Old People Don’t Hold Hands - Chapter 122



Only Krnovel

Episode 122, Dragon’s Nest (2)

I checked my watch; there were less than five minutes left until the hour.

Still, I defeated both the 2nd floor boss and the guardian within 10 minutes… … .

I think it’s a pretty good record at this level.

Well, if you grow more here, you can shorten it a lot.

As if to suggest that a cataclysmic change was about to occur, everyone looked up and followed suit.

We held hands and jumped straight into the portal.

… … Perhaps, if you were entering from EndWorld, this message would have appeared.

[You have reached a space where the curse of an ancient creature resides.]

[The penalty ‘Curse of the Demon Dragon’ is applied. This penalty cannot be removed.]

[… …take their descendants and devour them, and survive.]

As soon as you enter the Dragon’s Land, you are given a penalty, the ‘Curse of the Demon Dragon’.

Well, the curse’s function was simple.

It was like if you didn’t leave this place within the time limit, you would die instantly.

This penalty was the decisive reason why Dragon’s Land was also called the ‘Adventurer’s Grave’.

They are much stronger than regular monsters, and can even surpass the 4th floor, so you can’t avoid fighting them.

That’s why most adventurers prefer a quick routine, hiring a professional guide to at least get to the third floor.

Because the 3rd floor is already without a boss because the dragon is dead.

In fact, all that remained were the remains of a very large dragon-shaped thing that must have been a demon dragon.

Inside that massive bone tomb, there was a portal.

So, the monsters don’t appear often, and the one who knows the way to reach that portal quickly is right here.

These people were collectively called ‘guides’.

… … Of course, our ultimate goal is to clear the 4th floor and become a 4th-level adventurer.

However, I did not intend to just skip the third floor quickly.

Well, there is a hidden place in the dragon’s territory where you can get some pretty good hidden rewards.

That was the place called ‘Dragon’s Nest’.

Gooooooo… … .

As soon as I reached the third floor, I suddenly felt an uneasy feeling as if my heart was being squeezed.

It’s probably because of the curse of the demon dragon that spread throughout the third floor.

“Ugh, ugh, I feel sick… … .”

As I was looking at Biella, who was covering her mouth as if she was really upset, for a moment.

Wheeeeeek!

A large shadow fell over our heads.

That’s right, a normal monster in this world line.

It was because Draemon appeared.

A humanoid body with dragon wings and bizarre scales growing on its face and limbs.

In EndWorld, they say this is the descendant of the Demon Dragon… … .

Well, not really, it just looks like an unpleasant monster.

Anyway, the one that suddenly ran towards us swung its claws.

I took a leisurely step back from the guy and immediately drew my sword.

It was a good thing.

First of all, in order to delay the penalty activation time, I had to catch the guy.

Kyaaaaak!

The thing that screamed, perhaps because it was in human form but couldn’t speak, quickly spread its wings again and jumped.

I maxed out my steel armor and just accepted it.

And yet… … .

“Ugh… … !”

The level of strength was much higher than that of the 4th floor monsters, and was roughly similar to mine.

Yeah, well, I knew that.

Because the third floor level won’t be easy.

Khoooo!

Against those who deliberately flap their wings to use propulsion.

I have activated the power of hypertrophy.

When I used my power, my body grew to twice its original size.

My strength stat also increased, allowing me to completely push him back.

In the meantime… … .

Choaack!

At the blow of Nowen, who swung his unique weapon, the greatsword, for the first time in a long time.

In an instant, the bastard’s waist was cut off.

Phew!

Finally, I was able to finish him off completely by putting an arrow right in the middle of his neck.

… … Well, not bad.

Let’s return to our original form, with the power of hypertrophy restored.

It was Nowen who was particularly excited and started talking.

“Haha! Declen, isn’t that the power of hypertrophy?”

I was momentarily stung by Nowen’s words as he smiled innocently and patted my shoulder without a single doubt.

I could just ignore it.

When I said that it was because I had been eating a moderate amount of food, Nowen seemed to understand.

I rummaged through the dead Draemon’s body and cut off a scale that was sticking out right in the center of its forehead.

And then distributed it to everyone.

“If you eat this, your stuffy feeling will get much better. You have to eat this consistently every hour.”

When he said this, everyone swallowed the scales without saying a word.

Biella also swallowed the scales without much complaint, even though she was wearing a mask.

I swallowed it too, and for some reason my heart felt tight.

I felt a lot more comfortable.

“Ahem! So, what are you going to do about the third floor? If your goal is to go straight to the fourth floor, I can guide you to the passage.”

“… … Do you also know how to act as a guide on the third floor?”

“Hmm? I guess you could say that… … ? I’ve been coming and going so many times before.”

“Huh? This, this is such a bad place? Why?”

“That’s… … , aren’t there a lot of things that are fun to fight about! Hahaha!”

“… … Ugh.”

Biella shook her head as if she was tired of Nowen’s hearty laughter.

I looked at Nowen and opened my mouth again.

“I’ll make it to the fourth floor soon, but for now, I’ll go towards the Dragon’s Head.”

The head of a dragon.

The center of the Dragon’s Land could be divided into three areas.

That is, the head, body, and tail of the demon dragon.

Because the dragon’s body was so large, the distance between the three parts was so long that it would take at least half a day to walk between them.

The portal is located in the torso, especially near the heart… … .

