Chapter 130: High-Altitude Firecracker Drop

“Wha—What do you lot think you’re doing!”

Edriel questioned loudly, her voice reaching Siloque and Hill above.

“Brother, should we go down and fight?”

“No need. We wouldn’t win even if we went down there.”

Siloque rummaged through items in his Ring Chart.

The battle began.

A Wild Dragon lunged forward in an attack.

A crisp squelch rang out.

Tiana’s sharp claws pierced directly into the opponent’s abdomen.

“Roaar—!!”

The first Wild Dragon to attack let out a howl of agony.

Tiana opened her jaws, revealing razor-sharp teeth, and bit through its throat.

Snap!

The Wild Dragon’s head flew into the air.

About half of the group stared up at their companion’s flying head, while the other half were drawn to the sound of Tiana’s heavy footsteps on the ground.

The suddenness of the situation left them stunned in place.

“Anyone who doesn’t want to die, back off! I will protect Edriel!”

The usual casual atmosphere around Tiana was gone.

Her body was tense, fully committed to a combat state.

Behind her, Edriel’s pure white cheeks had already flushed a deep crimson.

“Impressive. She said something super embarrassing with such a serious face, but Tiana’s combat power is actually decent,” Hill remarked.

“Hill, don’t go down. Tiana is a dragon who has lived for hundreds of years, after all. She has at least ‘some’ fighting strength.”

However, it was only “some.”

As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands.

Tiana wouldn’t last many rounds.

Siloque had already taken the necessary Sacred Tools from his Ring Chart and began setting them up.

He glanced at Edriel and noticed she still hadn’t taken out the Red Frost Lily of the Valley.

As expected, he had to intervene.

Tiana’s display of raw power failed to intimidate the other Wild Dragons for long.

“Gaaah—!!”

The remaining half of the Wild Dragons let out a collective war cry to embolden themselves.

The death of the first one had instead become the signal to attack.

Their instinctual urge to breed momentarily overcame their fear of death.

They swarmed.

“Gugh!!”

Tiana was instantly locked in a struggle with them.

Even as her powerful hind legs swept out, clearing a fan-shaped spray of blood and knocking back a group, the Wild Dragons continued to surround her.

After all, most of the dragons in that spray of blood were only injured, not dead.

Instead, it only served to further incite their fighting spirit.

“Miss Edriel, go first! I can’t hold them for long!”

“But…”

“Run—!”

Edriel was not a dragon skilled in combat.

She was only 78 years old, quite young.

She knew that staying would only make her a burden, so she beat her wings.

“Hold on! I’ll go find my tribesmen for help!”

Just as Edriel took flight, a Wild Dragon lunged after her.

Tiana’s throat surged as she spat a fireball, Piercing the Wild Dragon’s wing to ground it, all while urging Edriel to leave with a determined gaze.

Other Wild Dragons seized this opening to pounce on Tiana.

“Bring it on! You bastards!”

Tiana transformed into her human form, shrinking in size to dodge the swarm.

The incoming dragons collided with each other, and Tiana slipped through the gaps.

She then transformed back into a dragon at high speed, circling to their side to tear at their bodies with her claws.

Whenever a dragon tried to take off to chase Edriel, Tiana would intercept and ram them down even faster.

The white female dragon took to the sky.

‘That girl…’

‘Damn it, why is she flying so slowly?’

‘My body… feels so heavy. Is it because of my mood?’

‘Tiana told me to go first, but—by the time I find reinforcements and come back, can she hold out that long?’

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but glance at Tiana.

The other was still fighting hard, dragging down any Wild Dragon that tried to fly.

The water and the shore were turning the color of flesh and blood.

‘Hold on, Tiana!’

Edriel suppressed the unease in her heart and spread her wings wide to accelerate—

Suddenly.

“Whoa!! Brother, this is really high! The vertical distance on the Third Floor is huge! You can see the whole landscape!”

‘Brother?’

The excited voice was very close, prompting Edriel to look down at her feet.

“Ah!”

Startled, her wings stuttered for a moment.

However, she didn’t fall because she was using magic to assist her flight; as long as her wings were still flapping, she wouldn’t drop.

“Who are you people!”

She discovered the reason her body felt heavy.

A yellow-haired girl and a black-haired girl were each clinging to one of her legs.

The wind whipped their hair around.

They had used climbing ropes to lash themselves to Edriel’s feet to stay secure.

“Ah… well, we are Tiana’s friends.”

“I’m Hill! He is Siloque, Hill’s brother!”

Edriel was confused.

‘This black-haired girl is a man?’

‘The scent… no, it’s hard to smell clearly in the air.’

Siloque didn’t forget to talk Tiana up.

“All you need to know is that we’re here to help Tiana. She’s risking her life to fight them just to save you.”

“…I know that without you telling me.”

The problem was, what should they do next?

“You say you’ll help, but how?”

“Just keep your flight steady.”

Siloque picked up a horn-shaped object.

If Edriel were a human who had attended preschool, she would know this item was called a megaphone.

He pointed the megaphone toward Tiana and shouted:

“Tiana!! Fly here at full speed! Trust me!! It’ll be fine!!”

The volume forced Hill to free one hand to cover her ear.

Immediately after, a vwooom noise made Edriel feel like her head was being pierced.

Below, Tiana heard him and looked up.

The other Wild Dragons were also distracted by the disruptive noise, hesitating for a split second.

Tiana quickly took flight.

Even though her body was covered in wounds, she flew vertically upward faster than any of the Wild Dragons.

“Aooo—!!”

To the Wild Dragons, Tiana was a prime female.

