Chapter 107: New Epic Quest

"At first, Dorimunga and I were equal in strength," she said.

"I was a full-blooded Nagas back then, and we shared the island. A stalemate, so to say, and that was when I could come and go as I pleased."

"But as I moved to the water and awakened my Mermaid bloodline, I lost some of my Nagas’ brute power, gaining Aquacana in exchange."

"The thing is, Aquacana is only powerful in water, and Dorimunga never leaves the island, so I became much weaker than him."

"I’ve fought him seven times in a row now, trying to leave this place, but he pretty much wins every time, so I don’t go out anymore."

"You... you seem pretty chill with that. Having your freedom restricted."

He noted, but she simply shrugged, lying on her back in the water and lazily swimming around.

"Awakening my Mermaid bloodline might have made me lose my brute power, but it also gave me a different power."

"Life Energy. I can tell that I can live for more than 300 years, As for Dorimunga, he’ll be dead within 30 years at most."

"In the end, I’ll be the one having the last laugh. Tehehe."

She cackled coldly after that, and Declan’s brow quivered in disbelief.

"That’s... that’s quite cold," he mused beneath his breath.

She was patiently waiting for her enemy to die, trusting that she could outlive him and gain everything he had once he was gone.

Now that was another level of patience and cold thinking.

"But I can’t wait 30 years..." he mused beneath his breath.

If he lost consciousness here, his body wouldn’t disappear. It would remain and who knew what would happen to him with two monsters around?

Most likely, one of them, either her or Dorimunga, would devour him.

He needed a safe place, or he might never wake up here again.

"I need to get past that monster..."

The second he came to that conclusion; the system panel appeared before him.

[EPIC QUEST ISSUED]

[Defeat Dorimunga!]

[REWARDS:

+100,000 EXP!

+10 LEVEL UP CARDS!

+10 ABILITY UPGRADE CARDS!

+100,000 PURCHASE POINTS!

+1 All Injuries Rejuvenation Card]

The system panel flashed, and Declan’s eyes glinted.

’So many rewards.’

But after looking down at the panel, he quickly understood why.

[Mission Difficulty: IMPOSSIBLE!]

’An impossible mission. I’ve never gotten that before...’ he mused, turning toward the Mergas in the sea.

"Hey, uh, how strong exactly is Dorimunga?" he couldn’t help but ask as he rose to his feet and turned toward her.

One moment, she was swimming, and the next, her image began fading.

"FUUUU!"

An exhale of air hit Declan’s ear from behind, and he turned to find her already standing there, looking at him.

"So fast," he mused in disbelief.

She was fast... too fast.

The water hadn’t even rippled from the speed she had used to move, and when he turned toward the sea, he could see her afterimage slowly dispersing into motes.

’She even leaves afterimages...’

"Now, if you think I’m fast, well, Dorimunga is as strong as I am fast," she explained.

"But if you’re as strong as he’s fast, you should be able to defeat him. Speed equals strength, and strength always wins..." Declan mused, but she shook her head.

"You’re right, but he has a way to slow down my speed to his level of speed, so it’s kinda useless."

"Unless you’re as strong as him, then there’s no beating him," she said, her fingers reaching out and booping his nose as he shook his head.

"Your best bet is to wait until he dies like me or watch out for when he leaves the cave and goes into the portal."

"Then you can quickly use it before he arrives," she said, and he hummed quietly.

"Are you really just going to let me leave like that, though? I should be your prey, remember?" he said, and in the next moment, he felt his leg yanked upward.

Before he could react, he was hanging upside down.

She had changed into her Nagas form in a blink, both her hands tucked beneath her jaw as she stared at him dreamily.

"Do you really want to be eaten so bad, pretty boy?"

___________

"Actually, no..." he said, and she cackled dropping him.

This time, he reacted quickly, throwing himself upward with one hand and landing on his feet.

"How about we join hands and defeat Dorimunga together?" he proposed, and she eyed him.

"I don’t think you’ll last that long before dying..." she said, but there was no sign of mockery in her voice.

Even she herself couldn’t defeat Dorimunga.

It made sense that if they were two, they could gain an advantage, but looking at him, Declan didn’t seem that powerful at all.

Declan turned slightly to look toward the forest.

’I’ll defeat that,’ he determined, and in the next moment, he began stepping forward, soon disappearing among the trees.

