In the tavern near the Adventurer's Shop in the Elven Court.
Dusk was approaching.
Gahaffa and Fatz had been drinking until now, and judging by their flushed faces, red all the way to their necks, they were clearly quite drunk.
"Hiccup—"
Gahaffa let out a long, boozy burp right next to Fatz's face, then unsteadily raised a mug larger than his own face and offered it to Fatz.
"Drink up!"
Fatz gave a bitter smile and reminded him:
"Captain, it's getting late, shouldn't we call it a night?"
"Nonsense!"
Gahaffa looked outside with hazy eyes.
"It's not dark yet, is it? After being apart for so long, we should at least drink until nightfall, right? Even drinking until tomorrow is fine! It's not like we have much work to do... Come on, Fatz! Fill it up! Seriously, you never used to refuse a drink. Did going to Midgard Magic Academy for advanced studies make you forget how to drink?"
Fatz felt a bit helpless.
When they had first reunited after so long, Gahaffa hadn't been like this.
That awkward and embarrassed look was still fresh in Fatz's mind.
Five years had passed...
He was still the type to get excited as soon as he started drinking.
Fatz sighed, and after clinking glasses with Gahaffa and downing his drink, he still offered an explanation.
"Midgard Magic Academy doesn't prohibit drinking, but... Captain, try not to say things like that in public. The professors at the academy don't have very good tempers."
Gahaffa pouted.
"They've lived for so long, yet they're still so petty."
This startled Fatz.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the professors at Midgard Magic Academy had bad tempers; they were also very calculating.
If those professors heard what he said, they would surely come after Gahaffa.
Although he hadn't seen anyone from the academy in the tavern, who could say for sure about such things?
He quickly applied a magical disguise to Gahaffa's face and his own, and simultaneously cast a sound-proofing barrier.
Only then did Fatz breathe a sigh of relief, looking helplessly at Gahaffa.
"So many years have passed, Captain, yet you haven't changed at all. You're still so easily hot-headed and reckless—"
Gahaffa's movements paused, and a moment later, he forced a smile:
"Ah—yes, still the same. How is it? Quite disappointing, isn't it?"
Raising a mug larger than his face, Gahaffa drank deeply, his face almost disappearing into the mug.
The overflowing liquid ran down his chin—Fatz felt that the spilled drink was mixed with something else, something a little sour, a little salty.
"!"
Slamming the mug heavily on the table, Gahaffa immediately turned his head and shouted.
"Another one! Fill it up!"
"Captain—"
Fatz gently placed a hand on Gahaffa's shoulder, turning his head.
Looking at those eyes, which seemed reddened by the beer's effervescence, Fatz softly said:
"That's enough."
Gahaffa let out a hearty laugh.
"Enough of what! We haven't even drunk until nightfall yet—"
Fatz's heart felt a little sore.
"Captain, you know that neither I nor Hiron and the others ever blamed you—Nili must have thought the same."
Gahaffa fell silent.
It was then that he felt the sound-proofing barrier made the surroundings suffocatingly quiet.
Fatz glanced at the enchanted iron sword Gahaffa subconsciously clutched.
"You want to use this weapon to get revenge?"
Fatz received no answer from Gahaffa, only saw the veins on his temples throbbing.
His fiery red beard also seemed to ignite.
"You know, one weapon cannot bridge the gap in strength—they don't lack such weapons."
"I know!"
Gahaffa finally roared like an enraged lion.
"I know all this! But I just have to try! Even if I only kill one! Even if it costs me my life and I can only kill one! I'm willing!"
"Smack!"
Gahaffa's roar abruptly ceased, and he looked somewhat bewildered at Fatz, who still had his hand raised.
"If Nili were still here, she'd probably do the same."
Fatz calmly withdrew his hand.
Gazing at Gahaffa, who had fallen silent again—Fatz could no longer see his former pure, passionate self.
"Captain, you don't need to blame yourself for all of this. This was never just your burden alone."
"I, Hiron, everyone—everyone is trying their best. You don't need to, nor do you have the right to, shoulder everything by yourself."
