Ashen Dragon

Chapter 199: Chapter 124 Polar Night Demon Tower
 

“Damn it, beasts!”

“The ‘father’ in that diary deserves to be executed by dismemberment! And what about the officials? They’re not acting like humans at all, stuffing such perverted plots into the story!”

Mantou was indignant, pounding the table fiercely.

His eyes betrayed a rare determination. He was resolute in his decision to eliminate that monster and bring peace to Valena, who remained in a state of extreme pain, neither alive nor dead, her will uncontrollable.

“I will put you to rest, Valena.”

He gently closed the diary and carefully placed it back in its original spot, resolving not to touch it again. It was the last trace of Valena’s humanity and her most cherished possession.

“Mantou, you’re still thinking too simplistically.”

Singo frowned and softly said, “We need to be careful. This tower isn’t just home to that poor Miss Valena wandering about; there’s also her ‘father.’ This guy can transform people into terrifying monsters; he’s not someone to be trifled with.”@@novelbin@@

“Moreover, War Maniac is missing, which means our team’s combat ability is reduced. With our current strength, escaping this place would be lucky, let alone trying to slay monsters for the people.”

Mantou frowned, “Then what should we do, wait here to die?”

“The server is shutting down soon anyway, and we’ve already maxed out our experience. Losing a bit doesn’t matter. Worst-case scenario, you give me a rune gunpowder bomb, and I’ll trade myself for the tower’s boss.”

Singo was a bit surprised.

“How did you know I had a rune gunpowder bomb?”

Mantou chuckled, “We all see you hanging around that Mechanical God Cult factory all the time. Who would’ve thought the famous pro gamer would suck up to Crazy Brother like that?”

Singo defended, “Do you even understand what it means to prioritize gaming skills? Acquiring gear through reasonable means, got it?”

“I totally get it.”

“Stop bullshitting. That boss is a high-level Mage.”

The two left the secret room while talking and continued to explore the hidden tower.

As they entered the passageway, they heard rustling sounds, like gnolls breathing.

“Sniff, sniff.”

“I smell blood.”

“Where, where?”

“Got new prey, the master will be pleased.”

The deep, hoarse voices conversed.

Singo immediately pressed Mantou down, silently nocking an arrow, slowly drawing the bowstring, and holding his breath, aiming at the corner of the passage.

As expected, an ugly gnoll head with saliva dripping from the mouth and sparse white scales appeared.

Singo instantly locked onto it, and a purple Hunter’s Mark appeared on the gnoll’s forehead. An arrow then broke the air, easily piercing its skull.

“Howl——”

The gnoll only managed to let out a howl before collapsing backward.

Several more gnolls stood behind it. They felt no fear; instead, their murky eyes flashed with a frenzied light as they charged at the two, brandishing their claws and emitting foul-smelling breaths.

Mantou raised his sword, aiming for their weak points in the fur, and stabbed through the neck of the foremost gnoll. Then he kicked the gnoll’s corpse down and used the momentum to cut down another gnoll.

Within a few breaths, the patrol team of seven gnolls was annihilated.

“Huff, huff, it’s those gnolls again.”

Mantou kicked a corpse on the ground, panting heavily.

Singo rubbed his chin and said, “As I thought, the source of these gnolls is here, the Polar Night Demon Tower. However, these creatures’ Dragonification levels are quite low, far from those transformed monsters; otherwise, we wouldn’t have defeated them so easily.”

Singo took a few steps forward, noticing the bones scattered along the corridor. He quickly gave a warning.

“Not good, let’s go! There are probably many monsters in this tower.”

However, the dying gnolls’ howls had already caused a resonance, stirring the tower’s monsters. Countless sounds of varying pitches and painful wails echoed, and the entire Polar Night Demon Tower seemed to tremble.

Mantou turned to look behind him.

“Damn.”

His voice trembled.

“Roar——”

Savage Dragonified monsters surged like a flood, gnolls, centaurs, goblins, lizardfolk, and even humans, all transformed into twisted half-dragon forms. But these monsters looked far less natural than the Dragon Vein creatures of the Ashen Kingdom.

——Sparse white scales covered their bodies, tumors and warts protruded everywhere, some even grew extra limbs and heads, and their mouths drooled corrosive saliva. Most of them had frenzied eyes, clearly having lost their sanity long ago.

Singo summarized:

“My guess was right, this place is essentially a——laboratory.”

“We were lured here on purpose.”

“The controller behind this Polar Night Demon Tower is probably that Mage!”

Mantou listened intently when a Half-Dragon Goblin crawled over from behind, pouncing on Mantou and biting at his neck with sharp teeth. Luckily, Mantou wore plate armor, which the goblin couldn’t penetrate in time. He took the chance to decapitate it with his sword.

But even with its head pierced, the headless, frenzied Dragon Vein Goblin continued to attack wildly, one claw gripping the plate armor and the other clawing Mantou’s arm, leaving bloody marks. It took several breaths for it to stop moving.

“Damn it! This monster is so crazy! Won’t let go even after dying?”

“Stop fighting them and run!”

Singo and Mantou sprinted along the bone-ridden corridor, finally reaching the end, where they faced a massive iron door.

Mantou urged, “Hurry and unlock it, Xin Dog!”

“Don’t rush me, you try it if you can——”

But Singo was also struggling; the door lock wasn’t the simplest type, and he wasn’t proficient in the thief occupation, far from Handy level.

The Dragonified centaurs were almost upon them.

Unlike regular centaurs, these creatures, affected by the White Dragon Bloodline, had lower bodies resembling terrifying lizards instead of horses. Their tails drooped behind them, and the surface of their scales was covered in sticky fluids. Their upper bodies looked like life-drained corpses, gaunt and frail.

Suddenly, the iron door swung open.

“Swish——”

A battle axe swung through the doorway, cutting a Dragonified centaur behind Mantou in half.

The severed lizard body twitched and crawled chaotically on the ground, like a headless fly, before finally dying out.

Mantou and Singo seized the chance to dart through the iron door, using their bodies to slam it shut.

They glanced at the familiar face in front of them and were overjoyed.

“War Maniac Bro!”

“I’ve been looking for you guys for ages. These monsters are tough to kill.”

Natural War Maniac grinned, rubbing his smooth head.

The trio, separated earlier in a Dragonified gnoll chase, finally reunited.