Escape

They had managed to take off by the narrowest of margins, but they had merely left the ground. True safety was still a long way off.

Yet just as they escaped the ground, before they could adjust their flight and get clear of the crater,

the crater overhead, silent as a lit stick of dynamite, finally erupted!

A deafening blast, like a roar from the heart of the earth, rang out amid a blinding flash,

and the crater violently spewed a column of magma a thousand meters high, like a great pillar linking hell to the mortal world, piercing the night sky in an instant.

Scalding lava churned and scattered through the air, pouring down like a deadly meteor shower with the force to destroy everything.

The sight traced a magnificent, terrifying outline against the night sky. It was indeed "beautiful," but that beauty carried a deadly allure.

Worse still, the searing rain of magma carried countless enormous rocks, engulfed in intense heat yet still as hard as iron.

These rocks did not melt in the magma. They were clearly some extremely unusual ores, perhaps of immense value,

but to Redd at that moment, they were no different from the boiling lava: reapers coming for his life.

If just one struck him, the heat would vaporize him instantly, leaving not even a fragment of bone. He would be meeting his great-grandmother on the spot.

For the first time in his life, Redd felt with such stark clarity that his two great dragons,

the creatures that had once embodied strength and speed in his eyes, actually flew so slowly!

He could only watch as the destructive flow of magma, volcanic debris, and rocks carrying lethal heat behind them

pursued them like maggots clinging to bone, the distance shrinking rapidly.

More terrifying still, the volcanic ash filling the sky and the thick fog mixed with all manner of poisonous gases

had already swallowed him and the three dragons completely. Visibility was extremely poor, and their sense of direction was beginning to blur.

"Crack! Crack!" Volcanic debris struck the dragons' bodies like a dense hail of bullets, making sounds that set his teeth on edge.

Waves of scorching air burned his skin. Redd clung tightly to Ehm's bony spines, his teeth grinding, his heart almost leaping out of his chest.

Amid the dangers filling the sky, the still-young King Ghidorah showed its unique advantage.

Thanks to its smaller size, it was the most agile in flight.

Its three heads turned from side to side, constantly watching for threats from behind. Then it suddenly accelerated, nimbly flying above Ehm, the largest of the dragons, the Black Dragon.

"Humm-" One of King Ghidorah's heads abruptly opened its jaws wide, releasing a faint but precise gravity beam,

which struck an incoming, superheated rock hurtling toward them at astonishing speed with the precision of an invisible blade.

The rock was instantly torn apart and pulverized into countless smaller stones and searing dust, no longer a threat.

King Ghidorah did not pause for a moment. Its three heads worked in turns, firing gravity beams continuously as it did everything it could to shatter each deadly threat they could not dodge in time,

protecting Redd on the dragon's back below in its own way.

Its movements were nimble and efficient, each beam perfectly placed.

The enormous Black Dragon Ehm and Red Dragon Aegon, however, were not so fortunate.

Although King Ghidorah had already dealt with all the enormous, superheated rocks capable of inflicting devastating blows,

the shattered stones and finer volcanic debris still pelted their massive bodies as densely as a torrential downpour.

Though the fragments were individually small, there were vast numbers of them, and every piece carried tremendous force and intense heat.

"Aoo-!"

"Roar-!"

Two shrill, agonized dragon cries instantly tore through the thunder of the eruption.

The flesh not tightly covered by scales, especially the broad, fragile membranes of their wings, suffered the worst.

The relentless crackle of impacts mingled with the sound of tearing fabric as holes of varying sizes rapidly opened across Ehm's and Aegon's wings.

The searing pain made them roar in agony despite themselves, and their flight grew increasingly unsteady, like kites about to fall from the sky.

Redd clung desperately to Ehm's scales, his body jolting violently with every injury to the dragon's wings. He knew the situation was far worse than he had imagined.

Despite the desperate danger, through almost crazed willpower and the three dragons' innate survival instincts,

they still miraculously flew out of that zone of death, utterly shrouded in lava, debris, and poisonous fog.

The scorching waves of air gradually receded. Behind them, the volcano continued erupting like an entrance to hell, spewing destruction and despair.

At that moment, Redd's heart felt unbearably heavy, as though a great stone had sunk into it.

He knew perfectly well that the Valyria Ruins, where he and the three dragons had once found shelter and a means to survive,

had completely lost their value as a refuge and become a dangerous trap.

What alarmed him even more was that reality had now brutally confirmed his earlier, vague suspicion-some god truly had set its sights on him.

Otherwise, the odds of encountering three volcanic anomalies in such a short time were simply too outrageous,

and in this world with its peculiar system of powers, he could think of no one capable of such a thing except gods with the power to reshape heaven and earth.

"Go! The Smoking Sea! Head for Essos!" Redd's voice was slightly hoarse, yet extraordinarily firm.

He gave the order decisively, driving the three exhausted dragons to change course and fly toward the distant coastline-in the direction of the Smoking Sea.

He understood that remaining on this cursed land meant only waiting to die. They had to leave as soon as possible for somewhere broader, and perhaps safer.

Yet Ehm and Aegon were in terrible condition.

Their escape through the air, especially the severe damage to their wing membranes, had made flying exceptionally difficult for them,

and every beat of their wings came with pained groans and falling blood.

Though King Ghidorah had also expended considerable energy, its relative agility left it in somewhat better condition. Still, the long flight was also becoming more than it could manage.

After they had flown for a long time, the three dragons slowed noticeably, their breathing growing labored,

and charred-black blood crusts even began forming over Ehm's and Aegon's wounds as they wavered in the air, on the verge of falling.

At last, before they exhausted the last of their strength, they reached the mountain range at the edge of the Valyria Ruins,

and were forced to land on a relatively flat summit far from the volcanoes, coming to a complete stop in urgent need of rest and recovery.

Redd climbed down from Ehm's back and staggered several steps before finding his footing.

Standing on the summit, he gazed out as far as he could over the familiar mountains below, his heart filled with conflicting feelings.

This was where he had first found a foothold, bedraggled upon his arrival. Now, burdened with exhaustion and wounds, he was fleeing from here in the same sorry state.