Chapter 39: 39. Deadly Corpse.
"Don’t you think it’s strange that I’ve been a level three enhancer for centuries?"
"Oh, I simply thought you never had any interest in leveling up."
*Ugh* Legolas suddenly felt an imaginary arrow pierce his heart, but he swiftly recovered as he replied in a sad tone.
"Well, you’re right about that, but that’s not the only reason why I’ve been stuck at level three for years. The truth is that, just like every other elf you see here in the tavern, my mana core has a deep crack within it, and it’s been impossible for me to absorb the abilities of a beast within a beast soul crystal."
Beast Soul Warrior is an elf-specific class that allows elves to absorb the abilities of the monsters they slay.
It’s an Enhancer form of combat, and that’s why it’s mainly categorised under the Enhancer path.
"A deep crack?" Austin asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Listen, Austin, when you came here, you noticed how bad the situation of the village was, right? And you noticed the poor condition of the crops here." Legolas asked, and Austin nodded in response.
Seeing his response, Legolas continued. "Things weren’t always like this, but everything changed overnight when two monsters appeared here three hundred years ago."
"From what I heard at the time, many said they saw a dragon fighting an equally large creature, believed by many to be a demon."
"A demon?" Austin asked in a skeptical tone.
Rightfully so, no one had ever witnessed or come across a dragon before.
Some believed they didn’t exist, just like demons, but since wyverns existed, many had begun to believe in the possibility that dragons might truly exist as well.
"Yes, I know it might be hard to believe, but I’m not lying. I heard a dragon and a demon battled it out right above Blacksand Forest."
"The battle lasted for months until one day it suddenly stopped, and no one ever heard the ground shaking or the sky trembling anymore."
"Elves rejoiced at how things had remained peaceful and tranquil, just as we had always loved it, but what many of us didn’t know at the time was that we would come to regret rejoicing that day."
"Months and several years later, things began to turn upside down, starting from Blacksand Forest."
"At the time, the vegetation within the forest began to wither and die."
"Magical beasts became more ferocious, and before we knew it, the vegetation within our lands began to be affected as well."
"All of this happened really slowly and with large gaps between each occurrence, so no one really knew what was going on or why these things were happening in our home."
"But after several months of speculation, we suspected that the reason why the battle between the dragon and the demon had stopped must have been because one of them had died, and the rotting flesh of that creature was polluting the air and destroying the forest as well."
"However, it wasn’t only the forest and the vegetation that were being affected."
"Shortly after, many elves began to notice their mana cores cracking, while others watched theirs completely disintegrate into tiny pieces."
"It was already too late, and before we could react, more than half of the elven population had already lost their mana cores."
"So, since we came to the conclusion that the dragon’s corpse must have been responsible for the damage caused across the forest and our territory, a few elves set out to get rid of the corpse, but those who went into the forest never came back."
"In fact, anyone who ventured into the deep part of the forest never returned, so many of us abandoned the idea of going into the forest to search for the dragon’s corpse."
"But this was three hundred years ago, right?" Austin asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Yes, it was."
"So, shouldn’t the dragon’s body be buried deep in the soil by now?"
"Well, I heard the dragon was really big, so maybe it’s taking a really long time to turn to dust, but so far we’ve noticed how the poisonous air in the forest has reduced greatly. So maybe its corpse is truly close to being gone forever."
Legolas explained, and Austin could only remain silent as he replayed everything he had heard.
"But what about the royal family? Didn’t you ask for their help?"
"Of course we did. At the time, we sought the help of the current king’s grandfather, who was still a prince back then. So to impress his father, the prince brought over some knights and promised to reward anyone who got rid of the corpse with gold."
"Mercenaries, knights, and dungeon divers all stormed our land in the hope of getting rid of the corpse. There was a rumour that the dragon’s corpse had a core, so this attracted a lot of people into the Countess’s territory."
Since dragons were viewed as magical creatures similar to wyverns but far larger, many believed that dragons would have a core just like wyverns.
And if a person destroyed a wyvern’s core, they would claim the title of Wyvern Slayer.
So many truly wanted to earn the title of Dragon Slayer, but their hopes and dreams instantly perished the moment they ventured deep into the forest, because all the men who entered deep into Blacksand Forest never made it back out.
"So when the prince realised that all the people he had sent into the forest couldn’t make it back alive, he immediately abandoned the mission and asked everyone to pull back."
"This was because rumours had already begun to circulate that if anyone were to stay here too long, their mana core could face the same fate as ours, and that’s how everyone the prince had brought to help us abandoned the task in preference of their own safety." Legolas explained, and Austin finally understood why the royal family’s help wasn’t really an option the elves could rely on.
However, something else bothered him about everything he had heard so far.
"If you all know about this, then why haven’t you left?"
