Rescue and Treatment
âLeylin, my friend, you must help me!â At the mention of this curse that was like a maggot hidden in his bones, Bodach put on a painful expression. His huge body laid down on the ground, eyes pitiful as he gazed up at Leylin like an ant. The scene was rather hilarious.
âThis⦠Itâs quite troublesomeâ¦â Leylin furrowed his brows, as if this was extremely difficult. âWhy donât you try settling this with that Lord of Calamity? Heâs currently hibernating, so he probably wouldnât be willing to offend a foreign being of laws too much, no?â He proposed.
âNo, his suolo gems are still with me⦠Err⦠No, Bodach didnât steal anything. Iâm being malignedâ¦â The one-eyed dragon confessed everything without being pressed.
âI seeâ¦â Leylin turned and left, having no interest in offending a powerful Lord of Calamity for a thief.
âUh⦠Wait, my friend. Bodach can help you!â Seeing Leylin intend to leave, the dragon immediately began to panick. Having been tortured by these injuries for such a long time, he knew that this Magus was the only one able to help him aside from that Lord of Calamity himself.
âOh? Help me?â Leylin halted his footsteps, judging the huge body of the One-Eyed Dragon and his yellow eyes with interest, âYou know what I need?â
âNoâ¦â Bodach answered honestly, âBut Bodach once smelled you near the northern territories of the Lords of Calamityâ¦.â
âMy smellâ¦â Leylin did not know whether to laugh or cry, but he did know that one-eyed dragons had extremely sensitive senses of smells.
More importantly, they did not just distinguish between the particles in the air, but tracked things down based on the smells of souls. Hence, even though thousands or tens of thousands of years had passed, anything that Leylin had made contact with back then would not be able to escape his senses.
âYes⦠Itâs a tiny area where some natives work. I once smelt your scent at the very centre⦠It was rather weak⦠Whether the tribe, or you back then!â
The one-eyed dragon had a crafty look in his yellow eyes, âI assume⦠pursuing that friendship in your youth must be one of the reasons that youâve come to Dreamscape, right?â
âSeems like he really has once seen Gillianâs tribeâ¦â Leylin nodded, âBut⦠youâre too naive. Did you think I would offend a Lord of Calamity over a few natives?
âEven with my personal feelings towards them, the value of the natives canât be compared with what might happenâ¦â His relationship with Gillian and the rest were just like strangers coming together at best, taking what they needed from each other. Leylin had probably even invested more, and merely wanted to take a look at them on the way.
Taking care of a complicated curse just to obtain information on them, even offending a Lord of Calamity? Leylin wasnât that foolish.
âI hate Magi the most. Theyâre all so cool-headed and full of schemes⦠Donât you know that in the Ultron World helping others is a great virtue?â Bodach mumbled in his dissatisfaction.
âThatâs why the Ultron World was swept into a few great wars, dropping down from a medium-ranked world to a low-ranked world without a name for itself. Perhaps youâre its only remaining being of lawsâ¦â
Leylin gazed at him, causing the other party to unconsciously look away, âDid you think that Iâd never read the epics of Ultronâs rise and fall?â
âFine! Your great knowledge makes it such that you wonât ever be at a disadvantage! Iâll need to include this in my reflections about the scent of Magi, and pass it down to those of my raceâ¦â The dragon looked crestfallen, âYouâve won. Speak! What do you want before youâll heal me?â
âThatâs the way!â Leylin turned, a smile on his face.
News of a few natives was obviously not enough for him to change his mind, but a rank 7 dragon of laws was somewhat passable.
âFirstly⦠The Dragon Tribeâs Contract of Alliance from before needs to be amended! Give me news about the natives too⦠And⦠even if weâre found by the Lord of Calamity, Iâm just a doctor that you sought out and have nothing to do with this. You are to swear all this upon your truesoul of laws, to the astral and river of space and time!â
As a Lord of Baator, Leylinâs ability with contracts was almost comparable to the great Archdevils. Even the one-eyed dragon broke out in cold sweat.
âGoodness⦠Even the Tieman astral beings, known in the astral world for how harsh they are in their contracts, canât set up such stringent and harsh contractsâ¦â Bodach lamented, grabbing at his head with his huge dragon claws.
Unfortunately, the ball was now in Leylinâs court. He still needed to get Leylin to solve his problems, and therefore had no way to say no.
