Chapter 152

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

Chapter 152: Aftermath

As the Land of Death was canceled, the revived young dragons collapsed powerlessly.

The same was true for the Ice Dragon.

‘These are all corpses.’

Items dropped upon death.

Besides that, the dragon corpses themselves were valuable. Since they hadn’t been undead for long, they could still be reused.

‘First, the blood.’

He took out the Blood Jade Orb.

The most valuable corpse among the monsters he had caught was the ancient dragon.

Of course, the full-fledged witch was also valuable, but

‘There’s no body.’

According to Merhen, her body had evaporated, leaving only items behind. So, he had no choice but to make good use of the ancient dragon.

Standing in front of the dragon corpses, the orb hummed.

As he had seen before, a red aura rose from the bodies of the corpses.

But, strangely, the ancient dragon was different.

‘This one has a blue aura?’

[2nd stage blood discovered for the first time!]

[Choices are given.]

[1. Mix with 1st stage blood and absorb.]

[2. Absorb 2nd stage blood separately.]

2nd stage?

Soon, Kim Minwoo nodded as if he understood.

Come to think of it,

‘Merhen and Cedric’s dragon powers were 1st stage.’

Just like item ranks were divided,

It seemed that blood was also divided into ranks like 1st and 2nd.

‘Then, if I mix and absorb it, will it become 1.5 stage?’

If there was no difference between mixing and absorbing separately, there would be no reason for such a choice.

Then, naturally,

‘I should absorb them separately.’

It was best to separate and collect the good quality ones. The Blood Jade Orb began to suck in the blood.

In the round sphere, the lower half began to fill with red blood, and the upper half with blue blood.

‘The amount of 2nd stage blood is a bit small.’

Even though the ancient dragon was large, it was still only one individual.

On the other hand, there were many 1st stage dragons.

Dozens of young dragons, and even the relatively large Ice Dragon.

Due to the significant difference in quantity, there was bound to be a difference in the amount of blood collected.

The corpses withered and dried up.

“Dismantle them.”

Clatter!

Haeil saluted and approached the corpses with the Dullahans.

Like ants dismantling a carcass,

The summoned creatures diligently separated the dragon’s skin and bones.

“Cedric. Come here.”

—You called?

“Just a moment.”

He held the Blood Jade Orb up to him.

[1st stage blood is fully absorbed!]

[This undead has strong enough potential to absorb 2nd stage blood!]

[Estimated 2nd stage dragon blood consumption: 25%]

[Current amount: 10%]

[Insufficient amount of blood for enhancement!]

“Ah, so that’s how it works.”

—How does it works?

“I got blood from catching the ancient dragon. It seems like I can use it for 2nd stage enhancement. Of course, not right now, I need to collect more blood.”

—Even considering that, the Blood Jade Orb seems like a really good item. I didn’t know it could be enhanced this way.

“Haven’t you tried enhancing with blood before?”

—I have. When the lord was constructing my body, he soaked my bones in blood and went through additional refining processes. But the effect was never this significant.

“Really?”

—Blood isn’t a major factor when creating a body. Especially for an undead like me, who’s made entirely of bones.

Kim Minwoo nodded.

It seemed that the Death Lord didn’t utilize blood much when creating Cedric’s body.

Well.

When he thought about it, that made sense.

Cedric wasn’t a Blood Golem or anything. He was an undead made of bones, so what use was blood to him?

But now, it was different.

With the Blood Jade Orb, blood had gained great value.

Even the Manifestation ability obtained through the 1st stage dragon blood enhancement was proof of that.

‘That’s totally overpowered.’

50% increase in strength, agility, and stamina.

Bone wings, increased size,

And on top of that, he could use powerful offensive skills like Dragon Blood Slash.

The only downside was that the duration was only about 30 minutes, but even considering that, it was an excessively good ability.

It seemed that the previous owner, the Death Lord, couldn’t provide this.

“Finally, there’s something I’ve surpassed the Death Lord in.”

—When it comes to blood, I admit it.

Cedric nodded.

Then,

Merhen, who had been listening to the conversation, chimed in.

—No way? Minwoo is much better than the Lord in many ways.

“Huh?”

Cedric tilted his head.

