Into the Lair
Two days later.
We left the monastery and began riding on horseback.
That was only possible because I'd successfully acquired the Horsemanship skill.
Naturally, Kals—who had no idea how—looked at me wide-eyed.
"To think you've mastered riding in a single day! Remarkable, Your Highness!"
"I told you, I'm good at everything except magic!"
Cutting through the wind, I reviewed the preparations I'd made so far in my head.
Destructive power. Mobility. Survivability.
All set and ready.
And what kind of destructive power, you ask?
Actually, a very fine sword had recently come into my hands.
It was the Vengeance Greatsword—a reward from the Aeolem Order after I completed the quest "Savior of Sons."
But before I left Aulrax, that sword had already taken on a different form.
– Kals, take this to the forge and melt it down.
– …Sir? Melt it? What do you mean?
– Exactly that. Turn it into a lump of metal. Oh, and those jewel ornaments—trade them for three high-grade steel swords. Quickly.
– …!
The Vengeance Greatsword was one of the Aeolem Order's sacred relics—
a weapon blessed by priests and touched by the hand of their god.
And now I was telling him to melt it into useless scrap metal, so of course Kals was beside himself.
But I brushed it off easily.
– I'll use it as food for the hatchling. Dragons love rare metals, remember?
– The rarer the metal, the tastier it is.
A lump of divine steel blessed by the God of Vengeance was rarer than gold itself.
The dragon would devour it eagerly.
Besides, I was one of the Five Holy Saints' Proxies.
That meant I couldn't even fully wield a gift from the God of Vengeance.
So this was the best way to make use of it.
– The Aeolem God will be thrilled, I'm sure. If I were Him, I'd kiss you for it.
– Then go and collect it for me.
The "destructive power" I'd secured wasn't some cheap sword.
It was level.
After riding the Ultra Wave, my levels had skyrocketed like a storm.
Now, I was Level 29.
When I started the Savior quest, I was only Level 14…
That was double—no, more than double my former strength.
A true explosion in power!
Yeah. This is the kind of rush I live for.
This surge came from maximizing the synergy between the blessing "Pacifist's Hope" and shared experience during the Ultra Wave.
My previously lacking Endurance stat had soared, and I'd gained several new skills from the skill tree.
That was the true source of my destructive power.
If converted purely into combat potential—
at least three times stronger than before.
But I still wasn't satisfied.
This was only the bare minimum required to raid the Four-Dragon's Nest.
Had everything gone perfectly, I could've grown even faster.
If only I weren't a magic cripple.
Right now, this was my limit.
Like a child who'd grown stronger but didn't yet know how to use that strength.
…Magic immunity.
It was undeniably a huge handicap.
But not entirely hopeless.
Now that I finally understood this condition, I could look for ways to counter it.
Or even turn it to my advantage.
I knew how to reverse my mana heart's magic immunity.
Every magic has an attribute.
Just as the Tyrbaen Sui family were masters of poison magic,
every mage builds and wields power based on a specific elemental affinity.
But my mana heart is immune to magic, isn't it?
That meant it had never been filled with mana.
No aligned element.
No taint of any particular affinity.
That meant—
I could learn a magic with no element at all.
In other words, Non-Attribute Magic.
This was my chance to turn misfortune into opportunity.
I smiled quietly.
Even top-tier players can't easily become Non-Attribute Mages, you know?
Once your mana is tainted with any element, it's impossible to learn that type of magic.
It's a class attainable only by luck—by drawing the "Fate Card" containing non-elemental magic during your very first shuffle.
So rare, in fact, that people called them "Mages chosen by GodSoft."
And now, that chance had landed right in my lap.
Yes. This is what it means to turn crisis into opportunity.
Conveniently, I was about to enter a place filled with hidden pieces worth exploring.
"Your Highness, I see something!"
Just as Kals said, when the forested valley ended, a deep ravine appeared.
Between the rocks lay a narrow path—
the entrance to the Four-Dragon's Nest.
Within that labyrinthine lair were countless grimoires left behind by mages who once lived alongside dragons.
And among them, I knew of one particularly powerful Non-Attribute spell—
Spirit Magic.
Here, I would gain both a dragon companion and a way to break free from my curse as a "magic cripple."
***
"Whoa, whoa!"
We arrived at the rocky entrance and tied the horses nearby.
"It'll take time, so loosen the reins so they can graze."
"Understood, Your Highness."
Drawing my sword, I slowly approached the cave's mouth.
Monsters sometimes appeared near this entrance, though for now it was quiet.
The path visible in the gloom ahead looked deceptively smooth, almost endless.
But once you stepped inside, the terrain began to twist.
And with so many traps, even one step was a gamble.
The entire labyrinth was riddled with pitfalls and collapsing corridors—so much that you'd wonder if it was even passable.
Any warrior-type player without flight magic would find this dungeon nearly impossible to clear.
That's why I had prepared mobility in advance.
Practicing this wasn't easy.
That mobility would finally come into play now.
