Transmigrated to a Dark Fantasy World of SSS-Rank: King of the Void-Chapter 82: Yes, There’s a Dragon

Mitsuki’s expression suddenly darkened. Something from his past whispered to him that those words meant nothing—that what people called "friendship" didn’t exist.

That past was as blurry as fog in the night, yet it remained, even under the moonlight.

’You don’t understand... And you don’t need to.’

He sighed, resigned to answering once more.

"You’re very persistent. If I accept, will you drop the subject?"

"There won’t be any need to talk about something that’s already settled, don’t you think?"

"Okay... Then let’s get back to what we were doing and stop wasting time."

"Of course, man. Let’s keep going. I’ve got plenty of things I can talk to you about along the way."

As he moved toward one of the ruined stone houses, Mitsuki glanced to the side, clearly annoyed and uninterested.

’People who talk too much will always be my worst enemies...’

Now, one of those people was his friend.

Far from there, Azel walked calmly through the village’s wide streets. Everything still felt extremely "natural" around here. The vines had completely taken over the insides of the houses, leaving little chance of finding treasures in good condition.

If you added the presence of that supposed large creature into the equation, things didn’t look any better. Even so, Azel had proven himself to be reckless and carefree. Something like this didn’t seem to bother him at all.

"Man... Doesn’t look like there’s anything good nearby."

He looked up at one of the ruined stone rooftops and, without a second thought, leaped up to get a better view of this part of the village. He crouched at the edge of the roof and frowned.

In the distance, moving from one street to another, he spotted Mitsuki and Monar walking. The dark elf seemed quite lively, talking to the Ashen Kid.

That wouldn’t have been strange if not for the fact that the "distance" from which Azel saw them was far too great. A normal person would only see two dots moving—but he could clearly distinguish both the elf and the boy.

"How boring it is to be alone." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He stopped paying attention to the scenery and began leaping across rooftops at high speed until he found the house in the best condition. Then, completely relaxed, he entered to investigate.

***

Marco’s eyes scanned the area in search of anything shiny and valuable. His armor creaked with each movement, and the sunlight made him shine like a lantern.

Unlike the others, he found a house that looked promising. When he entered the place—a small two-story building with no interior stairs—he quickly spotted a chest against one of the walls.

"A restaurant?"

At least that’s what it seemed like, judging by the remains of rusted metal and rotten wood. The ash had also taken its toll, corroding the establishment.

Marco approached the chest, but first drew his sword and poked it with the tip. At first, nothing happened—but then the container began to shake violently.

"Too good to be true..." he said in a bored tone.

Suddenly, the object snapped open, revealing a mouth filled with sharp, yellowed teeth and a long red tongue writhing grotesquely inside. The chest leaped at Marco with murderous intent.

Blondie swung his sword downward in a clean slash, splitting the chest in two before it crumbled into a pile of ash.

"A Mimic... Of course..."

Unfortunately, he had to keep searching.

Back with Mitsuki and Monar, the two were examining some fine fabrics they had found in the basement of a house in the eastern part of the village, where several crossroads intersected.

The basement interior was small; its walls were covered in wood and old fabrics that would fall apart if touched. A couple of chests along the walls had managed to retain part of their original condition.

The dark elf lifted one of the fabrics from a chest—it was a well-preserved black silk.

"This should sell well. I’m surprised the ash didn’t corrode it."

"Maybe it’s because it was underground inside the chests?" Mitsuki said, touching the fabric with his fingers.

"That’s likely. There are many theories about how the curse works. The most well-known one says the ash has to touch you directly to turn you into a statue. I believe it’s more than just a theory."

Mitsuki reflected as he looked at the decaying walls.

’If the curse needs to touch you directly, what happened to the people who were hiding underground or inside their homes? Did the statues attack them all and turn them into ash?’

It would be like a zombie apocalypse in the medieval era. Most likely, all the statues he had encountered were the result of that "infection." That would remain just another of the many theories surrounding the mystery.

"Anyway. We’ve taken everything from this house. Let’s move on to the next one and—"

"Shhhh..."

A whisper echoed from above, silencing Monar, who looked toward the ceiling with a frown.

The air grew heavy. Mitsuki clenched his fist, nervous—he had heard it too, and felt the shift in the atmosphere.

"That just now was—"

"Yes. Azel will always be reckless. Let’s go up. We need to regroup with Marco."

Mitsuki nodded and followed the elf, who rushed to the surface. They stepped out into the street moments later, watching as the distant roads began to fill with a strange cloud of ash drifting through the air.

On that same street, someone ran ahead of the spreading cloud, moving so fast and erratically that he looked like a clown.

That clown was Azel. He rushed past them without even looking at them, clutching a large golden chalice. As he passed, he shouted something that echoed throughout the area.

"RUN!"

’This has to be some kind of stupid joke...’

With no other choice, both of them ran alongside Azel. The man wore a nervous grin while Monar shot him a murderous glare.

"How did this happen?!"

"I fell through a passage in one of the houses near the plaza. I followed it, and at the end I found that bastard’s nest. There was a ton of gold, so I grabbed this beauty."

’You doomed us all because of your greed, you idiot!’

Behind them, within the cloud of ash, two reptilian eyes blinked. Its body—far too large to fit through the street—dragged itself between the houses, its mouth spewing more and more ash into the air.