Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2074, Section 2046: Ancient Dragon Rock Forging Stone
The fire of Messermo was roaring and expanding, and the flames were coiled around the head of the spirit fire dragon like long serpents.

It's as if they're trying to find any crack or crevice to squeeze into.

Messermo's speed was astonishing.

The fireball he was holding was still expanding under the dragon's chin, swallowing half of its head.

He himself had already appeared on the ground, his left hand slamming the flame-patterned black iron spear into the ground!
"Shh!"

The ground around him, whether it was spirit fire or blue flowers, turned charred black in an instant.

The charred marks stretched from his feet all the way to the main body of the spirit fire dragon.

Immediately afterwards, the signature serpentine black smoke of the Messermo Fire began to surge!

"Stab!"

The black smoke, mimicking the shape of the black iron spear in Messermo's hand, suddenly shot up from the scorched ground!
The crooked spears gleamed with a sharp, cold light, like a forest of blades!
The Spiritfire Dragon's tattered, weathered hide and pale bones were no match for Messermo's barrage of spears, and it was pierced through in an instant.

Messermo's black iron spears were adorned with twigs and irregular patterns. These spears pierced the spirit fire dragon from bottom to top, pinning it to the spot through the wound!
Immediately afterwards, a golden blade of light flew from a distance and slashed vertically into the neck of the spirit fire dragon!
Melina leaped up as if in a dance, and a slender dagger appeared in her hand at some point, which she swung with a golden blade of light.

The velvet ball and the unicorn recognized her movements, because on that night of the Black Knife conspiracy, the Black Knife assassins who killed Godwin also used this posture to release the fragments of power of the [Death Rune] within their Black Knives.

However, while the black-bladed assassins unleashed a red and black aura from their blades, Melina's blades emitted a pure golden light.

The Spiritfire Dragon's body is extremely tough; after all, it was originally so strong that it couldn't die, which is why it became a Spiritfire Dragon.

Messermo's barrage of spears could pierce it because Messermo himself was a piercer, strong enough.

However, Melina's blade light was clearly not as sharp as Messermo's, yet it still seemed as effortless as cutting into rotten soil.

It slashed straight into the dragon's neck, reaching halfway down!

Messermo also took a moment to turn around and glance at Melina, who was wielding her sword.

Upon seeing her posture, the memories that flashed in his eyes became even stronger.

And then!

"Xilulu!"

The Qilin roared and leaped into the sky! Its jump height surpassed that of the Spirit Fire Dragon, which was still howling because of its wounds.

On the back of the Qilin, the fluffy ball deftly pulled a golden, soap-like object from its cat-shaped satchel.

[Includes Sacred Oil]!
This is one of the local gadgets that Velvet Ball collects in Rodel, just like the pile of local herbs it keeps there. It was given to it by Torissa when she left.

This world is indeed very similar to the world of fire; even the props are quite similar.

It was originally supposed to be [Holy Oil], which, when applied to weapons, temporarily grants them holy power—essentially the power of the Golden Law. With the rope attached, it swings faster and more easily.

The reason the velvet ball was taken out at this moment was because Lan En had long seen the extraordinary destructive power of the Golden Law against the local undead and spirit fire dragons.

The Golden Age was an age of flourishing life, which was both hostile to and mutually destructive to death.

The kitten, leash in hand, swung a golden grease-covered object and 'splat' it landed on a massive, dark, heavy sword!

Lan En's action of drawing out [Turbid Flow - Annihilation] was coordinated with the action of the velvet ball pulling the rope and throwing oil upwards, just as the greatsword was drawn out, making its surface shimmer with a layer of golden light!
This ferocious and tyrannical greatsword, under the enchantment of [Holy Oil], seems to have gained a considerable sense of holiness.

And then...

"Whoosh~ Bang!!!"

A light red flame of battle aura burst forth from the greatsword!

With the force of the Qilin's own charge, it slashed straight into the wound that Melina's blade had just created!
The collision between the sword blade and the spirit fire dragon's cervical vertebrae produced a long, resonant sound, like the striking of a great bell.

The power of the Golden Law restrains death. Like a blade cutting through stretched cloth, with a 'sizzle' sound, under Lann's control, the blade perfectly embedded itself in the gash Melina had made, completely severing the remaining half of her neck!

"Boom! Boom!"

The spirit fire dragon's long neck was severed in two, its head, completely unattached, crashed down, followed by its headless body.

Messermo sheathed the spears that had materialized from the black smoke and turned to leave.

This fire dragon only breathed fire once during its descent from the sky, and its head was chopped off within five seconds of landing.

"I don't understand why it rushed over here. It even dared to land, meow."

"It probably got its brain damaged from being caught between life and death for too long. But it could also be that it just wanted to die. Look at the horrible state it's in. Cutting off its head might actually make things easier for it."

