Chapter 100: Secrets hidden beneath the ground

Edward took his wolf form and rushed inside the dungeon through his old tunnel. After landing next to the tree marked by Fenrir, he took his human form.

“Fenrir, any clue on the entrance of the dungeon?”

[Yes, but it should be quite far since I can barely feel its presence. ]

Edward nodded and lay down at the base of the tree before closing his eyes while muttering: “Then I might as well leave the wolf out for a bit.”

When he woke up, a couple of hours later, a sudden hunger hit him out of the blue. He knew the wolf hadn’t found a single living being in the entire time it was in control. The dungeon was simply too large and the first floor didn’t appear to have any monsters or anything of the sort.

Ignoring the hunger, he looked around at the endless green plain and asked: “Which way should I go?”

After some simple instructions from Fenrir, he continued in the same direction the wolf spent his entire time traveling. Edward had to empty his total stamina twice until he could finally get close to the entrance of the dungeon. He was lucky the wolf chose the same direction to run to, or he would have had to spend even more time on the way.

The entrance of the dungeon was placed in another giant city, not that different from the abandoned one where he found the talismans before. There was a circular flight of stairs leading straight up through the middle of the city.

What made Edward excited were the dragons in their humanoid forms populating it. Even from far into the distance, he could see dragons walking about almost everywhere inside.

The doors of the circular metallic buildings were opening and closing with dragons passing through regularly, and they seemed to have truly made this dungeon their home.

Turning into his human form, Edward sat down and asked: “What do you think, Fenrir?”

[The staircase and entrance are both in the same place, but the protection of a safe zone appears to be missing. Also, I think this might be the actual dragon kingdom, judging from their numbers. That enormous wall outside is probably just protecting the entrance to their kingdom underneath.]

“That’s what I was thinking as well, but this is a lot better. I can’t spot any dragons in their true form and there is also no wall to keep me out. As soon as it gets dark inside the dungeon, I can make my way into the city using my stealth abilities.”

[You should be careful. All these dragons here appear to be over level 50. There’s also us not knowing how this dungeon works or what’s further down those stairs. One wrong move and you will die.]

Edward nodded and laid down on a patch of grass, waiting for his stamina to recover as well as for the lighting inside the dungeon to go away.

After the dungeon’s lights slowly died down with the coming of the evening, Edward stood up and looked towards the city, only for his eyebrow to twitch slightly.

“Fenrir, what the hell is that?” The metallic buildings were releasing a faint amount of light, making the city just as bright as it was during the day. There was also no difference in the number of dragons walking about.

[They do indeed appear to have some control over the dungeon and its core. The removal of the monster spawning on the first floor, the missing safe zone and now making the building shine even at night...]

“This makes things quite troublesome. I have the confidence to sneak inside under the cover of darkness, but now… There’s no way for me to walk in there.”

[It would seem the dragon kingdom is a lot more dangerous than we have expected. Maybe we should retreat, at least for now.]

As the two were discussing what to do next, even considering retreat as an option, they spotted a dragon female leaving the city sneakily and rushing into the distance. Edward wasted no time in turning into his wolf form and following her.

Since the outside of the city was still covered in darkness, he had no trouble following her without getting spotted. After walking for about ten minutes, Edward saw her stopping before a large stone, kneeling before it with her wings falling lifelessly on the ground behind her and a small flame lighting up the surrounding area.

‘Good chance.’ Thought Edward as he used his shadow dash and appeared behind the woman. He created an ice stake at the back of her neck and used water whips to bind all her limbs in an instant.

Turning quickly back into a human, he pushed the ice stake forward enough to draw a small amount of blood and said: “Don’t move or I’ll kill you.”

The woman sighed and turned around despite Edward’s words. There was a clear look in her eyes as she said: “And why would dying make me not want to move?”

Her calm behavior took aback Edward. He was planning on threatening her to sneak him inside the city or at least give him some way to enter, but her indifference towards death left him stumped on how to proceed.

Sniffing the air once, the woman continued: “A human so close to our city. You must leave before the others find you. Also, before you kill me, can you give me some time to say a brief prayer?”

Seeing the clarity in her eyes, Edward canceled his spells and said: “Why are you so eager to die?”

The woman turned back towards the large round stone and said: “When you see dozens of your children taken from you before they’re even born with nothing you can do about it, what is there to live for? I’ve thought about taking my life and joining them a long time ago, but I’m too much of a coward to do it myself…”

Edward frowned and looked towards the stone as well before asking: “Why aren’t you just leaving the city?”

The woman shook her head and said: “We would if it were so easy. Not all of us have as many people to help as our Queen did. If we try to run, we’ll get hunted down and locked into the prison, where we’ll even lose our small amount of freedom as we get raped by others to produce more eggs.”

“Raped? Why would they want to make more eggs if they are going to destroy them?”

