Chapter 83

Amelia, suddenly frightened, trembled at the corners of her eyes.

‘Surely, nothing went wrong, right? Rune.’

Amelia, filled with anxiety, looked at him with trembling eyes.

She recalled the fates of those who had failed to receive the Water Seal.

Most of them either died from the water's magic power or met a terrible end.

Some were swallowed by the water's magic and became one with the sea.

‘It’ll be fine. Right, it will?’

The waiting time felt so long that it was suffocating.

Rune, who had been looking somewhere unfocused, raised his head.

She gripped the window tightly with her trembling fingertips.

Amelia was startled to see Rune's red eyes momentarily turn into cold blue eyes, and she blinked.

Looking again, Rune's eyes were still red.

The reason they appeared blue was because the undulating water beyond them was swirling within his red eyes.

“I, I did it!”

Rune, smiling at the delighted Amelia, waved his hand to calm the surrounding vortex.

“Rune! Are you alright!”

“Lord Rune! Lord Rune!”

“Beep! Beep!”

As the massive vortex disappeared, Ferdikion, Blackmi, Dullahan, and Banya, who had sensed an ominous aura, rushed over.

Rune, who glanced at them, slowly closed and opened his eyes.

“I did it.”

To ensure there was no need to fear,

his red gaze calmly turned towards them.

The deep sea seemed to pay homage to Rune as he perfectly mastered the water's aura.

At that moment, the effects of the Water Seal appeared before his eyes.

<Water Seal> (Attribution)

- Created by accepting the emblem of the Blue Dragon.

- Effects:

* The body is protected from harm by water.

* There are no restrictions on activity in water.

* Greatly increases affinity with water/ice attributes.

※ Special Note: If another subject with the Water Seal is killed, a penalty will occur.

‘This should greatly increase the resistance of my subordinates to the power of water.’

There was also an additional ability this time.

* Fire and darkness combined to form a new attribute combination!

‘Hmm.’

Rune tried to ignite a flame in his hand.

The red flame was enveloped by dark black flames and then turned into a cold blue flame.

‘This is the feeling.’

When he combined darkness with the aura of fire and water, black shadows and smoke flowed out of his hand like water.

Even in darkness, he could create a state where it felt like being burned by sulfur fire.

He could also create ice infused with darkness.

Creating a Dead Sea filled with only darkness in the ocean was no trouble at all.

While it could be used in a more moderate way, it was undoubtedly a dangerous ability.

‘Well, it feels like a good ability for creating a hellish landscape.’

Having roughly grasped the sensation, he noticed Amelia's gaze and retracted his power.

“It’s done. Thanks, Amelia.”

“U... Un.”

Amelia, relieved, leaned against the dolphin spirit Lamel.

“Lord Rune!”

Thud, thud, thud.

Seeing Blackmi run over first, Rune flinched.

“What’s that? What is it?”

“It suddenly appeared after Lord Rune entered the vortex!”

Around Blackmi, fragments of fire and water droplets floated and swirled.

“It seems they’re causing quite a commotion. They must have been startled by the cold water aura.”

Blackmi held out the red ruby brooch around her neck with both hands.

It wasn’t hard to understand the situation.

“Because you can now handle a water aura as strong as the fire aura, that’s why. Fire and water are opposites, after all.”

“Oh! That’s right. I’ll try to calm them down so they don’t startle Blackmi.”

While Amelia was soothing Lamel, Ferdikion crossed his arms and sighed.

“You can’t become an elder if you can’t even control your own subordinates.”

Though he muttered it quietly, it wasn’t as if Rune didn’t hear it.

Sure enough, Amelia, who had already heard a few words, stiffened and glared at Ferdikion.

“Brother.”

‘This guy, his bad habits keep popping up.’

Rune subtly gave him a look.

Not wanting to cause trouble, Ferdikion frowned but turned his head away, ignoring it.

‘Is it really this bad for them to not get along?’

Actually, it would be a pointless fight to pursue just a few words, but Amelia seemed to deliberately avoid looking at Ferdikion.

“N-now... it’s done... J-just get on Lamel’s back...”

Amelia, who had started to guide the party by persuading Lamel again.

Rune, along with the party, rode on Lamel and fell into thought for a moment.

If Amelia, who had lived hiding her pain, was delicate and sensitive, then Ferdikion was the type who believed in the strength to overcome pain and adversity on his own.

He didn’t think about who was right or wrong.

The problem was that neither knew how to communicate with someone so different.

‘I thought I’d just let them be since they’re kids, but there’s no time for them to naturally understand each other.’

Forcing them to be friendly would likely backfire.

