Chapter 813: Maze

Yet the dragon was his own choice.

Even with tears in his eyes, he had to ride it!

However, Leo was instantly gagging from the stench, retching before disregarding Liszt's attempts to stop him. He burst into a ball of flame, plunging straight into Liszt's body, leaving Liszt alone to face the invisible dragon.

"Woo-yah!"

The invisible dragon sniffed the scent released by the chewed Smokegrass, like a chain-smoker taking a long drag, riding a blissful high. Witnessing this, Liszt could only continue covering his nose and proceed with his plan. He began retrieving prepared food from his dimensional ring.

There was fine wine and beef, all prepared for the invisible dragon.

Of course.

He served small portions—just bite-sized pieces, slowly teasing the invisible dragon's interest. When the invisible dragon had eaten the beef to its heart's content, juices dripping from its maw, it excitedly revealed its true form and, dropping its guard, begged Liszt for more meat. That was when he knew the moment had arrived.

Slyly, he slid forward a piece of roasted veal stuffed with the Milon Mind Fruit to the invisible dragon's mouth. The unsuspecting dragon gulped it down without hesitation.

"Done!"

Liszt nearly cheered at the sight.

Yet, after a brief pause, the invisible dragon opened its mouth and spat out a rainbow-skinned fruit—it had eaten the beef but rejected the hidden Milon Mind Fruit.

"Huh?"

Liszt's eyes widened in disbelief—he hadn't seen this coming from the invisible dragon.

Eyeing the spat-out Milon Mind Fruit lying nearby, then back at the invisible dragon, which acted like it'd just flicked away a crumb and continued enjoying the roasted veal, he wasn't sure whether to quietly retrieve the fruit and pretend nothing had happened or force it into the dragon's mouth right then.

Option two was obviously stupid.

He could only walk over silently and pick up the Milon Mind Fruit. There were only three of them, each worth a dragon's ransom—literally—each representing a dragon, provided those dragons weren't as picky as this invisible one, playing picky with its food. Back when the young Fire Drake Leo ate beef, he'd wolfed it down.

"Looks like this time, all I'll get are a few spatial gems." Shaking his head, Liszt settled for leaning back, watching the invisible dragon slowly savor its Smokegrass feast.

Then he waited for it to finish its meal and settle up with spatial gems as compensation.

Already plotting next year's approach, when the invisible dragon returned for another meal, to force it to eat the Milon Mind Fruit.

Not far away.

At the summit of Whirlpool Mountain.

Acheronides, who had just received the tenth frame ship, stood atop the peak, sneaking peeks at Liszt's dragon-taming disaster—only to see him wearing the face of a broken man.

She snorted behind her hand.

Quietly stepping back a few paces to avoid the Smokegrass's pungent odor.

...

The invisible dragon, lost for so long that it was starving half to death, had finally encountered a feast of its favorite delicacies and was pigging out happily.

In its excitement, Liszt suddenly seemed way more likeable.

When it finished the last piece of beef, it slowly approached Liszt. Just as Liszt reached out to receive his payment, the dragon tossed its head up proudly.

"Woo-yah!"

"Huh?"

Liszt was puzzled.

The invisible dragon then bumped Liszt with its snout, as if telling him to hop on. This was completely unexpected—he had planned to use the Milon Mind Fruit to subdue it before forcing a ride. Yet, the invisible dragon, having seen through his scheme, was now offering itself willingly.

Unsure if this was truly the case, Liszt seized the opportunity without hesitation, quickly scrambling onto its back and settling firmly onto the serrated ridge where its neck met its body.

Only when he was firmly seated did he confirm—the invisible dragon was indeed allowing him to ride.

His carefully prepared Smokegrass feast had won it over, earning its recognition and granting him the chance to initiate a mind battle between man and dragon.

Whoosh!

With a powerful flap of its wings, the invisible dragon soared into the sky. Clutching its scales, Liszt felt a dizzying shift as the world transformed before his eyes. All trees, rivers, and mountains turned to crystal, jagged, geometric shapes.

"Is this... the world as the invisible dragon sees it?"

While the Fire Dragon saw a riot of color, the invisible dragon’s world was a monotone crystal lattice—perhaps the most direct manifestation of how their power shaped their perception.

"Do these crystal structures represent the building blocks of reality?" he pondered.

But in the next moment, the world shifted dramatically. Mountains sank, earth surged, and countless crystalline formations assembled into an endless, sprawling maze. Beyond the repeating patterns, there was no other color or shape.

"Whee-ya!"

The invisible dragon stood at the maze’s entrance.

As it stepped inside, Liszt instantly understood the challenge—to conquer the dragon’s mind, he must navigate his way out.

Not all mind battles with dragons were pure combat. Only vicious ones like Leo resorted to slaughter for victory. His battle with the Lightgreen Gem Dragon had been more of a duel with the First Dragon Knight, with the dragon itself remaining passive.

"Find the exit..." Liszt felt a throbbing headache.

The dense, crystalline labyrinth left him bewildered. At the first fork, he was already dizzy, paralyzed by indecision.

"Enough overthinking. Left first, then right—keep trying till I’m out!"

...

Time lost meaning.

Inside the mind battle, what felt like hours passed, yet Liszt remained lost, drenched in sweat. He couldn’t even recall his position in the maze—its structure wasn’t mere walls but resembled the shifting walls of *Cube*, with exits in every direction.

Each crystalline fork seemed distinct yet meaningless, and he couldn’t memorize their patterns.

Attempting to force the invisible dragon to break through walls was met with refusal. Drawing the illusory *Frostbite Dragon Slayer Sword* to dismantle the maze nearly shattered the blade instead. Even the smoke coiling around him proved useless—marking turns got him nowhere, trapping him in an endless loop of new forks or familiar dead ends.

He grew frantic.

"A trick! It’s all a trick! No one could escape this maze!" he snarled.

In the end, he could only watch as the maze crumbled bit by bit, the mindscape crumbling—he’d lost the battle for the dragon’s mind.

Boom!

Liszt opened his eyes again, and the world had returned to everything visible to the naked eye—blue skies, white clouds, green mountains, and clear waters. The invisible dragon still stood on the same mountainside clearing, then arched its neck and let out a "Woo-ee-ya!" urging Liszt to leave its Dragon Tooth Platform. The attempt to ride the dragon had failed, and it no longer acknowledged Liszt.

"Damn it!"

Without the Milon Mind Fruit, there was no way to tame a dragon!

After he jumped down, the invisible dragon flapped its wings without even leaving behind the Space Gem, flying off without a second look. Just as Liszt thought it was about to fly away, it suddenly ascended to the summit of the Whirlpool Mountain, charging toward the siren Acheronides, who had been watching the dragon-riding attempt.