"This place will do."

After several hours of relentless retreat, the remaining Dark Enhancers finally halted under the Scorpion leader’s command. Before them stretched a wide valley, eerily similar to the one from which the dragon had emerged. More importantly, it lay directly along the path leading to the mine garrison and its army.

"Let’s throw the flower in there and leave."

The Wyvern leader’s voice was filled with irritation. During the past few hours alone, their already diminished force had lost nearly a hundred hunters while desperately trying to escape the dragon’s pursuit.

For some reason, the dragon had become even more violent than before, attacking with relentless fury. Fortunately, the presence of their B-Rank leaders had prevented a complete disaster, allowing them to create enough distance to survive. Then, just as their scouts discovered the valley, an opportunity finally presented itself.

"I’ll take it deep inside and get rid of it," the Chimera leader said as he stepped forward. "Circle the valley and meet me on the other side. Once that cursed flower is gone, we’ll disappear and wait for a chance to loot the crystals."

The other two leaders nodded.

Among them, the Chimera leader was the fastest, so the task naturally fell to him. He selected the ten quickest Enhancers from the remaining Dark Hunters and prepared to move.

The plan was simple.

In less than an hour, they would finally be rid of both the flower and the dragon that followed it. After that, they could return to the reason they had come here in the first place.

***

"Ugh... those ants finally know their place and have accepted their fate?"

High above the land, the dragon observed everything from the sky.

After unleashing a relentless assault and displaying enough savagery to terrify even seasoned Enhancers, it had deliberately withdrawn. It was understood that continued attacks would only make the humans cling more desperately to the flower.

So it waited, silent and patient.

It did not roar, it did not descend, neither attacked them. It merely watched from afar, allowing fear to do the work that brute force could not.

Eventually, it sensed the flower separating from the main group. The moment that happened, the dragon understood the humans’ intentions.

"They are finally throwing it away."

A cruel smile spread across its massive face.

"I’ll wait a little longer. Once they abandon it, I’ll retrieve it, reclaim my lost power, and then deal with those troublesome ants."

The dragon’s retreat had never been about surrendering the flower.

At this stage, even a dragon could not recklessly charge through multiple B-Rank Enhancers without risk. Force alone was no longer the answer. Its power was sealed, and the flower was the only means available to slowly reclaim its former power.

So, it relied on something far more effective: fear. The fear that dragons had inspired for countless generations into the hearts of weaker races, especially humans. It knew fear would make humans abandon reason.

"Those fools don’t realise that by throwing it away, they’re signing their own death sentences. Kekeke..."

Amused, the dragon continued to watch while imagining the future that awaited it once its lost power returned.

***

"That’s the place."

Darius sprinted across the wilderness at full speed.

Every thirty minutes, he transmitted his coordinates to Cher, keeping her updated on his progress. According to his original calculations, the mission should have taken at least twelve hours to complete.

Instead, only seven hours had passed. He knew the distance, if travelled directly, wouldn’t take a few hours to cross. Yet he intentionally moved in circles, trying to waste time. Eventually, he couldn’t waste any more time and decided to wait for the rest of the hours inside the fateful place.

After locating a suitable hiding spot and preparing to settle in, he noticed several figures emerging in the distance.

"Dammit. They’re much earlier than expected."

His gaze swept past the eleven approaching shadows and focused on the horizon beyond them.

"What is that stupid dragon doing?"

"It should’ve delayed them for a few more hours."

The sight of the incoming group immediately put him on alert.

Without hesitation, Darius sent an urgent message to Cher, requesting that the shuttle be dispatched to his location as soon as possible. Yet he knew this was a hasty response, and the shuttle would take quite some time to arrive at his place.

Once the transmission was sent, he narrowed his eyes and focused entirely on the distant figures rushing toward him.

At some point, the eleven shadows came to an abrupt stop. One of them took something out, tossed it onto the ground, and immediately resumed running. The relief in their movements was unmistakable, as though they had finally rid themselves of a ticking bomb.

Darius instantly checked his wristwatch as a message from Cher had arrived. The shuttle was on its way and would need roughly half an hour to reach him.

"Half an hour?"

His gaze shifted from the retreating shadows to the spot where they had discarded the object. Then he looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.

"I don’t think I’ll have half an hour if I stay here."

"As expected, I’ll need to buy myself these precious minutes using that thing."

