"..."
Kurose Akira held the fragment in his hand, sinking into thought. He was now certain that the existence referred to as "Mother" was very likely real—but whether her traces could actually be found was an entirely different matter.
"Hahaha! We finally took down that powerful Undead Lord—this was way too fun!"
Honglian strode over with her greatsword slung across her shoulder, her laughter brimming with joy and exhilaration. Everything that had just happened was still vivid in her mind, yet compared to how Kurose Akira had managed to turn Madina to their side, she cared far more about the sheer thrill of victory.
Unlike Honglian's carefree grin, Lu Bo and the others looked visibly perplexed. They stared at Kurose Akira, questions swirling in their minds.
They couldn't understand how he had managed to successfully sway that hidden boss. Without the hidden boss's assistance, there was no way they could have defeated the Undead Lord so easily.
Moreover, the adventurers belonging to Kurose Akira's guild had shocked Lu Bo and his group as well.
At first, they had assumed only that knight possessed outstanding combat strength—but they never expected the other two holy-attribute women to be equally overwhelming.
That kind of holy magic capable of annihilating an Undead Lord was absolutely not something an ordinary holy caster could unleash.
Lu Bo stroked his beard lightly and sighed with emotion. "I once met a player who could control elite monsters using a special form of mental magic. But someone like you—directly manipulating a hidden boss—this is the first time I've ever seen something like that."
"It was just a one-time tactic," Kurose Akira replied calmly.
The effects of [Soul Reaping] weren't something that could be triggered at will. It just so happened that this location perfectly suited his tactical approach.
"I see," Lu Bo said, gaining a new understanding of Kurose Akira.
"Even though we didn't get the contribution from the Demon Cavern or the boss itself, we still earned over a hundred contribution points from the earlier fighting," Shen Siqi said softly as she carefully tallied the skeletons she had slain. "This trip wasn't a total loss."
"Our intelligence on the Demon Cavern was still far too lacking," Shen Jun mused, rubbing his chin. "If we'd known the hidden boss mechanics earlier, we wouldn't have ended up in such a miserable state."
"Kurose Akira really is amazing~ See? I told you so, big brother~ His adventurers are way stronger than yours!" Shen Siqi laughed, then leaned closer to Kurose Akira and asked him for his offline contact information.
Hearing his sister's words, Shen Jun scratched his head. He glanced at his prized Desert Dog-Head (Elite), a trace of determination flashing in his eyes.
He firmly believed that one day, his adventurer would shine brilliantly and astonish everyone.
"All right, it's time for us to leave,"Lu Bo urged the group. "If we stay any longer, it'll be hard to get out."
As he spoke, he looked into the distance—those players who had fled earlier were already rushing back toward the battlefield.
"Mm."
One by one, everyone activated the teleportation arrays, preparing to return to their respective guilds.
Before leaving, Honglian turned to Kurose Akira and asked, "By the way, have you ever thought about challenging a high-risk Demon Cavern?"
The moment she said this, everyone's gaze converged on Kurose Akira.
Clearly, this wasn't just Honglian's personal curiosity—it was a question coming from her guild leader.
"I'll probably consider it," Kurose Akira replied.
Even the smallest high-risk Demon Cavern could yield over 4,000 contribution points. There was no reason for him to refuse.
After all, even a medium-risk Demon Cavern—with two cores—wouldn't exceed a total of 2,500 contribution points.
If he wanted to break into the top three of the contribution rankings, tackling high-risk Demon Caverns was inevitable.
For various reasons, most high-risk Demon Caverns were still in the reconnaissance stage. After all, these were instances so difficult that even C+–rank guilds could be wiped out entirely—absolute caution was required.
There were a total of seven high-risk Demon Caverns, yet only one had been cleared so far—and it was the smallest among them.
"Three days from now, we'll be challenging a high-risk Demon Cavern," Honglian said, extending an invitation. "If you're interested, you can come along."
"Alright. I'll be there."
Kurose Akira nodded. He suspected that Honglian's guild had already obtained crucial intelligence on that high-risk Demon Cavern, which was why they planned to make a deep push in three days.
Naturally, he had no reason to refuse someone willing to guide him—and Honglian was someone he trusted.
"Then it's settled. See you in three days."
Honglian waved before stepping into the teleportation array.
Lu Bo and the others followed suit, each returning to their own guilds.
Kurose Akira didn't linger either, immediately leading his guild members into the array.
A flash of white light erupted, and their figures vanished from the spot in an instant.
Back at the guild, the first thing Kurose Akira did was check his contribution ranking.
He was currently ranked 19th.
