Chapter 215

Leaving the pot to simmer, I stood up and cautiously walked over to the mural. Of the ones I had seen, this was by far the most complete. That was to say I could read and understand everything that was expressed inside it. With a wave of my hand, I created an orb of light and held it up to the mural. Terra had followed me, seeming to not want to let go of my shirt. As for the image of the dragon, she seemed to want to refuse to look at it. I quickly realized why.

The dragon, first of all, was not a normal dragon, as I examined it, I realized it was full of silver mechanical parts. There were gears and wires and while it didn’t look quite like a machine, it certainly contained machine-like components. The guardian was a clockwork dragon, or whatever they called some kind of magical, mechanical monster in this world.

However, if that was all the mural showed, I’d be fine. Dragons were usually a top-tier monster in RPGs. In some, they could be considered the most powerful monster in the game. Thus, a clockwork dragon probably would be a fight I couldn’t handle. Its strength might not even be attached to the dungeon at all, so it could very well fight at full power, despite Terra. So, while the monster was intimidating, it didn’t lead to my level of shock.

No, what caused me to pause was the next part of the mural. The mural displayed an image that appeared to be Terra, lying dead. It showed her parents over her, pulling out a bright light. That light was then offered up to the dragon. Putting everything together, I could only shake my head. From what I could understand, a pair of powerful magicians wanted to have a child. They ended up constructing a powerful clockwork dragon as their ‘child’. Then, they had a baby. The clockwork dragon grew jealous of the child, or perhaps it was tasked with protecting the child and went nuts, and it ended up killing her. Realizing that the dragon was out of control, they captured their daughter’s soul and offered it to the dragon.

“Your parents…” I said in disbelief. “They put your soul into the guardian?”

“I… I failed…” She looked down, tears welling in her eyes. “I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t hold him back. He… killed them… it was my fault! AH!”

I reached forward and grabbed Terra, pulling her into a hug.  I held her tightly. She struggled for a second, but then she calmed down, crying muddy tears into my clothing. I didn’t mind a single bit. The other three girls looked at her sympathetically. Every girl here had suffered some loss in their lives. Lydia had her purpose taken away. Miki lost her family. Celeste lost her parents. They understood what Terra had gone through.

“I’m not strong…” She murmured. “I was scared.”

“You don’t need to be strong.” I said, causing her to look up at me tearily. “That’s why you have us. You shouldn’t have had to fight it alone. But with all of us together, fighting together, we will destroy that monster.”

“R-really?” Her eyes flashed and her mouth opened in wonder.

In the end, her parents tried to bind her soul with the clockwork dragon to bring it under control, and then it failed. Was that how I was supposed to complete the dungeon? Did I need to find some way to merge Terra’s soul with the dragon? Even if that was the key to completing the lore, I wouldn’t do it. I couldn’t believe her parents would stick their own daughter’s soul into a mechanical monster. I didn’t know what would become of Terra once the dungeon was destroyed, but that wouldn’t be an option. We’d destroy that dragon, not control it.

After all, the story also told me that the clockwork dragon couldn’t be controlled. Carmine wanted to use it to beat back her brother and save the town, but the clockwork dragon could betray her in an instant. I turned to Carmine, a worried look on my face. Carmine was staring down the stairway, her eyes filled with anticipation and determination.