“We don’t know… When that cursed prophecy came, we had indeed stopped laying eggs for a long time, but after building our kingdom in here, the king suddenly ordered all the women to produce more eggs.”

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“We were happy, thinking our king has found a solution and we could once more have children, but it didn’t take long until we discovered that every egg laid will be taken from us. Some still hope our children might have survived and the king just took them from us for some reason we don’t understand, but I know it. They are all dead.”

Edward sighed as he looked at the woman and said softly: “I’m sorry…”

The woman sighed and said: “I hated your for a long time, but now I know it’s not your fault. It’s only normal to want to feed on this world after what it has become...”

“You knew?” asked Edward, figuring out she knew about him being the one mentioned in Yggdrasil’s prophecy.

“A human wielding water magic that also has amazing stealth abilities. The entire kingdom was informed of it. It is quite a surprise to see you here, but it also makes sense you will eventually come for us. How is our little prince? Or is it a princess?”

“I don’t know if it’s a prince or a princess, but it’s fine. He stayed outside.” Replied Seth as he let down his guard completely and came to kneel in front of the stone next to the woman. “I am sorry for everything you had to go through.”

The woman turned towards Edward and smiled sadly. “I’m quite envious of our Queen, you know? She saved her child while I just wallowed here in sorrow and self-pity, too weak to even take my own life.”

“But she also died…” said Edward with a heavy sigh, knowing she died because of him.

“Indeed, she did… Do you think you could do me a favor and kill me?” asked the woman all of a sudden while maintaining the same smile on her face.

Edward frowned and was about to say something when the woman continued: “There is nothing in this world worth living for, at least in my case. My children are all dead and I have no mate to speak of. They forced me to lie with other men that I didn’t even know before having to see all my children, blood of my blood, taken away from me. Kill me, please, and then put an end to this cursed kingdom as well.”

“The mighty dragon race who flew freely through the sky, inspiring awe in all the other races, is no more. We’re just some wild animals, scared by the words of a tree to hide inside the depths of the world and kill our own future.”

“We all deserve to die, but please let me go first so that I might meet my children and apologize to them.” Finished the woman before extending her hand towards Edward with a small coin appearing out of nowhere inside it.

“What is this?” asked Edward with a frown.

“When we first came into this dungeon, we found many treasures and artifacts, just like this one. It can change the size of your body, making you as large as a house or as small as a fly. I used it to sneak out of my house and come here from time to time, but I have no use for it anymore. You followed me to find a way inside the city, didn’t you?”

Edward took the coin from the woman and asked: “Are you sure? I will not spare the dragon kingdom for everything they did to me, Flastrdra, and all the people important to me, but after everything I heard, I can let you live and even take you out of this place.”

Shaking her head, the woman started tearing up and said: “You already accepted the deal. Please kill me. Please let it all end.”

Edward sighed and closed his eyes. He knew that look in her eyes all too well. That smile that hid a mountain of sorrow and despair behind it. He’s even seen it in the mirror more times than he could count back on earth.

“I hope you will have a better fate in your next life.” He whispered before cutting the woman’s neck with a water blade. He felt a shiver run down his spine as her head hit the dungeon’s floor.

[You could have asked her for more information.] said Fenrir.

Edward opened his eyes and looked at the coin in his hand with a conflicted look. With a thought, the coin disappeared inside his soul space.

“I know. Let’s go. I can’t wait to kill some dragons.”

Fenrir fell silent, and Edward rushed back toward the city. As he was approaching it, he spotted a small group of dragons leaving the city while carrying what looked like a dragon egg.

Edward was sure he knew what the fate of that egg was going to be, but he was also quite angry and wanted to know why they had the women lay eggs again. With no second thought, he rushed after them under the cover of darkness.

The men walked for about twenty minutes away from the city and stopped in the center of a circular platform surrounded by six large pillars.

Putting the egg down on the dungeon floor, they all bent forward and started saying what looked like a prayer. Edward could hear some parts of it, even with their low whispering, but their words made him even more confused.

Once the prayer was done, they all pulled their status tablets and made the platform under the egg disappear, letting it fall through the floor. After another round of prayers, they turned around and walked back toward the city.

Turning into his human form once they were all gone, Edward walked up to the platform while asking Fenrir: “What the hell were they talking about? What is this guardian serpent they’re feeding?”

Fenrir was silent for a long time, but Edward could feel the mark on his arm burning throughout the entire prayer. Her rage was not that different since she found out about Yggdrasil’s sacrifice of other worlds.

[Go back to the city. Don’t go down there no matter what. You will die.] replied Fenrir after a long time.

“Why?” asked Edward after noticing the solemn tone of her voice.

[Because I felt it when the ground parted and they threw the egg inside. Down there should by my brother, the World Serpent, Jörmungandr.]

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