Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 90
Chapter 90: Fafnir Castle
Upon arriving at the castle gates, Sora and the others stepped out of the carriage and entered inside.
What immediately unfolded before them was the enormous ?Fafnir Garden? about the size of ten Tokyo Domes.
The well-manicured hedges and plants, which had clearly been meticulously cared for by the gardeners, welcomed them like works of art.
Alice, explaining as they walked for thirty minutes, proudly boasted about the gardener’s skills—a female wind spirit, with whom she seemed to have a good relationship.
Ignoring the patrolling soldiers, they approached the massive structure of ?Fafnir Castle?, which had been visible from the garden area. The building, towering over 50 meters high, loomed closer.
The castle’s design followed the classic European style often seen in fantasy games, with white walls and an eye-catching red roof. The façade featured numerous windows—at least forty could be seen from the front alone.
From a distance, Sora’s ?Insight II? skill had already revealed the castle’s defensive rating—an unsurprising ?S-rank?.
Unless you had the ultimate skill of a ?Leviathan?, it would be impossible to leave a scratch on it.
Alongside Alice, the three of them passed the large soldier guarding the grand doors and entered the castle.
They first stepped into a vast main hall, its stone floor shining like polished marble. Corridors extended to both sides, and a staircase leading to the second floor could be seen further ahead.
Alice told us that if we go down the right corridor, we’ll find the tool shop and the skill shop. But if we go left, we’ll meet the royal family’s personal blacksmith and the High Priest from the temple.
Sora and Kuro exchanged wry smiles, unsure if there was really a blacksmith and a High Priest here, but amazed that there was a tool shop and a skill shop, things you would never find in a normal castle.
“A skill shop in the castle, huh? I wonder if their lineup is any different from the ones in town.”
“I was busy yesterday, so I haven’t checked out the skill shop yet.”
“Oh, in that case, want to go check it out later?”
“Yeah!”
Sora was intrigued by the idea of a skill shop inside the castle. There might even be rare skills for sale. She made a mental note to visit it with Kuro later and continued following Alice as she led the way.
The inside of the castle was vast, but the walk was somewhat dull, consisting mainly of long hallways and staircases.
Finally, they reached a set of large doors that appeared to lead to the throne room. Seated quietly on the throne was a man.
His hair was the same crimson red as Alice’s, and his golden eyes held a deep, jewel-like brilliance. From his head, horns sprouted, and a lizard-like tail extended from his lower back.
Though he looked to be in his thirties, given that he was a dragonkin, it was clear he was likely much older—probably at least twice that age.
He wore traditional European-style royal attire, with a red jacket and stark white pants.
So, this is the ruler of the country…
As they stopped halfway down the hall, Alice looked up at the crimson-haired man seated on the throne and spoke.
“Father, I’ve brought adventurer Sora and adventurer Kuro.”
“Oh, Alice. You’ve done well bringing them here.”
The man who had been seated on the throne stood up, receiving a finely decorated rapier from the butler standing beside him. He slowly walked towards Sora and the others.
Just to be safe, Sora activated ?Insight II? and examined him, revealing the following information:
?Dragon King? Otter Fafnir.
?Level?: 100.
?Profession?: Dragon Knight.
Like Hart, the Dark Knight, his profession wasn’t one of the initial options available at the temple. The method for acquiring it was still unknown.
Sora had asked Hart about it before, but he couldn’t remember how he obtained the ?Dark Knight? profession, and he looked genuinely apologetic about it.
As Sora pondered this, Otter silently drew the rapier from its sheath.
…Huh?
A bad feeling crept over Sora, based on her experience. The next moment, Otter kicked off the ground, activating ?Sonic Pierce?, the same rapier thrusting technique Alice had used earlier.
Approaching at a speed that left afterimages, Otter canceled the technique midway and followed up with a thrusting attack, ?Linear Pierce?.
His speed and precision were incomparable to Alice’s.
Sora quickly realized, from Otter’s gaze, that his target was her heart. If she took a direct hit, her HP would likely be wiped out in one blow. With that in mind, Sora unsheathed her sword, narrowly activating ?Sword Guard IV? and intercepting the ?Linear Pierce? from the side at the perfect moment.
“Guh…”
As expected from someone at level 100.
Even though Otter had boosted his attack skill, the force behind his rapier strikes felt far heavier than one would expect from such a thin blade.
At this rate, Sora knew she’d be overpowered.
Thinking quickly, Sora decided to use her powers as an ?Enchanter?. She exhaled sharply and spent a good portion of her is MP to cast ?Attack Power Boost Enchantment III? on herself. With her strength greatly enhanced, she forcibly redirected Otter’s ?Linear Pierce? upward.
“What?!”
Otter hadn’t expected his attack to be deflected. His stance faltered, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
He started this, so Sora felt no need to hold back. It was now her turn. Swiftly, Sora positioned her sword in a low left stance and selected her most powerful skill, ?Rage Slant III?.
“Hah!”
Planting her left foot firmly and stepping forward with her right, Sora converted all her momentum into a single, upward slash.
Her target wasn’t Otter himself—it was his rapier. The sharp blow struck the royal rapier of the Dragon King, sending it flying out of Otter’s hand.
“What?!”
The royal family’s ?A-Rank? rapier twirled through the air before embedding itself in the red-carpeted floor a short distance away.
The throne room fell silent.
Thanks to her skill that reduced downtime, Sora’s skill cooldown had shortened from 20 seconds to 10. As the cooldown ended, she sheathed her sword and exaggerated a deep sigh, making sure Otter noticed.
“Seriously, do all dragon royalty enjoy testing people like this? Father and daughter alike?”
Sora narrowed her eyes, glaring at Otter.
Otter, still feeling the shock from having his sword knocked away, looked at his right hand, now in a state of ?Paralysis?, and smiled with delight.
“Hahaha! My apologies, I just can’t help but get fired up when I encounter someone strong! Not only did you deflect my attack, but I didn’t expect my sword to be knocked out of my hand as well!”
It seemed the dragonkin were a highly combative race. Otter, wearing a somewhat sheepish expression, bowed his head in apology.
“However, with such strength, there is no problem at all. Adventurer Sora, I humbly ask for your help in saving us from this crisis.”
…………………….
The issue troubling the Dragon King and his people was that recently, villages outside the kingdom had been frequently attacked by mutated versions of ?Lesser Dragons?.
These mutated dragons were stronger than ?Greater Dragons?, and just the other day, a knight squad sent to subdue them had been wiped out.
That’s why Otter had chosen Sora, one of the three adventurers who had defeated a ?Greater Dragon? during the recent urgent quest.
With a wry smile, Dragon King Otter said, “I guess the other two aren’t in this area. I’ve given up searching.”
As the conversation ended, a quest appeared in front of Sora’s eyes:
?Subjugate the Mutated Dragon?
?Quest Objective? Defeat the mutated variant of the Lesser Dragon.
?Reward? 500,000 El.
Sora did a double-take when she saw the reward amount.
F-Five hundred thousand El?!
That was the highest reward she had ever seen for an individual quest, and her excitement skyrocketed.
Currently, Sora had about 800,000 El in her possession, so if she completed this quest, she would have a total of 1.3 million El.
She had no idea how much the skills at the castle’s shop cost, but since it was a location inaccessible to other players, she figured having more El could never hurt.
“Will you accept, Adventurer Sora?” Otter asked with a serious expression.
Grinning widely at the huge reward, Sora quickly touched ?Yes? to accept the quest.