Arknightcraft Modpack
Chapter 565: An Eternal Companion
This was the first time Steven had ever felt that even milk—by the bucket—could actually not be enough.
Usually, he prided himself on being able to chug an entire bucket in one go. If anything, he'd always thought he was just a bit unusually gifted in that regard. But when the target was the Nergigante before him… the scale of things suddenly made his supply look pitifully small.
The amount he poured was probably no more than a piece of milk candy to this monster.
Even after several buckets had been forced down its throat, it took the Nergigante quite a while to even realize it had been fed something strange.
But soon, the already struggling beast grew even more violent.
It tried to stand, completely disregarding whether its battered body could handle it. Its agonized roars turned into outright wails, and its foreclaws lashed at its own chest, tearing open dozens of wounds so deep that bone became visible.
It wasn't that it didn't want to spit out what Steven had forced into it, but the moment the liquid entered its mouth, it transformed into energy and spread throughout its entire body. Spitting it out? Impossible. At best, it could only stick out its tongue. Nothing more.
And then, just as that unbearable pain—the kind that felt like its body was being torn apart—finally subsided, a completely different sensation took its place.
Relief.
An unprecedented, overwhelming sense of ease.
Like a massive, irritable cat that had finally calmed down after a fit, the enormous monster gradually quieted.
As the initial agony faded, the deep-rooted torment that had plagued it day and night also vanished along with it. Sure, a wave of exhaustion followed, leaving its body weak and heavy, but that sense of lightness… that freedom from pain…
There was no mistaking it.
Its struggling slowed.
The spikes that had stood on end like bristling fur slowly relaxed.
The bloodshot fury in its eyes receded, replaced by calm.
This beast—once the very embodiment of ferocity and destruction—finally settled down.
And the one responsible for all of it, Steven, simply nodded in satisfaction.
Letting go of the hand that had been pinning the dragon's head, he casually wiped at his forehead—despite there not being a single drop of sweat—wearing the expression of someone who had just put in a good day's work.
Sometimes, a patient's physical condition really did matter.
Whether it was Specter before, or this Nergigante now—having a powerful body meant they could endure the immense pain and damage caused by the purification of Originium within them. Specter had needed several bottles of healing potions just to get through it.
But this Nergigante? After only a few heavy breaths, its stamina was already beginning to recover.
That so-called super-regeneration ability was truly monstrous.
But to Steven… that was actually a benefit.
After all, in the game, Nergigante armor granted an incredible regeneration effect. And crafting that armor only required materials like its scales and claws.
Now, if he could take this thing in as a mount, wouldn't that make it a perfectly renewable resource?
Just imagine—everyone equipped with Nergigante armor, all gaining passive regeneration like breathing. Wasn't that just beautiful?
As for who would be stuck with the thankless job of crafting all that gear—Steven had already made up his mind.
Nian still owed him quite a few favors, so making her do the labor? A perfectly stable plan.
While scheming in his head about how to fully exploit his available "tools," Steven turned his gaze back to the Nergigante, which was slowly rising now that his suppression had been lifted.
He raised his fist slightly, then pointed at the ground with his other hand.
A simple, universally understood gesture.
His expression calm, almost indifferent.
The meaning was clear—
Submit, or get beaten back down.
Elder Dragons were never lacking in intelligence.
They might not speak like humans, but their long lifespans granted them more than enough wisdom. So when the Nergigante saw Steven's gesture, it understood immediately.
For a brief moment, hesitation flickered within those golden, slit-like pupils. But when the Nergigante caught sight of the massive crater formed by its own earlier struggle, the confusion in its eyes quickly vanished.
There was no way it could defeat this… abnormality before it—this tiny being not even as large as one of its claws.
And more importantly, this very same being had freed it from the source of its endless torment.
No matter how it thought about it, there was no longer any reason to keep fighting.
In the world of beasts, the strong ruled and the weak perished.
Even for an Elder Dragon, that rule held true.
So, after letting out a deep, authoritative roar, the massive creature that had once held its head high slowly lowered itself. Its spike-covered head came to rest before Steven, its entire body crouching low in a posture of submission.