Lan En, along with Rongbuqiu and Qilin, muttered beside the headless body of the Spiritfire Dragon.

The kitten climbed onto the now-dormant trunk of the Spiritfire Dragon and, as usual, began searching for loot and materials.

After half a day, all he had left was a piece of scale stone and a heart.

That's all that's left on the Spiritfire Dragon.

There's not much to say about the heart; besides its large size, it's covered in jagged stone spikes. These spikes prove the kinship between flesh-and-blood wyverns and ancient stone dragons in this world, but that's all. So-called kinship is worthless in the face of hatred.

Lan En shoved the [Turbid Flow - Annihilation] directly into the ground with a 'plop', pinning it to the ground.

A fierce tearing sound immediately came from the heart that was pinned to the sword, and the heart itself was being pulled and twitched.

Lan En held the scale in his hand and examined it carefully.

Although he said he was holding it in his hand, Lan En found that he couldn't actually 'touch' it at all!
This scale seemed to maintain a barely perceptible barrier between itself and his palm, or even any other substance.

This membrane is not simply a layer of force covering it, but rather...

"Spacetime distortion?!"

Lan En, who had activated his [Spiritual Vision], originally just wanted to take a quick look at what was going on, but the more he looked, the more his mouth twitched.

His gaze darted back and forth between the scales on his hand and the body of the spirit fire dragon not far away, unable to understand how it could have scales that could create a spacetime distortion phenomenon.

Although the spacetime distortion on these scales is very weak, it still involves spacetime forces.

Moreover... it's a scale. A creature that grows scales couldn't possibly have only one, right?

Even a single scale can exhibit a slight distortion of spacetime; imagine what would happen to the spacetime around that thing if it had a body full of scales.

“Those are scales of the Ancient Dragon King, Platon Sands.”

Before Lan En could call his 'little wooden advisor' to answer his questions, Messermo seemed to have turned his head on his way back and immediately recognized the source of the scales, and began to speak.

"The scattered pieces are also called ancient dragon rock forging stone, which is the world's top forging material. You can keep it."

The Spiritfire Dragon only had these two valuable items, so Lan En and the others followed Messermo's footsteps back.

As they walked, seeing that Messermo didn't seem to mind introducing himself, the Witcher asked himself the question he had just had.

The answer was in the style of Messermon, but it was clear enough.

“This spirit fire dragon is indeed not strong enough right now, but as you can see, it has been tormented by its injuries for too long before it could comprehend the power of the spirit fire.”

"Heh, how do you think the ancient dragons and flying dragons became blood enemies? And why was this scale of the ancient dragon king stuck in its body, and why has it only been pulled out now?"

The answer is obvious.

This spirit fire dragon, in its heyday in ancient times, had either participated in the attack on Platonsangs or been hunted down by Platonsangs.

The attack from the Ancient Dragon King left its scales on its body, severely injuring it and turning it into a spirit fire dragon.

The shadowy places at night are indeed dangerous and unpredictable.

The Spiritfire Dragon, which once fought against the Ancient Dragon King, will also swoop down from the sky.

But tonight, apart from the spirit fire dragon, nothing else happened.

The group built a simple campfire under the large stone ridge and began to rest.

Both Messermo and Melina stared at the flame in the center, which seemed like an ordinary flame, but held a far deeper secret than the Messermo Fire.

Lan En winked at Margarita. The sorceress wasn't heartless; otherwise, she wouldn't have been a good headmistress of the academy.

So soon after, Margarita pretended to be very sleepy, lay down on the sleeping bag that had been laid out, and began to breathe evenly.

Lan En then lay down after saying hello.

Quiet nights are a good time to pour out one's heart, and Melina and Messermo always have something to say to each other by the fire.

Just as Lan En lay down with a sense of satisfaction from 'helping the siblings establish a connection,' he found his mind going blank for a moment.

When I woke up again, everything around me was exactly the same as before: the campfire, the sleeping bag... but no one else was there.

A cool breeze blew through the sea of ​​flowers, bringing with it a sweet fragrance.

Beyond the large stone ridge where they had set up camp, a figure stood on a small hill covered with flowers, her thick purple hair floating incredibly softly in the wind, as if drifting on water.

Lan En got up and walked over.

You don't seem very happy.

The Witcher asked with a smile.

“You haven’t even come up to me and looked at my face,” Torina’s voice remained ethereal and elusive, “how do you know I’m unhappy?”

Lan En walked towards the hill: "Because you sent me to Azure Coast in the first place, but after I arrived, you suddenly stopped talking... You should know the exact location where Michaela abandoned her body, right?"

"Is it just that you don't want to talk about it right now for some reason I don't know?"

(End of this chapter)