Chapter Forty-Four: A Brief Farewell

Sha gave a foolish chuckle and kept silent, yet in his heart, he recalled the words that old man used to hammer into him when he was alive.

“Those who are truly stupid yet try to act clever usually die quickly. But those who seem foolish but are actually wise tend to live long.”

“If others see you as a fool, they’ll ignore you. If everyone knows you’re clever, you become the focus—then, anyone wanting to hit you from behind will find it much harder.”

Thinking of this, Sha shook his head vigorously and once again put on that harmless, honest smile. “Who said I’m smart? I’m just a country bumpkin from the mountains.”

If Dodoro had seen Sha’s sincere smile, he would surely have twitched at the corner of his eye. Ada, however, only smiled faintly and dropped the subject.

He gazed at the dying Dora, his mind wandering for a moment, then finally spoke. “Actually… if you had known it would come to this after harming me, you would surely regret it now.”

Ada’s face bore a smile. “The so-called blessing of the Dragon God is actually quite simple. I was chosen as the lucky one in the clan, and the Dragon God bestowed upon me a special power: any enemy who harms me first will suffer backlash! Whosoever is the first to harm me will lose half their strength—life force, magic, physical vitality—all halved! And they will remain at that level forever!”

His smile grew even gentler. “Dora, you were very young back then. Among us dragons, only after reaching adulthood do our magic and power reach their peak, yet you made your move against me too soon. As a result, I became human and could never return to my dragon form, while you lost half your power—and it was half of your juvenile power! The noble and proud Dora became the weakest among all dragons! Don’t you find such irony exquisite?”

Sha grinned as he listened. This so-called blessing of the Dragon God—what blessing? It was a curse!

“The Elves’ Eternal Tear can only be undone by the one who poisoned it, and you would never lift the curse for me. But I also won’t lift the Dragon God’s curse for you… In fact, I’ll tell you, it’s not that I don’t want to help, but that I can’t! There’s simply no way to break the Dragon God’s curse! Now that you know, you must be filled with regret.”

Ada stood up, his finger gently stroking Dora’s neck—a gesture as tender and careful as a lover’s caress, yet his eyes and voice were chillingly cold.

Under Ada’s touch, Dora’s breath grew ever weaker. She struggled to open her eyes, but there was no light within them. A faint whimper escaped her lips, yet she no longer had the strength to speak.

Ada gently placed the amber gem he held before Dora’s brow, then smiled. “Do you know what this is? I wandered the human world for many years before finding it. It’s a Soul Binding Stone. Don’t worry; I won’t turn your soul into my slave, for I lack the magic to do so. But your soul will be forever trapped within this stone, never to return to the dragon grave.”

“Now, please, die.”

Though her vision was gone, Dora sensed a deep terror. Unwilling, she opened her mouth as if to roar or unleash her breath to kill her foe, but managed only a low, mournful wail.

“Do it, Demon Hunter.” Ada turned coldly to Sha. “Use your sharp weapon. Pierce her forehead! Your weapon is too short to reach her heart directly, but sharp enough to penetrate her skull.”

Sha did not hesitate. He strode over, gripped his fire fork in both hands, stepped before the dragon’s head, and muttered, “Hey! Every debt has an owner. Ada’s the one who told me to do this. You’re dying by his hand; I’m just the executioner. Don’t hold it against me.”

With that, he squeezed his eyes shut, leapt onto the dragon’s neck, and drove the fire fork hard into her skull!

A deep, shattering sound rang out as the fire fork pierced through bone with a wet crunch, driving straight into the dragon’s brain and burying itself to the hilt.

Dora howled, her head lifting slightly before finally sagging, her mouth breathing its last sigh, a plume of blue smoke curling from her nostrils…

The instant Sha’s fire fork skewered the dragon’s brain, a strange, fragrant aroma wafted to his nose. He did not know that dragon brain fluid was naturally fragrant; the scent made his mind blur for an instant, rushing straight to his head, filling him with a sense of comfort. All the pain from his many wounds vanished in that moment.

From the dragon’s body, a bluish-green, semi-transparent mist began to rise. Ada’s eyes narrowed as he lifted the amber gem high, chanting a strange song word by word.

