"We need Lara here as soon as possible."

Barely half an hour after meeting Darius, Silas suddenly turned to him.

"Contact Cher. She promised to activate her wristwatch once every hour. She sent me a message an hour ago, so she should be opening it again any moment now."

Darius’ expression tightened. He understood better than anyone how important Lara was to the plan. Now that the pieces on the board had finally begun to move, there was no room for delays.

"Tell her everything," Silas added when he noticed Darius focusing on trying to contact her. "Make sure she understands the entire situation."

"Got it."

Darius nodded grimly. He knew how critical the situation had become, and part of him couldn’t help but feel responsible. After all, the chain of events leading to this crisis had begun with a change he himself had introduced.

Meanwhile, Silas kept his attention fixed on the battlefield. He made sure the Dark Hunters remained focused on pursuing him, ready to interfere again if they attempted to retreat.

As for the dragon, the distant roars and thunderous explosions had vanished nearly half an hour ago. Yet instead of feeling relieved, Silas grew even more vigilant.

The dragon was still out there.

The fact that it had fallen silent and refrained from unleashing even a single roar only made it more dangerous. To Silas, the silence meant one thing: the dragon was waiting for the perfect moment to strike and reclaim the flower.

***

Far from the chaos of the chase, Chaz Avaron sat within his castle, overseeing the unfolding battle.

The look on his face revealed his frustration. Nothing had gone according to plan. Cher had vanished without a trace, the army he dispatched had failed to delay the dragon, and the beast had managed to penetrate deep into the mine’s inner territory.

Worst of all, the Dark Hunters, an enemy he had never considered a genuine threat, had escaped and pushed even deeper into the mine. Studying the massive tactical map hovering before him, Chaz frowned.

"That boy... it seems my daughter has a good eye for talent."

He had already reviewed the files of Cher’s companions and knew that Silas was supposedly the leader of their team. At the time, he had dismissed the claim entirely, assuming it was one of Cher’s attempts to mislead him and conceal the true structure of her group.

None of her friends had ever attracted his attention, not until now.

"Silas Ashborne... How amusing. Fate seems determined to tie the Ashbornes to dragons wherever they go. And yet..."

His eyes narrowed as he continued reading.

"It is the first time I’ve seen an orphan possess talent of this calibre."

The file before him was far more detailed than anything available at the academy. It had been compiled by the Avaron Clan’s special investigation unit, containing years of gathered information.

As he read, he moved Silas’ portrait to the centre of the tactical display. The people surrounding him exchanged puzzled glances, but none dared question the decision after seeing the seriousness in their leader’s eyes.

’Silas Ashborne... will you become a threat to me?’

Chaz had never believed in coincidences. Cher would not have joined a team led by Silas without a reason, and what he had witnessed today only reinforced that belief.

A single young man had dismantled a plan that had taken him considerable effort to construct. The damage extended far beyond disrupting the operation meant to delay the dragon or preventing the extermination of the Dark Hunters.

The consequences reached much further than that. Everyone was moving toward a single destination: the mine.

Although Chaz’s eyes lingered on the grand prize, his daughter’s special ability, he knew he carried a far greater responsibility. The mine had to remain secure.

Even a dragon attack would not excuse failure, especially when he knew the truth behind the Safe Havens. If the mine was destroyed or looted under his watch, the consequences would fall squarely on his shoulders.

’A military tribunal... a traitor’s brand...’

His expression darkened.

’Damn you, Silas Ashborne. I won’t let a cursed relic of the past destroy the future I’ve spent decades building.’

Chaz knew Silas was not one of the real Ashbornes. The bloodline had died out years ago. Yet the name itself remained infamous, forever tied to dragons, calamities, and disasters.

Blood or not, the Ashborne name carried enough curses to make any sensible man wary. It was a strange magnet for dragons, and dragons inevitably brought chaos.

After a moment of thought, he finally made his decision.

"New orders," he said coldly. "Dispatch all remaining B-Rank Enhancers and place them in command of ninety percent of the forces stationed here. Their mission is to stop the dragon, eliminate the Dark Hunters, and capture the two Frontier Academy students. Bring them to me alive."

He paused before carefully adopting the expression of a worried father.

"As for the remaining ten percent, spread them across the entire mine territory. Search every valley, every cave, turn every rock, I don’t care. Just find my daughter and bring her back safely."

His true intentions could not be allowed to show. No matter what he planned, he still had a public image to maintain.

The moment the orders were given, his assistants sprang into action. Commands flooded through communication channels, and the fortress-like command centre erupted into motion like a disturbed beehive.

Chaz remained behind with a little more than a hundred Enhancers personally selected from his clan to serve as his guards. Three B-Rank Enhancers led the force, while he stood above them all.

With such strength at his disposal, he had no doubt he could face even a dragon and emerge victorious.

Then, for reasons he could not explain, his gaze drifted toward Silas’s floating image above the tactical map.

’Let’s see how you’ll get yourself out of this... and how you’ll save my daughter and get her away from my grasp, Silas Ashborne.’

***

"Lara did it!"

It took Darius nearly twenty minutes to establish contact with Cher. The moment he sent the prepared message, a reply arrived almost immediately. They had succeeded.

"Finally."

Silas released a long breath.

"We’re back in the game."

"There’s a problem, though..."

Darius continued reading the stream of messages Cher sent, his expression gradually becoming more serious.

At first, Cher had demanded to know why they had moved forward with the plan before receiving confirmation from Lara. After Darius gave a brief explanation, she pointed out the issue neither of them could ignore.

Noticing how Darius trailed off made Silas frown.

"What problem?"

"They need at least five hours to reach the mine," Darius sighed. "Maybe longer if they have to take a wider route to avoid the dragon."

"And Lara will need another two hours to prepare everything once she arrives," Silas finished.

The two exchanged a silent glance as they had reached the same conclusion. The mine was now less than three hours away. Until now, they had deliberately kept their pace slow. What helped greatly was the dragon’s sudden disappearance. But that advantage had created a new problem.

If they arrived too early, the entire plan would collapse.

"We need to buy her more time."

Silas scanned the surrounding wilderness, searching for anything that might spark an idea. Yet before that, he spared his friend a glance, before inwardly sighing.

’He doesn’t seem to know about this problem beforehand.’

Darius gave Silas the same look when he told him about Cher’s father. That was enough to tell Silas that his friend didn’t have a spark of an idea on how to solve this problem.

"Tell them to move immediately. We’ll figure something out..."

His voice trailed off as he stared into the distance.

"Somehow."