Danmachi - Infinite Mana System! - Chapter 176 - The land of dragons 02.

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV
Altena.

...

...

“That...” Lucius immediately opened his eyes as both of them turned back toward the black typhoon vortex, with a red eye staring at them from within. Even Riveria had a look of terror in her eyes as they trembled slightly. Both could feel the danger of the creature in front of them.

“Our... am I afraid?” Lucius couldn’t help but comment. Perhaps this was the first time he had felt something like this since he had obtained the system.

“What kind of terrifying creature must this be... even a level 10 couldn’t handle it with a group that also had a spirit...” He murmured.

“Lucius...?” Riveria looked at him, surprised, as he began to smile.

“I’m afraid, Riveria, but at the same time, I’m hesitant... I want to overcome this creature...” Lucius couldn’t help but say, his smile widening.

“Shouldn’t we leave this place? It’s too much for just the two of us.” Riveria commented. They had certainly come here to see the sealed creature, but its presence was completely different from what she had imagined.

“Yes... it seems that these are the tombs of the Zeus family and the Hera family. This was the battlefield where the two families clashed more than 15 years ago...” Lucius said as he observed the completely destroyed field. He paused before continuing.

“Clearly, the dragon is not very happy with our presence here.” Riveria remarked, carefully watching the eye staring at them, clearly aware of their presence in its territory.

“Yes, but it’s sealed... I don’t think it will get out that easily...” Lucius said.

BOOM

At that moment, a loud blast came from within the vortex, like a massive creature striking against it.

“Lucius...” Riveria murmured with concern.

“It can’t get out that easily. It’s just trying to scare us.” Lucius said. But when he looked at Riveria, his face showed fear.

“All right, we’ve seen enough.” Lucius finally said.

Riveria simply nodded as he grabbed her by the arm, and they began to fly away. They shot upward while still hearing the black dragon’s pounding against the walls that held it back.

“That damn reptile...” Lucius murmured, telling himself that he would return here to destroy it in the future.

Just as they reached the open area above the mountains, another explosion occurred below them. But unlike before, a creature roared—it wasn’t very loud, but it certainly caught their attention, and Lucius and Riveria looked down, startled.

Lucius and Riveria could see, in the vortex between the openings in the wind, a dark dragon-like creature with a single eye. It wasn’t very large, as if it were a miniature copy of the Black Dragon. It was forcibly emerging from the seal, its head pushing through the gaps, trying to squeeze its entire body out.

“What is that?!” Riveria murmured, a bit shaken.

Lucius immediately analyzed the creature. That was definitely not the Black Dragon, as its strength could be easily handled by him at his current level, despite being a high-level creature.

“Can the Black Dragon create offspring or something like that?” Lucius asked, feeling the power of the creature, which was at level 6. It continued forcing its way through the vortex.

Lucius stopped in the air, watching the creature fully emerge. It fell to the ground below the vortex before raising its eyes upward and roaring.

“ROOOAAAARRR!” It saw them as enemies.

“Did you know about this?” Lucius asked Riveria, but his eyes remained fixed on the creature. They were a kilometer above it in the air.

“No... I’ve never heard of this...” Riveria murmured, equally surprised.

The creature spread its wings and began advancing toward them. It had come out specifically to kill them.

“What the hell... Was it so pissed off that it sent this thing after us?” Lucius commented, watching the mini dragon advancing through the air. His gaze shifted from the dragon to the valley below, searching for a place until he easily spotted a nearby mountain. He flew toward it because he needed to put Riveria on the ground if they were to fight that thing.

The creature quickly chased after them. It was even faster than Lucius, but he still had an advantage by being farther ahead, flying through the sky over the valley of dragons. That smaller dragon shouldn’t have been even 5 meters long, unlike the original creature, which appeared to be at least 100 meters from the glimpse they had inside the vortex.

Upon reaching the surface of the mountain, Lucius placed Riveria beside him, and the elf quickly prepared her staff.

“This creature is level 6. We can defeat it with relative ease,” Lucius said.

Riveria nodded, keeping her gaze steady on the creature as it approached them. When the monster got closer, it opened its mouth, and flames began to form, being launched in their direction.

Riveria swiftly began a sequence of chants before striking her staff against the ground.

“BOOOOOM!!!!”

The next moment, a barrier emerged, blocking the flames. Outside, everything turned to chaos, with the mountain area being completely destroyed.

“Good...”

Lucius praised her as he began to prepare his own spells.

The creature approached to attack them physically now, after seeing that its flames had failed. Lucius then launched a gravity-charged attack, pointing his hand at the creature as it turned purple.

