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In “Sword & Magic Chronicle,” Black Water Elgore was a high-ranking officer in the Demon King’s Army who established a pirate band and occupied the port city of Eastern Port along the Eastern Coast.

Due to the occupation by the Demon King’s Army and Elgore’s tyranny, Eastern Port turned into a city that resembled a cursed land where no one could live.

This gruesome sight was faithfully recreated in the game, with charred human corpses on stakes displayed from the very entrance of the city, and specialized slaughterhouses set up in the sewers.

Players who experienced the game were understandably horrified by this horrific scene, and it became somewhat customary in the community to document how brutally they killed the culprit, Black Water Elgore.

“How fortunate. I thought I was the only one drifting here, but it turns out I had a comrade.”

However, what about the Elgore in front of me?

He was grinning so widely that his eyes seemed to crinkle, cheerfully tossing firewood he had prepared into the campfire.

Elgore approached us in a friendly manner, and even I, who had no intention of fighting right away, found myself awkwardly sitting in front of the campfire with him.

“So, young one, what do you think caused this phenomenon?”

Above all, this degenerate was referring to me as “young one.”

I wanted to ask why he was using such a term, but I held back, fearing he might find something to pick on.

“My companions explained it as a distortion of time and space. It seems a natural entity with enormous power has entangled the nearby space.”

“…Hmm. That sounds complicated. I’m not smart enough to understand it.”

Elgore scratched the back of his head and looked at the gigantic crater in the center of the island.

“Then, the cause would be that thing over there, wouldn’t it?”

“Perhaps.”

A black rock was embedded at the center of the crater.

Sure enough, according to Emily’s analysis, it seemed that the rock was what was entangling the surrounding space and time.

Rather than a rock…

“It’s a meteorite.”

“Yeah, I know that much, young one.”

Elgore patted my shoulder.

I felt an instinctive wave of disgust wash over me, but I forced it down.

Just because Elgore treated me kindly and smiled pleasantly, it didn’t change the fact that a demon was evil.

But attacking him right now would be foolish.

Of course, Ophelia suggested killing him immediately.

“Can’t we just drown that bastard here and now?”

“That’s impossible.”

Setting aside Elgore’s inherent power, we couldn’t use mana or spirit magic in this place. Although Ophelia had a small amount of divine power remaining, it wasn’t sufficient to kill Elgore.

“Why? That bastard can’t use mana or magic either.”

“Ophelia, listen carefully.”

“Okay?”

“Black Water Elgore does not use magic, mana, divine power, or spirits.”

“…Huh?”

“His combat power comes entirely from this body of his.”

What is often called external power in martial arts.

It is said that Elgore’s physique is descended from the primordial beings known as the Titans among demons.

This was information straight from the game’s tooltip, and during the boss fight against Elgore, even throwing a magic seal item wouldn’t cause a dent.

Even the clothes and ornaments he wore were all ordinary items.

In other words, if we solely consider raw physical strength, no one could match him.

Only someone like Azar with a Mark would provide a decent fight.

“What the hell is that? That’s cheating. How are we supposed to win?”

“That’s the Demon King’s officer for you.”

In terms of overall combat prowess, Elgore was outmatched by other Demon King’s officers.

The Demon King’s Army was populated by such monsters.

We had to get through them to reach the Demon King.

“So what are we going to do?”

Ophelia glared at the back of Elgore’s head, dissatisfied.

It couldn’t be helped.

“Well… for now, we should at least pretend to be friendly.”

For the time being, we had to appease him.

I grimaced as I looked at the meteorite embedded in the middle of the island.

“Anyway, we need to escape this island too.”

*

That evening, Emily and Erwin each took different approaches to analyze the meteorite.

Emily was the scholarly type.

She examined the material of the meteorite and tried to feel the energy emanating from it.

However, Emily’s attempts ended in failure.

“I don’t get it.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“Nothing.”

Emily stomped her feet in frustration.

“Damn it, my master didn’t teach me this stuff!”

“…Why are you suddenly getting angry?”

“Because I’m mad!”

Seeing hints of Emily’s original character emerging, I hurried to calm her down.

In contrast to Emily, Erwin was the practical kind.

Well, rather than being practical, he was simply blunt and reckless.

Crash!

“It won’t break.”

He brought out his bow and began shooting at the meteorite.

Of course, without using spirit magic, Erwin had no power to shatter the meteorite, and it didn’t even get scratched.

“I feel like if we can break that, we can find something.”

“But we don’t know what’s inside it, do we?”

“Exactly! That’s why we should break it.”

Seeing Erwin say that cheerfully, one word popped into my head.

Brat.

“Um.”

On the other hand, Azar seemed to have a different thought about this meteorite.

“I can’t help but think this doesn’t resemble a meteorite.”

“What do you mean?”

“The South is a dangerous area. It’s filled with countless monsters and beasts.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“…What I experienced down there was…”

Azar gazed at the meteorite with a serious expression.

“It could be an egg… or rather, it definitely is an egg.”

“An egg?”

As soon as I heard that, my brain froze.

I had thought it was undoubtedly a meteorite since it was embedded in the crater, but something seemed off.

Could a meteorite even be oval-shaped with a smooth surface?

“If that’s an egg…”

There’s only one creature that could have the power to warp time and space around the island and sea surrounding it, no matter how small it may be.

There’s a monster you can encounter just once in the game. And that monster is the Grim Reaper, which promises an instant game over upon encounter.

“Hey, Elf! You think you can break a meteorite with just that kind of attack? My toothpick would be sharper!”

Meanwhile, Elgore, who had been quietly watching Erwin’s blunder, stepped forward and twisted his arms.

“Looks like it’s time for this big guy to show some strength.”

Then Elgore assumed a combat stance.

Heat shimmered off his muscles.

“Isn’t that… dangerous?”

“…It seems impossible to stop him.”

As Azar mumbled that, Elgore’s enormous fist came crashing down toward the egg.

Boom! A shockwave powerful enough to send Ophelia flying like a piece of paper erupted.

Black Water Elgore, the brutal combatant, unleashed such power with just his body.

And this was just his basic attack.

“Man, it really is tough!”

Elgore smiled broadly, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and raised his fist again.

Then he began to unleash a flurry of punches.

With each punch, the ground around the meteorite, no, the egg, sank. The fist marks became imprinted into the rock, and gusts of wind whipped through the area.

And then…

Crack!

“Uh-oh?”

Elgore furrowed his brow.

The egg was cracking open.

“…It wasn’t me.”

Elgore seemed to have sensed it and looked at his fist.

“Hey, little one, it looks like it’s breaking on its own?”

“…Well, that’s probably true.”

It’s a living creature.

It’s responding to the strong impact and wanting to come out into the world.

Finally, the egg split in half.

And then…

Whoosh!

A pair of black wings burst forth from the released dark smoke.

Yellow eyes.

Sharp silver teeth.

And finally, claws the size of Ophelia’s torso.

“…Whoa!”

Elgore exclaimed in excitement.

What emerged from the egg was a dragon.

Not just any dragon…

“It’s a Black Dragon.”

“Yes, a Black Dragon. The legendary beast.”

Azar muttered, seemingly in disbelief.

Of course, I felt the same way.

A Black Dragon. A creature that appears only once in the game.

Why on earth is it here?

 

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