"Ying-ying-ga~"
Aegon on Blazefire and Aemond on Balerion rode close behind Vermithor, flanking him like a pair of guardians.
Although they had successfully mounted their Great Dragons again, as Unsullied, they now held nothing in their hearts but loyalty to their master.
Perhaps influenced by their riders, Blazefire and Balerion also adopted the bearing of subordinate dragons before Vermithor and Silverwing.
The gleaming golden Blazefire looked almost exactly like Sunfyre, only a size smaller. Looking at him, Aurelion could not help thinking of his own heartless dragon, Sunfyre, who had flown away.
"Thank goodness Vermithor is still here!"
Although the Stepstones were already visible in the distance, the worry in Aurelion's heart had not faded at all as he rode on the bronze dragon's back.
His mother, Danyla, had remained remarkably calm about the dragons' departure, but Aurelion could not shake the feeling that something momentous was about to happen.
Still, he knew his mother had sent him back to Reclea with the dragons and the Second Legion to better protect him.
With their new riders, Vermithor and Silverwing had long since returned to their peak condition. Even Silverwing, who had known only flying and laying eggs under Queen Alysanne's care, had developed a taste for hunting large sea creatures under Rhaena's training.
Vermithor and Silverwing had always been inseparable, and under the influence of their new riders' emotions, their bond seemed to have grown even deeper.
"Ss-ga~"
The agile Silverwing suddenly plunged toward the sea. As her graceful body skimmed the surface, she snatched up a giant squid that had surfaced to hunt sharks.
Under the heat of Silverwing's cobalt-blue dragonfire, the giant squid, nearly ten meters long, soon stopped struggling and became a roasted squid.
Silverwing lowered her head and swallowed the squid's head in one bite, then