"Shadow Bind!!"

The shadow of a large flying creature resembling a dragon sprouted up, moving as if they were tentacles, strangling it like prey trapped in a cobweb.

The creature was lacking front limbs or arms, and a pair of wings attached to its back was membranous similar to those of bats or pterosaurs. If Raven was to rip those wings apart from the creature, I could say that it would be looked like a tyrannosaurus.

Examining its size, I assumed that it was slightly smaller than the Phoenix from earlier.

'That reminded me..'

As soon as the Phoenix was reduced to ashes not long ago, the Wyvern finally revealed itself to us. It felt like it waited for the moment the Phoenix disappeared. Did the Wyvern afraid of the Phoenix?

I guess that'd be understandable. That Phoenix was too strong for the Wyvern to mess with. But, to finally reveal itself after the Phoenix's death meant that it was already targeting us as its prey.

The problem was neither I nor Raven had noticed the Wyvern as we made our way to the peak. I didn't think it was possible for a Wyvern to hide its presence but, this was a dungeon, anything could happen as they evolved.

Because of the Phoenix's pressure, it might be possible for the Wyverns to have evolved and ended up getting new traits, and this one particularly got a trait related to hiding its presence like an assassin.

"Shadow Spike."

Now, with the shadow strangled tightly around the Wyvern, smaller spikes sprouted and crushed it with all might. The shadow spikes penetrating its body effortlessly as if it was just a thin paper.

Dark ichor spurted out like a fountain, pouring down like rain.

With the last screech, the Wyvern lay dead.

Raven retracted all of the shadow spikes and the Wyvern dropped to the ground, sending a small tremor upon the land. Coming out from what seemingly its heart was a large glistening rock — Wyvern's core.

"Nice job."

I tapped Raven's shoulder as I walked past him, extracting the core from the Wyvern corpse. Storing it inside my storage cube, I turned toward the door-shaped portal that popped out of thin air. The portal emitted faint magical energy.

"Let's grab our reward and return."

Smirking, I stepped inside the gate, Raven followed me behind, as quiet as always.

The gate brought me into a small square room, the torches on the wall illuminated the entire room. The wall was made of brick you'd find in a dungeon room (Underground Prison) you'd find in medieval settings.

Sitting on top of the raised platform several meters ahead of us was a chest decorated with silver. It was something like this treasure room that made this world, or this world's dungeonery looked like we were inside an RPG.

Approaching the chest, I unlocked it with a command.

"[Unlock]"

This was the basic command people must use if they wanted to claim their rewards after defeating the dungeon boss and getting inside the treasure room afterward.

The creaking sound of the chest opening reverberated in this small room, making a creepy yet beautiful sound to the explorer's ears.

'Let's see..'

As expected of <B+> ranked dungeon. The reward itself was much more generous than the Lizardman dungeon I visited a few months ago.

'I'm glad I'm clearing this dungeon!'

***

After clearing the Wyvern dungeon and getting a lot of amazing rewards including the Phoenix's Feather and Core, I gave the feather to Bell the next day.

For the core, which actually wasn't a core but rather an egg after I appraised it using my Clairvoyance, I trusted it with Chrysalis Guild. Asking them to take care of the egg for me since I didn't have the facility and tools to take care of it myself.

The good thing was they didn't ask me anything in return, telling me that I was their precious business partner and that they would treat me as VVIP or honorary member.

When one of the Chrysalis' researchers asked me if they could do research on the egg, I allowed them. It would be better if they knew about the unknown earlier than in the novel.

If anything, that would help in stopping the end of the world.

Apart from humanity's fighting prowess, we also needed a brain, a thinker, a lot.

Regarding the matter of the Phoenix which I thought was Ember from an alternate timeline or universe, I needed some time to think about it alone. Seeing that memory and the Phoenix's human flame behavior to me, making me feel awkward every time I saw Ember.

Every time I saw her, I was always reminded of that scene over and over.

