Chapter 221

“Do you agree, Your Majesty!”

“What?”

One of Queen Alicia’s eyebrows twitched.

She doubted her own ears.

‘He wants me to grant him all the dragon bones? And a ten-year labor exemption?’

What kind of person says that?

It was absurd.

But this wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

Her gaze swept behind them.

CRUNCH!

The Bone Dragon’s jaws snapped shut barely three meters back.

At this rate, they were moments away from being crushed like a beetle caught in a giant hinge.

There was no more time to hesitate.

No room to weigh pros and cons.

‘He’s taking advantage of this situation to demand something outrageous, Lloyd Frontera. But…’

Agreeing to all his demands was better than dying here.

The Queen’s judgment was swift, her decision instantaneous.

She said crisply, “Fine. I grant it.”

“Truly, Your Majesty!”

“Yes.”

“Then you truly mean to bestow upon me a labor exemption for the next ten years and all the bones of this Bone Dragon?”

“Of course.”

“Excellent! Queen Alicia’s firm declaration shall be witnessed here and now by Javier Asrahan as a third party! Do you agree!”

“I said I agree!”

“My gratitude is boundless!”

CRUNCH!

The Bone Dragon’s jaws snapped shut again, perilously close.

“Then! Please listen carefully to the explanation I shall now give!”

Lloyd stretched out his hand and pointed toward the rear of the Bone Dragon’s body.

“Look over there! You’ll see that the nineteenth tailbone is slightly different from its surroundings!”

“The nineteenth tailbone?”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Queen Alicia and Javier stared at the Bone Dragon’s nineteenth tailbone.

But neither of them saw anything unusual.

“Strange. I see nothing particularly different. The shape and material both look identical.”

“No, Your Majesty!”

Lloyd insisted.

“In truth, that is not bone, but carved granite placed there!”

“…What? Granite?”

“Yes, Your Majesty! Originally, were you not going to grant me a single piece of the dragon’s tailbone?”

“Indeed! But wasn’t it decided to place an Emperor Whale vertebra—rather than granite—in the spot where your tailbone would be removed? I understood its superior strength and quality would make it an excellent substitute.”

“Your Majesty’s knowledge is correct!”

“But why?”

Lloyd’s explanation continued.

“The Emperor Whale vertebra was too expensive!”

“……”

“So I proposed changing the material to granite, and it was implemented!”

“……”

“After carving the granite and processing it properly, it was done so perfectly that it was indistinguishable from the original Bone Dragon tailbone to the naked eye! In fact, just now, Your Majesty, you couldn’t tell the difference with your own eyes, could you! Moreover, the material cost was one hundredth that of an Emperor Whale vertebra, so I thought it would be profitable!”

“You didn’t embezzle the difference, did you?”

“Certainly not!”

Lloyd shook his head quickly.

He truly didn’t embezzle anything.

He simply cut costs.

“After all, it was a dragon skeleton that visitors would only see from a distance as they passed by! I believed that if it looked seamless to the naked eye and had sufficient durability to support the skeleton, using granite would be efficient! Because I believed the saved material costs—returned to the national treasury—could be used for far more beneficial purposes in the future!”

It was sincere.

The national treasury was other people’s money.

Even so, he hated waste during construction.

If a material was perfect in function, safety, and appearance—and cost one hundredth as much?

Naturally, using the cheaper one was economical construction.

So he pushed hard for granite.

And got it implemented.

“And now, perhaps that decision from back then will become the key to striking that thing!”

CRUNCH-!

The Bone Dragon’s jaws snapped shut only two meters behind them.

Meanwhile, Ggoming kept pulling tight turns, sharp dives, and sudden climbs.

Like a fly desperately fleeing a giant eagle.

He flew so hard it felt like his wings would start sweating.

Lloyd shouted, “In my opinion, that nineteenth fake tailbone is also under the influence of the Magical Power maintaining the Bone Dragon’s body!”

“That would be so. Hence it moves in coordination with the other joints so seamlessly.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Naturally, its hardness would also far surpass that of ordinary granite.”

“But that means it would be relatively weaker than the other bones of the Bone Dragon.”

“Precisely that! Furthermore—!”

Lloyd shouted with conviction.

“If we break that spot, the entire tail behind it will snap off, and that Bone Dragon will no longer be able to fly as it does now!”

It was obvious.

The tail was not decoration.

It was essential—especially for something that flew like that.

‘Because it maintains balance!’

But if that tail disappeared?

It would be like an aircraft losing its tail wing.

It would immediately lose balance and crash.

It would never be able to fly again.

