Kadden, the legend of Cloudgate Town

If Wain had the emotion of fear, he would probably crumble at the moment, but thanks to Ollios' modification, his mind was completely clear.

"That was a dragon," he mumbled, wondering why there was a dragon beneath his town.

Wain contemplated his options, looking around. Running was the safest choice, even though not the most practical, given the dragon's formidable might.

Keteres was colossal like a mountain. He was roughly six hundred meters in length and his whole body was covered by a thick layer of stones.

As Wain prepared to cast a long-distance teleportation spell to make his escape, a commanding voice resonated inside his head. "Come back, little one," the voice, deep and powerful, unmistakably belonged to Keteres.

Do I have a choice? Wain hesitated briefly.If an 8th-grade dragon intended to kill him, then there was nowhere he could hide with his current strength.

However, dragons, like Wain himself, were creations of the God of Chaos, Ollios. There was a slim chance that Keteres might not be hostile. Though the reality was that dragons acted destructive towards everyone and everything.

But there was only one thing worse than a dragon… a dragon's wrath!

Wain understood that fleeing was futile. He had no choice but to heed Keteres unless he wanted to disrespect and anger the dragon. Thus, he reluctantly jumped back into the chasm, though he still casted [Phantom Anchor].

Meanwhile, Luarin stood baffled on the surface. She watched as Wain jumped into the chasm, then he suddenly appeared back on the surface, only to jump back into its depths. What was going on?

Unfortunately, no answers were forthcoming for Luarin's questions as Wain found himself once more shrouded in darkness, confronting the colossal creature.

"That flame, who are you?" Keteres's voice echoed in the underground, causing the entire cavern to tremble, despite his apparent calmness.

At that moment, WaWain was taken aback by the dragon's inability to see through his [Shroud of Void]. He had known the skill was very powerful, given that even Luarin, a 4th-grade being, couldn't see anything about him. But if even an 8th-grade dragon couldn't see through it, then he could rest in ease about the others.

"My name is Wain Sageroar. I am the Apostle of Chaos, sent by the God of Chaos, Ollios himself, to bring destruction upon this world," Wain didn't dare to lie to the dragon, afraid his lies might be seen through.

"The Apostle of Chaos?" Keteres was surprised since he never heard about such a title. However, the flame in Wain's hand was clearly Chaos Flame, so he had no choice but to accept the claim.

When did Ollios start caring about humans? The news confused him, but he didn't care too much about it. Whatever Ollios did was none of his business.

"Your underlings are making too much noise, keep them down" Keteres snorted, hinting at the Deep Gnomes mining activities.

Wain immediately grasped the situation and swiftly responded. "Lord Keteres, I apologize for waking you from your slumber. I will make sure my underlings are more thoughtful with their activities in the future." Keteres seemed satisfied and turned away to resume his rest.

However, before settling down, the dragon fixed his gaze on Wain one more time. "Take this and leave," he said, slightly annoyed, and kicked a piece of metal in Wain's direction.

Wain raised the piece of metal and realized it was actually a black-steel glove!

[Nightmare Glove] (No-grade)

Mana affinity +1%

Upgradable

Wain examined the glove's stats, feeling a tinge of uncertainty, thinking Keteres was mocking him. While mana affinity was undoubtedly a valuable attribute, a mere one percent increase was hardly significant.

Nevertheless, he accepted the gift and promptly departed from the chasm, just as it closed with another powerful earthquake.

…

"Just who is that human?" Keteres trembled with uncertainty upon the thought of Wain. He couldn't help but wonder about Wain's true identity.

Initially, he had been quite angry, because of the rumble which woke him from his slumber. He was filled with desire to destroy anything, without concern for what or who it was.

Someone weak like Wain would have stood no chance against the mighty dragon if Keteres had truly intended to end his life, however, just as he was about to attack Wain, three words sounded in his mind.

"Don't you dare!"

A cold shiver ran down his spine upon hearing the voice, since the command belonged to none other than Ollios, the very god who had brought Keteres into existence.

Keteres was overwhelmed with fear, hearing the warning from his creator and didn't dare to attack Wain. He even gave him a valuable gift, hoping to calm Ollios anger and fortunately it seemed he didn't bring upon himself the god's wrath.

How could a mere human be so important for Ollios that he personally watched over him? Keteres was confused, but he didn't want to risk being smashed like an ant by Ollios, so he ignored the encounter and lay down, returning to his slumber.

…

As Wain emerged on the surface and the chasm sealed itself, the onlookers gazed upon him in disbelief. They had been terrified by the overwhelming pressure emitted from the chasm that they couldn't even come close to it, yet Wain had entered it twice and dealt with the reason for its appearance.

They suddenly had a newfound respect for their lord.

"What happened down there?" Luarin approached Wain once the pressure disappeared and she could come close. She wanted to know what Wain had been through.

However, Wain didn't plan to share the details with her. "Tell the Deep Gnomes to dig in the other direction, otherwise I will personally fry them." Wain declared and returned back to Blackridge Town.

