Chapter 289 - Dragon’s Land – 3

“The Drakes here are different from the Drakes that I’ve known.”

The Dragon’s Land was wide.

This is being said because the arrival at the Dragon’s Altar couldn’t be reached immediately.

Ian had to spent almost half a day going through the fields.

And the opponents that Ian would fight were Drakes over the level of 350.

Karceus answered briefly,

“The name of Dragon’s Land isn’t attached to its master. This is a site that has been blessed by the Dragon God, and the Drakes that fight here, they found enlightenment and became Dragons.”

“Yes, but their intelligence seems to be different, and among these skills, the use of the ability to give magic damage is also present.”

The Drake was a feral beast.

The physical combat capabilities of these creatures were on par with the dragons, not as strong as the Dragon’s Breath, but their Breath was still equally powerful.

But there was a huge difference between the Dragons and the Drakes, there were magical power and intelligence.

In addition to the unique abilities that could be used by a dragon, they get to use magic power too and in addition to that; the dragon scales had such strong magic resistance that even a strong spell wouldn’t work on them.

But the Drake was different.

The physical defense was as powerful as a Dragon, but their magic resistance was at a terrible level.

So, the most preferred hunting ground for the wizard class had always been the Krupia Mountains.

This was the hunting ground where the highest level monsters appeared in the Northern Continent, and this was also the place where the Drakes appeared.

Ian had never went there, but he knew about it.

That was because Ian had heard a story about it when he was doing the Oakley Quest in the Northern Continent.

Krupia Mountain was the hometown of the legendary dragon tamer Oakley.

Kwang- Kwakwang-!

Ian looked at the Drake that came in front of him and wiped the sweat that was on his forehead.

‘It looks like there are more Drakes here than the Krupia mountains…’

For Ian whose most of his attack power was focused on the physical style of combat, going against the Drakes who had a strong defense wasn’t the right thing to do.

And thus, Ian abandoning his desire for hunting them beginning to move faster.

“Kaka, do you think the Dragon’s Altar is over there?”

Kaka who looked into the map to compare the location nodded her head firmly at Ian’s question.

“I think we found it right, master. Now we need to find a way to get inside.”

Ian thought for awhile and then asked Kaka,

“Maybe the dungeon is not needed to be done in a dangerous way… can’t I give something that the Dragon God would benefit and ask for an item in return?”

At those words from Ian, Kaka shook its head without a second thought.

“That is impossible, Master. It is not that I didn’t think about it… but we will only reveal our existence to the Dragon God without accomplishing anything.”

“Hmm… I have a lot of rare items in my inventory, but… won’t the Dragon God want any of them?”

That moment it was Karceus who replied.

“No, master. Among the items that you have, there are many things that the Dragon God might like.”

“But?”

“But nothing in them is worthy enough for the Dragon God to give you Cintamani. This is not a guess, I’m very certain.”

Surely the Cintamani was like a sweet dream for all the dragons.

Because once a dragon got it, it would increase their level exponentially.

Ian nodded his head and replied,

“That thing is definitely for sure. Nice. From the beginning, I have always kept on breaking past the hardships… I can’t go weak now.”

Ian turned his head towards Kaka.

“Kaka, I want you to re-confirm.”

Kaka nodded and replied.

“Leave it to me.”

Kaka smiled and started to fly off and move towards the Dragon’s Altar.

And once Kaka moved farther enough point, both Ian and Karceus began to follow.

Kaka, who is immune to all the attacks except from light attributes could be called as their best hope.

* * *

The Dragon’s Altar was located very high.

It was like a tower that rose high from the tip of a cliff. So tall that the tip of the Altar couldn’t be seen.

And Ian recalled a similar structure.

‘The tower that I went to when doing the Immortal Quest with Honnie… this looks similar to the place where the immortal ghost was asleep.’

As Ian recalled that memory, he guessed that the Dragon’s Altar would have a number of floors that he will have to clear.

‘And if I go this way… I will get stuck and not be able to get my hands on Cintamani.’

Ian asked Karceus,

“Karceus. Do you have any idea if there is a warehouse inside the Altar where the collected things are kept?”

Karceus thought for a moment and said,

“I don’t know that. But… I feel that it will be somewhere in the lowest floor.”

“Hmm? Why so?”

“The Dragon’s Altar has a total of 77 floors. And on the 77th floor, there is a magic circle that will take you to the Dragon God. And on the 1st floor, there is a dimensional door that will lead you anywhere.”

Ian had a strange expression.

“What does that dimension door have anything to do with the warehouse?”

Kaka interrupted and said,

“Maybe the guardians of the Dragon God are keeping their eyes on the dimensional door, and it is the closest to the place where the guardians are on, which might mean that there is a high probability of the treasure being there.”

Ian deciding on what to do looked over at Karceus, and Karceus also nodded his head.

“Let’s do that right away. The Karga Phantom clan also has awesome brains.”

Kaka who was praised by Karceus for its ability had a very cheerful expression—seeing this Ian said,

“Karceus, you shouldn’t praise him so much. They will think that they are really a genius if you do that.”

At those words, Kaka turned red out of irritation.

“What do you mean, Master? I am a genius.”

“Shut up, you’re noisy.”

Ian who had just dismissed Kaka’s words had an unhappy facial expression; Ian called out to Pin who was seated in the corner and was polishing his feathers.

