Cat Dragon Story～～～Ten③④～～～
～～～Nameless Adventurers～～～
After the night storm, the lake is silent. The water is as calm as a mirror, and the morning sun paints it gold, as if the world had been reborn overnight.
The morning sun shines on the lake, casting long shadows of the two. Exhausted from crying, Elliot and Alex have fallen asleep without realizing it, and wake up next to Michael's silent body, realizing once again that he is no longer in this world.
Their hearts are heavy with sadness, and the weight slows their steps.
They look toward the lake. With its calm appearance, the lake offers quiet comfort and healing to those who have weathered last night's storm.
In the center of the sunlit lake is a small floating island. Was it something that appeared due to the storm of last night, or was it something that they hadn't noticed because it was dark last night?
In any case, there was a small island there, and it was caught in their sight.
The island gazed at them silently, and its silence seemed to be telling them something.
Elliot's eyes were drawn to the island, like an explorer who had discovered an unexplored land on an ancient map. The curiosity hidden inside him slightly lifted the veil of sadness.
Alex also sensed the breath of nature, and felt as if the island was showing them something.
"Alex, look there. There's something there." Elliot's voice was trembling, but there was a definite determination in it.
Alex stared at the island. His expression was complicated, a mixture of fighting spirit and sadness.
"Elliot, if Michael had been here, he would have said we should go to that island." Alex's voice was quiet, but his words carried weight.
Elliot nodded, and silence fell between the two of them. It was an unspoken sympathy and a silent vow to move forward.
The two of them quietly put their hands together over Michael's body, then stand up. Their feet are heavy, but they still move forward.
Alex calls out to Michael, "Michael, please wait a moment. We will definitely achieve our goal and come back. Let's all go home."
Though they are burdened with their sadness, they move forward to the future and make new discoveries.
Elliot and Alex decide to move to the island. Elliot takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, and a pale blue light slowly spreads from under his feet, enveloping the two of them.
The magic of teleportation is activated, and the surrounding scenery distorts in an instant, and the next moment, the two of them are standing on the grass of the island.
The island is quiet, as if time has stopped, and stands there as if it is guarding an ancient secret.
Elliot and Alex proceed cautiously, like explorers who have entered a new world. Beyond the grassland is a dense forest, and its darkness seems to tell an unknown story.
The two of them go through the forest and eventually find a gaping entrance in the ground. It looks like a mouth leading to an underground ruin, and gives off a mysterious atmosphere as if an ancient civilization is still alive.
Elliot intuitively feels that the ruins hold knowledge of ancient magic, and approaches the entrance.
"There is something here," Elliot whispers, and Alex quietly nods, and the two of them step into the darkness of the underground ruins.
Although sadness remains in their hearts, hope for new discoveries begins to grow. The entrance to the underground ruins is like a gate connecting the past and the future, and from there the two of them will move on to a new chapter in their journey.
As they pass through the entrance to the underground ruins, Elliot and Alex are enveloped in the breath of ancient times.
The cobblestone path where their footsteps echo quietly invites the two of them, like a corridor to the distant past. Intricate hieroglyphics are carved into the walls, and each one speaks of a fragment of lost knowledge.
"These... these writings have thousands of years of history..." Elliot muttered in admiration at the majesty.
Drops of water occasionally fell from the ceiling, breaking the silence of the underground. The sound resonated in their hearts, as if it was proof that the ruins were alive. Alex listened to the air around him, feeling the power of nature.
"This place is like it's alive," Alex also exclaimed in admiration.
As they went further, the ruins gradually revealed their secrets. Broken stone statues lined both sides of the passage, telling of their former glory. They seemed to have withstood the passage of time and were still watching over them.
"There must have been ancient wizards here," Elliot let his imagination go wild.
As Elliot and the others went further inside, they came across a skeletonized body, probably that of a party of adventurers.
"In a place like this..." Elliot muttered. Alex continued, examining the body, saying, "It was attacked by something. It's likely that it was attacked further in and ran out of strength here while trying to escape."
Elliot's expression tightened and he said, "That means there's something attacking us. Let's proceed with caution." Alex responded, "Yeah."
"Huh? Wait a minute." Alex said, and took out a piece of parchment from the bag that the skeleton he was examining was carrying.
Alex showed the parchment to Elliot and said, "It's a handwritten map."
Elliot looked at the map and said, "This is... a map of these ruins. The path from the entrance to here matches."
The map had complex passages and rooms drawn on it, and certain places were marked in red and had writing written on them.
"So that means the writing at this mark is blurred and hard to see... Neko Dora N... Altar of Sleep," Alex read out.
At the same time, the two looked around in surprise. "This is it... This is where the cat dragon is..." They looked at each other and let out a voiceless cry of joy.
"Okay. All right, haha, you did it, Michael. I found it," Alex said with tears in his eyes.
And then, "Alex, let's save the crying for later. There should be a magic crystal nearby. Let's find it, revive the cat dragon, and report it to Michael." Elliot's eyes were also filled with tears as he said this.