Gahaffa was utterly broken, frantically grabbing his hair and banging his head against the table.
Tears, sweat, and alcohol mixed together, splashing everywhere.
"This is my fault! It's all my fault!"
"I'm the one who should die! I am the true sinner!!!"
He seemed to be back five years ago.
Watching Nili, with a smile, die at the feet of Delonzeta, all to buy them time to escape, to atone for his reckless mistake.
No remains were found—
He couldn't even find a trace of Nili's existence; besides her broken staff, there was only blood-stained earth.
That gentle cat-girl, who loved to see everyone's satisfied smiles when they tasted her cooking, couldn't even have a proper memorial.
After searching everywhere, he could only put the blood-stained earth into a small jar and bury it.
"Such a big person—"
Gahaffa's tears and snot mingled with his fiery red beard, as he trembled and cupped his hands together.
"Such a big person... and in The End, only this small handful of earth remained?"
"Nili said that even if she died, she wanted to have a smile on her face... but I couldn't even do that!"
"What kind of garbage Captain am I!"
Fatz sighed.
He gently placed a hand on Gahaffa's shoulder, his tone gentle.
"Captain, no one ever blamed you, and Nili must have felt the same—"
"I understand what you're thinking. I also want revenge, but now is absolutely not the time. Nili once said that biding one's time is a kind of wisdom."
"What can you do to those guys with this weapon? You might not even get into the council chamber before being killed by a legendary adventure team."
Gahaffa lay weakly on the table, his eyes vacant, silently weeping.
His already disheveled red hair and beard were now even dirtier, covered in a mixture of various liquids.
"I know, but I'm not reconciled!"
"Why do those culprits get to live and enjoy themselves? Why did the truly kind Nili have to die? Why can fatal intelligence errors be twisted into a cover-up for insufficient team strength?"
Fatz didn't mind Gahaffa's dirty face at all.
He solemnly wiped away his tears.
"Because they are strong—but now it's different."
Fatz's eyes were cold, as he looked past the tavern door, gazing towards the shabby Adventurers' Guild hidden in the alley.
That place, once glorious and holding the lives and deaths of countless adventurers in its hands.
In the Elven Kingdom, it could only pitifully survive by hiding in the cracks.
The quest givers, who used to be high and mighty and disdainful towards adventurers, could only bow and scrape, fawning over the Elf Soldiers here.
After their routine inspections were complete and they left, the quest givers even had to climb over the counter and bow all the way to see them off.
How despicable.
All these years of accumulation by the Adventurers' Guild, and in The End, it seemed they had only learned how to protect their slice of the pie.
Withdrawing his gaze, he looked at the somewhat groggy Gahaffa.
Fatz sighed.
"Captain, you don't need to take risks. Golden Village is still here—
"The Elven Kingdom, which is opening its doors, will give us new hope. We can continue to grow stronger—until we truly avenge Nili."
Fatz wasn't sure if Gahaffa had heard these words.
He had already fallen into a groggy sleep. After paying the bill, Fatz carried Gahaffa and headed towards the inn under the moonlight.
A Dungeon with such absurd resources must be far superior to Doragon's sealed Dungeon.
Logically, even the resources of that Dungeon should not be allowed to flow out, yet the Elven Kingdom had opened it up.
The deeper meaning behind this was intriguing.
Perhaps the Elven Kingdom intentionally opened that Dungeon.
Combined with the Elven Kingdom's long-standing disdain for the Adventurers' Guild, Fatz felt this was an opportunity.
If they could seize this opportunity, they could completely accomplish what needed to be done.
With effort, he dropped Gahaffa onto the bed, then rubbed his shoulder.
"This guy, Captain, he's lost a lot of weight—"
His bones made Fatz's shoulder ache.
It seemed these past years hadn't been as good as he claimed.
Fatz's gaze was complex as he turned and walked out the door.
"Nili, I want to eat fried treasure bugs."
The indistinct mumble in his sleep made Fatz pause.
He looked back again, seeing the nearly two-meter tall strongman curled up, clutching a broken staff, dreaming...
