The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] - Chapter 239

Chapter 239: The Guardian’s Gamble
Riley’s body reacted before his mind could even understand what was happening.

The scream that tore out of him was the last response he made before everything became still.

Or maybe it was just still for him.

His body simply thumped, a violent internal jolt that felt as if his heart had been struck from the inside. The impact hit him so hard that the next sound clawing up his throat died instantly, strangled before it could escape.

His eyes dilated.

His back arched sharply.

Every muscle seized at once, locking him in place like a puppet caught mid-movement.

Then, in the next beat that never came, his heart stopped.

Silence.

Complete, horrifying silence.

The guardians rose in unison, the shock so intense that the air rippled with their mana. Of all the things that they could’ve foreseen happening, never did they think it would end up like this.

The mortal’s body hung suspended, supported only by the magic that held him in place. His limbs were rigid, not dangling, as if his entire body had seized after sucking in a breath he could not release. His head stayed fixed in a half-raised angle, eyes blown wide and locked in place, the light trapped rather than extinguished.

And the guardians, in all their years, were at a loss with what to do.

But in truth, the serpentine being was of the same mind. Because however he looked at it, he could only describe the whole thing as insane.

Because what if it didn’t work? What if the blood in the mortal’s body wasn’t enough? Or worse, what if the subject couldn’t endure?

Yet all he could do was wait, painfully, diligently, and alertly, like a predator waiting to pounce.

For in that short moment, Thyrran had actually used his venom to stop the mortal’s heart.

Yes. It was the only way around the seal that was not even intended to break in this life.

Who knows why? Maybe in that inheritance, they’d finally understand what all of this was about, but from what the guardian knew about the seal, it had been conditionally built. Built to react depending on the situations encountered.

And considering the subject ended up with a mortal body, then the seal had likely deemed the conditions to be highly unsafe, forcing it to rely on a restart.

Which was what they had been supposed to encourage. When the subject ended up getting the Hall of Illusory Vessels, Thyrran took it as a sign that a restart would be for the best. After all, with a body like this, won’t it be better to start with one built to withstand the magnitude of his mana?

However, the subject had been adamant.

But more importantly, when it came down to it, Thyrran thought that maybe someone with a different perspective would bring in a much-needed revival for these beings, too set in their ways.

That maybe the masters had foreseen something like that, which was why it had been up to him to decide.

And so he did.

He only hoped that the mortal could endure. And that everything that had led up to this point would work for the youngling.

Just as Thyrran was starting to lose hope, he felt that thump.

The smallest internal stirring. One he could’ve missed had he not been looking out for it.

“!”

It was then that, after what felt like an eternity, the guardians watched something they would never forget.

Thyrran moved again.

The serpentine being’s head shifted, jaw parting once more. The second curved fang lowered, gleaming faintly as if catching a light that did not exist.

Then, without hesitation, it struck.

The second fang drove into Riley’s body, piercing cleanly through the opposite shoulder.

The suspended mortal jerked under the impact, but there was no breath to scream with, no voice to release. His body simply shook once, helpless under the force of the blow.

And right then, every guardian saw it.

Thyrran’s eyes, once a clear gold, shifted.

Slowly.

Smoothly.

Unnaturally.

Green bled into gold, bright and vivid like the heart of a forest lit by ancient fire. A color that did not belong to his form.

“Thyrran! He… he actually…” one guardian choked, unable to finish, unable to believe they just lost the head guardian!

__

Meanwhile, in a place that was neither here nor there, one human’s life was caught inside a pain so strange he could not even give it a name. It felt as if his entire being was freezing and burning at the same time, trapped between two impossible extremes.

And yet there was nothingness.

A crushing, suffocating nothingness that pressed down on him even as every part of him wanted to shatter from the pain.

He could not move.

He could not breathe.

He could not even think past the sensation of tearing heat and numbing cold fighting inside his chest.

But then came the thump.

A dull, distant beat as if someone had knocked on the shell of his existence.

Then another.

Then another.

Each one sharper than the last, each one cutting deeper into the void that held him.

And as if his heart and body had been electrocuted back into being, Riley suddenly gasped. His body jerked. His lungs dragged in a breath that tasted too sharp to be real.

His eyes snapped open to emerald green slits, glowing unnaturally in the darkness of that in-between space.

And at that exact moment, back in the trial chamber, the guardians who had been on their feet and about to descend were struck blind by a sudden burst of light that filled the room.

Only for the very same light to recede, suddenly vacuumed by darkness as if lulling someone to sleep.

__

However, the same sleep eluded someone who should have been asleep hours ago.

But how could the dragon lord sleep, eat, drink, or even move when it had been more than a day with no news from his human or from anyone, for that matter?

Yes. Roughly thirty-four hours, twelve minutes, and seven seconds since Riley had left with those guardians.

And it had been exactly that long since Kael began his silent vigil at the place where they parted, too worried to leave in case the twig somehow wandered back lost in a daze from hunger or thirst.

Knowing Riley, he might end up towing something dangerous with him, so the golden dragon opted to be prepared.

Kael once again dug his nails into his own palm, trying to ground himself, or maybe to at least punish himself for forcing Riley to find out about his identity.

And yet, even that gesture was forcefully stopped because he couldn’t even injure himself like this. Not only because he was just born stupidly durable, but because he was terrified that Riley might need every single drop of blood he could give after being gone for so long.

So long that Kael figured he had to try everything.

He had tried to look for him, searching the halls and calling out to any guardian who could tell him how to find Riley.

In that time, Kael had taken every book he could find about the guardians and how to command them. He studied what he had long ignored, hoping to find some loophole or command that would force them to return Riley, or at least take him somewhere he could see him from a distance.

But nothing worked. And he definitely felt how useless the title of dragon lord was as he sat there waiting like an abandoned dog.

Moreover, the failure wasn’t even because the information wasn’t there, but because at that point in time, he just couldn’t reach any of them.

It was as if the guardians were somewhere completely unreachable.

And it scared him.

Scared him so deeply that when his heart suddenly seized, tightening as sharply as if he were having a sudden heart attack, Kael did not panic for himself.

He panicked for Riley.

Which was probably why the golden dragon lord, who had long forgotten what that strange feeling even felt like, did not immediately notice the odd tug in his chest as he started bolting down the hallway. All he knew was that something was wrong, and instinct drove him forward in a desperate bid to force entry into wherever Riley had gone.

It did not take him long. His legs carried him straight to the end of the corridor, to the exact spot where he figured Riley disappeared from.

Screw penalties. Screw ancient wrath. Screw every warning in every dusty, irrelevant book. There was no way he was going to let them mess with—

“Riley? Huh?”

Kael stumbled to a stop.

He blinked, confused, breath caught in his throat.

Because right as he rounded the corner, slumped against the wall as if he had simply dozed off in the middle of running errands, was most definitely his human.

Only… why?

Why did he smell so different yet so… familiar?

Kael’s heart lurched as he stepped forward, every instinct torn between panic and awe as he stared at the trembling, dazed figure leaning against the stone wall.

“Riley…?”

His voice cracked.

Something was wrong.

Something had changed.

But before he could even identify it, the dragon lord almost punched a wall when he heard a sudden, “What are you waiting for?! Can’t you see it’s an emergency?!”

“Huh?”

Kael froze. His hand, which had been inches from touching Riley’s cheek, curled instead with confused irritation. He turned toward the voice.

And there, sitting on the floor like he owned the entire hallway, was what looked like… a worm.

A fat worm.

A fat, stubby, glossy black worm glaring up at him like Kael was the one being unreasonable.

“???”