Reverse Dungeon

The swamp monsters were behaving strangely.

No—not strangely.

They were...

“They’ve stopped moving?” 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

“I think I’ve seen something like this before.”

Louise spoke cautiously.

“Where?”

“At Mr. Contacca’s forge. Momisia’s still too young to handle fire or tools properly, so Mr. Contacca does most of the work himself.”

Ian recalled that Contacca was an exceptionally skilled craftsman.

Louise narrowed one eye.

“When Mr. Contacca bakes clay into pottery... I think the same thing happened.”

“You’re saying the monsters harden because they’re made of mud?”

“You can see it yourself.”

Louise answered Genea flatly. He rarely bothered being polite to anyone except Ian.

‘Turning swamp monsters into pottery?’

Of course, they didn’t literally become ceramic.

Still, Ian noticed something.

The flames at the edge of the swamp had already died out. At first, he thought the monsters had extinguished them, but that wasn’t it. The scorched area had hardened into blackened earth. It no longer churned or flowed like mud.

‘Could this actually work?’

Genea frowned.

“Monsters this strong can’t be killed by ordinary flames. Do you think the elite rangers fled for no reason?”

“Lord Ian’s arrows aren’t ordinary fire arrows.”

“That’s right. They’re sacred arrows.”

Louise and Keith answered immediately.

“...”

“Y-Yeah, exactly.”

Sema belatedly joined in.

Ian wasn’t staying quiet because he enjoyed the praise.

‘This is incredible.’

Excitement surged through him.

Ian had always combined his attacks with Purification, especially when fighting monsters. In the game, Purification dealt critical damage to monster-type enemies.

But burning swamp monsters into hardened clay?

That had never happened before.

Normally, they simply died.

Yet now, this ‘sacred fire’ seemed to be affecting the very nature of the swamp monsters themselves, forcing some kind of transformation.

It felt like he was playing an entirely different game.

Ian reflected seriously for a moment.

‘Have I been too lazy?’

Wasn’t there far more room for experimentation?

He had relied too heavily on his previous playthrough knowledge. A true gamer should approach new content with endless curiosity and a willingness to experiment.

Dozens of ideas instantly came to mind.

‘I should’ve tested more things inside the dungeon!’

Why had he been so obsessed with rushing his levels?

Of course, leveling was important.

But even Actus—

Even if the dragon had ended up becoming a somewhat useless pet, he was still a dragon. Ian should have spent more time figuring out how to properly use him.

As Ian drowned in ruthless self-criticism, the air suddenly trembled beneath them.

Actus was acting strangely.

“Actus?”

“Grrrr...”

A low groan escaped the dragon.

That alone put Ian on guard.

Actus normally spoke with surprising clarity despite his reptilian vocal cords. Hearing him growl like a beast instead immediately raised alarm bells.

“Louise! Take care of Sema!”

“Yes, Lord Ian!”

Ian instantly braced himself for the possibility of falling.

The dragon twisted violently through the air.

“Kyaaaaaaaa!”

The scream was deafening.

It didn’t merely strike the ears—it rattled the entire body. Ian’s heart pounded for an entirely different reason than before.

‘Good thing I never treated him like an ordinary pet.’

His past self had been wise. Anyone with common sense knew better than to get careless around a dragon capable of eating them alive at any moment.

Then Actus spoke.

“M-Mom... something’s wrong with me. I feel itchy... dizzy... ugh...”

‘At least he’s not entering a murderous frenzy.’

Apparently, the dragon still clung firmly to his delusions about Ian.

“Actus, it’s okay. I’m here. Focus.”

“Mommy...!”

Actus cried out pitifully.

His enormous body writhed violently. One wing beat harder than the other, while his head shook as though he were convulsing. Through their physical contact, Ian could feel the dragon’s agony directly.

He was genuinely suffering.

Ian pressed himself against the dragon’s scaled back and activated a skill.

‘!’

At the same time, he pulled up Actus’s status window, searching for any abnormal condition.

[Character]

‘The Last Dragon’ Actus (★★★★★)

Reputation

The Last Dragon

Skills

Corrosion: LV.7

Enhancement: LV.7

Majesty: LV.6

[The status ‘Fatigue’ has been removed.]

[The status ‘Magic Poisoning’ has been removed.]

[The hidden status ‘???’ has been temporarily suppressed.]

‘???’

‘What kind of bullshit is this?’

How many broken systems was this damned game hiding?

Heat rushed to Ian’s head.

