I looked over the burning crater again, this time together with the girls. Thick smoke was rising from it, and it was so bad that Lin Yixin let out a cute yelp of surprise, put a hand on my shoulder to support herself, and coughed repeatedly.

"Ugh!"

Pressing her lips into a thin line and supporting Lin Yixin, He Yi said, "Is it okay if we stay here while you head down to grab the loot, Lu Chen? This is just too much for us. Also please refresh your buffs on your idol, Beauty Guanyue. It would suck to win the boss fight only to die to environmental damage…"

Pure Love let out a giggle of acknowledgement before refreshing all the buffs on my person. Finally, she dropped Lesser Restoration and said, "Come back alive after you grab the loot, Lu Chen!"

I nodded. "Don’t worry. I will!"

I took out an Earth-grade sword from my bag and held it in my left hand. Then, I jumped into the burning dragon’s lair. The walls of the crater were almost perpendicular to the ground, so I was able to thrust the Chill of the Nine Provinces into it and use it to slow down my fall. It wasn’t exactly effective because the blade cut through the wall like tofu, but that was why I had taken out the Earth-grade sword beforehand. I kept alternating between the two weapons until I descended to the bottom of the dragon’s lair.

What I wasn’t expecting was for the dragon’s lair to be so deep that it took me almost five minutes to reach the bottom. When I finally passed through the thick miasma that was blocking my vision completely, I was greeted by the shocking sight that was the Nine-headed Fire Hydra’s body. I had thought that the blood-red eyes I saw at the beginning belonged to one of its heads, but no, they were actually on its back. It never shut its hateful eyes even after it died. I couldn’t help but feel nervous about it.

……

Thud!

After I landed on my Ghost Spirit War Boots, I slowly strode toward the shiny pile of equipment, gemstones and so on directly beneath the boss's body. I would never have descended to this god-forsaken place if it wasn’t for them.

It was truly a disgusting place. After I reached the boss, I had to crawl for a bit in order to push away the broken scales and rotten meat sitting on top of the loot. I nearly gagged when an unbelievably horrible stench wafted from it. Now that I thought about it, the boss hadn’t left this place since the day it moved here. This meant that it peed and shat right at this spot, and it hadn’t bathed for god knows how long. If this was real life, the smell alone could send anyone to the heavens.

Ding!

Suddenly, my Chill of the Nine Provinces hit something. It was then I noticed that a thick chain passing beneath its stomach. The chain had fallen apart after my accidental contact with it, but I quickly discovered a dozen more chains wrapped around the boss's entire body. I didn’t quite understand what was going on here, but it looked like someone had trapped the boss's body here somehow.

Well, it was none of my business. I was here for the loot, and I couldn’t care less if the boss was imprisoned here or not!

I finally saw the pile of loot after I crawled all the way to the center. It was an invigorating sight. The boss only dropped three pieces of equipment—a dazzling moon-colored necklace, a small and exquisite dragon-shaped ring, and a sword that burned like fire—but I could tell that they were all extraordinary. I dumped them all into my bag and grabbed all the gems and magic stones it dropped as well. The boss fight had consumed a large portion of my consumables, so I now had enough space to fit everything.

It was at this moment He Yi’s worried voice came from the party channel. "Is it safe down there, Lu Chen?"

I replied with a smile, "Don’t worry, Eve. There are no dangers down here. The boss dropped a ring, a necklace and a sword, and I’m almost certain that either you or Yiyi are going to be able to replace your main weapons. Anyway, talk to you after I get out of this place. It stinks like you wouldn’t believe, and I don’t feel like sharing the equipment stats while being pinned under a mountain of rotten meat."

"Okay! Come back soon!" My beautiful guild leader beamed at me.

……

By the time I finally crawled out from the Nine-headed Fire Hydra’s stomach, my face was covered in dust, and my battle garment was almost blood-drenched. When I looked up, I saw that there was a gigantic pool of clear water just in front of me. Don’t ask me how a well-spring could exist in a crater like this, but it had to be where the hydra drank its water. I strode right into it so I could wash away the bloodstains on my body. It would be disgusting to meet the girls as I was otherwise.

While I was doing some impromptu bathing, I suddenly noticed that I was stepping on a couple of chains. There 17 of them in total, and some of them passed right through the Nine-headed Fire Hydra’s heart. All the chains were connected to something I couldn’t see on the other side of the pool of clear water. They were the reason the Nine-headed Fire Hydra was trapped here.

I walked over curiously. I wonder what it was that pinned down this mountain of meat.

As it turned out, it wasn’t a thing, but a person. When I circled around the wall, a rotten stench blew against my face and made me gag. I was shocked when I saw the source of the stench, however.

The end of the 17 chains was a human standing atop of a small stone platform. If I wasn’t mistaken, the chains had wrapped around his entire body three times, and he was holding the end of the chains with his left hand and a rusted sword with his right. The sword was also plunged all the way to the handle into the stone wall next to him. As far as i could tell, this guy was the entire reason the Nine-headed Fire Hydra’s body was trapped in this crater. Just how strong was he when he was still alive?

I said ‘was’, because this man was clearly dead. His body had rotted away completely, his eyes were empty and lightless, his hair clung to his skin like leeches, and his armor looked like they would fall apart at the slightest movement.

