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"Boom, boom!"
Amid the thunderous noise, the black four-wheeled carriage drew closer to the Palace. The driver was a burly man dressed in black, wearing a full set of chain armor underneath, making him look bulky. Upon closer inspection, one would recognize him as the third steward from the "KGB" shop back then.
Inside the carriage, there were many other men dressed the same as him. Their gazes were steady yet slightly excited, knowing they were carrying out an extremely critical mission that must be completed.
The black-clad driver furiously whipped the horses, urging the carriage forward at its fastest speed, and simultaneously shouted to his companions inside the carriage, "You should be very clear about the key to this mission, and that is speed! We need to rendezvous with Prince Richard in the shortest time possible, then quickly retreat, and regardless of what obstacles we encounter, we must eliminate them at all costs. Now, start checking the equipment!"
"Yes." The men inside the carriage shuddered in unison and immediately began checking the various packages around them, which contained technology weapons surpassing the current era. For instance, battle knives made of special alloy, mechanical crossbows that could shoot accurately over 200 meters, and highly powerful yellow explosive powder...
"Boom, boom!"
The carriage continued moving when the black-clad driver suddenly saw something. In the next moment, he looked up, his eyes widening slightly, his mouth slightly agape, "This is..."
At the same time, in the Palace, William's soldiers suddenly looked towards the sky with expressions of utter shock, "This...this..."
Richard frowned, following suit to look upward, then his eyes constricted.
A massive shadow unexpectedly swept across the sky. A terrifying monster came howling unexpectedly, its great wings gently flapping, its neck slightly bent, mouth agape.
This reminded Richard of when projecting a star body at night, seeing several times the immense, vague black shadow drifting by.
This—
"Roar!"
With an earth-shattering roar, massive flames spewed forth, spreading over the Palace like magma. The raindrops in the air vaporized into white steam, and one building after another caught fire.
Under the dark sky, the firelight flickered, reflected on the faces of people who were stunned in terror.
A dragon, a dragon that appeared out of nowhere and without warning, rudely crashed into everyone's sight.
"A dragon! It's a dragon!" someone shouted, followed by everyone screaming, scattering like birds and beasts, panicking and fleeing in all directions.
By this time, there was no distinction between prince and soldiers; they were all mere insects fleeing in panic under the flames of the fire-breathing dragon.
William didn't know where the soldiers took him. In no time at all, the entire square was empty, the palace behind burning furiously. Richard squinted his eyes, observing the giant dragon circling the sky.
The dragon continued its rampage, spewing massive flames, setting numerous parts of the Palace ablaze, letting fear spread in all directions.
Richard's eyes flickered.
The so-called dragon was obviously a Western dragon, one of the demonized creatures recorded in the "Monroe Chapter." It had a physique similar to a lizard's, with wings growing from its back, regarding everything with huge and cold vertical pupils, occasionally opening its mouth to spew fierce flames.
"Interesting."
Richard murmured, but the next moment his eyes narrowed abruptly.
The view before him suddenly darkened. The dragon's body abruptly swooped down, and the surrounding air churned wildly under its dive, making the robe on his body rustle.
The next moment...
...
Inside the Palace.
The soldiers, who had finally settled down, all quickly took water to put out the fires.
A few soldiers carried the unconscious William, shouting continuously, "Physician, physician, the King has fainted! Physician, come quickly..."
Outside Blue Lion City.
In the yard of an abandoned village, personal guard soldiers crawled out one by one from the tunnel. Bill looked toward the Palace, where the flames rose ever higher, his gaze flickering as he muttered involuntarily, "Your Highness, the Prince..."
Inside Blue Lion City.
On the bluestone road, the four-wheeled carriage had already stopped. The black-clad driver looked at the increasingly higher flying black shadow and the black spot on its back, cursing, "Damn it, that dragon kidnapped Prince!"
"What...do we do now?" the men inside the carriage collectively stood dumbfounded.
"What else can we do? Follow the plan Prince Richard set at the beginning and execute Plan Four."
"Yes..."
...
"Puff-puff-puff-"
The dragon flapped its wings continually as it climbed higher. Richard sat on the dragon's back, checking some small gadgets in the suitcase. Some of these gadgets were small in size but powerful, and others could be modified for high-altitude gliding escape.
After checking, Richard felt slightly relieved, although the dragon under him hadn't shown any particularly strong hostility, he was still accustomed to having some ability to protect himself.
Looking at the dragon beneath him, Richard recalled the words from the dragon earlier, his eyes flickering, "Gregory, right? Hmm, you said earlier that you kidnapped me, a prince, just to find a playmate for your daughter? I must say, that's a pretty far-fetched reason, isn't it?"
"Roar!" The dragon didn't respond, just continued climbing higher, and the surrounding temperature began to drop.
Richard exhaled lightly, looking at the dragon, he tried asking other questions.
"How do you fly?"
"..." The dragon was silent.
Richard began to speculate, his gaze falling on the dragon's body, focusing on its wings for a moment, then shaking his head.
Generally speaking, a creature or object doesn't just fly because it wants to; at least there are principles and science behind it. For flight, either there is a special structure like birds, or a special power source like airplanes or rockets.
Judging by outward appearance, the dragon clearly didn't have the special structure of birds. As is known, birds have made compromises in various body parts during the evolutionary process to be able to fly.
For example, the body is covered with feathers, not only providing insulation but also shaping the body to streamline, reducing air resistance.
For instance, bones are thin and light, hollow bones filled with air, a complete skull, and bones of various parts connected, with hook-like projections on the ribs for hooking, both reducing weight and strengthening flight capability.
Moreover, the special lung creating "double breathing" and the simplified excretion system. These structures ensure that when birds flap two wings, stirring air currents, they generate enough downward resistance to ensure flight in the sky.
Comparatively, the dragon had no feathers at all but only scales. To support its enormous body, its bones were definitely solid, very dense, and extremely strong.
The wings only occasionally flapped, merely adjusting altitude and direction, generating almost zero downward resistance. Even if the wings were constantly flapping, given the dragon's size and weight, unless the frequency reached hundreds of times per second, it could not possibly fly.
But in reality, the dragon was flying steadily in the sky.
Richard pursed his lips, could it be that it had a special power source inside? Like an airplane engine?
Hmm, without propellers, it was clearly not a turboprop engine. So it must be something similar to a jet engine—continuously jetting high-speed fluid outward, using the recoil to generate power for flight.
According to the usual logic, the position for expelling gas should be at the very rear, which was...
Richard suddenly stood up, walked a few steps on the dragon's back, and attempted to look under the dragon's tail.
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