Meanwhile, the player in first place had already reached 5,000 contribution points. He would have to work much harder to catch up.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Kurose Akira noticed an unfamiliar name appearing in his field of view. Because the evaluation exceeded C-rank, what was displayed wasn't a player ID but a guild name—
"Immortal Consort."
"This must be Honglian's guild, right?"
Kurose Akira guessed. Their current contribution stood at 2,266 points, while he had 2,630, slightly higher than theirs.
However, if Honglian hadn't lied to him, her guild had only joined the battlefield today.
Which meant—
He immediately checked the remaining number of Demon Caverns in the event and found that only 19 remained. In other words, out of the five Demon Caverns cleared today, four bore the mark of the Immortal Consort guild.
And one of them had even been a high-risk Demon Cavern—allowing their guild to amass 2,266 contribution points in a single day.
"..."
Kurose Akira rubbed his chin in thought. When B-rank and above guilds took on content at this level, it truly was a dimensionality-reduction strike.
Unfortunately, his permissions were limited—he couldn't directly view guild details. He could only infer Immortal Consort's evaluation from player chatter in the event channel.
And their evaluation was—
"B+?"
Kurose Akira raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected Honglian's guild to be B+ rank.
B-rank guilds were already rare—B+ was even rarer. Their total membership likely didn't exceed a hundred people.
"Since the high-risk Demon Cavern won't be accessible for another three days, I can focus on clearing medium-risk Demon Caverns and completing commission quests to level up Loserine and the others," Kurose Akira planned out his next few days. With his current strength, medium-risk Demon Caverns shouldn't pose much of a problem.
"And also…"
After finalizing his plans, Kurose Akira took out the Soul Crystal Orb.
At present, there were two souls within it.
Setting Lady Zhenbai aside, it was time to fulfill the Red Dragon Mother's wish.
With a thought, he summoned her soul before him.
"Is it time to look for my child?" the Red Dragon Mother asked eagerly.
She had waited for many years—finally reunited with her child once more.
Even if it was… just an egg.
"I already know where your child is," Kurose Akira said, having learned the egg's precise location through the Soul Crystal Orb. "It's currently located in the Land of Dragonfall."
"However, that bone dragon guarding it may be very difficult to deal with at this stage. It hasn't left the egg's side for even a moment."
"This…"The Red Dragon Mother's expression turned worried. After thinking for a moment, she replied, "That may very well be my body—turned into an unconscious skeletal dragon due to some unknown reason."
Hearing this, Kurose Akira fell silent in thought. The speculation was almost unavoidable—the bone dragon was likely the Red Dragon Mother's corpse.
Moreover, that bone dragon was protecting the dragon egg within its own body. Even reduced to nothing but bones, it was still doing everything it could to safeguard its child.
But no matter how devoted that protection was, the bone dragon was still a mindless undead creature—without a soul, and incapable of hatching the egg.
To fulfill the Red Dragon Mother's wish, the egg had to be retrieved first.
The problem was—how could he extract the egg from the body of an unconscious skeletal dragon?
A level 70 bone dragon was far beyond what he could currently handle. He wasn't even sure whether his [Dragon Knight] trait would work on a bone dragon.
And to activate [Dragon Knight], he would first need to remove the witch's curse afflicting the skeletal dragon.
At that moment, the Red Dragon Mother spoke again.
"If that truly is my body… then perhaps I have a way to deal with it."
"What way?" Kurose Akira asked.
"The Red Dragon Mark I gave you is a mark unique to the Red Dragon clan's chieftain," she explained. "If you can fuse with it, it will grant you a certain level of suppression over red dragons. Even if that red dragon has turned into bones, the suppression will still apply."
"Fuse…?"
Kurose Akira's eyes lit up. So the Red Dragon Mark could actually be fused?
"Yes."The Red Dragon Mother nodded and added, "The Red Dragon Mark will cause changes to both your soul and your body. You may even grow draconic features—but I swear, it will not harm you in any way. I guarantee this in the name of the daughter of the Red Dragon clan's chieftain."
"?"
Kurose Akira was slightly taken aback. So the Red Dragon Mother was actually the chieftain's daughter?
"Then how do I fuse with this Red Dragon Mark?" he asked.
There was no fusion option in his player permissions. Clearly, merging with the Red Dragon Mark required assistance from some other power.
"I can help you, but…"
The Red Dragon Mother's voice suddenly paused. Her thick red dragon tail swayed gently, the tip striking the ground with a heavy thump. The words that followed seemed difficult for her to say, stirring her emotions.
"But?" Kurose Akira looked puzzled. But what?
After hesitating for a moment, she spoke softly and gently:
"It may… require you to remove your clothes. During the fusion process, your body will undergo changes that could tear them apart. Also, I'll need to use draconic secret arts to maintain prolonged physical contact with your body. I hope you won't mind…"