"Is she another adventurer who took the same quest? Is she planning to slay the Venomous Dragon?"
The elven girl wore a leather battle dress in black and yellow tones, and even in this world full of beautiful men and women, her looks were exceptional enough to be called a true beauty.
Yecheng had originally planned to leave—not because he lacked the courage to fight the Venomous Dragon, but because he didn't want to be taken advantage of.
He was planning to find a nearby village, report the situation, and negotiate a higher reward. After all, he wasn't going to work for free without some extra pay.
But what he didn't expect was the sudden appearance of a competitor.
The location of the Venomous Dragon was much farther than the previous underground dungeon. Just reaching this place had taken Yecheng two full days. Then, using a map to track down the dragon took him nearly half a day more.
To think he had cleared that first dungeon quest in less than half a day.
Having wasted so much time, Yecheng naturally didn't want to return empty-handed. But now, before he could even negotiate with the local village, this elven girl had already rushed in to challenge the dragon. If she killed it, wouldn't all his effort have been for nothing?
With that in mind, Yecheng paused. On one hand, he was worried his prey would be snatched; on the other, he was curious—what did a true powerhouse of this other world look like?
Rex definitely didn't count as a strong opponent in Yecheng's eyes. But this orange-haired elf girl… he couldn't judge her strength just yet.
However, the fact that she dared to charge at a massive dragon radiating intense energy clearly showed she had confidence in her abilities.
"ROARRRRR——!"
The furious roar of the dragon interrupted Yecheng's wandering thoughts, as the elven girl now charged in with her longsword, launching her assault.
As an elf, the girl could naturally use magic—and she was no amateur. In fact, she even seemed to possess some secret arts unique to the elven race.
Even her swordsmanship was impressive in Yecheng's eyes. Overall, in terms of combat strength, this girl could probably beat a dozen or two of someone like Rex without breaking a sweat.
As Yecheng had guessed earlier, the Venomous Dragon wasn't a pure dragon species. It was a hybrid, more like a subspecies—similar to how orcs were demi-humans.
But still, anything with dragon blood or lineage was never something to take lightly.
The elven girl demonstrated her skill, using her agility to dodge the dragon's many attacks, and landing multiple blows with her sword, leaving marks on its tough hide.
However, the title "Venomous Dragon" didn't just refer to its sturdy body and draconic strength.
Once truly enraged by her taunts, the dragon unleashed its trump card.
A thick cloud of corrosive, purple poison mist spewed from its mouth, quickly spreading over several kilometers.
What had once been a lush grassy plain was reduced to a barren wasteland in an instant—the toxic mist causing all surrounding vegetation to wither and die.
The elven girl, caught in the initial blast, reacted quickly—forming a magic barrier around herself using mana.
But to her horror, the mist's corrosive power was so strong that even her magical shield began to dissolve.
She had already used up a lot of mana during the fight—especially for spells like flight. Now, surrounded by poison mist, her mana was rapidly depleting.
The venom's effect on exposed bodies was clear: if plants could be reduced to dust in seconds, then flesh didn't stand a chance.
Worse still, the mist lingered in the area. Just maintaining the shield to prevent exposure was a drain on her resources. The longer the battle dragged on, the more it tipped against her.
In contrast, though this was only a subspecies of dragon, its massive size wasn't just for show—it had a huge reserve of magic power.
And it clearly wasn't a mindless beast. It hadn't used its special attack right away, likely waiting until the elven girl had spent most of her strength, ensuring she wouldn't be able to escape once trapped.
Judging from the current situation, the elven girl's defeat was almost certain. Escaping a multi-kilometer-wide poison cloud would be hard enough under normal circumstances—let alone while fending off a dragon.
Her magic was nearly gone, and her shield had thinned so much that even her clothes began to dissolve, revealing large portions of her pale skin.
Worse still, while the shield blocked direct contact, living beings had to breathe—humans and elves alike.
During the intense battle, she had already inhaled a significant amount of the poisonous air. Her brain was starting to feel foggy, her thoughts growing faint.
"Was challenging the Venomous Dragon alone too reckless after all? Looks like... this is where it ends for me."
Surrounded by toxic mist, drained of mana, and now even her consciousness fading, the girl—full name Sutrulu Chiralzegarunelruleia Agranzelga Elga—saw no path to victory and began to await death with unwilling resignation.
"Tch... If you're not strong enough, then don't try to steal my prey. This beast is mine, okay?"
"And seriously... after I kill this big guy, I wonder if the village will still pay extra once I drag its corpse back to them."
The Venomous Dragon had intelligence far beyond regular monsters, but it couldn't speak.
So the voice that reached the elven girl's ears could only belong to a third party—someone other than her and the dragon.
And when Sutrulu Chiralzegarunelruleia Agranzelga Elga opened her eyes, she saw a man with white hair standing calmly before her.