Level Down 38 (Patreon)

Volume 1 Chapter 38 - Ancient Dragon

RAW

Allen was running through the forest on the 1st level of the Dragon Dungeon to rescue Iseria, as requested by Eric. But...

“Damn, isn’t this place bigger than I heard? Is this really the right way?” (Allen)

Allen cursed while scanning his surroundings.

Of course, Allen has never entered this Dragon Dungeon due to its restrictions on entry. He did get some fragmentary information about the dungeon, such as the absence of traps, and the general state of its 1st through 5th floors from the story of the hero egg party that took care of him a long time ago, despite that, he can’t even be sure that the path he’s taking is really the right one.

“Still, ancient dragon, huh? That’s a real legendary monster, isn't it? Geez. What are you doing, Iseria?” (Allen)

Even Allen, who was born in Lilac City and spent a long time as an adventurer, had never heard of any sightings of an ancient dragon.

Some adventurers who enter the Dragon Dungeon sometimes encounter semi-legendary creatures such as mithril class and orichalcum class, and there are rumors in this Lilac City about the dragons that those adventurers have defeated, but at most it's up to adult dragons.

“Ancient dragon, I feel like it was mentioned somewhere, but I wonder what the story was about.” (Allen)

Allen felt like it appeared in some kind of story and tried to remember it, but he shook his head.

At first, he thought that it might be of some help, but then, he reconsidered because, in the end, it was only a story, if it was poorly adapted, he might have gotten the wrong information and might cause him to suffer an embarrassing defeat.

Allen put more strength into his leg and increased its speed even more.

This would be an opponent that Eric and mithril class adventurers could not even touch. The fact that there was not much time left conversely means that there was still some time left, but the criteria for that will depend on the ancient dragon.

The only thing that was clear was that the time for Iseria's fate was getting shorter with each passing moment.

Allen spotted a group of monsters including dragon puppies ahead of him and clicked his tongue. The group, which had been staying still as if waiting to receive someone's orders, began to move at once upon discovering Allen's figure.

“Preparing for the stampede, huh? Thank you for going out of your way to huddle together. Ice Coffin!” (Allen)

Allen cast an upper-intermediate level water and earth composite spell that was written in the Magic Encyclopedia, Ice Coffin. Normally, this spell would trap one monster in a coffin shaped ice, but Allen unleashed it with all his might, trapping the entire group in a single coffin of ice.

Allen lightly shook his head, slightly dizzy from over-enthusiasm, and then jumped over that coffin of ice.

“Just stay frozen forever.” (Allen)

Leaving those words behind, Allen ran in the direction of the stairs leading to the second floor, where the ancient dragon that had taken Iseria had disappeared.

.

.

.

After a while, Allen finally caught sight of the ancient dragon. Or rather, it might be more accurate to say that the small blue hill that had been visible for a while now turned out to be the ancient dragon.

His body that was so huge that the dragon puppies that Allen had dealt with earlier seemed as small as ants was letting out a somewhat overpowering atmosphere.

“Uwah. How am I supposed to fight that?” (Allen)

Allen instinctively stopped running and stared at the ancient dragon. He had his back to Allen and his face was down, so Allen could only see his tail from its back.

Allen had faced his fair share of monsters during his long life as an adventurer. Among those, there were monsters that were much larger than him, but there was no way he had ever fought a monster so large that he could mistake it for a hill.

“Rather than a monster, it's more like a moving mountain, isn’t it?” (Allen)

As he said this, Allen pondered.

As it stood now, it didn't seem like the opponent had noticed Allen, and what's more, he showed his back and was defenseless, this would be a perfect opportunity to attack. Allen thought about using a tactical class spell that was his trump card, but if he unleashed that, the trapped Iseria's survival would be hopeless. That would be pointless.

“Should I just straight up cut it? Nonono, it seems like we can understand each other, so it’s best if we can end this with just a talk.” (Allen)

Allen furrowed his brows as he tried to organize his thoughts that were spinning around in circles, and then came to that conclusion.

In fact, Allen's ultimate goal was not to defeat the ancient dragon, but to rescue Iseria. If anything, there's no way he could fight a legendary being and come out safe, so the safest and surest thing to do would be to somehow succeed in the dialogue and have Iseria released. That's what he thought.

But just before Allen was about to move to put that thought into action, it happened.

“UGAAAAA─!!” (Dragon)

Hearing the ancient dragon's deafening shout, Allen reflexively threw away all his thoughts and started running towards the front of the ancient dragon, where Iseria must be.

The ancient dragon's shout continued with a unique ‘ga ga ga’ rhythm, and to Allen it sounded as if it was carving away at Iseria’s remaining time.

(Damn, make it in time!) (Allen)

The worst possible situation flashed through Allen's mind; the sight of Iseria in a pool of blood lying on the ground like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

As if to shake off those thoughts, Allen ran at full speed and circled right in front of the ancient dragon, throwing up a cloud of dust.

And the sight he saw there made Allen speechless and froze.

As Allen expected, Iseria was there. There's no particular problem with that. The reason that made Allen speechless and froze was...

“Ara, Nella-sama. What’s wrong?” (Iseria)

As if she was having a picnic, a rug was spread out on the ground, and Iseria was sitting on it with all her equipment removed. Moreover, the words she said when he saw Nera's appearance did not contain any fear of her death at all.

“I-Iseria. Are you okay?” (Allen)

The scene was so far beyond his imagination, but Allen managed to squeeze out those words. Iseria tilted her head slightly in a thoughtful gesture at those words, but then clapped her hands together and nodded her head apologetically.

“I see you have come to my rescue. My sincerest apologies for having bothered you.” (Iseria)

“No, that doesn't matter. What’s this situation?” (Allen)

In front of Iseria's eyes was the huge face of the ancient dragon. Although he didn't feel any particular hostility, Allen was under more pressure than he had ever felt just from his outward appearance.

There was so much pressure that the old Allen might have fainted.

“Fumu, is this the strong one Iseria was talking about? He's dressed very bizarrely.” (Dragon)

“Shut it! Wait, that’s not it. It's not like I'm hostile. Don't misunderstand me.” (Allen)

“Kusu kusu.” (Iseria)

Allen instinctively retorted at the ancient dragon and tried to follow up while panicking. Seeing that situation made Iseria giggle.

Hearing that giggle, Allen realized that the situation was quite different from what he had imagined, so he let out a deep breath, and turned to Iseria while roughly scratching his head.

“So, what's the situation? I heard that you were kidnapped by an ancient dragon and your life was in danger, so I came to save you, but.” (Allen)

“That's true. But more importantly, I found out something even more amazing than that.” (Iseria)

Iseria replied with a happy face as she rose and stood right in front of the ancient dragon's face. Then, as Allen tilted his head and looked at her, Iseria pointed at the ancient dragon with her palm as if to introduce him, and opened her mouth.

“This ancient dragon-sama, is the famous Mizuchi-sama.” (Iseria)

“Mizuchi? Uh, I feel like I’ve heard that before...” (Allen)

Allen felt like he’d almost remembered it, and it came up to the base of his throat, so he started to ponder about it, Iseria was a little disappointed at that before continuing.

“He’s the one from the story of the hero Artigald who gave the hero a trial, and sent Lyle, who became his dragon mount, to him after he passed that trial, it’s that Mizuchi-sama, you know.” (Iseria)

“Ah, I see. No wonder it sounds familiar... Haa!?” (Allen)

Allen let out a voice of surprise and hurriedly shook his head between the ancient dragon and Iseria to confirm, seeing this, Mizuchi, the ancient dragon, laughed in a voice that sounded like a deafening shout.

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