“Fog Moon. Day of Rest. I found it. The dragon—the legend is real.”
Li Wen walked at the rear, her eyes glued to the notebook in her hand, reading intently under the shifting light that flickers between brightness and shadow.
…It happened at dusk today.
Not just me—everyone traveling with me saw it.
The dragon soared right above our heads.
Its scales were so dark they blended seamlessly with the night, each one massive like a slab of stone.
It was a truly astonishing creature…
Fog Moon.
Dawning Day.
It’s been five days, and we still haven’t found any further clues.
It was as if it appeared from thin air and vanished just as mysteriously… But that couldn’t have been an illusion.
No, absolutely not.
That dragon has to have a lair somewhere in this land.
Otherwise, why would this place be called Black Dragon Territory?
Harvest Moon… A month has passed, and still, we have nothing…
Frostfall.
Today is the Day of Worship, but I have no mind for prayer.
Noren says he has an idea.
As expected from a genius mage… According to his research, the aether in this region is constantly in a state of chaotic flux.
We don’t know the cause, but this aetherial instability definitely affects both mana and the elemental balance.
It may even cause illusions of far-off places to appear here at specific times… The locals frequently report seeing massive buildings or ruins in the wilderness.
This must be connected to the chaos in the aether…
Frostfall.
Day of Purity.
We have reason to believe there’s an enormous hollow chamber beneath Black Dragon Territory… Noren suggested using alchemy to create a machine that could dig continuously downward—thousands of meters into the earth.
But we rejected the idea.
It would take far too long, and neither we nor Solonika can afford to wait… A directional teleportation spell—this is the only solution.
…Frostfall.
Today’s the day we act.
But Noren won’t agree to it.
He says it’s too dangerous, and he’d rather return to Solonika to search for other ways… Doesn’t he understand?
There are no other paths left to us… It’s success or death.
“How long has it been since I last wrote anything down? Doesn’t matter… We did it. No—I did it. Though the others are all dead, at least I found the black dragon and retrieved what I needed from it… With this, my research is bound to be a success. Now, all I need is a quiet place to slowly…”
The rest of the notebook was too smeared and blurry to read.
But even this partial record revealed plenty of valuable information.
The author was most likely the alchemy master they had heard of—someone who had lived at least two hundred years ago, as the months “Fogmoon” and “Frostfall” were names from an ancient calendar that had fallen out of use centuries ago.
For some unknown reason, this alchemist had traveled to Black Dragon Territory in search of the mythical black dragon—and evidently, he had found it.
He must have then established a secret underground laboratory within the Black Forest, conducting unknown experiments using something extracted from the dragon…
However, that still didn’t explain the existence of a dungeon.
Unless, of course, the alchemist had used prisoners for human experimentation—but would that still qualify as alchemy?
Putting the notebook away, they finally emerged from the secret passage and entered a place that somewhat resembled an alchemical lab.
The reason it was only somewhat was because the entire area was in ruins.
As if devastated by a natural disaster—or deliberate sabotage—shattered equipment, torn papers, unidentified liquids, and dismembered flesh were strewn together in grotesque disarray.
It was hard to find a single item intact.
“The corpses are still fresh. The blood has clotted—it must have happened not long ago.”
Moria surveyed the carnage on the ground and immediately turned to look at Zottes.
“Other adventurers,” Li Wen observed, noticing scattered weapons and shields—things that didn’t belong in this place.
“They must’ve arrived here before us, and then… were torn apart by some unknown force. Possibly a monster.”
The gnome scratched at his neck and body in a panic.
“I—I swear, I don’t know anything!”
“Zottes, is this the same place you visited before?”
The gnome nodded furiously.
“But it wasn’t like this! They… they weren’t—”
“That’s enough. I get it,” Moria interrupted, his tone and expression remaining as calm as ever.
“There could still be danger nearby. Stay close. Don’t wander.”
Li Wen didn’t take his warning too seriously.
She searched the area, hoping to find the alchemist’s research materials, but there was nothing.
The liquids on the ground were mostly potions, mixed with human fluids—but they had been exposed to the air too long and had lost their efficacy.
The corpses bore uneven lacerations, consistent with Li Wen’s theory that they were torn apart by a monster.
More telling were the claw marks etched into the floor—shallow but distinct.
They were nearly identical to the scratches she had seen on the dungeon cell walls earlier…
Li Wen frowned.
Before she could fully piece together the connection, a cold chill shot down her spine—a sudden, hostile presence had fixed its attention on her.
She rolled to the side purely on instinct.
A massive force slammed into the spot where she had just been, sending shards of stone flying and tearing through the floor with a screech.
But faster than the impact was the swipe of sharp claws—already right in front of her.
They were unmistakably human hands—but with long, curved talons.
The skin was covered in a scaley texture, somewhere between bone and stone.
Li Wen remained startlingly calm.
With practiced precision, she drove her Bone-Eating Dagger—already laced with deadly venom—into the oncoming claw.
A pained shriek followed, and she severed the attacker’s hand cleanly.
“Watch the ceiling!”
Only then did she spare the moment to warn the others.
Her eyes never left the creature.
Every twitch, every movement—she tracked them all.
The attacker might have once been an elf or a gnome.
It was hard to tell, as much of its body was disfigured with grotesque tumors, as if stricken by a monstrous skin disease.
Only its towering height and pointed ears offered any clues.
Its pupils were milky white—clearly beyond reason. There was no chance for communication.
Without hesitation, Li Wen cast a silent Arc Light spell, coating her Bone-Eating Dagger in a faint glow.
She swung, unleashing a luminous arc.
The curved light blade struck the attacker—still writhing from the pain of its severed hand—and cleaved its head clean off.
Only then did Moria remove his hand from the hilt of his sword.
Tftc!