Originally, Zheng Zha had hoped to pilot the Goblin Glider himself, but Chu Xuan cut him off with a single sentence: "You are too impulsive; flying the Goblin Glider with you at the helm would make us all feel endangered." With those words, he reluctantly accepted the reality of the situation.

Before boarding the glider, everyone meticulously checked their weapons and gear. The Tyrannosaurus's tubular pulse cannon, once the primary tool for killing dinosaurs, was now useless. In contrast, if conventional explosives could affect the dragon, then the bombs Wang Xia carried, along with that final Gravity High-Yield Landmine, represented the group's most likely path to slaying the beast. This landmine was both a close-quarters weapon and possessed destructive power capable of annihilating the dragon; all they needed was to trick the creature into stepping directly onto it. But how could they make it step there? "Yes, it has a pair of immense wings, indistinguishable from the dragons of legend. Even the 'Main God' stated this creature is a mythical magical being, so I assume it can fly. Making it step onto the precise location where we've buried the mine is currently the most difficult problem to solve." Zheng Zha sighed.

Wang Xia stroked the unremarkable black casing of the landmine, then suddenly spoke: "Didn't killing the dinosaur give us twenty-four hours? Perhaps those hours are meant for us to observe the dragon's routine? For instance, where does it move daily? Where does it hunt and feed? Where is its lair? Then we can simply wait for it in its daily path. If we set the Gravity High-Yield Landmine on that route, one mine should be sufficient to destroy it the moment it steps on it..." Chu Xuan nodded. "Highly probable. That twenty-four-hour window is likely for exactly this purpose. That’s why we need to observe the dragon's patterns closely now. By the way, Zheng Zha, how far away were you when you first spotted it? We will take that distance as our absolute limit. Until we understand the target's other characteristics, we should avoid any other actions, and definitely not cross that established limit."

Zheng Zha thought for a moment. "I saw the dragon from about two thousand meters away, I think, because it was busy hunting that Tyrannosaurus Rex at the time. So I have no idea if it noticed me..." As he spoke, a massive, guttural roar echoed again from somewhere else on the island, as if the very land itself was bellowing. The group exchanged glances.

Chu Xuan was already piloting the Goblin Glider, speeding toward the sound. In less than a minute, they spotted a colossal black silhouette writhing and rolling in a depression below them. It was a Western-style dragon of staggering size. From tail tip to head, it stretched out to at least thirty-seven or thirty-eight meters, and its height, excluding length, approached twenty meters. It was such a massive organism that every time it moved or rolled over, the very ground seemed to tremble in response.

This was the second time Zheng Zha had seen the dragon; he was no longer paralyzed with the sheer panic he felt during their first encounter. Wang Xia and Ba Wang, however, looked utterly stunned; their mouths hung slightly ajar, as if about to utter sounds like "Damn it" or "Oh my God." Truthfully, Zheng Zha was intensely curious to see Chu Xuan’s expression at a moment like this. For someone who relied entirely on rational thought, facing an unbelievable creature, or something defying scientific explanation—what kind of bizarre expression would cross his face? "Well? Have you received the mission details from the 'Main God'?" Zheng Zha asked quietly.

Ba Wang and Wang Xia both nodded simultaneously. Their expressions were far from pleasant. If simply hearing about the behemoth wasn't impactful enough, seeing the immense dragon with their own eyes finally made them understand why Zheng Zha had pulled out both books earlier. This side-quest might very well lead to all of them dying right here... especially if even a high-tech weapon like a landmine proved ineffective against the dragon.

Chu Xuan now swung the Goblin Glider around and flew outward. After covering about five or six kilometers, he brought the craft down from the air. Even at this distance, the muffled thuds generated by the dragon's rolling movements were clearly audible. This creature was truly gargantuan, yet its movements showed no sign of sluggishness, especially when compared to the comparatively slow movements of Lei Long, whose body structure was closest to it.

