Translated by: SaltyTank
Edited by: crimsonwolf8439
This was supposed to be posted yesterday, sorry for the delay :3
I have tried using footnotes for TL notes in this chapter, please tell me if something is not working/screwing up the layout, thanks!
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Chapter 27
Nothing could stop Claudius from reaching the leaf of Yggdrasil, and it was impossible for the elves to hide the leaf which was larger than them. From the books in Sylvia's library, Claudius learnt that it was rather common for the thousand-metre-tall Yggdrasil to have leaves larger than a man, or elf in this case. The leaves were much more powerful and rarer than those from normal trees and the Elven Spirit Tree, thus they were mostly used as spell-casting components by the elves. As there was no doubt that the leaf was the magic core of the fortress, it most likely had other uses other than providing defence magic.
The function of the leaf became crystal clear right after Claudius grabbed it from the altar with his claws — the magic skills imbedded and the Nature Magic elements which belonged to the leaf struck the thief like a thunderbolt.
Dragons were immune to Sleep Magic, but they could be hit by spells such as Maze. As a matter of fact, Sleep Magic could have limited effects on Claudius due to his human soul.
Anyways, Claudius was currently trapped in a pitch-black maze and stars surrounded the Crimson Dragon. He smashed wall after wall but only more walls awaited him, and it seemed that the stars had hypnotic effects. The world spun and spun, driving Claudius closer to sleep. As he was about to succumb to the magic and doze off, an inner voice resounded within his head, "Oi, you piece of shit! Wake the hell up right now!" Claudius instantly became conscious, and he continued to smash the walls vigorously.
While Claudius was struggling in the endless maze, a Jade Dragoness made her appearance. She broke through the elven frontlines with ease, leaving a large opening in the already tattered defence. With a Crimson Dragoness following closely behind, the duo headed for the fortress which had a dimly lit green screen.
Claudius suddenly realized that the leaf was no longer within his claws. Although he was a novice in magic, he could tell that things were going south. Indeed, Claudius' premonition hit right on the spot. The leaf was now miraculously floating above the altar within the half-torn fortress, and in front of it was Sylvia's face, lit up with glee.
"Don't worry about your brother; this weak magic can't deal too much damage to him. Finally, our great plan is about to reach its finale!" Sylvia proclaimed while she took hold of the leaf elegantly (at least that was what she thought).
Meanwhile, Claudius was still stuck in the maze. He was wracking his brains to find a solution as he finally noticed that smashing the walls was not going to work.
"Dammit, where are the minotaurs? If only there were minotaurs, then I would have been able to follow them out of the maze. Speaking of which, I haven't tried eating minotaurs yet, huh? I wonder if they taste like beef or not?" Claudius muttered.
He thought this was what people would call 'divergent thinking', but it was more like random banter instead. It seemed that it would be difficult to break through the maze with brute force, but Claudius was afraid of that he would diminish into nothingness after staying here for too long. This was a needless worry though; this was simply the Maze spell, and it was not some ultimate ability or insta-kill skill. It could not do something ridiculous like dimensional implosion or whatnot.
Sylvia leisurely left the fortress with the leaf without looking back, but Britannia slightly hesitated. She stared at the now-empty altar for a while and finally left when the space above the altar began twisting. While Claudius was busy finding his way out, the world suddenly spun once again and he was back at the fortress for some reason.
"Oh, it's gone. With this, Britannia can finally be released from the contract. It was the best I could do anyways." Claudius shrugged as he looked at the empty altar. He decided to visit Britannia once after the contract was annulled before leaving for a long journey. A whole new world was awaiting him, and Claudius could finally explore freely without worrying about his safety. As for the reason for that, it was simply out of curiosity — due to his human soul, his curiosity was above typical Crimson Dragons and was at about the level of Metallic Dragons.
Claudius did not have much knowledge regarding Dragon Gods and Goddesses, but he was currently inclined towards the Dragon Goddess Aasterinian, the chaotic yet cheeky goddess of invention who loved to travel around. At the same time, Claudius was satisfying the requirements for the Dragon God Io, the main Dragon God who represented eternal knowledge and peace. He belonged to the neutral alignment, and he travelled a lot as well. On the other hand, Claudius was completely uninterested in the five-headed evil Drgaon God Tiamat. Despite his lack of knowledge, Claudius still understood that all was lost once he died if he had not become a follower of a god or goddess by then. This was only applicable to dragons which naturally died of old age, thus it was not be something which Claudius should be worried about for now. It would take thousands of years for him to reach that stage, and he should have solved the issue by that time. As an Earthling, especially from the liberated Eastern Asia, Claudius was more or less an atheist, and the Wall of the Faithless was probably the only thing he 'worshipped'. Claudius remembered that he once said, "Mozedonik1 is my lord!" for a while as he found the phrase quite chuuni after reading it from a book…….
It was obvious that Sylvia took the leaf of Yggdrasil due to the lingering smell of **2 as well as rotten logs in the air. Even so, curiosity prevented Claudius from being taken over by rage and anger as he was interested in the ritual. He extended his wings and jumped, breaking his way through the roof of the fortress, and then headed straight towards Sylvia's lair.
Claudius' flight altitude surpassed any other True Dragons, not to mention his top-notch flight speed. As a result, he arrived only slightly after the two had returned despite leaving the fortress later. Just as Claudius wanted to land and greet them, Sylvia placed the leaf of Yggdrasil into the centre of a magic circle while chanting some kind of incantation along with Britannia.
"Eh? Is this how you annul a magic contract?" Claudius thought.
Claudius circled above the magic circle while observing the two dragonesses. All of a sudden, a dark green ripple surged from the magic circle, spreading throughout the forest. The affected trees and vegetation began to twist and grow abnormally. From the looks of it, it was a large-scale magic which could corrode the elves' barriers. It was quite a good move by Sylvia as the elves would have no choice but to surrender once their territory are corroded.
"Hah? Where's the goddamn contract? Don't fool around with me, you bitch!" Claudius swore in Chinese, "Do you really think I'm a damn retard? Or perhaps you're so confident that you could defeat me, huh?"
This was the first time the Crimson Dragon named Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus got tricked by 'women', and this was certainly not the last. Throughout his lengthy lifespan, 'women' were always his worst enemy. 'I live for the pussy, die for the pussy, fight for the pussy, suffer for the pussy, get tricked by the pussy and ultimately die by the pussy' was probably the best description of his life……
Back to the current situation, Claudius was about the vent out his anger for being deceived by Sylvia. He was not a goody-two-shoes, and he was not going to let this slide easily……
Note1. A meme D&D character of Mao Zedong
2. No idea what was censored