Chronicles of Forgotten Extra Chapter 361: The Hopeless Dragon Princess.

Alden looked toward the sky, where the familiar white dragon was locked in battle against a pitch-black dragon, the last remaining contestant of the coming-of-age ceremony.

It had been fifteen minutes since the battle began as Alden remained hidden within the forest, waiting for the perfect opportunity to launch a sneak attack.

Meanwhile, his thoughts wandered elsewhere.

Once the final dragon was defeated, the space within the sacred grounds would begin to change and the gate leading back to the Dragon Empire would appear.

But according to Aemirya, he couldn’t use that gate.

Instead, she would use her affinity with space to take advantage of the resulting spatial fluctuations and open a different portal for him.

Alden himself also possessed a slight affinity for space, though he had never truly studied it. Even the new spell he had learned yesterday only made limited use of that affinity.

But even after escaping this damn place... where the hell was he supposed to go in this unknown world? And where the hell was he supposed to find the rest of his own self?

Alden cursed inwardly.

If what Aemirya had told him was true, this world contained dozens of kingdoms belonging to humans, demons and dragons, along with thousands of dungeons and countless towers.

How was he supposed to find something when he didn’t even know what it looked like? His mother had simply told him to find the last part of himself.

She had never told him what it was.

Or what it would look like.

Without that information, it was no different from searching for a needle in a haystack.

It could take years.

"Arghh! Why the hell is life so hard? Why couldn’t the answer simply fall from the sky or something?"

Right on cue... Something did fall from the sky.

"Holy—! Did the heavens actually listen to my prayers or something?"

For a brief moment, he stared in surprise before looking toward the direction where the object had crashed, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

Unfortunately...

It wasn’t the answer he had been looking for. Instead, a vicious-looking pitch-black dragon slowly emerged from the dust.

Alden cursed inwardly, but his body was already moving out of instinct. His sword cleaved through the very air as he flashed straight toward the dragon’s neck.

The dragon wasn’t like the others.

Its form instantly shrank into its human shape, creating a violent vacuum of air as Alden’s blade missed its target by a hair. A shockwave erupted alongside a cloud of dust.

Aemirya had warned him about how difficult the last remaining dragon would be, but he hadn’t taken it too seriously.

Now it seemed...

She hadn’t exaggerated.

This one might even be on the same level as Vareth.

Alden barely had time to react before a black blur shot straight toward his head while he was still midair. Without hesitation, he shifted his sword into a spear and twisted his body, driving the spear into the ground to change his trajectory.

His gaze immediately snapped toward his attacker.

There stood an incredibly beautiful woman dressed in pitch-black clothes, her long black hair swaying gently as cold eyes stared back at him.

"A human?"

Her voice was just as cold as her expression.

"What is a human doing here?"

But before she could make sense of the situation, a dragon’s breath descended from the sky straight toward her.

It was Aemirya.

Alden didn’t waste the opportunity either. His body flashed as Eclipse energy coated him, and he swung his sword.

Ruinous Severance!

His blade sliced through empty air but the woman moved even faster. Two pitch-black wings erupted from her back, and with a single flap, she shot backward, narrowly escaping the attack.

Alden didn’t pursue her and instead let out a wide smirk.

They hadn’t spent the last two months hunting dragons for nothing. Before the woman could recover or adapt, they intended to overwhelm her completely.

Aemirya was already behind her, having returned to her human form. Her estoc thrust forward at blinding speed as the woman barely managed to react, raising an arm to defend herself, but the blade pierced straight through it.

And before she could even cry out—

Alden was already in front of her.

His sword shifted into a katana as he lowered his stance, the blade resting in a quick-draw position as he unleashed Ruinous Severance once more in its most destructive form.

By then, Aemirya had already leaped away.

The katana flashed toward the woman’s neck and just before the blade could fully connect, however, her body was engulfed in a blinding light and she vanished, eliminated from the ceremony.

A heartbeat later...

Countless trees behind where she had stood were cleanly severed in half as Alden slowly returned his sword back to his core.

"That went better than I expected." Alden muttered.

"It’s time already... The portal will appear any moment now." Aemirya landed beside him soon after, her expression slightly heavy as she looked at him only once before turning away.

Right on cue, the entire space began trembling.

The sky distorted violently before a bolt of lightning struck the ground, erupting into a blinding pillar of light as a portal slowly emerged showing the bright blue sky on the other side.

Aemirya moved immediately.

With practiced precision, she placed one hand against the portal, channeling the turbulent spatial energy through her body while extending her other arm to the side.

Slowly...

Another portal began to take shape.

It took only a minute before a second portal fully formed beside the one leading back to the Dragon Empire.

Yet Aemirya never once looked at Alden. Her gaze remained fixed on the portal leading back to the Dragon Empire.

"The last two months have been... eventful. And your help has been invaluable, Damien. I hope you find what you are searching for. The portal would only last one minute. So I hope you enter quickly."

She paused for the briefest moment.

"...Goodbye."

Her words were almost formal, completely at odds with everything they had been through together. Without looking at him or waiting for a response, she stepped into the portal leading back to the Dragon Empire.

Meanwhile, Alden remained standing alone in the forest, the two portals before him. He merely shook his head with a helpless smile.

With that thought, he extended his hand toward the portal leading out of the sacred grounds as well as a wide smirk appeared on his face.

...