Chapter 57

The former High Elf Queen.

Serphin—no, the great dragon—was moved to the center of the front lines.

The method was simple.

Move the Moonlight Arrow Eldrin had fired.

– Grrr, you insects! Release me at once!

The dragon, unable to destroy the arrow due to the seal, naturally followed it.

– Release me now! If you do, I’ll at least spare your races from extinction!

Spouting absurd nonsense as it came.

This was the moment the great dragon’s true form was exposed to the world.

“…Is, is that…?”

“Serphin?”

“Isn’t that the Queen of the damned Elves? Why is she bound like that?”

The dwarves were stunned.

Of course they were.

Serphin was known alongside Volcanus as one of the untouchable transcendents.

They could never have imagined her captured in such a powerless state.

But the real shock came from—

“…Die!”

“You vile dragon who deceived our people! Did you think you could hide the truth forever?!”

“You defiled the forest, you monstrous beast!”

The elves were also glaring at Serphin with faces twisted in rage.

Only then did the dwarves begin to believe what I had said.

It wasn’t until they saw it with their own eyes that they started to change.

But it wasn’t enough yet.

I needed to drive the final nail in.

“Eldrin.”

I called to her, using Bone Three’s body.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Tighten the arrow’s seal a bit more.”

Make the body shrink further.

To match the size of a dwarf—specifically, Volcanus.

I planned to let the Rock Tribe see their Chairman’s true identity.

– Hmph, pathetic trickery.

But the great dragon quickly caught on.

All the races gathered before it, and itself displayed in front of them.

A dragon couldn’t possibly fail to grasp what that meant.

– Hmph.

The dragon sighed faintly.

Then, without hesitation, transformed into Volcanus.

Oh? Confident, are we?

– Brave warriors of the Rock Tribe, listen to me!

The roar of Chairman Volcanus echoed across the battlefield.

– How could you be so foolish? I told you time and time again! The Elves’ sorcery is more wicked than any dragon! You’ve been deceived! Trapped by the vile scheme of the High Elf Queen, you’ve turned against your own Chairman!

The dragon’s final choice—

Was to once again try to win the dwarves over.

– Remember! In the five-hundred-year war, who was the true deterrent? Can you really envision a future for the Rock Tribe without me? Must I die for you to beat your chests in regret?

The great dragon swept its gaze across the battlefield.

“What, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore!”

“What if the Chairman is right? What if Joo Donghoon is really an elf spy?”

“Come on! There’s no way Joo Donghoon would do that!”

“He could be a spy who earned our trust! Honestly, how else would a High Elf Queen capture the Chairman?”

The dragon wasn’t wrong.

The dwarves were simple-minded—or rather… gullible.

To be swayed by such obvious manipulation.

“…”

The dragon continued trying to persuade them, and the dwarves fell into total chaos.

The Chairman they’d trusted for 500 years.

And the benefactor who had only recently appeared.

“Tch. I’m sorry.”

Watching this, Dagnard shook his head.

“I didn’t think our people were this stupid. I’m too embarrassed to show my face.”

Then—

He stepped forward, next to me.

The [Amplify] (A-rank) skill covered a fixed area.

Which meant Dagnard’s voice would carry too.

– You idiots!

He shouted from the depths of his gut.

– Why do you close your eyes again after finally being shown the truth? Did you drop your brains along with your hammers?! You motherless bastards!

Dagnard’s brutal scolding.

‘Oh?’

I stepped aside and watched.

Yeah.

This was their race’s problem. It was only right for them to deal with it.

No matter how high my affinity was, I was still an outsider.

“What? Motherless bastard?”

“Who the hell is that?”

“That’s Dagnard! The one who was with Joo Donghoon!”

“Who are you to go throwing around insults like that?!”

The dwarves, already on edge, bristled at the sudden outburst.

But Dagnard didn’t back down.

– Hmph! You can’t even show respect to your great ancestor standing right before your eyes—what else should I call you but bastards?!

Maybe it was because they’d just heard Dmir and Eldrin’s story.

A few dwarves flinched.

– Right here! The soul of the great Dmir is watching over us! Stop embarrassing yourselves! Rock Tribe! If the Chairman is truly powerful, how could he be trapped by such a low-level arrow? I saw it! I saw it with my own eyes! The Chairman is a vile dragon! Thanks to our great ancestor, we were spared from tyranny and only had to fight the elves!

Dagnard’s speech was crude and blunt.

But it hit hard.

‘Knew he’d be helpful.’

I smiled.

Dagnard was someone who put his people before himself.

That’s what made his sincerity resonate so deeply.

– Look at the elves! Remove your bias and look again! Do those tears look fake to you? Do they look like crocodile tears? They’re genuinely furious! Furious at Serphin, their former Queen! At the great dragon that deceived us for 500 years!

– Silence!

The dragon interrupted at that moment.

– Dagnard is a naïve fool who’s been manipulated! Will you believe a young dwarf under the elves’ spell over the Chairman who’s served you for 500 years? Are you truly that idiotic?

– Shut up! Dragon!

– What?!

– Just thinking about what you did still makes my blood boil! What did you ever do for us?! You started wars and sat back to watch! You suppressed our blacksmithing and forced even young dwarves into battle!

