All Chapters of THE DRAGON'S CHUBBY TREASURE : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Chapter 72The power left my control the moment I stopped fighting it.Gold and crimson light erupted from the mark in a continuous, rising wave. It slammed outward across the ridge in a widening circle, lifting rain and loose stone into a swirling storm of force. Elyra’s advance faltered. Nyx raised a barrier of violet energy that cracked under the first impact. The Pale One simply stood his ground and watched, bone-white scales gleaming as the hybrid energy washed over him without appearing to harm him at all.Draven cursed and planted himself in front of me, crimson fire joining the surge. Vaelor did the same on my other side. The bond between us locked tight, channeling the wild power into something sharper, more directed. For a few seconds it almost felt like we could hold the ridge.Then the Pale One moved.He did not attack with fire or claw. He simply raised one hand and closed his fist.The hybrid energy stuttered.I felt it like a hand closing around my lungs. The light pour

Chapter 74The bond where Vaelor should have been was a raw, empty wound.I felt it the moment the last of the Pale One’s light vanished into the valley. The shared current that had held the three of us together simply stopped on his side. No flicker. No distant pulse. Nothing.Draven felt it too. His head snapped toward the edge of the broken ridge, crimson eyes wide with something that was not just pain.“Vaelor!”No answer came back through the link or the storm.Elyra took a single step forward. Rain ran down her silver scales. “He is gone. Accept it and we can still end this cleanly.”I rose to my feet, Aether held tight against me. The hybrid power sat differently inside the mark now—heavier, quieter, as if Aether’s final pulse had forced it into a new shape. It no longer thrashed. It waited.Nyx tilted his head, studying that change with open interest. “She altered it. The child altered it. The Pale One’s design is compromised.”Elyra’s mouth tightened. “Then we take them both

Chapter 76 The free clans’ stronghold rose out of the lower peaks like a wound that had learned to heal itself in stone. We descended in formation under the watch of more than twenty mixed-blood dragons. The green-gold female led us through layered wards that parted only for her signal. Below, wide terraces cut into the mountainside held clusters of stone halls and open platforms where dragons of incomplete lineages moved with cautious purpose. No single bloodline ruled here. That much was clear from the mismatched scales and the way they watched us land. Vaelor’s weight hung between the two carriers. His breathing had grown shallower during the flight. The thin stream of hybrid power I kept feeding into him was the only thing stopping the worst of the damage from spreading. Draven stayed close enough that his shoulder brushed mine every few wingbeats, crimson eyes never leaving the dragons surrounding us. We touched down on a broad stone platform overlooking a deep valley. Healer

Chapter 78 The first warning came from the power itself. A sharp, internal snap ran through the mark an hour before midday. The hybrid energy that had been circulating in steady loops suddenly tightened, then pushed outward against the chamber walls as if testing them. Aether stirred against my chest with a low sound that was not quite a cry. Vaelor’s eyes opened at the same moment. “They’ve started the containment circle,” he said. Draven was already at the eastern ventilation shaft. Crimson energy flickered between his fingers in precise, repeated patterns. “Two of the outer seams are widened. The door ward is still intact. I need more time or a stronger distraction.” Outside, the sound of movement increased—claws on stone, low orders, the heavy scrape of something large being dragged into position. The air in the corridor beyond the door grew denser with layered magic. I looked at Vaelor. “Can you walk?” “I can fight if I have to.” He pushed himself upright. The damage

Chapter 81The white threads tested the separation before night fully settled.I felt it as a slow, deliberate pressure against the narrow gap Aether had forced between them and the rest of the hybrid power. The cold influence did not surge. It pushed in small, precise increments, searching for a point where the containment would give. Each attempt sent a faint ache through the mark and into the bond. Vaelor registered it at once. Draven, standing watch near the secondary tunnel, turned his head slightly but did not leave his position.Aether answered without waking.A second, cleaner pulse moved through the power—smaller than the first, but better placed. The white threads were forced back into their tight coil. The pressure eased. The separation held.We had a temporary advantage. It would not last indefinitely.Draven returned from the tunnel mouth after a final check of the outer approaches. “No movement on the far side yet. The free-clan patterns are still concentrated west of th