CHAPTER 49: The Wyvern Rider
The wyvern rider, an Elf named Poldre, looked disgusted when he saw Jinwoo.

"Ipril! Are you kidding me? Making my Gorong carry a mere human?"

"Watch your mouth, Poldre. This man is different from other humans."

"Dammit, so the rumor that Ipril smashed her head on a tree stump was true! Calling a mere human 'Master'..."

"Enough. Just give us a ride. I'll pay."

Poldre kicked at the pebbles on the ground and grumbled, but Ipril remained unfazed, holding out the leaf-money.

It seemed her stubbornness worked on everyone.

"If you think I, Poldre, would abandon the pride of an Elf for a few measly coins like this…"

Poldre was making a show of his displeasure when his eyes fell on Ipril's hand. His gaze instantly scanned the value of the leaf-money. It was the unavoidable instinct of a merchant.

"Tch, get on. But don't blame me if you fall off."

Apparently, it was too much money to refuse for the sake of his pride.

He'd only seen three or four leaves, so was the denomination of each one that high?

Poldre leaped onto the saddle on the wyvern's back, and Ipril followed suit. Her muscular body was quite heavy, causing the wyvern to momentarily stumble.

As Jinwoo was about to get on, his eyes met the wyvern's.

— Krrrrrrrr!

As a threat, the beast glared, shooting a murderous aura at Jinwoo.

A wyvern was a draconic monster, and a very powerful one at that. It was far fiercer than the Shadow he had seen during the first Erosion.

Perhaps because it was tamed by an Elf, the wyvern was directing intense killing intent toward Jinwoo, a human.

"Hmph, if you're scared, you can just go back," Poldre sneered from the saddle as he checked the reins.

But then, the wyvern retracted its killing intent and cowered. The eyes that had been glaring at Jinwoo were now averted, looking off to the side.

"Gorong? What's wrong? Are you not feeling well?" Poldre asked in a slightly flustered voice, stroking the wyvern's neck.

In that time, Jinwoo climbed onto the wyvern, and the creature called Gorong flinched.

"Are you okay, Gorong? You can fly, right?"

Only after Poldre had soothed it several times did Gorong spread its wings wide and take flight.

"Master, the wyvern doesn't seem to be in the best condition," Ipril noted.

"I see," Jinwoo replied noncommittally, his mind elsewhere.

'Is it because I absorbed a dragon's soul? Or is it because of the dragon's mana I absorbed with the Dragon Sword?'

Whether it was because of the soul or the mana, he didn't know, but it seemed Gorong had sensed the presence of a dragon within him.

Kalesian had also realized I was the one who devoured his kind the moment he saw me.

Perhaps draconic beings had a developed sense for such things.

'Well, as long as it flies properly, it's fine.'

Whatever the case, Gorong flew safely toward the Keldra Mountains.

Toward the distant ridge and its peak, Gorong powerfully beat its wings.

They arrived at the summit of Keldra Mountain in no time. Ipril had said it would take a day or two, but it was much faster than that.

"Poldre, do us a favor and circle around a couple of times."

Ipril requested that Poldre circle above the ruins. It seemed she wanted to survey the area from the air before landing.

"Tch! I'm only doing this because you're a regular, got it!?"

Poldre grumbled but still circled above the ruins. Either Ipril had paid him a lot, or his service was just that good.

Either way, it didn't matter to Jinwoo, who focused on observing the ruins.

It was a building made of very old bricks, its surface completely covered in moss and ivy.

Even from up here, he could feel a damp and gloomy atmosphere. The air was much heavier than it was down the mountain.

After observing the ruins for a while, Ipril spoke to Jinwoo.

"Where do you think the garden is, Master?"

"Hard to say."

A garden would naturally be outside. But there was nothing of the sort around the building.

There were only empty lots where walls had collapsed or traces of where something once stood.

One of those might have been the remains of a garden, but Jinwoo thought otherwise.

Because…

'There's a Black Flame in the basement.'

He could feel a Black Flame emanating from beneath the ruins.

The God of Moonlight Forest wouldn't have designated this place as a trial site for no reason. It couldn't be a coincidence that he was sensing Erosion at the trial location.

"Ipril, let's land."

"Yes. Poldre, take us down."

At Ipril's command, Poldre controlled the wyvern and landed at the entrance of the ruins.

After dropping them off, he pulled on the reins again. Gorong spread its wings wide.

A white light gathered at the tip of Ipril's finger. The light flew through the air towards Poldre, who received it.

"When we're done, I'll send a signal through a spirit, so come pick us up."

"I know, I know."

With a final grumble, he departed. The powerful beats of Gorong's wings quickly carried him away from the mountain.

"Shall we go, Master? Do you know where we need to go?"

"Yeah. I'm not certain, but I have an idea."

Jinwoo and Ipril entered the ruins.

The entrance wasn't that large; Ipril had to duck her head slightly.

Sunlight streamed through the cracks in the broken and fractured stone walls, illuminating the inside of the ruins.

In the sparse beams of light, they could see monsters moving about. They were snakes, their bodies covered in moss.

"We call them Moss Snakes. As you can see, they are quite large and carry a potent venom. A bite can be fatal within a day."

Ipril stepped forward, telling him to hide carefully behind her.

