Ch.322Chapter 322 – Sea Dragon (2)

I was trapped.

As ridiculous as it was, that was my first thought after being suddenly drenched in a massive amount of water.

Light seemed to be blocked as well, leaving my vision dark and murky.

In this state, I couldn’t tell where Idea was.

Above all, breathing was the problem.

Having been suddenly trapped in a large body of water, I hadn’t been able to prepare properly.

I was starting to suffocate, so I needed to get out of the water quickly.

Just as I was about to swim away.

Something cut through the water and approached me.

I quickly changed my weapon into a shield, curled my body as much as possible, and was soon sent flying backward as the impact transferred through the shield.

And as if that wasn’t enough, that something immediately lunged at me again.

Despite being underwater, its ability to change direction was incredibly fast.

‘Damn it.’

I turned my shield toward the direction the enemy was coming from with all my strength.

Soon there was an impact sound along with the sound of something scraping against metal.

-Screeeech!!

I could feel the creature’s teeth hitting and scraping against the shield I had barely managed to extend.

And as my eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, I could make out a massive silhouette beyond my murky vision.

A shadow like a gigantic eel was baring its teeth at me.

‘Sea dragon…’

I couldn’t think of any other monster that was both massive and moved so quickly underwater.

I wondered why it was here and why it had appeared so suddenly, but I quickly changed my train of thought.

There was no point trying to solve that mystery when I could barely breathe.

I needed to focus on the immediate problem of the sea dragon right in front of me.

I changed my weapon to a harpoon.

While the creature was still biting my shield and hadn’t let go, I thrust the harpoon down toward its head.

-Thud

Although I struck with all my might, the impact seemed less powerful than expected, probably because we were underwater.

Moreover, it didn’t have enough force to pierce through the creature’s scales.

Still, the impact must have been felt, or perhaps it thought I would continue to counterattack if it stayed, because I saw the sea dragon release the shield and quickly retreat.

Then it turned its body and charged at me again.

‘Damn it.’

I tried to block the impact with my shield again, but there was nothing I could do about my body being shaken.

Just having the creature collide with me made it difficult to maintain my balance.

Even if I wanted to fight back somehow, I couldn’t in a situation where I could barely breathe.

I needed to get out of the water, even if it meant ignoring the sea dragon.

But just as I tried to retreat slightly, the sea dragon detected me with uncanny precision and began attacking again.

‘So it doesn’t intend to let me go.’

It was acting as if it knew I absolutely must not be allowed to leave.

Rather than following someone’s orders, it seemed more like instinctual behavior.

Just as they say it’s comparable to a dragon underwater, it showed a determination not to let its opponent escape from where it had the advantage.

I was literally learning firsthand why they say the prerequisite for facing one is to drag it onto land.

As I blocked its charge with my shield again, quickly trying to figure out how to use the impact to somehow escape this place, the sea dragon changed its tactics.

‘This bastard, don’t tell me.’

Perhaps realizing it couldn’t break through my shield by charging, the sea dragon changed its strategy.

It began to encircle me with its massive body.

Then it started to squeeze me with all its might.

‘Damn it!’

I tried with all my strength to escape, but it was futile.

The water was the sea dragon’s domain.

No matter how hard I swam, it was impossible to swim faster than the sea dragon.

I was dragged along by its body and trapped in the coil it had formed underwater.

My entire body began to be crushed, and the armor that had already reached its limit during the fight with Idea started to break.

What little oxygen remained in my lungs was forcibly pushed out.

I thrust the harpoon down with all my might to try to break free, but with oxygen running out and in a poor position, it had no effect.

And the sea dragon, while continuing to squeeze me, bared its teeth at me.

It bit into the shoulder part of my armor with the edge of its mouth.

Pain started from my shoulder, and I could feel water entering the wound and blood flowing out.

And from a distance, I could see what appeared to be the sea dragon’s mouth chewing on something.

Then I saw it spitting something toward me.

‘This damn thing, does it have a sick hobby too?’

I couldn’t help but think that perhaps it had a cruel habit of making its prey bleed or playing with dying prey to drain their strength to the very end.

It stops prey trying to escape the water with its strength, bites the body of someone suffocating to make them bleed, gradually weakening them until they die in terror.

