The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 453: Fifty More Questions

Rhazira gave the order to begin the siege as she took in the rather enticing location of the Ministry, her senses immediately drawn to the rich and stable flow of mana leading straight toward it.

No wonder that strange anomaly had thought to hide right there...

Standing imposingly before her, the MBE was an absurdly tall and ancient structure, one that had existed long before mortals had even settled into their current way of life. Centuries upon centuries of enchantments had been layered over its walls, and practically every part of the building had been designed to accommodate the countless magical beings who’d passed through its doors over the years, right down to the massive rooftop landing meant for dragons.

Really, the place had certainly been built to last.

It had stood proudly for longer than most beings alive could probably remember.

Not that Rhazira particularly cared about preserving any of it.

If anything, she figured her visit could simply count as some advanced demolition work. Once she was finished dealing with all the unnecessary disturbances that had made their lives so difficult lately, perhaps they could even repurpose whatever remained as their new home.

After all, the location itself wasn’t half bad. And once all the troublesome occupants were gone, it might actually make for a rather lovely place to live.

Unfortunately for her, while the Wyvern Queen was standing outside imagining what she could do with the place after tearing through its defenses, there was already one red dragon inside who’d managed to sneak back through a hidden portal they’d since been using.

Yes.

Orryn had actually gone through with his plan.

And yes, he did so despite being painfully aware of just how insane attempting something like this by himself probably was.

He’d spent practically the entire trip back chastising himself for making such a decision, especially when he’d already promised his son that he intended to survive long enough to earn the right to talk to him.

But what could he do?

Everyone was already giving everything they had to make this work.

They’d never actually sat around a table and discussed the very real possibility that some of them might not return. No one had given some dramatic speech about sacrificing themselves for the greater good either. But there’d been an unspoken understanding among all of them that failure simply wasn’t an option.

Unlike everyone else who could still hope to stay out of the conflict or switch sides depending on who looked more likely to win, they didn’t have that luxury.

They were already firmly on the side of the coin the wyverns would never tolerate.

So for them, this entire operation really was do-or-die.

With that in mind, what was one little solo performance if he could at least increase the odds that his child would have some sort of future?

Orryn took a deep breath as he stared through the magical orb, watching the army of mismatched wyverns gathering outside under the command of that repulsive Queen.

Well.

If he was going to put on a show, then he might as well pull out all the stops.

If those bastards thought he was simply going to sit inside and wait for them to start tearing down the building, then they were sorely mistaken.

Besides, he had a quota to fill.

His son had been very clear about that.

So instead of waiting for the first attack to land, Orryn reached for the Ministry’s defenses.

__

Outside, the wyverns were still moving into position when the MBE’s protective barrier suddenly flashed red.

Rhazira’s eyes narrowed.

But before anyone could even process the change, the entire barrier erupted.

A massive wave of explosive magic blasted outward from the Ministry without warning, slamming into the surrounding wyverns before they had any chance to react. Those closest to the barrier were hurled violently backward, while the rapidly expanding wave tore through the rest of the formation and sent bodies crashing into one another.

In an instant, their carefully arranged siege descended into chaos.

"What?!"

"What was that?!"

The reaction was understandable.

From everything they’d learned about the MBE, its defenses were supposed to be reactive. The barrier needed to register an attack before retaliating, which was precisely why their first strike had been planned to hit as hard as possible. They’d intended to capitalize on that one free opportunity before the Ministry’s defenses could properly respond.

So what the hell was that?!

Rhazira’s expression darkened as she immediately raised a barrier around herself, watching the crimson wave crash against it while several of her underlings weren’t nearly as fortunate.

Not that she particularly cared about them.

If anything, the unexpected retaliation only made her more certain that she’d come to the right place.

Of course that pesky dragon lord would’ve left something troublesome behind to protect his precious little anomaly.

The Wyvern Queen stared at the tower through the fading red light before a slow, ugly smile spread across her face.

"Ha! So they really want to do this the hard way, huh?"

She clicked her tongue before letting out an amused snicker, apparently taking the unexpected attack as nothing more than a challenge.

Fine.

Rhazira lifted her hand, and the wyverns recovering around her immediately turned toward their Queen.