Kim Minwoo also tilted his head. He had never felt inadequate, but compared to the Lord, he still lacked in many areas.

But much better?

She looked at Cedric and quickly said,

—Minwoo is better at using a sword than the Lord, isn’t he?

—That may be true, but…

—Minwoo also uses the Achievement Store. The Lord didn’t have anything like that, did he?

—That’s also true, but…

—Most importantly, Minwoo has a good personality. Isn’t that right?

—Uh…

—He’s nicer than the Lord, isn’t he?

—Both of them seem quite formidable…

—What do you think, Minwoo?

“My personality is definitely better.”

Kim Minwoo answered immediately.

He didn’t know about other things, but he refused to be compared to the Lord in terms of personality.

No, from what he saw at the academy, that guy’s personality was a mess.

Come to think of it, there were a lot of things he was better at than the Lord.

But was Cedric seriously pondering this?

“You’re hopeless. You’ll be the last to get the 2nd stage enhancement.”

—So, you’re going to enhance me first, right?

—No, a good master values objective assessments. You can’t claim the upgrade just because I’m being honest.

The two Legion Commanders glared at each other.

Only then did he realize why Merhen had suddenly jumped in.

It seemed she wanted to receive the 2nd stage enhancement first.

“I can’t do it now because I don’t have enough blood. I’ll think about it when I have more. For now, Merhen gets plus one point.”

—Yay! I’m happy!

Merhen looked at Cedric with a triumphant smile, making a V sign with her fingers. Cedric looked at him with a somewhat resentful expression.

After making his judgment,

He looked at the items left where the ancient dragon and the witch had been.

‘I need to get the loot too.’

A total of three, including the Ice Dragon.

He had gained titles by defeating them.

He recalled the messages he had seen earlier.

[Title, ‘Slayer of Full-fledged Witch…]

[Title, ‘Slayer of Ancient Dragon’…]

Besides the title, there were also items.

First, the ancient dragon.

Near it lay a pure white flower and a small jewel.

[Solsalon’s Flower acquired.]

“Oh, that flower.”

Cedric’s comrade.

It was one of the materials for crafting Gleipnir.

“I can’t believe it came out at once… Master is lucky.”

“Doesn’t it usually come out at once?”

“No. It’s a flower that occasionally appears when you kill an ancient dragon or a higher-level creature.”

Then he was lucky.

He had acquired one of the six materials.

And the jewel…

[Dragon Jewel acquired!]

[Dragon Jewel]

[Rank: Special]

[A jewel added by an unknown force of fate. It seems to fit perfectly into a certain slot.]

‘Huh?’

Seeing the jewel, he immediately thought of an item.

He took out the necklace.

[Mysterious Necklace]

[Rank: ??]

[A necklace where the evil arrangement has disappeared and the spirit of a hero has begun to dwell.]

The medium for proceeding with Continental Salvation (S+).

It had two slots.

He brought the jewel close to the dragon-shaped slot, and it fit perfectly.

‘Originally, it would have been the Ice Dragon and the apprentice witch.’

With the ancient dragon and the full-fledged witch being dragged into the gate, the items for the necklace’s slots seemed to have changed to theirs as well.

In other words, the reward was upgraded. Because he would be using materials from stronger monsters.

‘Good.’

Kim Minwoo nodded in satisfaction. Unfortunately, no skill book was dropped, but that didn’t matter.

‘They don’t always drop.’

The drop rate was much higher when killing bosses or named monsters, but it wasn’t a guaranteed 100% drop. Besides, there was still

‘The full-fledged witch.’

First, he checked the items dropped by the Ice Dragon.

Instead of a jewel, the Ice Dragon dropped a helmet.

[Young Dragon’s Helmet]

[Rank: Legend]

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]

[Restriction: Level 600 or higher, Melee Class.]

[A helmet made from dragon bones.]

[Effect 1. Strength, Agility, Stamina +100]

[Effect 2. Critical Hit Rate +10%]

[Effect 3. A cold aura dwells in the wearer’s body. Reduces fire damage taken by 30%]

[Effect 4. Ice Resistance +20%]

‘Not bad.’

Perhaps because the Ice Dragon itself had a high level, it dropped a high-level item.

He could keep it and give it to Cedric later when his level increased.

