Serum

Several days passed as Pandora continued to linger behind her escorts. The driving got mind-numbingly boring for her, but it wasn’t like she was going to turn back when she had come this far. 

Still, she often scowled and hoped that something would happen soon. She had thought that this dungeon scouting would be short and quick, and that she would be able to get on her way after the fact. 

But with each day of watching Ethan and the Grand Marshal slaughtering snakes, Pandora got more and more impatient. She was beginning to wonder if this expedition was really worth her time, or if she should have just sent an order back home for a team to scout one of their local dungeons instead. 

Whatever the case, when the 6th day came around, Pandora finally got to see just what exactly was piquing the interest of the Horizon Empire. 

At first things were normal as the Grand Marshal bound across the landscapes and Pandora sped after her. But then, they encountered something a bit more artificial. 

Standing tall like some kind of parthenon, Pandora observed the enclosed temple that appeared. It was constructed out of pillars and walls of black rock. These black structures pulsed and glowed with cracks of lava that radiated pure fire mana. And the tops of the pointed structures sparked with electricity. One could feel the static in the air as it made their hair stand on end.

And not just that, but even before coming close to this structure, Pandora began to feel an odd pressure that was placed on her soul. The pressure got worse as she approached, almost like the structure was surrounded by a domain. 

She recognized this pressure as someone who frequently encountered those more powerful than herself. 

The soul pressure of a higher existence. And not just any higher existence. 

Pandora smiled as she followed the Grand Marshal to the entrance of the building. 

Upon arrival, Pandora disembarked and stowed the car away, standing beside Ethan who was exhausted by the tiring and perilous journey here. 

“How interesting. You’ve brought me to a dragon’s abode, Grand Marshal. I’ve heard that some major dungeons also disappeared from the world after the Advent. Seeing this major dungeon containing a Dragon’s abode, I can assume that the remaining dungeons all contain one such abode. That’s why you’re scouting dungeons, to confirm the existence of these abodes. Correct?”

“...”

The Grand Marshal was silent, keeping her gaze neutral and forward. After their little scuffle, The Grand Marshal didn’t speak another word to Pandora, just ignoring her and continuing with her mission. Pandora didn’t mind that much, of course. 

After a moment of silence, the Grand Marshal stepped forward onto the first step of the parthenon. 

Once she did, the structure flared with fire, flashing as its glowing cracks spewed flames. The temperature rose several dozen more degrees despite how hot it already was, and even the Grand Marshal began to sweat. 

But as if she had already done this before, she continued on to ascend the staircase. It wasn’t long before she reached the top and stood before a large pair of doors. 

“Wow. It’s a different kind of power, isn’t it? Dragons are amazing.”

At that moment, the Grand Marshal was shocked to hear a voice beside her. It was Pandora. 

The two stood before the doors, Pandora looking around as if she were on a sightseeing trip. 

Disregarding how Pandora was resisting the heat and pressure, the Grand Marshal narrowed her eyes and pushed open the doors. 

It apparently took a significant amount of strength as even the Grand Marshal, a Rank 7, had veins bulging on her arms as she pushed. Only after several seconds did the doors finally crack open and reveal what was inside. 

Unlike a King’s Hall in most dungeons, this pair of doors didn’t lead to a portal to another space where you would fight the monster champion. Instead, the doors led inside the parthenon structure, and Pandora was surprised to see an actual dragon laying within the parthenon. 

As the princess of the Dark Kingdom, Pandora had witnessed the Dark Dragon Primordial emerge from the abyssal hole underneath the capital city every year. It was their most famous holiday and the only place in the world where you could go to easily see an actual dragon. 

But that was the Dark Dragon Primordial, an existence only lesser than a god. This dragon now before Pandora wasn’t such a greater existence, but one lesser enough that she could clearly feel just how unfathomable it was. 

It wasn’t simply an existence with more power than her. She knew what such pressure felt like and disdained it. No, this dragon radiated such a pure and unrestrained elemental aura that it felt as if the dragon was one with the element itself. It didn’t feel like she was standing before a dragon, but the incarnation of the fire element, or more specifically, the lightning element. 

The dragon had dark red scales that almost shone black, with lines of electricity that fluttered underneath its scales while flashing a beautiful bright red color. It wasn’t the standard blue lightning from the other snakes, but red lightning, something that felt far more potent. 

Not only that, but there were Elementals made from pure red lightning that surrounded the dragon that seemed to be sleeping, ones shapes like the snakes they had fought on their way here. These lightning snakes drifted while crackling with pure elemental mana. Even standing so far away Pandora could feel the polarity of the air make the back of her neck tingle. 

