Westminster Bank

The Bronze Dragon Guide casually winked and gestured at Master Jack. That sly exchange, both in words and looks, undoubtedly exposed his identity.

D Level Commissioner of Westminster Bank, Jack Caesar Napoleon Hannibal Bismarck Tang.

He had somehow managed to become Freya’s Bronze Dragon Guide and had spoken to Baron during the earlier standoff between Freya and Isabella.

Baron said in a low voice, "The fifty-fifty split applies to the toll fees we collect now. What I robbed people of before doesn’t count."

"Brother L, when did you become so stingy? We’ve done time and taken bullets together!" Jack exclaimed in alarm over the communication channel.

"Get lost. Don’t think I don’t know what you were up to, giving me this Silver Mask and a Dragon Summoner Badge... You were just trying to divert the disaster onto me, weren’t you?"

"I did some recon beforehand. The Beowulf Family estate is crawling with Demon Hunters looking for that bomb you mentioned... Besides, you’re fine now, aren’t you? After we enter the Inner Circle, we’ll just pick a direction and make a run for it. Right now, making money is what’s important."

......

While the Dragon Guides clutched their banknotes to make their "offering," the two Silver Dragon Guides were still acting like broken records, repeating phrases like "Impossible."

Tune watched the scene, finding it utterly absurd. He wanted to turn and yell at them, ’The gate has opened and closed right in front of your faces multiple times, they’ve already collected the welcome gifts, and you’re still here saying it’s impossible?!’ But then he remembered that they would need the Silver Dragon Guides’ help for the Dragon Hunting inside the Inner Circle.

The words reached his lips, but in the end, he swallowed them back down.

"Poison Dragon Aura... After the Dragon Gate opens, an aura from the gate is supposed to be distributed... The Dragon Scale must be filled completely to open the gate... This... this isn’t scientific!"

The two Silver Dragon Guides seemed to have become obsessed, actually trying to find the logic of science in a Fantasy World like the Inner Side.

Suddenly, Tune’s Dragon Guide looked up and said, "He’s not Gold! A Golden Dragon Guide is supposed to wear a Golden Mask!"

He had barely finished speaking when the Bronze Dragon Guide in front of the Dragon Gate slipped, his hand scratching a golden streak across Master Jack’s Silver Mask.

The Bronze Dragon Guide scrambled to his feet. He was about to apologize in a panic when he saw that the crowd of Dragon Guides below, along with the Trial Takers, the two Silver Dragon Guides, and even Isabella, were all staring dumbfounded at Master Jack—at the gold paint on his mask.

Freya’s Bronze Dragon Guide immediately shrieked, "A Golden Mask! That’s a Golden Mask! Master Jack is the Golden Dragon Guide!"

The two with the silver masks were dumbstruck. They clearly hadn’t anticipated a turn of events like this.

’This Master Jack... Could he really be... the Golden Dragon Guide?’

The Dragon Guides were also stunned. A Golden Mask... the legendary Golden Mask... How could this be possible!

Baron was stunned, too. He never imagined that his Silver Mask was actually coated with gold paint.

"Never underestimate a commissioner from Westminster, even if he’s only D Level," Jack said smugly over the communication channel.

"Apologize and compensate Master Jack!" Jack, still in his Dragon Guide disguise, shouted at the opportune moment.

He had just finished speaking when Freya scolded him into silence.

"Apologize!"

Just then, someone else in the crowd shouted.

"Apologize!"

Immediately, others began to chime in.

"Compensation! Apologize..."

More and more people joined the chorus, the sound swelling like a tidal wave.

"You... You all... This..."

The two Silver Dragon Guides had never suffered such a blow. Overwhelmed, with a THUMP, they passed out cold.

Jose and Tune rushed forward to carry the two Silver Masters away, but Isabella didn’t forget to land a final blow. "The two Masters haven’t paid their welcome gift yet."

Jose and Tune exchanged a glance, and then each of them produced five hundred British Pounds.

"And the Dragon Scale."

"Eldest Sister..." Tune tried, appealing to their family ties.

But Isabella was completely unmoved. She turned to the watching Trial Takers and stated bluntly, "Those who’ve already been robbed don’t need to pay again. The rest of you, pay up. Otherwise... the price will go up."

Her tone was chilling and sinister, carrying the absolute authority of a queen.