The hormones she released drove them into a frenzy.

One by one, the Wild Dragons spread their wings and gave chase, but Tiana still managed to pull away.

Tiana climbed past 250 meters.

Just as she was about to reach the mountain peak.

“Hill, release it.”

“OK.”

Hill reached out toward the spot where they had been hiding and released her Magic.

Pale gold mana particles swirled around her right arm.

At Siloque and Hill’s original hiding spot.

Inside a square box, a mana engine sensed the specific Magic signature and activated.

Twelve items flew out, trailing a massive amount of silver threads.

The R34 was finally serving its true purpose.

The box was firmly anchored.

The large silver silk capture net spraying from inside formed a giant scoop net, catching every Wild Dragon that passed through.

“Guoooh—!!”

“Aarrgh—!!”

The Wild Dragons collided with each other inside the capture net, producing dull thuds.

Wing tips and horns poked and injured other dragons, creating a chaotic mess.

The more they struggled, the less they could fly.

The thirty-some dragons following Tiana were intercepted just like that.

Tiana flew into the sky and pulled up alongside Edriel.

“Yo! Young man! And Hill, right? This was your doing?”

She was covered in blood, yet her voice remained bold and cheerful.

“Edriel, are you okay? It’s so good that you’re safe…”

She became bashful the moment she saw Edriel.

Edriel flew directly to Tiana’s side, bringing her slender dragon snout close.

She gave her a kiss.

“Wugah!!”

Tiana let out a strange cry, seemingly overwhelmed with pleasure.

Her dragon scales began to turn red and emit steam again.

“Thank you for saving me, Miss Tiana. You were very cool back there.”

Edriel used Healing Magic.

A gentle green light enveloped Tiana’s body, quickly mending her wounds.

“It was nothing… Protecting the dragon I love is only natural.”

Tiana struck a cool pose with her eyes.

The two dragons circled each other gracefully, their eyes meeting in a daze, creating a faint pink atmosphere.

“Hey, you two, wait a minute. The problem isn’t solved yet.”

“…Young man, don’t ruin the mood like that.”

“Exactly, Brother. Hill wanted to see how dragons kiss!”

Edriel also seemed to realize it wasn’t time to relax yet, letting out a soft cough.

‘That’s enough, you guys.’

“That net won’t hold for long. These Wild Dragons will break free and swarm us soon.”

“Wild Dragons? You mean those monsters. It’s fine; we can just fly far away with you,” Tiana replied innocently.

“The hormones and scent emitted by you two female dragons won’t dissipate for a while. Until the mating season ends, they will keep chasing you.”

‘If you get caught mid-flight and beaten down by a mob, we’ll enter a forced gang-bang Storyline.’

‘I really don’t want to see that.’

‘Better to pull them out by the roots.’

“Miss Edriel, do you know how to use the Red Frost Lily of the Valley Tiana gave you?”

“The lily? The flower? This one?”

Edriel used Fetch Magic to produce the Red Frost Lily of the Valley.

As expected, she didn’t know.

If this were the normal progression of a Second Playthrough of the Game, she should have known the true purpose of this Red Frost Lily of the Valley.

“Let me use it for a second.”

Since it was a gift from Tiana, Edriel was a bit reluctant.

She looked at Tiana.

“Actually, Siloque was the one who gave that to me in the first place. Give it to him; it’s fine. I’ll give you something better later.”

“…It’s fine even if you send an animal carcass next time; I’ll accept it gratefully. To be honest, I ate the last one you sent. It was indeed fresh.”

“Hehe… I see…”

Tiana flashed a gross grin.

Edriel handed the flower to Siloque.

“Thanks.”

Siloque injected his own Magic into the Red Frost Lily of the Valley.

As it was filled with mana, the crystal of the Red Frost Lily of the Valley began to develop tiny cracks.

“Hey, Siloque, what did you do?”

Edriel instinctively sensed something was wrong.

As a dragon, her perception of Magic was more sensitive than a human’s.

An alarming amount of mana was overflowing within that small flower, rapidly approaching a critical point.

“Edriel, have you ever played with snap crackers?”

“Snap crackers?”

Both dragons were equally confused.

Siloque smiled slightly and threw the Red Frost Lily of the Valley toward the ground with all his might.

The Red Frost Lily of the Valley traced a graceful arc through the air, flying straight into the pile of trapped dragons.

The Wild Dragons watched with open mouths as the lily landed in their center.

Then, the crystal of the exquisite lily released a blinding, dazzling crimson light—

Crackle, crackle—!!

In the span of 3 seconds, accompanied by the piercing sound of ice freezing, three illusory, deep-red ice flowers bloomed within the swarm of Wild Dragons.

The area covered the entire mountaintop.

From the air, red and white ice crystals could be seen covering the pile of dragons.

The Wild Dragons were all frozen solid into ice sculptures.

Looking down from high above, they looked like clusters of red salmon roe.

“Whoa!”

The shockwave sent gusts of freezing wind blowing upward, disrupting Edriel and Tiana’s flight.

The two dragons frantically beat their wings to regain their balance.

“Hill! Hang on tight!”

“I know!”

The powerful cold wind forced Hill to close her eyes.

The white dragon’s body shifted as it adjusted its flight, causing Hill to grip Edriel’s ankle firmly.

Falling from a height of 100 meters would turn bones into dust; she couldn’t let go.

“Dammit — “

When Hill heard that calm curse.

“Brother!”

She saw Siloque looking at the rope in his hand, which had snapped in two.

And he was suspended in mid-air, falling downward, a look of “whatever, I’m done” written all over his face.