CH 83

Ssseuuu…!

Inside the dead Smogger’s stomach, the mass of radioactive toxic gas within the Green Dragon’s body turned into energy particles before being absorbed into Siegfried’s body.

[Warning: You have reached the maximum pain tolerance allowed by the system!]

[Warning: You could end up experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)!]

[Warning: Please log out immediately to avoid any side effects!]

The system sent him numerous warning messages, but Siegfried didn’t log out of the game.

‘This level of pain feels just like a tickle to me!’ he thought as he gritted his teeth.

The tempering and quenching process he had to go through under Deus far exceeded the pain tolerance allowed by the system!

The pain Siegfried was experiencing from the virtual reality game’s system was nothing when compared to the extreme pain he had to endure a hundred times.

‘It has been quite a while since I felt something so refreshing~’ Siegfried thought. He felt like he was in a spa getting a massage treatment.

Thanks to his experience, he was able to savor the pain and focus on absorbing the Green Dragon’s radioactive energy.

‘Focus! The NPCs in the castle will die if I fail to absorb all of this. I have to stop this! Suck it all up! Come on! I can do this!’ Siegfried thought as he focused and gathered every single energy particle that touched his body before absorbing them.

[Alert: You have absorbed 10 Radioactive Energy from the ‘Green Dragon Smogger’!]

[Alert: Your Poison Attribute Resistance has increased by 10!]

[Alert: You have absorbed 10 Radioactive Energy from the ‘Green Dragon Smogger’!]

[Alert: Your Poison Attribute Resistance has increased by 10!]

[Alert: You have absorbed 10 Radioactive Energy from the ‘Green Dragon Smogger’!]

[Alert: Your Poison Attribute Resistance has increased by 10!]

The immense radioactive energy of the Green Dragon was absorbed into Siegfried’s body, and they gathered in his mana hall. Then, the energy particles harmonized with every single cell in Siegfried’s body and explosively increased his poison resistance.

‘It works!’ he exclaimed inwardly before he composed himself and focused, ‘There’s still a lot left. More! Absorb more of it! More! More!’

Siegfried did not stop absorbing the Green Dragon’s radioactive toxic gas. In fact, he aggressively absorbed every single bit of the radioactive energy when he found out that Attribute Absorption was really working against it.

Shwoooo!

The radioactive energy particles gathered and formed a tornado before being absorbed into Siegfried’s body.

***

“Hyu… Hyung-niiiiim!” Seung-Gu cried out and ran toward the Green Dragon while screaming, “Wait for me! I will save you!”

“Wait!” Oscar suddenly blocked Seung-Gu and said, “Sir Seung-Gu, please compose yourself.”

“Huh? Compose myself? How can you say that when you saw what happened?! Hyung-nim was eaten alive by that lizard!”

“Then, what do you plan on doing? Do you plan to cut open that dead dragon?”

“Is it not obvious?!”

“We will all die if you do that,” Oscar retorted and explained, “Look at that. Can you see the poison gas coming out from the Green Dragon’s mouth? The Green Dragon’s poison gas will spread all over the castle the moment you cut its stomach open.”

“Heok?”

“I am also worried about His Majesty’s safety, but please do not forget that His Majesty is someone from another world and an immortal being. I do not think that you have to be so worried for him.”

“Hmm…”

“I will issue an evacuation order now,” Oscar said before she shouted in a commanding voice, “Listen up! I am declaring an emergency evacuation order throughout the entire castle! Everyone should immediately evacuate from the castle this instant!”

Oscar accurately judged the situation and made a wise decision befitting of a seasoned soldier. A calamity born from the Green Dragon’s toxic gas spreading all over the castle would have occurred if she didn’t stop Seung-Gu.

“Sir Seung-Gu should evacuate, too,” Oscar said.

“What about Dame Oscar?” Seung-Gu asked in response.

“I shall remain here,” Oscar replied. She then ripped a poison resistance scroll.

“Huh? Dame Oscar… Have you gone insane?” Seung-Gu asked with wide eyes before saying, “Dame Oscar… If you die, then you will…”

“I know.”

“Then why do you insist on remaining behind?”