Fatz's heart grew even heavier. After a moment of silence, he returned to the adjacent room with firm steps.
Throwing himself onto the desk, Fatz began to write another magic message.
Many flowing words appeared on the paper.
Finally, he carefully pulled out a small seal from his embrace and pressed it firmly onto the magic paper.
After all this, Fatz pushed open the window, allowing the paper to transform into magic and drift away into the distance.
Gazing as the message disappeared from his sight, Fatz's eyes flickered between light and shadow.
"Adventurers' Guild—Golden Village is back."
MC Dungeon.
The End.
Unlike the previous dragon-slaying work, Tashiniya finally participated this time, soaring alongside the Ender Dragon.
Her wings seemed to be covered in a strange armor—elytra.
This angel, naturally born with wings and capable of flight, controlled the elytra even more smoothly.
Tashiniya didn't even need fireworks to fly.
After putting on the elytra, the laws of the MC Dungeon seemed to recognize Tashiniya's wings.
Simply put, she could now legally take off from a standstill.
Tashiniya was quite satisfied with this, though if there was one regret...
The elytra were dull gray, making her look like a fallen angel.
Tashiniya deftly evaded the Ender Dragon's aerial pursuit, drew her bow, and fired an arrow.
The arrow soared through the air.
"Boom!"
The explosion of the last Ender Crystal also blew away Deconis, who had deliberately gotten close.
Su Lin clearly saw the expression of extreme enjoyment on her face.
She was becoming even more twisted...
The Ender Dragon was completely enraged, diving down and spewing a large amount of dragon breath at Lulu and the others, who were pulling on the ground.
But it was useless. The Ender Dragon's speed seemed like slow motion to them, and they all dodged it as if taking a leisurely stroll.
This big guy wasn't even as strong as the previous Fire Dragon, but Su Lin had said that this big guy's dragon breath was very precious, an essential ingredient for making lingering potions.
"Meluti, go collect some."
Veronika called back, but before Meluti could answer.
Deconis, who had just enjoyed a close-range explosion, teleported in with an Ender Pearl.
"I'll do it!"
With that, she pulled out an empty bottle without a word and charged into the dragon breath, until her entire body was engulfed in the fiery torrent.
"So exhilarating!"
Su Lin was once again afflicted with Deconis's silence buff.
He couldn't find fault—
Deconis was working hard.
While maintaining healing spells for everyone, she was also busy collecting dragon breath by teleporting with Ender Pearls.
It was just that her work process was a bit unexpected.
For example, even though another patch of dragon breath was just five meters away, and she could get there by running a few steps.
She insisted on throwing an Ender Pearl, taking damage to travel.
For example, even though she could collect it by standing outside the dragon breath and simply pointing an empty bottle.
She insisted on wading into the dragon breath, getting burned while collecting it.
Constantly getting injured and then rapidly recovering, Tashiniya was completely engrossed in this combat environment.
Her ear-splitting cheers frequently rang out.
"Su Lin—maybe you should talk to Deconis?"
Hilulele, clinging to Aelita's back and desperately covering Aelita's ears, said with some concern:
"If this continues, she'll eventually corrupt Ailili and An Duo."
Su Lin let out a long sigh.
He said, somewhat exhausted:
"Forget it—let's just consider it 'edutainment' for her."
No matter what, Deconis was doing a great job, absolutely flawless.
She handled the collection work, the combat work, and even as a priest, she took on the front-line damage-absorbing role.
Although her main goal was to experience pain, how could that not be considered combat enthusiasm?
Finally, Veronika and the others saw that enough dragon breath bottles had been collected, so they stopped toying with the dragon.
A few swift and decisive attacks caused the tormented Ender Dragon to finally breathe its last.
Amidst the boiling cheers around the Ender Dragon, only Deconis sighed with regret—dragon breath baths were truly exhilarating.
Su Lin slowly arrived, and the first thing he saw was Deconis's expression, full of regret.
If this Ender Dragon had a brain, its death must have been quite painful.
In any case—
The second broken Yamato was now in hand!
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