After the Magic Tide

What now?

Linden was truly dumbfounded.

No matter how he looked at it, the Dragonkin before him had to be that Ancient Dragon's daughter, right?

That's right, daughter. Linden had checked just now.

The Dragonkin was covered in thick, massive scales, and her features could pass for either male or female. He really hadn't been able to tell before.

But those were minor details.

The problem now was that Fusion Parasitism couldn't be undone...

Her current state was similar to Dylan's. She had been parasitized, but was only one step away from becoming a Puppet.

Would it still be in time if he sent her back through the other Rift?

"Your kid's only half-parasitized. I'm sending her back now!"

Ha... Linden could already imagine his true body being sliced into four pieces by dragon claws, then separately burned, frozen, smashed, and melted.

Come to think of it, where was the Ancient Dragon's true body?

The Deep Zone?

Probably not. Though he had no relevant information, the Monsters emerging from the Rift were far too different from those in the Amethyst Dungeon.

It was probably some other Monster gathering place, perhaps even another Dungeon?

He would ask Dylan later.

If it was another Dungeon, could that Ancient Dragon find a way out?

The Electric Arc that had appeared in the Dungeon earlier had repelled the dragon claw, but the Ancient Dragon had suffered only a minor injury. It hadn't seemed to be going all out.

If it truly had a way to break through the Dungeon's rules, then even hiding on the Fifth Floor might not keep him safe.

No matter what, being targeted by an Ancient Dragon was far too terrifying.

Fortunately, things hadn't reached the point of no return yet.

For now, it was only parasitism. She hadn't been turned into a Puppet yet!

Besides, the Ancient Dragon probably didn't know her daughter's exact condition yet.

There was still room to make things right!

There was... right?

"Wow... this is awful..."

Dylan, who had just returned to Mute Wind Town, was somewhat frightened by the sight before him.

Charred roof beams and shattered walls leaned against each other, while broken support pillars had speared diagonally into neighboring rooftops.

The once-bustling streets had become an endless expanse of rubble. Even the Adventurer Guild hall built from granite had been reduced to a few pillars jutting starkly toward the sky.

More than half the town had been destroyed.

As he walked down the street, a sickening stickiness clung to the soles of his boots. The ground was covered in congealed blood, and it was impossible to tell whether it came from Monsters or humans.

There were also corpses everywhere, along with people handling them.

After the Magic Tide crisis, the United Kingdom and the Adventurer Guild had jointly issued reconstruction quests.

Most of the people here had come after accepting those quests.

At the center of town, the headless corpse of a gigantic Three-Headed Snake lay sprawled across the road.

A ring of venom surrounded the snake's corpse, and no one present dared deal with it.

He had heard that the president of the Relic Association had arrived alone ahead of everyone else.

Only then had he killed most of the Monsters that had already broken into town and wreaked havoc, preventing the disaster from spreading further.

Even so, many townspeople had been killed or injured, and the Adventurers had suffered even worse.

He had heard that fewer than one-fifth of the Adventurers assigned to guard the gates had survived.

Good thing he had listened to the Boss and hadn't stayed here, instead going elsewhere to investigate the Duke's Daughter.

Otherwise, with his meager strength, he would probably have been among the dead.

It was foreseeable that even if Mute Wind Town was rebuilt, it would be countless times more desolate than before.

As he continued onward, a relatively intact building appeared before Dylan, leaving him clicking his tongue in wonder.

"Rotten Willow Tavern actually survived!"

It wasn't completely unscathed, of course. One of the tavern's walls had collapsed, and there were obvious burn marks around it.

But compared with the ruins next door, it was practically a miracle!

Dylan entered the tavern, intending to check the damage inside, only to find someone already there.

"Cole! You actually ran back so quickly?"

The tavern owner glanced up at the newcomer. Seeing that it was Dylan, he snorted disdainfully and lowered his head to continue repairing the broken-legged chair in his hands.

"Don't tell me you never ran at all?"

Only then did Cole reply, "At my age, why would I run? If the tavern's gone, you might as well kill me outright."

Dylan gave him a thumbs-up in admiration. What a ruthless old man.

His luck was absurd too, surviving something like this.

"But with the town in this state, how much business can you possibly have?"

Cole looked unconcerned as he rubbed his bulbous nose.

"As long as the Amethyst Dungeon is still here, this place will return to normal sooner or later."

"So we can go into the Dungeon now?"

"What are you thinking? Of course not. The announcement said the Dungeon will remain sealed for another half month."

Dylan smacked his lips. So he had to stay up here for another half month?

The other things didn't matter much. The key issue was that he was running low on money.

He had only brought five gold coins when he set out, yet who could have expected to be stuck outside for so long?

Drinking Mana Potions every day had nearly emptied his pockets.

He missed the Mycelium Coffin Lid in the Dungeon...

Dylan walked to the counter, casually picked up a wooden cup, and scooped himself some liquor from the barrel beneath the counter.

"Isn't there any profitable work around here right now?"

"Profitable work? Aren't those people outside doing it?"

"Ahh—" The cheap liquor slid down his throat, its over-fermented sourness making the hairs on the back of his neck rise pleasantly. "Cole, you know I don't mean that kind of odd job."

Cole stopped his carpentry work and turned to look Dylan up and down.

"What? Short on money?"

Dylan nodded. "I'm strapped. Desperately."

"Then..." Cole glanced around. There was no one else in the tavern besides them. "There is something you can help me with."

The wooden trapdoor let out a sour creak as Dylan followed Cole into the cellar.

The two stopped before a large wine barrel.

"Help me transport these to Fisher Sail Port. I'll give you three gold coins upfront, and the contact will give you another seven when it's done. How about it?"

As he spoke, Cole lifted the barrel lid. Inside were Monster materials and weapons and equipment, most of them still stained with dark red blood.

The foul smell from the pile made Dylan lean back slightly. "Old man, you're even profiting off the dead?"

Clearly, these had been stripped from dead Monsters and Adventurers. It was blatant illegal activity.

"Just tell me whether you'll do it!"

"I'll do it. Why wouldn't I?"

If he didn't make money soon, he would die from mana exhaustion.

"But there's so much of it. I can't carry it all out by myself. Don't tell me you're arranging a carriage and having me take the main road?"

Cole sealed the barrel again.

"Of course we're not taking the main road. Come back tonight. Four people, one bag each, through the western forest."

"Wouldn't we still risk running into Monsters that were missed?"

"Why else would I pay you ten gold coins? Charity?"

Dylan nodded. The tavern owner had a point.

When Dylan left the Rotten Willow Tavern, he already had three more gold coins in his pocket. He was going to buy a Mana Potion for the road first.

What Dylan didn't know was that a Human Skin Book emitting faint magical fluctuations was also mixed in with the stolen goods Cole had shown him.