– You little…!

– Even if you were really the Chairman, you’d be impeached, you bastard!

– Bastard?! Grrrraaaagh! You insolent little dwarf! Do you wish to die?!

“…”

Correction.

The dwarves aren’t the only dumb ones—the dragon’s dumb too.

Seriously.

Is mindless violence all it knows? Did it not develop any intelligence?

“…”

I had no reason to step in.

This was clearly Dagnard’s moment.

The dwarves’ hearts had already shifted.

What was funny was that their renewed trust didn’t come from the dragon’s rage—

It was because of Dmir.

“That technique… That had to be the ancestor’s.”

“That hammer strike… no wonder it felt extraordinary. It was the great Dmir, wasn’t it?”

“For the first time in 200 years, I felt my heart race again. Even though I haven’t held a hammer in centuries… we truly were born blacksmiths.”

“But the Chairman suppressed us.”

“He forbade us from wielding hammers. He took away our freedom.”

“Freedom… suppression… the great dragon.”

“Yeah, the Chairman was the dragon.”

One by one.

They came to their senses.

Yeah, after being deceived for 500 years—

If you still fall for it again, that’s your fault.

“Why did we even fight the elves? It was over some ancient relic from our ancestors? We suffered for 500 years for that? Does that sound right to you?”

“Yeah. Back in the day, we were all comrades, weren’t we?”

“Forest or rock—it’s all nature. There was never a reason to be enemies.”

They were a simple race, but that also meant they weren’t stubborn.

They could admit when they were wrong.

‘Nice.’

It felt like just yesterday when I entered this dungeon, “Forest and Rock.”

And already, the two races had stopped fighting and come to their senses.

“Outsider.”

Dmir murmured beside me.

Eldrin stepped up and spoke.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, everything is ready.”

“Ready?”

I tilted my head, and she nodded.

“Yes. It’s time to fully seal the dragon.”

“…Huh?”

Wait.

We could seal it?

“The ritual requirements are already met.”

Eldrin looked up at the sky.

Her face was a skull, yet it somehow felt like she was smiling gently.

“The condition is complete unity between the two races. As long as that unity remains unbroken, the dragon can never emerge again.”

“Ah, a conditional seal.”

A seal dependent on harmony.

Not a perfect seal, but fitting for this world’s rules.

Like a message from a ‘god’—

Do not fight.

If you do, you’ll be punished.

– Heh… I see. I’ve lost completely.

Maybe realizing the ritual was complete—

The dragon gave up.

Sighing, it let go of everything.

Perhaps exhausted from five hundred years of effort, it looked deeply worn.

– But you’ll never seal me forever. Wait and see. One day I’ll return and bring your ruin!

Shhhhk!

The dragon’s tone was solemn.

With that final warning, it began to fade from the world.

Sucked into the orb of suppression.

GOOOOOH!

For just a moment, the great shadow of the dragon loomed over the battlefield.

The true form of the creature that had ruled the world.

“Gasp!”

“…That’s the dragon?”

Elves and dwarves alike—

Could only stare in awe.

The sheer presence, the weight of that warning—

It struck them all.

How much time passed?

I carefully opened my mouth.

“…Is it over?”

“Yes, it’s all over.”

Dagnard smiled.

His first genuine, beaming smile.

The kind of smile that only comes from true happiness.

“Thanks to you. It may have been a short time, but I experienced so much. Calling you a benefactor no longer does you justice.”

“…”

“Our Rock Tribe will honor you forever. We’ll build a statue in your name. Record your deeds in every book.”

A pure expression of gratitude.

Dagnard wiped his sweaty hand on his clothes and extended it to me.

I smiled and shook it.

‘Nice.’

It was a strange feeling.

Receiving pure goodwill like this felt… really good.

Different from the respect I received as a Ranker.

Different from the reverence hunters gave me.

“You heard it, right? If we don’t maintain harmony, the dragon comes back.”

“Haha, of course. Not just me—everyone here heard it.”

Before long, a message popped up.

[Congratulations!]

[At last, the conflict between the two races has ended and peace has been restored.]

[Your reward is arriving!]

‘Reward!’

There could only be one meaning.

The true awakening of Bone Three and Bone Six!

Right on cue, Dmir and Eldrin approached.

“Thank you, outsider. Thanks to you, I can now rest in peace. But a promise is a promise, right?”

“Until our souls fade, we will serve you sincerely. We will fight for you and be your arms and legs.”

To hear someone say they’ll fight for me—how reassuring could that be?

“Yes. I’ll be in your care too.”

I bowed in return.

As much as they would follow me—

I’d leave them with good memories.

Of joyfully traveling the worlds beyond this one.

‘Soon, I’ll probably leave this dungeon.’

Fortunately, there was still time left.

It seemed the final clear message would appear once the dragon was fully sealed.

‘Works for me.’

Time to gather the loot.

From the elves—textile materials.

From the dwarves—ore.

The elves would hand it over if Eldrin asked.

The dwarves already promised it, so of course they would.

I smiled sincerely.

For some reason, this felt like the happiest moment since I entered this dungeon.