Chapter 873: Here I Come, Here I Go

The Bronze Dragon Knight Alonso Cyclamen barely escaped with his life.

Before long, he rejoined Alex Bai Kou Tie. However, from the original group of five dragons and three knights, only the five dragons and two knights survived, along with one corpse.

"Prince Alex, how did things come to this?" Alonso was still in shock. "Was that Liszt? His mount wasn’t a Fire Dragon or a Lightgreen Gem Dragon!"

"It was an Invisible Dragon."

Alex remained expressionless, as if it were someone else’s problem. "The Sacred Dragon lineage possesses spatial powers. Liszt is far more than the Fire Dragon Knight we anticipated, nor did he just acquire a Lightgreen Gem Dragon... He has become an Invisible Dragon Knight. Grand Duke Loyr fell to his assassination."

"Sacred Dragons truly exist?" Alonso frowned.

"I couldn’t confirm it before either. It’s been many years since any news of Sacred Dragons surfaced. When I was young and traveled through the Kushan Empire, I heard some rumors about them. I thought Sacred Dragons had vanished with the fall of the Moon Empire era, never expecting one to reappear in the Azure Sea."

"And the Archmage—another figure unseen for ages. Prince Alex, things have already exceeded our expectations." Alonso took a deep breath and speculated seriously, "I suspect Liszt has uncovered the ruins of the Moon Empire. Otherwise, an Archmage and an Invisible Dragon wouldn’t have emerged in succession."

Alex glanced at Loyr’s copper-plated corpse and said indifferently, "That little bastard has become a real threat. Killing him now will be difficult."

Alonso’s expression darkened, then he raised his brows. "Your Highness, are we to abandon this dragonslaying operation?"

"What do you think?"

"Pursue!"

"Pursue?"

"At this point, there’s no turning back. If we don’t kill Liszt, the consequences will be dire. We must continue the chase and eliminate him completely to ensure things don’t spiral out of control... Otherwise, this will become the worst crisis the Kingdom of the Eagle has ever faced!"

"But Liszt is an Invisible Dragon Knight. He can teleport through space—how do we kill him?"

"Lure him." Alonso seemed resolute. "I’ll be the bait myself to draw him out. He enjoys ambushing lone Dragon Knights, doesn’t he? We’ll split up to search but stay linked. The moment he appears, we fight desperately to pin him down and cut off his escape!"

Alex’s eyes gleamed for a moment. "Do you think there’s any chance of success?"

In terms of combat prowess, he was the undisputed strongest in the Kingdom of the Eagle. But when it came to strategy and cunning, he fell slightly short—hence his reliance on Alonso’s planning.

"After seeing what happened to Grand Duke Loyr, I must admit I can’t say I’m confident. Liszt always seems to have unknown trump cards. For now, we can only gamble. Killing him would be the best outcome. If we fail, we’ll have to retreat and find another way to resolve this crisis later."

"Then we kill!" Alex declared fiercely.

As the undefeated White Iron Dragon Knight, he had his own pride.

In the following days, Alonso took the initiative to separate, scouting the waters around Dodo Island alone in search of the Invisible Dragon’s traces.

Meanwhile, Alex led the remaining four dragons, scouting from another direction while maintaining a connection with Alonso through their magic power.

With his Dragonlance at the ready, Alonso suppressed his tension and coldly observed his surroundings. He prayed Liszt would appear to ambush him—only then could he employ his all-or-nothing tactics to hold off the Invisible Dragon and await Alex’s reinforcements. This was the only way to turn the tide.

Otherwise, if the second dragonslaying operation failed, he would be left with no honor.

A Dragon Knight’s lifetime rarely saw participation in more than a few dragonslaying battles. Yet for him, two failed campaigns would make him a disgrace, a laughingstock among his peers.

Then—

He suddenly sensed the Invisible Dragon’s presence in the distance.

His heart leaped, and his grip on the Dragonlance tightened further. But just as quickly, the presence faded into nothing.

It turned out that Liszt had merely flown out from the material boundary, swept the area with a telescope to locate the bronze dragon, and then left without a backward glance.

"Knowing full well that I killed Loyel, they still divided their forces—are they tempting me or testing my intelligence?" Liszt didn’t consider himself a genius, but he certainly wasn’t a fool either. Alonso’s tactic was clearly a mockery.

He turned and left.

For the next while, he would simply toy with them like leading dogs on a leash.

