Chapter 87 – Dragon’s Lair -2-
The reason why Ed knew where the balladur rare he saw in the reminiscence room was located.
Because it had distinct characteristics.
First, the land was divided into four parts.
Among them, the largest continent was the land of humans, and there were three kingdoms and a holy empire on that land.
Since it was the kingdom of Roteon that Ed was first thrown into this world, of course he lived there.
And there was a huge mountain on the border between the Roteon Kingdom and the other two kingdoms, as well as the Holy Empire.
It didn’t have a specific name, but the mountain was covered in pure white snow all year round.
There were rumors that the crater at the top was full of magma, but it was known that no human had seen it with their own eyes.
There must have been no reason to check the mountains adjacent to the border.
Somewhere in the same mountain was Baladur’s lair.
As Baladur moved, the shape of the great mountain caught his eye.
“That’s it.”
“Wow… It’s overwhelming….”
Even though there was still some distance, the shape of a large mountain appeared after leaving the forest.
At that, Beatrice opened his mouth in admiration.
“By the way, Beatrice, haven’t you been there too?”
She looked at Ed with a look as if she was talking nonsense.
“What do you mean by that? Of course not!”
The only time Beatrice would go to Balladur’s Lair would have been when he raped the adult Beatrice.
So she said, narrowing her eyes.
“That’s not it, I was wondering if you’ve been there since I was talking about the Guardian last time.”
“… I heard about it from the older sisters who have already been to Rare.”
Disgusting bastard
The idea that Balladur definitely deserved to die filled Ed’s mind.
There was still quite a distance left, but when he faced the mountain, Ed’s hatred boiled over even more.
Is it because I thought of a future that won’t happen?
After closing his eyes for a moment, Ed turned to his group and said.
“Maybe if you go a little closer, the cold will come. Let’s camp around here today and move as soon as possible tomorrow.”
Ed’s serious attitude made his party become serious as well.
“Oh, but if you haven’t pinpointed the location of the rare yet, I might be able to help.”
Chow!
Yer En raised her demon and spread her wings.
At first, she thought about moving her party one by one to a location close to her lair where she could fly, but she decided not to.
In the first place, she wasn’t too far away, and everyone had to conserve their strength just in case.
But in this case it is different.
It was next to impossible to navigate this entire gigantic mountain on two legs.
“Are you okay? You must not be used to the cold.”
According to her words, Ed recalled that the Pandemonium was always warm.
“It’s okay. So first of all, let’s go now before it gets dark. Joanna, Beatrice. Please prepare for camp.”
“Ah, be careful!”
“Yes…. Leave it to me. Oh, would you like to wear this?”
Beatrice was strangely nervous, perhaps because Balladur’s rarity was getting closer.
She took off her own thick robe and handed it to her Jeren.
“It’s okay. I’m big, so I can’t wear them anyway. Then.”
At that moment, the surroundings overflowed with demonic energy as if exploding, and then Yeren shot towards the sky and flew away.
Ed looked at it and murmured.
“Jeren is cool.”
Knowing she did it on purpose, her two companions laughed awkwardly.
Nearly a week had already passed since Ed had embodied the protection of the warrior.
In the meantime, he has additionally embodied a very small amount of protection, and even mastered the basic swordsmanship posture he learned from Jeren.
‘It’s still about a horizontal cut, though.’
Thanks to Yeren’s intensive teaching on his posture, breathing, and use of his wrists, Ed grew tremendously.
To put it mildly, he could guarantee victory even if the five of him from a week ago attacked at once.
Kwajik!
Ed lightly chopped firewood with the longsword Jeren had lent him, blowing away his thoughts.
‘I just need to focus on the jewel of chaos for now.’
Once you get it, it’s a relief.
If you get the Jewel of Chaos, you can prepare for Baladur’s visit at any time.
‘You’re fucked.’
Ed recalled in his mind the words that would never reach Baladur.
By the time the camp preparations were over, Yeren returned.
“Yeren!”
Since it came back faster than expected, I shouted joy in anticipation that I might have already found a rare one.
“I have good news and bad news.”
Jeren said so.
Usually, I was the first to hear bad news, so of course I was going to choose the latter, but Jeren said it at the same time.
“I found a place that is believed to be a rare balladur. However, a large number of energy was detected inside.”
“Um… Is it a guardian It also doesn’t work out well. Finding a rare is good news, isn’t it?”
