The expression disappeared from Aspirex's face, which had been smiling kindly until now.
Over his face where no emotion could be felt, the image of a Strange Rock Dragon staring intently at him overlapped.
As the atmosphere changed, the air in the hospital room became several times heavier but Osian maintained an unfazed expression and didn't avoid Aspirex's gaze.
What about Strange Rock Dragons?
He had cut down countless Strange Rock Dragons with this sword.
'Of course, I had to fight for an extremely long time because of that ridiculous defense and tenacious vitality.'
If the rewards for hunting them weren't good, he wouldn't have bothered trying to catch them.
That's how tricky the Strange Rock Dragon was among boss monsters to deal with.
And the Strange Rock Dragon in front of him now can use dragon magic.
Moreover, he held power as one who ruled one side of this city.Unlike his kind who only relied on physical strength to fight, he knew how to utilize everything he had.
If they were to fight, it would be trickier than any being he had faced so far.
'If we were to fight, we would have to settle it here.'
It was then that Osian thought this.
The room's atmosphere became even chillier than before.
"Aspirex."
Aspirex and Osian's gazes naturally turned to one side.
The one emanating undisguised displeasure was the white-haired woman.
"What is this behavior towards the benefactor who saved our city?"
Killing intent dripped from her voice as she glared fiercely at Aspirex.
Even Osian, who wasn't directly involved, was almost intimidated by that pressure and Aspirex's eyes trembled as if troubled.
"Well, as the city's mayor, I need to verify people who might be dangerous..."
"You should have received enough reports to know, right? And I told you too. Unless, you don't trust my word?"
"That's not it..."
Osian alternately looked at the two with surprised eyes.
Of all things, Aspirex was completely powerless before this white-haired woman.
'What is this about?'
Aspirex is the mayor of Tirna. That means he's the highest person in this city. Of course, he's not actually a person, but still.
'Yet that Aspirex can't move an inch before this woman. The mayor of Tirna showing such a reaction in the middle of Tirna? Just who is this person?'
The mayor is the head of the city. Naturally, there couldn't be a higher position than that.
That means this isn't an internal city matter, but rather some external issue.
While Osian was thinking this, the woman sighed and held out her hand.
Above her hand, electricity crackled and flashed.
It was pure white lightning.
Osian felt all the puzzle pieces clicking together in his mind.
"Could you be...?"
Osian had one thing come to mind.
It was a quest received from an NPC.
The quest content was to eliminate a corrupted 'evil dragon'.
The NPC giving the request was known to be female, but her appearance couldn't be seen as she wore her hood pulled down deep.
The first place you meet the woman is while adventuring in the early areas.
If you go to certain ruins at night, you can meet her under the moonlight, and she says she's looking for someone.
'Of course, since the character was still weak then, I was rejected for lacking qualifications.'
But the woman hands over a dungeon key saying it would be good to go there if you want to become stronger, and disappears from the spot.
In other words, it was a sort of side quest to obtain an entrance pass to a dungeon that couldn't be entered through normal means.
If it ended there, he would have just passed it off as an unusual encounter. It's not like these types of quests were rare in the game anyway.
But meeting the woman again happens in a snow-covered mountain, a field entering the latter half after passing the middle of the game.
You can meet the woman again, sitting wounded in a corner of a shabby cathedral swept up in heavy snow.
-Ah, it's you. I couldn't recognize you because you've become stronger since I last saw you. This wound? It's nothing. More importantly, can you hear that sound? Yes, that's right. It's an evil dragon. There's a corrupted dragon nearby. If you don't want to get involved, you'd better leave.
At that time, you're given the choice to fight or not fight the evil dragon.
Osian naturally fought the dragon because it was one of the gateways to reaching the final boss.
Of course, you could go fight the final boss without fighting it. In that case, you had to defeat other bosses instead of the evil dragon. Three of them at that.
Whether to defeat one evil dragon or three other bosses.
At the time, Osian chose to defeat the evil dragon because he wanted to finish the playthrough as quickly as possible and because it was faster time-wise.
But as you can tell from the choices, the evil dragon was by no means an easy opponent.
It meant that the process of defeating 3 other boss monsters in succession was equivalent to facing this one evil dragon.
