Ancient Flying Dragon and Hui Xin Ge

"Mommy, what is a dragon?"

"Dragons are the most powerful creatures in the world. They are strong, wise, and long-lived. Their starting point is the end point for many other creatures."

"Wow, Warrior Country with Dragon Knight must be the strongest nation, right?"

"No, what those people tamed were just impure dragons. They were short, irritable, and even lacked intelligence. They were incomparable to dragons."

Mom, you're lying to me.

Looking at the Ancient Flying Dragon that appeared before her, Serena couldn't help but recall the stories her mother had told her when she was a child.

At that time, she naively thought that the so-called dragon was really as terrible as her mother described, just a large flying lizard.

However, she now saw something that overturned her previous impression of dragons.

[Ancient Flying Dragon]

The dragon's gray scales were layered like rock strata, and its surface was covered with scorch marks like volcanic ash. The erect spikes made it look ferocious and dangerous.

Its skull was jagged as if cleaved by a knife and axe, and its fangs were interlocked like sharp blades; its entire body exuded terror.

Of course, the most important point to mention is its size.

Its enormous size, which blots out the sky and resembles a giant mountain, amplified the oppressive feeling of all the aforementioned features many times over!

Standing before the Ancient Flying Dragon, Serena felt as if she were only as tall as one of its sharp teeth, and that it could blow her away with a single breath.

Mom, is this the short, flying dragon you were talking about?

"Aww!"

The Ancient Flying Dragon opened its ferocious maw and roared, charging towards Serena like a moving mountain.

Okay, Mom did have some truth to her words; at least it's true that Feilong is very irritable!

When something dangerous is rushing towards you, your brain will subconsciously control your body to run backward. Even though running to the side or sides would give you a better chance of survival, many people will ignore this in a critical moment.

Serena was now driven by her survival instincts and was running straight behind her. Of course, her two legs were no match for the Ancient Flying Dragon, and she was caught up in the blink of an eye!

"Ah!"

She lost her footing and fell to the ground just as she was about to be bitten!

She can stand up straight when facing snake people, but it's not shameful for her to be a little scared when facing Ancient Flying Dragon!

But the fall actually saved her, allowing her to narrowly escape the first wave of attacks from the Ancient Flying Dragon. The Ancient Flying Dragon's enormous size meant that its charge could not be stopped freely. Even though the attack had not hit Serena, it still lurched forward a distance before finally coming to a stop.

By the time they turned around, the Princess had already gotten up from the ground and run away into the distance.

Why did you turn around so quickly?

Serena was running at her fastest speed when she suddenly realized that the battlefield was terrifyingly large. She had run to the edge of the field and there was no fog to block her way. There were no Fog Gate on the buildings next to her, only a giant snake-man wielding a large axe guarding the area.

Her gaze sharpened, she gritted her teeth and charged towards the giant axe that could have cleaved her in two. She narrowly avoided the snake-man's attack and successfully entered the building.

The building was small and could not withstand the Ancient Flying Dragon's attack. Before she could even catch her breath, she felt the earth shake as the Ancient Flying Dragon crashed into the building, causing the entire area to tremble.

Serena had no intention of hiding here. If she were an adventurer, even if she knew she couldn't defeat the Ancient Flying Dragon, she would try her best to find a way to win, even if it was just a tiny bit.

Another tremor followed as the Ancient Flying Dragon's claws tore through the top of the building, and its head burst in, spewing flames that turned the entire building into a furnace of inferno!

A commotion erupted from another path connecting to the building. Serena was fighting with several snake-men blocking her way; she had somehow managed to escape from the building.

This was part of her plan: to use the architecture to attract the attention of the Ancient Flying Dragon, giving her as much time as possible to explore the site.

This is the first time I've seen such a large space in the Zane Dungeon. Based on my intuition developed from reading so much written intelligence, such a large space must be hiding some secret; it can't just be large in size.

However, to her surprise, she would encounter so many snake people here.

Four snake-men were blocking the narrow road, and a snake-man mage was casting fireball magic in the distance. Behind them, Ancient Flying Dragon was struggling and thrashing about, ready to break free at any moment.

This scene truly resembles a painting of hell; without fighting, one cannot survive, nor can one traverse the narrow paths blocked by snake people.

At the end of the road are various buildings built against towering mountains, connected by vertical staircases that seem to be climbable.

Serena was very curious about what she would see once she climbed up, so she was determined to get past these snake people!

"It's about to start! Drink up!"

"Thump—"

Within seconds, she was knocked to the ground by a fireball released by the snake-man mage.

"Why do fireballs travel at different speeds?"

The snake-men stretched out their necks and bit her limbs. Before she could enjoy the same treatment as Shang Yang, the Ancient Flying Dragon broke free and burned Serena and the snake-men to ashes with a scorching flame from top to bottom.

"Ughhhh!"

Having just revived at the campfire, Serena let out a scream.

She fell to the ground, clutching her arms tightly, her body trembling as if she were still trapped in a sea of fire.

This is a normal neurological reaction. You can't expect someone who died in flames one second to recover the next.

Anyone who thinks that dying and being resurrected in a dungeon will exempt them from all suffering has never been to a dungeon and has taken the adventurer's efforts for granted.

