Chapter 76 Three Anchor Points: Dragon, Boy, Elf, Witcher, Leopard...

Charlotte Lanmu of Dragontooth Village longs for a peaceful and stable life.

But ever since Long Zhan took her husband away, she realized that her dream was nothing but a delusion.

And after her son was captured by a dark sorcerer and cursed...

How could she survive without her beloved daughter Lucy and her lovely sheep? A lonely farmer in Dragon Tooth Village on the border of Dias, living a life that repeats itself day after day.

The night was especially dark and cold. Charlotte gathered the last bundle of straw and returned home.

But they were startled by the hot air coming towards them.

A giant red dragon is playing with toys with Lucy.

More accurately, they were building blocks, and the degree of tilt of the blocks was enough to make any architect dizzy.

So she did one of the few things she could do:

She let out a sharp scream.

"Oh dear! I'm so sorry, Ms. Lanmu." Honglong quickly stood up. The building blocks were immediately knocked over by her, and several bowls were shattered in the process.

Charlotte sat up and rubbed her temples.

The dragon's scales shimmered a deep red in the candlelight, and its tail had to be coiled up to fit into the cramped space. It looked both guilty and worried, its large claws scratching uneasily on the floor.

“I’m sorry to have startled you, Ms. Lanmu,” Aisusa’s voice was low and gentle. “I should have been more careful.”

Charlotte took a deep breath.

As a farmer living on the border of Dias, she had experienced the Dragon War, lost her husband, and had her son cursed. Logically, she should have been very resilient.

But a dragon was sitting in her living room...

This was indeed beyond her everyday experience.

“Please explain from the beginning,” Charlotte tried to remain calm. “My son, Zack, you’re saying he’s turned into a rat?”

Aisuza nodded: "Yes, that was a few months ago. The henchmen of the dark wizard Knox captured him while they were operating near Dragontooth Village and cast a shapeshifting spell on him. But luckily, he met Ashlyn Bailey and Prince Lucas in the royal city."

“Ashline?” Charlotte remembered the name. “The forest witch?”

"It's her." Aisusa's tail swayed involuntarily, accidentally knocking over a bookshelf, scattering books all over the floor. "Oh! I'm sorry!"

Charlotte closed her eyes, counted to three, and then opened them.

"Please continue."

“In short, Zach has been freed from the curse with the help of Ashlin and Lucas,” Aisuza explained. “Zach sent me to tell you that he is still alive and to ask you not to worry.”

“Not worried?” Charlotte almost laughed. “My son was freed from a curse, and then… that’s it? You’re telling me not to worry?”

Lucy gripped her mother's hand tightly. "But my brother is alive, Mom! That's good news, isn't it?"

Charlotte looked into her daughter's hopeful eyes, and the ice in her heart melted slightly.

Yes, Zach is still alive, and that's more important than anything else.

“So,” Charlotte said, feeling a bit calmer, “where is Zack…?”

"In the labyrinth of Edolo".

Charlotte's eyes rolled back and she fainted.

"Mom!" Lucy nervously helped her up.

Aisusa sniffed. The woman was alive and would wake up soon. Now that she had completed her mission of delivering the message for Zak, she could head to Dragon's Breath Mountain.

Ashlin and Lucas were right. The mountain was teeming with monsters, unlike anything they had seen before. Many plants and trees had been corrupted by the dark magic brought by the labyrinth and dragonfire.

Fortunately, Aisusa's wings had recovered, and she quickly flew to the cave that smelled of dragonfire. The fear brought by the dragonfire had no effect on her; after all, she was a dragon herself, hehe.

“Zack?” she asked tentatively.

On the emerald green crystal, the face of a brown-haired boy appeared.

"Great, you're finally here!" he said happily. "But I'm still not sure what to do. Should we... connect to each other?"

Aisusa touched the hard crystal with her large red claws. Connected... she had to touch Zack.

She held her breath and exhaled a ball of fire into Zack's face.