"Hopefully, he escapes in time," the Mergas mused to herself.

Moments later, the forest erupted with explosions, each blast sending trees snapping and hurling wildly through the air.

’Hmm, he lasted quite long,’ she mused, feeling the reverberations continue for about three minutes straight, but eventually,

BOOOOM!

BOOOOM!

BOOOOM!

The ground shook heavily three times, and a sorry-looking figure was soon sent rolling out before slamming into the water, quickly becoming buried underneath it.

GRROOOOWWWLLL!

A heavy growl followed, and from the jungle, it stepped out:

A gigantic beast standing at almost seven meters in height.

It looked like a massive tiger, but with red, crimson-colored scales instead of fur and sharp, pointed icicles lining all of its limbs.

It had two tails, each almost five meters long, whipping around in the air and also covered in those sharp icicles.

Every movement sliced through the air, leaving white marks behind, and it looked toward the sea where Declan had crashed.

It was preparing to chase after him, but halted at the last moment when it looked to the side.

There she was, standing at the shore and also turning away from the sea to look at him.

"And what nefarious plan are you up to again, Svatava?"

The creature’s voice boomed out, so deep and powerful that it shook the air itself.

"What?" she asked innocently.

Dorimunga pointed a claw.

"He’s an escaped prisoner. Why haven’t you eaten him yet?"

"I don’t know. You tell me?" she said with a hmph, and the cat rolled its eyes.

"Don’t tell me you’re sparing him because he said you were beautiful?"

"What the!? YOU!"

"Ahhh, dumb and lonely Svatava. So desperate for affection," the cat called with a shake of its head.

"I’m not desperate!" Svatava claimed.

"Did every ’beautiful’ you hear make you forget what happened the last time those words were uttered?"

"What do you..."

"Face it, Svatava. You’re a monster that no one will like. Not even a fellow monster."

"Once they see your true form, they’ll call you for what you are."

"And even if they didn’t, it’s never because they found you beautiful. All they want is an escape."

"The second they get that, you cease to exist in their head."

"You saw it happen the last time you found ’love,’ didn’t you?" it mocked coldly.

"Pretty big balls you have mocking me when you’re so close to the sea," Svatava said, her eyes turning into serpentine slits.

Dorimunga paused.

"You can’t defeat me. Not even in the sea," he claimed, and she pointed toward the water.

"How about we confirm how true that is?" she said, tempting him to walk toward the sea, but all the cat did was snort mockingly.

"I’d rather save the time."

"Tch, coward!" she claimed, but the cat didn’t seem to care.

"If you’ve fallen in ’love’ with that beautiful clown of a boy, fine. Keep him to yourself."

"But if he comes to me again, I’ll take that as you getting back to your senses and sending him to get killed,"

Dorimunga claimed before turning back toward the jungle.

However, he had yet to take more than a couple of steps when,

BOOOOOOOOM!

The wave behind them both exploded, a ray of blue light tearing through the air.

The sea parted, and they watched as Declan slowly rose from the water, his eyes flaring with a piercing blue light that shone directly at Dorimunga.

"Clown... I hate that word!"

____________________

A few seconds ago.

’He’s strong. Really strong,’ the thought echoed through Declan’s head as he punched toward the creature, which slashed out with its claw.

When the two met,

KAAA-CHAAA!

The sharp sound of bones cracking resounded as he felt the horrifying power pass through his arm, shattering it to bits.

He tumbled backward from the force, but halted in the next moment, bringing his arm to the side.

BOOOOOOOOM!

A second explosion followed as a claw smashed into him, completely shattering the bones in his other arm, and he was sent flying out, tumbling across the ground three times before disappearing into the sea.

As he landed on the seabed, blood poured from his lips, but he grinned through the pain.

"He’s not faster than me at all. If anything, he’s slightly slower."

"But he’s/ strong, almost twice as strong, and his scales release a bizarre arcane energy that weighs down on everything around him."

"It’s probably how he manages to slow that Mergas down," he thought.

With his analysis complete, he made his choice.

’Initiate MDS Protocol.’

[Congratulations on completing the Quest: Find the Missing Ronkhasa Giants.]

[Rewards:

+10 Level Up Cards!

+70,000 EXP!

Shop Tab Unlocked!]