Chapter 169
Dark Red Dragon Scales
Translator : PolterGlast
We reached the mountain hut on Mount Cube relatively
easily and stayed the night halfway up the mountain as planned. We started
climbing again early the next morning, but... from the hut onwards, the number
of monsters suddenly increased drastically.
"There seem to be a lot of monsters. Is Mount Cube
always this populated with them?"
"I have only climbed it once myself, so I cannot say
for sure, but there were less than half this many when we came to defeat the Red
Dragon."
"I think there are clearly too many this time. Also,
the quality of the monsters is kind of weird."
Hearing that there were less than half last time, there
definitely seems to be a cause. There is a high possibility that other monsters
were avoiding the area because of the Red Dragon—but eighty percent of
the monsters we've encountered so far have been Undead types.
Undead monsters
wouldn't have the concept of avoiding things, and considering the Dragon
Zombie is also an Undead monster, I get a very strong feeling that the
Red Dragon defeated by the Crimson Rose has, as expected, turned
into a Dragon Zombie. I hope my
intuition is wrong, but in times like this, it’s usually right.
"It's almost entirely Undead, isn't it? I can't
help but feel it's related to the Dragon Zombie."
"I agree. Which means... Guanza was telling the
truth?"
"Most likely. He seemed to have turned over a new leaf,
so I think he was genuinely protesting for the sake of the city."
"Even if that's the case, I still hate Guanza!"
"Same here. However, if it's not just a plague but Undead
monsters are starting to increase as well, we can't just sit around saying we
hate Guanza."
"What shall we do? Should Mona and I descend and
report this to the Guild Master?"
"No, there's a high probability he won't listen, so I
want you to keep guiding us. If we can defeat it, we'll bring back materials
from the Dragon Zombie; if we can't find it, I want you to go report
once we have some kind of clue."
They likely already know we came to Mount Cube, so
even if Veronica and Mona reported now, he wouldn't listen. However,
it's certain that he isn't a bad Guild Master, so I reckon he'll listen if we
have some kind of proof. To that end, I want them to go to the place where the Red
Dragon was supposedly defeated and grab some evidence before reporting.
"Understood. We will follow your judgment completely, Graham-san."
"Me too. We actually fought together, and your fighting
against the Demon King's Army was amazing. Your judgment won't be wrong,
Graham."
"I appreciate you saying that."
I don't like being overestimated, but I am very grateful
they are willing to follow instructions. First, to grasp some clue about the Dragon
Zombie, we continued climbing up Mount Cube, which was now overrun
with monsters.
Then, about six hours after leaving the mountain hut. We
finally arrived near the summit and reached the area where they had defeated
the Red Dragon.
"Ah, I might recognize that big reddish-black rock. Veronica,
wasn't it around there?"
"I believe so. We defeated it in that hollow—"
Saying that, Veronica ran over to check the hollow...
but just as I expected, the Red Dragon's corpse was not there. It didn't
seem like they had mistaken the location, as red dragon scales, likely traces
of the corpse, were scattered in the hollow.
"It is not here! It seems the Red Dragon really
has become a Dragon Zombie."
"Since dragon scales are scattered about, it doesn't
seem like a mistake that you defeated it here. For now, Veronica and Mona,
take the dragon scales and pieces of rotten flesh, descend the mountain, and
report to Greg."
"Got it. We'll call for backup immediately."
"Graham-san, please take care of the rest."
After nodding deeply, Veronica and Mona began
to descend in a hurry. There are a lot of monsters, so I am a little worried
about whether just the two of them can return safely... but we defeated the
monsters on the way up, and they should have plenty of stamina left, so they
should be fine.
Right now, rather than worrying about the two who descended,
it is more important for us to track down the Dragon Zombie. First,
let's look for clues as to where it went.
"So the Dragon Zombie really exists! It must be
huge, so we'll be able to find it right away, right?"
"I wonder about that. The dragon scales are smaller
than I expected, so it might not be that big."
"This is small?! I thought it was big, though..."
"Me too! It's super huge!"
The size of a single dragon scale was about the size of a
palm. Compared to other monsters, it might certainly be large, but for a Dragon,
it falls into a fairly small category.
I tried lightly bending the dragon scale I picked up... The hardness was lacking, and I think there is a high probability it isn't a Red Dragon. Considering the scales are red, my assessment is that this monster is a Red Wyvern. I was relieved that it didn't seem to be a strong dragon, and even though it's zombified, if it's a Red Wyvern, Ginia and Aoi should be able to defeat it.
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