* * *
Philip reached the end of the aisle and stood in front of a strange door. It was decorated with a deer’s skull and was studded with a slightly bloody obsidian, so even if you didn’t know that the boss was there, you could tell.
“Whoever sees it, it’s here.”
“That’s right.”
Philip opened the door without hesitation. Then, a damp, stale smell hit me like the smell of grave soil.
Inside was a large cavity, like a dragon’s lair. It’s just a little dirty and a lot dark. Philip frowned at the huge figure curled up in the center of the cavity.
“I’ll wash it and live.”
Rappo was about to straighten his fur and get into full combat readiness, when he was a little surprised to see Phillip, who didn’t seem to be nervous at all.
‘At that level, it must be quite burdensome, but aren’t you naturally intimidated? No, living creatures that live and breathe cannot do that. Well, he must have been able to inherit the moonlight sword because he was so extraordinary.’
As if they were really dragons, they had a huge torso, black scales, and the species called drakes were physically indistinguishable from dragons, except for the blessings of advanced intellect and magical powers.
“delicious… I can smell… .”
Soon, Drake’s torso moved with an unpleasant voice that seemed to be deliberately scratching. At that moment, Philip put his hand on Lapo’s back.
“I’m counting on you.”
“hahahaha, of course. We will take this opportunity to properly demonstrate the power of the warriors of the Yulang clan. A lizard over there can’t be a warrior’s opponent, right?”
Thinking that he had finally had a chance to unleash his full potential, Rappo raised his fur and glared at Drake Nepensus.
“From the moment I entered, there was a terrible fishy smell, and I never thought there would be such a large lizard. Just one question, if you cut off your tail, will it grow back?”
Drake was clearly a strong species. But Rappo was pretty confident.
It would have been quite difficult if I had been alone, but it was because Philip was by my side. Philip couldn’t be said to be very strong, but he had enough ability to make the fight much easier.
“you… The Wolrang tribe… A defeated race that collapsed and disappeared. Why is there waste that should disappear into the backwaters of history? Are you thinking of reversing history by saving your people? Even so, you are nothing more than wild dogs with their tails down… .”
“You damn lizard!”
Drake responded to Rapo’s provocation with a sneer in his characteristic scratchy voice.
Rapo, who had been provoked and received a stronger blow, immediately lunged at the giant drake with a growl.
Drake Nepensus immediately spread his wings as Rappo aimed for his neck. As he evaded Rappo’s attack with fairly nimble movements and opened his mouth wide, black air currents began to gather around his large mouth.
It was an acid breath that could be said to be the special move of a flatland drake. The attack spread out like a ray of light, and Rappo turned in mid-air to avoid it, but it just brushed off her fur, which she took pride in.
Rappo, half of his mane melted, quickly turned his gaze to see where Philip was.
If he was a genius worthy of inheriting the Moonlight Sword, he would surely be in a position to inflict significant damage.
“… uh?”
However, Philip was nowhere to be seen.
“Huh?”
Avoiding Drake’s tail wagging, Rappo muttered quietly.
“What the f*ck… .”
* * *
‘sorry. Rappo.’
To be honest, I wasn’t very sorry, but Philip apologized to Rappo and secretly avoided Black Drake and headed to the back.
He heard Lapoa Drake fighting behind him, but he decided to ignore it. In fact, it was the wolf’s fault that Philip came this far.
Originally, he would have been tutoring the students without any major incidents, and would only have looked a little more carefully to prepare for any unfortunate incidents.
I had no intention of fighting Drake in a cave hundreds of meters underground.
‘Well, the Wolang tribe will win.’
Drake was also a fairly strong race, but it was nothing compared to the Wolang tribe.
Even if dozens of drakes gathered, they could not defeat the dragon, and the Wolrang tribe could somehow deal with at least a young dragon if ten were gathered.
So it was clear that Rappo would also be able to win easily. Although the estimated age of Nepensus is a little over a thousand years, and it deals with some mysterious dark force.
Philip hummed and continued his search. Following the narrow path leading to the back of Drake’s residence, I came across a space that looked like a temple.
“hmm?”
Philip took a glowstone from his pocket and shone it in front of him. Then, a stone statue placed on the marble floor caught his attention.
“… … This?”
The stone statue was the figure of a girl. He looked similar in age to Johnny’s or Cheryl, possessing the loveliness of a girl and the charm of a woman at the same time, but with a terrified expression on his face and shedding tears.
“It has a tail.”
Judging from the fact that the wolf’s hairy tail was attached to his hip, it seemed that he was a member of the Wolang tribe. Originally, among beastmen, those born with strong animal blood had tails.
Although the Yulang tribe are also beastmen, their origins are an ancient and mythological species. If he was born with that blood, he wanted to be a shaman.
The problem is that it turned to stone. That was obviously not a stone statue. It was clear that no master, no matter how advanced in technology, could express the fear of a single human being to such an extent.
‘Is it a petrification curse? There’s no way the Wolrang tribe will fall under the curse of petrification.’
The Curse of Petrification was a very high level of sorcery. The principle was different from magic, and it was a technique that completely transformed skin tissue into that of stone, but basically it would be useless to the Wolrang people who have great anti-magic power.
—… be pitiful too How scared were you before it happened?
Suddenly, Neria spoke up. Philip silently nodded. Just by looking at her wide-open eyes and her terrified expression, I could roughly guess the horror the girl who had become a stone statue must have experienced.
