CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 40: WHERE DID THE DRAGON COME FROM?

Dumb Wind Town, Adventurer’s Guild branch.

Mira Belle burst into the Guild Master’s office.

Obel glanced disapprovingly at his intelligence department head and reprimanded:

"You don’t even knock, rushing around in a panic like this."

"No... it’s not good," Mira Belle panted heavily, speaking haltingly, "Detection Crystal... detected... strong magic power..."

"Detected strong magic resonance?"

Seeing Mira Belle’s breathless appearance, Obel went ahead and finished her sentence.

"It’s just that the Demon Tide exploded two days early, nothing to be surprised about."

Currently, Obel looked composed, a stark contrast from his earlier anxiety when he first learned about the Demon Tide.

Both nearby cities around Dumb Wind Town—Fish Sail Port and Novid—had agreed to send troops to suppress the Demon Tide.

In just two or three days, they would reach Dumb Wind Town.

The Demon Tide is usually weak at first, even if it erupts now, the initial pressure wouldn’t be heavy.

He had already recruited a large number of adventurers to handle the demons unleashed in the first few days, which should be more than sufficient.

By the time the adventurers find the Demon Tide too challenging, the army should have arrived.

Therefore, there’s absolutely no need to panic.

Mira Belle still seems inexperienced.

Obel looked at Mira Belle disappointedly and shook his head slightly.

Elegantly, he picked up the small cup on the table and took a sip of Moon Wine from the Archipelago.

But Mira Belle seemed to not have finished speaking, she continued:

"Not... not just magic resonance... but also magic resonance!"

"Cough cough—"

The wine he had just drunk was all coughed out, Obel reflexively retorted:

"Impossible! If any other Underground City encountered a Demon Tide, headquarters would have surely notified me!"

"It isn’t an Underground City within the United Kingdom," Mira Belle finally caught her breath and urgently explained, "It’s the Dragon Cliff Dungeon in the Hermit Empire!"

!!!

The Dragon Cliff Dungeon is one of the six large-scale Underground Cities in this world, located at the northernmost point of the Hermit Empire, near the wastelands.

The demons inside are mainly dragon beasts, significantly stronger than those in the Purple Crystal Dungeon.

Magic Resonance means that two Underground Cities experiencing Demon Tides simultaneously might have their internal spaces interconnected.

In this situation, "the Demon Tide isn’t strong at first" won’t necessarily apply.

Because your area’s first layer might be directly connected to the deep area of the other.

And other hazards from resonance depend on the resonating target.

This time the resonance with the Dragon Cliff Dungeon, which is much stronger than the Purple Crystal Dungeon, is clearly very dangerous.

"But how can this be possible? It spans more than half the continent!" Obel was still unwilling to accept.

"Branch President!

Distance has nothing to do with Underground City resonance, what’s important now is to come up with a quick solution!

Relying solely on unprepared adventurers, they would be instantly overwhelmed by dragon beasts!"

Mira Belle raised her tone, appearing frantically urgent.

If the Demon Tide were to destroy Dumb Wind Town, neither she nor Obel would have a favorable outcome.

"You go dispatch all available forces from the Guild.

Have the logistics department take out all the tools for dealing with dragons and send them straight to the front gate!

I’ll contact the troops right away to hasten their journey."

Mira Belle nodded, intending to leave but was pulled back by Obel.

"By the way, don’t publish the resonance information, just let our people be equipped with the gear."

"..."

Mira Belle looked at Obel, her eyes revealing a trace of fear.

She understood that Obel was doing this to prevent the adventurers from "retreating when faced with difficulty."

It seems to be the right choice for now.

But... so ruthless!

Unaware adventurers, confronting the mutated Demon Tide, would undoubtedly suffer heavy casualties.

Obel intends to use their lives to stall the Demon Tide...

————

"Break out of the Underground City... destroy..."

Get lost!

Ignoring the vague voice suddenly appearing in his mind.

