Tale of the Red Dragon Without Dragon’s Might
Chapter 163 - 162: Great Effort Creates Miracles

Chapter 163: Chapter 162: Great Effort Creates Miracles

Compared to other overly self-assured Blue Dragons, Tassera possessed a degree of self-awareness, for a simple reason: she was a Storage Dragon and a mage. Spell models and mathematics were somewhat similar in nature; if you don’t know something, you just don’t know it. After failing enough times, anyone would naturally learn a sense of perspective.

Tassera understood her own abilities. Although she had mastered many spells, which made her a bit stronger than an average Blue Dragon, the difference wasn’t dramatic. It’s like how a mage skilled in numerous spells isn’t necessarily more powerful than a clueless warrior.

It had to be said that spending excessive energy on spell mastery inevitably led to neglecting other skills, such as mobility, melee combat, and so on. In fact, even the powerful Chain Lightning wasn’t as strong as a Blue Dragon casually using their Lightning Breath, and Autumn Dance Technique couldn’t necessarily surpass Frightening Majesty in terms of control.

People immersed in their own affairs can be blind to their flaws, while bystanders often see things more clearly. Friends often understand you better than you understand yourself. Leon thought he was only slightly stronger than a mature Red Dragon, but in Tassera’s view, he was being overly humble. A Red Dragon equipped with numerous astonishing spells, capable of wielding swords, and seemingly without weaknesses wasn’t an opponent that an ordinary mature Red Dragon could compete with.

To Tassera, Leon was an existence whose power far surpassed her own. If she were to adventure with Leon, she feared she wouldn’t have much opportunity to demonstrate her abilities.

Being needed is a universal desire, and Tassera was no exception to this longing. She didn’t want to forever be overshadowed by Leon’s brilliance; she wanted her own chance to shine. Now, finally, the opportunity had arrived.

Leon excelled in strength but had shortcomings in other areas. For instance, when it came to books, he didn’t like classic literature but preferred light-hearted, fast-paced novels that required zero brainpower to enjoy.

"To open this door, we need to solve the puzzle. Do you know how to do it?" Tassera glanced at Leon, who was frowning deeply, and couldn’t help but laugh gleefully.

"I’ve already figured it out." Tassera’s smile remained intact. "This is a Magic Door, but it’s not testing your magical prowess; it’s testing your intellect."

"What’s so difficult about that... If I’m not mistaken, all you have to do is keep rearranging those patterns, piecing together the disordered images until you restore them to their original state to open the door." Leon looked at the door, his expression slightly peculiar, surprised that puzzles like this existed in this world.

"So, do you know how to solve it?" Tassera crossed her arms, unimpressed. Understanding the premise wasn’t remarkable; knowing how to complete the solution was the crucial part.

It wasn’t a nine-square puzzle, nor a sixteen-square puzzle, but an intimidating eighty-one-square puzzle, with no complete reference image provided. After only glancing at it, Leon felt a headache coming on and said, "I don’t know how to solve it, but I don’t think we need to. Can’t we just use a Knocking Skill?"

The Knocking Skill, also known as the Lock Opening Skill, allows you to target an object within range—be it a door, box, chest, manacle, or padlock—and under the influence of magic, unlock, unseal, or unlatch it.

"If you can think of that, others might have thought of it too." Tassera touched the door. "This door has a Secret Magic Lock on it, so the Knocking Skill won’t work."

"If magical solutions won’t work, then physical force will." Leon reached out, summoning the Catastrophe Blade from thin air. He thought back to playing games, where opening doors never involved locks or Knocking Skills. Magic Positions were too precious to waste on such things; smashing, slashing, or hacking was always the way to go.

Of course, when it came to treasure chests, he wouldn’t dare to be so violent, lest he accidentally destroy the treasures inside.

Leon was brimming with confidence. After all, his sword was a refined gold weapon, equipped with a "cuts through iron and gold" trait. Whenever it struck an object, it always delivered heavy damage. Plus, it had an "indestructible" trait, capable of bypassing resistance to slashes. He swung the sword forcefully at the door, but to his surprise, the blade rebounded.

"Doors affected by Secret Magic Locks are far harder to destroy or force open than regular ones," Tassera remarked with a laugh.

"I really don’t believe this." Leon, a little stubborn, shifted into his Dragon Form, wielded the restored-to-size Catastrophe Blade, and swung it at the Magic Door with all his might. With one strike, he opened up a crack.

With perseverance.

Leon kept swinging his blade, reducing the Magic Door to fragments. Smugly, he proclaimed, "The strength of a Red Dragon, combined with refined gold weapons—this is just a measly Magic Door."

"Just because magical efforts won’t work doesn’t mean physical solutions won’t," Leon continued. "An eighty-one-square puzzle may take a whole eternity and still not be solvable, but breaking it open only takes me a minute."

Tassera remained silent, looking at the door now reduced to rubble. The magic glowing on its surface had faded to dullness. She turned to glance at Leon, hesitating to speak, then finally said, "Yeah, you’re amazing."

"Of course I am." Leon reverted to his human form. "Let’s go; time to head inside."

"Let’s move." Tassera patted her face lightly, not too bothered by the moment, as she knew the journey through the Underground City was far from over.

