Aight, so change of plans.

Looks like I have no choice but to abandon my plans of getting myself heroically killed and actually use my mind to solve this problem.

And now that I think about it, Neia was right; right now, the ability to attack would have been more useful than curse that gave her the potential to be a God.

I'll have to do something about that as well, but later.

My Dragon, by the way, was slowly making her way towards us after resigning herself to her fate.

She had probably accepted the fact that the only way she could save me was by giving herself up, and was cursing her inability to attack me.

F for her.

Which makes me wonder; why exactly is this Dragon trying to take her with him? And why is he not willing to hurt her?

Let's ask him; kidnappers, when they are about to succeed, usually fall victim to their glee and reveal their plans to their apparently helpless hostages.

"Er, M-Mr. Dragon, c-can I ask you a question?" I looked up at him with teary eyes.

"Shut up." He glared down at me.

Ex-fucking-cuse me. What are you, a monster? How could you not be affected by a crying child?

"I-I -hic- I just want to know why you are after Neia…."

"You know nothing, huh?"

No shit, Sherlock.

I quietly shook my head.

"She is the key to winning the war."

"W-which war?"

What wars are you fighting, Mr. Dragon? Is it a war against the Gods? A rebellion against your liege?

I'm quite interested in knowing that.

"You wouldn't understand."

Did this Dragon just fucking discriminate against a child? Bruh.

Fucking racists motherfuckers.

I should probably start gulping down milk to grow faster. That obviously wouldn't help so I'll also abuse steroids and get buffed within 5 days.

"I see." I nodded.

"Hmm?"

Neia, by the way, had come within our range, which meant that she could now clearly see my mouth.

I just hope she's proficient in lip reading.

"Neia." I called out to her and she looked at me.

"I'm sorry for getting you into this mess, Samur." She sighed as her eyes drooped. "But don't worry, I'll get you out of it."

"I understand." I nodded and winked.

She frowned a bit and focused on me.

And so, I mouthed the words, 'Turn into a dragon' and winked like a playboy.

Given the fact that her eyes widened, it would be safe to assume that lip reading is one of her strong suits.

Nice.

Before she could do anything stupid and give our plan away, I mouthed 'I have a plan'.

Her eyes widened even more.

…She can read my lips, right? Or are her widened eyes a signal that she doesn't understand what I'm saying?

God, I hope not.

"Hurry up, we don't have all day."

"Now!" I screamed.

Thankfully, Neia had decided to believe me and started the process of turning into her Dragonoid form.

"Wha?!"

Before the Dragon_2 could use me as a hostage again, I used my new DVH heart to collect a large amount of mana and detonated it in a simple mana explosion.

The point of explosion? Of course, the space between my back and his stomach.

Because it was just a mana explosion, it did nothing except disrupt our mana flow for some moments and disorient us by making us dizzy and nauseous.

As a result, the hold of the Dragon on me loosened.

And as a result, despite having no sense of direction and feeling like I would pass out at any moment, I pushed him aside and ran towards Neia who had finished her transformation.

"Come here you little piece of shit!" As expected, he steadied himself quickly and swiped towards me.

Ouch.

However, I escaped with just a scratch and jumped on Neia's back.

"Hold tightly!" She ordered and flapped her wings.

The next moment, shockwaves spread out as we broke the sound barrier and made our escape into the arms of the vast, open sky.

｢Haah, thank god- you're hurt!｣ Neia exclaimed as she looked at me.

｢Tis but a scratch.｣

｢You're missing your left arm!｣ She shrieked as she looked at the blood flowing out my shoulder.

｢Did I stutter?｣

Like what, is this the first time a child you were supposed to protect had his arm lopped off? Show some emotional maturity, chief.

｢We need to stop and heal you!｣

｢We cannot. Your ex is following us.｣

My kidnapper was obviously a Dragon as well, so he turned into a Dragon just as swiftly and followed us.

And this is what I was aiming for. If saving Neia was my sole aim, then I had a million safe ways of doing it.

But those would have been boring.

I mean, what's the point of a climax if it doesn't have an epic Dragon chase, am I right?

｢This bastard is not my ex!｣ Neia cursed and increased her speed.

Hmm, if my calculations are correct, we were probably travelling at a speed greater than sound. Let's give her the benefit of doubt and assume the speed to be Mach 20 because why the fuck not.

Also, what the actual fuck? Neia was actually losing the Dragon chasing us. The latter tried frantically but it just could not keep up with us.

Huh, I never knew that Neia was a racing champion. I never expected her to actually outrace the Dragon.

If this continues on, the chase scene would not be as epic as it should be.

As the self-proclaimed director of this action flick, I can't have that.

｢Neia, reduce your speed a bit.｣

｢What are you talking about?! Soon, we'll lose him. We can treat your arm then.｣

Woah, hold your horses there, you overexcited Dragon.

｢I don't have an arm.｣

｢We'll treat whatever's left of it! Why do you have to be like this!｣

Wow, hurtful, Neia.

Also, if she has the time to be worried about me, she should do her work as the lead actor and help in making this chase scene epic.

In the end, I have to do everything by myself.

Time for little old me to save the day, again.