NOVEL NEXT Chapter 18
Green Elephant Dragon
The entrance to Mount Gagazia is guarded by Yggdrasil.
Haise shows the guard at the entrance a request from the royal family.
The guard smiles and says:
“Ah, you must be Haise. I’ve heard about you from Clan Master Ibis. Please, go ahead.”
“…Th-thank you.”
Haise instinctively looks back.
Behind him, the towering World Tree of Yggdrasil looms.
Moments ago, he had spoken with Ibis there before heading straight for the mountain.
He wondered how Ibis had described him to the guards.
With permission granted, Haise enters Mount Gagazia.
“So, this is where the Everlasting Moonlight Flower grows?”
“At the summit. Let’s go.”
Presea moves ahead of Haise at a brisk pace.
Haise follows her. Though Presea’s expression remains neutral, her urgency is clear.
Sensing the presence of magical beasts nearby, Haise quickly retrieves a new weapon.
“…Its shape is different.”
“M4 Assault Rifle. A new acquisition… Let’s see how powerful it is.”
Haise fires at a massive hawk descending from above.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The rifle’s intermediate bullets, larger than those of a handgun, pierce the hawk, riddling it with holes.
Blood rains down, and Haise and Presea dodge to avoid it.
While reloading the magazine, Haise comments:
“It’s easy to handle, packs more power than a handgun, and can fire in bursts… I like it.”
“…As always, your firepower is ridiculous.”
Haise readies the M4 and begins walking again.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
The M4 proved to be more user-friendly than a rifle or a Desert Eagle, easily dispatching the magical beasts encountered on Mount Gagazia.
The magazine could generate infinite ammo, and most beasts would become Swiss cheese after a burst of fire.
Presea, armed with a bow for backup, remained behind Haise, but it seemed she wasn’t needed.
“…Hey, can we move a little faster?”
“There’s no point rushing. And I don’t see why I should listen to you.”
“……Fine.”
Presea suddenly passes Haise.
“I’m going ahead.”
“Hey.”
“I’ll collect the grass and wait below. You’ll get your payment then.”
“……”
Presea breaks into a run and disappears into a nearby thicket.
Watching her go, Haise sits on a nearby rock and props up the M4.
“She’s in a rush… Was this urgent or something?”
Pondering this, Haise materializes a Desert Eagle, removes its magazine, and checks the ammo.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
“───…I have to hurry.”
Presea runs swiftly, climbing trees and leaping from branch to branch.
Most magical beasts stick to the ground, so this method allows her to move unnoticed and quickly.
Having entered Mount Gagazia, the next step was to obtain the Everlasting Moonlight Flower.
With that, she would secure the final ingredient.
“Elixir of Eternity… Just wait. I’ll definitely make it.”
Presea hurries toward the summit.
Finally, she is about to accomplish her goal.
After several hours with barely a break, Presea reaches the peak.
“Made it…!! The Everlasting Moonlight Flower, where is it…?”
All she finds is a sea of ordinary green weeds.
Presea is stunned.
“This can’t be… The Everlasting Moonlight Flower should glow faintly…!!”
She scans her surroundings, but only ordinary, unremarkable grass stretches before her.
Collapsing to her knees, Presea’s hope drains away.
“……Ah.”
It was her last chance.
Without the Everlasting Moonlight Flower, the Elixir of Eternity couldn’t be made.
A single tear escapes her eye.
“…I’m sorry, Sister.”
As her body goes limp, the sky darkens, and a violent wind arises.
“Eh───…”
Nightfall?
No, a massive creature descends from above, landing on the weed-covered summit.
Grrrrrroooooooaaarrr…
“What the…”
A deep green, frog-like creature appears.
Its mottled skin shifts in color.
Its mouth is wide, and its throat inflates with each breath. It has no teeth and is designed to swallow whole prey and digest it directly.
Bat-like wings extend from its back. Most notably, it is over thirty meters long.
A Green Elephant Dragon.
Its guild-assigned threat rating: SS+.
With SSS reserved for nation-destroying crises, this is just one level below.
The frog-like dragon stares at Presea with its bulbous eyes.
“Ah…”
This is bad.
Presea stands, drawing her sword-bow hybrid, but she feels no confidence.
The dragon seems to appraise her with its bulging eyes.
Its large mouth opens, and a long, wiggling tongue lashes out.
“Damn…!!”
Presea nocks an arrow and fires at the tongue, hoping to distract it and escape.
The arrow strikes the tongue but bounces harmlessly off its elastic surface.
“What?!”
Now perceiving the attack as a threat, the Green Elephant Dragon focuses its bulging eyes on Presea.