He knew that revealing the presence of a dragon beneath the town would start a panic among the residents, so he decided to keep the matter to himself.

Luarin wanted to ask more, but facing Wain's cold attitude, she didn't dare to approach him any more and obediently relayed his orders.

Meanwhile, Wain began with his preparation. The countdown for his quest to conquer Cloudgate Town was steadily ticking away, and he had yet to make a move.

While he possessed the strength to capture the town, he intended to conserve and hide as much of his forces as possible, reserving them for the following conflict with the Mossgarde Kingdom.

Coming to a conclusion, Wain took a group of a few hundred monsters and went down the mountain. With ten days left, there was still enough time to put his scheme into action.

…

Kadden was living the best days of his life. His reputation further surged thanks to Sylvie and Blaine, who told tales about his heroic sacrifice.

When he returned to Cloudgate Town with several horrible looking wounds all across his body, it was clear to all who saw him that Kadden had undergone immense hardship to survive in the mountains after Blaine's and his party left.

Norward immediately approached him, offering to cover the expenses for Kadden's treatment. However, their exchange was interrupted by the arrival of Lord Swail, the ruler of Cloudgate Town.

Lord Swail insisted that Kadden had to stay in his mansion and receive the best treatment. Kadden was commonly recognized as a hero, who saved the life of Count Alson's daughter and Lord Swail wanted to show his people how he valued his achievement.

Moreover he was grateful for Kadden's intervention, otherwise dire consequences would befall upon him if he failed to rescue Lady Alson.

Therefore, Kadden found himself residing in the lord's mansion, where a bevy of beautiful women attended to his every need. Sylvie, too, paid him regular visits, making it feel like a dream and Kadden wished for it to stay like this forever.

However, his recovery took only two days, and he knew that he could not afford to appear weak in front of Lord Swail or Sylvie. Thus, he resolutely returned to his adventurous activities.

Wain's contact arrived shortly after, regularly informing his master about Kadden's actions and carrying his spell rings back to Blackridge Town for recharging.

To Kadden's dissatisfaction, the contact was a young man named Judah, who was a former bandit. He would have much preferred a more appealing messenger, like Karin, but he wasn't in a position to complain.

The adventurers' hall buzzed with excitement today, and a sizable crowd had gathered in a corner around a table with a charismatic young man.

Kadden wasn't clad in his formidable armor, since he had come to the adventurers' hall that day only to enjoy drinks and share tales about his adventures.

Seated at the center of attention, Kadden was currently retelling his adventure to slay Teraz, The Undead, how he lured the chieftains of kobolds and made him fight with the skeletons in his stead while he engaged in a fierce battle with the necromancer and defeated him.

Everyone was tense by anticipation and admiration for Kadden miraculous feats. The whole hall was silent as nobody wished to not miss a single word.

This was Kadden Langley after all! All of them felt lucky to meet him in person and hear stories about his journeys. None of them had any intention of leaving until Kadden concluded the story about how slaying Teraz, The Undead, inadvertently led to Lady Alson's kidnapping, and after the story finished, they would boast about it to their friends and families.

Although Kadden arrived to the Cloudgate Town just a few weeks ago, he had managed to ascend to the status of an idol for every resident. Whether one was a noble, bandit, or beggar, they had all heard of Kadden and held him in the highest regard.

Unfortunately, Kadden's heroic duties often kept him preoccupied with fighting monsters and safeguarding Cloudgate Town, so moments like this, when they could gather around him to listen to tales of his adventures, were exceedingly rare and, as a result, were treasured by all.

"... and then, I found myself face to face with the Ancient Mountain Giant," Kadden continued, getting to the part where he defeated the monster which was the cause of the earthquakes a few days ago. "Brandishing my sword with one hand, while holding the waist of the beauty with the other, I laughed. If you want to destroy Cloudgate Town, you'll have to get past me first! However I am afraid that you aren't capable of such a feat."

Kadden boasted about the achievement. No one in the audience knew the actual cause of the mysterious earthquakes that had suddenly emerged and then swiftly vanished, but Kadden had been informed that Wain was responsible for their resolution.

Therefore, there was no harm in claiming it as his own achievement, since all of them were fake anyways.

"Amazing! To think you saved Cloudgate Town that day without us even knowing!" a young adventurer exclaimed, brimming with admiration for Kadden. None among the crowd doubted the truthfulness of the story.

They were all well aware of Kadden's abilities from Blaine, who confirmed that Kadden was capable of everything he just described.

"As expected of Sir Langley! Even an Ancient Mountain Giant couldn't match your prowess!" chimed in another awe-stricken adventurer.

He wished to witness Kadden's fight at least one time, but Kadden mostly worked alone or with his companions from the Westcoast Empire since it was too dangerous for anyone else to travel so deep into the Barestone Mountains.

"When I grow up, I want to be like you!" One elderly man's imagination ran wild, but no one laughed at him, his declaration was met with understanding nods, for admiring Kadden became common in Cloudgate Town.