Osian accepted the quest and fought the evil dragon, Numenox who illuminates darkness.
Once a mighty sky dragon but now corrupted with pitch-black scales, that black dragon turned the snowy mountain area into ruins while spewing black lightning and storms.
It was strong, far too strong.
It was one of the bosses known as a 'wall' with one of the highest difficulties even among users.
It had a total of 3 phases.
When entering the final 3rd phase, a sky dragon flies in from somewhere to help, along with a cutscene that's essential to the story.
Flapping its wings, Numenox tries to flee to recover its wounds but Dragon magic suppresses Numenox who illuminates darkness, preventing it from escaping.
Of course, that sky dragon dies as a consequence, pierced by red lightning and falling into a cold ice lake, but thanks to that help, you're given the chance to defeat Numenox.
'Later, after dealing with the evil dragon, if you go to where the woman who gave the quest was, the woman isn't there and instead the quest reward is placed there.'
That reward is a fragment of sky dragon horn and pure white scales that can enhance weapons.
As you can guess by that point, the female NPC who requested the evil dragon subjugation was a sky dragon in human form.
And according to part of the unfriendly script written on the horn and scales, she was apparently of the bloodline of Numenox who illuminates darkness.
She had been searching for someone who could defeat the dragon to stop her corrupted family member.
'A sky dragon NPC whose face was never shown and whose name wasn't even revealed. While she should have died according to the original history, it was different in the 99th playthrough.'
In the 99th playthrough, Osian only rushed straight ahead to defeat the mandatory bosses.
As a result, he ignored pretty much all quests.
He only quickly dealt with areas related to certain NPCs.
'I didn't accept the sky dragon woman's quest either. I didn't even bother going to the cathedral, and just defeated Numenox right away.'
The 3rd phase cutscene only appears if you accept the quest.
Since he didn't accept the quest, there was no help from the sky dragon, and naturally no death either.
The content of the quest he had passed over without much thought finally came back clearly.
"That's right. I am Amenora, the younger sister of the evil dragon Numenox that you defeated."
The white-haired woman - the sky dragon Amenora - gracefully greeted Osian.
"Thanks to you, our clan was able to survive."
Amenora still remembers that distant past.
Upon realizing there was no warrior who could face the evil dragon, she ultimately tried to stop her corrupted brother with her own hands.
Of course, she knew she was no match for him.
He was already the strongest of their clan and he had grown even stronger after becoming corrupted.
Her 'Heaven's Lightning' was no match for Numenox's Red Dark Thunder.
Still, she had no choice but to step up given her position because the corrupted Numenox would kill all sky dragons.
At that moment, someone stepped up in her place.
She didn't know how they found this place, but a knight appeared on this remote, treacherous mountain slope.
The knight fought alone against the evil dragon, wearing pure white armor like the stars in the night sky and wielding a dazzling white sword.
To Amenora, it seemed reckless for a mere human to try and fight the strongest warrior of the sky dragons but the result was the opposite.
After an intense battle, it was Numenox who fell.
The knight who granted peace to Numenox silently left that place.
Amenora, having barely recovered from her injuries, could only watch that retreating figure.
Because she hadn't forgotten that appearance, she could recognize him right away.
That Osian working as a fixer was the very person she had been looking for.
How could a human live through such a long time?
She didn't bother expressing that doubt. Beyond defeating the evil dragon, Osian had single-handedly defeated even foreign gods and ancient giants.
Though human, he had already far transcended humanity.
Would it be so surprising that such a person appeared in this world again?
Rather, the mere fact that Osian had appeared in this world again proved his greatness anew.
"I believed that you would surely appear again someday and my belief wasn't wrong."
Her sparkling eyes were filled with admiration for Osian.
While Osian understood Amenora's behavior intellectually, he couldn't help feeling the rising pressure.
'I didn't hunt the evil dragon to be treated as a benefactor.'
He just hunted it because it was one of the mandatory bosses that needed to be defeated to progress the story.
There was absolutely no nobility or greater cause in that action.
From Amenora's perspective, Osian was a noble warrior who defeated the evil dragon and disappeared somewhere without seeking any honor or reward but from Osian's perspective, it was just a speedrun to quickly clear the next boss.