Year 5221, Fourth Age of Astron;
Somewhere in the wild;
"Bran and Alice, both of you take care of the mobs" "Alright, Boss"
"Mr. Walter, I'll leave healing to you. I'll take care of myself. So, just focus on others" "Understood"
"And Cindy, stay close to me, alright?" "C'mon, bro…"
A boy in his teens, wearing one of the best sets of equipment available on the market, was giving orders to his teammates as they were venturing into the lair of a dragon.
His name is Redgar Noah, a prince of the kingdom of Ceres. Despite being born of the King's only daughter and the Kingdom's most powerful mage, Redgar was born with mediocre talent. Everything about him was average, from his looks to his achievements, making one often wonder whether he was really born to them or he was found somewhere in the streets.
Nevertheless, there was no bullying or harassment in his life. Everyone was quite friendly with him, and his relationship with his cousins and siblings was also great. After turning an adult, he was also expected to receive a Barony and the title of a Baron, which would give him a peaceful life as long as no unusual incident occurred.
In one sentence, everything was just handed down to him.
However, Redgar had high ambitions. He wants recognition from his parents. He was to earn fame through his own efforts.
As a result, he recruited three adventurers by handing out high payments, forming a team, and steadily increasing his strength through their assistance.
And now, the group of adventurers venture into the lair instead as dragons are always a better choice.
The drakes and wyrms lying around couldn't stop the onslaught of Team Red as they made their way to the deepest part of the cavern beneath a mountain, where they found a dragon in the form of a human chained to the wall amidst glowing blue crystals all over the floor.
*
Species: Dragon
Status: Suppressed (human form)
Strength: ????
Grade: ????
Age: 9000+
"Oh, a 9000-year-old dragon in this place? This is kinda surprising," Noah stared at his prey, reading the information that appeared on a holographic screen; he couldn't stop smiling as he unequipped his broadsword. "Well, let's get this done."
"Red, it looks like we struck it rich," The fifteen-year-old Cindy, the genius of Heavenly Academy, rubbed her palms as her eyes wandered all over the place, instead of the ancient dragon. "Look at the sheer amount of Arcanite ores. Let's loot everything…" Her body was shivering in excitement, her mouth opened widely to let out a grin, and her eyes were filled with greed; she looked as if she wanted to hoard everything lying before her eyes.
"But, I don't see any treasures around though. Is there any secret chamber here?" Bran, a warrior of Knight Path and a fellow classmate of Cindy, couldn't help but voice out loud as he too observed the surroundings, ignoring the sleeping dragon.
"There should be," Cindy nodded in confidence.
"I wonder what kind of treasures there would be. Even if we just bring back all those carcasses, I think each of us could earn atleast around 20 million zeni…" Bran's voice slowly rose too. One could also see the illusion of gold coins in his eyes.
"Hey, what do you mean by each of us? Didn't you promise me that whatever yours belonged to me as well? Since Red isn't interested in money either, I will add 60 million zeni to my wealth, hahaha," Cindy's laughter echoed all over the cavern as she pulled out a pickaxe from her inventory and focused on the wall filled with Arcanite ores.
Alice: "…"
Hearing their conversation, Alice, the only elf in the party, shook her head, mumbling, "These humans don't change. In front of their insatiable greed, even their family doesn't hold a candle."
Howard Walter, the healer, on the other hand, kept his gaze on the back of the party's leader. His thoughts were indecipherable.
*Sigh*
A sigh of helplessness also escaped from Noah, the leader of the party. He couldn't help but step forward, giving a knock to her head, "Cindy, there is an ancient dragon before you and all you think is of getting rich? You were truly hopeless."
"Ouch, Red, that hurts"
Ignoring his childhood friend, he furrowed his brows in displeasure as he shifted his gaze toward the classmate of his friend, "And you, do you want to die so badly?"
"Uhh… but the dragon is chained and in a deep unconscious state," innocently replied the young guardian knight, giving another glance at the chained dragon before returning his gaze to his Noah, "what if the treasury room collapsed after its death? Isn't it better to hoard its wealth right away?"
"I already checked it around. The artifact didn't sense any hidden doors or treasures. There's nothing for you to loot it apart from the ores," replied Noah in a stern tone, as he replaced his broadsword with the magic staff in his hand and pointed the orb on its head toward the chained dragon. "Now, don't waste time with silly discussions anymore. Let's end it when we have the perfect chance."
"Cindy, buff me."
"Eh? No treasury room?"
"Cindy!"
