Chapter 1735 - 1026: Black Dragon

It happened really suddenly.

Before anyone could react, an Ancient Dragon with pitch‑black scales dropped out of the sky and blocked their way.

It was a Black Dragon a bit smaller than the Red Dragon on the Flying Dragon Bridge. Normally, a smaller Dragon doesn’t give people that much pressure, but the moment you saw that crimson single eye in the center of its skull, no one was capable of underestimating it.

On the contrary, the instant you caught that red glow emanating from its eye, no matter who you were, you couldn’t avoid feeling fear.

That’s just the instinctive reaction any creature has when it encounters a higher‑tier predator!

[Black Dragon Kalamite] revealed itself in front of everyone.

It was stronger than any giant dragon the adventurers had run into so far!

"Gollum..."

Walking right at the front, practically face‑to‑face with Kalamite, Tami broke out in a cold sweat on the spot, swallowed hard, and even the motion of reaching for his weapon froze halfway.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to move—Kalamite’s oppressive aura was so strong his whole body went numb, his limbs locked up so badly he could barely move.

Move your damned hands already!

At this range he could practically smell the stench coming off the Dragon’s body. As long as Kalamite raised a paw—no, it didn’t even have to raise its paw—one bite and he’d be instantly killed.

Dragon Hunter Ornstein, come save us! If not you, at least send a Tachi Hero! Why is there still a stray Dragon left roaming around here!

Everyone was hard‑CC’d by this Black Dragon’s abrupt entrance; nobody dared act rashly. Who knew whether the next second this Dragon would knock the bridge down and send them all plummeting?

And below the bridge... was a bottomless Abyss.

Judging by how pitch‑black it was down there, if someone said Manus’s giant hand could reach up at any moment and snatch them all away, people might actually believe it.

"Urgh!" Chaos, standing behind Tami, suddenly let out a hostile grunt; they even heard the sound of him drawing his sword.

Hey hey hey, don’t piss this bastard off right now! Cold sweat streamed down Tami’s face as he wondered if he should try to talk some sense into this overly straightforward dark‑skinned kid.

However, just as Chaos drew his weapon, the Black Dragon Kalamite suddenly flapped its wings, rose straight up into the air, and without so much as acknowledging them, flew off into the distance.

Its black silhouette circled through the Skyrim, scattering ill omens, then vanished completely among the towering mountains, and nobody knew when it would show up next.

But at least for now, the adventurers hadn’t suffered an attack from it—misfortune, but with a tiny stroke of luck.

A few minutes after Kalamite’s figure disappeared completely, everyone finally recovered from their paralyzed state. On closer look, the cold sweat each of them had shed was already pooling into small puddles at their feet.

Thankfully, what flowed down was just sweat.

"That was a Dragon, right?"

Tami was the first to speak, his voice a bit shaky.

"My first time seeing a one‑eyed Black Dragon."

When they saw that single eye glowing with blood‑red light, it was like calamity had wrapped itself around them, as if the next second would bring total annihilation.

Neither the Dragons they’d seen in the Sain Dungeon, nor the giant dragons like Elo they’d encountered in reality, had ever given them the kind of crushing pressure that the Black Dragon Kalamite did.

"Lucky it wasn’t interested in us. Chaos, you were really brave just now," the Magician let out a long breath, poked Chaos, and said, "If you’d actually started swinging, you’d probably have dragged us all to our deaths."

Chaos silently sheathed his weapon and shook his head. "I just wanted to test if I could hurt it."

"There’s no upside to picking a fight with something like that," someone said.

"But since a Black Dragon’s shown up, knowing the Sain Dungeon’s personality, we’re definitely going to end up fighting it somewhere down the line."

"..."

Chaos’s words left the others in heavy silence.

"Alright, we’ll deal with future problems in the future."

Tami clapped his hands, pulling everyone’s attention back, then pointed at the building ahead. "Get your heads straight and get ready."

"We’re heading in to face Artorias head‑on. He’s not any easier to deal with than that Black Dragon."

Rather than worrying about some future encounter with Kalamite, they’d better focus on Artorias looming right in front of them.

Why was everyone going to challenge Artorias while their gear and items weren’t even fully set up? It couldn’t just be for the thrill of the fight, could it?

Yeah, honestly, that was part of the reason.

Golden Stone Oath, Golden Tree Oath, Greg’s Great Lune, Flame Empowerment... a whole pile of commonly used buff Magic was cast, granting everyone powerful enhancements.

Released in a specific order based on their traits, the buff Magic stacked together, massively boosting the overall effect, letting the adventurers draw out far greater strength—sometimes even insta‑killing weaker Boss Monsters.

As for how to take down Artorias, Tami’s suggestion was that everyone rush him at once and use high‑power, high‑impact Combat Skills to try to suppress him, absolutely not giving him any time to react.

And when attacking, they had to go hard for the cripple’s good leg, prioritizing breaking Artorias’s one arm that could still move. That way, the difficulty of the fight might drop significantly.

If, by chance, the challenge failed...

Then they’d simply give up on clearing Artorias, either look for some alternate route into Ulashiro, or turn back and bring reinforcements. Surely the other members of the Skyrim Strategy Group would be more than happy to come lend a hand.