Chapter 331: Soul Fear

Mid Evening - Late Summer : Off the Coast of the Western Sirathan Mountains

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*fwooosh* A misty breeze blew over us as I gave the massive man kneeling next to me a look of confusion. "You aren't headed toward The Dungeon of the Colossus?"

He frantically shook his pale face as he eagerly responded, hoping it would entice me to give him mercy. "Another fleet was assigned to head there! They should have already arrived!"

-Huh?!- My gaze instantly turned to the southern horizon. -That.. is really bad...-

But while it was something I needed to urgently deal with, I was stuck. -I can't leave Father here alone, nor can I kill everyone and bring him with me... If only I brought Ilios...-

However, not having an obvious answer didn't mean there wasn't one.

I just needed to find it.

Finally turning back to the knight with a conflicted expression, I tried to bite my tongue. "What were you going to the mine for?"

"W-We were going to collapse it with this ship h-here." He sputtered, "Of course, that isn't the case any-" But his voice was cut short when he noticed the bloodlust oozing from me.

"Just answer my question."

Seeing me holding myself back through my dilated pupils, he continued with fear continuing to seep into his voice. "We were told to sink the mountain into the mine! It would sacrifice the Mole but would allow us to create a path connecting the ocean to the forest and give us exclusive access to the mine itself!"

-Shit...- It confirmed my worries in an instant. -The Holy Kingdom isn't trying to test the waters... They're here to prepare for war...- And that meant the information from those present was all the more important.

"FUCK!" *flash* *CREAAAK* Suddenly switching back to my draconic form, I slowed the flow of my divinity and increased the speed of my thoughts severalfold.

In the eyes of those around me, not even an instant passed before I raised my claw to the knight's forehead, but in my mind, it had been hours. *Vwoom*

"Ack-!" Immediately gripping his head in pain, the knight tried to break out of the grasp of my aura.

But it was a hopeless effort. *vwoom* With a silent ripple of mana, a glowing, three-dimensional rune appeared at the tip of my claw before morphing like a ball of snakes and seemingly dissipating.

It was an oath rune more advanced than any I had ever made. "No one present here can leave, and you will be the one responsible for making sure no one escapes, even if you have to use force until I return or until a group from Siratha arrives, in which you will cooperate with them. If a single person escapes, I'll personally ensure you can't reincarnate." I traced his neurons and connected them to the rune as I spoke. "Your only rules are you cannot kill anyone or yourself, am I understood?"

*clank-thump* Finishing the rune and releasing my grasp on him, he fell onto his hands and knees with sweat streaming off his nose.

-Seems like its working...- "If you do well, I'll remove the oath and let you live. As for the consequences, I'm sure I don't need to elaborate."

He immediately gave a shaky nod without muttering a word.

"Good," Turning and looking over my shoulder, I quickly found Father and used wind magic to tell him we were leaving, but even though he left the other side of the fleet with haste before he could get close...

*SPLASH-FWOOSH* There was a sudden explosion just beneath the ship in front of the Mole, and before most people could even react, the so-called 'grand priest' was right in front of me, wielding his glowing golden sword.

Unlike earlier, his expression was firm with a deep but controlled bloodlust, as if he was a man who had fought countless battles, but while he held his brightly glowing sword firmly, aiming to slash my neck, it was nothing shy of laughable.

*clank* When his blade met my scales, it was like a butter knife meeting a steel wall, sliding off without so much as a scratch.

But his expression didn't falter, rather, it looked like he was only starting.

However, such arrogance was eventually met with reality. -Is he serious?- *THWACK* Swatting him out of the air with my tail, he suddenly vanished before plowing through several ships, only coming to a stop after plunging underwater about four kilometers away.

Although he certainly wasn't weak, especially for a being in the realm of humans, compared to me, he was like a buzzing mosquito. -It seems like he survived though.. that's good.-

Quickly pulling him out of the water and setting him on a random ship's deck so he wouldn't drown, I finally switched gears and took to the air, using my aura to sink over half the remaining fleet and pulverize the Mole before finally meeting up with Father. We didn't have any more time to waste.

"Is something going on?" Father spoke with a mix of concern and worry as he changed to his humanoid form.

"Yeah, that ancient down there said there was another fleet ahead of them that was headed for the Dungeon of Colossus." Sticking out my paw, I quickly got him situated before turning to the horizon. "If we're lucky, that fleet won't have a Mole with them, but I can't think of another reason they would go there..." Finally spreading my wings, I activated my thruster magic and turned the ground below into a blur. -All we can do is hope their fleet is behind schedule...-

But it was wishful thinking.

As we hastily approached the dungeon's entrance, the telltale signs of disturbance only grew clearer. Smoke billowed up from the surrounding forest, and the distant sounds of crumbling rock and burning brush filled the air.

"We're too late..." Father spoke with frustration.

But no matter how badly I wanted to disagree, I couldn't.

The surrounding forest was in shambles, towering plumes of smoke and ash rose through the canopies of trees as far as the eye could see, and a cloud of dust and rock encompassed the entirety of the mountain at the epicenter of the damage.

But as the base of the mountain started coming into view, and I expected to find a massive fleet waiting on standby, I found a small field of debris with just one ship aimlessly floating offshore. -What the...-

The ship was large, similar to the one the 'grand priest' was aboard in the other fleet, but somehow, it was completely empty, with no one aboard at all. It was simply a ghost ship.

Father seemed taken aback by it too. "Where's the rest of the fleet?"

Seeing the pool of splintered wood and tattered sails at the base of the mountain, it seemed pretty self-explanatory, but that wasn't what he was asking about. "Yeah, where.. are they..."

At most, the debris we saw could amount to five or six ships, a far cry from an entire fleet. "Just what is going on..."

