32. Infermur, the City Where the Dragon Sleeps (2)
Dragons, dragons, Atailatl. To every culture and every race, they are an ancient species now only found in legends.
One of the fallen races during the ancient Celestial War, it is said that even during the Celestial War, their numbers did not exceed a hundred.
A dominant species that ruled this world since the dawn of the Material World, and quasi-deities who possessed immortality from birth.
“Dragons? There are dragons?”
“Yes, yep! Yep!! I, I’ll guide you!”
“? Does the path split again inside here?”
“No! The, the path is one way…?”
Fernandez looked down at the panting vampire and tilted his head.
“Then what use do you have left?”
“The, the seal! This gate is sealed. I can undo it. If, if you spare me, I’ll do it…!”
Indeed, this massive gate radiated an extraordinary magical power. Fernandez gazed at the red iron chains enveloping the gate.
The chains, woven with magic, were intricately tangled. He chuckled.
“[Telain’s Blood Chains], huh? Long time no see.”
“?!!?! How?!”
-Sssss.
As Fernandez lightly touched the chain, it heated up and scorched his finger. He slowly withdrew his hand and stroked his chin.
“A very textbook seal. Must’ve followed the book to the letter.”
“Y, you… Were you a mage?!”
What kind of mage slaughters vampires with a sword!?! The vampire gaped in shock.
“I’ve almost memorized Telain’s grimoires.”
“Th, those are forbidden secrets never leaked…!”
-Crunch.
Fernandez’s sword slashed through the vampire’s neck. The vampire’s head rolled on the ground, frozen in terror and shock.
Fernandez flicked the blood off his sword and smiled.
“Not leaked yet. Not yet.”
-Click.
Fernandez sheathed his sword and stood before the sealed gate.
Telain’s Blood Chains were no easy magic, but it was still just a known spell. He remembered how he had painstakingly studied those secrets after the fall of Franzrit.
Faijashi, now materialized, frowned as he looked at the gate.
-A dragon…
‘Probably remains.’
-That’s likely. But surprising. Were there dragon remains in Infermur?
‘Never heard of such a thing.’
No matter how old the event, if dragon remains had been discovered, he would have remembered it in his past life.
The Infermur he remembered was merely a “forward port of the Franzrit bloodline.” If there were dragon remains or if they had been used for something, there would have been records.
‘If their plan was the same before our intervention, shouldn’t we assume the dragon remains were in conflict with the Guimerin royal family?’
-The Guimerin royal family abandoned the port because of a dragon?
‘That’s highly likely. The picture is becoming clearer now.’
-Sssss.
Fernandez tapped the sealed gate, lost in thought. Dragon remains.
-Sssss…
As Fernandez worked, the red chains binding the gate began to snap one by one.
[Vision of Secrets], a relic specialized in analyzing magic. No matter how intricate the seal, Fernandez, armed with the answers, couldn’t be stopped.
-Snap…
The last chain binding the seal broke. Fernandez smiled and pushed the gate open.
-Whoosh.
A gust of turbid magical energy surged from the deep underground. The seal had been preventing the leakage of magic.
Probably to deceive the elves’ sensitive senses. As the magic dispersed, a dark staircase appeared before him.
‘Dragon remains. Tempting.’
-The dragon’s bones… The hyoid and posterior suprahyoid are quite useful. Good.
Fernandez slowly descended the stairs.
Kirhas was hiding in an alley. The “strange guy” she had secretly been tailing was definitely alone at first, but before she knew it, the alleys were teeming with them.
‘Uh, uh… Should I contact Your Excellency? Is it too early?’
These “strange guys”—suspicious figures wrapped in rags, wielding glowing blue daggers—hadn’t done anything particularly heretical yet.
If she called Fernandez and caused a scene, only to find out they were just starving commoners, how could she face him?
Kirhas gripped the incense burner in her pocket and glared at them.
The alley was dark, but the Myoin tribe had superior night vision. This level of darkness was easier to see through than broad daylight.
“C’eaxi? Cohic, Oraion?”
They were conversing in a language she had never heard before. If it were Your Excellency, he would have known what it meant and explained it, but Kirhas drooped her ears in frustration.
No matter how much knowledge she accumulated in the Inquisition Office’s archives, she could never match Fernandez’s wisdom.
No matter how much swordsmanship she learned from the Heretica brothers, with Fernandez being “Diemonica,” it wasn’t easy to support him with just combat skills.
‘Am I useless?’
It was the same during the last mission, “Breaking the Chains.” How useless must she have been for him to send her away to safety while he single-handedly dealt with the enemies?
Later, when she read the report, she learned that in those few short days, Your Excellency had dealt with a lich, werewolves, and even the leader of a heretical sect.
“Oraion! Drako Un muck wit Vampirr!”
Then, the “strange guy” shouted loudly. Kirhas snapped back to attention and focused ahead. From deep within the alley, a large man emerged.
The man was only wearing pants, his muscular torso covered in intricate blue tattoos.
He dragged a thin, impoverished-looking man by the neck.
‘What’s he doing?’
“Vampirr? Huh! Crac un wit mact!”
-Crunch!
The man snapped the poor man’s neck. The man died without even a groan.
The man threw the corpse to the “strange guys,” who began hacking at it with their blue daggers.
Soon, the corpse began to emit a bright blue…