‘That’ll make the long-range lure operation I planned—using the Dragon King’s power—hard to execute. Still, this is the best option right now. It’s far better than being caught, having our heads crushed, and becoming fertilizer.’

A clean hit now was better than immediate death.

Lloyd spoke quickly.

“Therefore! I shall become the bait!”

“You?”

“Yes!”

Queen Alicia’s eyes widened.

Javier’s eyebrows twitched.

Lloyd wore a crooked smile as he looked between them.

“Is there anyone here, other than me, who can fly in perfect sync with Ggoming?”

That was simply the truth.

“So I will act as bait and draw that thing’s attention. In the meantime, please shatter its nineteenth tailbone.”

Lloyd slipped a hand into his bosom and pulled Ppodong and Bangul from his inner pocket.

“These two will help.”

“Ppodong!”

“Bangul!”

He fed red sunflower seeds to the two, who stared up at him with soft, pleading eyes.

Then he threw them down toward the ground.

Poof! Poof!

Two consecutive impacts as they enlarged and landed.

“Now, please get down quickly!”

“…….”

Until then, Queen Alicia had been staring at Lloyd in silence.

Lloyd smiled with only one side of his mouth.

“Your Majesty, there is no time. Please hurry.”

“You…”

“Do not worry about me.”

“No, it’s not worry. Somehow, I find it rather vexing that you only revealed now that you used granite instead of an Emperor Whale vertebra.”

“……”

“If this situation hadn’t occurred, you wouldn’t have revealed it at all, would you?”

“……”

“If we scrutinize that strictly, it’s clearly embezzlement—”

“Please be safe!”

Lloyd flipped Ggoming over like a pancake.

A sudden, violent maneuver.

The force lifted Queen Alicia and Javier from the saddle—

No, they let go themselves.

There was no more time to argue.

‘A ten-year labor exemption? Did you think you could easily escape from me? The method to bind you is simple. I just need to ask whether you will accept the charge of embezzlement or forfeit the exemption.’

But for now, survival came first.

Stopping that horrific disaster in the royal capital came first.

The wry smile vanished from Queen Alicia’s lips as she landed on the ground.

Her eyes hardened.

Javier landed beside her and nodded.

A brief exchange of glances.

For two Swordmasters, that was enough.

Tap-tap!

They dashed in opposite directions, parting the bushes.

There, their respective fantasy beast partners waited.

“Sir Ppodong, I’m counting on you.”

“Ppodong!”

Javier mounted Ppodong’s sturdy back.

Ppodong kicked off the ground and ran.

On the opposite side, by the water channel, the Queen reached Bangul.

“Your name is Bangul?”

“Bangul!”

“Then my memory is correct. I look forward to fighting alongside you.”

“Bangul! Bangul!”

The Queen mounted Bangul’s back.

Bangul gulped down water from the channel and wagged her tail vigorously.

Jingle-jingle-jingle!

A resonant warning rang out in all directions.

Then, beneath her raised tail, a fierce explosion erupted.

Gurgle! Gurgle!

She rapidly digested the water she had just drunk.

The water boiled violently, turning into a massive amount of steam that erupted like a volcano.

FWOOSH!

A jet of superheated, high-pressure steam blasted out.

Bangul tore down the water channel like a rocket-powered banana boat.

On her back, the Queen raised her sword.

‘Lloyd Frontera.’

Her gaze turned to the night sky.

Ggoming and Lloyd were still there, in breathless flight.

They looked desperate, fleeing the Bone Dragon that remained hot on their heels.

‘I do not wish to lose you.’

An excellent subject.

A trustworthy worker.

And in many ways, someone she owed greatly.

She did not want to lose Lloyd Frontera in a place like this.

‘Absolutely not.’

Creak!

Strength entered the back of Queen Alicia’s hand as she gripped her sword.

At the same time, Javier steeled himself with a similar resolve.

‘Lord Lloyd.’

He rode on Ppodong’s back, sprinting through the garden.

All the while, his gaze stayed fixed on Lloyd in the sky above.

‘I didn’t know Lord Lloyd had such feelings.’

Javier bit down on his lower lip.

He had misunderstood again.

He had thought Lloyd was the type to run in a crisis.

That he would cut and run like a cowardly weakling, trying to save only himself.

He had judged the young master he served too rashly.

‘It was the same in Cremo City.’

He had said he was disappointed.

Said he didn’t know Lloyd was like that.

He had spoken harshly.

‘Today was the same.’

He was foolish.

In truth, Lord Lloyd was someone prepared to sacrifice himself.

‘But… I will protect you so that such a sacrifice never becomes necessary.’

Clench!

Javier hardened his resolve.

To protect Lloyd, he would not consider his own safety. Even if the moment came to stake his life, he would not retreat.

