Somewhere in the forest, an item buried underground emitted a faint glow. Space flickered, and a figure emerged from it.
The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord collapsed weakly on the ground.
The desperate strike from that beast had been far more terrifying than he had expected.
"My Dragon Soul is down to about ten percent, and my health is less than five percent."
The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord examined his condition.
It was bad. Extremely bad. This was probably the first time in several hundred years that he had suffered such serious injuries.
If he were to encounter another powerful enemy right now, even a simple attack could easily take his life.
"…This time I really lost out."
Enduring the pain, the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord crushed an item in his claw. A green glow appeared, gradually healing his battered dragon body.
Three hundred years ago, after killing that Player, he had collected many spoils.
One of them was the item he had just used to escape.
Once his health dropped below a certain threshold, it would forcibly swap his position with another location.
The item he was using now was similar. It was a healing-type item.
The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord was not a Player and could not inspect item information directly, so he did not know the item's exact name.
However, through Wild Magic, he could roughly understand what the item did.
"These filth items really are useful. Unfortunately, there are too few of them."
Feeling his dragon body gradually recover, the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord could not help but sigh.
Even he had to admit that the items used by the filth were extremely useful.
"Next I should go to the Dragon Kingdom. That Brightness Dragon Lord once appeared there."
"And I also need to harvest some souls."
The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord thought to himself.
Under the current circumstances, fighting alone was no longer viable. He needed to unite with the other True Dragon Lords.
That fellow Platinum was still missing. Most likely something had happened to him.
However, based on his soul sensing, the other party was probably not dead. It was far more likely that he had been imprisoned by the filth.
According to the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord's original plan, if he had successfully captured that NPC alive, things would have gone perfectly.
Not only could he have gained a powerful ally, he would also have easily obtained information about the filth.
At the same time, it would have helped lay the groundwork for the next stage of the overall plan.
Three benefits from a single action.
The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord understood very clearly that killing an NPC was meaningless.
The war of the Eight Greed Kings had already proven that as long as the filth's base still existed, those NPCs could easily be revived.
From the beginning, his goal had been to capture that NPC alive.
He intended to transform it through Wild Magic and extract information about the other filth.
Unfortunately, the plan had ultimately failed.
"Three hundred years… and that filth is still persisting."
"But at least his pet is dead. That is good news."
A trace of mockery flashed through the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord's eyes.
Given enough time, the power of that filth would eventually become his.
"World-Class Item… the realm of gods…"
"Dragon Emperor, one day I will surpass you."
The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord muttered to himself before flying into the sky.
Unless absolutely necessary, he would not use his own World-Class Item.
According to the information he had obtained from the filth, that item of his seemed to be single-use.
He did not know whether that information was true, but the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord was not willing to take the risk.
...
On the other side.
A carriage sped across mountains and rivers.
"So the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord still managed to escape?"
Inside the carriage compartment, Naohara toyed with a glass sphere in his hand while responding to the Message in his ear.
Looking closely, a small sapling could be seen inside the sphere. Its tendrils stretched outward, creeping along the inner surface of the glass.
It was the "Catastrophe Dragon Lord", the same demonic tree from before.
Only now it had become a miniature version.
Since this trip was heading to the Theocracy, Naohara had deliberately brought it along, intending to give the priests a little surprise.
"My apologies, Naohara-sama."
Cocytus's apologetic voice came through the Message.
Although he had successfully obtained the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord's blood and completed the task assigned by the Supreme Beings, he still felt dissatisfied with his own performance.
"Do not worry about it. You already did well."
Naohara reassured him.
Cocytus had been forced to fight hastily after the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord's sudden attack, yet he still managed to obtain its blood.
Just as Naohara said, Cocytus had already done an excellent job.
A Deep Darkness Dragon Lord carrying a World-Class Item was essentially a walking bomb.
Until they understood the exact effect of that World-Class Item, it was safer to proceed cautiously.
Ordinary World-Class Items were manageable, but if it turned out to be one of [The Twenty], then things would become troublesome.
This situation was very different from the earlier case with [Downfall of Castle and Country].
A True Dragon Lord's mobility combined with an unknown World-Class Item.
Even Naohara was unwilling to gamble on that.
If it had an effect similar to [Ragnarok], then Nazarick might survive thanks to being bound to the [Throne of Kings].
But the rest of the world would most likely be finished.
That was not something he wanted to see.
"Just resurrect the Quagoa Beastman King directly."
"I will give him a piece of [Prismatic Ore] as compensation."
Although the Quagoa Beastman King's death had been an accident, Naohara still decided to compensate him.
One reason was Cocytus.
With Cocytus's strong warrior spirit, he probably felt partially responsible.
The second reason was that for Nazarick as it currently stood, Prismatic Ore was honestly worthless.
As long as they periodically harvested demons and converted the experience points by using the super-tier magic [Wish Upon a Star], they could produce as much of it as they wanted.
And considering the racial traits of the Quagoa, who grew stronger simply by eating ore, Naohara also wanted to run a small experiment.
Prismatic Ore was rarer than adamantite and considered a high-value mineral.
He wanted to see whether it could allow the Quagoa to break through their racial limits and reach an entirely new level.
If it worked, he might even consider paying the Quagoa in Prismatic Ore as their wages in the future.
Naohara was never stingy toward his own people.
Besides, this was not meant as an insult. It was simply the truth.
As the Sorcerer Kingdom's security force, the Quagoa were indeed a little weak.
Reaching the Outlier realm was unnecessary.
But at the very least, they should be comparable to Gazef, with every member reaching the Hero realm.
"Thank you for your generosity!"
Cocytus replied respectfully. The relief in his voice was obvious.
Knowing his personality, he would probably give the Quagoa Beastman King additional compensation afterward.
Most likely a complete set of equipment.
Thinking about it that way, dying once might actually end up being profitable for the Quagoa Beastman King.
"By the way, what do Momonga and Herohero plan to do about that beast?"
After briefly complaining to himself, Naohara asked about the real issue.
The unknown beast.
It called itself "Walking Jackpot". Its race was a chimera-type monster, seemingly formed from the genes of multiple magical beasts.
Its level had reached one hundred, and when it fought desperately it could temporarily step into the realm of a World Boss.
It had a grudge against the Deep Darkness Dragon Lord and was suspected to be the pet of a Player killed by that Dragon Lord.
It was also suspected to be Hamsuke's father.
That was all the known information.
Naohara's eyes moved across the list before finally stopping at the last line.
Hamsuke's father...
According to Hamsuke, she herself was over two hundred years old. Combined with her strange speech habits, it was entirely possible she was the descendant of a Player's pet.
In fact, Naohara, Momonga, and Herohero had once suspected Hamsuke's identity before.
"Momonga-sama and Herohero-sama both intend to rescue him first."
Cocytus answered.
I see.
Not surprising.
Considering Momonga's fondness for Hamsuke, and the information the beast possessed, that decision made perfect sense.
Herohero was probably thinking the same thing.
"Then rescue him first. Otherwise Hamsuke will be very sad."
Hamsuke was the pet of him, Momonga, and Herohero.
That made her father someone on their side as well.
Even without considering anything else, it was worth Nazarick taking action once.
"Continue according to the plan. Do not allow any mistakes."
"Understood!"
The Message ended.
Naohara rested his chin on his hand as his thoughts drifted.
"The Deep Darkness Dragon Lord… heh…"