Worse yet, it seemed like these lightning elementals weren’t friendly as they woke up and set their sights on Pandora and the Grand Marshal. 

But they didn’t attack, instead dutifully standing guard around their creator, the dragon. 

As the two women stood there, Ethan gradually made his way up the staircase and through the doors. As soon as he stood beside them, the doors shut on their own, sealing them in the parthenon. 

When all three were finally ready to face the dragon, it opened its eyes. 

For a long while there was silence as the dragon unfurled itself and rose to stand nearly 50 meters tall and a few times longer. The fire element seemed to bow to this dragon as it merely breathed and created waves of fire. 

But although it stared at them, it seemed to be thinking. Finally, after several minutes, its eyes widened. 

{The time has come…}

It didn’t speak in a normal voice. Insead, the three could feel its will transmit itself across the elements in a method more profound than mental transmission. 

There was a voice that spoke out in response to it though. 

“If you’re speaking of the War Cataclysma, then yes, it has begun once again.”

Pandora’s comparatively weak voice echoed in the parthenon, causing Ethan and the Grand Marshal to look at her urgently, as if telling her she shouldn’t be speaking lightly. 

But she naturally ignored them. 

“Have you been in slumber all this time?”

{...You are a curious child. Yes, I have been in slumber, waiting for this day to come.}

“Then why did you not wake? The call of the Dark Dragon Primordial was heard throughout the world a long time ago and should have roused all of you from your sleep. After all, you are naturally one of the many subjects he calls for support. So why didn’t you wake earlier?”

Pandora questioned with a furrowed brow. One might think she was asking a random question, but in her mind that quickly surmised exactly what the Grand Marshal’s purpose in coming here was, she found an outstanding problem. 

The Grand Marshal had come here to wake this dragon. This likely meant that, in this War Cataclysma, the Horizon Empire was on the side of the dragons who were destined to fight against the two gods, Eldritch Primordial and Sovereign Divine. 

But this dragon shouldn’t have remained asleep. As expected, the dragon before them flared in what seemed like rage. 

{...You are correct. I should not have been deep in slumber. I have failed to rise to the call of the Primordials! This is not natural. Something, someone, has…”

The dragon, after shivering in anger, suddenly slowed and focused. Pandora could sense the mana around the dragon kick up as lightning arced in the air. 

At that moment, it was as if the dragon had manifested some kind of mana body as it became translucent, almost ethereal. But in doing that, it encountered shocking resistance. 

That was when Pandora saw it. 

The Dragon Heart within its mana body that was constructed of the purest mana, and the invisible white chains that only Pandora could see latching down and sealing the Heart. 

Someone had created an exceedingly complex spell and sealed this dragon with it, keeping it from waking to the call of the Dark Dragon Primordial. 

Someone had sabatoged this dragon. 

{Insolent! Blasphemous! Such underhanded cowardice!}

As expected, the dragon was further enraged by this revelation that it had been sneakily sealed while asleep. It shook while attacking the chains of light mana, attempting to obliteratge them and free itself. 

But upon drawing from its Dragon Heart for power, Pandora was shocked to discover the chains become even more powerful, and the dragon collapsed with drowsiness. 

No, it wasn’t drowsiness, but the inability to control its own existence. It was no different form a human having their heart kept from beating. This crippling spell threatened to put the dragon back into its slumber. 

The dragon knew this, of course, and as it failed to so much as stand on its own feet, it sighed. 

{Ah, how weak have I become? To think I failed to resist such a petty trick. I am undeserving, unfit to be a subject of the Vast Darkness, the Dark dragon Primordial.}

“Come on now, no time to indulge in self pity. I expected more, dragon. I didn’t think your will was so easy to break.”

There was the familiar clicking of shoes on the ground as everyone turned toward Pandora, who was walking toward the dragon. 

The dragon narrowed its eyes.

{My will is not something neither humans nor vampires can imagine.}

“Oh please, I know someone who has quite the unbreakable will. Granted, he may be one of the few people in this entire world with such level of willpower. Regardless, you’re already giving up. Again, I expected more.”

Pandora stopped walking as she stood right before the dragon’s head. The size of its mere eye compared to her entire body, let alone the rest of it, was massive. 

But she wasn’t any less noble in front of this colossal existence. She stood with her chin up, as if challenging the dragon to a contest of nobility. 

The Grand Marshal and Ethan half expected the dragon to crush her where she stood. Even while restrained, this dragon wasn’t something Pandora could fight against. Its mere thoughts were still able to call upon the elements and produce shocking power. Perhaps only the Grand Marshal could fight against it, and Ethan merely achieve the feat of running away. 

