“A Demon in a Level 3 dungeon?”
“Y-Yes! A subjugation team should be in that realm right now!”
“………..”
“What do you think, Miss?”
The one who called the silent Artel “Miss” was Ted, a Level 6 explorer who served as the tank of “The Valiant Lance.”
Twirling his unkempt beard, he planted his large armored body firmly.
“That’s impossible.”
“I agree. From what I’ve heard, the first missing person disappeared a month ago. It’s impossible for a Demon to survive that long naturally. This isn’t natural.”
Adjusting her glasses, Amira, the healer, agreed with Artel. Her eyes were fixed on the board where missing person requests were posted.
Taggle, the wizard, nodded at Amira’s words.
“An anomaly so close to the Griffil Forest… It would be unreasonable not to suspect a connection.”
“It’s decided then. ‘The Valiant Lance,’ we’re heading to that dungeon!”
At those words, cheers filled the explorer’s guild in Gart.
If it was a misunderstanding, that would be fine, but if they were right, they might be able to save their friends. There was no reason not to go.
“Wait for me, both of you.”
Artel whispered and ran toward the dungeon.
And at the depths of the realm she reached, at the very end, she saw it.
“The ground is… collapsed?”
Leaving surveillance to her members, Artel approached the traces.
As she neared, frowning at the black smoke rising from underground and the pungent smell of something burnt,
“It’s so hot…”
Even Artel, who wasn’t wearing thick clothes for mobility, had beads of sweat on her pale skin.
It was as if she was looking into the crater of a volcano.
Faintly visible was a dying fire. Apparently, the pile of charcoal below was the source of the strange smell.
Squinting suspiciously, she was about to call her companions when—
“—————”
A human voice.
She strained to hear what she couldn’t quite make out.
“Helheim… returning.”
“──WAIT!”
When she heard it, Artel leaped into the underground passage.
Pointing her slender rapier—matching her delicate build—toward the shadowy figure, she fixed them with a sharp gaze.
Standing heroically, Artel declared,
“I heard you. I definitely heard you. You just said ‘Helheim,’ didn’t you?”
It wasn’t a mishearing.
That was obvious from how the figure before her gave a startled jump, fidgeting nervously.
“I came when I heard about the commotion, and what a jackpot this is. By my authority as a Level 8 explorer, I’ll be taking you to the empire. …Artel-Nanoar. Remember the name of the hero who captured Helheim!”
There was no letting her guard down. She stared straight at the shadowy figure.
Besides the man, two others stood to the side, observing the situation.
“Miss! What’s happening!?”
With a heavy thud, Ted descended into the underground area.
Amira and Taggle landed right after him.
“It’s Helheim. They were stupidly calling themselves that.”
“S-Stupid…”
The hooded man, seemingly shocked by Artel’s words, raised his voice, then hunched over, scraping the ground with the weakly flame-covered sword in his hand.
“W-Well, it might seem stupid now… but it was cool back then, and it’s not really uncool now either… It’s just that as an adult, I’ve developed some sense of shame and reality, but I don’t think it’s bad… Well, I guess it’s not something to do in front of others…”
Each time the man moved, “The Valiant Lance” took battle positions.
Was he trying to lower their guard, or provoke an attack?
The man, continuing his puzzling behavior, suddenly looked at the sword in his hand and surveyed the surroundings.
“Ah, n-no, this isn’t what it looks like!”
“…?”
For the first time, Artel took in the scene around them.
In that instant, her blood ran cold.
Explorer cards scattered about.
Remains bearing traces of once being human.
The scene still faintly burning.
And the man holding a sword wreathed in flames.
Her party members also understood what this indicated.
The subjugation team formed to defeat the Demon had been completely annihilated.
This man was the perpetrator of this atrocity.
“…You’re beyond redemption, Helheim.”
Without hesitation, she channeled her magical power.
“—Dark Shroud.”
The moment those words left her lips, the other party members lowered their eyes.
Loss Magic.
This magic, limited to few practitioners, is impractical to master to a usable level due to its high control difficulty.
Yet Artel mastered it, and it became the origin of her name “Valiant Black.”
The effect is simple but immensely powerful.
Its function—deprivation of the five senses. It propagates magical power through the air, affecting designated targets.
Artel is particularly skilled in manipulating vision, and those who have faced her all say the same thing:
[Black… that’s all I remember]
Her valiant figure and that legend.
Hence, Valiant Black.
Artel’s magic was naturally directed at the hooded man.
Right after confirming her magic had reached him, she moved in a flash.
“—Tch!”
Exhaling sharply, she thrust her rapier toward his legs. Aiming for capture rather than killing, she first needed to eliminate his mobility—.
“W-Wait, I’m telling you this is a misunderstanding!”
The panicked man easily deflected Artel’s rapier with the sword in his hand.
“…Huh?”
“S-Seriously…”
It wasn’t working.
Only voices of incomprehension leaked from Artel and her party members.
Ignoring their reactions, the man began what sounded like excuses.
“I was just fighting a Greater Demon that was here—”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
──────CRAAAAAAAAASH!!!
The man’s words were drowned out by a deafening roar that suddenly shook the ruins. The tremors rattled the very foundations of the dungeon.
The noise didn’t stop, blocking out any chance of hearing the man’s frantic pleas.
Covering their ears against the piercing sound, the Valiant Lance exchanged glances.
Yelling at the top of their lungs, they barely managed to communicate.
“BOSS! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!”
“HOW SHOULD I KNOW?!”
The other two shook their heads, just as lost.
As the earth-shaking noise gradually subsided, Artel and the others lowered their hands from their ears—
—only to hear the sound of air being split apart. Like the wingbeats of a colossal bird.
Artel recognized it instantly.
This was the sound of a dragon’s wings.
“──────Ooooh…”
The voice from above drew closer with each passing second.
Artel knew that voice.
The earlier explosion—had been the sound of the dungeon’s upper levels being obliterated.
And there was only one being capable of that. No, only one entity.
“────KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!”
BOOOOOOM!!!
The impact of its landing sent a tidal wave of dust surging through the underground space.
Then, a gust of wind scattered the debris, revealing the figure to Artel and the others.
Jet-black hair. Sun-kissed brown skin. And atop her head—the unmistakable proof she was no human: curved black horns.
Baring her flawless beauty with nothing but a single cloth draped over her bare body, the woman raised her voice triumphantly.
“────Nidhogg! REPORTING FOR DUTY!!”
A living legend. The ultimate deterrent against demons.
Countless words described her, but her most famous title was—
The Guardian Dragon of the Fortem Empire. Her existence alone was the reason the empire stood unrivaled in strength.
Naturally, as an empire-affiliated Explorer, Artel knew her.
All Explorers Lv. 8 and above were required to meet her at least once under imperial orders.
And among them, Artel had met her frequently enough to develop a casual rapport.
A being so overwhelmingly powerful that even Lv. 10 Explorers admitted they stood no chance against her.
The purest embodiment of supremacy. A Dragonkin—Nidhogg.
“…Nidhogg… You…!”
Artel wasn’t the only one gaping. The entire Valiant Lance stood frozen in shock.
“Hm?” Nidhogg turned at the voice, spotting Artel.
“Oho! If it isn’t Jet-Black Artel! What brings you here?”
“I should be asking you that!”
Destroying a dungeon? Depending on the circumstances, that could be considered high treason against the nation governing the territory.
Not that anyone would be foolish enough to lecture a dragon about laws.
As Artel floundered, the Valiant Lance, their thoughts still catching up to the absurdity of the situation, began to relax, stifling nervous laughter.
“W-well, damn… The Guardian Dragon herself showing up as backup…?”
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