Chapter 70: Dragon’s Blood

Wait!

Suddenly, Asa's entire body tensed, and he looked up sharply. This time, his gaze no longer carried hesitation—it blazed with piercing light. His hand instinctively reached for his waist.

His waist—where the small pouch had always been tied—was empty.

At the cave entrance, the last figure to disappear was Lancelote. Just before his silhouette vanished, Asa caught sight of something in his hand—the small pouch.

The pouch that held the hilt of the Black Star.

"Stop!" Asa roared, his body coiling like a bowstring before launching upward like an arrow. He shot toward the cave entrance with explosive force.

But just as he reached the mouth of the passage, before he could find footing, he was met with a flash of sword light. Lancelote, who should have already disappeared into the tunnel, had suddenly turned back.

"Leave it!" Asa shouted, his blade slashing forward.

This time, there was no hesitation in his strike. The arc of his black blade carved through the air like an inky ribbon—so dark that it seemed to swallow even the light within the tunnel.

Lancelote did not respond. The pouch was now clenched between his teeth, its drawstring held tightly in his mouth. Though his right arm was mangled beyond recognition, his left hand still wielded his sword. The blade thrust forward, as steady as a mountain, as vast as the sea.

The clash between the blade and the sword was no longer a light wind slicing through the air, but the earth-shattering sound of mountains collapsing. The immense roar and the shockwave of their fight spirit caused the narrow tunnel to cave in, sending Asa and a large amount of falling debris tumbling downward.

In this moment, Asa still held an edge in terms of fight spirit and strength, but he had not yet stabilized himself. Lancelote, keenly aware of this, seized the opportunity to strike, forcing Asa back.

As Lancelote leapt to pursue, Asa also commanded his two Death Knights into action. However, they did not make it far before they stumbled.

Hilika once again bent his waist, gathering strength before leaping. His immense power made him spring into the air like a mutated, giant muscular toad. However, just as he left the ground, a sharp cracking sound came from his spine, which had already been damaged by Lancelote's sword.

The sudden injury instantly threw off his balance, causing him to lose control of his trajectory. His massive body twisted uncontrollably in midair, veering off course before crashing heavily into the rocky wall. A deafening boom echoed through the cavern as debris scattered and dust billowed into the air.

Rodhart fared even worse. When he was inside the fire elemental, the intense heat had scorched and charred part of his outer muscles, causing them to peel away. Though the damaged flesh was writhing and slowly regenerating, the process was agonizingly slow.

His movements were stiff and awkward, like a poorly controlled puppet manipulated by an unskilled puppeteer. He clumsily attempted to climb the rock wall, but his jerky, uncoordinated efforts were clearly futile—he had already fallen from the wall multiple times.

Asa rose to his feet again, gathering all his remaining aura and leaping once more toward the cave entrance. But just as he barely managed to stand at the threshold, preparing to clear the debris that had collapsed, he felt a rush of overwhelming magical energy hit him head-on.

It was water magic—its icy touch capable of freezing even the aura that would normally resist such magic. Asa found himself pushed back, his body encased in a wave of cold. Forced to retreat, he landed heavily back on the ground. When he looked up again, the entrance had completely solidified into a sheet of white, impenetrable ice.

While ice could be broken through with effort, the time it would take was enough for the Knights to escape.

"Damn it!" A surge of immense fury rose in his heart, but even greater than that was the disappointment and confusion. Asa stomped his foot in frustration, glaring at the solid white ice wall as he cursed.

Behind him, the black dragon slowly lifted her upper body. The horrific wound on her shoulder had almost fully healed under the influence of healing magic, and her enormous yellow dragon eyes watched Asa with a strange gaze.

Outside the passage at the top of the cavern, standing beside Lancelote was Cervantes. He had just followed Lancelote's orders, gathering all his remaining magical energy to cast this ice-sealing barrier. Although using the forbidden spell scroll earlier had nearly drained him of magic, as a mage among the temple knights, the brief time he had to recover was enough for such a task.

Looking at the small pouch in his hands, Lancelote had a peculiar glint in his eyes.

