Chapter 60: The Fallen Dragon

Irellin couldn’t close her mouth at the scene unfolding before her eyes.

A massive meteor appeared in the sky.

Around it bloomed fierce flames.

It felt as if the blazing sun had suddenly fallen from the heavens.

Gooooh!

The gigantic meteor plummeted toward the enemies with incredible speed, radiating scorching heat in every direction.

In an instant.

The intense heat made her gasp for air.

The forest screamed that it was burning.

She could feel the whisper of the trees struggling from thirst. She bit her lip tightly at the sound of the trees’ unbearable agony.

The meteor fell toward the ground.

The moment a black troll reached out to block the meteor, his arm began to melt away.

The power far surpassed the troll’s regenerative ability.

“Kuuoooooo!”

Starting from the troll’s arm, everything melted away, and the black orcs beneath it were also consumed by the meteor’s heat.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye.

Boom!

The meteor struck the ground, causing a massive explosion.

Kraaaaaaang!

As the colossal meteor hit the earth, it swallowed everything around it. The orcs who tried to flee in the distance—

Of course, the entire surrounding forest area was set ablaze.

Black smoke rose from the inferno.

A gigantic crater.

Seething heat.

The cries of the trees echoed from all directions as the elves gritted their teeth and moved forward.

“Put out the fire immediately!”

“…Burning the forest. What kind of madness is this!”

“How dare a human set fire to the sacred forest? Do you want to die?!”

“No matter the enemy, touching the forest is unforgivable!”

Watching the elves, the human man smiled, lifting the corner of his lips.

[The forest is more important than dealing with the dragon?!]

“The forest is our home!”

“Put out the fire right now!”

“You’re committing a more terrible crime than the dragon! That bastard never burned the forest like this!”

【Then, put it out yourselves. Threatening us for food just because you saved us?】

When the man emitted a murderous aura, the elves hesitated and stepped back.

It was like the pressure of seeing a dragon.

An intangible sense of oppression from the sheer difference in presence.

Irellin’s eyes narrowed.

Having just witnessed his magic, she realized he was no ordinary human.

“What are you?”

[What difference does it make if you know?]

Like he said, nothing would change.

Irellin sighed and opened her mouth to clarify the situation.

“Haa. Thank you for helping us, but as the other elves said, burning the forest was your fault.”

[Fault?]

The man chuckled lightly.

[You’re the ones at fault.]

“What?”

Irellin frowned.

[Don’t ask again. You know it too. The reason this forest is so damaged is partly because of you.]

The man’s words made a corner of Irellin’s chest burn.

As if her lie had been uncovered.

She closed her eyes, ashamed.

She wanted to say it wasn’t true.

But that man saw through everything, so she couldn’t say that.

“What are you talking about!”

“You’re saying the forest was ruined because of us?”

“…Don’t insult us with your open mouth…”

Watching the indignant elves, Irellin raised her hand. She shook her head at them. No more words were needed.

“Stop it.”

Her gaze turned to the man.

“Sorry. I think I let my emotions get the better of me when I saw the forest burning.”

[I understand. Because I know what the forest means to the elves.]

“Thank you.”

Irellin bowed sincerely to the man.

“Princess!”

“How can you thank the one who burned the forest?!”

“What is this…”

To the disgruntled elves, Irellin whispered quietly.

“The forest is already ruined.”

The corrupted dragon had contaminated the forest.

At first, only the area around the dragon was affected, but over time, the corruption spread, gradually expanding its radius.

Honestly, if they had drawn their swords then, the whole forest wouldn’t have been corrupted.

This was all because of the elves’ nature—they valued the forest so deeply.

With the forest corrupted, the elves’ abilities couldn’t be fully unleashed.

Those who followed the corrupted dragon knew this and pressed the elves harder.

They corrupted the forest and fought within it.

They exploited the elves’ weakness so precisely that the elves couldn’t even resist.

“We all know. The forest was suffering.”

“No matter how corrupted it is, it’s still our forest. It’s the home we’ve lived in for so long. If it’s corrupted, we purify it. Isn’t that what we’ve been enduring for? But that bastard burned everything.”

“Everyone, listen to the voice of the forest.”

Irellin closed her eyes first.

Amid the scorched surroundings, no sound was heard.

Instead, voices came faintly from afar.

From the corrupted forest, eerie voices flowed. Voices that normally would not be clear were now heard distinctly.

• Save me…
• Stop…
• It hurts!

The forest’s corruption was cleansed as the area burned, and the elves’ abilities reached their full strength again.

Every elf swallowed their breath and bit their lips.

“That man didn’t destroy the forest. He saved it.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“The apology is not to me, but to him.”

At Irellin’s words, all the elves bowed their heads to the man.

“We’re sorry.”

“We’re sorry.”

Smiling again, the man waved his hand.

【It’s fine. If you refused to admit it and got angry, I would have just ended this here. But since you apologized, let’s end it now.】

Gooooh!

At that moment, sticky dark mana flowed from afar once more.

The corrupted dragon.

It was asserting its presence in the corrupted forest. It was clearly affected by the magic that had just occurred here.

“There’s really no time left now. We have to stop it.”

[Do you have a plan?]

In response to the man’s question, Irellin answered.

“There are corrupted statues hidden everywhere by the corrupted dragon. We must destroy them all to bring it down.”

[You know all their locations, right?]

“I do, but… there are forces guarding them. They’re opponents too strong for us.”

Now that the forest was corrupted, defeating them was impossible.