Immediately, the smaller dragon, which was about to reach them, felt the weight of its body increase, being violently slammed against the ground. The area around exploded, partially burying the creature. Lucius reinforced the spell, channeling even more energy, taking advantage of the magic-charged atmosphere of that place—the home of the Black Dragon—using mana zone to amplify the spell to the point of subduing a creature of that level.

The creature roared, trapped on the ground, unable to get up.

“Riveria, do the honors and finish it off,” Lucius said.

Riveria quickly nodded, taking a few steps forward and beginning to conjure a powerful spell, strong enough to destroy a level 6 creature. She just needed time, while Lucius kept the monster pinned to the ground.

Riveria swiftly finished her chanting before striking her staff against the ground.

The next moment, lights began to form, and an intense glow appeared over the mountain before several attacks were fired directly at the creature. The dragon could do nothing. The surrounding area exploded, and the monster’s roar of pain echoed briefly, soon falling silent.

“It’s over,” Lucius murmured as he saw that the creature was dead, disintegrating, leaving behind a crystal within the crater Riveria had created, along with another object.

Lucius approached, collecting the spoils with his spell. Soon, he displayed in his hands a large crystal and, in the other, a horn.

“Well... Looks like we got another one for our collection,” Lucius murmured.

They had already collected level 6 crystals before, and now they had obtained a fifth one.

“Our mission was to deliver three level 6 crystals... The Guild will certainly be surprised by this one,” Riveria murmured.

“Yes... But I’ll also want answers. What exactly was that?” Lucius murmured, wondering what that thing that had emerged from the seal was.

His gaze returned to the area in the middle of the volcanic and snowy valley, paying attention to the black vortex, to see if any other dragon would emerge from it. But everything seemed calm again; not even the creature’s eye was there anymore.

His eyes fell upon the horn.

‘What should I do with this...? Maybe the Guild knows what it is,’ Lucius murmured, storing the horn and the crystal in his magical space.

“So... Shall we leave?” Riveria asked.

He looked at her, showing a slight smile.

“We can stay here for a couple of days. Do you have a problem with that?” he asked.

“No... But why would we stay for two days?” she questioned with a suspicious look.

“There are many veins of minerals in this place. I would like to find more precious stones. I won’t go after them personally, but I’ll ask the house elves to spread out around the area and search for caves. It’s a good way to make money,” Lucius explained.

“But I also want to know if another creature is going to come out of that thing again. We need to be sure that nothing else will emerge.”

Riveria nodded at the end, understanding his reasoning.

They ended up staying there for two days, enjoying the waters of the hot springs, heated by the nearby volcanoes. Lucius projected a house using his creation magic. He did not limit himself to small objects this time. When he concentrated his magic, he could create considerably large constructions.

In the end, they relaxed, and Riveria didn’t complain. They simply enjoyed their stay. Until the house elves finally finished bringing the last load of diamonds, emeralds, and rubies.

“It’s here, Master Lucius,” one of the house elves said, placing a huge sack full of shimmering stones.

Lucius smiled, feeling that he had secured another fortune. Perhaps even greater than the one he found in that previous cave. The collection of spoils gathered by all the house elves had significantly increased his wealth.

‘With this... I could even buy that slum area the Guild pointed me to...’ Lucius said, scratching his chin, thoughtful.

“Well, let’s go now,” he looked at Riveria and said, starting to organize everything, dissolving the magically created house, while his house elves began to disappear.

The two of them began to leave the Valley of Dragons. Lucius had, in part, stayed there longer to see if another one of those creatures would come out of the vortex. He did not believe there were enough level 6 adventurers nearby to defeat that monster if it escaped.

And so, they headed south, toward the Kingdom of the Dwarves.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Two women were traveling through the northern region of the continent.

“So... why do you think we’ll be able to find them?” one of the women asked.

“You heard the rumors. They were in Altena after traveling across the entire south of the continent... clearly, they’re traveling through all of it, and the north will be their next stop,” the other woman replied.

“But you know he has a flying ability... It’ll be very difficult to find him,” the first woman commented, her blue eyes staring at the other.

“We don’t have a choice, do we?” the second replied.

“I guess you’re right. So, should we go to the Empire?” said the first.

“Yes, but I want to stop by the Kingdom of the Dwarves to check if they’re there or at least gather some information.”

“I hope we have time... Orario is in trouble.”

“Yes, the city is already corrupted by that goddess... We need to hurry and find them quickly. After all, only the two of us were not affected because we were on a mission away. All mortals and gods are now under her influence... Perhaps only Lucius Drakenar can change the situation in the city, and you know that.”

“Yes...” she said with certainty.

“Then let’s go.”

With that, they left the place and flew toward the Kingdom of the Dwarves.