GUUUUURRRROOOOOAAAAARRRRR!!!
“Ahh!”
Her legs give way, and a warm liquid spreads beneath her.
Shaking uncontrollably, she drops her weapon.
Overwhelmed by the SS+ monster’s presence, Presea freezes.
The tongue wiggles, extending toward her.
When it nears her face, the tongue splits open.
The split tongue resembles claws.
“───…Sister…”
She couldn’t save her sister. That was her only regret.
As the tongue wraps around her body───…
“What the hell are you doing, idiot?”
With a loud BAAANG!, the tongue-binding Presea is blasted apart.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Shakik! The slide racked, chambering the next round.
They called it pump-action, but Haise couldn’t care less.
A new weapon he had conjured: the Benelli Nova shotgun.
“A frog, huh.”
“Run! That’s an SS+ ranked Green Elephant Dragon!”
“I’m not running.”
Haise leveled the shotgun and fired repeatedly.
The buckshot scattered, designed for medium-sized beasts, biting into the dragon’s body. However, it caused only minor bleeding, far from fatal.
“In that case…”
Haise discarded the shotgun, grabbed two Desert Eagles, and broke into a sprint.
While running, he circled the beast, firing rapidly. As expected, the Green Elephant Dragon was slow. It turned sluggishly, struggling to track Haise’s movements.
“Big target!”
Haise tossed the Desert Eagles aside and conjured a new weapon: a submachine gun.
A Thompson SMG with a drum magazine.
Normally wielded with both hands, Haise gripped it in one.
“Take this!”
Brrrrrrt! Bullets sprayed in a torrent.
The recoil was intense; even Haise’s trained arms struggled to control it.
But the dragon was massive, and the scattered shots riddled its body.
Gyaoooooooon!!
The dragon thrashed, rolling on the ground.
Its blood stained the earth, killing the grass—it was a potent toxin. Alchemists claimed it could be refined into a universal cure.
When the magazine ran dry, Haise discarded the SMG.
He picked up an M1873 Winchester rifle and aimed for the dragon’s head.
Firing, reloading with the lever action, and firing again, he repeated the process, slamming bullet after bullet into the dragon’s skull.
Finally, its brain oozed from its shattered cranium, and it convulsed violently.
Haise discarded the rifle, pulled out a Desert Eagle, and fired several more shots into the creature.
Only then did it stop moving.
“Phew… finally dead.”
“…No way.”
The Green Elephant Dragon had fallen.
True, it was slow. Haise’s method of circling and firing could deal damage.
But this dragon’s defensive power was legendary. Its elastic skin rendered slashes and stabs almost useless.
Yet Haise’s bullets easily surpassed that defense.
“Hey, you okay?”
“…”
“Ah… don’t worry about it.”
“…Huh? Ah.”
Only then did Presea notice the steam rising from her soaked pants.
Her face turned red.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
“Why did you come for me?”
Presea asked while changing behind a boulder.
Haise, leaning against it, replied nonchalantly.
“No particular reason.”
“Don’t joke.”
“I’m not. If you died, I wouldn’t get my reward.”
“…”
The sun set, and darkness crept in.
The Green Elephant Dragon’s massive corpse loomed nearby.
Presea emerged from behind the boulder, fully dressed.
“For now, should we camp here? It reeks of blood, though. Want to move?”
“…”
“What’s up?”
“That.”
Presea pointed not at the dragon’s corpse but at the grass it had been lying on.
“It’s glowing.”
Some of the grass glimmered faintly.
Presea gazed upward, realization dawning.
“Of course… by day, it’s just grass, but at night, it glows. This must be the Everlasting Moonlight Flower.”
“Huh, really?”
“But—”
The glow quickly faded.
The dragon’s toxic blood poisoned the soil, killing the grass.
Presea frantically searched for any unharmed blades, but all the light had gone.
“No… no way…”
“…Hm? Hey, over there.”
“Huh?”
But there was still one glowing blade of Everlasting Moonlight Flower.
It hadn’t been touched by the dragon’s blood.
Presea carefully retrieved a trowel from her item box, dug it up without damaging the roots, and potted it.
Clutching the pot gently, she turned to Haise.
“This is yours.”
“…”
“You killed the dragon. This belongs to you.”
“…You sure?”
“Yes. All the grass here is gone, but there might be more elsewhere.”
“…”
Haise accepted the pot, placing it into his item box.
He also collected samples from the dragon: its blood, eyes, and other fluids.
Though the core near its heart had been shattered, he salvaged it just in case.
“Well, good for you. That completes your request.”
“…”
And so, Haise successfully fulfilled the quest to gather the Everlasting Moonlight Flower.