"I can humor them this much."

__

Meanwhile, just as one red dragon was moonlighting as a director for special effects, filling the MBE’s windows and hallways with carefully maintained illusions to convince those outside that there were still a good number of people inside preparing to receive them, three dragons in Wyrmfall were beginning to notice something rather odd about the wyverns’ main base of operations.

"How many does that make now?" Riley asked.

He watched as his mate took down yet another wyvern without much effort, something that normally wouldn’t have seemed strange considering who Kael was. But after seeing the exact same thing happen repeatedly, their progress was starting to feel a little too easy.

"Thirteen from this zone," Kael replied.

"Thirteen just from here," Riley repeated slowly, his eyes narrowing as he looked farther down the circular tunnel they’d been following. "And not one indication that we’ve been detected in this area?"

Nothing had changed around them.

There were no alarms, no sudden influx of guards, and not even the slightest sign that anyone farther inside had realized a chunk of their people had already disappeared.

Lady Cirila noticed the increasingly thoughtful expression on her son-in-law’s face.

"Son, is something wrong?"

"Not that I can tell anything’s wrong," Riley answered, still studying the passage ahead. "But the fact that nothing seems to be going wrong is exactly my issue."

The golden dragoness blinked.

"I’m sorry, what?"

The diligent son-in-law gestured vaguely toward the bodies they’d left behind.

"By chance, did they decide to leave their worst people guarding this place? Because the level of resistance we’ve encountered so far, and will probably continue encountering at this rate, isn’t making any sense to me."

They hadn’t noticed it immediately because their priority from the moment they entered the base had been to avoid alerting anyone. Naturally, that meant moving as quickly as possible and eliminating every guard before they had the opportunity to react.

At first, the lack of resistance had simply meant they were doing a good job.

But after passing through several rings of security and getting deeper and deeper into what was supposed to be the most important stronghold the wyverns possessed, that explanation was becoming increasingly difficult to believe.

If anything, the beings they’d encountered were starting to feel less like actual guards and more like mannequins conveniently placed along their route.

Riley’s brows furrowed.

"I want to test something."

Kael immediately turned toward him, listening attentively as his twig pointed toward the next wyvern stationed farther down the passage.

Understanding what his twig wanted, the golden dragon didn’t attack.

Instead, he quietly erected a barrier around the target, ensuring that whatever happened inside wouldn’t travel beyond that small area. Once it was secure, Kael created a vivid illusion of an intruder emerging from the darkness and stepping directly into the wyvern’s line of sight.

The three of them remained a considerable distance away, waiting.

The illusion moved closer.

The ex-mortal and current trespasser watched carefully, expecting the wyvern to react now that the supposed intruder was practically impossible to miss.

Nothing.

His expression slowly changed.

Kael apparently had the same thought. Without warning, he sent the illusion lunging straight at the creature.

Surely that would do something.

Still nothing.

The wyvern didn’t defend itself, raise an alarm, or even flinch at the apparent attack.

It simply stood there, eyes open but staring blankly ahead without any real awareness behind them. Even with an obvious threat right in front of it, the creature looked less like a living guard and more like a hollow shell left standing in place.

Riley stared at it.

Well.

That certainly answered one question.

Unfortunately, it created about fifty more.

Something was horribly wrong.

But before the black dragon could even turn around to warn his mate and mother-in-law, something inside his body suddenly thumped.

Hard.

"!"

The force of it nearly knocked the breath out of him.

His hand immediately flew to his chest as an indescribable sensation tore through his entire body, almost as though something deeply rooted inside him had suddenly tried to rip itself away.

For one horrifying instant, he felt it pulling free.

Then it snapped violently back into place.

Riley gasped, stumbling as cold sweat broke across his skin. His heart hammered painfully against his ribs while he struggled to understand what the hell had just happened.

He instinctively turned toward his mate.

"Kael, something’s—"

But the words died in his throat as he froze.

There was no one beside him.

His eyes immediately swept across the circular passage, but it stretched away exactly as it had moments ago, silent and empty except for Riley himself.

No Lady Cirila.

No Kael.

Both golden dragons were gone.