It was a vicious hunter.

‘…I’ll die at this rate.’

That was obvious.

At this rate, I would die in this pointless trap, whether it was prepared by Idea or carelessly set by some third party neither of us had noticed.

‘I’m going to die pathetically.’

That couldn’t happen.

I couldn’t end things so pathetically here.

I promised I wouldn’t die.

There are people who would be sad if I died.

‘In the end, I have no choice but to rely on this.’

I didn’t want to use it because I didn’t want to worry anyone, but the terrain was too disadvantageous.

At this rate, I would just be eaten as the sea dragon’s plaything.

I immediately began using the magic power of my heart to summon the now-familiar armor.

With only 2 uses remaining, and considering the need for a spare, I could only call upon the dragon armor once more.

I summoned the armor that shouldn’t have been summoned.

Gradually, white armor enveloped my body, and thanks to the magic power, my mind, which had been slowing down from lack of oxygen, returned to normal.

My vision, which should have been impaired, began to clear, and I could see the sea dragon slightly recoiling, perhaps surprised by my transformation.

I also noticed a purple crystal embedded in the sea dragon’s forehead.

‘So direct control is possible through that crystal.’

I thought it could only summon monsters.

But it seems control is possible too.

While resolving this minor curiosity, I quietly transformed my weapon and armor.

There was a more suitable form for dealing with this underwater environment and such a massive monster.

The sea dragon charged at me, and I extended my arm.

The sea dragon bit down on armor that was thicker than usual.

And I saw several of its teeth break.

-Kreeeah?!

“Shut up.”

I swung my fist while discharging magic power.

The sea dragon that had been biting my arm and writhing in pain was knocked away.

Then I transformed my weapon, which had been a shield and harpoon, into two massive anchors attached to chains.

Seeing this, the sea dragon appeared to be trying to flee quickly.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I immediately threw one of the anchors.

The chain attached to the anchor rapidly extended, tracing an arc.

The anchor began to fly as if tracking the sea dragon.

Finally, one end caught the sea dragon’s body.

“What a catch.”

As I pulled on the chain, the chain that had extended earlier began to wrap around the sea dragon’s body.

The two chains brought the sea dragon toward me.

Then I pulled with all my might.

-Kraaah?!!!

The sea dragon twisted its body, perhaps confused by the feeling of its body being compressed.

But it was useless.

This chain, inspired by Beatrice’s chains and created from transformed holy relics, wouldn’t break so easily.

I continued to pull the sea dragon, spinning it several times underwater using the chains.

Then I threw it outside.

The sea dragon flew out of the water with the anchor, screaming.

I too escaped the water by discharging magic power.

As I quickly emerged from the water, beyond the sea dragon wrapped in chains with its scales broken, I could see Idea recovering his arm and Hakan looking at me as if he didn’t understand what had happened.

‘Is it him?’

I quickly looked at the water I had escaped from.

A sphere like an aquarium, something that had compressed and filled water.

If it wasn’t Idea who activated the trap, then it must have been him who used the sea dragon as a trap.

“Ignoring him was my mistake.”

Even though my opponent was Idea, I lamented that I should have been more cautious.

I continued to look at Idea.

He was the top priority target that needed to be killed at this location.

“Here I come.”

With those words, I transformed my armor again.

Into a form that specialized in wings to maximize speed.

I changed the two anchors into a single jousting lance and spun it at high speed.

Then, while discharging magic power, I rushed toward the sea dragon first, not Idea.

I thrust the jousting lance into the mouth of the creature, which was open in pain.

Grinding through muscle, internal organs, and bones, I moved through the sea dragon’s body.

And at an appropriate point, I forcibly changed course and exited the sea dragon’s body.

Idea had been prepared for my emergence, but because the sea dragon had blocked his view, he reacted slightly late as I thrust my jousting lance toward him.

-Kakakakak!!!

His sword and my jousting lance collided.

It wasn’t just a simple collision; his sword trembled ominously against the rotation of my lance.

Nevertheless, Idea calmly held onto his sword.

And he put strength into it and swung.

-Saaak!!

A slash was generated, pushing me back.

I immediately corrected my posture by discharging magic power and swung the jousting lance, which had stopped rotating.

