Chapter 209 ·Dora

A foul wind rushed toward her face.

It came to a screeching halt less than five centimeters from Lilia’s nose. The airflow it stirred blew her silver hair into a bird’s nest, even making the flesh on her face tremble.

Drip.

A thick drop of saliva, carrying a corrosive smell, slid off the tip of the massive tongue and landed squarely on a rock by Lilia’s feet.

Lilia maintained that stiff waving posture, feeling as if her heart had already jumped up into her throat.

If she moved even a little now, the most likely outcome would be “crunchy, chicken-flavored.”

That tongue swayed up, down, left, and right in front of her, as if sniffing, or perhaps checking the freshness of the ingredient.

“……”

Just as Lilia felt she might pass out from lack of oxygen, the deadly tongue suddenly retracted with a “whoosh.”

Immediately after, that enormous body, so large it seemed capable of bursting the entire canyon apart, moved.

The black scales that had perfectly disguised themselves as the canyon walls began to grind violently, producing an ear-piercing “crack crack” sound. Loose stones from both sides of the canyon rained down, clattering noisily against Bulara’s metal head.

“Roar—wo?”

A strange, low murmur.

It was shrinking.

Not like the dazzling transformation of a magical girl, nor the explosive phase-change effects of a boss fight in a game.

Instead, accompanied by a series of scalp-numbing sounds of bones shifting out of place—

Crack.

Snap.

Squish.

Lilia covered her ears tightly, her entire face scrunched up like a bun.

The sound made her feel phantom pain all over, as if her own bones were being shattered alongside that dragon’s.

The massive black body collapsed at a visible speed.

Dust and debris filled the air, completely obscuring the view. The canyon echoed with wet, muffled sounds of flesh compressing. The noise wasn’t loud, but each instance felt like someone stirring her brain with a soaked mop.

If it had to be described, it was like a huge, living lump of clay being kneaded freely by invisible hands.

After about the time it took to prepare a bowl of instant noodles—

That sanity-draining noise finally stopped.

“Cough… cough…”

Lilia waved her hand, trying to disperse the dust in front of her.

She squinted toward the still-settling cloud.

Wind poured in through the canyon, gradually blowing the dust away.

A figure slowly emerged.

It was a… girl?

She looked at most fourteen or fifteen years old, about half a head shorter than Lilia.

She wore what looked like a black leather cloak crudely wrapped around her body.

A messy head of brown hair hung all the way down to her ankles, with bits of gravel caught in it. On both sides of her head, two dark-gold horns resembling coral jutted stubbornly upward.

Most eye-catching was the thick tail behind her.

That tail clearly hadn’t adapted to the “smaller” body yet, restlessly slapping the ground. Each strike left a deep crater in the hard rock, producing crisp “smack, smack” sounds.

The girl slowly raised her head.

Her small face, covered in dust, actually had unexpectedly delicate features.

She was barefoot, standing on a sharp piece of obsidian, yet not even leaving a white mark on the sole of her foot.

“You.”

The girl spoke.

Her tone was stiff, like someone who had just learned to talk.

“What are you? Food? Toy?”

She tilted her head, her gaze sweeping across Lilia and Bulara, who had just gotten up.

Lilia took a deep breath, forcing her trembling legs to straighten. Black-and-white rings appeared deep within her pupils.

Whatever it was, as long as it showed a health bar, even a god could be killed.

A silver-gray light flowed through her eyes.

Lilia looked at the girl.

The next second—

“Pfft—”

Lilia almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

She rubbed her eyes hard, even suspecting that sand had gotten in them, or that the system was malfunctioning again.

In her vision—

Above the girl’s head, there was no expected “death line” indicating a weakness.

Instead, there was a red health bar so thick it looked like a highway.

It was absurdly long—so long it even extended beyond the visible range.

What the hell kind of health bar was this? It looked more like one of those endless progress bars where you keep chopping but never finish!

Lilia silently canceled her skill.

Sorry to bother you.