So they planned to sneak in and only destroy the corrupted statues.

But the recent incident ruined that plan.

‘If only we could burn the corrupted forest…’

The elves might then be able to fully unleash their true strength.

But because they were elves, that was a plan they couldn’t bring themselves to carry out.

Even if her mind knew the answer, her heart wouldn’t move.

【I’ll take care of those guys. Along with the corrupted forest. But… once this is over, you’re coming with me.】

“…You want to leave with me?”

[If you want, your entire race can come over too.]

If this forest could be restored to its former state—

“Fine.”

A tiny fairy, no bigger than a finger, flitted and flew here and there.

A spirit of the wind.

A Sylph.

The Sylph that Irellin summoned guided us to where the corrupted statues were.

‘Spirits.’

Spirits also existed in Dragon Rare Raising.

They were extremely rare in the summoning draws, but whenever they appeared, they were used in all sorts of ways.

Especially against mid-level apostles or higher, spirits were almost essential.

The top-grade spirits or Spirit Kings were necessary.

So after clearing dungeons, she had planned to ask Irellin about how to form spirit contracts.

She wanted to ask now, but it didn’t seem like Irellin would just tell her right away, and there was no time.

Soon, the corrupted dragon would go berserk.

[There it is.]

“I sense it.”

Magic detection revealed many monsters nearby.

She flew up into the sky using Fly magic, preparing her spells.

“Meteor Strike.”

She summoned a giant meteor from a magic circle and swept away all the enemies below.

Kraaaang!

The massive explosion and flames engulfed the enemies and burned all the corrupted trees nearby.

Amid the blazing forest stood a dragon-shaped black statue flashing dark light.

Irellin raised her bow toward the statue that didn’t flinch from the magic.

A Purifying Arrow imbued with the power of the World Tree.

Drawing the bowstring, she fired the arrow at the statue.

Fshhh!

The arrow flew swiftly and shattered the statue in an instant.

The black energy emanating from the broken statue was absorbed entirely by the Purifying Arrow.

[Two left now.]

“You’ll have to go there alone.”

Dense dark mana surged, and something soared into the sky.

Goooooh!

A presence exuding dragon fear mixed with murderous intent.

A dragon was looking this way.

Covered in black scales.

A corrupted dragon.

An intense energy that tingled throughout her entire body.

Far beyond any enemy she’d fought before.

[Using Golden Dragon Eye.]

[Corrupted Dragon (S+)]

• A dragon corrupted by someone.
• Currently enraged.
• Overall stats: SSS
• Potential: SSS
• Items held: Dragon Heart (SSS), Corrupted Statue (SSS).
• Skills held: Blessing of Magic (SSS), Dragon Fear (SSS), Mana’s Blessing (SSS), Guardian (SSS), Wisdom of Nature (SSS).

A monster possessing every skill related to magic.

Buffed by the corrupted statue, all its stats were increased.

They had to destroy all the statues to defeat it.

“Destroy the statues as quickly as possible.”

【I can’t do it alone.】

“Summon Guardian.”

Shuaaak!

With a flash of white light, combat-ready Guardians including orcs appeared.

Ropenheim, orcs, goblins.

With these three, they would be more than enough to handle the creatures in this forest.

“Move with the elves here.”

[Understood.]

[I obey my master’s orders!]

“Is this the dragon? Smaller than the one I saw before.”

Irellin opened her eyes wide, surprised to see the Guardians, but there was no time to explain everything.

Gooooh!

The corrupted dragon’s mana condensed and burst out at once.

A black breath.

A deadly breath mixed with the energy of death, draining life from the nearby trees as it flew toward them.

“Absolute Barrier.”

Kraaaaang!

The black breath hit the barrier, and the mana from the Dragon Heart was swept away instantly.

A power no defensive magic could withstand.

“Dodge!”

She swiftly moved out of the black breath’s range, rolled on the ground, and took out a top-grade mana potion.

She quickly drank it and looked at the elf.

“If you want to kill this thing, move fast!”

[Ah… got it! Let’s go!]

The elves moved with the Guardians.

Watching them, the corrupted dragon began preparing magic again.

Using Fly magic, she flew up into the sky to draw the corrupted dragon’s attention.

Using the mana filling her Dragon Heart, she created multiple spears.

“Dragon Fang Spiral Spear.”

With a chant, the wind-infused spears surged toward the corrupted dragon.

Shweeeak!

The dragon’s jaws opened, trying to bite the flying dragon teeth.

Crack!

The giant teeth shattered instantly the moment they touched the corrupted dragon.

‘Dragon scales.’

The ultimate shield against magic resistance.

A shield that her current level could never pierce.

There was only one way to solve this.

Irellin had to destroy the remaining two statues and restore the corrupted dragon’s stats to normal.

‘So this is why I need help from a special race.’

Irellin was the only one who could destroy the statues right now.

Gooooh!

The corrupted dragon’s gaze kept locking onto Irellin.

It judged her more dangerous than herself.

To attract its attention, she needed something as well.

“Summon Power Elixir.”

A bottle with violet liquid appeared in her hand.

A potion made by Anne, who was once the Lord of the Forest, infused with the Witch’s Essence.

Drinking this would explosively increase all her stats.

It would at least allow her to fight the corrupted dragon for a short time.

• It takes quite some time to remake, so only use it in dire situations.

Recalling Anne’s stern warning, she opened the cap.

Gulp.

The moment she drank the potion, tremendous energy surged through her entire body.

“Let’s fight once more, you lizard bastard.”