Where Did This Dragon Come From?

Mute Wind Town, Adventurer Guild branch.

Mirabelle burst into the Guild President's office.

Oberon shot an annoyed glance at his head of intelligence and reprimanded her:

"You didn't even knock. Why are you panicking like this?"

"B-Bad news..." Mirabelle panted heavily as she spoke in broken fragments. "The Detection Crystal... detected... intense magic power..."

"It detected powerful magical fluctuations?"

Mirabelle stammered, so Oberon simply finished it for her.

"That just means the Magic Tide erupted two days early. What's there to make such a fuss over?"

Oberon looked as though everything was under control now, completely lacking the anxiety he had shown when he first learned of the Magic Tide.

The two cities near Mute Wind Town—Fisher Sail Port and Norwid—had both agreed to send troops to suppress the Magic Tide.

By the time they arrived in Mute Wind Town, it would only take two or three days at most.

Magic Tides had always started weak before growing stronger. Even if it erupted now, the pressure during the first few days would not be too severe.

He had recruited a large number of Adventurers beforehand. They should be more than enough to deal with the Monsters that emerged during the first few days.

By the time the Magic Tide developed into something the Adventurers could not handle, the army should have arrived long ago.

There was no need to panic at all.

Mirabelle was still too inexperienced, it seemed.

Oberon shook his head slightly, looking disappointed in Mirabelle's performance.

He elegantly lifted the porcelain cup from his desk and took a sip of freshly brewed hot tea.

But Mirabelle apparently was not done yet. She continued hesitantly:

"N-Not just magical fluctuations... there's also Resonance!"

"Cough, cough—"

Oberon coughed out all the tea he had just swallowed and instinctively retorted:

"Impossible! If another Dungeon had a Magic Tide, headquarters wouldn't have failed to notify me!"

"It's not a Dungeon within the United Kingdom," Mirabelle said urgently after finally catching her breath. "It's Dragon Cliff Dungeon in the Hermit Empire!"

!!!

Dragon Cliff Dungeon, one of the six Dungeons in this world, was located in the far north of the Hermit Empire, near the wastelands.

The Monsters inside were primarily Sub-Dragons, and their strength far surpassed that of Amethyst Dungeon.

Resonance referred to the internal spaces of two Dungeons undergoing Magic Tides at the same time becoming connected.

Under such circumstances, the saying that "the Magic Tide is not very strong in its first few days" no longer applied.

Because the first floor on one side might connect directly to the Deep Zone on the other.

The other dangers of Resonance depended on what Dungeon it connected to.

This time, it had resonated with Dragon Cliff Dungeon, which was far stronger than Amethyst Dungeon. It was obviously an extremely dangerous situation.

"B-But how is that possible? They're separated by more than half the continent!" Oberon still refused to believe it.

"Guild President!

Dungeon Resonance has nothing to do with distance! What matters now is that we come up with a solution!

Adventurers who haven't made the proper preparations will collapse at the first encounter with Sub-Dragons!"

Mirabelle spoke rapidly, looking as though she had gone frantic with panic.

If the Magic Tide really destroyed Mute Wind Town, neither she nor Oberon would escape blame.

"Y-You, deploy every available force in the Guild.

Have Logistics bring out every anti-dragon item and send them all to the entrance!

I'll contact the troops immediately and tell them to hurry their march."

Mirabelle nodded and was about to leave, but Oberon grabbed her again.

"Right, don't announce the Resonance. Just make sure our people take the equipment."

"..."

A trace of fear entered Mirabelle's gaze as she looked at Oberon.

She understood that he was doing this to stop the Adventurers from "retreating in the face of danger."

For now, it seemed like the right choice.

But... how ruthless!

The completely uninformed Adventurers would undoubtedly suffer terrible casualties when faced with the sudden change in the Magic Tide.

Oberon intended to use their lives to hold back this Magic Tide...

"Break out of the Dungeon... destroy..."

Get lost!

Linden cast aside the vague voice that had suddenly appeared in his mind.

Were Dungeon Monsters influenced by that thing?

The voice was rather magnetic.