After they both made the soul oath using their truesouls of laws, Leylin sized up the one-eyed dragon who was as large as a mountain and frowned. âYour body is too huge. Become like me!â
âThatâs easyâ¦â Bodach agreed, body shrinking and melting into a purple light as he turned into a middle-aged man with long purple hair.
Perhaps it was the difference in their racesâ aesthetics, but Bodach had a single eye in this form, a yellow vertical one. Numerous red blood vessels bulged everywhere, making him look somewhat frightening.
However, Leylin did not mind that much. After all, there were far too many strange beings in the astral plane similar to humans. Dreamscape was a region with even more creativity in this area, which was why there was nothing strange about strange life forms similar to humans here.
âButâ¦â Leylin took a look at the back of Bodachâs hand, arm and shoulder. There were still purple eye marks there, stubborn and not disappearing.
âSee for yourself⦠Itâs so troublesomeâ¦â Bodach pinched and broke a purple eye, and large amounts of yellow pus dripped to the ground, corroding into it further to leave a deep dark hole. A new circle of eyes appeared around the purple eyeballs, even more slender than before yet still possessing the same immense hatred and malicious intent.
âYou stole someone elseâs possessions and still dare complain?â Leylin rolled his eyes inside, speechless. However, he knew that what heâd done was more infuriating than that, and besides he was making use of the dragon. He wasnât in a position to criticize Bodach.
âIâll need some time to remove the malicious intentâ¦â Leylin extended his right hand, swiping up some pus with his index finger. The corrosive liquid obviously could do nothing against Leylin, and was burnt to ashes by some green phosphorescence.
Traces of black gas appeared above the green flames, converging to form a few wailing faces that gradually dissipated.
âThis personâs knowledge on souls is not too bad. Itâs an expertâ¦â Leylin nodded, motivation and fervour evident in his eyes.
âLeylin, my friend. Based on the contract, you need to remove a portion of the curse to prove your abilities before it can be effectiveâ¦â The middle-aged cyclops that Bodach had become gazed at Leylin with anxiousness. Desire and thirst were evident in that single eye.
âThough I canât remove the curse immediately, it shouldnât be a problem to interfere with his tracking you. Wear this.â Leylin rummaged through his item-storing magic artifact and found a silver hoop for the head, tossing it to Bodach.
The hoop was completely silver and had strange crimson lines on it, similar to a humanâs veins as it squirmed slightly.
âHm? Leylin, have you gone to the Shadow World before too? The Towa people there like this style of accessories a lotâ¦â Bodach examined it again and again, and even sniffed at it with his nose carefully.
At the end, probably after determining there was nothing with it and perhaps from faith in the contract, he chose to wear it.
âHm? I sense that the malicious intent that seemed to be on my back has finally disappearedâ¦â The moment the one-eyed dragon the hoop, he immediately sighed in relief. Heâd been afraid of the Lord of Calamity tracking him down before, which was why heâd been fleeing like a stray dog when he bumped into Leylin. No matter what he did, there was no way to stop the tracking from the curse. However, this feeling finally disappeared from his bones.
âGreat! This is greatâ¦â Bodach cheered, his sound so powerful that the dust in the surroundings vibrated.
Leylin waved his hands and spoke stonily. âAlright. Bring me to the place you felt me connected with last, and be quick about it!â
âNo problem,â Bodach patted his chest in guarantee, before looking at Leylin with worry, âItâs at the boundary of the River of Annihilated Sighs. We need to pass through regions where three Lords of Calamity are sealed. Leylin, my friend, does this thing really work?â
âDonât worry. Letâs go!â With how Bodach was acting, Leylin knew that he must have offended one of these three Lords.
However, he was rather confident in his concealment. Besides, while Bodach had been discovered and was being pursued, the fact that the two of them were existences of laws would still strike fear in the other partyâs heart. When the time come, Bodach could hand over that suolo gem or whatever it was, and the other side would not put too much pressure on them.
âAnd⦠a Lord of Calamity?â That would be an evil god native to Dreamscape. Between two existences of laws, with one possessing the Nightmare Absorbing Physique, who would have the upper hand?
Leylinâs eyes flashed, and he suppressed the fervour in his mind.
â¦â¦
The old one-eyed dragon was an experienced treasure-hunter after all. He was extremely familiar with the regions in Dreamscape, especially the special underground passages.
Under his lead, Leylin passed through the regions of the three Lords of Calamities without any dangers and arrived at the depths of the northern region. Life in this area was much more abundant, and according to Bodachâs information Gillian and her tribe had most likely relocated to this area, and seemed to be doing pretty well.