They needed something that would naturally make them talk to each other.

But both were meeting the same hatchling for the first time, and their personalities were opposites.

‘At least, if they share some common values, it would be good. What could that be?’

It wasn’t easy to change existing values.

Especially for dragons.

‘I need to think of a way while clearing the dungeon.’

First, they needed to focus on the approaching <Cursed Dungeon>.

Even before they arrived, the dark and cursed aura filled the air around them.

When the dolphin spirit and Amelia shrank back in fear,

“Don’t stop.”

Rune surrounded them with a water barrier infused with the power of darkness.

The chaotic curse and darkness seemed to erode the barrier, but soon dissipated weakly.

The surrounding curse crumbled before the darkness Rune controlled, and the barrier remained intact.

“I’ll make sure you don’t need to fear the path.”

Rune, with a calm gaze, looked beyond the tangled landscape.

A cold, gloomy loneliness spread.

More terrifying and raging waves crashed.

A dark cave, its mouth open, lay ahead.

Amelia gasped in surprise.

“This... is strange. O-originally, there... should be a... water temple... entrance.”

The originally white and transparent, water-lit temple, filled with purifying energy, was nowhere to be seen.

What remained were the ruins of the collapsed temple and a dark, ominous underwater cave inside.

The party, looking around, descended into what they assumed was the entrance.

A foul, oppressive, and heavy feeling began to press down on their bodies.

“Amelia. Use the Purification Incantation.”

“U... Un!”

Amelia held her spear straight up.

Standing on the dolphin, she took a deep breath and focused, drawing power.

“<Purify!>”

Whoosh!

A clear aura spread from Amelia’s body.

The darkness, which had been rolling around like vagrants, slowly retreated as if chased by something, but still surrounded them beyond the range of the incantation’s power.

‘The power of the incantation can only drive it back to some extent. It would have been impossible to reclaim the dungeon with just the power of the water clan.’

Rune guessed that Amelia’s parents also knew this fact.

He let out a slight smile.

‘The Blue Dragons allowed the Water Seal too easily.’

The water clan had indeed been friendly.

But it wasn’t just out of the naive reason of ‘repayment’ as Amelia thought.

If the dungeon was completely tainted by the darkness, it might never return to the original <Dungeon of Waves>.

Even if they managed to hold on, if the young Rune grew up and became a bit cunning, or if he had any wicked thoughts,

they would have to permanently hand over their domain, the dungeon, to the darkness clan.

Giving Rune the ‘Water Seal’ and making him help the water clan was the best method.

Rune thought, ‘Of course, that’s what they’d do.’

‘Well, since Amelia is directly helping, it’s like showing the utmost sincerity on behalf of the clan.’

Rune took out a black pearl from his pocket.

“W-what is this?”

“A few days ago, you sent me pearls and giant clam monsters through Christina, right? Thanks to that, I made this amulet.”

“S-surprising. I’ve... never seen... such a black pearl... before.”

Black pearl.

A pearl stained by darkness was an excellent magical tool in itself.

Now that Rune could control the water aura, he immediately added water-related abilities to the amulet and distributed it to the party.

Everyone was amazed because there were no black pearls in the world before Rune artificially created them.

“You can slightly control water and darkness. It will be convenient to have, and it can track your location.”

Just by holding the black pearl and adjusting the darkness, one could achieve an effect similar to Amelia’s purification ability.

“When did you prepare this?”

“A few days ago, I received the pearls through Amelia. Since darkness and water attributes are compatible, I tried it out.”

Ferdikion glanced at Amelia but quickly turned his head and chuckled.

‘Compared to the weapons and fire magic stones from my lair, these are quite lacking.’

Seeing Ferdikion’s shoulders rise, Rune gave him a worried look.

‘He shouldn’t get too arrogant. This dungeon is still difficult for someone whose main ability is fire.’

Rune used the power of the pearl to adjust the stubbornly clumped darkness.

He also had the other party members practice using it, warning them not to lose it.

‘I made it while practicing scrolls, and it seems more useful than I thought.’

Feeling similar to talismans from his past life, just carrying it allowed the aura of darkness that Rune controlled to protect against harm from darkness, curses, and poisons.

If anything, the power of the black pearl would help Ferdikion.

‘The one I’m most worried about seems the most confident, somehow.’

In a way, it was consistent with Ferdikion’s character.

When they reached the depths of the dungeon, the party immediately felt the effect and couldn’t close their mouths in surprise.

“Wow! It feels really foul and toxic, but breathing isn’t uncomfortable!”

“It’s... unpleasant... but... the poison... can’t... get close.”

“It’s coming.”