“I am a knight. I cannot turn around and leave when my liege was swallowed whole by a dragon.”

“Huh…? What kind of horseshit is that? Why don’t you stop spouting nonsense and just run?”

Seung-Gu couldn’t understand Oscar at all, and it wasn’t a surprise. Oscar was an NPC born and raised as a knight on the Nürburg Continent, so there was no way a gamer like Seung-Gu would understand her logic and conviction.

“Can you stop being stubborn and stupid? Let’s just run!”

“I will not…”

“Will someone give you a castle or a title[1] if you die?! Ha?!”

“I will stay by His Majesty’s side.”

“Aigoo! Damn it! From which parent did you get your stubborn mindset?!”

While Seung-Gu was frustrated by Oscar’s stubbornness, the green Dragon’s jaws slowly opened.

Chwiik… Chwiiiik….!

“…!”

“…!”

Oscar and Seung-Gu froze and stared at the Green Dragon’s jaws.

When you're just trying to make great content at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Ugh… that stinks…” Siegfried grumbled. He was covered with the Green Dragon’s gastric fluids.

“Your Majesty!”

“Hyung-nim!”

Oscar and Seung-Gu cried out at the same time.

“Don’t come! You will die if you come close!” Siegfried hurriedly shouted.

He had just absorbed the Green Dragon’s radioactive energy, so there were still traces of it surrounding his body.

“Huh? Hyung-nim, what are you talking about? You’re fine, right?” Seung-Gu said. He ignored Siegfried’s warning and approached him.

Thud!

He died.

[Seung-Gu]

[HP: ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]

His HP was instantly reduced to zero after being exposed to the radioactive energy Siegfried’s body was emitting.

“I told you not to come… Tsk…” Siegfried clicked his tongue while looking at Seung-Gu’s lifeless body.

There were people who would only regret their decision once it was too late, and it seemed that Seung-Gu was one of them.

“Your Majesty! Are you alright? Sir Seung-Gu died, but how is Your Majesty…?”

“Ah, I’m fine. You do not have to worry about me,” Siegfried said while waving his hand, and then he added while pointing at Seung-Gu’s lifeless body, “Don’t come near me, though. You will die… a dog’s death if you do…”

“But, Your Majesty…”

“I cannot be poisoned anymore, Dame Oscar.”

“Huh?”

“Well… Let’s just say that I am now immune to all poison out there?”

“…!”

“Anyway, it just turned out that way...”

“Immunity to all poison!” Oscar exclaimed in surprise.

Siegfried had basically claimed that he could no longer be poisoned by anything. Oscar was stupefied because a legendary body like that could only be obtained by Grandmasters after going through Metamorphosis and Physical Reconstitution at least twice.

***

Five minutes ago…

[Alert: You have absorbed 10 Radioactive Energy from the ‘Green Dragon Smogger’!]

[Alert: Your Poison Attribute Resistance has increased by 10!]

[Alert: Your Radioactive Energy has reached the maximum! (1,000)]

[Alert: Your Poison Attribute Resistance has reached the maximum! (1,000)]

A bunch of messages appeared in front of Siegfried after he voraciously absorbed the Green Dragon’s radioactive energy.

In the end, he succeeded in absorbing all of the Green Dragon’s radioactive energy!

[Alert: The ‘Radioactive Energy’ in your body has evolved your skill!]

[Alert: ‘Circle of Weakness’ has evolved after being exposed to the ‘Radioactive Energy’ within your body!]

[Alert: Please check the updated skill details in your ‘My Skill’ tab!]

[Alert: Your Poison Attribute Resistance has reached the maximum! (1,000)]

[Alert: Congratulations! You are now the owner of a body that is immune to all types of poison!]

[Alert: Your body is now ‘Immune to All Poison’!]

The Green Dragon’s radioactive energy evolved Siegfried’s body as well along with the Circle of Weakness.

As such, Siegfried obtained one of the two physical attributes of a Grandmaster, which was being immune to poison.

‘Huh? What’s going on? My skill evolved?’ Siegfried was surprised.

He immediately opened ‘My Skills’ and checked how the radioactive energy affected Circle of Weakness.

The new details of the Circle of Weakness were as follows.

