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The most unfortunate thing about not having an item bag was not being able to carry as much food and water as I wished. I had been lucky in getting help and food from Krylla and in finding the City on the Edge, but what if I had been driven into those caves alone?

There was always the option of eating monster meat, but it was disgusting even if properly cooked and seasoned—something that was probably intended. Otherwise, Awakeners would have infinite food.

Anyway, having his food was a godsend.

He didn’t reveal any more about what he had seen, but I hoped that would come in time. I couldn’t deny that I was extremely curious. What’s more, there was a silent, mounting dread about how we would take care of the problem with the dragons when we got back to the city.

Cresting the top of the mountain, we could see the Awakener camps on the snowy field below. Those that were closest to the mountain had suffered and been smothered by falling debris and snow from the mountain, but many of the camps remained intact.

The dots of Awakeners still searching through the snow could be seen from our lofty perch. I was tired, even with my reserves of stamina granted to me by the Second System, and I could only imagine the fatigue that Lein was feeling—he already looked half-dead.

That being the case, we had to make a decision to either struggle back down the mountain to reach the camps and have time to make it to the city before our warming stones ran out or risk camping for the night and hope that the stones lasted just long enough or that we could find spares from another Awakener.

Even though the item bag was basically limitless, funds were not, so Lein didn’t have an infinite supply of the things.

As we stopped and rested, I made the decision for us.

“Let’s stop here for a bit…”

We wouldn’t be getting a full sleep, but even a brief nap could do wonders.

A grouping of large boulders at the top of the mountain provided a perfect shelter from the chilling wind. There would still be the danger of snow, of course, but the sky was clear that night, the stars twinkling in the inky black sky above like gemstones on a silken black robe.

Of course, saving him as we were, there was still the need to tie Koise up in case he awoke when we were asleep and decided to continue trying to kill me.

With rope from Lein’s item bag, it was easy enough to bind his arms, hands, feet, and legs. It may have seemed excessive for someone who was so close to death, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Of course, I also made sure to search him and take his item bag.

Somewhat comfortable for the time being, we fell asleep in the small huddle of rocks.

I awoke a few hours later to the howling of the wind around our little campsite. The boulders were doing their job in protecting us from the gale, the warming stones still going strong. That wasn’t to say that I was actually warm, of course, but we weren’t freezing.

I would have liked to wait out the wind, but what were we expecting when camping on the top of a mountain? The wind could have kept going on like that for hours or minutes, and there would be no way to tell when it would let up.

The night sky was still above us, which meant it had only been a few hours, not even long enough for the night to pass. However, probably thanks to the Second System, I felt rested enough to go another full day.

However, the same probably couldn’t be said for Lein, whose snores mixed with the howling of the wind. He was sound asleep and curled up next to one of the warming stones like some sort of cat.

Koise was still unconscious, though he had fallen over at some point while we were sleeping, and he looked as bad as ever.

“Hey, Lein, wake up. We have to get moving.”

I hated to wake him up when he looked to be so deeply asleep, but we needed to move before we lost any chance of the warming stones lasting until we reached the City on the Edge.

He didn’t wake up from my voice alone, already used to the loud howling of the wind.

I lightly placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him. He awoke with a start, jumping at my touch.

Lein’s panicked eyes flicked around our small rest site before coming to rest on me as he calmed, realizing again where he was.

“Ah… Shit, time to go already?”

He rubbed at his eyes, voice groggy.

“Hey, just remember that the sooner we get back, the sooner we can get a proper bed.”

I helped him stand and he stretched, letting out a wide yawn.

“Ah… Tell you what, first thing I’m doing is taking a hot bath.

It seemed that his thoughts mirrored my own.

“Well, let’s make it a reality instead of just a dream.”

“Mmmm… Easier said than done.”

He finished his stretch and I picked up Koise again, tossing him over my shoulder.

Like that, we continued the rest of the way down the mountain, only having to deal with the harsh winds assailing us for the first quarter of the way down before we were properly shielded by the surrounding terrain.

A few of the Awakeners searching through the snow at the bottom and other bystanders watching them gave us quizzical looks, but most seemed shocked at something else.

Indeed, following their gazes, most eyes were directed at a well-dressed middle-aged elf overlooking the Awakeners digging in the snow where the dungeon entrance had been, speaking with an Awakener as she watched.

It was hard to explain, but the elf exuded a heavy aura that reached us even as we were at least a hundred or so paces away from her. It was like a heavy blanket was pressing down upon the atmosphere, not just making the surrounding Awakeners quieter, but also seeming to actually muffle sound. The crunches of my steps in the snow were much quieter in that heavy aura.

Also, close as we were, the aura was mixed with something else, another energy lingering just within it that gave a sense of malice and dread—a feeling I was already familiar with from my previous two encounters with it back in Karfana and in the tunnels with Krylla…

It was, unmistakably, the same energy that demons gave off.

“Shit…” Lein let out a low curse and mumbled to me.

I looked over at him. He seemed to have recognized the elf.

“Who is she?” I asked.

Instead of answering, Lein made a quick head-shaking gesture and moved his finger to his lips, indicating I should be quiet.

Taking the hint, I shut up and kept the elf in the corner of my eye as we quickly continued on our way back to the city.

After a safe distance, he sighed.

“That wasn’t an elf.”

“Then what was it?” I asked, but I feared that I already knew the answer.

“One of the city leaders, a dragon by the name of Helsa. Dragons are known for their excellent hunting senses that make them the best predators, so it was better not to say anything until we were sure that we were at a range that she couldn’t hear us.”

That made sense, and I would have believed him under any other circumstance, but the demonic energy lingering underneath the aura made me realize something else as well.

It had been too faint to tell before, but I had thought that I’d sense a familiar energy from the tattoo and from the dragon that had flown over the city… demonic energy.

Just one more thing I had to worry about. The dragons were corrupted by demonic influence, and Lein and I were the only ones who knew enough to do something about it before it was too late.

Even still, we had the advantage in that the dragons didn’t know we knew. Although they knew the dungeon had collapsed and might have suspected that someone had the Relic they were looking for, they didn’t know that we were the ones with the Relic.

To them, we were just some Awakeners who had gotten injured with the collapse of the dungeon like many others.

The problem, then, was how we would go from being inconspicuous to defeating the dragons without just getting turned into chow in the process.

I was starting to believe in my own power by then, but it would have been foolish to think I could defeat a dragon. The aura they gave off alone was suffocating, yet I was supposed to kill one?

Of course, the thought also occurred that we could just leave the city be and have that be that, but I had already seen what the demons had tried to do with the expanding dungeon in Karfana and with trying to claim the Relic of Minor Miracles. Could I really let them do as they planned with another city?

Whatever Lein had seen at least confirmed that something terrible could happen there. We weren’t sure they needed the Relic for whatever their plan was either. If we just left, they might find some other way to bring their plans to fruition.

Also, where could we possibly run to? We needed to stop back at the city anyway for provisions. Were we just going to run away after that? What would I tell Rhil when I met her again—that I had been a coward even after Awakening?

No. I made the firm determination on our slog back to the city that I would kill the dragons, even if I had to go against the entire city to do it.

And so began the plan to kill dragons.