Even if it rots, the guardian will be strong even though the power of Balladur is sealed.
To the point where even if the four of us hit it with all our might, we don’t know if we’ll have a chance.
It was because the guardian was what the evil dragon had prepared to protect its habitat.
“Oh, I have some good news for you.”
“Yes? What?”
I couldn’t get a feel for it at all.
There’s no way the Guardian, created to protect Rare, went outside.
“I’m not sure, but my energy was very weak. Maybe it stopped moving.”
“It’s ambiguous.”
As seen in the reminiscence room, the power-cutting guardians were clinging to the floor as if their lifespan was over.
Of course, that time was much later than now, but I had to check the details myself.
* * *
After two days like that.
We arrived at the Lair entrance of Balladur.
If it was high in a huge mountain range, he wouldn’t have arrived so quickly, but it was possible because Lair was located near the hidden entrance.
It was so hidden that if Jeren hadn’t looked for it, he wouldn’t have been able to find it easily.
“What do you think? Can you feel the energy?”
Looking at the companions, all of them were tilting their heads and making puzzled expressions.
“It seems that there is only one blood flowing through the body. Seeing how lukewarm… It seems to have stopped all activities for a considerable amount of time.”
Joanna, who possesses the power of the true ancestor, opened her mouth first.
“I don’t know. For now, it is certain that there is no Balladur.”
Then Beatrice.
“It remains. No, my energy has weakened. Well… At this level, it’s practically the same as being dead… ?”
Good news, then.
Even if you don’t have to fight with a can who feeds on mana without his own ego….
“Wait a minute. Joanna, what? There’s a guy with blood running through his body?”
“Yes? Ah, from what I feel, one entity has a heart.”
Just in case, Joanna, who spread her energy again and looked it over, nodded her head as she collected her power.
“That couldn’t have been… ?”
I was embarrassed by him.
The Guardians I saw were closer to machines than living beings.
The Guardians were creaking puppets wearing armor made of unknown white material.
‘It was empty inside.’
The shells of the fallen guardians inside the rare were empty.
Now that his mana has disappeared thanks to Balladur’s magic, the doll is slowly drying up.
All he had in his rare were those tin cans, countless treasures, and the Jewel of Chaos.
I thought deeply while fiddling with my chin, and finally made a decision.
“First of all, there’s no other way than to go inside.”
There was no certainty that Balladur would bring Jurgen alive this time as well.
There was also the possibility of returning here after killing Jurgen lightly.
That’s why, I had to get my hands on the jewel of chaos as soon as possible.
As the party nodded and cheered up, I also entered Rare, spreading the warrior’s protection all over my body.
* * *
Lethe.
Among the four heroines of Pure Love Story, Yurgon’s closest childhood friend.
With no special field, her powers were weak.
But she was aware of her own weakness, and she did her part well enough in a different direction than her battles.
-Neritiel. Your wish will surely come true, so let’s do our best together in the future.
Sometimes it encourages party members,
– Were you praying? Ah, here. This is the new Bible I bought the last time I was in town.
He soothed the party members who were stricken by quarrels,
―I think it’s better not to go through the kingdom. How are the others?
He always suggested an efficient way.
A trustworthy colleague and an atmosphere maker with an irresistible charm.
Maybe that’s why, when I was playing Pure Love, I was already on the Lete route without even knowing it.
In reality, Yurgon was close to a human being, but the main character of the game, Yurgon, relied on Lette and encouraged the player to choose a good option.
How could she ever do anything wrong to that bright, kind child who has overcome her own shortcomings with strengths?
Undoubtedly, Lethe was the heroine closest to the royal family.
That’s why I couldn’t understand more.
―It is not an accident or suicide. Lette is… I was murdered by someone. Who are you? Until there… Perhaps a bandit.
Lethe is dead.
Because it was also killed by someone else.
‘Why?’
When Lethe was killed, what did Jurgon do?
There was no mention of such an event in the first place.
After thinking about it for a while, an assumption came to mind.
It is assumed that seeing the body of Lethe, who was brutally murdered, caused Jurgen to fall into madness.
‘That’s why he may have gone out of his mind.’
However, after entering Lete’s house, where only her old skeleton was left after being burned by her, Osiel’s mind became so white that he even forgot her purpose for coming here.
『Lete』
A small, unmaintained tombstone.
The letters engraved there
It was Korean.
