isabel’s actions, Daniel muttered, and Sun-woo followed up on his words. 

“That’s not all. I don’t know how it works, but the passage itself is moving. If someone else entered this passage, they would probably be trapped underground and unable to survive.” 

At Sun-woo’s words, Isabel made a blank expression. 

“The passage moving is something no one knows about, but you’ve detected it like this. I wonder if I’m bringing a truly dangerous person.” 

Isabel, who had stopped walking, stared intently at Sun-woo. 

“…” 

There was a brief staring contest between the two, and soon Isabel smiled slightly. 

“Let’s go again.” 

Without any conclusion, she urged them to walk again, and Sun-woo and Daniel could only shrug their shoulders at each other. 

They walked for what seemed like several hours. Outside was surely already wrapped in darkness, but it wasn’t easy to gauge time inside here. 

Still, all passages eventually have an end. The passage that had continued curving was suddenly blocked by a wall. 

The wall blocking the passage had a pattern that looked like a dragon’s face carved large, and in its center, a small magic circle the size of a human hand was emitting light. 

Perhaps there was no reason to hide the magic circle here. 

Isabel stepped forward and placed her hand on the magic circle. 

Whoosh! 

When Isabel placed her hand on it, the magic circle emitted light and the wall silently rose upward. 

Behind where the wall had disappeared was a huge underground plaza. 

The underground plaza, wide enough to build several soccer fields, was refined with delicate craftsmanship, making it look like an ancient temple. 

And in the center of the plaza lay a giant, truly giant creature. 

It was Green Dragon Zigmund.