While a Magic Door could be physically broken, not every puzzle could be solved with such simple brute force. Sooner or later, there would come a problem Leon wouldn’t be able to solve, forcing him to rely on her.

Leon didn’t think too deeply about it. He charged ahead into the cavern, entering what turned out to be a long tunnel.

"Could a mage really be so bored as to build an Underground City just to test people? I think there’s some kind of hidden agenda." Leon spoke as he walked.

Despite his casual words, deep down, he was excited about exploring the dungeon—this was, after all, a rare occurrence. Ever since he had been transported to this world decades ago, he had never encountered anything quite like this. He had once undertaken the Ancient Fallen Empire’s tomb raid, but unfortunately, the venture was aborted midway.

"It’s rare, but not impossible. A mage with no children or apprentices seeing their life near its end, wanting their decades or even a century of accumulated wealth to go unclaimed... It’s not unheard of for them to create an Underground City and store their fortune inside," Tassera said indifferently. She’d heard of too many similar cases over the years.

Tassera’s words reminded Leon of something he saw online before his transmigration: an actual report, not just a joke, about a foreign eccentric millionaire who had no heirs and decided, before his death, to award a massive prize to whichever family produced the most children within ten years.

"Aren’t you going to stop moving?" Tassera noticed Leon had spaced out while pondering something, luckily retaining her vigilance the entire time. "What are you so lost in thought over?"

Leon finally snapped out of it, stopped walking, and glanced around. Seeing nothing unusual, he said, "There’s nothing here."

"Above." Tassera raised a slender finger.

Leon slowly looked up at the ceiling, where he saw black, gloppy mud sticking to the surface. "Is that Black Pudding?"

Black Pudding—a type of large mud monster resembling a mass of thick, viscous, black sludge. In dim tunnels, it appeared indistinguishable from shadows. It could easily cling to difficult surfaces, even hang upside down from ceilings, ambushing unsuspecting adventurers.

Leon wasn’t afraid of Black Pudding; mud monsters with a challenge rating far below his level didn’t pose a threat. The real issue was who’d want to deal with muddy creatures when dressed neatly, risking getting completely filthy?

Leon wasn’t going to waste Mana on a Hand Palm Bomb for something as trivial as a Black Pudding. Instead, he took a few steps back and, for the first time in a while, employed his Sword Control Technique. A flying sword soared forward, slicing the Black Pudding in half, transforming the large monster into two medium-sized ones. Another strike turned the two mediums into four small ones...

"You don’t realize Black Pudding can split, do you?" Tassera stepped forward, her thumbs touching as her fingers spread apart. Thin flames shot from her fingertips, burning the four small Black Puddings into ash.

The long tunnel, of course, wasn’t inhabited by just one Black Pudding. Nevertheless, these monsters were no more than weeds or shrubs on the roadside for Leon and Tassera.

Emerging from the tunnel, they pushed open a massive iron-riveted oak door, revealing a grand space. The floor was laid out as a colossal chessboard. The chess in this world closely resembled international chess, and the pieces were arranged in an endgame formation, split into black and white factions.

"Those pieces are small magic statues," Tassera immediately discerned. The shapes of soldiers, knights, kings, and other pieces all concealed intricate mechanics within.

"Got it," Leon said, his gaze fixing on the mechanism behind the White King chess piece. With excitement, he added, "I’m sure our task here is to manipulate the White side to defeat the Black side and win the endgame—or else those magic statues disguised as chess pieces will attack us."

"Do you know how to solve the endgame?" Tassera asked.

"Piece of cake." Leon glanced around the room. It was spacious enough to allow him to return to Dragon Form. Without hesitation, he transformed again, grabbed one of the Soldier chess pieces, lifted it high, and smashed it into the ground, shattering it into fragments—its head snapped off, its arms broke, its sword flew away.

Immediately after Leon destroyed a piece, the eyes of the remaining chess pieces all lit up with red light, launching simultaneous attacks at him.

Sword-wielding Soldier pieces, lance-holding Knight pieces, roaring Chariot pieces, Cleric pieces hoisting electricity-shimmering magic wands, Queen pieces clearly more powerful and agile than the others—armed with Magic Weapons—and the King piece, which didn’t join the fray but acted as the command center...

One chess piece was a small magic statue with a low challenge rating—not beyond what Leon could easily handle—but an entire swarm was another matter. Unfortunately for them, their opponent was Leon. With his Vajra Body activated, their attacks were meaningless; the only viable strategies against him were control tactics or evasion, none of which they mastered.

Leon effortlessly swept through the chess pieces. He turned to glance as the large door behind the chessboard creaked open and grinned at Tassera. "The door is open."

"I hate these puzzle mini-games the most," Leon complained suddenly.

Leon thought to himself how annoying it was that, after playing games and having fun slashing through enemies, he’d occasionally encounter puzzles. "If I wanted puzzles, couldn’t I just play dedicated puzzle games?"

I spent hundreds of dollars to be a god of war, not a riddle solver.

Tassera’s previously cheerful face was now expressionless as she shot a glance at Leon, then at the opened door. Her chest heaved—waves of emotion hiding beneath—and she finally said, "From here on, don’t move. Leave it to me."

Recognizing her preference for problem-solving over brute force victories, Leon decided not to dampen her enthusiasm. "Alright, from here on, I’ll just lie back. You take charge and handle the rest."