Finally descending toward the mountain, I started searching for auras, but while I did find a few lingering ones, none of them came from creatures that were still alive, a phenomenon that I knew happened shortly after death. -But if they just died.. what killed them?-

Unable to read my aura so far out, I quickly started slowing down to approach the mountain with more caution, but the closer I got, the more bewildered both Father and I became.

Littering the rubble-covered battlefield that cut through the mountains were the mutilated bodies of humans and monsters alike; however, while some bodies laid with fresh crimson blood dripping from their wounds, others looked like they had been dead for a whole day. -If they collapsed the dungeon some time last night or this morning, the damage to the forest, and the missing fleet would make some sense, but.. if that's the case, why are some so fresh...-

Finally slowing down enough to let go of Father, I dropped him, letting him change to his draconic form and glide toward the forest while I flew down to investigate the bodies.

From the air, I questioned if some of the fresh-looking bodies only seemed fresh because of some kind of anticoagulant poison or venom, perhaps from a monster, but as I finally touched down, I checked the blood to find that it was truly fresh.. within the hour. -Shit...-

Worried that whatever killed the final humans was still in the area and strong enough to make the fleet abandon their comrades and flee, I darted toward Father while scanning as much of the forest as I could.

*FWWOOOSH* But as I came up to the edge of the rubble, overlooking the clearing that bordered the forest, rather than finding something out of the ordinary, I saw Father staring beneath me with a puzzled and bewildered look.

-Huh? What is he...- Following his gaze with my aura, I finally noticed the colossal opening to a cave in the cliff right beneath me. By the looks of it, it was the newly formed entrance of the dungeon. -Did I tunnel-vision that hard? How did I miss that...-

Quickly calming my nerves after finding nothing within a few kilometers, I let out a short breath and hopped down to Father's side. "Anything?"

"Yeah, but it's certainly not good news." He pointed his claw toward the dungeon's entrance as he paused. "Dungeons take some time to reform themselves if there is a collapse, and by the looks of things, it didn't just reform its entrance... Even if this dungeon was absurdly quick, the latest they could have collapsed the dungeon was this morning, if not yesterday..."

His deduction perfectly lined up with the timeframe I estimated from the first bodies as well. -But that means the monsters that were here were displaced already... That's not good...-

Glancing over my shoulder into the forest, I tried to scan the entirety of my aura for other auras again, contemplating whether I should leave to try and clean up some of the monsters that escaped.

And just at that moment, I felt the edge of the aura of a monster, one that rivaled Myles. -Holy shit.. the monsters here were that strong?!-

Figuring even a small group of normal ancients would struggle against such a being, my attention was quickly dragged away. It was something I needed to deal with personally. -Seeing that it's the only one I sense, it might be the dungeon boss...-

I quickly glanced toward Father while readying thruster magic. "Father, it looks like there is a pretty strong monster about a hundred kilometers into the forest. It's a little to strong for me to let it walk, so I will be right back." -It will especially need my attention if it isn't alone...-

Thankfully though, Father understood. "Alright, then, I'll just investigate the surrounding area until you get back."

With a nod, I finally turned in the direction of the aura and spread my wings. "That works, just be careful. I'll try to be quick." *crackle* Then, in an instant, I vanished. *RUUUMBLE*

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- Deacon Arca ~

"You humans truly have an interesting way of doing things..." The deep voice, seemingly from a young man, echoed through the cave as I walked down its pristine, serpentining path.

It was a voice that gave me the chills no matter how many times I heard it. -Brr...- "Of course. When you don't have unrivaled strength or mana, you have to get clever." Glancing back, I met the gaze of a dark crimson-scaled dragon that stood just shy of a hundred meters tall. -To use magic so casually... It truly is a shame that the strong ones are so brutish.. even if it would make them harder to control...-

The dragon's name was Kapnós, an Ancient that had worked alongside the Holy Kingdom since before I was even born. "There are dragons like that too, but more often than not, they simply lock themselves in an office or research facility, like Leander." He glanced over his shoulders at the other three towering ancients as he walked. "It's a shame that they're so difficult to bring to the Holy Kingdom. I'm sure the church could make good use of them."

"Of course..." -If there were more, we would've had no issues with our recent developments, and we wouldn't need to be here...- Getting a bit jealous of dragons and their undeserved calculative abilities, I sank into thought, questioning the qualms of our recent developmental efforts before shifting my attention forward again.

But just a moment later, while I was still lost in thought, my eardrums nearly exploded. *BOOOOOOOM* It was an explosion from the entrance of the dungeon that was so deafening it couldn't even be put into words and so strong it rattled the entire dungeon. -What the hell?!-

With a cloud of dust descending from the ceiling, I turned back and saw the ancients looking behind us with dark expressions.

They all simply stared in silence, but after a moment, Kapnós finally spoke up. "It seems we have some company... I bet it's that bastard we had to push out manually..." His voice was quite sour, but I could understand why.

-That monster gave us a lot of trouble...- "Sir Kapnós, why don't you go shoo him away for us. Can you handle it on your own?"

Slowly glancing back at me, his gaze met mine with a deep sense of distaste, but after a moment, he simply clicked his tongue and turned away. "Tch... |You three keep an eye on her while I'm gone. Make sure she upholds her promise if I'm not back in time…|"

Hearing them speak back and forth in dragon tongue, I shifted my attention down toward the entrance of the dungeon, but the next thing I knew, my hand was hovering over the hilt of my sword, and I had broken into a cold sweat. -W..what...-

It was a sensation of fear that made my heart ache and my body stiffen, something I hadn't felt since I first met an ancient stage dragon.

But this time, it didn't originate from my mind or even my instincts, rather it came from my mana core.. from my soul. 

My entire being, at its very core, quivered. -What.. are we about to face...-

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