When he passed Asa earlier, he had sensed something strange about the pouch hanging from Asa's waist. Though it was faint, the aura it emitted triggered a deep, instinctive feeling of disgust and fear in him—something that seemed to come from the very core of his being. Almost instinctively, he had taken the pouch from Asa. Judging by Asa's frantic pursuit to retrieve it, Lancelote could guess its significance.

However, if Cervantes hadn't been there just in time, Lancelote might not have been able to fend off Asa's attack. Originally, Cervantes was supposed to be fulfilling a different, more important mission, yet he had appeared in this hidden passage where Asa had come from. Even Lancelote was slightly taken aback. But there was someone else who surprised him even more.

"Talice, what are you doing here?" Lancelote frowned as he asked his female apprentice.

Talice's face was pale in the dim light, and her expression was strange, remaining silent instead of answering.

"You can't catch up. I can sense they've already left the range of the spatial lock, and I can also tell that each of them is carrying a teleportation scroll," came the deep, resonant voice. Asa turned around to see Moriel, who was just barely able to lift his head. The black dragon's enormous yellow eyes locked onto him.

"The Guardian of the Dark Will, come here. I have something to say to you."

Asa sighed in frustration, glaring at the ice-encased stone wall. He then turned and walked over to stand in front of Moriel.

While retrieving the sword hilt was still a priority, it seemed it would be a long and complicated process. In the meantime, Asa needed to handle things with Moriel here. He still wasn't entirely sure what had just happened.

"It seems you are the Dark Will's guardian of this generation," the black dragon continued. "First, I must thank you. You are the first human in thousands of years that Moriel has thanked. I can assure you, my gratitude will surprise you."

The dragon's voice echoed through the cave, strange and almost muffled, like iron wrapped in silk. Though it sounded cordial, there was an undeniable, unyielding authority in the tone.

"No need for your thanks," Asa replied, shaking his head.

"Oh, I see what you're thinking, human." The black dragon didn't seem surprised. Its heavy voice reverberated in the cave, growing even heavier. "I can tell you're strong. And as the Guardian of the Dark Will for this generation, there must not be much left on this continent that can truly pique your interest."

Moriel's mention of the title was clearly aimed at the members of the Necromancer's Guild. Asa opened his mouth, either to explain or to clarify, but ultimately stayed silent. This passage was only accessible to the proxy guild leader of the Necromancer's Guild, and the two necromancer knights at his side were almost a symbol of that status. However, to explain all this would be a hassle. And though her tone wasn't particularly pleasant, Moriel's voice carried a strange charm that made it difficult not to listen.

Moriel paused for a moment before continuing, "But I know that the mystery of the Black Star is something you're definitely interested in. Right?"

Asa nodded in agreement. That was indeed the case.

"But before that, you'll have to do me a favor…" Moriel's voice lowered as she spoke. "More than ten years ago, a group from the church attacked Nigen. At first, I didn't pay much attention to it, but they somehow managed to reach the Dark Elf settlement. The entire Nigen had no one left to defend it. I had no choice but to eliminate them. However, not long after I left the lair, I felt extremely weak. When I returned, I discovered that the most important part of the seal set by Akibard—the Dragon's Blood vial—had been stolen... by someone."

"I know," Asa interrupted, nodding.

"You know?" Moriel's large pupils suddenly narrowed into a thin black line.

Asa sighed and replied, "Not only do I know, but I've also brought you the Dragon's Blood you lost."

The once grand and deep voice of the black dragon trembled slightly: "You found the Dragon's Blood vial?"

"The vial itself is gone, but the blood that was sealed inside, I've found it," Asa sighed, undoing a small pouch at his waist.

This pouch, along with the one that held the Black Star, hung on either side of Asa's waist. He opened it, revealing some grayish-white powder. From the powder, Asa pulled out a black gemstone.

This was the black gemstone extracted from Jessica's body. But now, in this dragon's lair, it looked different. It was subtly vibrating, and strange magical energy was emanating from it.

"This should be it. The Dragon's Blood that Akibard personally crafted, sealing part of your life force and soul within it."

"Give it to me!" Moriel let out a roar that sounded like thunder. Her enormous, once-weak body suddenly sprang up, and her massive claws reached for the black gemstone in Asa's hand. However, the force and momentum with which she struck indicated that she wasn't just aiming to grab the gemstone—she seemed intent on crushing both the gem and Asa along with it.