[Irradiate]

[The user unleashes radioactive energy.]

[The radioactive energy has the same effect as a Green Dragon’s Poison Breath, and it pushes every single living creature to its demise while they are afflicted.]

[The skill’s power increases depending on the amount of mana used, but the mana cost exponentially increases on subsequent casts.]

[The cooldown time decreases the higher the skill’s level.]

[The skill’s damage and range increases the higher the skill’s level.]

[The user’s radioactive energy disappears quickly upon deactivation.]

[Level: 17]

[Cooldown: 360 seconds]

[Duration: ∞]

[Area: 5-meter radius]

[Mana Cost: 15+ per second]

[Type: Radioactive]

Surprisingly, the Circle of Weakness turned into a completely different skill.

‘It’s no longer a circle but something that I spread five meters around me? Doesn’t this mean that I can just switch it on and cling to my enemies…?’ Siegfried thought while reading the description of his new skill ‘Irradiate’.

Then, he pondered for a moment and thought of a great idea, ‘I should try using this against the barbarians.’

He hatched a sinister plan to use his new skill against the barbarian tribe that dared to cause a mess in his house…

***

“I will fairly distribute the loot. Everyone who participated in the hunt will get a cut out of it,” Siegfried said. He decided to become a benevolent ruler and fairly distribute the spoils of war.

“Thank you very much for your hard work. I hope that we humans and elves can become very good neighbors from now on,” Siegfried said as he gifted the dragon scales to the elven archers who participated in the hunt.

The Green Dragon had a lot of scales, so distributing some of them to the elves wouldn’t be a big loss to him.

“Oh!”

“It’s a dragon scale!”

“If I create an arrowhead out of this…!”

The elves were delighted at the gifts they had received, and they excitedly returned to their villages while thinking of ways to turn the dragon scales they had received into weapons.

[Alert: The Elves’ Affinity with you has increased by +100!]

[Alert: The Affinity of the Elves with you has been upgraded from ‘Wary’ to ‘Trusted’!]

He managed to earn the elves’ trust with his decision, and he finally cleaned up the shit that the previous lord, Baron Verbon, shat for good.

“I bestow the dragon’s ribs to Dame Oscar and our elite knights. I will request the Bavarian Workshop’s Hometown of Death to forge them into Dragon Bone Swords for all of you,” Siegfried said. He didn’t forget to reward his own subordinates.

“D-Dragon Bone Sword!”

“Your Majesty! You are far too gracious for us!”

“Oh! Your Majesty! Nobody on the continent is more gracious than you are!”

A dragon’s bone was a very rare and precious material, and possessing a sword forged out of it was a huge honor for a knight.

“Your Majesty, I, Oscar, accept the gift you bestow with all of my heart,” Oscar said as she knelt down on one knee in front of her liege.

“Ah, Dame Oscar,” Siegfried called out.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I bestow a fifth of the dragon’s heart to you.”

“What?!” Oscar ended up shouting in surprise at his words.

A dragon’s heart was one of the purest forms of mana, and it was bound to provide exponential growth to whoever consumed it.

“Please consume the dragon’s heart and become stronger. Then, I want you to stay by my side. Can you do that?”

“I, Oscar, shall devote myself to Your Majesty until I turn I am reduced to mere bones and forced to wander the depths of hell!” Oscar said with a sincere and emotional voice.

“Forget about hell. Just don’t die,” Siegfried said.

The awarding ceremony ended with Siegfried’s word of advice to the knight.

’20% for Oscar, 20% for Seung-Gu, and 60% for me… that sounds about right…’ 

He could have been greedy and consumed the whole thing by himself. After all, nobody would dare to say anything about it, but he didn’t do that.

‘I have a lot of enemies, so I need strong allies and comrades. I need trustworthy and strong people around me,’ Siegfried thought while clenching his fists.

While Siegfried was clenching his fists and deep in his thoughts, Michele suddenly appeared before him.

“Your Majesty, there is something I must inform you,” Michele said with his head bowed.

1. The raws actually says ‘will someone give you a surname if you die?!’, but the Korean word for surname and castle is the same 성 so I decided to write it as both a castle and a title (instead of a surname) ☜