The two lined up the skeletonized adventurers neatly, put their hands together in silent prayer, and then walked deeper into the ruins.
After walking for a while, a small cry that broke the silence of the ruins caught Elliot and Alex's attention. They searched for the source of the sound and eventually found a small animal.
It was stuck between the stones of the ruins and unable to move. "Are you okay?" Elliot called out gently, and the small animal looked at him with frightened eyes.
Alex gently reaches out his hand and releases the animal. "Don't be scared. I'll get you out of here."
The freed small animal rubs its small head against the two as if to show its gratitude. The creature then shows interest in the old map they hold in their hands, gazing at it with sharp eyes.
"This child might know something," Elliot whispers to Alex.
Alex nods and brings the map even closer to the small animal. "Do you know something?"
The small animal presses its nose against a specific spot on the map, then looks up at the two and cries.
Then, as if wanting to tell them something, it starts to trot deeper into the ruins.
"Hey, where are you going?" Alex asks.
"I don't know, but let's follow it," Elliot suggests, and the two follow the small animal.
The small animal skillfully navigates the passage of the ruins, eventually leading them to a seemingly ordinary stone space. Then, in front of a shining object in the corner, it makes a "key" sound.
"What is this...!" Alex exclaimed in surprise. It was a cat dragon magic crystal.
"I can't believe it's here!" Elliot picked up the crystal and felt its warmth.
The small animal confirmed that they had found the crystal and disappeared into the shadows of the ruins with a look of satisfaction.
Elliot and Alex were grateful for the small animal's guidance and the chance encounter, and obtained the magic crystal they were looking for.
Elliot and the others were unaware that the small animal was a companion of the skeletonized adventurers.
~~~Guardian~~~
Elliot and Alex carefully made their way through the winding passages of the ruins, holding a map leading to the altar.
"We're getting close to this area..." Elliot muttered softly.
Alex responded, cautiously watching his surroundings. "I feel like I sense something..."
Then, light overflowed from the shadows of the wall, and a light spirit warrior appeared in front of the two. It was an ancient ghost left behind by Gareth.
Its form was beautiful, like a shining constellation in the night sky, but at the same time it emanated a menace.
A cold sweat ran down their backs. Elliot said, "Alex..." Alex replied, "Yeah, this is... dangerous."
This figure, whose mere presence made the surrounding air tremble, and he exuded an aura of despair, was an overwhelmingly strong opponent, and the two realized that there was no way they could defeat him in even a million chance.
But the two of them didn't feel scared. The reason for this was not that they had any plans to win, or that they had any confidence or hope, but because after experiencing the hellish brutality of last night's magic storm, they had become resistant to the feeling of fear.
No, it was more accurate to say that part of their emotion of fear had been destroyed.
The two of them were surprisingly calm, without any thoughts of whether they could win or not. All they had was a firm will to reach the altar and revive the Cat Dragon.
And there was no doubt about it, this was the one who defeated the adventurers. The two of them intuitively knew it.
As Elliot and Alex advanced deeper into the ruins, they were exposed to a merciless attack by the light spirit warriors (guardians).
As Elliot's fingertips danced, space distorted and the dimensional door opened. Though his mind remained calm, his heart beat quickened with the excitement of the battle. "Now I can dodge," he thought, but his hopes were quickly dashed.
The guardian's light arrow passed through the gap between dimensions and caused a sharp pain in Elliot's lower back. "This...!" he cried out. The pain brought him back to reality in an instant, and he fell to his knees from the impact.
"I guess I can't dodge it by teleporting," Elliot muttered.
The Guardian's attacks, as his name suggests, were the embodiment of the power of the spirit of light. His movements were graceful, but his attacks contained destructive power.
Elliot and the others fought back desperately, but the difference in strength between them and the Guardian was clear, and they were gradually being pushed back.
However, Elliot and Alex's hearts were filled with the excitement and euphoria of battle, rather than fear.
Elliot attempted to dominate the battlefield with magic that controlled space. He waved his hand, opening a dimensional door and attempting to drag the Guardian into another dimension.
The Guardian noticed the dimensional door that Elliot had opened, and fired an arrow of shining light from his hand to erase its existence. The arrow tore through space, closing the dimensional door and leaving a deep scratch on the wall of the ruins.
The arrow, sprinkled with particles of light, looked as if stars were racing across the night sky. "Beautiful," Elliot said, entranced.
"Elliot, don't space out," Alex yelled, using vines to bind the Guardian, who then generated an intense wave of light around himself to free himself from the bonds.
The wave burned through the vines and became a shockwave strong enough to shake the air around him, easily breaking through Elliot's dimensional shield that he had instantly generated upon sensing the danger, slamming the two of them into the wall.
The attack caused intense damage to both their internal organs, causing them to vomit blood. The Guardian's power was overwhelming, like the sun shining down on the earth.
"This is tough," Alex said. "Yeah, I can't see any way to win... but," Elliot said.
The corners of their mouths turned up in grins. "An altar."
An altar appeared behind the guardian.
Continue to episode 7