"Ah, sorry…"
"Give me the buffs"
"Right. Here we go"
*Ding! "Elementalist's Ally" skill is activated. All of your elemental magic attacks will have their damage increased by 40% for 60 seconds.
*Ding! "Elementalist's love" skill is activated. As the closest member of the caster within the party, your defense is increased by 100% for 300 seconds.
*Ding! "Mana sharing" skill is activated. For the next 15 minutes, you can use the caster's mana as your own.
As Cindy buffed him with a couple of spells, the former increased his damage infliction and the latter let him absorb mana from his friend and recover his mana instantly, the Spellblade (a mage that can use sword skills) went on unleashing his strongest magic skill, "The Eternal Inferno Beam."
**Eternal Inferno Beam (mastered): The user launches a concentrated beam of dense flames onto the target with an attack power of 950%. Cost: 10% mana consumption per second. Cooldown: 24 hours**
The orb adorned on the top of his staff glowed in scarlet, unleashing a powerful beam of fire and striking the sleeping dragon head-on.
As its name suggests, it wasn't a one-time use skill. It was a continuous usage skill that would destroy the enemy as long as its user had mana.
Luckily for him, the enemy is stationary and isn't responding to the attack either; eventually, the beam successfully pierced his chest and struck its heart, destroying it before Cindy's mana reserves become empty too.
There was no intense fight, no struggle, no injuries, and not even the exhaustion of stamina. The battle is over in one single move.
Or so, everyone thought for a moment, until they saw the chained humanoid dragon regenerate its heart and open its eyes abruptly.
"Att… attac…" Noah couldn't even voice it loud before a beam of dark energy released from those empty dead eyes.
The deathly energy beam struck Noah's head and blew it off into a bloody pulp, stunning the others around for a moment.
"Red…" "No…"
Year 42, Third Age of Astron, Planet Terra;
At an unknown location;
*Ding! The target's soul has rejected the system's integration. Proceeding with the forceful assimilation with the body instead.
Three days later;
*Ding! The system has been successfully assimilated with the target's body.
*Ding! The Creator's control over the system has been severed.
*Ding! The target's soul is still in a state of recovery. Proceeding with elimination.
*Ding! The target's soul couldn't be erased. Proceeding with the merger.
*Ding! Merger is failed. Proceeding with the imprisonment.
*Ding! The target's soul was successfully sealed inside the player's mindscape.
"Leo, you were prohibited from fighting against your fellow Zodiac Guardians. Why did you go and cause unnecessary trouble?"
"Hmpf, only a weakling like you wouldn't dare to fight. The betrayers must die. Do you want me to let them get away?"
"That decision lies with His Majesty, not yours"
"Can't believe you call yourself the most loyal guardian. If His Majesty is awake, he would surely support the extinction of betrayers. Are you also in cahoots with them, Virgo?"
"Don't you dare question my loyalty, Leo. *sniff* My heart and my soul belong to His Majesty. His will is my will. *sniff* His Majesty ordered us to guard his body until he woke up. We shall do our job. The betrayers will be judged by His Majesty."
"Hmpf, a crybaby that doesn't know the meaning of true loyalty."
"You… *uwaaa* I will pull out your cat whiskers and shave you bald once His Majesty… *sob* *sob*"
"Ugh…"
A groan suddenly escaped from nearby, halting their conversation abruptly and making them turn their heads to look at the throne.
A silver-haired teenage-looking boy was seen sleeping on the throne, in an upright sitting posture.
Noah slowly opened his eyes to find a humanoid monster with the head of a black lion in glowing scarlet armor and a beautiful woman in simplistic yet elegant wear.
Surprised filled their faces, followed by a scream from the maiden, "Milord…" She rushed forward to the throne, grabbing the boy's face in joy, "Milord, you are awake at last."
*Ahem* "Virgo…"
A low and rough voice from the other figure interrupted her. Before the boy could speak, she swiftly moved back and stood beside Leo.
Both of them made a fist and placed their hand on their chest, bowing to their Lord and greeting in unison, "Welcome Back, Your Majesty."
"Uhhh…" The boy sounded in confusion. "Ra'shur vehlos? (Who are you? Huh?"
As Noah was surprised by his change of voice and an unfamiliar language, Leo took a step back in shock, and tears formed in the eyes of Virgo before she started crying out aloud, "Uwaa…" "His Majesty forgot about me… boohoo… I'm ruined… waaaa…"
The entire hall started shaking like an earthquake, Leo covered his ears tightly, and Noah continued to stare at her in wonder, "What in the moth**f*ck*ng hell is going on here?"