But it did not seem to affect him.

Compared to that voice, the Monster that had appeared on the Fifth Floor made Linden far more uneasy.

A dragon!

You've got to be kidding me?

When that head fully emerged from the Rift, Linden felt like his entire Mushroom self was falling apart.

Are there dragons in the Deep Zone?

How did I not know that?

But once the "dragon's" full body appeared, Linden actually sighed in relief.

It was not a dragon.

It was a four-legged Monster that resembled a dragon but was not quite one.

When he opened the Panel, its identity was displayed as well.

[Race: Sub-Dragon—Blade-Tail Whip Dragon]

[Level: LV42]

Sub-Dragon was a fairly broad classification.

Any Monster with even a trace of dragon bloodline could be placed under it.

I thought it was a true dragon. That scared the hell out of me.

But even a Sub-Dragon was not weak. Its scales alone granted it LV5 Magic Resistance.

His Mushroom Cannons would be greatly weakened against it.

So, what would this Sub-Dragon do?

Attack him?

Or charge straight toward the upper floors?

The Blade-Tail Whip Dragon's tail extended segment by segment. Its dark red scales lifted slightly, while the Bone Blades along both sides spread fully outward.

When every joint had completely unfolded, that tail, originally only two meters long, extended into a blood-red whip more than ten meters in length.

It twisted its hips, and the long whip lashed toward the Pujis.

Fortunately, Linden had been prepared.

[Assault Ejection LV5]

The Pujis all leaped backward together, dodging the tail whip.

No wonder it was called a Blade-Tail Whip Dragon. The name was certainly fitting.

But they still had to fight after all!

Just as the Blade-Tail Whip Dragon finished swinging its tail, the Pujis' Mushroom Cannons landed on its body.

Its massive five-meter-long body made it nearly impossible for the Pujis to miss.

Over a hundred Mushroom Cannon shots slammed into it. Even with its highly resistant scales—

After a single barrage, the Blade-Tail Whip Dragon's scales had exploded apart, and half its body had become a bloody mess. It could only howl weakly on the verge of death.

To be honest, Linden did not lack firepower.

Compared to it, those two agility-focused Orcs of a similar level had been much harder to deal with.

But there was nothing to be proud of, because this was clearly only the beginning.

Two more Sub-Dragons of different species charged out of the Rift.

One of them actually had wings and shot into the air the instant it emerged.

Judging by that speed, it was the agility type Linden hated...

As Monsters poured out in an endless stream, the battle quickly reached a fever pitch.

And this was only at the prepared entrance.

On the other side, the Rift guarded by only thirty Pujis was in much worse shape.

A two-headed Sub-Dragon crawled out. The Pujis tried to attack it, but their Mushroom Cannons were canceled out by the flames spewing from its dragon mouths.

Two nearby Pujis were roasted black on the spot.

Just as Linden thought this side was about to fall immediately, a black shadow suddenly shot out from the Rift and landed on the Sub-Dragon's back.

Two claws fiercely clamped down on the Sub-Dragon's twin necks. Its knuckles directly crushed the scales around their necks, and blood streamed between its claws.

Then its sharp claws pulled the Sub-Dragon's necks upward. No matter how the two-headed dragon twisted and spewed flames, it was useless. In the end, both heads were forcibly torn off!

Too violent...

Linden could finally make out what that thing looked like.

It had a humanoid body, but it was covered in scales with a texture somewhere between cold iron and black jade. Folded dragon wings lay along its spine, and a massive tail dragged behind it.

Beneath the scales covering its cheeks, he could make out facial features roughly resembling those of a human.

[Race: Dragonkin]

[Level: LV58]

The Dragonkin's nostrils twitched slightly as its golden vertical pupils looked toward the Pujis in the distance.

It saw the Pujis' plump, soft bodies, then lowered its head to look at the hard Sub-Dragon heads in its hands.

The two Sub-Dragon heads were tossed to the ground like garbage.

The next second, the Dragonkin crossed more than ten meters, scooped up a struggling Puji, opened its mouth to reveal two rows of sharp teeth, and bit down eagerly—