Seeing this monstrous creature—now even letting out a soft, almost cat-like rumbling sound—Steven curled his lips into a satisfied smile.
Then, without hesitation, he strode forward and climbed atop its head, stepping between the forest of spikes.
With a casual motion, he snapped off a few of the protruding spikes, clearing out a space just large enough to sit.
Only then did he lower his gaze, meeting the dragon's eyes—now awkwardly crossed as it tried to look at him.
Without much ceremony, Steven reached into his inventory and tossed out an entire stack of steaks straight into its mouth.
And then, as a string of iconic red heart-shaped particles appeared in the air, Steven felt it.
A portion of the dragon's consciousness had connected with his own.
Ding!
[Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Best Friends Forever(?)." Reward: 50,000 World Acknowledgement Points.]
Steven barely spared a glance at the reward. To him, that amount of points was hardly more than a drop in the ocean.
What actually piqued his curiosity was something else entirely—
The system, which had been so quiet lately, suddenly decided to pop up with a hidden achievement?
So achievements from Minecraft could be replicated here too?
If that was the case…
Then maybe, when he had the time, he could try completing something like "The Parrots and the Bats" with Talulah and Alina…
Steven narrowed his eyes slightly, his thoughts beginning to drift into some rather…. Not safe for children's ears territory.
A moment later, he shook his head, forcibly pulling his mind back on track.
Turning his attention forward again, he lightly patted the Nergigante's massive horn and pointed toward the most eye-catching landmark in his view, which was the peak of the volcano.
"Alright… time to investigate that Zorah Magdaros. Take me there." He spoke softly to the dragon beneath him.
The Nergigante, still savoring the strange sweetness that had suddenly appeared in its mouth, smacked its lips in satisfaction. If it could eat things like this every day… then following this little "bug" in front of it didn't seem so unacceptable after all.
On a subconscious level, it had already fully accepted Steven as its master.
Understanding his command almost instantly, the Nergigante let out a roar. With a powerful beat of its spike-covered wings, it kicked up a storm of sand and debris and in the next moment, it shot forward like a streak of black lightning, soaring toward the volcano's peak.
With a flying mount at his disposal, Steven's journey became incomparably easier and more comfortable than climbing on foot.
In less than a few minutes, he had already arrived at the summit of that towering volcano, which roared like a living beast, continuously spewing out scorching streams of molten lava into the world below.
With a mount at his disposal, Steven didn't even need to land and search for a proper vantage point. All he had to do was lean out slightly from between the Nergigante's head spikes—and the entire volcano came into view.
What he saw, however, was very different from the Zorah Magdaros he remembered from the game.
Back then, the "volcano" on Zorah Magdaros's back was more like a mountain-shaped structure. Aside from a few heat-dissipating organs, there wasn't any real magma inside. Only when it moved violently—or when its cooling organs were damaged—would it spew out molten-like substances.
Even then, calling it magma was a stretch.
It was closer to blood… or bodily fluid.
But what lay before Steven now was a real volcano.
A fully active one.
The entire mountain on its back was filled to the brim with churning, seething magma. As the colossal creature moved, the molten contents would occasionally surge and spill out, like an eruption barely being held back.
"If my guess is right… doesn't this look more like some kind of massive internal abscess growing on its body?"
Steven frowned as he stared at the boiling lava below.
"It's already swollen to this extent… no wonder its health bar is practically in the red."
Because of the thick layer of magma, he couldn't directly see what lay inside the volcano. But from the familiar energy radiating faintly from beneath the molten surface, he could already piece together part of the truth.
"…Let's go. Check its other cooling organs."
Half-narrowing his eyes, Steven directed the Nergigante to change course. Soon enough, they reached the creature's tail region, where another heat-dissipating organ came into view.
This one glowed with an unstable orange-yellow light, flickering ominously beneath its crimson exterior.
Steven gave a small nod.
Just as he thought, this, too, was the work of Oripathy.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 617: A Bold Guess[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628
[2] https://www.patreon.com/Thatsnakegirl/posts/arknightcraft-160680628