Chapter 74: Prince of Horse Poop

"Senior, are you seriously making jokes right now?" Ephraim groaned.

"Of course. Laughing is good for your health, Golden Boy. You should try it sometime."

"I’m going to throw you at the dragon."

"See? That’s the spirit!"

Ephraim tried to dodge, but his injuries slowed him down. His legs almost gave way as he struggled to move out of the dragon’s path.

Zachary’s playful expression faded. He quickly crossed the distance and hauled Ephraim upright, making sure the younger man could stand properly. "You’re not looking so good there, Ephraim. I think I have something to help you."

A small compartment opened after Zachary tapped the black bracelet on his wrist. He took out a bottle filled with dark liquid and gave it to Ephraim.

"Bottoms up, Golden Boy. I won’t let our future Emperor turn into an ice sculpture on a Rift battlefield."

Lydia couldn’t help laughing at his words.

Even in a situation like this, Zachary always found ways to tease the Crown Prince.

"Glad to see you crack some smile, deerling. I can’t let your beloved future husband meet an early grave, after all."

Ephraim accepted the bottle with a suspicious frown. "What is this, Senior?"

"A healthy tonic. Drink it."

"That doesn’t answer my question."

"Do you want to survive or interrogate the bottle?"

With the dragon still glaring at them, Ephraim had little choice. He opened the bottle and swallowed the contents in one go.

His face twisted, and Ephraim nearly spat the mysterious liquid out. "What was that, Senior?! Blegh!"

"Ludenberg’s newest X-Tonic," Zachary explained cheerfully. "Made from organic horse poop and extinct Stellar Rhino’s horn powder. A stamina booster for men’s health and vitality. Not only boosting your health and stamina, it can elongate your coc—"

"Ouch!"

Ephraim punched him in the shoulder before he could finish.

"Violence! Against your own senior! What a terrible future Emperor!" Zachary clutched his shoulder, looking deeply wounded. "I risked my life to save you, and this is how you repay me?"

"You deserve worse!"

Zachary glanced at Lydia and smirked. "Try to see it on the bright side. Even Lydia will be happy about your performance boost."

Ephraim pinched the bridge of his nose, then took a bottle of mineral water from his bracelet and drank. Thankfully, he was feeling a little better now.

"At least the tonic worked for you, Ephraim, the Prince of Horse Poop," Lydia sneered. "Hopefully you won’t be as smelly as a poop."

Ephraim turned toward his fiancée in disbelief.

"Prince of Horse Poop? Is that how you speak to your future husband?" He shook his head. "I’ll remember this, Lydia. But for now, stay close to me. I won’t let you get hurt again. As for now..."

He leaned down and stole a quick kiss from her lips before pulling back with a faint smirk.

"At least I don’t smell like horse dung."

"Ephraim! Yeah, at least you aren’t. But—!" Lydia frowned and blushed a bit from his sudden kiss.

Zachary burst out laughing at their exchange.

His laughter died when the Glacial Dragon opened its jaws. A wave of freezing air rushed toward them, bringing their teasing to an abrupt end.

A pale blue light gathered in the dragon’s throat. Before they could react, it unleashed a blast of freezing breath across the hunting grounds, turning the battlefield into a frozen wasteland.

"Watch out! It can make ice spikes burst out of the ground!" Lydia shouted. "Get away!"

The dragon charged at Lydia and Zachary. Its massive body thundering across the frozen field as icy winds crashed against them.

Zachary yanked Lydia to safety just as the dragon rushed past them.

At the same time, Ephraim lunged in the opposite direction and used the dragon’s forward momentum to close the distance between them.

Ephraim swung his burning blade at the dragon’s crystalline horns, shattering them with a loud crack.

Blue ice fragments flew through the air as the dragon let out a furious screech and shook its head.

The furious dragon blasted another ice beam at Lydia and Zachary.

"Duck!"

Zachary grabbed Lydia and yanked her down with him, sending them both crashing onto the freezing ground.

The icy surface scraped against her clothes, and the sudden impact sent a sharp jolt through her injured shoulder.

"Ah...!"

Lydia’s teeth chattered as the cold seeped through her clothes. She tried to get up, but the pain in her injured shoulder was too unbearable.

"Zachary..."

"Crap. I’m sorry about that, Lydia." His expression tightened when he noticed her discomfort. "Here, I know it’s not much, but this will do for now."

Zachary took off his jacket and wrapped it around Lydia’s shoulders, carefully avoiding her injured arm.

He crouched beside her and pulled the jacket tighter to keep the cold out. "Hang in there, deerling. I won’t let anything happen to you. Can you sit up? Does your shoulder hurt badly?"

"It’s fine. Just... give me a moment. I need to figure out a way to win against this Glacial Dragon."

Lydia forced herself upright. Her gaze wandered toward the shattered horns a few steps away.

Something about them bothered her.

When the horns were still on the Glacial Dragon, Lydia had seen miasma swirling around them.

But the fragments that were scattered across the ground looked perfectly clear now.

What happened to the miasma?

Lydia was sure she hadn’t imagined it. Miasma caused monsters inside Dimensional Rifts to mutate or evolve.

The more miasma they absorbed, the more terrifying their mutations became. But the miasma around the dragon’s horns had disappeared after Ephraim shattered them.

Were its horns the source of its mutation?

Before Lydia could think further, a deafening crash drew her attention back to the battle.

Ephraim kept barraging the dragon’s flank with his flaming sword. The damage was barely noticeable, but the blade had begun to melt the icy scales and exposed small patches beneath the dragon’s thick layer.

"Take this!!"

Zachary seized the opportunity. He rushed toward the same area and drove his claws into the weakened scales.

A sharp crack spread across the dragon’s flank, splitting the damaged section further.

Lydia watched them closely.

Despite Ephraim and Zachary’s combined strength, damaging the dragon was still difficult. Especially since its attacks were really powerful.

Ephraim’s flames could melt its scales, but it took time, while Zachary could shatter the weakened parts only after Ephraim created an opening for him.

Wait a minute.

Lydia’s gaze shifted from the dragon’s damaged flank to the frozen ground across the battlefield.

She got an idea!

"Ephraim! Focus your Resonance on the freezing area and melt it!"

For a moment, Ephraim stared at Lydia as though his fiancée had finally lost her mind.

"Are you serious? The dragon will use it against us to blast spikes." Ephraim gritted his teeth. "You’d better not be pulling any tricks on us, Lydia."

"Just do it!"

Despite his suspicion, Ephraim focused his Resonance to melt the frozen ground.

At first, it was little more than a thin layer that flowed between the broken patches of ice. But as Ephraim blazed his Resonance, the water spread farther, covering the ground in a broad, shallow pool.

The remaining ice cracked and melted, leaving the hunting grounds covered in cold water that reflected the dragon’s blue scales.

"Things will get ugly if that Glacial Dragon freezes all this water again," he warned. "I don’t want us to end up like our horses, Lydia."

"Not if you keep heating it!" Lydia pointed toward the shallow pool of water around them. "Boil this whole area! Let’s heat it up! Go! Go! Go! You got this, my Ephraim!"

Ephraim stared at his fiancée with worry as if he was wondering if the dragon had frozen her brain instead of the water.

Still, he trusted Lydia’s judgment enough to follow her plan.

What strategy did she have in mind?