He had already instructed Acheronides to notify Black Horse Island via the magic platform to safely relocate the spirits—though relocation wasn’t strictly necessary. Dragon knights seldom attacked low-ranking knights or civilians, let alone spirits. There were unspoken rules to this game, and dragon knights fighting dragon knights was the norm.

Otherwise, if one dragon knight slaughtered civilians today, another would retaliate tomorrow, and no one would benefit.

Besides, compared to the Kingdom of the Eagle, Flame Territory was dirt-poor. Even if dragon knights went on a rampage, Liszt’s losses would be limited. At worst, he could recoup losses by raiding the Kingdom of the Eagle—or simply kill enough to break even. As long as Alex and Alonso weren’t fools, they wouldn’t break the rules.

His main concern was them taking their rage out on Black Horse Island in a fit of rage.

After all, they were dragon knights.

If they had a momentary lapse in judgment, who’d call them to account? He himself had once disregarded dignity and personally captured ordinary knights on the battlefield, so he couldn’t rule out them pulling such a cheap move.

"I hope you don’t do this. Otherwise, if my territory suffers losses, the Kingdom of the Eagle will have to compensate tenfold—no, a hundred times over!"

Riding the invisible dragon Bard, he continuously weaved through the material boundary, flying toward Alex’s direction. Upon sensing draconic auras, he was shocked to spot four dragons beside Alex—the White-Mouthed Iron Dragon, grey cast iron dragon, copper dragon, and a silver dragon.

This was clearly no time for reckless approaches.

"Pity. All those rare metal dragons, and not one’s mine," Liszt lamented.

Acheronides suddenly spoke up, "Brother, didn’t you mean to intercept a lone dragon knight after the Kingdom of the Eagle retreats?"

Liszt shook his head. "That was the idea, but since I killed Loyel, they probably won’t split up—and if they do, it’s likely a trap. Even if they truly separate after retreating, tracking them’d be near impossible without a means of pinpointing each dragon’s location."

"Acheronides may have a way."

"Hmm?" Liszt was stunned, then overjoyed. "Acheronides, spit it out—what’s the trick?"

"It’s a magic beacon Acheronides just thought of. Using Spatial Magic, we can place a marker on a dragon. Then, through the resonance between the material boundary and the beacon, we can determine its position and distance... though the range isn’t great, only good for about a hundred clicks at most."

A hundred klicks? That’s beyond the maximum sensory range between dragons.

After brief consideration, Liszt recognized this as a golden opportunity. "Acheronides, can you distinguish between different beacons on different dragons?"

"Doesn’t look like it."

"Then let’s return to Black Horse Island first. We’ll test it on Leo." Without hesitation, Liszt accelerated, ripping through the material boundary into the world beyond. Locating the natural node at Bone Lake, he returned to his territory before flying out again.

Ensuring no one was around to disturb them, he called Leo forth and had Acheronides place the beacon on him.

It was a tiny spell—so faint that only Bard’s attunement to Spatial Magic would have noticed it. As for Leo, he remained completely unaware of the beacon.

"Leo, fly forward until we’re a hundred kilometers apart."

"Grahh!"

Thus, the invisible dragon Bard flew south while the fire drake Rio flew north, steadily increasing the distance between them. Once they reached a hundred kilometers, Acheronides lost her connection to the Spatial Magic beacon. Surprisingly, however, the invisible dragon could still sense it.

"Bard’s incredible!" Acheronides said cheerfully.

The farther the detection range, the higher the success rate of tracking. When Leo and Bard were three hundred kilometers apart, the beacon finally dropped off Bard's radar.

After flying back for a while, it was sensed again.

"Confirmed, the beacon's maximum range is three hundred kilometers. The tracking plan can be perfectly executed!" Liszt said with glee. "Next, it's all about messing with Alex and Alonso, then quietly placing beacons on each of their dragons!"

...

The plan proceeded flawlessly according to Liszt's design.

He found Alonso, made a fake charge, then slipped back into the material boundary; then he emerged again to startle him before vanishing once more. After repeating this three or four times, Acheronides managed to successfully place the beacon on the bronze dragon unnoticed, and they bolted.

Next, they continued to target Alex and his four dragons to place the beacons.

The difficulty was greater, but after spending some time and effort—and taking a glancing hit from Alex's attack on the invisible dragon—they finally succeeded in placing all the beacons.

"Let's go!"

Liszt smiled with a smirk and left without delay.

Only the infuriated Alex remained, seething as he muttered to himself, "Don't let me catch you, Liszt. I'll make you regret the day you were born!"

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