The system's notifications rang in Roy's mind.
『Ding! Congratulation. You killed the Crimson Lord. You gained 30k EXP and +1000 Crimson Souls.』
『The semi-grand quest has been completed.』
『You have been granted the ownership of the Dragon's Pond.』
A wave of knowledge entered Roy's mind. The Crimson Lord failed to harm him, but this did. His eyes twitched as that became a part of his memory.
"Err... I can control it using words and hand movements. Amazing!"
Roy's eyes twinkled in delight. The new information was about how to control the Dragon's Pond. He could mobilize it as he liked and even concentrate the pressure emitting out of it on a single enemy. This could be said to be his new trump card. With a twist of the wrist, he made all the mist in the area disappear. It might have belonged to the now-dead Crimson Lord, but it was a part of the Dragon's Pond. Thus, he could control it.
Crack!
The illusion trapping Roy crumbled apart some seconds after the Crimson Lord died, and the latter found himself on the edge of the shore with the dragon's tree.
"I am finally back."
Roy said as he walked towards it, his destiny.
As he came near it, the Dragon's Tree shriveled up, and at the same time, the fruit hanging from the intertwined tips of its seven branches started to grow bigger and bigger.
From the size of a walnut, it grew to the size of an apple.
"It no longer looks like a dried persimmon. Now, It looks like an apple, thick and juicy like a woman's booty." Roy made a rhyme on the spot, looking at it.
"That really just happened, huh? Amazing!" The sight of the Dragon's Fruit suddenly becoming ripe had stunned the Female Siren. "Nothing in this world can be measured by common sense. Even an ancient fruit can become edible instantly."
There were a lot of memories in her blood, but she couldn't tap into all of them, and she was curious about a lot of things, even the things she knew about. After all, she was yet to personally lay witness and experience them, especially the thing which she can only do with her Fated—Mating! She was hatched just today, but she wanted to do him!!
"Interesting."
Shadowless assumed that the energy of the Dragon's Tree was used to nurture the Dragon's Fruit. Indeed, that's exactly what happened.
The tree transferred its life force to the fruit.
As a result, it grew so much that it became ripe.
It was now ready to be eaten, and it dropped in Roy's hand.
He brought it close to his mouth.
Bam!
Just then, beings too white pounded on the door to the cave heavily and repeatedly but failed to force it to open. The death of the Crimson Lord resulted in the vanishing of the power which was protecting and reinforcing the granite door. Just getting pounded on several dozen times caused countless cracks to appear on it. It looked like it would shatter anytime now if this continued.
The door was closed, but the sound reached their ears.
A chill crept up the Female Siren's spine, hearing the growl of Voss's son coming from behind the door.
"They are here... for me." She shivered, knowing the ones slamming on it were here for none other than her. Voss's threat echoed in her mind. She almost pissed herself thinking of the various unspeakable ways he would torture her if he got to her.
"Voss's sons are hot on our tail." Tevenlor grimaced.
The door, which was about to shatter, protected them from a face-off against an entire army of an evil god.
"We still have some time to get to the other side. Once we are there, it would be hard for them to get us before we leave this place." Shadowless reasoned with them, hoping to calm them down. But the Formless Siren was too swallowed by her fears to hear his words. It's like she has become deaf all of a sudden. Tevenlor, on the other hand, didn't feel any less worried after hearing his words.
"… And how are we going to do that?" Tevenlor questioned him. "We are not him. Even I can't confidently say that I wouldn't be subdued by the draconian pressure of the Dragon's Pond once I set one foot inside it."
Tevenlor didn't know that Roy was already its master.
Shadowless opened and closed his mouth, seemingly at a loss for words. He could just whisk away, appearing next to his master whenever he liked. That was the perk of being Roy's first and only shadow. As long as he was in his vision, he could directly teleport to him. But Tevenlor and the Female Siren couldn't do the same. He realized this after hearing Tevenlor's words. They needed to reach him manually, and crossing the Dragon's Pond was not hard but impossible for them. He didn't think of that and blamed himself for being silly.
Suddenly, all of them heard Roy's voice.
"Guys!"
They raised their heads in his direction, only to see him waving at them, and as he did so, the pond parted ways from the middle, splitting into two. At the same time, he used his black aura to create a bridge that connected the shores. Lastly, he gave the Dragon's Pond a commanding look and uttered something. This was enough to make it retract the draconian pressure.
"Use the bridge to run over here," Roy said to them.
"Okay, sure."
Shadowless pulled the Female Siren's hand and stepped on the bridge. Tevenlor followed after them while occasionally glancing backwards. Compared to the shore they were on, it was like a safe haven.
As they ran towards him, Roy looked at the Dragon's Fruit.
He wanted it!
His body wanted it!!
His soul wanted it!!!
"I should get this over with, for only then will the way out of here open."
Roy didn't waste any time inspecting it and bit into it.
『Ding! You have consumed the Dragon's Fruit.』
