Kael Phong wasted no time leading Eiden to the Adventurers' Guild.
Inside the guild hall, the air was thick with the scent of antiseptic and healing mana. Fresh blood stained the walls, and healers in flowing robes darted through the corridors, chanting softly as each flicker of restorative light pulsed with exhausted intensity.
As Kael Phong stepped into the main hall, the enormous doors swung open.
A cold wind swept in, heralding the presence of a familiar figure.
"GaleKaze."
There he stood cloak hung loosely over his shoulder, the long sword on his back humming faintly as he paused mid‑entry.
He met Kael Phong's gaze. "I have heard… about the Forbidden Dragon."
His voice was calm, yet his eyes blazed with restrained fire.
Kael Phong bowed respectfully. "We cannot destroy it. Every time we slay it, it's reborn again. And… Lania Snowveil is trapped in that purple magic prism. We have no time."
GaleKaze remained silent for a long moment after hearing the harrowing tale. The Guild's great hall seemed to hold its breath, broken only by the pounding of anxious hearts.
He raised his cold gaze, fingers curling around the sword's hilt.
"As a hunter…" his voice rang out, steady and resolute, "I will not allow such a creature to slaughter innocents and mock the balance of life and death, standing unchallenged as a false god."
"I will track it down… whether it lurks in the fog or hides its soul in a dark prison."
A taut hush filled the hall, hanging heavy in the air then, like a storm breaking, it shattered.
Louis slammed his fist down on a table. "We cannot wait any longer."
Immediately, the guild mobilized.
Healers intensified their efforts for the wounded. Magic circles of potent recovery glowed constantly, while the capable warriors clasped their weapons, preparing for a final march. Those too injured to fight watched with haunted eyes.
Kael Phong, Draven Longfang, GaleKaze, Louis, Eiden, and the rest now stood at the edge of the Ancient Green Forest. None would retreat. Their gazes burned with unwavering resolve.
"This time," Louis said, the sword on his back humming in response, "we will not just fight… we will finish this."
Under GaleKaze and Louis's command, their formation was precise:
Vanguard Strike Force: Louis, GaleKaze, Draven, and elite A‑S‑rank warriors.
Support & Recon Unit: Kael Phong, Eiden, and three mage‑specialists tasked with infiltrating the dragon's domain.
Rear Guard: Healers, summoners, and support beasts, ready to provide aid from behind.
They were not entering as thrill‑seeking adventurers this time. They moved like executioners sent by fate itself to end the immortal dragon, to reclaim Lania's life, and to tear apart the darkness consuming the forest.
Once again, the adventurers plunged into the Ancient Green Forest.
They advanced in purposeful formation, the dark mist lifting as purification spells cut through it. The dragon's deep growl resonated through the trees no signal needed. Weapons were drawn, magic charged.
The Forbidden Dragon emerged a vast, inky beast covered in glistening black scales, eyes glowing red with malevolence. Its aura bent the forest around it.
"Attack!" Louis roared.
Immediately, the Thunderfang Tiger King unleashed arcs of lightning at the dragon's right wing. GaleKaze surged upward, twisting his heavy glaive in a shockwave strike that cracked the earth beneath the beast. Draven and the other warriors attacked from the flanks with coordinated precision.
Behind them, mages fed mana into a swirling magic bombardment that battered the dragon's hide.
But this dragon was not the same as before. It did more than defend it fought back.
A wave of black mana sprayed from its wings, tearing apart the front line. Violet flame rained down in deathly arcs, igniting everything in its path.
GaleKaze shouted, "Split and strike!"
The formation divided instantly. In the front: Louis, GaleKaze, and the elite warriors surged forward like a spear through the dragon's magical shell. Thunderfang roared overhead, sending a tempest of lightning into the dragon's chest. Mana clashed with draconic essence, ripping the forest sky apart.
"This isn't working…" Kael Phong ground his teeth, lungs burning. Sweat and blood streaked his brow.
"It keeps strengthening with each resurrection. We… have to find its heart!"
The dragon's roar shook the earth again. From the thick magical mist, its massive, shadowy form lunged forward faster than thought.
BOOM!
Its tail strike shattered the defense line. The impact tossed the crew aside Kael was slammed backward into a sheer cliff wall, toppled over a yawning pit below. Dark mana churned within the abyss, threatening to swallow his soul whole. His body numbed in pain and shock.
He struggled to breathe as his vision blurred then, from his blood‑stained hand, an aurous-blue pulse erupted.
Mana ignited from within, swirling in ancient runic spirals, burning through the suffocating darkness.
"Arbor Spirit of the Ancient Wood! Summon!" Longlong's eyes glowed with fierce intensity.
A roar shook the forest an echo not of flesh and bone, but of deep-rooted memory. Surrounding trees quivered. Mana trembled in every leaf.
From the cliff's edge, gnarled ebony roots unraveled and twisted upward as if clawing at the sky. They coalesced into an ancient guardian towering, wood-armored, with smoldering azure eyes.
The Arbor Spirit of Ancient Memory had been summoned keeper of soul and spirit.