Philip put his hand on the crown of the stone statue and concentrated. Philip’s aura flowed all over the girl who turned to stone, and at that moment, the stone statue’s thighs cracked.
Recognizing that this wasn’t a break from the curse, it was just damaged, Philip immediately withdrew his hand. A cold sweat ran down the back of his head.
“… How do I do this?”
When Philip asked, who almost shattered the younger sister-in-law, Neria thought for a moment before answering.
—… How about cutting something like a stone that has fallen on the ground and filling it up?
“that… I wonder Rather, we need to know what happened so that we can find a way to fix the problem. Are you completely turned to stone? Can’t I save it at all?”
―I wish it was like that… Maybe it is? It’s really good, but… .
A voice that didn’t belong to Neria sounded in Philip’s head as he pondered whether he should help Rappo kill Drake even now.
-Who are you?
It was the voice of a young woman. Surprised, Philip looked at the stone statue. Philip, who felt something like a faint vibration from the stone statue, asked cautiously.
“that… Is that what you said?”
―I asked who you are first!
Philip explained in a soft voice to the reaction of stress and fear.
From noble mtl dot com
“Do you know the Wolang by the name of Lapo? At the request of the wolf, I was searching for the place where the Wolrang were sealed. I found you along the way, and I thought you were dead, so I was going to help your brother-in-law fighting the Drake Nepensus.”
The tone of the girl’s voice suddenly changed at Philip’s explanation.
-Rapo’s older brother… yo. this? no. I can’t believe it. How do you know if you’re only selling Rappo’s name?
“Rapo’s wife is Roro, and you probably remember that she was pregnant. She is currently staying at my house and now has a pretty daughter. I haven’t heard much about you, so this is the only way to prove it.”
Philip thought that she would not come easily, but that was enough for a girl who had been stoned for many years.
—… Can you please save me? sniff… I want to get out of here. I am… I don’t even remember if I ever had a body.
Philip let out a small sigh as the pitiful whimper echoed in his head.
“How did that happen?”
―The Great Master stayed there to protect me… I was running away alone and was attacked and passed out… and… eye… The moment I met those big red eyes, my body slowly stiffened… so… .
“You mean snow?”
-yes… It was a vertical slit eye. It’s like a pitch-black abyss rushing in the middle of your eyes… .
As Philip listened to her explanation, he came up with a possibility.
‘Did you get hit by the magic dragon Negev? Those dragon eyes must have been exactly like that. If you assume that, you’re pretty much in line. If you become a shaman of the Wolrang clan, you will have the blood of a Shinhwa species, so it makes sense that she has not completely turned to stone.’
Philip, who had been speculating for a while, nodded his head with a heavy expression.
“I can try, but maybe I will fail. If you fail, your body may be shattered and irreversible.”
―That, I don’t like that… .
“Of course, a wizard of the level of a great sage could somehow find a way, but it would be difficult to find a completely safe way. It could take hundreds of years.”
―I hate that too… It’s a method that is passed down only to shamans, and I’ve endured it until now by putting my consciousness into a state of suspended animation… You can’t use that twice! Enduring hundreds of years with consciousness intact… !
Neria, who had been listening quietly, murmured.
―It’s filthy, but can’t we just pretend we didn’t find it and leave it there? master? I guess that kid wasn’t locked up yet. And in fact, I don’t think I need that child’s consent. What can he do if his master says he will?
When I heard it, I was right. In fact, Philip was confident. If he had been turned into a stone statue by being struck by the magic dragon Negev, the power of the magic eye must have weakened a lot now that a thousand years have passed.
“It may sting a little.”
-yes?
Philip asked for forgiveness in advance and pulled out a dagger from his waistband. Then, he pierced the dagger into the side of the stone statue’s thigh that was not cracked.
―Ouch! Gee, what are you doing now?
After classifying her voice as noise, Phillip focused fully. This time, instead of moving an aura, he moved pure mana.
It was an act that was several times more difficult than moving the aura. In other words, it was the difference between moving water in a water bottle and moving the water itself through telekinesis.
In an instant, sweat began to flow through Phillip’s body, and his fully open senses screamed.
Philip found an intangible knot in the body of a girl who had become stone to the bone, where the heart would have been.
‘It’s like this.’
The magic dragon Negev’s evil eye contained several curses, one of which was the curse of petrification. Philip understood the principle of the curse, albeit roughly.
‘Brainwashing. It’s a very powerful brainwashing. Brainwashing that affects not only the target of the curse, but also the space around it. If it was a thousand years ago, before Negev was injured, I would have been able to do that much.’
Fortunately, a lot of time had passed, so it seemed like Philip’s ability could lift the curse. In the midst of the pressure that seemed to convulse each peripheral nerve, Philip tapped the knot of curse with a thread made of mana.
It was a tight knot, like a thorny vine. Thin streams of blood flowed from Philip’s eyes and nose, and soon the knots loosened.
—… uh?
Neria suddenly exclaimed. The tailed stone statue suddenly began to vibrate loudly.
In the meantime, Philip felt the knot of curse unravel by itself. Deep inside the girl’s body, to be precise, her heart was warm, and the hard stone became a source of vitality and began to beat.
Slowly, the girl’s chest began to move for breathing, and the meaningless act took on meaning from the moment the girl’s head turned into flesh and blood.
In less than a minute, the stone statue turned into a lovely girl.