The entrance to the dragon’s nest, where we were going, was right on the dragon’s head.

Well, even that would require a special item to open.

“… … Hmm? Head? There probably isn’t much to see there.”

Nowen and other adventurers who have entered the dragon’s territory countless times would usually think this way.

But that’s it.

“Have you ever heard such a rumor?”

“… … Hmm? A rumor?”

“It’s the place where the treasures that the dead dragon had collected while he was alive are hidden.”

“The story about the Dragon’s Treasure is famous, but… … isn’t it actually closer to a legend?”

“The place where the treasure is hidden is in the head of the demon dragon.”

“… … !”

“Hey, wait a minute! Mister! A treasure? A treasure I know?”

… … As soon as the story of treasure came up, Biella pushed everything aside and jumped out, talking with her mouth hanging from ear to ear.

Ugh… … , I ignored him for now and looked at Nowen as he spoke.

“So, I’m thinking of going there first.”

***

So we moved to the head of the dragon.

While moving, Biella… … .

“Hmm, hmm, hmm! It’s a treasure, a treasure~!”

… … He seemed quite excited by the mere sound of the word treasure.

Well, it’s true that there are a lot of ancient treasures there.

It’s quite frustrating when you realize that it’s hard to make money with that.

“Treasure, treasure~.”

… … Anyway, while moving, trying hard to ignore the excited Biella.

We were able to delay the penalty activation time by fighting intermittently.

Before moving, I had already told the three of them about the conditions for opening the Dragon’s Nest.

[As Mr. Nowen probably knows, each dragon’s territory has a nest.]

[… … Hoo, you know that too? That’s right.]

[We will capture the nest’s owners, Hyra, Alaston, and Troman.]

Hiera, Alaston, and Troman.

To put it simply, they were beings that were like fire dragons, ice dragons, and earth dragons respectively.

In this dragon’s territory, there were ‘nests’ where epic monsters of each element resided.

Fortunately, the dragon’s nest was easy to find thanks to Nowen, who knew the geography of this place well.

Thanks to that, we were able to quickly deal with the Fire Dragon and Ice Dragon, Hiera and Alaston.

There was also the experience of Nowen, who had fought against them.

My contribution was the greatest, as I maximized my resources and suppressed them with firepower.

So catch those two guys and follow Nowen for the last time.

We headed to the dragon’s nest where Troman was.

Wheeee, wheeee.

As we approached the dragon’s nest, the gloomy air and sandstorm unique to the third-floor world line mixed together, making it even more difficult to breathe.

Still, we approached for a while, pushing through the sandstorm.

Kugugu, kugugugugu, ku!

In an instant, the ground began to shake.

Let’s retreat to avoid the ground that is rising up quickly as if trying to push us away.

As the ground trembled, a giant dragon appeared through the gap in the sandstorm.

And that guy is the owner of this nest.

It was Troman.

It was a huge body, half the size of Hyra and Alaston.

… … And when playing EndWorld, the most difficult epic monster to deal with was this.

It was Toryong and Troman.

Ohhh, ohhh!

As the thing roared, Nowen and I rushed toward it through the sandstorm as if we had been waiting for it.

Then he tried to block Nowen’s movements by making the ground rise.

Phew―!!

It was not enough to stop Nowen’s quick movements, as he even held a greatsword and jumped higher.

Oh, and they even enchanted their shoes with zero gravity.

While Nowen was looking away for a moment, I also quickly approached him.

Hwarrrrrr!

He summoned a weapon with the maximum power and sent it flying towards the bastard’s heart.

Troman’s weakness was his heart.

Unlike Hyra and Alaston, who were originally attack-specialized monsters.

Troman was a defense-focused, specialized monster.

In addition, because of the passive that is applied while the bastard is alive, most physical attacks won’t even work… … .

The only part where physical and magical attacks go in the same direction is this.

It was the exposed heart of the bastard.

Let’s aim straight at that area and blow the goods, but Troman also moved to defend it.

Boom, boom!

It wasn’t easy to do that against Nowen, who was quick to respond and wield a greatsword.

Gooooo, ohh …

Then, when the guy gets angry and starts attacking,

“conversion!”

I was able to quickly switch places with Diana and respond flexibly.

Phew, phew!

Likewise, let’s go into Biella’s petty restraints that persistently target the heart.

I was able to fight the guy fairly steadily.

Every time I fight like this, I feel… … .

As time goes by, the four of you are getting along well.

In addition, the front line, which was somewhat weak with only me, was filled with Nowen.

The party composition has also become more stable than before.

Anyway, while Nowen was marking Troman and tying him down, Biella and I relentlessly attacked his heart.

In the meantime, if the guy tries to counterattack, switch to Diana and keep looking away.

It took quite a while though.

Kuung!

… … I was able to capture Troman without much damage.

As soon as I caught Troman, I went towards the head of the guy who was lying on the ground.

I ripped off the scale that was stuck on the bastard’s forehead.

“Wow! Sir, are you going there now? To that place where you said there was a lot of treasure?”

“… …Did Mr. Declen even say that he had a lot of treasures?”

“Huh? Didn’t you? There’s a ton of treasure there? I’m looking forward to it!”

“……haha.”

Leaving his excited colleagues behind, he quietly put the scales into his pocket.

Well, I guess we’ll have to go in and see for ourselves.

Now, we are fully prepared to open the Dragon’s Nest.