Ch.4343. Southern Swamplands (4)

Reality cannot become a world that seems to come from fairy tales… or rather, from fantasy.

No matter how much people fight together against a common enemy, it would be fair to say that instances of instant bonding between them are almost non-existent.

“……..”

[[[[[………..]]]]]]

And this was one of the fundamental reasons why Hydra and I were now facing each other in a standoff.

Hydra’s condition… didn’t look particularly good, to say the least.

During the fierce battle with the pure-blooded dragon, more than seven of its heads had been severed, and wounds inflicted by claws and teeth were clearly visible all over its body.

Additionally, after the Swamp Dragon had wounded it and cauterized those wounds with magical flames, the result was that while there was no bleeding, the wounds that remained across its body wouldn’t heal easily even with Hydra’s regenerative abilities.

Of course, for Hydra, which is extraordinarily tough, this level of injury was damage it could certainly endure.

Even with several heads missing, since the consciousness of each head remained connected through a mental network, its immediate combat ability wasn’t significantly compromised, but…

[[[[[……….]]]]]]

Regardless, having suffered extreme damage with 7 of its 12 heads torn off, Hydra couldn’t recklessly challenge me and Sophia, who were almost at full strength… and thus this strange standoff was established.

Hydra was clearly showing wariness toward the two of us who could threaten its life, and likewise, we couldn’t help but be cautious of this wounded but still powerful beast.

As the standoff continued.

‘……..Huh?’

While carefully observing Hydra, my senses detected that its life force was gradually beginning to diminish, captured by my life detection ability.

At first, I thought it might be a natural phenomenon due to its injuries, but it’s not normal for life force to drop to less than half its original level in barely a minute.

[[[[[………..]]]]]]

Indeed, I could see with my own eyes that Hydra’s legs were trembling slightly, and this phenomenon was clearly intensifying as time passed.

Right now, that Hydra was slowly dying, unable to overcome the accumulated damage from the battle with the Swamp Dragon.

No matter how tough Hydra might be, it’s still a living creature. The day comes when even regenerative abilities that seem to heal wounds endlessly eventually reveal their limits… or… not?

‘……..?’

Why was this happening? Its physical regeneration was still functioning normally.

The flesh in areas not burned by the Swamp Dragon’s magical flames was regenerating properly, so it seemed Hydra hadn’t yet reached its physical limits.

Then why exactly was it collapsing? As I pondered this pure question, I was about to summon Astra when I suddenly noticed a faint but distinct shadow enveloping Hydra’s body.

“Is this… a curse?”

“Seer… this fellow agrees with your assessment that it appears to be a curse.”

A power based on mysteries that feels slimy and dark.

Having personally felt the resentment with its substantial emotional weight, I hypothesized that a curse was the cause of this phenomenon, and Sophia seemed to agree with my theory.

A ‘curse’—casting mystical hostility toward someone using antagonistic emotions as virtual mysticism—is a branch of primitive magic without specific form.

Like all primitive magic, it’s unstable in many ways, but in return, it can produce unimaginable power when conditions align.

And the curse now eating away at Hydra’s life force was probably bestowed by the death thoughts (死念) left by the Swamp Dragon.

Magical creatures like dragons often leave something spiritual in their corpses even after death, and it’s obvious that such spiritual remnants would harbor hostility and act against whatever killed them.

Anyway, the situation had now become irreversible.

[……..Can I not heal it?]

“No. Curses can’t be healed. To remove it, you’d need to go through a proper dispelling procedure.”

Even Astra’s or my healing magic could only maintain the status quo at best, and as the curse’s intensity strengthened over time, Hydra had now collapsed to the ground and started groaning.

And as it happened, I had a way to dispel this curse.

“Hydra, you are dying.”

[[[[[……..? ………..!!]]]]]

As I approached Hydra and spoke to it, the creature, collapsed on the ground, opened its eyes wide and stared at me, perhaps amazed that it could understand my words.

“I won’t say much. If you’re willing to submit to me, I can save you, but if you don’t wish to serve me, I can also leave you be.”

I conveyed my intention clearly.

Although Hydra as a creature doesn’t possess human-level intelligence and can’t understand complex speech, it can certainly comprehend the meaning from simple conversations like this.

So when I brought my face right in front of Hydra’s golden eyes and asked for its decision, Hydra, though struggling, maintained direct eye contact with me… and showed its consent.

With that, all conditions were met.

[……..Connect.]

With a single word of incantation, I extended the bond of contract to Hydra’s soul.

This fourth contract proceeded more skillfully than before, and as our souls bound each other, the contract was completely established.

While physical changes occur when forming a new animal friend contract, I prioritized somehow saving my dying new animal friend and summoned it in reverse.

Hydra, thus called into my inner world, returned to the side of my soul, and with time, the curse would be dispelled and its wounds would heal.

And at this point, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“……..Ah, the corpse. That’s right.”

“The Seer has remembered too.”

Namely, the corpse of the intermediate (sub-adult) dragon that Hydra had directly finished off.

※ ※ ※

The value of a pure-blooded dragon’s corpse is truly enormous, and even if this corpse belongs to a sub-adult, its worth is considerably high.

All body parts of a dragon exhibit overwhelming magical power and aura conductivity befitting their top-tier magical aptitude in life, making their bodies the best material for creating various magical tools.

Scales and skeletal structure with durability comparable to adamantium (black iron), the hardest metal in this world.

Dragon hide with magical resistance strong enough to deflect and nullify ‘magic’.

Additionally, their internal organs are invaluable as ingredients for various potions and alchemical materials, and particularly important organs like the heart or brain can be used as tools that fully exert their power after some processing.

Moreover, parts like dragon claws or teeth have durability equal to or slightly superior to their scales, along with transcendent magical power or aura conductivity. The same applies to their horns.

On top of this, even dragon meat, which might seem useless at first glance, has plenty of uses.

Not only does it contain large amounts of magical power that can serve as catalysts for various spells, but dragon meat holds tremendous value for its original purpose as food.

My mother once procured dragon meat from somewhere as a gift for my advancement to intermediate level…

Even though we just sprinkled salt on it and grilled it medium-rare, its taste surpassed anything I had eaten in my previous life combined.

Just putting a fingernail-sized piece in my mouth filled it with a meaty aroma, and the moment it touched my tongue, an ecstatic umami burst forth, overwhelming everything else.

Add to that the unique flavor found only in dragon meat, which no spice or product of modern science could replicate…

I declare, it’s worth eating even if it costs hundreds of gold coins per bite.

…Although the dragon meat we’ve obtained now contains Hydra’s poison, so it’s certainly not edible at the moment.

And there’s another specific reason why both of us are interested in this dragon’s corpse.

Druids cannot freely wear metal armor as it interferes with their communion with nature’s mysteries, so they inevitably seek alternatives to metal armor.

Therefore, dragon corpses—natural materials that aren’t metal yet surpass ordinary metals in durability and defense—were an irresistible temptation…

“Do you want to transport it for now?”

“The Seer agrees.”

After some negotiation, Sophia and I agreed to process the Swamp Dragon’s corpse in a safe place. The two druids absorbed the corpse into a ‘storage container’ made from Sophia’s demonic essence.

Sophia’s creation, based on the jewel attached to my mother’s staff.

The ‘storage container’ is a rather precious item made with the sole purpose of maximizing storage functionality.

It can store all kinds of substances including magical power as long as they’re not living beings, and objects stored inside remain fixed in their state without any damage until they’re taken out again.

“……..The Seer has mixed feelings.”

Since what she originally sought was just an auxiliary magic storage for emergencies, Sophia seems to find this utilization method somewhat peculiar.