Chapter 53: Luminous Marsh Wolf Dragon

Katarina was not a combat-oriented explorer. Her primary weapon was a staff entwined with grapevines, capable of summoning a profusion of plant life much like a druid, which would then attack monsters. However, deeming it far too dangerous this time, Melina had firmly insisted that she remain behind in the carriage and wait for their return from the hunt.

Fortunately, Katarina possessed a sense of maturity that belied her appearance; her manic demeanor was merely a facade masking her obsession with engineering. She obediently set up a perimeter defense at the campsite and assigned two clockwork cats to guide the trio along their path.

The vegetation in this rainforest was not particularly dense.

Melina was reminded of the marsh dragon's nest in the Pure White Woodlands, where she and her senior schoolmates had harvested their very first black dragon gene factor. That factor ultimately became her magical runic seal, the [Radiance Alchemist of the Morning Star], alongside a wealth of marsh dragon materials. She had entrusted all of these to Louisa, the genius physician, who ground them into powder and alchemically fused them with plant remnants to create life-saving remedies.

She had originally intended to craft a set of herbal armor for Senior Sister Maria, but upon learning of the radiant-species marsh dragon, Maria had cast a greedy gaze upon it, plotting to skip intermediate steps and forge a minor divine artifact instead—such as a healing crossbow.

What a pity, truly.

With her senior sister absent, acquiring the corpse materials of the radiant-species marsh dragon to craft synthetic items for her was now practically impossible.

Melina let out a soft sigh.

This reaction caught the attention of G, who was standing nearby. The cold yet stunning beauty, whose face had recently broken into radiant smiles over a watermelon, spoke in a low, comforting tone:

"Do not be afraid. Maintain your firepower and your focus. Even if the two entities have fused, we are not without the means to fight back..."

"That is not what I am concerned about."

Hesitating for a moment, Melina voiced her inner worry—specifically, her regret over Senior Sister Maria missing out on the radiant-species marsh dragon for her equipment.

Upon hearing the whole story, Leon remained silent, while G opened her mouth as if to speak, but thought better of it.

They had not even laid eyes on the monster yet, and she was already pre-selecting the MVP? What kind of person was this?

Yet, G could understand.

If she were Melina, possessing such an absurd reserve of magical factors, capable of simultaneously controlling ten firearms, and utilizing high-intensity magic without the slightest burden, she would likely feel the exact same way.

Someone who had never tasted defeat naturally possessed boundless confidence.

At such a tender age, hands casually tucked into her pockets, young Melina had no inkling of who could possibly stand as her match.

Perhaps driven by a genuine desire to stay on good terms with Melina, G glanced slowly at Leon before speaking:

"The registration for graveyardsmen is exceptionally strict, the study is arduous, and our annual tax reporting must be meticulous. Our profession possesses a unique ability—one that subjects us to immense prejudice, yet leaves many utterly dependent upon us."

Uh, ice... Melina quickly banished emergency thoughts of "ice-cube romance" from her mind, furrowing her brow in thought.

Graveyard.

Resurrection from the dead.

If one could achieve resurrection, delaying death was undoubtedly within their power. The act of delaying death—despised by the Explorers' Guild yet indispensable to them—fell under the category of guild taboos. A taboo was a rule whose violation invited only public disfavor rather than criminal prosecution.

Melina probed tentatively:

"Preserving the vitality of a dragon? Or perhaps, keeping them in a state of near-death for an extended period?"

"Yes. It is precisely because we can accomplish such feats that we remain in high demand despite being largely unliked."

A living, breathing example of tautology.

They were popular precisely because they were unpopular.

Melina turned to look at Leon.

Such matters required the mayor to simply turn a blind eye.

The handsome, recently slimmed-down middle-aged man sighed and shook his head:

"If my brother were here, he would never tolerate you pulling stunts like this. But alas, I am the one here, so I shall pretend I saw nothing and heard nothing."

"Thank you."

Melina asked with curiosity:

"Your brother? Is he Senior Sonia's father?"

"Indeed, Sonia's father he is. Though that child Sonia often speaks wildly of her father, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Truth be told, her old man—my brother—is quite a decent fellow."

Miss G fashioned a silent query with her lips:

*The apple doesn't fall far from the tree?*

She seemed thoroughly perplexed by the domestic dynamics of Sonia's household.

No matter, Melina was quite confused herself.

Without lingering on the topic, the trio soon crossed the thinning rainforest and emerged into a small clearing within the forest, complete with a nearby lake—a setting that seemed remarkably well-suited for a marsh dragon's domain.

Melina heightened her vigilance.

The radiant-species marsh dragon made no effort to conceal itself, resting brazenly within a massive nest piled high with rocks in the center of the clearing. The gigantic nest was visible even from a distance, seemingly constructed with stones sourced from the local lake. Because the lake water was rich in crystal magic factors, the stones themselves contained a considerable concentration of crystals.

From afar, they gleamed like pure white salt crystals.

The three of them simultaneously lowered their footsteps as magical factors overflowed, forming a thick membrane across their skin.

Not for defense.

Rather, to prevent their body odor and aura from leaking out and being detected by the dragon.

Explorers possessed similar abilities under normal circumstances, but when facing a powerful dragon, they had to reinforce the technique further, subduing their voices and presence to the utmost.