It descended onto the battlefield like a primordial phantom, its roar resonating through the air in such a way that even the Forbidden Dragon paused its first sign of hesitation.
The battlefield fell into a tense silence.
The Arbor Spirit raised its massive hand. From its palm sprouted verdant roots that writhed like living tendrils. Glowing glyphs erupted in concentric circles around the dragon's feet runic sigils heavy with soul-fire enchantment.
Kael closed his fists, blood-pulsing mana coursed through him, syncing with the Arbor Spirit's aura.
"Burn Soul Ignition—Cast!"
BOOM!
The ground exploded beneath the dragon's feet. Soul fire erupted in spear-like javelins that drove into its colossal form from tail to crown. A wave of black‑green flames engulfed the beast, engulfing its entire frame.
The forest quivered with a sound like a scream from the dead.
The dragon roared, its body convulsing and limbs flailing. Scales shattered like glass. Hope sparked in every heart this might be the end of the nightmare.
But then...
The dragon's crimson eyes reopened.
The soul-fire vanished.
Its massive form stood firm, untouched.
Worse yet, its shattered scales regenerated sleek, unbreakable, denser than before.
"No… this can't be…" Eiden gasped, pale as ash.
Kael froze. The Burn Soul Ignition was meant to target the deepest essence, yet had no effect?
The Arbor Spirit stepped back half a pace, its bark-like form still dusted in mana residue. It stared at Kael unflinchingly its gaze colder now.
Kael clenched his jaw and thought:
"It has no soul… or…"
"Its soul… is not in its body."
A grim revelation.
This Forbidden Dragon was not just immortal it was a magical engine, operating on something beyond flesh.
Kael whispered to himself, determination ignited anew:
"We must find its true heart…"
He inhaled, eyes hard:
"Spirit of the Ancient Wood, link with me. Let me see inside it!"
The Arbor Spirit growled softly. A glowing eye-like sigil spun into being on its forehead. A streaming current of energy surged from Kael's mind, penetrating the dragon's consciousness through the darkness, weaving through layers of enchantment.
His soul stretched taut sound vanished, light faded
Only pitch-black space remained an ethereal realm filled with flickering runes older than time.
At its center...
Floated a gigantic heart not in the dragon's chest, but sealed within an ancient magical domain. Purple chains pulsed around it, each link screaming as if punishing the dragon's will.
Circling the heart was a labyrinthine array of glowing sigils, alive and coiling like a serpent's maze. Kael stared in awe.
"Not in the body… but… sealed separately."
He snapped back to consciousness, eyes stinging with revelation.
"Longlong send every detail to Eiden. Now!"
Longlong nodded, eyes radiating brilliance. A wave of telepathic energy surged outward piercing the battlefield, reaching Eiden in the rear guard.
As the images hit, Eiden closed his eyes, breath suspended. He received Kael's mental vision: the suspended heart, bound by hundreds of purple chains, crowned by ancient labyrinthic runes matching the Forbidden Dragon's. He gasped as the memory crystallized.
"This is… a NetherGate Sealing a seal system of the Ancient Shadow‑Dragon race…"
He drew a crumbling leather tome from his coat, flipping frantically. The diagram from Kael's vision matched the diagrams of soul‑seal mechanisms verbatim.
"No doubt now…"
With blazing clarity, Eiden pointed toward the ancient forest temple rising behind the dragon.
"The temple! That is the Transfer–Ritual Gate! The only portal into the Heart Labyrinth!"
The battlefield shook.
Louis spun, voice hoarse: "Are you certain?"
Eiden nodded firmly.
"Absolutely. The dragon protects the gate, not its body. We were wrong. We must reach its heart and destroy it from within!"
GaleKaze lowered his spear, eyes incandescent.
"Then what are we waiting for? Split teams pave the way in blood."
Louis gripped his sword tighter and shouted:
"Kael's team, storm the temple! Everyone else, hold the line! Don't let the beast fall back!"
The Forbidden Dragon roared again!
But this time, hope glimmered in every warrior's eyes. They knew the truth now. They saw the path and they would follow it to the end.
As the battlefield erupted in crimson flames and deathly winds, Kael's group raced up the hill, edging around the temple's moss-covered walls and glowing runes.
The temple wasn't large but it exuded oppressive intensity. Glyphs awakened at their approach, pulsing with blood‑vein hues.
Eiden led, inspecting every rune carved on the stone gate. He checked his ancient text, then nodded.
"This is a Shadow‑Dragon Transfer Gate direct link to the Heart Labyrinth, where the heart is sealed."
"Break the seal," Kael commanded, summoning.
Eiden complied he placed a silver Runecore into a stone slot. Immediately, a massive sigil array appeared on the ground, runes lighting in a spiraling pattern the teleportation circle.
Blue-purple light churned beneath them.
"Go!" Draven urged, stepping forward.
One by one, they vanished into the portal carrying the hopes of all who fought outside.
Moments later, the group disappeared into the ancient magic's glow entering the labyrinth's depths.
[End of Chapter 17]
Next Chapter 18: The Final Act