He stored it in his inventory.

The full-fledged witch, who couldn’t leave a corpse behind, also left some items.

“Oh, lucky.”

Was it the witch’s last pride?

First, she left a skill book.

Next to it lay a pile of white thread and a jewel.

[Witch’s Jewel acquired…]

[Eastern Witches’ Coven Thread acquired…]

There were four threads in total.

He only needed three for crafting, so he had one extra.

He could use it later.

‘I’ve collected two out of six.’

The remaining items were the corpse of an ancient dragon over 10,000 years old, the bloodline of the Abyssal Lord, 500L of Balrog blood, and a handful of Mimir’s Breath.

The most difficult to obtain was obviously the corpse of an ancient dragon over 10,000 years old. The ancient dragon they just killed was only a little over 3,000 years old.

But 10,000 years old?

“Cedric. In your current state, do you think you can defeat an ancient dragon over 10,000 years old?”

—A dragon of that age would be similar to a Grand Witch. It’s impossible with this level of power release. At best, I could buy some time.

Cedric spoke calmly.

Merhen didn’t refute him much either.

Well,

In the first place, her rebuttal was about whether the higher-ups would come right away, not about winning or losing.

Even after becoming SSS-rank, they were saying this?

‘It seems they’re pretty strong.’

Of course, there was something to consider. Although their skill ranks had risen to SSS, it didn’t mean their potential was fully unlocked.

After all, the message from Indomitable was,

[In this stage, the potential of two Legion Commanders will be partially unlocked!]

Wasn’t it something like that?

Besides, their levels hadn’t increased, nor had their equipment changed, so it would be difficult to fully utilize the effect of the increased skill rank.

“You, you said your name was Iris, right?”

“Yes! Th-that’s right.”

Iris answered quickly.

She had already seen the full-fledged witch die without a word after being intimidated by Merhen.

Going against the master of that undead was unimaginable.

Especially with Merhen staring intently at her.

Kim Minwoo asked,

“The full-fledged witch and the ancient dragon are dead now. The Ice Dragon too.”

“…Yes.”

“What do you think the Witches’ Coven and the Dragon Legion will do from now on? Think carefully.”

“Well, they’ll find out about the deaths soon. There’s a biological magic cast on their bodies that will send a message across dimensions. The Dragon Legion will probably find out through some means as well.”

“So?”

“Both will send investigation teams to track their paths. I’m not sure how the crash landing happened, but if the course changed abruptly, the tracking will take a lot of time.”

“Then how long do you think it will take for those investigation teams to arrive?”

“I can’t say for sure, but in this planet’s time, it will take at least a month.”

“Let’s say the investigation team arrives. Will they attack right away?”

“Cases like this aren’t uncommon.”

“Crash landings?”

“Yes. And cases where they die after crash landing. For example, when they try to go to a lower dimension but crash land on a planet in a higher dimension.”

“Then this time it’s the opposite, right?”

“Th-that’s right. There’s no dimension lower than this lowest dimension… Anyway, this is a variable, and we witches are cautious about variables.”

“They won’t attack?”

“Considering it’s the Raven School, they’ll probably send a senior witch and two full-fledged witches as an investigation team… Yes. They won’t attack with just that.”

“What’s a senior witch?”

“You can think of it as a hierarchy: apprentice, full-fledged, senior, adept, and Grand Witch. Just like dragons are divided into young dragons, adult dragons, ancient dragons, and so on.”

—Wait a minute. Are there senior and adept ranks too?

“Yes, yes! There are. If I remember correctly, they were created a few hundred years ago.”

Iris hurriedly answered Merhen’s question, as if she were having a seizure.

“Do you think they’ll enter the planet when they investigate?”

“No.”

Iris shook her head firmly and said,

“They’ll find out that they died in the lowest dimension while tracking their path, and in cases like this, they usually just classify it as a ‘danger zone’.”

“Danger zone?”

“Yes. Simply put… It’s a place with a low return on investment, so they won’t even bother looking. This place used to be like that too. There was an orc who caused a lot of trouble…”

“Mutakta?”

“Yes, that orc.”

Iris nodded.

“That’s strange. I thought they’d come for revenge or something.”

