If this resulted in more casualties, it’d increase our workload, as well.
“Shall we put an end to this, then?” I said. “Quickly would be preferable.”
Five monsters were with us in the cavern. Every single one of them was caged, so I’d be able to make swift work of them.
“Wait, human. Finding information related to Wawok should come first.”
“In that case, you can look for him.”
“Hmph. You deign to look down upon me? Candice, let’s begin our search.”
“I’ll help Master Roland. You’re more than welcome to start searching for clues on your own, Commander Roje.”
“Why you little…! You’re nothing but a vampire past her expiration date…!”
“Were I with you, I may well have been able to offer help. As it is, however…”
Dey summoned her bloodsucking spear and readied herself for a fight.
“Dey, let’s go.”
“Okay!”
We divvied up the caged monsters and brought each of them down in turn.
One was a magical beast resembling a lion the worse for wear. A frog-shaped monster was fast asleep. I killed each of them with one blow using my Magi Raegas.
“Hee-hee… I looove killing defenseless foes like this. It’s great when they can’t put up any resistance.”
Dey’s spear hummed as she spun it around and jabbed at the cages. The monsters’ final wails were cut short.
“Roje Sandsong, have you found any clues?”
“I’m still searching! Don’t distract me! Do not talk to me!”
Roje was off away from the cages, inspecting desks lined with containers full of liquid chemicals.
“This does indeed seem like Wawok’s laboratory.”
“How can you tell, Lord Rileyla?”
“The materials on the desk feature the language used in the formula written on the collar.”
“I see.”
“Would you bring this home? I would like to see them firsthand.”
“Yes, Your Greatness.”
After making quick work of the monsters and beasts, I gave each a closer look. Those same glyphs were carved into each of their bodies, and they all wore collars. The creatures matched the descriptions of those seen in the forest.
“Master Roland, this one’s the same. It has a collar and those markings.”
I broke through one of the cages to take a closer look at a collar. Only then did I realize the Spiny Lizard was missing.
“Greeeeeh! Greeeeh!” I heard a monster screech in warning.
Was it the lizard?
“Roje! I feel mana building near you! You must move immediately!”
“Move—huh?”
Mana blasted at Roje from close quarters. I could tell it came from the Spiny Lizard, but the creature possessed more power than I anticipated.
A wave of mana swept everything away, filling the chamber with a bright flash.
“Ahhhh?!” Roje screamed like a child.
“Gwuh!”
Roje was flung away and struck a wall. She slid down on all fours, her rear up in the air and her mouth twisted.
“Roje!!”
That…probably wasn’t enough to really hurt her.
The shadow slapped her backside, but she wasn’t responding. She’d probably fainted.
Once the light and surge of air from the burst of mana died down, there was a gigantic dragon towering before us.
“Graaaaaaaw!” It let loose a throaty roar and slammed down its tail, which was covered in spines, each the size of a grown person. The ground shook as though we were in the middle of an earthquake.
This dragon didn’t look too different from the Spiny Lizard, excluding its size, of course. Perhaps the Armored Turtle grew, too, and that’s why it was so large.
“M-Master Roland… Is that…?”
“Looks like the lizard turned into a dragon.”
My guess was these monsters transformed in battle.
The Spiny Lizard’s legs had shortened and thickened to become as massive as tree trunks to support its weight. Though it sported small wings, I doubted they were good for flying. It likely used magic or mana to float.
“Grrrraaw!” it roared, and it glared at me and Dey with eerily small pupils.
“It’s coming…”
“Well, aren’t we the unlucky ones. I can’t believe we’re fighting a dragon.”
The giant creature reared up on its hind legs, then brought down its front two. Dey and I leaped away to avoid being crushed. The ground shook, and we nearly lost balance.
“Graaw!”
The tail whipped toward us with tremendous force, but it moved slowly because of its size.
“There’s no point if you can’t hit us.”
I had no difficulty evading it, while Dey thrust her bloodsucking spear right at the dragon’s front legs.
The tip broke on impact.
“Oh nooo… Seriously?” Dey cast the spear aside and summoned a new one.
Apparently, the dragon’s skin was harder than the spearhead. Magi Raegas probably wouldn’t fare much better. This monster’s hardiness was on another level. Our attacks were nothing more than the sting of an insect.
There was limited space to maneuver in this cavern, and our opponent shared that disadvantage because of its large form.
“Master Roland, I’ll distract it.” Dey attempted to capture the dragon’s attention through her movements. It began to focus strikes on her, attacking with its claws, fangs, and tails.
Close observation revealed the formula on its abdomen was glowing faintly.
“…”
I approached, keeping myself hidden so as not to ruin Dey’s efforts to distract the monster.
I activated my skill, Unobtrusive.
Soon, I was standing directly under the monster’s abdomen. Many creatures had spikes on their backs to protect themselves from threats, so I understood why its resilient skin protected it against the bloodsucking spear and my Magi Raegas. Would the same be true of its underbelly, where it had no quills?
The glowing formula stood out against the dragon’s scaly body.
I invoked Magi Raegas once more.
“How about this?” I thrust my left arm straight into the dragon’s scales.
“Graaaaaaw?!”
After a few swift jabs, the formula’s light grew faint.
“Graaaw…”
The dragon shrunk before my eyes back into its original lizard-like form. The markings must have controlled its transformation.
“Knave,” Rila called. “Look at the collars of the caged monsters! They look much like my own!”
“I see.”
I raised my hand and signaled to the shadow waving at me that I understood. The master had likely collared the monsters and beasts so their markings didn’t let them run amok.
“However…all these collars are broken…”
I hurried to join Rila’s shadow by a cage.
She was right—all the collars were snapped.
“No idiot would use an item that doesn’t work. Maybe the formulas were constructed to cease functioning once the monsters died.”
“That makes sense,” Dey said. After abruptly unsummoning her bloodsucking spear, she peered into the cage and nodded several times.
The Spiny Lizard had been somewhere else while we took care of the monsters in the cages. If it had wanted to stop us from trespassing, then it would have transformed while we were occupied killing monsters rather than after.
“I wonder what Wawok hopes to accomplish with these experiments?” Dey placed a hand on her face and tilted her head to the side.
Someone appeared to answer that question for her.
“I have nothing to say to a general of the demon lord’s army. Worse yet, a demon-sympathizer.”
A sallow-looking man emerged from a corridor.
“Wawok Seiv…,” Rila murmured.
This was the elusive man we’d been searching for.
He looked rather sickly, but there was a peculiar elegance to him that only a vampire could possess.
“Oh my, oh my. If you were here, you should have just told us.”
“Anyone would hide and observe when beset upon by barbarians.” Wawok eyed the dead Spiny Lizard and sighed. “Things were going so well. Look what you’ve done to the poor thing.”
He didn’t seem too wary of us, as though he didn’t think we meant him harm.
I couldn’t help wonder what he was after, working in secret like this, but that wasn’t the current mission.
“My name is Roland Argan. Are you the individual who made this?” I produced Rila’s collar from my breast pocket and showed it to Wawok.