NOVEL NEXT Chapter 437: Wings Over Harmony City
[Ding… System Notification: Global Announcement! Dragonspire player [Moonbeam] has completed the Epic Quest Soaring Freedom! All global players can now unlock flying skills upon reaching Level 60!]
[Ding… System Notification: Congratulations on completing the Epic Quest Soaring Freedom! Your pet: [Myrga Nair] has evolved into the first flying mount on the entire server!]
[Ding… System Notification: Epic Quest Reward: Flying skills unlocked for you immediately—no Level 60 requirement!]
Consecutive notifications flooded her vision. Lyla barely had time to process the messages before her character was forcibly teleported back to the center of Harmony City.
"Wooo!" Myrga Nair's high-pitched voice rang in her ears. "I can finally fly again! No more crawling around like a land-bound lizard!" The tiny dragon wiggled and flapped her stubby wings with glee.
Lyla couldn't help but laugh. "Nair, you're adorable, but how exactly are you going to carry me like that?"
"Hehe… just watch!"
In an instant, Myrga Nair's body expanded several hundredfold, her once football-sized form swelling into a towering dragon more than ten meters tall. Her wings unfurled with a thunderous whoosh, sending a blast of wind across the square. Loose stalls toppled, players tumbled to the ground, and the entire plaza erupted into chaos.
"What the hell is that!?" someone shouted, shielding their eyes from the gust.
Blinded by wind and dust, players squinted toward the commotion. Where Lyla's dragon had been, now stood a colossal, gleaming dragon, its scales catching the sunlight like living gemstones.
"Monster attack! Run!"
Panic rippled through the crowd. Most combat players were already out in the field grinding or raiding dungeons, leaving behind mainly crafters, gatherers, and low-level guild members. None of them had the gear or courage to face a dragon of that size. And with their bags stuffed full of gathered materials or freshly crafted goods, no one wanted to risk dying and dropping loot.
"Lyla, hurry!" Myrga Nair called from her towering height. "The city guards are coming!"
Lyla snapped out of her shock and realized the problem—Harmony City strictly forbade mounts in the main square, let alone massive flying ones. Even stationary, Nair's bulk was causing a public disturbance. Guards were already sprinting toward them, and she could hear the grinding rotation of the city's defensive cannons as they locked on to the "threat."
She leapt onto Myrga Nair's broad, armored back. As her boots landed, glimmering scales automatically curled around her feet like stirrups, securing her in place without restricting movement. A subtle, adaptive harness—the perfect safeguard against falling during high-speed maneuvers.
"Go, Nair! We have to get out of here before the cannons fire!" Lyla's voice tightened with urgency. Death wasn't a huge deal—she could respawn—but if Nair died, reviving her would require a Divine-tier crystal, something that probably didn't even exist in the game yet.
"Hang on!"
Myrga Nair's wings pumped with explosive force, whipping up a whirlwind as she vaulted into the sky. The entire city square trembled under the air pressure as the dragon spiraled upward in a near-vertical ascent, clearing the walls in seconds.
From below, players stared in awe.
"A flying mount… could that be Moonbeam? The one from the global announcement?"
"It has to be! And rumor is, she's with Renegade Alliance."
"Renegade Alliance is unstoppable… First the Druid God, and now her?"
"I heard she's Druid God's girlfriend."
"Ahhh, makes sense now…"
Speculation buzzed across the city as Myrga Nair pierced through the clouds and vanished from cannon range. The wind whipped Lyla's hair as mountains and rivers sprawled beneath her, rushing by at breathtaking speed. Flying mounts were at least ten times faster than ground ones, and compared to walking? She might as well have been a shooting star.
Her excitement dimmed slightly as her thoughts turned to Ethan. She opened her friends list—still offline. A frown creased her brow.
She pinged Skyblade.
Moonbeam: Why isn't Ethan online?
After a moment:
Skyblade: ????
Skyblade: Didn't he go to find you? He wasn't online when we logged off this morning.
Moonbeam: He didn't come.
Skyblade: Wait… what? His VR capsule was empty. We all thought he left the Whitmore family's Hidden Territory to meet you in the capital.
Lyla stared at the message, her stomach sinking.
Moonbeam: I'll try calling him.
She closed the chat and initiated a call.
[Ding… System Notification: The number you have dialed is out of service. Please try again later.]
Her grip tightened on Nair's scales, unease gnawing at her.
---
Far across the stars, in the Umbral Domain, Ethan couldn't have received the call even if he wanted to. His phone now rested deep in his Mindscape, and even on Earth, the connection would have failed.
Right now, he had bigger problems.
Ormund, his companion, had taken the full brunt of the Beast-Wolf's killing strike. Snow-white fur bloomed crimson as the massive creature shielded Ethan with his own body. The impact hurled Ethan through the air, but he managed to halt himself mid-flight, eyes going bloodshot with rage.
[Ding… System Notification: Global Announcement! Dragonspire player [Moonbeam] has completed the Epic Quest Soaring Freedom! All global players can now unlock flying skills at Level 60!]
[Ding… System Notification: Congratulations, you have reached Level 60 and gained flying skills! As a Druid, you automatically unlock the passive: Swift Flight Form!]
Swift Flight Form: When activating Travel Form in a flyable area, you will automatically enter Flight Form.
Ethan's pulse surged.
"Battle Embodiment… activate! Travel Form—Panther! Tree! Now!"
In a blur of motion and shapeshifting energy, he stabilized himself in the air, his body responding to instinct and fury. Below, Ormund's massive frame plummeted, life ebbing away.
Ethan's voice cracked with rage. "No! Not you!"
He cast Rejuvenation and Lifebloom, willing the magic to cling to Ormund's fading life, then yanked the beast's body into his Mindscape, placing it on the island beneath the glowing Sigil of the Wild Legion.
"You…" he hissed at the enemies below, his voice a jagged growl. "…will all die."
With Flight Form fully engaged, Ethan hovered in the air like a storm given shape.
'Lyla… you really are my lucky star. Across light-years, you still save me.'
He stretched out his arms, and the beast's pale, spiny vertebrae beneath him snapped taut as he prepared his counterattack.