Despite the competition from many teams, Crystal Thorn seized the Fire Dragon’s head with an overwhelming advantage.
Even if Melro’s talent was poor, she was still a member of the Blood Clan, giving her a massive advantage over other races. Moreover, since the start of this competition, she had been conserving her strength. Until they entered the Fire Dragon’s Nest, she had done nothing but act as the commander.
The other teams, meanwhile, were riddled with injuries and fatigue. Their condition simply could not compare to Melro’s. Ultimately, with the help of her two teammates, she successfully broke through the Fire Dragon’s scales and delivered the final blow.
As the mountain-sized Magic Beast slowly collapsed, the corners of Melro’s mouth could not help but curl upward. Her blood-red eyes were filled with pure delight. She composed herself with forced elegance, retracting the Blood Mist Whip-blade back into her body.
“Heh… Dragon Slayer.”
“Finally, I have finally obtained a decent honor.”
Glimmering light flickered in her eyes, and her heart pounded incessantly from the excitement. Ever since she was born, she had been despised by her relatives because of that damned lack of talent. Those people had even predicted, when she was in her teens and twenties, that she would surely accomplish nothing in the future and would only become a disgrace to the Blood Clan.
Now, she could finally return to that home with her head held high, carrying the glory she had craved for half of her life.
However, just as Melro was about to step onto the Fire Dragon’s dead carcass to elegantly announce her victory to the cameras, a strange sensation gradually surfaced within her body. It felt as if something that had always been connected to her had suddenly snapped.
A sudden, intense feeling of emptiness began to spread through her heart. That sense of connection had existed in her body for far too long. This sudden disconnection left her unable to figure out what was wrong for a moment.
She stood dazed for three seconds before she finally noticed the clue — the Vampiric Brand she had placed on Alet had vanished.
“The brand is gone. How could it be…”
Melro’s eyes darted around in confusion, and her brain began to buzz. Although she had drained the mana from Alet’s brand, she had still maintained it, even if its protection had become thin. The disappearance of the brand could only mean two things.
Either a powerful Mage had taken advantage of the weakened brand to remove it…
Or he was dead.
Clearly, the latter possibility was infinitely more likely than the former.
“Alet is… dead?”
Melro’s pupils shook violently, and her mind went blank. For a moment, she found this reality difficult to accept. In her estimation, given Alet’s strength, even if he couldn’t defeat the Companion Dragon, he should have been able to stall for time and protect himself.
When they crossed the Sea of Gold, he had said himself that his condition was fine, hadn’t he?
Why… why did he suddenly die without any warning?
She looked back with her blood-red eyes in disbelief, but all she saw was the empty cavern of the Dungeon. The first thought that surged through Melro’s mind was to go back and rescue him immediately.
However, it was already too late. The place where Alet had been fighting was now completely buried under collapsed rocks. Even if she wanted to attempt a rescue, there was no way to start. She might even lose the teammates who were still alive.
Combined with the disappearance of the Blood Tribe Mark… Alet’s death was now a settled, irreversible fact.
“Alet…”
For a moment, Melro felt a sense of loss.
Suddenly, a sharp sense of emptiness, like a rasp, pressed against the inside of her chest. With every heartbeat, this rasp would give a sharp jab, bringing a strong surge of gripping pain.
She was about to obtain the honor she had dreamed of, yet the faint pain in the depths of her heart almost outweighed the joy that should have been dominant.
‘What… what is wrong with me?’
‘Am I… mourning that servant, Alet?’
After realizing the mistake was irreversible, Melro immediately shifted the focus of her thoughts from regret to self-adjustment. As if to suppress this redundant emotion, she furrowed her brows tightly and began to repeatedly emphasize his status as a servant in her mind.
She squeezed her eyes shut, pouring all the strength in her body into her eyelids. Her palms clenched into tight fists, and her sharp nails dug into her palms, leaving behind several bright red cuts.
Deep breath.
Once, twice.
As the scalding air of the underground poured into her lungs, creating a burning sensation, Melro felt the gripping pain in her heart ease slightly.
“Impossible! What a joke!”
When she opened her eyes again, the expression on Melro’s face had returned to normal. She gritted her teeth, forcibly suppressing her feelings for Alet.
“It’s just a normal reaction. Even an object you use for a long time will have some sentiment attached. Let alone a living creature?”
“He’s just a servant. I can have as many as I want in the future!”
With that, she turned around and waved to Flav and Della behind her.
“Let’s go and take the Fire Dragon’s secret treasure.”
After the battle concluded, the various adventurer teams, including Crystal Thorn, distributed the loot based on the damage they had dealt. Each team that participated in the battle took several precious treasures. The remaining common wealth, according to the rules, would be collected by the Adventurer’s Guild to be distributed as prize money for every participating team.
For almost all adventurers, obtaining loot was the most exhilarating moment of an adventure. However, for the Crystal Thorn Adventurer Team at this moment, that was not the case.
As the ones who killed the Fire Dragon, they had the right of first refusal for the loot. But facing the treasures scattered across the ground, Melro seemed to have no interest in choosing. Even though she had just comforted herself with those words, she couldn’t stop her mind from wandering. Her heart was filled with intense unease. At this moment, even the most brilliant treasures seemed tasteless.
It wasn’t until the other teams started prompting her that Melro snapped back to her senses. She let out a dissatisfied click of her tongue and randomly snatched an item without even looking at it.
Afterward, the group followed the main force and began walking toward the large Teleportation Array they had come from.
During this time, there was another person who was as uneasy as Melro — the Elf, Flav.
Only a few minutes after leaving Alet’s side, Flav had regretted it. From then until now, she had been in a state of restlessness. She was constantly worried about Alet’s safety.
Originally, she had wanted to wait for the moment of joy after killing the Fire Dragon to ask Melro to go back and save Sir Knight. However, for some reason, the leader’s condition had been off. Her expression was exceptionally grim, without a hint of happiness.
Flav was afraid that her words would anger Melro, so she kept them bottled up, waiting for Melro to bring up Alet herself. But now that they were about to leave the Dungeon, Melro still showed no intention of mentioning it.
Flav finally couldn’t hold it back anymore.
“Um… Captain Lady?” Flav swallowed hard and nervously leaned toward Melro.
At that moment, Melro was staring blankly at the secret treasure she had just taken. It was a rose carved from crystal. The craftsmanship was extremely exquisite, clearly a priceless object.
Upon hearing Flav’s call, Melro snapped her head around. A sudden surge of rage rose in her blood-red eyes, looking terrifying enough to make anyone shudder. It was as if someone had touched a dragon’s Reverse Scale.
“Speak.”
Flav trembled in fear, but thinking of Alet’s unknown fate, she still stammered her words out.
“Um, Sir… Sir Knight is still over there.”
“Aren’t we… going back to get him?”
The moment Melro heard the question, the gripping pain that had finally subsided slightly came rushing back from all directions. The pain pierced through her entire body, as if constantly reminding her of the fact of Alet’s death.
*Crack.*
Before Flav could finish her sentence, a sharp, crisp sound echoed from Melro’s hand. The moment Alet was mentioned, veins popped on Melro’s hand as her muscles exerted sudden force, crushing the priceless Crystal Rose into fragments. The broken crystal shards pierced into her palm, and crimson blood splattered out.
“Alet?”
“He’s dead.”
Melro answered Flav’s question through gritted teeth. Even though her clenched fist throbbed with pain from the shards, she had no intention of letting go.
“If you dare mention that trash one more time… I’ll send you down to accompany him.”