Could the Underground City demons be influenced by this thing?

The voice was quite magnetic.

But seemed to have no effect on him personally.

More unsettling to Lin Jun than this voice were the creatures appearing on the fifth layer.

Dragon!

Could it be true?

When that head fully emerged from the rift, Lin Jun was utterly shocked.

Could there be a dragon in the deep area?

Why didn’t I know?

The revelation of the "dragon" body... Lin Jun breathed a sigh of relief.

This isn’t a dragon!

It’s a four-legged, dragon-like demon.

Opening the panel revealed its identity.

[Race: Dragon Beast - Blade-tailed Whip Dragon]

[Level: Level 42]

Dragon beasts, a rather large category.

Any demon with a hint of dragon race blood can fall into this group.

I thought it was a real dragon, got a fright.

Still, even dragon beasts are powerful, its scales alone provide Level 5 magic resistance.

Hitting it with my Mushroom Cannon, the effect would be considerably weakened.

So, what will this dragon beast do?

Attack me?

Or charge directly towards the upper layers?

The Blade-tailed Whip Dragon’s tail extended segment by segment, dark red scales slightly raised, its side bone blades fully extending outward.

When all the joints fully expanded, the tail stretched from an original 2 meters to a blood-red whip over 10 meters long.

With a twist of its hips, the long whip whipped towards the Pukis.

Fortunately, Lin Jun was prepared.

[Assault Ejection Level 5]

The Pukis leaped backward in unison, dodging the tail whip.

No wonder it’s called the Blade-tailed Whip Dragon, the name is quite fitting.

Indeed, it must still be fought!

As the Blade-tailed Whip Dragon’s tail whipped around, the Pukis’ Mushroom Cannon landed on its body.

The enormous size of the five-meter long body made it nearly impossible for the Pukis to miss.

Over a hundred Mushroom Cannon shots hit its body, despite the high resistance scaling, the Blade-tailed Whip Dragon was blown to a bloody mess, wailing incessantly in agony.

Speaking honestly, Lin Jun doesn’t lack firepower.

Compared to similar-level agile-type beastmen, these are far easier to handle.

Though there’s nothing to be proud of, since this is obviously only the beginning.

Two more different species of dragon beasts emerged from the rift.

One even had wings and rushed to the sky upon appearing.

Judging by its speed, it’s a type Lin Jun disdains... agile type...

With a continuous flow of demons emerging from the rift, the battle quickly intensified.

And this was only the fortified entrance.

The other side, guarded by only thirty Pukis, was quite unfortunate.

A two-headed dragon beast crawled out, and the Pukis attempted to attack, but their Mushroom Cannon shots were countered by the flames it spewed.

Two nearby Pukis were instantly scorched.

Surely it can’t be held...

A shadow suddenly flitted out from the rift, circling in the air, then dove fiercely...

Landed on the twin-headed dragon beast’s back.

Two claws gripped the dragon beast’s necks firmly, the joints crushed the neck scales, eliciting a flow of blood from the claws.

Eventually, the claws tugged the beast’s head upwards, no matter how the twin-heads struggled or spewed fire, it was useless, until finally, both heads were forcibly ripped off!

How violent...

Lin Jun could finally see the appearance of this creature.

A humanoid form, clad in scales between cold iron and black jade in texture, folded dragon wings aligned along the spine, trailing a huge tail behind.

Under the scales densely covering its cheeks, one could discern a human-like visage.

[Race: Dragon Man]

[Level: Level 58]

The Dragon Man’s nose twitched slightly, its golden vertical pupils gazed at the nearby Pukis.

Noticing the Pukis’ supple bodies, it glanced at the tough dragon beast head in its hand.

The two dragon beast heads were tossed to the ground like garbage.

In the next moment, the Dragon Man had crossed over ten meters and scooped up a struggling Puki.

It opened its mouth, revealing two rows of sharp teeth, eagerly taking a big bite—