Dungeon

A map? Save that for last. From what she said, it was even more valuable than all the treasure and equipment on her.

Garos glanced at the scattered coins she had taken out, then fixed his gaze on the Rogue.

"If I kill you, all these things will be mine anyway."

He said, "You're trying to trade with me using my own belongings? That hardly seems enough to buy your life."

The Rogue knelt on the scorched ground, holding up a yellowed parchment map with trembling hands. She had already removed her leather armor, and her undershirt was soaked through with cold sweat. Blood splashed from her companions still stained the corner of her forehead.

Under the moonlight, the edges of the map in her hands faintly gleamed with metal, like anti-counterfeiting patterns woven from Mithril threads. It was clearly not something an ordinary adventurer could possess.

"If you kill me, you'll only obtain an ordinary map. It requires a special method to reveal the route."

The Rogue begged, "I ask for nothing else. I only hope to survive. Please forgive my earlier offense."

Garos did not answer. His tail lightly curled around the map. The edges of every dragon scale were sharp as blades, yet under his control, they fit tightly together without damaging it.

Garos picked up the map with a claw and examined it carefully.

It was covered in chaotic threads, with no trace of anything resembling a map, as if it had been encrypted somehow.

"Raise your head. Look directly at me."

"Tell me, where did a low-level adventurer like you get clues about a Legendary Realm alchemical item?"

Garos asked.

Though he was a Hatchling Dragon, his words already carried an unquestionable authority that made the Rogue instinctively raise her head.

This was an innately powerful evil dragon that was still in its hatchling stage. Our luck was terrible to encounter such a dragon. The Rogue trembled beneath the Red Iron Dragonet's black draconic eyes and said, "It happened like this."

She recounted what had happened in a halting manner.

Her fear had made her words somewhat disordered, but Garos still understood the general course of events.

In short.

The Rogue had stolen this map from a novice adventurer in a tavern through Seduction and Theft.

While drunk.

The novice adventurer had bragged that the map concerned the whereabouts of a Legendary Realm alchemical item. It came from the lost Duergar dungeon, and the place marked on it was Malnes—the site of the former dungeon.

Within Malnes Dungeon lay the buried corpses of tens of thousands of Duergar.

Its fall was said to have been caused by an out-of-control Legendary Realm alchemical item, which had also been lost within the Duergar dungeon.

Malnes, the Duergar dungeon.

It had indeed existed, and it had once flourished, producing many powerful weapons and pieces of equipment. Even now, a few ancient items still remained in circulation.

But after the passage of time.

With Malnes's destruction, it was buried beneath the earth, and few people knew where this dungeon was actually located.

News of the Legendary Realm alchemical item continued to attract many adventurers, but none had gained anything because they could not find Malnes's location.

At first, the Rogue had not believed that the novice adventurer's map recorded the location of Malnes Dungeon.

But later, a count in her city-state had flown into a rage and issued a wanted notice.

Only then did she learn that the adventurer was the count's son.

Obsessed with adventure stories, the count's son had stolen the map from home and wanted to form a party to explore the place. Then reality had dealt him a harsh blow.

Before he had even left the city or assembled a party, the Rogue had swiped both his purse and map. If not for the crowded tavern and all the chatter, he probably would not even have kept his underwear.

Garos shook the map and said, "What you're saying sounds like an elusive story rather than the truth."

His inherited knowledge had mentioned the existence of the Duergar dungeon.

It was a dungeon buried in the tide of history. That much was true.

As for the cause of its destruction, there were many different accounts.

For example.

It had touched upon the true essence of Alchemy, offended the gods, and been destroyed by divine punishment.

Among the many bizarre theories, the explanation that an out-of-control Legendary Realm alchemical item had destroyed it was actually one of the more credible ones.

As for the Duergar.

This intelligent race belonged to the Dwarves. They possessed Dwarven strength and outstanding talent in forging, but their temperament was entirely different from that of ordinary Dwarves. They were sinister and vicious, hated most races, and were generally unwelcome among all other intelligent beings. They lived in dungeons year-round.

At the same time.

The Rogue hurriedly swore, "I swear upon the peace of my dead companions! I swear upon my own grandfather and grandmother! There is not a single lie in what I said!"

Garos grinned. "You know that the price of deceiving a dragon is ten times more terrifying than death."

He looked at the Rogue and tossed the map back to her.

"Show me where the dungeon is."

At that, the Rogue hesitated.

This was her only bargaining chip with the dragon before her. She did not want to surrender it so easily.

After thinking for a moment, the Rogue put on a humble, ingratiating smile and asked tentatively, "Honored dragon, once you know the dungeon's coordinates, will you forgive my offense?"

An offense?

Garos did not care about that.

He smiled and said, "I swear upon my mother's name that I do not care about your offense. I will allow you to leave my territory unharmed. A weak being like you is not worth my concern, whether dead or alive."

The situation was plain before her.

The Rogue had no room to bargain, and she feared angering the evil dragon before her, so she agreed and flattered him. "I believe your promise. A dragon's promise is more precious than gemstones. For an outstanding dragon like you, a single word is worth more than ten thousand gold."

Then.

Holding the map, the Rogue walked to an open patch of ground under Garos's watchful gaze. She raised the map toward the moonlight, then violently tore it apart.

The fragments scattered through the air, yet none fell to the ground.

They danced and spun in midair before gathering together once more, becoming a brand-new map.

Garos picked it up and looked again.

Part of the Wilderness terrain was etched upon it, including the Iron Fir Hills, wastelands, lakes, and forests. The depiction was exquisite and detailed. In the southeastern corner, a circle had been drawn with silver thread as a special marker.

"According to the map, Malnes Dungeon lies beneath an abandoned mine."

The Rogue said ingratiatingly, "With your strength and wisdom, you will surely obtain the Legendary Realm alchemical item and become a mighty dragon whose name shakes the Wilderness."

Garos stared at the map without acknowledging her. He merely waved a claw at her. Samantha also curiously stretched out her head to look, her gaze falling on the map.

The Rogue slowly backed away.

Garos glanced at her but did not stop her.

Seeing that he had no intention of preventing her from leaving, the Rogue turned and vanished into the thick night. Then she fled for her life without daring to stop for even a moment, weaving between the enormous Iron Firs across the hills.