Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei
Another three days passed.
Lukas filled a canteen with contaminated water before putting a drop of purifying liquid in as well.
Fwoosh-
As soon as the droplet touched the water in the canteen, it began to flash, and before long the contaminated water was purified into drinking water. Lukas only observed it for a moment before drinking it.
He once again felt a hint of frustration with having a body. He was forced to take care of his physiological needs now and then.
In his six days of travel, he’d covered a large distance. This was natural since he’d been using flight magic day and night.
Surprisingly, the fact that this land was so desolate had become an advantage. There were no obstacles to block him, allowing him to fly uninterrupted.
He hadn’t even seen another Ancient Dragon since his previous encounter. Or, to be precise, he had avoided them.
If he found a location that he thought had a high chance of having an Ancient Dragon, then he took detours to avoid them. He calculated the time and mana it would take to fight an Ancient Dragon and compared them to avoid it, which led to this decision.
And on the sixth day of his journey.
There was finally a different reaction from the ring.
Whoosh-
This time, the light was brighter than before.
This was proof that he was close to Sedi. He Couldn’t tell exactly how far away she was, but he was certainly closer. (TL:…no sh*t)
‘It would be nice if she stayed in one place.’
Although he had this thought, Lukas knew that with Sedi’s personality, such a thing was next to impossible.
The worst possible scenario would be if she were to head in the same direction as Lukas. If that was the case, it would take twice as long for them to meet.
Lukas looked back in the direction from which he came. It had taken him six days to get there. And it would take about four days to return, assuming that he used his maximum speed.
In other words, he had to find Sedi today or tomorrow at the latest. Nevertheless, although it would be a bit close, he would still be able to make it in time for the Championship.
Lukas got up from the rock he’d been resting on and continued to move.
But just a few hours later, he stopped again.
‘Sedi’s demonic energy…?’
It wasn’t an illusion.
Although it was faint, he was certain he’d felt Sedi’s signature. Without hesitation, he followed the trail, and soon, he arrived before a large mountain range. The terrain in the region was a bit more treacherous when compared to the other places he’d seen, but that wasn’t the thing that stood out the most.
Kiieeek-
Kek, kek, kek.
Creatures with twisted appearances were crawling all over the mountain range. They all looked horrendous, as though they were beings who had crawled out of the pits of hell. There weren’t just one or two of these beings there.
It had been six days since Lukas had entered Death Island, but this was his first time seeing so many creatures at once.
And he soon found the reason why.
Strewn across the mountains were the corpses of Ancient Dragons.
Five of them.
Their bodies were all terribly decomposed as though it had been a while since they had died. Nevertheless, these bizarre creatures didn’t seem to care about that. Like maggots, they covered the corpses of the Ancient Dragons, consuming their rotten blood and flesh.
“…”
Lukas looked carefully at the Ancient Dragons’ corpses.
Each of them was extremely large and looked very powerful.
With just a glance, it was easy to tell that they were all stronger than the Ancient Dragon he’d encountered when he first entered the island.
Nevertheless, all five of them were dead.
And from the gaping wounds on their bodies, it was clear they had all been killed by the same person.
‘Sedi.’
Her distinct demonic energy signature still lingered on the wounds.
He couldn’t tell when, but Sedi had definitely been here and killed these five Ancient Dragons. This gave Lukas a hint about Sedi’s strength. And one thing was immediately clear. At least at the current stage, Sedi was much stronger than him.
Lukas opened his map.
He had entered the southern part of Death Island and was heading north. From his current location, it wouldn’t take him very long to reach the center of the large island.
This map had been prepared for him by Arid.
On the map, the central area had been painted black, and there was even a large skull drawn beside it.
[Extreme Danger Zone, Probability of Survival 0%]
The central part of Death Island was a place that even the aerial scout unit of Dragon God Island did not dare to enter. This was because everyone who stepped into even its outer edge died without exception.
Even the reason for their deaths could not be found.
However, there was one thing they were able to find out. The demonic energy and death energy in the central region was at least ten times stronger than the surroundings.
In such a place, the clothes he’d received from Nekdu would probably not last very long.
‘Is Sedi in the center?’
The demonic energy was an extreme threat even for Lukas, but for Sedi, it would be more comfortable than returning to her homeworld.
It was possible that it could help her regain her lost power, so the odds were that she’d instinctively head to the place with the densest and most terrifying demonic energy.
As he looked at the map while having this thought, he noticed a symbol.
It was the drawing of a hut.
This signified that there was a settlement of Dragonmen in that area.
It wasn’t very far from him.
Lukas injected some mana into the ring.
Whoosh-
“…”
The light was pointing in the same direction as the Dragonmen settlement.
Until now, he had never encountered the Dragonmen living on Death Island.
This was partly because there had not been any settlements along his route, and partly because he’d intentionally avoided them.
‘Should I contact them and ask for help?’
He might be able to get accurate information about Sedi’s whereabouts.
And maybe some information about the central region as well.
However, there was also some risk.
If they were to attack him out of nowhere, he would have to use his mana to defend himself. And at this point, mana was an extremely scarce and valuable resource.
[Current mana 6,014/10,000]
He only had about 6,000 mana remaining.
Although it was a bit over half, it was still far from enough.
As Lukas pondered his next actions, he felt a commotion nearby.
Roar… roar…
Then he heard the roar of an Ancient Dragon.
The creatures of Death Island never used their energy for no reason. They usually stored their energy to the limit before explosively releasing it when they found prey. In other words, there was no way that it would roar for no reason.
There was only one reason for them to act so violently.
When they were fighting someone.
Thinking it could be Sedi, Lukas decided to head to the scene of the battle.
* * *
He was right that it was an Ancient Dragon.
It wasn’t that large, but an unusual amount of demonic energy flowed from its body. Nevertheless, it wasn’t a threat.
It was dying.
By the time Lukas had arrived, the battle had already reached its final stage.
Roooaaar-
The Ancient Dragon let out one final roar. The ground shook heavily, but the intimidation factor had already been lost. There were more than a hundred deep wounds all over its body. Blood the color of ink flowed down from these wounds, forming a large puddle beneath its feet.
Thud!
With the last bit of its energy poured into that roar, the Ancient Dragon soon collapsed to the ground, and Lukas finally turned to look at the ones who had slain it.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t Sedi.
‘Dragonmen from Death Island.’
None of them had human-like features like Bargan or Nekdu. Instead, all of these Dragonmen had the appearance of bipedal lizards.
They weren’t wearing clothes. However, sharp and tough-looking scales covered their bodies, so they didn’t give a primitive feeling. Instead, it almost looked like they were wearing sophisticated armor.
Their scales were either black or dark red, and all of them were around 1.5 to 2 times larger than the average Dragonman.
Nevertheless, the biggest difference was the huge wings on their backs.
‘Those aren’t for decoration.’
Unlike chickens and other flightless birds, those wings weren’t useless. Lukas realised that these Dragonmen could actually fly.
Was that the reason they were able to hunt an Ancient Dragon so flawlessly?
Seeing that they were talking to each other, it was clear that these Dragonmen had intelligence.
“…”
Lukas realised that this was a turning point.
Was he going to talk to them?
Or would he continue his search on his own?
Suddenly,
The smallest Dragonman in the group turned its head and looked towards Lukas.
“…!”
How did he sense him?
Lukas tried to hide behind a rock, but it was already too late.
“Who’s there?’