“Pin, come here.”

Kruk-?

Pin immediately flew and stood in front of him; Ian had summoned all the familiars except for Karceus.

Kaka asked Ian,

“What are you going to do, Master?”

Ian looked at the entrance system of the Altar and asked Karceus,

“If we go in through that entrance… I’ll be at the 40th story, right Karceus?”

The place where Ian stood then was on a cliff.

And the tower that rose up before Ian’s eyes were from the bottom of the cliff, and the entrance of the tower was made to the middle points of it.

The entrance was connected by the cliff point that Ian stood at.

So Ian had guessed that the entry point would be at around the 40th floor.

Karceus nodded and replied,

“It could be. Seeing that the floors are much lower than our point, it could be 50th.”

Ian smiled and climbed onto Pin.

“Karceus, Kaka! Follow us. We will go through there and break into the front, I won’t be able to see the shadow of the Cintamani for a while when crossing the levels.”

Ian flew with Pin, and was about to go straight onto the bottom of the tower, Karceus and Kaka immediately understood that.

But Karceus told Ian,

“That is a good plan master. But there is one problem.”

“What?”

Karceus pointed down to the bottom of the cliff.

“Do you see the water stream running down the cliff?”

Ian nodded his head.

“Yeah, saw it. What about it?”

Karceus replied,

“That is the swirl of the dragon. Our ability to approach is the wrong method and if we go there, we will get sucked into it right away.”

“Hmm…”

Ian touched his chin, and Karceus replied,

“It is unreasonable to pass through that. It will be better to go 10 floors down from here and try to get in.”

Ian nodded his head.

“If you say. Then let’s do it that way.”

Ian who listened to the feedback was still on Pin and started to fly away skilfully.

Pin quickly flew around the tower for checking and then slowly began to descend.

The cliff was shining enough to make their eyes turn away.

And when they got close to the swirling water, Ian found a uniquely shaped window on the one side of the tower.

It was like the entrance of a dungeon, but it was of the size in which only Pin could fit.

Ian hesitated for a moment.

‘It looks like a door that opened for a specific someone to enter? Something feels very wrong…’

But Ian soon realized that he had no time to hesitate.

Pin was at the foot of the tower, and there was a stream which had been giving out a lot of pressure.

Ian ordered Pin.

“Pin, take us inside.”

Grrk- Grrkrk-!

Pin flew straight into the building, and the whole party successfully entered into the tower.

And at that time, system messages that Ian had not thought of came in front of his eyes.

Tring-

[You have entered the ‘Dragon’s Altar’ dungeon (Time Attack Dungeon).]

[You have discovered the ‘Dragon’s Altar’ dungeon for the first time.]

[When clearing the dungeon, you will get twice the amount of rewards excluding the item specific rewards (The first round buff will be applied to the user who clears the dungeon for the first time regardless of the number of dungeon trials or the time.).]

[Remaining Time (00: 19: 59)]

[Dungeon Difficulty – SSSS]

[Destroy the lowest level of the dragons in the demarcated zone within the time limit and open the dimensional door to clear the dungeon.]

[If the dungeon hasn’t been cleared within the time limit, the Dragon God will descend and the challenger will die.]

Ian had a puzzled expression.

‘What the hell is this?’

This wasn’t the first time for Ian to experience the Time Attack dungeon.

However, the time that was shown for the Time Attack dungeon was very burdensome, and the clear condition of the dungeon was not the expected range.

And on top of that, it was a SSSS rank quest which had to be crazy.

‘This doesn’t seem right…’

Ian was flustered.

And that was because he would die if he didn’t manage to clear the dungeon.

Rather than the death penalty, the biggest problem was that the time kept on going, there was no guarantee that the Cintamani would be found in this dungeon.

Ian made a quick decision.

‘I need to go out again.’

Ian directed Pin and was ready to go around again.

But when Pin turned, the entrance that Ian had come in had been closed.

“Sh*t.”

Ian gripped his fists.

That was going to be the first time that Ian had to pass the Time Attack dungeon unconditionally.

Karceus spoke to Ian,

“Master, we will have to leave this place quickly.”

“Hmm…?”

In front of Ian’s eye, there were two passages; one on the left and the other on the right.

The left would take them to the lower part, and the right would take them to the higher floors.

Karceus spoke while turning to the right side,

“I feel the energy of a strong dragon from that way.”

“Dragon’s energy?”

“The guardians of the Dragon God seem to have noticed our intrusion.”

“Uh…”

Ian seemed like he knew which direction he was going to enter.

‘Before they manage to catch me, I need to reach the goal for this Time Attack dungeon, go to the bottom levels and break the seal and move on to the dimensional door.’

The time left was 19 minutes.

Ian who didn’t see the 1 minute get passed, immediately ran to the left side.

“Let’s move quickly, Pin, Karceus!”

“Okay, Master.”

Grr- Grrk-!

Ian turned his head.

‘From this way, Karceus and Pin will have to hardcarry, will it be alright?’

Originally, Ian planned on hiding his other familiars until he reached the Dragon’s Altar.

However, due to the sudden initiation of the Time Attack, that plan had gone to waste.

Ian ran his finger through his spear and bit his lips.

‘I don’t know how long has it been since I’ve had a bad feeling.’