Chapter 99 : Chapter 99
Chapter : 99
Did they even discover that we were using the ventilation ducts?
Discovering the [Poisoned] debuff, I immediately held my breath and opened Divik's panel to confirm that his [Poisoned] debuff was also not severe.
The poison gas was spreading from behind them, and the factory below was full of black-robed men.
I could only pull Divik deeper into the ducts first, ready to settle the instance and exit at any time.
The speed at which the poison gas spread was much faster than I had anticipated. Both Divik's and my poisoning debuffs had deepened significantly.
Divik was fine; the dragon race's physique was strong, and the debuff's effect on him wasn't obvious. I, on the other hand, was already feeling a bit dizzy.
My health was constantly dropping. I had already chugged two Small Red Potions in advance, applying the slow health regeneration buff to counteract the poison's health-draining debuff and slow down the rate of health loss.
“Here.” Divik saw the light ahead and the closing valve. He directly scooped me up horizontally and sped towards the front—
With a sliding tackle, he carried me and rushed through the valve.
Immediately after, the valve slammed shut, kicking up a layer of dust and forming a closed space, blocking the poison gas in the pipes behind.
My heart was still pounding. We were just a hair's breadth away from being sliced in half by that valve.
When I came to my senses, I found myself still being held in Divik's arms.
...In a princess carry, no less.
I struggled out of Divik's embrace and sincerely suggested: “Next time, you can try carrying me on your shoulder.”
Divik was also very sincere: “That's not convenient for running.”
Me: Lying through your teeth!
I didn't bother arguing with Divik about this. I sized up this new area.
I had been in too much of a hurry just now to notice, but now I realized we had already run out of the ventilation ducts.
No wonder there was a valve; it turned out this was the end.
I vaguely smelled a strange odor, but I couldn't identify its source.
However, the [Poisoned] status on my panel had not worsened, nor had any new debuffs been added.
“Let's go down and see.”
We descended smoothly to the ground. This place looked like a collection room, with display cabinets everywhere.
But the things inside were very messy. Instead of a collection, it looked more like a storage room, just that all the miscellaneous items were gathered in crystal display cabinets.
“What is all this...” I even saw a piece of women's lingerie in a display cabinet and couldn't help but complain, “Anyone who collects these things is a pervert, right?”
...Oh, the mastermind behind Mandiper was indeed a pervert, and a madman at that, otherwise he wouldn't have done such crazy things.
I pressed my temples. I suspected that the things in this room were actually items left behind by the former victims of Mandiper.
Isn't there a saying? Some perverted serial killers with a strong sense of ritual would take an item from the victim's body as their trophy and collect it?
The things in these display cabinets were not valuable, yet they were placed in here, and so messily at that.
It was very much like the boss had kept the things from those golden men and collected them as medals and trophies.
I let my imagination run wild. In the gaps where I wasn't paying attention, the instance's exploration progress was constantly rising, about to reach 100%.
After a few more glances, I noticed that Divik had stopped at some point.
He was standing in front of a display cabinet, looking up at the item inside, a hint of anger in his eyes.
“What did you find?”
I followed his gaze. Divik was staring at a wooden sword in the display cabinet. The wooden sword was very simple, like a child's toy.
“...Is it your missing clan member?”
Divik nodded slightly. I could even hear him grinding his teeth faintly. "It's Amos's sword."
Divik closed his eyes, barely suppressing the anger in his heart. Although he had been prepared, facing the truth was still difficult for him to accept.
Due to the difficulty in reproduction, every cub of the dragon race would be protected by the dragon clan.
Amos was the only cub born in the Resplendent Dragon clan in the past twenty years. Divik had even carved that sword for him by hand.
Amos was a very lively little dragon cub. Even Isabelle was very fond of him.
However, three years ago, he was allowed to run to the edge of the Dragon Valley to play for a while without being watched, and in the blink of an eye, Amos disappeared.
For three years, Isabelle and Divik had been searching for Amos's tracks.
But every time they found a clue, by the time they got there, the clue would be broken.
Last month, they heard that Mandiper had a Chigu Sword made from Resplendent Dragon bone, so Isabelle and Divik came to investigate.
Still one step too late...
Divik's reddish-brown eyes were filled with surging anger. I opened my mouth but didn't know what to say. Words of comfort were too pale and weak. I knew Divik wouldn't be able to listen to them now.
So, should I let Divik beat up the boss to vent his anger? But I definitely had to get the last hit. The last hit gave a lot of experience.
Divik's level was so high that he wouldn't get any experience from the last hit, so it might as well be given to me.