The crystal's surface melted. Aisuza reached out her claws again, and they actually sank in. She touched Zack's hand, and the warmth flowed like hot milk.

"Is that all?" Zack asked.

“Let’s wait for Ashlin,” Aisusa said. “She’s the key person in the very end.”

“Uh, Aisusa.” Zack’s pupils suddenly contracted. “Watch your back! Is that Hydra?”

In the empty, labyrinthine tunnel, Aidan sniffed.

“Bear with it, Great Musician.” Cassandra stomped on his foot. “This is near the monster’s anchor point. Do you want to wake them up?”

“I’m afraid your voice is louder than mine,” Aidan said, wiping his nose with the corner of his shirt. “That damn cat. If I’d known he was here too, I wouldn’t have agreed to bring you all here…”

Cassandra stopped. "What's that?"

Before them, an insect fluttered its wings, which were patterned with eyes.

Cassandra slammed his head down, causing him to dodge the strange venom sprayed by the moth.

This was the first time he'd ever heard of moths spitting venom. The Witcher reacted swiftly, punching the creature to death against the wall.

"Wow." Aidan smoothed his hair. "Thanks."

Sure enough, to the right of the moth's corpse were ancient, dark tree roots. Some tiny, dark creatures were crawling along those destroyed roots into Ilovenia.

Looking at the oak roots he had destroyed, Aidan couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart.

At first, he really just wanted to get Melia's attention.

They hadn't really spoken in a long time. By "really speaking," I mean that the conversation had nothing to do with politics, Hida, or cat allergies.

The last time they played together was when their parents were still alive. They didn't have anything in common... No matter what happened, Melia wouldn't come to see him on her own initiative.

The goddess above wouldn't even let any of the elves leave, which was driving him crazy.

Yes, he believed Knox's nonsense because it didn't matter at all.

To be honest, he didn't care as much as Knox about whether Cynthia was resurrected or not.

That conversation was outdated to him. He didn't care whether it was Cynthia's reign, Nicholas II's, or Melia's. What did it have to do with him?

Most importantly, he wanted to open Melia's eyes. That was what he truly desired.

He needs Melia, he needs Ashlin. But now Ashlin is out of reach, and Melia is his savior.

"So, what's the next step?" Aidan asked.

"You're asking me?" Cassandra said, displeased. "Aren't you the famous Grand Musician, the Prince of Elf Valley, and the awesome descendant of the Moon God?"

“I’m sorry, I only just found out about my last identity,” Aidan said, raising the Nocali Flute.

The Magic Flute is a gift that carries the element of wind, and wind signifies communication and connection. He closed his eyes and began to play "The Secret of the Oak Tree."

Purple musical notes drifted in from beneath the tree roots, and the dark roots were quickly diluted by his music, becoming translucent.

Melia's face appeared behind the tree roots.

"Starting to play the hero, little brother?" she asked coldly.

Aidan puts down the magic flute.

“Absolutely not.” He wanted to sound sincere. “I did this for you.”

"It's better than your way of expressing it."

“Wow, wait a minute,” Cassandra said. “Are you sure you want to talk about this here?”

“What do you want me to do, Melia?” Aidan gripped his flute, ignoring the Witcher. “Like you, lock yourself on the throne, bury all your emotions and memories in the palace, the entire closed kingdom. After Cliff and Sheida died, you died with them.”

"And what about me?" Aidan pressed. "Melia, what about me? I'm still alive. Do you only love the dead?"

“I’m trying,” Melia said. “Ilovenia has opened up…and is thriving under the protection of the Sheeta statue, except for some dark creatures that we can’t stop. Haven’t you seen it?”

“Unfortunately, no. Because you locked me in the dungeon,” Aidan pointed out.

Cassandra stepped forward. “Wait a moment, Your Majesty Melia! You’ve seen it yourself, dark creatures are crawling out from the roots of your broken tree. We’re here to block the hole. If you want to help, hurry up; if not, step aside. I’ll do it myself.”