But Pandora was a bug before a demigod. 

Shockingly though, the dragon didn’t retort against Pandora. Instead, it sighed once more. 

{You are right. Perhaps the passage of time has made me complacent.}

“Excuses. But I’m glad you see where you’ve gone wrong. Anyway, I’ve planned to help you regardless, so prepare to cooperate.”

Pandora brought up her hand while saying that, summoning her Stigma, the Book of Life. 

And upon seeing that book, the dragon before her shivered, its eyes widening, and its headbowing down. 

{You are..!}

“Ah, stop there. I have secrets to keep.”

Pandora smiled and put her finger over her mouth, telling the dragon to keep quiet. It did as she wished. 

{Very well. Tell me how you plan to help.}

“I’m going to fight your seal. I can’t fight it on equal grounds with my power, but I can match it in complexity. For a time it will be weakened as I attempt to dismantle it. That opening is when you need to join and destroy the seal with your sheer power.”

{I understand.}

“Good. Be grateful, dragon. I’m going to be expending all of my power for this.”

With those words, Pandora began. 

Light mana erupted from her body in a torrent, the Book of Life floating up before her and flipping its pages erratically. 

Her light mana promptly pierced into the dragon, who didn’t raise any resistance. With that, her light mana found the chains and seal that weakened the dragon. 

She dived straight into the seal, exposing its complexity and rapidly creating countermeasures that wrote themselves into the Book of Life. 

Before long the dragon suddenly felt some of its power return as a portion of the seal was blocked by Pandora. Feeling that, it got eager, but Pandora interrupted it. 

“Not yet! Don’t activate your Heart until I tell you to!”

She yelled while infusing more of her power that spun with a whirlwind inside the dragons body. This whirlwind accurately targeted certain portions of the seal and chains, causing them to falter and weaken. 

The dragon regained more and more of its power, but it didn’t activate it. 

This continued for a while. 

10%, 20%, 30%...

Its power was unlocked, but at an increasing cost to Pandora. She even brought out a Tier 6 mana crystal, sucking away its mana and dumping it into her spell. This boosted its performance even more at the expense of consuming far more mental energy. 

And then, after several minutes, the dragon felt an entire 37% of its power become unlocked. 

Pandora shouted.

“Now!”

{I will not let go of this chance!}

The dragon vowed, and with an explosion of fire and lightning, the dragon fought through the opening and attacked the seal. 

The moment the Dragon Heart became active, the seal lit up and the chains appeared visibly, crushing the dragon heart in an attempt to seal it once more. But with Pandora’s opening, the dragon was still able to use a significant portion of its Heart. 

It attacked with wild abandon, hinging its entire existence on this battle. Explosions of fire and lightning filled the parthenon, each one of them capable of reducing Ethan and the Grand Marshal into piles of ash. But they didn’t hurt them, the mana simply passing through them harmlessly. 

The Grand Marshal was in awe at the display. Truly, dragons represented the pinnacle of elemental manipulation. 

But what shocked the Grand Marshal even more was Pandora’s power. Her light mana resisted the seal that could restrain such a powerful Dragon Heart. And only with the opening she created was the dragon able to resist. 

And it resisted with all its power. It was a monumental battle of the elements. 

And for a time, nothing seemed to happen. But then, the Grand Marshal saw one of the chains around the Dragon Heart snap. 

*Clang!*

An explosion of light mana washed over them when the chain broke, and with it, the dragon was able to exercise even more power. And every inch that it gained was more to use against those chains that bound it. 

Before long, the second chain broke. 

*Clang!*

After that, the battle was decided. 

The dragon only attained more power, and it only became easier to destroy the seal. Like that, chain after chain snapped. 

When the dragon had broken half the chains, Pandora shut down her spell and collapsed backwards. A mattress appeared behind her, catching her body. But even then, blood pooled in her mouth as she felt horrible weakness and pain overcome her body. 

Thankfully the dragon no longer needed her. It only took another minute for it to destroy the remaining chains and obliterate the entire seal, leaving no trace behind. 

Once the chains were broken, the dragon stood once again, raising its head and roaring into the sky. 

{I have awakened! The lightning dragon Uuvos will now respond to the call of the Primordials! And…}

The dragon Uuvos bent down toward Pandora, seeing her pitiful state. 

{I thank thee for your assistance. Is there anything I can do for you?}

“...irk…”

{Sorry?}

Pandora coughed as she spat out a name. 

“Get… Dirk!”