So, yeah, I just needed some time to organize my thought. And I didn't feel like that was urgent so I set my priority to the other things first such as

The Tea Ceremony Club, Ayano Fuyuki's mini-arc. The Dawn of The New Year, the demon's public appearance for the first time. Or my infiltration plan.

My days went on as usual, nothing interesting was happening, I was basically living a life of a normal student in a normal superhuman academy.

A month later, when Bell brought me good news about his progress on making the Tearfall, the busyness started to kick in again in my life, but not for long.

For a week since he told me that he could finally start concocting the ingredients that could withstand the feather's pure fire essence, I would occasionally visit Ruby right at the Ustrina HQ.

Every time I visited, I would always bring up the news about an elixir that could save her life. Ruby would always be delighted and thankful for my help, saying why would I do all this when we were just strangers to each other.

I just said that I was just repaying my debt for the goblin's king event. Saying if she wasn't there at that time, I would be dead once my invisibility disguise effect wore off.

With every day that passed, Ruby's health deteriorated. Her illness becoming more violent.

During my today's visit, she coughed up more blood than usual. Her skin wrinkled as her body was lacking nutrition.

This Tearfall project was a race against death. But, though I knew that, I couldn't force or push Bell to hasten the making of Tearfall.

Finally, The Tearfall had successfully been made. We could only make two bottles of it, so we divided it.

"It seems I didn't misplace my trust. Take one bottle and go cure your sister, Bell. You're a lifesaver."

"T-thank you! And no. I'm not a lifesaver, you are."

With the Tearfall in my hand, now it was time to awaken the dragon in its slumber.

Arriving at Ustrina HQ for a visit, the staff greeted me with warmth and familiarity. In these past two months, we had made acquaintances. They ushered me to the room where Ruby was always nested like a hikikomori.

"Zio! You come again."

She had that happy vibe painted all over her face. Ruby had become an existence that was like a little sister to me. Though, when her other self came out, the position seemed to reverse.

Nonetheless, now, the dragon needed to wake and soar to the sky.

"I have something for you today!"

***

As winter wrapped its icy fingers around the city, a hushed tranquility settled upon the streets. The air was crisp and biting, each breath painting a frosty cloud in front of a person's face.

The city wore a muted palette, its color muted and softened by a blanket of pure white snow. The familiar sounds of bustling footsteps and honking cars were muffled, replaced by the delicate symphony of falling snowflakes, their soft whispers filling the empty spaces.

From a clear vantage point, on the flat rooftop, a woman with silky black hair stood. Her brown eyes danced with wonder as she watched the graceful descent of each snowflake, marveling at the intricate patterns they weaved in the air before landing gently on the cold surface.historical

Coming out of the elevator door at the middle of the rooftop was a group of four, each had a distinctive feature that made them unique.

One of them, a big guy that resembled a bear in terms of body size and structure, called the woman who stood on the edge of the rooftop.

"Valka!"

The woman named Valka looked over her shoulder. Once she found out that the one calling her was her companion, she turned around almost immediately and waved her hand energetically.

"Oh, Ivan! And everyone! What's up?"

The bear man, Ivan, walked toward Valka. They spoke in a foreign language that the other three didn't understand.

"Cool! So what does cyka blyat mean?"

One of them complained with a hint of sarcasm.

Ivan apologized to one of the three, a guy with blonde hair who dressed flamboyantly.

"Sorry, Martin. I can't help it whenever I talked to my kin."

Martin snorted.

Ignoring him, Ivan looked at Valka again.

"The boss is calling for us. He said it's time for party."

Hearing that, Valka's ears twitched and a wide smirk painted her face.

"Party? Then, what are we waiting for? Let's go! Move! Move!"

Valka chanted cheerfully as she ushered Ivan to move. Before they actually departed from the rooftop, Valka took a last glance at the building across from her.

There, two teenagers were talking cheerfully. But, her eyes were only locked on a particular boy with black hair and black eyes.

'Huhu.. I can't wait to meet you again. Zio Varrez.'