The dragon brought up his snout towards the small black crystal lying on the ground. He sniffed it but surprisingly, he couldn’t smell any worth out of it.
Suddenly the crystal dispersed into a stream of light that flew towards the dragon, getting absorbed by the dragon’s body.
Ding!
// Dungeon objective discovered.
Objective: Find three crystals to access the final boss in the tower
//
‘So that’s how it is.’
As the dungeons were considered to be fragments of times containing specific historical events, it meant that to finish them, one had to follow the timeline of these events. Also known as dungeon objectives in the system.
Vesuvius flapped his wings once again, lifting his big body out of the ground, searching for anything that could contain another of the three crystals. Hordes of undead, even though they were reduced in numbers, still kept patrolling through the barren grey lands littered with gravestones.
‘Most of them are just mobs. There’s almost no chance they would have a crystal with them.’
He spotted small a small inconspicuous chapel sitting at the edge of the dungeon, right next to a void filled with blackness.
He immediately grinned, knowing from his extensive gaming experience that there was a high chance of a crystal being present there.
He flapped his massive wings crossing the plain littered with undead. Each flap of his black wings was bringing him closer to his target. He dived straight down and landed in front of the chapel, dry grey soil under him cracked from his rough landing.
Everything was quiet with no undead within the range the size of a football field. The chapel’s facade still looked like recently built with no cracks or dust. Beautiful vitrage windows were unbroken and unstained, showing pictures of long-forgotten saints.
‘This feels a little out of place in this barren land. Now I am more sure that this is the correct path.’
He approached the small wooden gate leading into the church. He nudged the doors to open with his snout.
The doors opened without any creaking as if they were freshly oiled up. Vesuvius looked straight inside through the main opened gate.
Rows upon rows of neatly arranged benches without a speck of dust on them were filling most of the space. On the opposite side of the chapel was a stone altar. A figure dressed in pristine white priest robes was standing there. Their face was hidden behind the massive book covered in gold.
The dragon’s heart started to thump louder as he spotted the beautiful golden ornamental cover of the book. He wanted to just leap and take the precious book.
He quickly shook his head, suppressing his greed. ‘I need to calm down. There is no need to risk my life for a treasure… If I live long enough, I will definitely find more treasures… Also, I might grab it after I kill that priest.’
“Snap!” The priest suddenly snapped the book closed and looked towards the church entrance. Revealing his withered, half-rotten face with ethereal blues flames burning in his empty eye sockets.
Vesuvius braced himself up, tensing his muscles, expecting to get blasted by holy magic.
Contrary to his belief, the priest didn’t attack. He instead grabbed the golden book from the altar, taking it into his hand, almost as if flexing it in front of the dragon.
Then the priest gently smiled. However, with his half-rotten face showing inwards of his head, it sent shivers throughout the dragon’s body.
A hoarse and somehow distant voice came from the priest, “Well, well, it looks like you conquered your sin.”
Vesuvius was confused, raising his guard, expecting some trickery. However, he didn’t attack, hoping for some clue from the priest.
“You dragons were always greedy, and I feel you are too. However, you fought back against your sinful thoughts. That is an act requiring a strong spirit.”
Then the priest fell on his knees, his voice turning even more hoarse, “Now kill me, end this eternal suffering of mine. Burn me and cleanse this cursed body out of this cursed world.”
The dragon grew even warier and confused at the priest’s antics.
‘Is it possible that I met some condition to avoid this miniboss? That would be great as every bit of mana saved for the final boss will be helpful. But this whole thing feels too good to be the truth.’
“Please, I beg you! I don’t want this cursed existence anymore.”
Vesuvius couldn’t hold himself anymore and spoke, “Arent, you supposed to fight me?”
“Why should I? I saw you conquer your sin and, by proxy, the devil. That is enough for gods, and so is for me. All I want is to end this existence of mine.”
‘Hmm, I always considered the devil’s existence in the world of LOMM as a part of the setting as it was familiar to players. Creating a universal evil that didn’t need any justification. But now that I know that Lorenia is also a world. Is it possible that there is one hell shared between both worlds?’ Vesuvius shook his head, ‘Why am I getting distracted… is this what the priest wants, to distract me and then attack.’
The dragon’s cold voice finally came out after a few moments of silence. “Very well, priest, I will give you eternal rest. But tell me what happened in this place first.”
The priest remained silent for a few moments before he spoke, “This valley used to be green and verdant, full of life. However, the white mage living in the tower got corrupted and destroyed the valley with legions of his undead servants, uprooting all of the trees to fuel fires to forge weapons for his army.’
Vesuvius grinned inwardly, ‘Is it you, Saruman?’
“Please, I answered your question. Now free me!”
The dragon nodded, his mind hurting at the thought of destroying the golden book, but he also knew that if he could really kill the miniboss without a fight, it could even save his life.
The dragon opened his mouth, and a beam of magma was unleashed toward the priest, who spread his arms wide open as if welcoming his own demise. The beam directly hit the priest, drowning him together with the book in molten stone.
The high temperature caused the surrounding wooden benches to catch on fire.
[+340XP]
//
You are now level 11
All stats increased!
+5 stat points
+1 ability point
//
Vesuvius finally relaxed his heart still in pain from destroying the beautiful book, and a small white crystal rolled towards him from the magma before turning into light and getting absorbed by the dragon.