Zheng Zha and the other three dismounted. None of their faces looked good. Chu Xuan had been frowning since he landed, though whether it was due to deep contemplation or genuine displeasure was unclear. They watched as he squatted down, picked up a tree branch, and began sketching aimlessly on the dirt.

"Mythical dragons... when you play games, or read novels, watch movies, or animations—what abilities do the legendary dragons in those stories generally possess? What is the description of the strongest dragon, and what about the weakest? Summarize everything you’ve encountered," Chu Xuan murmured.

The other three exchanged glances. Ba Wang spoke first. "I usually favor novels based on the Dungeons & Dragons ruleset. Dragons typically wield magic, using skills known as Draconic Spells. A dragon's power is tied to its age, but this one is too large. Even under D&D rules, a dragon of this magnitude wouldn't exist; it would have to be an Ancient Dragon or perhaps even older. According to the rules, such a creature could effortlessly annihilate a small city with its magic, and its breath weapon alone could contend with an entire legion... However, even a juvenile dragon, weak by D&D standards, is impossible for us to defeat in melee combat."

Chu Xuan made a few more marks on the ground. After a long pause, he said, "It can't possibly be that strong. This dragon cannot be as powerful as you suggest. I'm measuring the difficulty based on a B-rank side-quest. Setting aside its size and resilience for a moment, it definitely won't have magic. If it did, killing it would be nearly impossible, even with a sneak attack..." He then turned to Wang Xia.

Wang Xia considered the question. "I don't have much background in that area. I spend most of my time training or on missions; I rarely have time to read those kinds of novels, and it’s the same for movies... Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about," Zheng Zha said, patting Wang Xia on the shoulder. "We each specialize. For instance, attack is my job, bombs are yours, firepower belongs to Ba Wang, and analysis to Chu Xuan. We are a team; there’s no need for apologies... Speaking of dragons, I did watch a movie recently called Dragonheart. The dragons in it had no magic either, aside from breathing fire; they could only fly and fight up close. But their size didn't match what we see here. Those dragons were only a few meters long, more like flying lizards, vastly inferior to the behemoth we’re looking at."

Chu Xuan scribbled on the ground again, mumbling, "Let's summarize. Based on the 'Main God's' hint: 'This creature is a mythical magical being.' In other words, we cannot judge it purely by conventional biology. Despite its enormous size, we must first accept that it flies—that is a trait common to all mythical dragons. Secondly, it breathes something—be it fire, ice, acid, or poison; its breath attack is certainly lethal. This means that even if our glider is faster than it, flying overhead is not guaranteed absolute safety. Thirdly, the possibility of it using magic is about ten percent. If it does, we are finished. Finally, there's the issue of its perception... Does it possess special abilities that transcend science? For example, will it definitely detect us if we enter a certain range? If we lay mines in its path, will it absolutely notice them? If we use technological weapons on it, will they have zero effect?" Chu Xuan stood up. "That's the basic situation. My proposal is we absolutely do not engage it head-on. We should first attack it by setting the landmines. If that succeeds, the mission is complete. If it fails, we use missiles to strike it and test whether it is completely immune to technological weaponry, or if it only nullifies partial damage. That distinction is critically important. If it’s the latter, within these twenty-four hours, we can lure it toward the aircraft carrier fleet and use the fleet’s power to fight it... Alright, let's set the mines first!" Everyone now moved with extreme caution. Chu Xuan lifted the glider from an extreme distance away from the dragon before ascending, then he and Zheng Zha began carefully scanning the ground. They noted spots where trees were broken, clear signs the dragon had passed through, and in a few places, piles of skeletal remains. There was another spot where a large collection of broken branches lay piled—likely the dragon's resting place—and the beast was currently not far from there.

"Okay, Wang Xia, set your timed bomb right here, set for five minutes. Then, behind this one, set another, timed for five minutes and thirty seconds. And here, set a third one for six minutes. Then, right in the gap between six minutes and five minutes thirty seconds..." He pointed, "Set the Gravity High-Yield Landmine here!" He jumped towards...