To give those lizardfolk a chance to put on a show, Luge had deactivated his Fetid Skin spell ahead of time and stood in plain view. Now that he had successfully cast the spell once more, the performance was drawing to a close. The lizardfolk collapsed one after another, and he caught an incoming short spear with his bare hand. Naturally, to be safe, while he had been standing there motionless, he had quietly buffed himself with Bull's Strength and Demonskin.
There was nothing novel about the show, but its effect had not disappointed. At least judging by the reaction of Audience Member Number Two, Luge was quite satisfied. Striking the final syllable for this curtain call, he raised a hand and patted Aisjin on the head.
He was just about to say something.
Aisjin, however, suddenly sprang up, pulled out the claw blade made from the large black talon earlier, and hurried over to the lizardfolk to finish them off. At first she simply pounced and stabbed, but when she saw that the lizardfolk truly could no longer rise, she slowed her frantic pace, walking methodically from one to the next to deliver two or three extra strikes.
Watching Aisjin bustle about, Luge forgot for a moment what he had been about to say before being interrupted. After thinking about it, he decided to let it be. She had a mind of her own; some advice she would certainly take to heart, while other words might fall on deaf ears.
The two set off once again.
Traversing a strange path where grotesque rocks jutted out like jagged teeth, they arrived at a valley.
Following in Aisjin's footsteps, he had not walked far into the valley before spotting their destination.
It was a black tree, barely taller than him, yet covering a vast area. Its posture resembled something crawling across the ground, with numerous branches sprawling outward in all directions like a person stretching their back—or perhaps struggling in agony, straining with all their might to extend their limbs and body.
With just a casual glance, Luge could spot dozens of fruits hanging from the branches; and that was only because the fruit was black—had it been lighter in color, he likely would have seen even more.
"Did Old Gold Tooth say anything?"
He inspected the various tracks and marks in the area, casually kicking at the dirt with his foot.
The larger marks and snapped branches nearby were likely made by sizable subterranean beasts like Black Claw Holy Lord. Subterranean beasts probably strayed here from time to time to eat the fruit.
"Old Gold Tooth asked me a lot. He told me to watch carefully for anything strange nearby, and if there isn't anything, to dig beneath the tree," Aisjin said, standing behind Luge and looking around. "Brother Luge, if there's something better to eat than these fruits, can it save Old Gold Tooth's life?"
"It can."
He began pacing around the area.
"Big Dumb Hum will have to bear with it for now. As long as his blood keeps Old Gold Tooth alive, even if there's nothing good here, I'll find a way to save him."
Without stopping, he circled round and round, first around the grotesque tree whose branches sprawled all over the ground, then roaming through the entire valley, touching and inspecting things here and there. Aisjin silently followed behind him, looking about as well.
Finally, he stopped in front of the tree and kicked hard at the stones at his feet.
"I'll go fetch Bald Tooth and Big Hum, and bring the rest of the tribe..." Aisjin said.
"Step back a bit."
He didn't squeeze straight in toward the trunk to get to work. Instead, he pulled Aisjin back and began using his bedroom space to absorb the earth and stones in a ring around the strange tree's perimeter.
Under Aisjin's astonished gaze, he quickly used this unusual method to excavate a wide, deep trench all around it.
Luge jumped into the trench to take a quick look, then continued digging by absorbing the earth.
The ground beneath the strange tree soon turned into a small isolated island.
Circle after circle, whenever he grew tired, he had Aisjin stand guard nearby while he sat down to rest and meditate to recover his mental power.
His excavation path gradually crept toward the center where the trunk stood, and the isolated island shrank bit by bit.
Yet so far, he had found nothing. A worried expression had already crept onto Aisjin's face; having one's hopes dashed was never a pleasant feeling. He also felt the chances were slim, though he maintained a calm exterior. Perhaps this was related to the different stakes they faced: to Aisjin, this was the only chance she could find, both to transform into a dragonborn kobold and to save Old Gold Tooth. Luge, on the other hand, had the extraordinary path of a wizard to fall back on.
The island was virtually gone, leaving only the solitary trunk.
Luge glanced at Aisjin and, without a word, simply continued digging downward. Some shallow roots had already been unearthed, but many more were anchored deep in the earth.
Until a faint, peculiar odor caught his attention: hidden among the dense cluster of rootlets was a root striped in black and red, trailing off diagonally into the distance.
After a brief meditation to rest, he changed targets and began excavating in the direction of this peculiar root.
Following it along, he found that this tenacious root tunneled an unimaginably long distance. Though it wasn't particularly thick, it was astonishingly adept at boring and snaking through the earth.
Luge followed it all the way to a corner of the valley, resting to meditate several times along the way. Meanwhile, construction within the bedroom space had made decent progress.
Tracking it here was not the end. As he dug further down, the valley was enclosed by a ring of hard rock walls, and upon reaching them, the root continued to extend downward, burrowing down flush against the rock face in a display of its tenacious vitality.
He felt he was drawing closer and closer to the answer.
From a distance, Aisjin watched anxiously.
He, on the other hand, grew increasingly composed. The moments just before unraveling a mystery were when he was relatively calm; only when he lacked direction or clues did anxiety take hold.
The closer one got to the answer, the steadier one needed to be. He even paused his digging momentarily to widen the opening above to prevent a cave-in from burying him inside.
Events proved him right; an unremarkable, slender root had led him down to an astounding depth.
Only when he spotted an opening in the rock wall did he halt his pursuit of the little root.
The root crept inside along the roof of the opening. Luge did not rush; he began clearing away dirt around the opening, but stopped after clearing only half of it. The opening was simply too massive, and there was no need to waste energy. Half its size was more than enough for him to pass through—in fact, a mere corner would have sufficed. The additional portion he had cleared was solely to estimate the opening's overall size.
He advanced while gathering dirt and stones until, before long, there was nothing left to collect.
A vast, cavernous hollow, a conspicuous pool of water, and, beside the pool, a slumbering behemoth.
He attempted to take a step forward, his posture slightly stiff and awkward.
After a thought, he cast a zero-ring spell on himself—Boiling Spirit—trying to suppress the dread in his heart. Whether it was purely psychological or not, it actually helped a bit.
Was this... a true dragon?
He saw that the root ran from the soil at the cavern entrance all the way into the pool. Turning his head, he looked back at the slumbering colossus.
Plucking up his courage, he stepped forward. The pool lay at the colossal creature's feet, and the water's source clearly originated from it.
A faint scent of blood lingered in the pool.
This pool... the scent of blood... this massive creature...
He looked left and right, inspecting it from different angles. An answer gradually dawned in his mind, though it seemed rather absurd: this was a true dragon that had hidden here for who knew how long, beaten so badly that it urinated blood—a true dragon that still periodically passed blood in its urine while asleep.
Assuming, of course, that it truly was a true dragon.
Chapter 43