"When you dream?" asked the ice dragon.

Ed knew it wasn't a mockery.

For him, "dreams" are already another way of communicating and perceiving. Although he missed the days when he could sleep until dawn, he had learned to absorb everything he could from his dreams.

But that's not a dream.

"I haven't had time to tell you yet......" he licked his lips quickly, "Sean dug up an egg ...... at the bottom of Lake Starnestle"

A dragon egg, already more like a stone, with ripples like water on its gray surface. When he touched it, he hallucinated to see a dragon, impossibly large, lying lazily at the bottom of the Vinez River, scorched by the summer sun. Aquatic weeds, dead leaves, and mud covered its body, and he didn't even see its appearance, but the indescribable familiarity was exactly the same as when he was now facing the mountain-like skeleton in front of him.

But why did he feel familiar?

In the midst of doubt, an emotion seemed to erupt, an answer looming after a long fog of time, but he was terrified and wanted to ignore it.

"Ed?" the ice dragon's claws poked at his shoulder, "You're shaking." ”

Ed shook his head. He had to suppress that crazy thought...... Or, until he sorts it out, he can't tell. Anyone would find it ridiculous to be unbelievable, and even Iss would never accept it.

"I don......'t know," he said, "I don't remember exactly." ”

He wasn't sure if the ice dragon had heard something. It's always hard for him to fool it...... He didn't seem to have lied to it.

The ice dragon was silent for a moment, and did not ask.

"This dragon," it said, "is not any kind of dragon I know. ”

Ed looked up in surprise.

It was impossible to see the dragon in its entirety while standing in front of the Bone Mountain, but the ice dragon remembered every detail it saw as it hovered in mid-air.

"Its horns are like ice dragons...... But our horns don't have that curvature, and they don't have spines on their bodies. There was something indistinguishable but unsettling in the Ice Dragon's calm tone, "The tip of its tail forks like a trident, and no dragon has a tail like this......"

"You've always been like this...... Has it never changed in the slightest?" Ed asked softly.

"At least that's been the case for as long as our memories can be passed on. The ice dragon's answer was bitter with unspeakable bitterness, "Earlier...... I don't know. ”

Humans with short lives have an almost insane passion for documenting all the traces they have left behind, while dragons, who have thousands of years of life, have no interest in it. Maybe one day, even their former existence will be completely erased and become legends...... It becomes a pure fantasy.

"Maybe you were like that in ancient times. Ed took a few steps forward, leaning closer, "Look, it's ...... too"

Before the word "glow" could be spoken, the white light suddenly dispersed and turned into a curtain of light.

Ed breathed heavily, turned around and ran backwards, didn't take two steps, paused, and then sharply turned in another direction.

"Get out of the way!" he cried, "that's ......"

It was the Scythe of Light.

He'd seen the power of these small, barely invisible, razor-sharp wings that could easily slice through flesh and devour magic. Although they never hurt him...... Even saved him, but their power still makes him feel uneasy.

If they had been chasing him like the scythes of light in the Silent Tower, perhaps they wouldn't have harmed Is...... No, he can control them! How did he control them......

The ice dragon raised its wings and retreated vigilantly. The flying mist of light flew like a light veil, as if it had been gently blown in front of its eyes, but before it could touch its body, it slowly retreated, only not far away, undulating like a wave.

“...... Ed!" it shouted.

It felt that the thing had no intention of harming it.

But the fool had already drawn his dagger from his boot and slit his own arm.

The smell of blood was strong in the windless air, but the scythes of light didn't rush at him with ecstasy as Ed remembered, like a swarm of bees smelling flowers.

They flew lazily in the air, up and down, as if they were doing some kind of strange dance. If that's what you're trying to tell them...... None of them understood.

Ed stared at them for a few moments, making sure there was no danger, before cautiously moving back to the ice dragon.

"You know what this is, right?" he asked in a very small voice, as if he had alarmed the flying insects.

"Scythe of Light. The ice dragon glanced down at him from the corner of his eye, "It's also called the sand of the stars." Legend has it that it is a fragment of starlight, but in fact it ......"

Ed looked up expectantly.

"Actually, I don't know what it is. "There's a theory that it came out of the corpse of a god, something like a fly from a human corpse......"

Ed's face turned white.

But the ice dragon had no intention of caring for his fragile nerves. It stared intently at the flying curtain of light, and at the white and flawless skeleton behind the curtain of light, between the rocks.

It didn't look like bone at all, not even like stone, but closer to metal, just less smooth and bright, like Mithril Ore flowing underground, a little warmer than Mithril.

It involuntarily moves forward. If you can touch it......

Ed tugged its wings.

Almost at the same time, the mist of light swirled around the streamers that gathered into water, rolling into the air.

A black shadow flashed in the air, and Ed only saw a monster that looked like wings, but the ice dragon suddenly burst into a roar.

It leapt to its feet, flapped its wings vigorously, and soared into the sky in a fraction of time. Ed was lifted by the wind from its wings, and retreated, holding himself up with the Staff of Eternity so that he didn't fall to the ground.

He looked up, and the black shadow had turned into a puff of blood mist under the swiftness of the Scythe of Light, and slowly fell.

The heavy fishy stench was mixed with another, more intense smell.

The ice dragon, which had not been able to catch up, landed in a huff, snorting and roaring in exasperation.

"Yes...... Demons?" Ed asked dumbfounded.

He could never have imagined that there would be a demon here...... Is hell really beneath the abyss at the end of the world, and that this is just an unknown part of hell? Nia has said that hell can change many different forms......

"I wanted to make a living!" the ice dragon scratched the ground with its claws in anger, "These brainless bugs!"

Then it squinted at him with disdain.

"Don't be stupid," it said, "there's no hell here. ”