This was no magic spell, nor the dragon tongue, but a dirge-like song, its syllables ancient and harsh, the words delivered in human speech yet seeming to echo a lost and forgotten tongue. Of ten lines, Sha could understand but two or three.

The gently floating bluish-green mist was the dragon’s soul. When a dragon dies, its spirit leaves the flesh and drifts toward a mysterious place—the dragon grave.

Dragons held a peculiar tradition: they cared not for how their bodies were buried, but their souls must be laid to rest! Only by returning to the dragon grave could a dragon’s soul find eternal repose.

The bluish-green soul tried to drift away, but under Ada’s chanting, it slowed and was gradually drawn toward him, hovering in the air, shifting its form, becoming a blue wisp that circled Ada’s palm, drawn inexorably into the amber gem.

Ada seemed greatly strained; sweat beaded on his forehead, and his voice grew hoarse. Though this dirge was not magic, it drained his spirit. His eyes quickly showed exhaustion, and only when the greater part of the dragon soul was absorbed into the gem did Ada finally breathe out in relief. Weariness washed over him; he staggered and collapsed atop the dragon’s corpse.

Most of the dragon soul had been absorbed, leaving only a few faint wisps of blue-green mist, not yet drawn into the amber. But before the last remnants could be taken, Ada had already fainted. Without the guidance of the dirge, the remaining soul fragments lost their direction and seemed about to disperse.

Sha, watching with curiosity, could not help but reach out and grasp at the air. But the soul was intangible—how could he seize it? He grabbed at nothing, hands empty, yet the green mist suddenly shifted as if startled by his motion. With a whoosh, a wisp of smoke curled around Sha’s hand, then quickly gathered at his neck!

There, hanging from his neck, was a dull, gray pendant—a battered stone, which now seemed to be the soul’s target. The wisp of mist, about to dissipate, found its haven and surged into the pendant before Sha could even cry out!

Sha’s mouth gaped as he watched the green smoke vanish into his pendant. He reached up and felt it—still cold, angular, as drab as ever, yet somehow, on closer inspection, there was something subtly amiss, though he could not say what.

Leaning against the dragon’s corpse, Ada took a while to catch his breath before standing. He looked at the gem in his hand: once amber, it was now bluish-green. Ada felt reassured, opened his mouth, and swallowed the gem, then glanced at Sha. “Where is the leftover soul?”

“Uh…” Sha hesitated. For some reason, he could not bring himself to speak the truth, instinctively making a choice. “It dissipated.”

“Gone?” Ada nodded, not suspecting otherwise. “That’s fine. Most of the soul is mine; the rest can’t return to the dragon grave either. Vanishing is its fate.”

Ada’s expression bore a faint melancholy. Though he had finally achieved what he’d long desired, he found the taste of it strangely hollow. He looked at Sha, considered briefly, then said quickly, “All right. I’ve done what I came for and taken what I needed. Everything here now belongs to you.”

“…I…” Sha hesitated.

“Demon Hunter.” Ada’s gaze softened a little. “I owe you thanks. Otherwise, I’d have been buried alive outside the mountain. I am mortal now, with no powers at all. However you look at it, I owe you one!”

With that, he wasted no more words, turned, and strode toward the exit. After a few steps, Sha couldn’t help but call out, “Hey! Ada, where are you going?”

Ada turned, frowned at Sha. “I’m leaving, of course.”

Sha opened his mouth, feeling something was amiss, but finally grumbled, “You still owe me a gold coin!”

Ada laughed, gave Sha a look. “Put it on my tab. You can charge interest.”

With that, he strode away without looking back. Sha hesitated, but in the end did not pursue him, letting Ada leave just like that.

After Ada departed, Sha leapt down, plopping onto the ground. He quickly removed his pendant and scrutinized it over and over, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

A dragon soul? What use could it be?

Well, for Lord Sha, the most important thing was… would there be any benefit?

And… could this thing be dangerous? The thought flickered through his mind—should he simply throw it away?

But then again, this was one of the few keepsakes the old man had left him; it meant something to wear it.

“Damn it! I wasn’t afraid of her when she was alive, so why should I fear her as a ghost now that she’s dead?” Sha glared fiercely at the dragon’s corpse, trying to bolster his courage.

He was, after all, a simple man. His worries came and went quickly; once he thought it through, he cheered and jumped to his feet.

“Time to skin and gut the beast!”