The Moss Snakes noticed them and became wary. They didn't charge immediately, instead holding their ground and watching, which made them seem quite tricky.

"Hup!"

Ipril slammed a wooden shield strapped to her forearm into one that rushed a gap, sending it flying.

It was a round shield with a clear, crystal-like orb embedded in the center. The attacking Moss Snake couldn't withstand the impact and exploded in mid-air.

It didn't seem to be a special ability of the shield… but rather Ipril's own physical strength.

Sensing it would be difficult to get past her, some of the snakes charged at Jinwoo, but they were all bisected by his sword.

With every flash of his blade, a pile of Moss Snake corpses grew. Simultaneously, their souls were absorbed by Jinwoo, slightly increasing his power.

'Not by much, but still.'

Every little bit counts. He couldn't afford to miss out on these.

Ipril was surprised to see Jinwoo fight far better than she had expected. No, it was more than that; she sensed a level of mastery in his swordsmanship that she couldn't comprehend.

'This is… no less than when I saw Lin Shenlin's sword.'

Part of the reason she believed she wasn't yet at the 5th-Floor level was because she had seen Lin Shenlin's sword.

When she first set foot on the 3rd Floor, she had seen his swordsmanship and had been unable to understand it.

That was still true now, even with the blessing from 48 million Contribution points. She still couldn't comprehend that sword.

She felt that same sensation now from Jinwoo's sword. It was equally, if not more, incomprehensible.

"Master, are you by any chance a 5th-Floor knight?"

Jinwoo was puzzled by the sudden question.

"You mean the Hunters who are active on the 5th Floor? I've never even been there. In fact, this is my first time on the 3rd Floor."

"Excuse me…? This is your first time on the 3rd Floor?"

"Until the last Gate, I was on the 2nd Floor."

Ipril was at a loss for words. When she saw Lin Shenlin, she had thought the world was full of monsters, but Jinwoo was a monster in a completely different sense.

At least Lin Shenlin was someone who had come down from the 5th Floor. For someone who had just come up from the 2nd to be this strong was unbelievable!

Leaving the stunned Ipril behind, Jinwoo quickened his pace toward the basement.

The Moss Snakes were threatening monsters, but they weren't particularly strong. And with Jinwoo's ability to see the Blue Flame, surprise attacks from the darkness were ineffective.

Without much difficulty, the two made their way down to the basement and soon discovered a room.

The aura emanating from that room made not only Jinwoo but also Ipril's face harden.

"Is this… Erosion?"

"Yeah."

At this proximity, even Ipril could sense it.

The hidden underground chamber they found was thick with the energy of Erosion, and surrounding it was a strong, golden mana.

From outside the room, Jinwoo peered inside.

The scene within the hidden chamber felt slightly dissonant.

The walls and ceiling were made of the same mossy bricks as the rest of the ruins, but the floor was dirt. There was also a small tree and a tiny puddle of water.

It fit, yet it felt strangely out of place. It was as if only the floor had been cut out and crammed into this secret room.

It was a similar feeling to when he saw the jumbled buildings of Pandemonium.

"The fruit on that tree… it must have been a golden apple," Ipril said, covering her nose and pointing at the fruit.

The apple, which must have once shimmered with a mystical light, was now completely rotten and twisted.

That apple was the source of the Black Flame.

"Do you know what a golden apple is?"

"There are several legends, but the gist is that it's a divine elixir. As such, it contains powerful magic and is said to be particularly specialized in protection and sealing."

Because of this, many legends involving the golden apple were about such things, like borrowing its power to protect a loved one or receiving it as a gift from a god.

Since it was an Elven legend, the god mentioned here was the World Tree.

'So there's a legend related to the World Tree.'

Could he consider this a clue? It was too early to say for sure, as there was no guarantee that legends of the golden apple were exclusive to the Elves.

"Is dealing with that the content of your trial, Master?"

"Yeah. To retrieve a golden apple from the Garden of Briel Dra."

"You should give up. That is no longer a golden apple."

Ipril shook her head, telling him to abandon the thought.

There was no telling if it would be recognized as a golden apple even if he took it, and in the first place, they couldn't even get inside.

The Erosion in the room hadn't spread throughout the ruins because the golden apple's mana was blocking it.

That meant the path for them to enter was also blocked.

Thud! Thud!

"As I thought, it's no use."

Just in case, Ipril struck the mana barrier forcefully, but the wall didn't budge.

There was no way a mana barrier strong enough to block even Erosion, albeit temporarily, could be easily broken.

Even Lin Shenlin from the Temple of the Sky probably couldn't do it.

As Ipril rubbed her sore hand from striking the wall, Jinwoo asked her.

"Ipril, can you see that?"

"If you mean the apple, I can see it clearly."

"Not the apple, what's on top of it."

"On top of the apple? I don't see anything."

While Ipril tilted her head in confusion, Jinwoo's expression was grim.

On top of the rotted golden apple, faintly drawing breath, was…

A fairy.

"Step back a bit."

"Back?"

Sending the obstructive Ipril to the rear, Jinwoo stood with his sword drawn.

The golden energy was preventing the Erosion from escaping. Could his sword reach the Black Flame beyond this energy?

As a test, Jinwoo swung his sword.