Miles ignored the roar and flew away from the source as fast as he could. The lair was connected to the opening he first entered. The army was letting people enter in turns but they didn’t know the lair was also connected to a small cave carved by Tian Ling and others. The whole lair was like a giant circle.

“Miles, how about orbs? We are in the lair of the dragon!” Coin reminded him while he was flying away.

“Screw the orbs. I can still feel that abomination’s eyes on my back. Although Tian Ling is dead, that thing is still alive and has tremendous hatred towards me. I have no other choice. Grunt-Rank orbs are useless anyway. I will soon go to F-Circle.” Miles knew his life was more important than a few orbs.

Soon he saw that the cave ended and took a turn to the left. Miles kept on flying. Soon he saw a group of people walking in his direction. They had bewildered expressions on their faces. They looked at Miles who had blood dripping all around his body. There was a hood covering his head and a mask.

“What the hell? We waited for days and paid a fortune to be the first to enter. Who is this?” A girl in the group asked with a pout.

“He looks injured. He must have sneaked into the lair and gotten hurt.” The leader-looking man said.

“Hey you, what the hell have you done?” He asked. Miles was going to ignore them but the man’s next words stopped him. “Are you okay? We have a healer.”

“Dragon was dead. Tian Ling wanted to absorb Dragon’s genes, but he turned into an abomination. If you care about your life and the people around you, leave now.” Miles said to warn them. He intended to fly over them when they were questioning him, but since the leader wanted to heal him, he warned them too. Whether they heeded his warnings or not, wasn’t his concern.

“What? Hahaha! Lunatic. Lunatic! Hahaha.” Group laughed, but Miles shrugged his shoulders and left.

“Who are you?” Unlike his friends, the leader looked at Miles with a serious expression and asked.

“They call me the Marooner,” Miles said and vanished.

“The—” Group stuttered, “—Marooner?”

“Where is his armor then?” The girl asked.

“Idiot. Can’t you see how hurt he was?” Leader said. “I heard there was a conflict between Tian Ling and the Marooner. Let’s retreat for now.”

“How can that be, Leader? The Army was protecting the entrance. How can so many people pass through the army to battle with the dragon without being seen by so many people?” One of them asked with defiance.

“Didn’t you hear the explosion? There must be another way to the real lair. Let’s retreat for now.” The leader said and they walked back.

Miles already reached the army barricade and the big opening. People all around were discussing fervently, but to his surprise the subject was him. He saw Cody on top of a rock shouting.

“I swear it is all true. Tian Ling trapped Marooner and wants to kill him.” His voice was almost unhearable.

Miles looked at the people on the ground and shouted loudly. “Tian Ling turned into a dragon after he tried to absorb the dead dragon. He is there if you want to check for yourself, but let me warn you first. He is stronger than Frenzy-Rank monsters.” Miles shouted and ignored the questioning people. Some said he wanted the dragon for himself so he was lying, some claimed he killed Tian Ling and was just making it up.

“Cody, let’s go,” Miles said and left the opening flying in the air. He did his best and wasn’t worried about the rest. There were only a couple of people trying to help him there, so he helped them back. The rest were free to die if they wanted to. Miles wasn’t a hero nor their parents.

There were some who chose to believe him. They left through the swamp with him. Lucy was also there as the new leader of the stronghold. After the alien incident, Quinn decided to stay in F-Circle, as she was close to a breakthrough anyway. So, it was Lucy leading the army now.

She was a fan of the Marooner from the start, so when she first heard Cody, she was somehow hesitant, but after Miles appeared in the sky, she was certain that Cody was telling the truth. Although Miles didn’t have the armor, and his face was covered, she could still recognize that husky voice.

“We are retreating too!” Lucy ordered.

“Yes, Ma’am!” Soldiers followed her to leave. The other two post commanders were hesitant but decided to not risk it. Zall and Xavic, who promised to their Post Commander to hunt the ice dragon together were there too but left after Lucy and the other two Commanders took their leave. Most of the people lost their confidence when the army left. The greedy minority dashed into the lair to grab the orbs.

Roars went on incessantly. People were waiting at the edge of the swamp, listening to the devastating screams of the people. After one hour the humanoid monster looked like a dragon jumped out of the pit and attacked people.

All people who retreated earlier were thanking their lucky stars and decisions.

Army battled with the humanoid dragon, but they failed to kill him. After an arduous battle, the humanoid dragon escaped with heavy wounds. The army blocked the swamp and entered the pit to take back the bodies, but nothing could be found. Not even bones could be spotted.

News not long later reached Unity. News Stations shared what had happened one after another and interviewed people there. People were all lauding the same thing. Marooner battled with Tian Ling and Tian Ling turned into a dragon. But details were unknown. Even Cody didn’t know more about it, so it was all a mystery.

Miles, who had left first, didn’t linger around the swamp but returned home as soon as he could. This trip cost him his armor, the first dual elemental orb he had. His companion saved him in many battles. Also the cape he created. He lost almost everything, including his life. But in the end, he killed Tian Ling, sort of.