As we approached the passage—
Who dares approach this place…?
A deep, rumbling voice echoed from within, as if the mountain itself had spoken.
At the same time, a system message flared before my eyes.
[Chain Quest "Four-Dragon's Nest" has been initiated!]
The start of the chain quest had begun.
Unlike simple or scenario quests, Chain Quests continuously change objectives as they progress.
You must reach the very end to claim the true reward.
I smiled faintly as the message marking the start of this long marathon appeared before me.
All right then. Let's run.
***
[Chain Quest] Some dragons live for millennia, basking in supreme power as exalted beings—
while others are abandoned and left to die before even being born.
A dreadful secret slumbers here, hidden within these depths.
Current Objective: Break through the entrance
Final Reward: Hatchling + 3 additional rewards
***
"Hatchling plus three."
Those three referred to the title 'Master of Dragons,' the skill 'Dragon Riding,' and the blessing 'Protection of the Supreme.'
That was a reward greater than every quest I'd completed so far combined.
So no matter what this voice from the rock passage said—
I had to break through.
– This is your final warning. Begone, lesser beings, before it is too late…
Ignoring the threat, Kals and I sprinted toward the entrance.
– Insolent fools!
A massive wave of force burst outward from within the cave.
Kals and I exchanged glances, splitting left and right just in time to dodge it.
When I turned back, I saw it—a gigantic fist of stone.
– Pathetic gnats! Such reckless defiance!
The owner of the voice began to move in earnest.
The stone-carved gateway writhed and opened its eyes.
And then, it swung its arms to strike us.
Giant Stone Golem.
The creature was both the entrance itself and the first guardian protecting the lair.
Breaking through this living gatekeeper was the first objective of the Chain Quest "Four-Dragon's Nest."
BOOM!
The ground shattered like a bombardment had struck it.
That's stronger than most high-tier magic spells hitting head-on.
Worse yet—
the fact that the gate itself had arms created a paradoxical problem.
"Your Highness! The entrance is sealed!"
Just as Kals shouted, the Golem had completely blocked off the entrance the moment it sensed our presence.
Now it attacked us with one arm like swatting flies,
while using the other to brace itself and defend the blocked passage.
"Tch, so Plan A's a bust?"
Then—
dodging falling boulders, I glanced toward Tyrbaen.
She had already understood the situation and was drawing up her mana.
"Your Highness! Fifteen seconds!"
There were two ways to breach this place.
The first: brute-force entry.
Empower Kals with acceleration magic and charge in before the Golem assumed full defense posture.
Then, once inside, destroy its core—simple.
That tactic was one favored by assassins and rogues—striking at a narrow window of opportunity.
Given that Kals was already a six-star knight, he might have been able to pull it off.
But the result? Failure.
The Golem moved far quicker than I expected.
If we pushed our luck, Kals could've been gravely injured.
During the strategy session back at the abandoned monastery, I had warned them clearly:
– Never risk your life on Plan A.
There was more than one plan.
Plan A was simply the fastest—not the only one.
Knowing this, Kals retreated without hesitation,
and Tyrbaen immediately activated Plan B.
***
[An item is being used.]
[Disruptive Magic: Melody of Madness]
Peeeeeeee!
From the flute pressed to Tyrbaen's lips, an eerie, mana-infused soundwave rippled outward.
It was the Mad Tree's Magical Flute of Madness—
one of the artifacts I'd retrieved from the 1st Legion's storage.
Its effect was immediate.
[Gatekeeper 'Giant Stone Golem' is afflicted with the status: Sensory Reversal!]
Sensory Reversal.
As the name implied, all senses became inverted.
Up became down, left became right; its body would no longer respond properly.
And sure enough—
– Urrrghhh…!
The Golem groaned in confusion, raising the arm that had been blocking the entrance.
It thrashed at empty air, striking the ground aimlessly.
Its senses were completely scrambled—upside down, inside out.
The entrance was finally open.
"Your Highness! Sir Silion! Go!"
Tyrbaen shouted between breaths, lowering the flute for just a moment.
But neither Kals nor I could move properly.
"Y-Your Highness, what do we do?! Ugh—my head!"
"Whoa, this is insane! Just—try not to fall—whoaah!"
['Gilroshan Elro di Valt' is afflicted with the status: Sensory Reversal!]
['Kals Silion' is afflicted with the status: Sensory Reversal!]
The flute's area-wide effect had, of course, hit us too.
We were just as disoriented as the Golem.
That's the risk with large-area debuff magic—
it doesn't distinguish friend from foe, so you'd better have a countermeasure ready.
Well, if it didn't have that drawback, it'd be way too broken, wouldn't it?
Fortunately, I did have a simple solution.
['Blessing of the Ancient Guardians' activates!]
[Blessing: 'Song of Shield and Flame' resists the status Sensory Reversal!]
Thank you, Lord Pyreflame.
– Run, my proxy.
With that divine voice in my ears, I shot forward like the wind.
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