‘Absolutely not.’

You must be safe.

Praying so, Javier urged Ppodong even faster.

Meanwhile, Lloyd—

He was having a hell of a time.

‘Hoo-ah! Your Majesty! Javier! Hurry up!’

CRUNCH!

The Bone Dragon’s jaws snapped shut right behind him.

Goosebumps raced up his spine.

If he made even a single mistake—

It felt like he would be chewed up and crushed on the spot.

‘But… still, it’s worth a try!’

The Queen and Javier had dismounted.

Ggoming’s back was lighter.

His maneuvers became that much more agile.

‘Good. I just need to keep slipping away like this!’

Fortunately, the Bone Dragon was chasing only them like a madman.

Almost like obsession—like stubbornness.

To the point Lloyd wondered if it thought he owed it money.

‘Ugh! Hurry up!’

How had he ended up playing tag with a Bone Dragon, something never written into his fate?

Lloyd swallowed down the misery surging up in the moment, Huff, huff.

Whenever he got a chance, he fired Detonations backward.

He pulled the Bone Dragon’s aggro even harder.

He flew desperately, moving as one with Ggoming.

Consecutive sharp turns.

A steep dive that shattered its pursuit line.

He flew in reverse along the Bone Dragon’s spine.

He slipped between its ribs.

The enraged Bone Dragon’s front leg scraped against its own ribcage.

It grazed him by a hair.

He shot out through the gap to the right.

Another steep dive.

Lower altitude.

At the same time, he shook Ggoming’s bag.

Fssht-fssht!

Bundles of webbing shot out toward the rear.

They stuck to the Bone Dragon’s face.

In that opening, he widened the distance.

He flew even lower.

Skimming the tops of the garden trees.

BOOM!

A massive explosive roar burst from behind.

The Bone Dragon, accelerating like a rocket, surged forward.

Hwaaak-!

With its entire body.

As if shattering space itself.

As if blanketing the entire night sky.

‘…!’

He couldn’t dodge that.

Lloyd knew it instantly.

The thing knew it too.

Which meant—

This was the chance.

“Now!”

Lloyd shouted like a thunderclap.

At that moment, a volcanic explosion erupted from the forest below.

KABOOOM-!

It was Bangul’s eruption, fired from an ambush—hidden in the tunnel Ppodong had dug after arriving early.

With only her rear raised from the tunnel, Bangul blasted upward.

Fierce heat and volcanic ash surged.

The storm swallowed the spot Lloyd had just passed.

Like a smoke screen.

For an instant, it obscured the Bone Dragon’s vision.

……!

It couldn’t see ahead.

The soul of the Black Wizard Targa, residing within the Bone Dragon, faltered for a heartbeat.

But only for a heartbeat.

Such petty tricks!

He possessed the power of the Bone Dragon.

A smoke screen could be blown away with brute force.

WHOOOM-!

The Bone Dragon’s wings tore through the air, releasing a shockwave as it accelerated even harder.

In that moment, Targa’s gaze and consciousness fixated obsessively on the faint, cockroach-like back of Lloyd beyond the smoke.

He focused.

He locked on.

And so he failed to realize—

Beyond the smoke screen he was tearing through unhindered, two cold blades were already aimed at his weakness.

FWIP!

From beyond the volcanic smoke, Javier fired a Detonation.

WHIIIZ!

The Detonation streaked through the air like a meteor.

It struck the Bone Dragon’s nineteenth tailbone dead-on, even as it flew at supersonic speed.

It punched through.

In an instant, it bored a hole fifty centimeters wide.

Cracks spread out from the rim like spiderwebs.

The Bone Dragon’s entire body shuddered.

……!

The Black Wizard Targa jolted.

At that very moment, the second Swordmaster’s follow-up landed.

“Ppodong!”

Ppodong unleashed monstrous strength.

He hurled Queen Alicia like a shot put.

The Queen soared upward, cutting through empty air.

Her sword was already wrapped in a massive Aura Sword.

THUNK!

The Aura Sword dug precisely into the nineteenth tailbone.

The tailbone already pierced by the Detonation.

The fake tailbone—caught up in the Magical Power maintaining the Bone Dragon’s body—replaced with granite by Lloyd’s cost-cutting.

It could no longer endure.

Even with that Magical Power holding it together—

CRACK!

The nineteenth tailbone shattered as if it exploded.

The entire tail behind it snapped off from the main body.

G, uuuh-eek!

The Black Wizard Targa cried out in panic.

The Bone Dragon, which had been charging forward like a wild boar, instantly lost balance.

Its massive body wobbled in the air, stumbling awkwardly.

It was the beginning of a crash with no brakes.