The closer they drew.

The more intense became the swampy, moldy stench. Had it not been for the magical factor's ability to isolate the air from foul odors, the three of them might well have been fumigated into unconsciousness right here.

As they drew near, crossing a stony shore, they finally approached the nest.

Suddenly, Leon came to a halt and made a gesture instructing Melina to release magical factors to solidify the ground. Simultaneously, he gently poked the earth with his scabbard.

*Hiss—*

The power contained within the scabbard gouged a tiny whirlpool into the ground. The soil here was sickeningly soft; the exposed bones and shattered dragon remains indicated that the stony shore had long since transformed into a marsh.

The radiant-species marsh dragon, having fused with the werewolf statue and absorbed a massive influx of magic factors, had finally evolved the ability to generate a swamp surrounding its dwelling?

Not good news.

Melina thought to herself, yet she felt no panic.

Instead, she stepped to the vanguard, where massive amounts of magical factors condensed beneath her feet to form a bridge, halting the swamp's encroachment.

Disasters and terrains shaped by magical factors could ultimately be neutralized by magical factors.

Setting aside the fact that Melina had already deduced the nature of the land-altering magic the marsh dragon had evolved, merely dissecting the logic behind this magic allowed her to effortlessly forge a pathway beneath her feet.

Furthermore, she would remain entirely undetected by that radiant specimen.

Treading lightly, the trio reached a stone wall just outside the nest.

With a somewhat acquisitive gleam in her eye, Melina reached out to stroke the grayish-white boulders laced with crystal content, then lowered her gaze to survey the cunning radiant specimen—the behemoth that had successfully escaped her grasp through a single burst of dragon breath. The giant creature was currently fast asleep.

It had grown even sturdier.

That was Melina's initial impression.

It bore a greater resemblance to a lupine creature now, and terrifying mutations had manifested as a result of that statue.

Within the nest of the radiant dragon species, a creature of this caliber, which had begun to develop a rudimentary intellect, would categorize its possessions, separating food from treasure. In the food storage zone, within a stone alcove where the temperature was noticeably lower, the plump, bulging hind leg of a dragon, still smeared with dried blood, was exposed.

Cannibalism.

The curse had already begun.

Melina also noticed that the radiant marsh dragon had regrown wings, sprouting from the magical factor controllers on its back, taking the form of massive wolf-like forelimbs coupled with bat-like flight membranes.

"Can it fly?" Melina asked Leon, lacking firsthand experience.

The handsome veteran wore a solemn expression, his eyes narrowed.

After a long pause, he affirmed:

"No. But it can leap and glide using its powerful hind legs, which is practically indistinguishable from flight if we fight inside the nest. It swallowed that magical factor-enhanced statue and absorbed a vast quantity of factors, but it branched off onto a different evolutionary path. It seems to have squandered too much magic factor on creating marsh terrain."

Melina nodded.

This radiant marsh dragon was far from a "perfect evolution."

If the marsh dragon were a video game character, its evolution strictly followed a specific build.

First, the magical factors contained within the werewolf statue were sufficient to reignite the black dragon's lost flight capabilities.

其次, the werewolf transformation provided by the statue was an ultra-powerful factor evolution, allowing the dragon to stand upright on the earth, while its claws evolved into more flexible forms, retaining its reptilian posture to a certain degree.

Finally, werewolves belonged to the categories of the Mad and the Star, granting the potential to evolve magical abilities tied to these two attributes.

The ultimate result would be a massive, flying werewolf capable of casting magic, wielding weapons, and—to top it all off—possessing the ultra-strong stamina and tunneling capabilities unique to the black dragon species.

Yet clearly, this was an evolution path chosen only by meta-gaming min-maxers.

As a marsh enthusiast through and through, the marsh dragon's immediate priority in evolution had been to invest in flashy, landscape-altering vanity skills...

True, powerful red dragons could alter topography, but that was predicated on the fact that red dragons were already formidable enough that even showy, impractical abilities posed catastrophic dangers.

Black dragon species were different.

When evolutionary factors were already scarce, spending them on such comical abilities...

Even enhanced, it still fell within the scope of what the three of them could handle.

Specifically, the realm of tier-5 to tier-7 dragons.

The exact tier could only be determined once combat commenced.

If the fight was easy, it was tier-5; if the battle proved grueling and was secured only by a narrow margin at the end, it was tier-7.

From tier 5 onwards, every single jump in a dragon's rating represented a minor qualitative leap. Combine that minor qualitative leap with minor quantitative accumulation, and it was entirely common for an explorer who easily hunted tier-5 dragons to be utterly blindsided and overwhelmed by a tier-6 dragon.

Surveying the sleeping dragon, Leon waved his hand, signaling Melina to close in and initiate the fight.

In truth, heavy strikes against a sleeping dragon were typically delivered by melee combatants due to their superior short-term burst and output capacity.

Leon's combat tier was 5, and G's was 4, both surpassing Melina's own combat tier. Unfortunately, however, Melina possessed rather an excess of gear.

Ten firearms.

Quantitative accumulation had finally culminated in a qualitative transformation.

Moreover...

Melina had quite generously swapped out her standard ammunition Type I for the prohibitively expensive destructive ammunition Type I.