“Usually, there’s not much to gain from doing that. They probably won’t send the main body, just a familiar to investigate inside the planet. However…”

Iris glanced at Merhen and said,

“I heard… that, uh, you’re related to Ananke…?”

—Yes, that’s right. I fought that idiot before. A long time ago.

“I don’t know how deeply you’re related, but… uh… if it’s enough to make a Grand Witch move, you shouldn’t stay here for long.”

“I’m already planning on that.”

If he stayed too long, ancient dragons or Grand Witches might come looking for him, and that wouldn’t be good.

Especially since the dragons and witches held a considerable grudge against the Legion Commanders.

If they investigated, a report would go up, and if he was unlucky, those beings might suddenly appear.

‘Well, in that case…’

He stared intently at Iris.

Clearing the gate usually meant being forcibly sent outside. And the last remaining clear condition was…

‘Catching her.’

If those guys showed up?

He’d have to take care of them and run.

After all, this witch was a vicious being who tried to wipe out and conquer all life on the continent. He had no qualms about dealing with her.

But not yet.

He looked at Iris, having obtained the skill book and the witch’s jewel to fit into the necklace.

“You, I need you to do something for me.”

An apprentice witch.

There were many ways to use her.

* * *

The Witch’s army ruled the continent.

In the fortresses of east, west, south, and north, excluding the center, one apostle was stationed in each. Liam, the 3rd Apostle, who ruled the west,

Bowed respectfully at the sight of the witch Iris beyond the crystal ball.

“Humble servant, I, Liam, greet the great witch.”

—Yes. Listen carefully to my command from now on. Empty all the fortresses and send all troops to the center.

“…Excuse me? Did you say to empty the fortresses?”

—Since when did you, of all people, question my orders?

“I-I apologize. I have committed a grave sin…”

—Enough. Do as I say. I’ve already given the same orders to the other apostles.

“Yes, I understand. I will follow your orders.”

Liam bowed respectfully and spoke. The communication ended.

‘What’s this?’

He tilted his head.

In the past, when they were subjugating the orcs in the early days,

There was a time when the witch gathered all the troops and took command herself.

But it was different after that.

Since then, there were no forces on the continent to oppose them, so they built fortresses and dispersed their troops.

‘Is the witch planning to move herself this time as well?’

Liam could only think of two possibilities.

Gathering troops to reclaim the fallen northern fortress.

Or, the other one was…

‘Confronting the Ice Dragon directly.’

There was no reason to gather all the troops unless it was a major event like this.

In any case, the witch’s orders were absolute. The loyal Liam followed the orders immediately.

Not a single soldier was left in the fortress, and all troops were dispatched to the center.

In fact, it didn’t matter.

Even if they didn’t guard the Winter Fragment, destroying it was a task in itself. Of course, problems would arise if it was left unattended for too long, but if the witch led the troops herself, it wouldn’t take long to defeat the enemy.

And if she was planning to confront the Ice Dragon…

‘There’s no need to guard the fortress.’

The fortresses were built and maintained to protect the fragment.

But if they were to confront the dragon?

There was no reason to protect the fragment.

In fact, there was a good reason to do so.

The fragment had provided them with countless corpses, but now the number of corpses they could obtain was decreasing.

‘Perhaps a great war is about to break out.’

The other apostles would have also set out with their troops. After marching for several days, they would arrive at the Witch’s Tower in the center of the continent.

A vast army was already lined up in front of it.

The troops of the 1st and 2nd Apostles.

Even without the 4th Apostle, Veritas, it was a massive army of over 100,000, including his own troops.

At the top of the tower,

Kim Minwoo, who was watching with a satisfied expression, nodded.

“Well done. You gathered them diligently in just a few days.”

“I did my best.”

Iris spoke politely.

There was no need to search every corner of the fortress to catch them.

If they were all gathered in one place like this, it was experience point replication.

He looked at Merhen.

“Let’s catch them quickly. Can you do it?”

—Yes. I’ll do as Minwoo says.

A terrifying amount of mana gathered above Merhen’s hand. An SSS-rank magic applied to this stage.

Plus a five-fold stack due to frenzy.

[Meteor (SSS) is stacked…]

The sky suddenly darkened.

[Translator – Prøks]

[Proofreader – Prøks]