"Screw it then."

"I didn’t plan to use it here, but what else can I do?"

Clenching his fists, Darius burst from his hiding place. The moment he moved, he noticed a lone figure in the distance, approaching from the same direction the eleven shadows had originally come from.

Seeing this made his expression darken.

"Dammit. It’s already here."

He wasted no more time. Pouring every ounce of strength into his legs, Darius crossed the remaining distance in a few breaths, dropped to one knee, and snatched the flower from the ground.

The instant his fingers wrapped around it, a furious roar erupted far behind him.

"You damned thief! Give me my flower back or die!"

Darius did not need to turn around to know who was speaking. The dragon had arrived, and it was mad.

Yet he kept running as fast as he could, wasting time in this chase as long as he could.

"I can’t outrun it, or else it will use its wings to propel itself fast towards me."

"I need to act... I need to act fast..."

Almost thirty minutes had passed since the chase started. Yet the dragon was getting closer, and Darius was still a few minutes away from getting out of the valley.

Before the dragon could reach him and attack, Darius pulled a small metallic sphere from his pocket. He then looked over his shoulder, calculating the timing on his wristwatch.

The dragon was indeed running fast, yet luckily for him, it was still in humanoid form. Darius knew it wouldn’t be able to use the explosive speed move unless it stopped and activated the draconic form first. And he prayed it would do that, waste a few precious seconds.

Yet the dragon didn’t. Instead, it kept closing the distance running on foot. Seeing this made Darius inwardly curse.

"There is no other way except for using this treasure."

"Screw you!"

He turned his attention fully towards his wristwatch again. When the time was right, he pressed a button on the sphere’s surface and hurled it behind him.

Then he turned and ran.

RUMBLE!

Less than a minute later, an earth-shattering explosion tore through the valley.

The sphere had been a military-grade bomb, a rare and expensive war asset that was almost impossible to acquire outside major clans and military forces. Darius had kept it for a desperate situation.

Like this one.

Bitterness stirred within him as he thought of the cost. Yet when he glanced back and saw the towering cloud of dust, the shattered cliffs, and countless boulders raining from above, he knew the sacrifice had been worth it.

The valley collapsed in on itself as tons of rock buried the open terrain, sealing it beneath a mountain of rubble and entombing the dragon underneath.

"I know that won’t be enough to kill you," Darius muttered, turning his gaze forward once more. The eleven shadows had already disappeared from sight. "But it should buy me enough time to escape."

As expected, the dragon freed itself only a few minutes later.

Its rage had grown even more terrifying. Fierce orange light flickered through its long lashes, bursting forth in violent flashes as waves of killing intent rolled from its body.

"That ant bastard..."

The dragon could not understand it. The two humans who had outplayed it were both absurdly young, barely more than children by its standards. Yet each possessed an audacity that bordered on madness.

Worse, together they had stolen its precious flower.

Raising its head, the dragon stared toward the distant sky. It could sense the flower moving through the air, carried farther away with every passing second. After measuring the widening distance, it knew pursuit would be pointless. Even in its draconic form, it would never catch up in time.

"Still, it’s heading deeper into that mine."

Its eyes shifted toward a distant point on the horizon.

"Straight toward that filthy Ashborne descendant...As expected, the two thieves are working together to get my flower."

A cruel smile spread across its face.

"I’ll crush two ants with one claw. Not bad. Not bad at all."

Its mood remained foul, but the thought of vengeance eased its frustration. Soon, it would reclaim the flower and kill the Ashborne thief, alongside the other thief and other ants around.

Far away from the dragon, Darius sat inside the shuttle, drenched in cold sweat. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he struggled to catch his breath. During the past few minutes, he had pushed himself far beyond his limits.

Only after several deep breaths did the trembling in his body begin to subside. He raised the hand holding the magical flower and gently patted its petals.

"How incredible that such a small, beautiful thing can cause so much trouble."

Then he glanced around the cabin.

The shuttle was nearly empty, occupied only by him and the flight crew. According to Silas’s plan, Lara and Alfred should have been aboard alongside the monsters Lara had managed to tame.

A faint smile appeared on Darius’s face.

"I know you’ll be disappointed."

He imagined Silas’s reaction and chuckled softly.

"Yet everything is still proceeding according to my plan."

His smile widened.

"And soon enough, you’ll thank me for this little detour."