Baron, however, felt something was strange. ’Why is it that every time the gate opens, I feel like I see a flash of a Dragon? Is it just my imagination?’

.........

People often say that mountain climbing is an extreme sport, a battle against nature itself.

Adam thought there was some truth to that.

Climbing wasn’t just about facing steep, slick rock faces and biting mountain winds; the sudden, extreme weather that swept across the cliffs was also an adversary to be conquered.

After nearly an entire day—dodging sneak attacks from the many Dragon Descendants lurking in mountain caves, persevering through a torrential downpour that made the cliffs even slicker, and witnessing the fall of one Trial Taker and Dragon Guide after another below him—he and several Demon Hunters finally reached the summit and climbed down the other side.

There was a surreal, dreamlike feeling as his feet finally touched damp earth.

Jiba Van Helsing, a Demon Hunter from a branch of the same Van Helsing Family, set down the Dragon Guide he was carrying on his back. He turned to look at the tall, smooth cliff face and said with a tone of smug disdain:

"I bet those people are still on the other side of the Dragon Gate, racking their brains trying to open it!"

The other Demon Hunters laughed along. "If even those two Silver Masters were stumped, how else are they going to open the Dragon Gate? Surely not by relying on that obviously fake Master Jack?"

"Forget opening the Dragon Gate, I bet he can’t even light up a single piece of the Dragon Scale."

At this, the whole group burst out laughing.

"Thankfully, Young Master Adam was decisive enough to choose to climb before nightfall. It’s evening now; it’s too late for those people to try and copy us. This head start is how we’ll pull far ahead of them!"

A small smile touched Adam’s lips; he clearly enjoyed the Demon Hunters’ praise. Hearing that last sentence, he declared:

"The Inner Circle is vast. The earliest they can make a move will be tomorrow. Tonight, we’ll secure a good position in the Inner Circle, get a head start on the Dragon Hunting tomorrow, and fight to claim a spot for every one of us in Dragon Spear Plaza!"

The Demon Hunters roared their approval.

After the ordeal of the climb, the group of Demon Hunters had unofficially formed a small Dragon Hunting party with Adam Van Helsing as their de facto leader.

In addition to respecting his strength and influence, they also admired his resolute, decisive, leader-like charisma.

The group then followed Adam’s lead, venturing deeper into the Inner Circle.

They laughed and chatted, hurling all sorts of sarcastic remarks at the Trial Takers they’d left behind at the Dragon Gate. They couldn’t have been more smug or more proud.

They had gone through hell and back to reach the foot of the mountain on the other side, a journey on which many other climbers had paid the ultimate price. As survivors, on top of the relief of having cheated death, they felt a swelling, heroic pride in their hard-won success.

They looked a little worse for wear, but they had succeeded.

On the way deeper into the Inner Circle, one Demon Hunter gazed at the sky where dark clouds swirled with the last vestiges of sunset and sighed contentedly. "After suffering comes sweetness. If it started raining now, I bet even the rain would taste sweet."

Jiba even added, "If Young Master Adam were a descendant of the Beowulf Family, those other candidates for Patriarch wouldn’t stand a chance... So many of them, yet not a single one dared to scale the peak... Now that we’re in the Inner Circle, it would be hilarious if the Beowulf Family ended up with no seats at all."

The crowd of Dragon Guides, including the Bronze Dragon Guide Adam had previously used as bait, chimed in with laughter.

Adam chuckled, about to offer a casual reply, but he suddenly froze mid-stride, his expression stiffening.

The others halted as well. Confused, they followed Adam’s gaze, and then their own faces went rigid.

A group of Trial Takers was setting up camp and cooking a meal. Seeing Adam’s party, they even offered a friendly greeting.

And from that group of Trial Takers, the Demon Hunters heard a piece of good news that felt like a death knell: the Dragon Gate had been opened that morning.

Before the Demon Hunters could recover from their shock, a whoosh of sound came from overhead. Isabella, with Master Jack in tow, landed to block their path. Her crimson spear leveled at the group.

"You lot don’t seem to have paid the toll."

Jiba hurriedly said, "We came over the mountain."

"Came over?" Isabella’s sharp eyes narrowed. "Then this is a robbery. Hand over your Dragon Scales."

"And the banknotes," Master Jack added from behind her.