Before I could even think through these issues, the ground beneath my feet began to tremble.
I looked around vigilantly but found nothing wrong. With a few loud bangs, the ground beneath our feet gave way, revealing a pitch-black, bottomless abyss.
Divik and I fell in together.
The rapid descent was terrifying. The fierce wind howled in my ears, making my face hurt a little. The wind was so strong I couldn't open my eyes.
“Divik—”
I fumbled around, trying to exit the instance, but a prompt popped up on the panel.
『Instance exploration progress has reached 100%. Unable to exit the instance for now.』
I almost blurted out a national curse, but the wind rushed into my mouth when I opened it, so I closed it again.
I don't know how long we fell. Maybe it was just an instant, maybe it was a very long time. I felt my body sink, and a light force came from my back.
I seemed to be supported by something.
The wind around was still as strong. I tried several times but couldn't open my eyes. Even if I did, it was blurry and I couldn't see clearly.
However, I smelled that familiar scent, so I wasn't too panicked. I quietly waited for this gust of wind to pass.
...
After feeling the wind gradually subside, I tried to open my eyes again.
I looked down and found that I was indeed lying on a dragon's back. It was pitch black all around. Even my night vision couldn't see what was around.
There was a tiny point of light in the distance. Divik, who was carrying me, seemed to have seen that point of light as well and was rushing towards it at high speed.
As the point of light grew larger and became a ball of light when it flew closer, we could both feel that the exit of this darkness was within this ball of light.
Without any hesitation, Divik carried me and passed through the ball of light together.
Swish—
The surroundings quickly brightened. I couldn't help but cover my eyes with my hand.
My light-sensitive eyes uncontrollably welled up with physiological tears again.
It was very noisy around. I heard someone screaming.
After trying to adjust to the current light, I opened my eyes and was surprised to find that we had already left the instance.
At this moment, Divik was carrying me and circling above the casino, with panicked people below.
『Abnormality detected in instance. Instance progress frozen. Player, please work hard to explore.』
I: ?
This game is really something else. Can instances even have bugs?
But it was good that we were out. Otherwise, it would have been troublesome if we were stuck in the instance.
I didn't know which black-robed man threw a spell in our direction. Divik performed an emergency dodge in the air, handsomely avoiding the spell.
But it was tough on me, who was on his back. If I hadn't been quick enough to grab the protruding scales on Divik's back, I would have been thrown off by Divik directly.
This attack also angered the already furious Divik.
The dragon let out a long roar, and a stream of dragon flame spewed from its mouth, landing directly on the black-robed men below.
In just an instant, the black-robed man who had tried to attack them was turned to ashes.
My experience bar also rose a little. Unfortunately, it wasn't a red name that I had killed, so I could only get experience for assisting in the fight.
Divik spat out a few more mouthfuls of dragon flame. The pure flames, once ignited, were very difficult to extinguish.
Coupled with the level suppression, in a short period of time, most of the black-robed men in this hall were wiped out by Divik.
“Alright, back to the venue.” I patted the dragon's back.
“The mastermind you're looking for is there. Don't let that black-masked man get away.”
Hearing this, Divik spat out another mouthful of dragon flame, distracting the black-robed men, and then crashed his way out of this hall with me.
At this time, it was not convenient for Divik to continue in his dragon form. I jumped off his back and looked at the chaotic Mandiper.
I said in a low voice: “You go to the venue first. I promised to take a few children out of here.
The current chaos is just perfect. After I take those children out, I'll come back and meet up with you.”
After saying that, he was about to find a deserted place to turn into Joker's appearance and go find the members of the children's group.
As soon as he turned around, his wrist was grabbed.
I looked back and saw Divik staring at me intently.
“Are you abandoning me again?”
I: ...?
I was stunned for a moment, then I realized that we had only been reunited for a day.
We had just experienced the group qualifying match and explored the instance together, and I had almost forgotten about it.
The Demon King had abandoned his retainers for over a thousand years.
“No.” I looked at Divik, who was clearly expressionless but vaguely exuded a pitiful and fragile aura.
“I’m just leaving for a while. I’ll be back after I send those children out.”
"...Really?"
“Really.”
Divik lowered his head. After a long while, he stiffly spat out three words: "I don't believe you."
I: ...So this is the abandoned dog effect? Why is Divik so difficult to deal with?
Just as I was thinking about how to appease Divik and persuade him to split up, Divik slowly released his hand.
He knelt on one knee before me, took my hand, and pressed his forehead against the back of my hand.
“But I will be obedient.”
“My King.”