The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 449: Worth the Risk

To be fair, the golden dragon lord’s concerns weren’t entirely unfounded.

In fact, had it not been for the unique properties of that dubious box Riley was currently stuck inside, there was a very real chance their little mortal aircraft wouldn’t have survived the journey into Wyrmfall at all.

The damaged leylines surrounding the region had long since turned the skies into something of a disaster zone, with violent winds constantly sweeping debris through the air at speeds more than capable of damaging something as relatively fragile as a helicopter. It was one of the many reasons ordinary mortals didn’t exactly make a habit of casually visiting the place unless they needed the wasteland’s chaotic protection for something that was likely illegal.

Fortunately, just as that mysterious box could nullify the magic of the actual dragons within its range, it could apparently do something similar to the surrounding environment.

Wherever it went, the magical disturbances caused by the damaged leylines were temporarily suppressed, creating what was basically a moving pocket of unnaturally ordinary space around them. The winds calmed, the mana fluctuations disappeared, and with them went most of the dangerous debris that could’ve easily become projectiles capable of taking them down.

So in a way, the box was also functioning as their own movable protective barrier.

Granted, calling it protective was probably being overly generous.

While it shielded them from Wyrmfall’s unstable environment, it also stripped away practically every magical defense they would’ve normally possessed against anything else.

Runes, artifacts, and even the most common spells were things they had to give up, leaving them with little more than their literal physical makeup for protection. Kael would probably still survive getting hit by a truck, but he’d definitely be pissed about it.

Basically, they’d created a moving free-for-all melee zone where everyone involved would be forced to rely on brute physical strength and a whole lot of luck.

Still, that didn’t necessarily make their choice of transportation a bad one. There were advantages and disadvantages to practically everything. They simply needed to decide which ones mattered more and what kinds of risks they were willing to tolerate.

And there were definitely risks.

For one, they were essentially sitting ducks.

If anyone happened to look up, notice the suspicious mortal aircraft making its way through Wyrmfall, and decide to attack it from outside the box’s effective range, then congratulations to that lucky bastard.

They’d practically be waiting for an angry boon to fall directly into their lap.

Then there was another problem, one admittedly far less important to their survival, but apparently extremely important to Kael Dravaryn.

The dragon lord became even more certain that he hated traveling like this.

Riley wasn’t sure whether it was the constant mechanical noise that even the noise-canceling headset couldn’t completely block out, the uncomfortable vibration of the aircraft, or simply the deeply unnatural feeling of being unable to access his usual abilities for the entire journey.

Maybe it was all of the above.

Whatever the reason, Riley could practically feel the golden dragon becoming increasingly offended by mortal aviation with every passing minute, and there wasn’t much he could do to comfort his husband while he himself was stuck inside a literal box.

Finally, there was the issue of distance.

This entire ridiculous setup only worked because Wyrmfall was relatively close. Had their destination been somewhere much farther away, like Thalassyn or Stoneforge, traveling there through entirely mundane means would’ve taken far too long.

By then, the Wyvern Queen would’ve had more than enough time to realize something was wrong at the MBE, and their carefully constructed distraction would’ve fallen apart before Riley could even get where he needed to go.

Fortunately, fate hadn’t completely abandoned them just yet.

Despite the risks, the uncomfortable journey, and one increasingly sulky dragon lord Riley couldn’t properly pacify from inside his box, their flight toward Wyrmfall ended up being surprisingly uneventful.

Now that they’d survived the disadvantages of their ridiculous transportation method, they could finally start taking advantage of everything that had made the risk worthwhile in the first place.

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Sure enough, they managed to reach the wasteland without having to resort to a far longer road trip or, worse, sprinting the entire way there like a bunch of magically handicapped lunatics.

The method was also surprisingly free, considering Orryn outright refused to accept any form of compensation for lending them his helicopter and personally flying them there. According to the red dragon, all he wanted in return was for everyone present to testify during his future judgment day hearing with his son that he’d made a significant contribution toward solving their transportation problem.

Riley actually found that rather amusing, but agreed nonetheless.

Probably the greatest advantage of traveling that way, however, was the fact that absolutely no one expected them to do something like that.

After all, setting aside the fact that traveling to Wyrmfall had come completely out of left field, who in their right mind would’ve expected a group containing some of the strongest dragons in Eryndra to arrive in a helicopter?

Certainly not the wyverns standing guard below.

Like shadows stalking through the night, the group had managed to reach the wasteland where they’d concluded the Wyvern King had originally been sealed and where, judging by everything they’d gathered, the wyverns had established their current base of operations.

High above it, the helicopter hovered inside the strangely peaceful pocket created by Riley’s box. Beyond that little bubble of calm, however, Wyrmfall remained every bit as hostile as they’d expected.

Deafening winds howled across the wasteland, carrying dust, rocks, and whatever other debris had been unfortunate enough to get swept up by the violent currents. Yet rather than becoming another obstacle, all that chaos ended up working surprisingly well in their favor.

With the entire place already sounding like a tornado had permanently taken residence there, the helicopter’s noise practically disappeared into the background.

It also explained why, when Kael and Lady Cirila dropped from the sky like a pair of silent meteors, the guards below didn’t immediately realize that two of the objects rapidly descending toward them weren’t actually debris.

Granted, the maneuver had required a rather questionable amount of trust in Mr. Winston’s invention.

The two golden dragons had practiced the timing beforehand, though thankfully not by repeatedly throwing themselves out of a helicopter. Instead, they’d used sufficiently high cliffs to determine exactly how far they needed to fall before escaping the box’s nullification range and regaining access to their abilities.

And sure enough, halfway through their descent, both dragons suddenly felt their mana rush back.

By then, it was already too late for the wyverns below.

What had initially looked like two more pieces of debris hurtling through the violent winds abruptly corrected their trajectories.

The first few guards barely had enough time to look up and realize something was amiss before the two golden dragons were already upon them.

Kael and Lady Cirila worked in near-perfect tandem, clearing the area beneath the helicopter as quickly and quietly as possible so Riley could descend without immediately alerting the entire base.

Had Riley and the children been there to properly witness Lady Cirila in action, they probably wouldn’t have recognized her.

The usually sweet and elegant dragoness moved with a kind of ruthless efficiency that left very little room for anyone to associate her with the woman who fussed over children and happily entertained Riley’s nonsense.

Her golden eyes narrowed into cold slits as she decisively eliminated anyone she deemed capable of interfering with her son-in-law’s descent, never once hesitating even as the number of bodies around them increased.

Perhaps Kael’s ruthlessness hadn’t come entirely from Lord Karion after all.

"Mother, are you done?" Kael eventually asked.

His own golden eyes were similarly slitted as he stood among the bodies, turning toward the woman who’d just dealt with the last guard on her side.

Lady Cirila was still holding the hooded wyvern she’d caught, her expression so cold and lethal that most beings who knew her would’ve probably questioned whether they were looking at the right person.

Then, almost casually, she released her grip.

The wyvern dropped to the ground in a limp heap.

"Yes," Lady Cirila replied softly as she calmly wiped her hands, the terrifying look in her eyes gradually disappearing as though it had never been there in the first place.

She stepped over the body and walked up behind her son before looking toward the helicopter still hovering far above them.

"We can receive him now."