The elven siblings looked at each other with complicated emotions. In the end, Melia nodded and reached out her hand to her brother.

“I need your help, Aidan. I, an elf alone, cannot close the labyrinth.”

Aidan hesitated for a moment, then extended his hand as well.

As their fingers touched through the transparent part of the tree root, a soft light spread out from the point of contact.

“Concentrate,” Melia instructed, “remember what the oak tree used to look like.”

Aidan closed his eyes, trying hard to remember. He recalled how, as a child, he and Melia often played around these tree roots, which then emitted a warm light and served as an important passage connecting the elves to the world.

Purple notes floated from the magic flute once more, but this time they intertwined with the silver light released by Melia.

The damaged tree roots began to heal, and the black color gradually faded, replaced by a soft white light.

"It worked!" Cassandra said with delight, while keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings to prevent any dark creatures from taking the opportunity to attack.

Suddenly, the flapping of countless wings reverberated throughout the labyrinth. Melia's face turned pale.

More poisonous moths.

Rae Mara of Coldclaw Forest had a dream.

In the dream, the witch named Ashlin shouted at her leopard ears, ordering her to go to the side of the Spirit Creek, stick her hand into the snow mud where the whirlpool had been opened, and find the dwarf Nova.

That's so strange! She shook her head, intending to go back to sleep, but then her brother Billy suddenly said:

"Forest goddess! I had a dream where Ashlin told us to dig a snow pit. No, wait, to dig for dwarves?"

Damn it.

“This isn’t a dream.” Rae quickly got dressed and dragged her brother out of bed. “Hurry, the witch needs us.”

"Wait, sis, I'm not wearing pants!"

At that moment, a scream pierced the air.

"The monster has emerged from the snow, coo coo coo!" The pigeon man flew over in terror.

Snowflakes were falling heavily in the Frostclaw Forest. Ray and Billy hurried across the Spirit Keeper Creek, chasing away the monsters that were running around everywhere.

The snow vortex that Ashlin had previously torn apart has now shrunk considerably, becoming a small black hole.

"Hey, you idiot? Are you down there?" Ray shouted at the black hole, feeling incredibly stupid.

There was no response.

"Are you still angry with me?" Ray said again. "Listen, I'm sorry I stole your wreath. I'm a selfish scumbag, no, a leopard scumbag."

Silence fell.

“I thought everything would be better if I became Greta… I never considered your feelings.”

There has still been no response.

But that little witch said Nova would come.

"Including building materials?" Nova's voice came immediately.

Ray couldn't figure out what Nova was planning. Was she going to build a house?

"Including building materials."

At that moment, Billy kicked away a guy who looked a lot like a zombie.

"Whatever you're going to do, I suggest you hurry up!"

“Listen, my brother is urging me,” Ray said. “He’s in a hurry to go back and put on his pants.”

Billy was riding on the zombie guy's neck. "Don't slander me, Ray. I wore it later!"

“Deal. Reach out.” Nova finally spoke from below the black hole.

Ray did as instructed.

To be honest, she was somewhat interested in Nova's research. She could definitely be of help.

Moreover, to be honest, she was still an unwanted fugitive in Coldclaw Forest (although no orcs actually arrested her, and everyone was still recovering from the Yeti incident), and it would be too boring for her to stay in the forest all the time.

“But let’s make this clear first,” Ray added to the black hole, “experimental materials that are too dangerous will cost extra… or you can add a cake. I prefer cream flavor, not fruit filling, that’s too childish.”

There was a moment of silence in the black hole, then Nova's voice came: "Why?"

Ray said impatiently, "Why is there a reason? I don't like it."

This statement seemed to puzzle Nova. But she still said, "Okay."

Author's Note: This is a rare chapter that switches to a supporting character's perspective. Actually, I originally wanted to stick to Ashlin and Lucas's perspectives from beginning to end, even Elaine's perspective at the beginning was actually Ashlin's perspective from her dream ().

But I've decided to cut it anyway...