Even an adventurer like Leon, who is definitely a veteran, is not exempt from this situation, and he would never throw his life away for no reason.

After struggling and suffering for a long time, Serena gradually calmed down. Her whole body was covered in sweat, and her face was pale. She felt as if she had just received a brief trial card for the Flame Fist.

The pain of death is an experience every adventurer must go through.

"So this is what adventure is like—it's so torturous!"

She sat on the ground, panting heavily, when she suddenly remembered that she had once posted a quest, wanting adventurers to help her hunt the Furious Rajang and make a coat from its pelt.

"Now that I think about it, I really feel bad for the adventurers who accepted my commission. I feel like I didn't pay them enough."

After resting for a while, she finally decided to stand up. It didn't seem like much time had passed, and Fingel and the others still hadn't come in, so she would have to continue exploring on her own.

This little difficulty cannot defeat her!

Using the same trick again, she secretly followed the coded language to the Fog Gate where she would fight the Ancient Flying Dragon. This time, she learned her lesson and wouldn't touch any of the lights. The ancient Ancient Dragon Painted Greatshield was still lying quietly not far away.

Hawkwood's summoning talisman appeared before the Fog Gate. Serena knew this man, whom the adventurers called "Hui Xin Ge"—a nickname given to him by the adventurers because he always said discouraging things.

"I heard he used to be a member of the Farron Undead Legion, but I wonder how strong he really is."

Since they are members of that undead army, they must be very strong, right?

With this thought in mind, she waited until the snake people around her had left before she chose to summon them.

Before long, Hawkwood's spirit form slowly appeared. Except for not wearing a pointed hat, his attire was no different from that of the Farron Undead Legion.

"Hello, hello." Serena suddenly felt a little nervous because Hawkwood exuded a cold aura.

The other party looked somewhat different from his image in the Painting World. In the Painting World, he was always dejected, but at the Archdragon Peak, he exuded a resolute aura, as if he had decided to do something and was forging ahead without hesitation.

"Um."

Hawkwood nodded indifferently, and the snake-men beside him, attracted by the commotion, rushed over in one go.

Serena immediately tried to cast an invisibility spell on both of them, but he refused.

He roughly counted the number of snake-men and found that not a single one was missing, meaning that Serena hadn't killed a single snake-man.

In that instant, Serena saw pity in the other person's eyes.

That's right, it wasn't disdain for her low strength, but utter pity, as if asking, "Why did you come to a place like this if you're so weak?"

She couldn't refute it and could only lower her head in shame.

Hawkwood's swordsmanship was superb from the start, each move displaying the spirit of the Undead Legion. Even when a snake-man with Shield Poke spear appeared before him, he could still circle behind him with ghostly movements and slash him down.

The strength of the Hui Xin Ge is so great that he can easily contend with the giant snake-man wielding a large axe!

These snake-men were no match for Hawkwood.

Serena's eyes sparkled as if she had seen Avatar.

However, the Zane Dungeon has introduced a more reasonable reward distribution system, which is based on the performance of each adventurer during the adventure.

Serena did not contribute at all in the current battle against the snake people, and in some ways even dragged Hawkwood down. In the end, she only received a pitiful two-digit number of souls, and even the appearance rate of the light spots decreased significantly.

If she continues like this in the battle against the Ancient Flying Dragon, she probably won't even get one-tenth of the original reward.

"Walk."

Having dealt with the snake-men, Hawkwood coldly uttered a single word and, without waiting to see if Serena could keep up, stepped into the Fog Gate.

Serena quickly followed.

The Ancient Flying Dragon descended from the sky once more, the tremors from its fall causing her to sway, but Hawkwood remained as immovable as a mountain.

"Am I supposed to fight here? Should I move further away? How should I fight? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Hawkwood, who had been keeping a straight face, had his lips twitch slightly from the barrage of questions.

He stared intently at the Ancient Flying Dragon's movements, and the moment it descended from the sky, he moved.

Instead of attacking the monster, he turned around from under it and ran behind it.

Upon sensing a stronger opponent, the Ancient Flying Dragon turned to attack Hawkwood.

Hawkwood ran up the high platform in the arena, but that wasn't enough. He used the mountain wall to run to an even higher place, and the moment the Ancient Flying Dragon lowered its head and charged, he jumped towards it!

In the blink of an eye, he leaped onto the head of the Ancient Flying Dragon, and the Farron Greatsword plunged into the dragon's skull!

"Roar--"

The Ancient Flying Dragon let out a miserable cry, its roar echoing across the Archdragon Peak, causing the snake people outside to freeze for a moment.

The attack on its head, its weak point, caused its life force to rapidly diminish, until Hawkwood jumped off its head and its life force was reduced to zero.

Wait, it seems like there's still half left?

Serena was about to cheer like a proper cheerleader, encouraging Hawkwood to seize the opportunity and finish off the dragon.

However, something happened that completely surprised her.

Hawkwood glanced at her, pulled out a black crystal, and used it without hesitation.

Black Separation Crystal

[Granting a farewell certificate to an undead Exile allows the summoned spirit to return to its original world, or allows the exile to return from another world to its original world.]

However, if one cherishes the bonds between people, this tool should not be used lightly.

The other person left while Serena stared blankly at them.

She and the Ancient Flying Dragon were left staring at each other.

"They left?"