Volume 2, Chapter 33 – The Sealed One

“First, I shall tell you of how this village came to be.”

As she spoke, Ingolvina-san took a sip of tea that gave off a mysterious aroma. It was brewed from herbs harvested in this village and apparently had a relaxing effect.

“This village was originally built to seal away an Ancient Dragon—Dark Dragon King Valgalm.”

“What! Dark Dragon King Valgalm!?”

Chris-san was astonished.

“Chris-san, do you know of it?”

“Of course. It’s a legendary being said to have rampaged across the world some three thousand years ago. They say it’s the leader of dragons who govern the dark attribute, a terrifying being that brought calamity by scattering darkness and Undead across the world. According to legend, it was supposed to have been slain by the Heroes of that era.”

“Hmm. You’re mostly correct. However, he could not be slain. Neither I nor the Saint of that era had the power to truly destroy him. Thus, we sealed him in this Far North, and I remained here as the guardian of that seal.”

Whoops, she just casually dropped a “I’m over three thousand years old” remark. Elf lifespans are seriously insane.

“Um, and what is the job exactly?”

“Yes. The Barrier has been weakening lately. If left unattended, even a Fragment might escape, so I thought it was about time to perform some maintenance.”

“In other words, you want us to help with the maintenance of the Barrier?”

“Precisely. For now, I want you to go with Bjorgolfur and check on the situation.”

“Understood.”

Hearing my answer, Ingolvina-san nodded with satisfaction.

Rеаԁ оn ΚаtReаⅾіոgCαfе

◇ ◇ ◇

“If we go down these stairs, we’ll reach the Sealing Shrine.”

Guided by Bjorgolfur-san, we descended into the cave where the Sealing Shrine was.

Chris-san and Lu-chan came along, but Liera-san said she would get the house ready and stayed behind in the village.

It was about a 30-minute walk from the village, and since the cave was a straight path, there was no risk of getting lost.

We watched our step as we descended the long staircase.

At the bottom of the stairs was a massive dome-shaped cavern, easily thirty meters in radius, with a small shrine standing in the center.

Furthermore, a square stone pavement about thirty meters on each side was laid out to surround the shrine, with stone pillars standing at its four corners.

And at one of those stone pillars, a black dragon about four meters long was gnawing on it, trying to destroy it.

Wait. Isn’t that bad? It looks like the seal’s already broken.

“Wh-What! The seal has already weakened enough for the Dark Dragon King to emerge!?”

Wah, you idiot! If you shout like that, it’ll notice us!

I hurriedly covered Bjorgolfur-san’s mouth after he shouted, but it was too late.

The Dark Dragon King looked toward us, took a deep breath, and let out a roar.

Rеаⅾ oո КαtReαԁіnɡСαfе

“Ugh.” “Eek!” “Guh…”

Three different voices rang out.

Bjorgolfur-san and Lu-chan were completely terrified and had slumped to the ground.

Chris-san seemed to be trembling slightly, but she drew her Holy Sword and took a stance.

“What was that just now?”

“Fiene-sama, are you really unaffected? That was what they call a Dragon Roar. A roar infused with Mana can terrify weaker opponents and rob them of their will to fight.”

“Ah, well, it was certainly noisy.”

“To dismiss it as merely ‘noisy’… as expected of Fiene-sama.”

Well, my Status Resistance skill is MAX level, after all.

“More importantly, we have to do something about Bjorg-san and Lu-chan.”

“Let’s retreat for now.”

The moment Chris-san said that, the Dark Dragon King opened its mouth.

“Oh no, a breath attack!”

The instant Chris-san shouted, a jet of black breath shot toward us.

Reаԁ оո КαtRеαԁingСafe

“Defense Wall!”

I quickly deployed a Holy Magic Defense Wall.

The black breath slammed into my Defense Wall, whipping up a violent gust of wind.

I continued holding back the breath for about thirty seconds until it finally stopped.

Then, it let out another roar.

“H-Hieee…”

Bjorgolfur-san is completely useless.

You’re the son of the person who sealed the Dark Dragon King! Stop shaking and do something!

“Onee-sama, I’m sorry. I’m okay now. I’ll fight too!”

Lu-chan was still trembling, but she stood up and took her bow in hand.

Then, black mist began billowing from the body of the Dark Dragon King while it stared intently at us.

It gradually took shape, turning into black Skeletons.

There was a staggering number of them.

There must have been at least fifty.

Rеαd оո ΚatRеaԁіոɡСаfе

Human, Beast, and Lizard Skeletons alike stared back at us.

“Purification!”

I deployed Purification Magic across the entire space. The light I unleashed purified the Skeletons all at once, making them vanish.

“Ugh, my MP…”

As expected, purifying this many at once consumes a lot of MP.

I downed an MP Recovery Medicine for the first time in a while.

I hadn’t needed one in a while, but the taste reminded me of the chaos I went through in the Royal Capital.

Seeing my reaction, the Dark Dragon King created another massive swarm of Skeletons.

Just like that, we were right back where we started.

“This is… difficult…”

Yes, if we continue this war of attrition, our defeat is inevitable.

I have to strike the main body somehow!

Suppressing my racing heart and as if to shake off my fear, I glared at the Dark Dragon King.