“Um…”

Lilia instantly put on a professional service smile, changing her expression so quickly that even Bulara seemed to be calculating the logical inconsistency.

She very naturally slipped the dagger in her sweaty hand back beneath her skirt, casually brushing off nonexistent dust, her movements as elegant as if she had just finished afternoon tea.

“Misunderstanding, it’s all a misunderstanding.”

Lilia spread her hands, trying to appear harmless—even though the concealed weapons under her maid outfit could probably stock a hardware store.

“We’re just passing by. Purely passing by.”

She pointed toward the other end of the canyon.

“Taking a walk, you know? Like going out for a stroll after eating, enjoying the beautiful… uh, rocks.”

The girl didn’t speak.

She stared at Lilia, her nose twitching twice.

“Not smelly.”

The girl suddenly gave an evaluation.

“That metal one, smelly. That red one, smelly. You, fragrant.”

She pointed at Bulara, then at Xiao Hong lying like a dead dog in the distance, and finally at Lilia.

Lilia’s mouth twitched.

In a place like this, “fragrant” was definitely not a good word.

“Fragrant but no meat.” Lilia immediately started self-deprecating, pinching her own arm. “See? All skin and bones. Terrible texture. Gets stuck in your teeth. Seriously.”

The girl blinked, a translucent membrane sliding over her eyes.

“Won’t eat.”

She shook her head, her horns swaying along.

“Boring.”

The moment those two words came out, Lilia’s heart skipped a beat.

“Sleep, wake up, still here.”

The girl kicked a piece of rubble. The obsidian, as hard as steel, shattered like tofu.

“Want to go out.”

She raised her hand and pointed in the direction Lilia and the others were heading—the direction of the Black Sea.

“You. Where going?”

Lilia’s eyes darted.

If she said they were going to the Black Sea to investigate, this dragon might find it troublesome and just roast them. But if she said they were going home, what if it decided to tag along to the Palace of Eternal Night? Bringing a dragon back would definitely get her and the dragon buried together in the foundation of the Rose Arena by Hera.

“We… are going far away.” Lilia began making things up. “To seek poetry and distant horizons, which means… to play.”

“Play?”

The girl’s dead fish eyes suddenly lit up.

That single word seemed like an activation code, instantly connecting her somewhat sluggish thought process.

“I go too.”

The girl immediately stepped forward, her tail swinging happily behind her, smashing nearby rocks into pieces.

She walked up to Lilia and looked down—though she was shorter, her presence made Lilia feel like the one being looked down upon.

“Take me.”

The girl extended her hand, covered in fine, glove-like scales.

“Don’t take, flatten.”

“O-okay then.”

Lilia’s smile grew even brighter, though her inner self was already flipping tables.

“Welcome to… um, the ‘Black Sea Sunset Tour Group.’”

“I’m the leader, Lilia.”

Lilia pointed at herself, then at Bulara stuck against the wall. “That’s laborer number one.”

Then she pointed at Xiao Hong, still unconscious. “That’s emergency rations—I mean, the guide.”

The girl nodded in satisfaction.

She clearly didn’t care about the titles, as long as she could leave this place full of rocks and smelly bugs.

“My name… mm…”

The girl frowned, seemingly searching her rarely used memory for her name.

After quite a while—

She finally squeezed out two words seriously.

“Dora.”

“Dora?” Lilia paused. “Nice name. Simple and easy to understand.”

It sounded like the name of some short-haired girl who loved adventuring.

“Let’s go.”

Dora was clearly action-oriented. She turned around and headed straight deeper into the canyon, ignoring the complex terrain.

A massive boulder blocked the path ahead, as big as a truck.

Dora didn’t even look at it and simply crashed into it.

Boom!

The rock exploded.

What was this, a humanoid excavator?

Lilia looked at the small figure violently clearing the path ahead, then at Bulara on the wall, and finally sighed helplessly.

She pulled Bulara out of the wall and dragged Xiao Hong up from the ground.

“What kind of mess is this…”