Interstellar Beast World: All My Husbands Are Powerful and Rich!-Chapter 215: Fading

"Demon King..."

"Demon King, the dragon... the dragon isn’t moving..."

"The dragon isn’t moving?" Rory stepped forward quickly, looking down at the little wolf pup that barely reached her calf.

"What dragon?"

Had someone from the Water Domain come?

The pup, visibly panicked, stammered out, "The dragon... the dragon is going to see the Beast God..."

With that, it grabbed the hem of Rory’s pants in its teeth and tugged urgently, trying to pull her along.

"Alright, don’t pull—I’ll come with you."

Rory followed at once.

As she hurried after the pup, she sent a quick message to Yuel.

Rory:

The pup says a dragon is in trouble. I’m going to check—come find me when you’re done.

She shared her location immediately after.

The pup led her toward the snow mountains at a frantic pace.

Along the way, Rory pieced together what had happened.

Two wolf cubs had come to play near the mountain—and found a massive black dragon lying motionless in the snow, as if it were already on the brink of death.

They recognized the dragon. He came here from time to time, usually to see the Wolf King—or the "Demon King," Xarion.

One of them had gone to find the Wolf King but couldn’t locate him.

So they had rushed to find Xarion instead.

Even before reaching the base of the mountain, Rory saw it.

A colossal black dragon lay collapsed in the snow, unmoving.

Her heart skipped.

She ran.

Another pup was guarding the dragon, yipping anxiously the moment it saw Rory approach.

Rory froze for a split second, then her breath caught.

"Paros?" She recognized him instantly.

One of his whiskers was missing—the one Vincent and Jasper had pulled out when he was drunk before.

"Paros! What happened to you?!" She rushed to his side and began checking his condition.

"There’s so much blood," one of the pups whimpered, pawing at the snow to reveal his abdomen.

A deep, vicious wound tore across his underside, still bleeding steadily.

The snow beneath him had already been stained crimson.

"Paros! Paros!" Rory called to him again and again.

No response.

Her chest tightened.

She pried open his jaws and quickly fed him one of Yuel’s blossoms.

Then she crushed several of Yuel’s leaves, mixed them with a healing agent, and pressed the mixture carefully against the wound on his abdomen.

The effect was immediate.

The bleeding slowed... then stopped. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

But he still didn’t wake.

She couldn’t leave him here.

A snowstorm could roll in at any moment and bury him alive.

"Go back!" Rory turned to the two pups. "Find the adults—tell them to come here and carry him back to the clan!"

The pups nodded and sprinted off without hesitation.

Rory stayed, administering more healing agents, watching him anxiously.

Not long after they left, the dragon stirred. His eyelids trembled... then slowly opened.

Relief flooded her face.

"Paros! Are you awake? How do you feel?"

"...Rory?" Paros stared at her, dazed.

Had his mind finally collapsed? Was this... a hallucination?

To see her... right before death...

No.

He couldn’t let her see him like this.

Females admired strength.

The massive dragon vanished, and in the next instant, he had taken human form.

He lay bare-chested in the snow, and only now did Rory see the full extent of his injuries.

The wound on his abdomen was only the worst of them.

His body was covered in countless others—large and small, overlapping, brutal.

Her heart clenched.

She immediately pulled out a cloak from her storage ring and draped it over him.

"Who did this to you?"

He was Rank Eleven. Who could have wounded him this badly?

The insectoid enemy...?

"Rory..." Paros leaned weakly against her as she helped him sit up.

He wanted to lift a hand—just to touch her face, to memorize her one last time.

But he couldn’t.

He had no strength left.

His mental power was unraveling—collapsing.

He could feel it.

Soon... he would lose consciousness completely.

"Rory... let go of me..." He forced the words out through clenched teeth. "My mental power is collapsing... stay away from me."

He would hurt her. He had already injured himself this badly just to remain lucid for a moment longer.

Even if she was only a hallucination, he wouldn’t allow himself to harm her.

"Why is your mental power collapsing?" Rory frowned, already reaching out. "Don’t worry. I’ll stabilize you—you’ll be fine."

Even if her bond with him had been severed, Paros had helped her before. There was no way she would just stand by and watch him die here.

"No... don’t..." With the last of his strength, Paros grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "I can’t control it anymore... I’ll hurt you."

Before, when he had let her calm him, he had still been in control. Now... there was nothing left to hold it back.

Even if he drained every last drop of Rory’s mental power, Paros knew he could still ensure she wouldn’t be harmed—at worst, she would simply fall into a deep sleep for a couple of days.

But now, his mental power was collapsing.

He couldn’t control it anymore.

"If I don’t stabilize you, you’ll die." Rory looked at him, her gaze steady and resolute. "Let me try. I’ll be careful. If it gets dangerous, I’ll pull back immediately."

She had already reached Rank Seven. Her mental power was far stronger than before.

She wasn’t certain she could fully stabilize him, but she was certain she could protect herself.

Mental stabilization required a calm, controlled environment.

But Paros no longer had that luxury.

There was no time left.

Rory raised her hand and pressed her palm firmly against his forehead.

The moment her mental power entered, she saw it. His mental sea... was a chaos.

Molten currents surged within it, churning violently, devouring everything in their path.

The inner walls of his mind—once strong—were now riddled with holes, burned through again and again by the relentless magma.

They were on the verge of shattering completely.

Rory’s mental power surged forward, transforming into streams of icy current.

They spread rapidly, wrapping around the crumbling mental walls, sealing them, isolating them from the consuming heat.

For a brief moment, the collapse slowed. But the cost was immediate.

Her strength drained rapidly. When her mental power neared exhaustion, Rory pulled her hand back at once.

Her face had gone pale. She looked at him anxiously.

"How do you feel now? Is it any better?"

Before Paros could answer, the ground suddenly trembled. A deep, thunderous vibration rolled through the snowfield.

Paros’s gaze snapped toward the nearby mountain and his expression changed instantly.

"...It’s a snow surge."

A snow surge?

Rory knew what an avalanche was, but she had never heard of this.

Before she could react, a massive dragon body coiled around her, shielding her completely.

In the next instant, they were swallowed by a roaring tide of white.

Time lost all meaning.

When Rory finally regained consciousness, she found herself leaning against a massive dragon’s head.

Paros’s enormous body was curled protectively around her, forming an unbroken barrier.

She was completely unharmed.

Her first instinct was to touch her head. When her fingers brushed against the vine and the budding flower, still intact, she let out a breath of relief.

Then she looked at Paros.

Her heart sank.

The wound on his abdomen had torn open again.

Worse—his body was now covered in even more injuries than before, blood seeping from countless gashes.

His aura had weakened drastically.

His breathing was faint—so faint it seemed it might stop at any moment.

"Paros...!" Rory’s hands trembled.

She forced his jaws open again and fed him every last blossom she had left.

Then she crushed all the remaining leaves, mixing them with healing agents, and pressed them carefully against his wounds.

But this time, it didn’t work. Even with the leaves applied, the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

And Paros’s presence... was fading.