"Trying to run now? Isn't it a little too late? Yashenryu Battoujutsu — Flying Dragon!"
A flash of silver light burst from the sheath, like a fleeting streak across the sky. In the instant the air cracked, a thin but incredibly fast slash shot out from the blade in Yecheng's hand, flying toward the already distant Poison Dragon.
The Poison Dragon, having flown far away, had assumed it was safe when Yecheng didn't pursue it. From this distance, there was no way a human could catch up—unless he used ranged magic.
But the dragon's scales were highly resistant to magic, so it wasn't too worried. It felt certain it had escaped danger.
Just as that thought crossed its mind, a chilling sense of death suddenly surged through it. As it turned its head to see what was happening, a dazzling stream of light suddenly filled its entire vision.
It didn't even have time to react—the blue flash had already pierced through its body. And then... there was nothing more.
The mighty Poison Dragon that had been soaring through the sky now had its eyes lose their glow. With a soft breeze passing through, its massive body was suddenly split clean in two mid-air.
BOOM——————!
The dragon's corpse crashed to the ground in two halves, finally bringing the stunned elf girl back to her senses.
She had initially hoped Yecheng wouldn't throw his life away. After all, for human adventurers, a Poison Dragon was an enemy far beyond what one could face alone.
What she hadn't expected was that Yecheng was that strong—not only could he hold his own in close combat against a sub-dragon, but he even managed to slice the Poison Dragon in half with a single strike!
"The mountain collapses, evil shatters, light shines through crystal, thunder echoes far on the peaks, night descends over the sea of clouds, reversing the mountain's form...
Binding Spell No. 73 — Crystal Reversal!"
As the elf girl was still frozen in shock, a downward-pointed triangular crystal barrier suddenly enveloped her.
At first, seeing herself trapped inside, she thought Yecheng had ulterior motives. She struggled to stand, body weak and trembling, clutching her sword and glaring at him warily.
"I didn't plan to get involved, but since I did, letting you die now would make all that effort pointless.
If we don't deal with the poison in your body soon, you'll end up like that guy.
Also, could you stop moving around? You barely have any clothes left. If you keep squirming, it's distracting and I can't focus on healing you properly.
Trying to seduce me as payment won't work either. Saving your life and the treatment—those are all extra charges."
Hearing Yecheng's words, the elf girl looked down at her current state—and her face instantly turned beet red.
She let out a flustered little gasp, quickly crouched down, and shot him an angry glare, filled with embarrassment.
"Who are you, really? Why are you so strong? And what kind of magic is this? It's completely blocking the Poison Dragon's venomous mist."
Once she realized the crystal wasn't meant to trap her, but to protect her weakened body from the toxic mist, her guard began to slowly lower.
And when Yecheng started using Kaido to heal her wounds and cleanse the poison, her surprise only grew.
In this world, almost everyone could use magic—but healing and recovery spells were rare. Most adventurers relied on potions when injured.
As a royal elf, she possessed a secret technique to store items in a personal space. She did have healing and detox potions in storage.
But for some reason, when Yecheng offered to heal her, she didn't say a word about it—almost like she was under a spell.
"Wait, are you a curiosity machine or something? Why so many questions?
I mean, look at me—I'm obviously handsome, so of course I'm strong too. What's so strange about that?
Don't you know it's rude to dig into people's private info? Especially when you haven't even paid an intel fee. Why should I tell you anything?"
The elf girl was speechless. From just a short interaction, she already had a pretty clear picture of what kind of person Yecheng was. Without saying anything, she reached into her storage space and casually tossed a cloth pouch full of coins onto the ground.
"Here's your so-called treatment fee and intel fee—all paid up. Now can you answer my questions?"
The moment Yecheng saw her pull something out of thin air, he was stunned to realize that space-type magic actually existed in this world.
And then his eyes locked onto the bag. Judging by the sound it made hitting the ground, and the glittering gold coins that spilled out—it was a whole bag of gold!
This girl wasn't just rich—she was filthy rich!
Why? Because the two A-rank quests Yecheng had taken—"Clear the Underground Dungeon" and "Slay the Poison Lizard-Beast"—only offered 10 and 15 gold coins respectively.
In this world, one gold coin was enough to live luxuriously for three whole days.
And this elf girl—no, this elf lady tycoon—had just casually tossed him a bag that had at least a hundred gold coins. That was worth almost ten A-rank quests!
In that instant, Yecheng suddenly felt like saving her had been so damn worth it.
"Boss, hello, I'm Nan Yecheng. Don't you think this Crystal Reversal barrier is a bit... basic? I could totally upgrade it into a deluxe, comfy version for you.
And that healing I just used? That was only the standard version of Kaido. I also have a luxury version available—would you like to try it?"
The elf girl was completely stunned by how fast his attitude flipped the moment he saw the bag of coins.