The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 430: Split Second

Famous last words.

Sure enough, from that moment onward, no one would ever be able to convince one Kael Dravaryn that anything good could possibly follow such an opening line.

Never.

Never again.

In fact, he’d go as far as forbidding his mate from ever thinking about uttering those words in the future, and unlike many things in life, this wasn’t something open for discussion.

Not when his life had practically flashed before his eyes as every bit of reassurance he’d painstakingly built for himself about having a longer and more stable future with Riley vanished in an instant. It was only then that Kael truly understood that being the Dragon Lord didn’t mean jack shit before a being who’d existed since a time even older than all of them combined.

Moments earlier, however, Riley had been feeling rather confident about his theory. He certainly wasn’t convinced he was right, but considering everything they’d observed so far, he honestly thought it was worth checking. Even if the giant marble dragon turned out to be nothing more than another dead end, then surely it wouldn’t hurt to at least verify it.

Naturally, Kael immediately volunteered to go instead.

"I’ll check it."

"No." Riley shook his head before pointing toward the enormous marble dragon stretched across the ceiling. "This part is probably something I should do. You should concentrate more on guarding me because I’ll need to focus on finding the relic and figuring out how to get it out."

The golden dragon’s expression immediately made it obvious that another argument was about to begin, so Riley promptly shut it down before Kael could even open his mouth.

"I’ll honestly feel much safer if you’re the one guarding me."

That single sentence ended the discussion before it even started.

Kael still didn’t look remotely pleased, but he ultimately relented as Riley quietly made his way toward the ceiling, reinforcing the concealment surrounding himself until his already hidden presence became even harder to distinguish from the overwhelming dragon mana saturating the crypt.

From where he remained below, Kael never once took his eyes off his mate. His senses continuously swept across the entire cavern, carefully monitoring every wyvern, every fluctuation of mana, and every possible avenue of approach. Riley should’ve been perfectly safe with the level of concealment he was using, but "should" wasn’t exactly a comforting word when his twig was involved.

At first, everything seemed fine.

Then Kael noticed the subtle change in Riley’s expression and the sinking feeling of disappointment that washed over him.

By the looks of it, the giant marble dragon had been nothing more than a false lead.

But just as the golden dragon was preparing to receive his mate back so they could start thinking of other places where the relic might be hidden, he suddenly felt a sharp spike of emotion through their bond.

Kael immediately looked up.

He found something.

Sure enough, the black dragon—who’d almost convinced himself they were chasing yet another dead end after checking every place where hiding talons in whatever variation would’ve actually made sense—felt every muscle in his body tighten the moment he noticed the smallest of cracks running across the dragon statue’s eye.

The entire reason he’d suspected the marble dragon in the first place was because it had been too perfect. Everything else throughout the crypt had either weathered with time or suffered damage from the wyverns’ relentless excavation, yet this enormous sculpture had remained completely untouched.

So why was there suddenly a crack?

Riley, hidden by layers of incantations, cautiously drifted closer, completely unaware that the relic hidden within the dragon’s head had already sensed the other two gifts in his possession. Drawn toward them like a magnet after countless ages of separation, the hidden talon instinctively reached back toward its counterparts, and the concealment that had faithfully kept it hidden for millennia finally gave way beneath that irresistible pull.

The next thing Riley knew, the dragon statue’s eye exploded.

It happened so suddenly that instead of gradually leaking mana through the crack, an overwhelming torrent burst outward all at once, shattering the dragon’s head before rapidly racing through the rest of the statue. The entire marble dragon fractured apart, and with it went the delicate balance that had apparently been supporting the cavern all this time.

Needless to say, that wasn’t exactly the quiet retrieval Riley and Kael had been hoping for.

Apparently, the relic hadn’t merely been hidden inside the White Dragon Clan’s crypt.

It had been holding the whole place together.

The mountain lurched violently as the ceiling began collapsing overhead, and Riley was immediately thrown backward by the explosion, instinctively raising his arms to shield himself from the rain of stone and the violent surge of dragon mana.

By all means, he was genuinely surprised. But that level of damage wasn’t enough to truly faze someone who was now a black dragon.

Logically the golden dragon knew that. Still, Kael shot forward without the slightest hesitation, every instinct screaming at him to reach his mate before anything else could.

Naturally, the now painfully obvious grave digger, having already sensed his mate, immediately redirected his attention toward figuring out an escape route considering their cover had quite literally been blown.

But as he steadied himself in midair, he caught sight of something shooting straight toward him.

"What the—?"

Beads?

No.

A bracelet.

"!"

No longer concealed within the shattered dragon statue, it flew toward him as though answering an invisible summons.

Without thinking, Riley lunged, silently thanking his luck that he happened to be standing in the perfect position to seize such an unexpected opportunity.

His fingers had barely managed to close around the relic when another hand clamped down on it as well.

Ordinarily, that wouldn’t have been so bad.

Unfortunately, it came attached to an attack that could’ve very well taken his head clean off.

Whoosh!

A figure that hadn’t been there even a heartbeat ago suddenly burst from concealment, arriving a split second before Kael could reach them.

If the goal had been to kill him, or at the very least, force him to let go of the artifact, then the ambush would’ve certainly succeeded had Riley been an average Joe, or had the gifts on him not instinctively pulled hard enough for him to keep hold of part of the bracelet.

But caught between two qualified owners, the ancient relic violently resisted the impossible choice before splitting apart with a deafening crack.

At the same time, Kael finally reached Riley.

He immediately wrapped an arm around his mate before driving both of them upward with explosive force, choosing to tear straight through the collapsing mountain rather than risk being buried beneath it or, worse, being caught by someone strong enough to slip past Kael.

Unfortunately, the sudden assailant had no intention of letting them leave so easily.

Not on the Wyvern Queen’s watch.

As though driven by thousands of years of obsession, she pursued them with frightening speed, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. Her claws, reinforced by a scale of the Primordial Dragon, tore toward the remaining half of the relic still clenched in Riley’s hand.

The black dragon defended as best he could, his eyes narrowing into slits as layer after layer of barriers materialized before him in rapid succession while Kael continued forcing them toward the surface. But this was clearly no ordinary attack.

Riley’s eyes widened as the blade-like construct carved through one barrier after another, scarcely slowing as it bore straight down on him.

"!!!"

The final barrier managed to diminish both its size and strength, but even after twisting his body out of the way, the attack still managed to nick his arm.

It wasn’t a deep wound.

Far from it.

Yet the moment the cut surfaced only to begin knitting itself back together almost immediately, the Wyvern Queen’s eyes widened.

For the very first time in a very long while, genuine surprise flashed across her face.