Actus wasn’t some throwaway side character. He was a core NPC in Ian’s route. Yet the management was this sloppy?

“Mom... I... I...”

“It’s okay!”

Ian gritted his teeth.

“Lord Ian.”

“Quiet!”

He brushed off Keith’s hand before it could settle on his shoulder. Keith was probably about to suggest abandoning the dragon and jumping off.

Actus might be a dragon, but Ian had brought him here.

And despite being a dragon, he was still just a child.

Ian forced himself to think calmly.

“Actus, focus. What hurts? Mana? Magic? Your body? Does it feel like a curse?”

“Ugh...”

Actus suddenly lurched upward before plunging down again.

Everyone clinging to him experienced the terrifying sensation of freefall. For a brief instant, their bodies floated weightlessly through the sky—everyone except Ian and Keith.

Keith slammed Ian firmly against the dragon’s back to stop him from drifting away.

“Lord Ian, you—”

“Actus! You’re the only one who knows what’s happening! Check yourself!”

Ian ignored him completely.

He could feel it instinctively.

Actus was desperately trying to follow his words.

No status window or game mechanic told him that. He simply knew.

The dragon needed help.

And right now, the only being Actus could cling to was Ian.

“Mom... I can’t hold it anymore.”

“What can’t you hold?”

Actus answered with actions rather than words.

Even Keith couldn’t stabilize him this time.

Ian’s body floated up into empty air.

Only for a second—but if Keith hadn’t been behind him, he might have panicked. Flying unsupported through the open sky was nauseating.

‘Not dying.’

Ian forcibly shoved down the terror clawing up his throat.

It was fine.

Keith was here.

Keith wouldn’t let him die.

Then, in the next instant—

Ian saw the dragon below him suddenly expand back into his original colossal form.

Kralalalala!

The dragon roared.

A moment later, Ian crashed back onto the dragon’s spine.

“Here... the energy here is so dense...”

Actus inhaled deeply, then exhaled sharply. Even the infernal flames below were briefly suppressed by the force of his breath.

“I got my strength back! But... it’s not just Mom’s energy. There’s dirty stuff mixed in. It feels itchy... disgusting... I want to throw up...”

The dragon whimpered miserably.

A heavy gulping sound rolled through his throat, as if he were desperately forcing something back down.

Ian instantly realized what had happened.

‘Did he absorb the energy in the area?’

That explained why the air around them felt unnaturally clean despite the monsters.

The swamp monsters’ demonic energy, combined with the enormous amount of divine power released by the explosions, had apparently all been sucked into the dragon indiscriminately to replenish his depleted mana.

And Ian’s imagination immediately supplied the next step.

Dragon breath.

If Actus released that energy here—

‘The whole forest is finished.’

A dragon’s breath overflowing with unstable magic...

Ian had planned to ally himself with the elves.

Not earn the title of Demon Incarnate and become their eternal enemy.

His voice turned desperate.

“No! Wait!”

“Why, Mom? It hurts... ugh... blegh...”

“Not there! Aim away from the forest!”

The young dragon obediently followed his mother’s command.

Hooooooook—!

The magic absorbed into the dragon’s body erupted downward in a massive torrent of breath.

Meanwhile, the elves rescued from the swamp were slowly regaining consciousness.

Some insane humans had hurled them through the sky like stones. Several of them had broken limbs, yet the elves’ heightened senses refused to let them remain unconscious in the face of death.

Their instincts screamed at them.

Wake up before you burn alive.

The elves snapped awake—

Only to immediately forget everything else.

A dragon was flying above them.

Infernal flames curled around its scales, casting shifting shadows that made the creature appear even more majestic.

“The dragon... the dragon has returned!”

“To see a dragon again in my lifetime...!”

Tears streamed down the elves’ faces.

They had lived long enough to witness a legend reborn. Even if they died here, they would carry no regrets.

Ever since the prophecy ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) foretelling the doom of the elven race, the Elf Goddess had fallen silent.

‘Have we been abandoned?’

That silence had driven the elves into deeper despair than even their defeat in Midgard or their subjugation beneath the demon race.

But now—

A divine species symbolizing the Goddess’s wisdom and majesty had returned to them.

Their hearts overflowed with indescribable emotion as every gaze turned skyward.

The elves had barely escaped death. None of them were thinking clearly anymore.

The burning village no longer mattered.

The smell of smoke and roasting flesh no longer mattered.

All that existed was the dragon.

Then the sacred dragon twisted majestically through the heavens—

And unleashed its breath.

The burning elf village vanished instantly.

“......”