Idea blocked the lance with his sword, and I immediately jumped backward before spinning the jousting lance and thrusting it into the ground.

My body entered the ground as the floor was destroyed, and then I aimed for where Idea would be and rose up.

“You’re fast.”

Once again, Idea reacted a moment too late.

He barely managed to block the jousting lance rising from the ground with his sword.

However, due to his delayed reaction and the fact that it was coming from underground where visibility was poor, Idea failed to evade perfectly.

In the end, Idea’s posture crumbled as he couldn’t withstand the force of the jousting lance, and I saw him being knocked away by the rotational force.

I continued to rise before flying at full speed toward him with the sun at my back.

I extended the jousting lance.

It was to pierce and kill Idea.

And I clearly heard Idea mutter something quietly.

“The speed is incredible, but because of that, it has a weakness.”

Looking at Idea who said that, I saw that this time he was extending his sword first.

He blocked my lance at the exact timing.

Clicking my tongue at how quickly he had already adapted to my speed, I retreated slightly.

Then as I flew at full speed to target Idea’s back, Idea quietly said:

“That form, it’s too fast to change direction quickly.”

With those words, Idea blocked my lance with his sword again.

“That means if I can quickly figure out where you’ll aim, it’s easy to predict.”

It sounds easy, but it can’t be a simple skill.

However, Idea proved his words true by blocking my attack again.

But even so, he was being pushed back a little.

“The impact force and penetration power from that incredible speed is hard to block even if I know it’s coming.”

Idea quietly muttered that he couldn’t keep blocking like this.

“Then, I should aim for the wings.”

Immediately after saying that, one of Idea’s arms moved.

He had drawn another sword and was swinging it toward one of my enhanced wings.

Normally, it shouldn’t have been cut by such a sword, but perhaps because the opponent was Idea, one wing was easily severed.

Of course, I saw that the second sword Idea had swung also broke and flew away.

But for Idea, this seemed to be a sufficient price to pay for gaining information.

“So you sacrificed defense for speed.”

He swung his sword again, accurately targeting this form’s weakness.

I quickly retreated and burrowed into the ground again.

“I won’t fall for the same trick twice.”

Idea said that as he stomped hard on the ground.

And as he stomped, the ground collapsed.

From there, anchors and chains identical to those that had been wrapped around the sea dragon extended out.

Idea immediately struck those chains with his sword to shake them off.

But because of that.

His guard was down.

“You can’t block me too!”

That was what I said as I charged at him in heavily armored form.

I discharged magic power and tackled him with all my strength, and Idea, who had just swung his sword to deal with the chains, was sent flying backward.

Just as I was about to follow up with another attack, Idea regained his posture and threw a broken sword fragment at me.

Of course, the sword fragment bounced off easily, and I heard Idea quietly muttering about this being a form with high defense.

And just as Idea was about to infuse his sword with magic power and swing it widely.

I returned my armor to its original form.

Flying quickly through the sky, I summoned the wind while simultaneously moving out of the trajectory of Idea’s slash.

Seeing me instantly dodge his slash, Idea’s eyes widened as I extended my hand toward him.

Lightning concentrated in one hand immediately flew toward Idea, and as he deflected it with his sword, I charged in swinging a halberd.

In an instant, I swing the halberd, then a sword, an axe, a spear, a mace, a shield.

Idea’s sword responded to each of those attacks.

But unlike before, now my speed and strength were faster, so I could see him struggling.

“…Good flight maneuverability with adequate defense and strength… a well-balanced form.”

“Judge for yourself!”

I swung my weapon while responding to Idea’s muttering.

Idea barely blocked the halberd, and I struck him hard with my shield.

Finally, Idea was sent flying by my attack, and as I changed my weapon to a sword and swung it toward his neck, I saw him barely blocking it.

“Let’s end this here, shall we?”

“…So I must abandon even myself…!”

Idea muttered resentfully.

We continued our test of strength, and gradually Idea’s side began to give way.

“Let’s finish this, Idea!”

“To end like this…!”

Idea’s face contorted with frustration.

He concentrated more strength in his arms.

At this rate, I could win.

And just when I was certain of victory.

“Die, Kay!!!”

Hakan charged at me wielding a greatsword.