……

"Unbelievable…"

I shivered a little as I muttered to myself, "I don’t know a human could be this strong…"

To my shock, the human actually raised his head and stared at me with its empty eyes. He then asked in a deep tone, "Am… am I hearing a human? Are you human?"

I gripped my sword tighter and replied solemnly, "Yes. I am an adventurer of Silver Moon Alliance. And you are?"

"Silver Moon Alliance?" He trembled uncontrollably. "That is an old name alright. To think that the Silver Moon Alliance still exists after all these years… I’m sorry, but may I know how Princess Fia is doing right now?"

I hesitated for only a moment. "Princess Fia passed away a hundred thousand years ago, sir…"

"What?!"

He sounded incredibly shocked. "It… it’s been a hundred thousand years? How… how is this possible?"

He looked up again. "Adventurer of the later generations, can you tell me what happened to Dragon Domain? And… how is Lady Binglan… the Dragon Speaker, doing?"

I answered softly, "During the war of Sainthelm City, Binglan sacrificed all of her life force to seal the maddened Great Saint and died within the glaciers. Tens of thousands of years later, the new Purgatory Ruler, Lin Na, attacked the Dragon Domain and destroyed it…"

"What…???"

The man abruptly dropped to his knees and squeezed out a stream of tears that shouldn’t exist in his dead body. He murmured sorrowfully, "Lady Binglan is dead… Lady Bingland is dead? Impossible… this can’t be possible…"

I said, "I’m sorry, but that is the truth."

As his tears wet the stone floor beneath him, he abruptly looked up and screamed, "I failed you, Lady Binglan! I failed my responsibility to Dragon Domain as well! I can never face you again even in the afterlife!"

……

Touched by his emotions, I bent down and supported his shoulders gently. "Who are you, and why are you here?"

He looked at me again before answering in a trembling voice, "I… am Dragon Knight Captain Callan, a subordinate of Lady Binglan from a hundred thousand years ago… I… was trying to hunt down the Nine-headed Fire Hydra after it betrayed Dragon Domain, but my power was lacking, and I had to use these 17 chains to trap it here and prevent it from bringing harm to the continent instead… but… Lady Binglan is dead, but I am still living in shame. I…"

I patted his shoulder and said, "Don’t be sad, Callan. It isn’t your fault. You did what you had to do, and Binglan’s death has nothing to do with you."

Callan gave the chains a tentative tug before saying, "I can’t feel the hydra’s presence anymore. Is it…?"

I nodded. "Yes, me and my friends have slain the Nine-headed Fire Hydra. You are free to leave this place now. Dragon Domain may have collapsed, and your body has been rotting for a long time, but I’m sure you will be able to reforge your body after a hundred thousand years of cultivation. As one of, if not the last denizen of Dragon Domain, its future now lies with you."

Callan lowered his head in sorrow. "It’s no use. I have transformed into an undead; an undead whose very presence brings shame to Dragon Domain. Unless Lady Binglan returns to life, there is no one who has the power to reforge my body. A vast gulf sits between a human and an undead, and only a god can bridge them…"

I rose to my feet and said, "I’ve said everything I needed to say. The future of Dragon Domain now lies in your hands, and I’m certain you won’t disappoint Binglan. Now go. The ruins of Dragon Domain are waiting for you…"

Calan rose to his feet—still dragging the 17 chains with him—and looked at the sky. Then, he said, "I know what I should do now. Thank you, warrior of the later generations!"

With that parting words, he leaped into the air and vanished into the clouds, bringing the chains with him. Sigh. When will I be able to fly on my own like these NPCs, I wonder?

……

I canceled Fusion Armor, climbed onto the Ancient Divine Dragon, and flew out of the crater in the blink of an eye. Then, I activated Fusion Armor again and landed gently on the ground. I smiled at the girls and asked them, "Sorry for making you all wait. Did you miss me?"

Instead of replying, a wide-eyed Lin Yixin and He Yi asked me at the same time, "Who is that chained man who just flew out of the crater?!"

I curled my lips. "He’s an NPC of Dragon Domain; some captain. He was tasked with hunting down the hydra, but he lacked the strength to kill it. So, he used his chains to pin the hydra in the crater and prevented it from roaming free. He is a respectable man."

Lin Yixin smiled. "That is very respectable. Anyway, show us the equipment drops already. Are they useful to us?"

"Sure!"

……

I took out my bag and dropped the pile of loot on the floor. The girls immediately surrounded it from all sides. First, I picked up the ring with the faint shadow of a dragon swimming across its surface. It was obviously an extraordinary item. I waved my hand across it, and the stats screen that appeared afterward was saliva-inducing to say the least—

Afterimage Ring (Sacred Armament, Outstanding★★★★★★)

Strength: +2560

Stamina: +2400

Intelligence: +2250

Agility: +2000

Tactics: +240

Passive: Increases user’s Defense by 40%

Passive: Increases user's max HP by 50000

Passive: Increases user’s resistance toward ice-type magic by 100%

Outstanding Property: Afterimage. Summons an afterimage to deal 150% basic attack damage in a single line and prevent the targets from receiving any buffs in 7 seconds.

Level Requirement: 220

Reputation Requirement: 700000