Chapter 114: The Longest Three Minutes
Lara wasn’t running. She rode atop one of her babies while the rest of her Mana Squirrel Eaters raced alongside her through the tunnel.
The moment Silas’s message arrived, she had mounted the nearest baby without hesitation. She knew the dragon was already pursuing her. Silas had deliberately chosen a starting point close to the dragon so it would sense the flower as quickly as possible.
She had argued against the idea more than once, insisting that no C-grade Mana Squirrel Eater could ever outrun a dragon. Silas had dismissed every objection, explaining that if she started any farther away, the dragon might never detect the flower at all.
Everything depended on that single flower. And without realising it, her gaze drifted toward the blossom resting securely in her hands.
"This is the most precious thing I’ve ever seen."
"How did Silas even obtain it?"
She had no idea what the flower truly was, yet she was certain it surpassed any treasure she had encountered. The way her babies continuously stared at it, saliva dripping from their mouths despite her commands not to, was proof enough of its extraordinary value.
She still remembered the squirrel that had brought the flower from Cher. For the first time since she had become a Tamer, the little baby had hesitated before surrendering its prize.
Even so, none of that mattered now.
Her starting point lay roughly twenty minutes from Silas and the dragon, a distance measured by the speed of her babies.
’A dragon would cover it far faster.’
She pushed the thought aside. Worrying about it would accomplish nothing.
Fortunately, the tunnel beneath her was far wider than the other tunnels her Mana Squirrel Eaters dug. During the past few days, their ability to consume Mana Crystals had allowed them to excavate an entire underground tunnel network, including this broad passage.
Nearly a hundred squirrels charged through it in orderly ranks, ten abreast, their footsteps echoing against the stone. Even so, the destination remained frustratingly distant.
The route had been designed that way deliberately. Instead of taking the shortest path, it twisted through the underground and stretched the journey to nearly three times its natural length. She understood the reason behind the decision, yet the knowledge did little to calm her. The thought of an enraged dragon closing the distance from behind refused to leave her mind.
To keep her fear at bay, Lara pulled out a folded sketch.
Several days earlier, inside the ruined grand outpost, Silas had patiently explained every detail of the battlefield where they intended to trap the dragon. To make sure she wouldn’t make a mistake, he had even drawn the entire layout for her.
Compared to her own crude drawings, it was nothing short of masterful.
"...Even so, this grand design shouldn’t be enough to stop a dragon."
She remembered Cher making the very same argument. Again and again, she had insisted the trap was impossible, and every time Silas had calmly rejected her concerns, stressing that it would work despite how unreasonable it seemed.
What troubled Lara most was something else.
The entire trap had been designed with a true dragon in mind, a colossal creature covered in impenetrable scales and capable of soaring through the sky with wide wings.
Lara took a deep breath and shook her head.
From the messages she had exchanged with Cher, she knew the dragon had remained in its humanoid form until Silas kicked it from the top of the mine. Had it transformed into its true draconic body, it would have spread its wings, escaped the fall with ease, and killed Silas instead.
The fact that it was now chasing her could only mean one thing: the dragon was still in its humanoid form.
Ironically, the trap she had spent an entire day preparing alongside her babies had been designed for a dragon covered in scales, claws, and an enormous body. It simply wouldn’t work against a humanoid opponent.
"Yet it has remained in that form for so long. How does Silas intend to force it to transform?"
Although countless doubts lingered in her mind, she pushed them aside. Her task wasn’t to question the plan, but to lure the dragon to the designated location.
The reason she had designed such a long, winding route, despite the danger of giving the dragon more opportunities to catch her, was because of Silas.
Falling from the top of the mine should have killed him outright. Even now, she struggled to believe he had survived, let alone that his absurd plan had succeeded this far. Still, surviving such a fall inevitably meant severe injuries, and his speed would be greatly reduced.
Silas had accounted for that from the very beginning. He had insisted that she must prepare a longer route, buying him enough time to reach the trap before the dragon could.
Why that timing mattered, neither she nor the others knew. They could only trust him.
ROAR!
"Oh no..."
The deafening roar erupted much closer this time, sending a chill racing down her spine and scattering every thought from her mind.
She immediately glanced at her wristwatch, compared her current position with the trap’s location, and let out a relieved breath.
"I’m almost there."
She quickly sent Silas a message.
"Are you there? Are you ready?"
ROAR!
As though the dragon had heard what she said, it roared again. The sound startled her so badly that she nearly dropped the wristwatch. Fortunately, she managed to hold onto it.
[One minute and I’ll be there.]
Reading his reply steadied her nerves.
"I need about three more minutes to arrive."
She couldn’t resist glancing over her shoulder.
Thankfully, the dragon was still out of sight. As long as she couldn’t see it, there was still hope she could stay ahead until reaching the trap.
"Are you sure you don’t want me to help? My babies can still land a hit or two."
As the destination drew closer, she found herself asking the same question she had raised when Silas first explained his reckless plan days ago.
Now that the dragon’s roars echoed so close behind her, she understood more clearly than ever how terrifying it truly was.