Chapter 70

After learning the Treasure Warden's weakness, Mei alternated firing her pistol-sized Street Sweepers, repeatedly activating the [Dragon's Breath] skill to keep the toad engulfed in flames.

The gold coins covering its body entered a constant cycle of melting and regeneration. Eventually, the Treasure Warden became completely coated in a semi-solid layer of molten gold, transforming it into something resembling a living statue. Its physical defense rose to an absurd degree, but its weakness to flames only became more pronounced.

The heated metal casing acted like a bronze bull execution device, trapping the creature inside its own burning armor and cooking it from the outside in.

The scent of charred flesh quickly filled the enclosed room, causing Mei to wrinkle her nose in disgust. The smell reminded her of burnt chicken mixed with the sharp metallic scent of molten gold.

“Does toad taste like frog?” she wondered aloud. “Actually, what does frog even taste like?”

Frogman: 🐸: Don't eat me

Foodie: Frog tastes similar to a cross between chicken and fish. Toad is basically the same. I think this one's burnt though… :KEKW:

Mei saw the chat, but when she fired one final [Dragon's Breath] a notification chimed.

Battle Complete - Victory!

99 Treasure Guardians Defeated

1 Treasure Warden Defeated

Reward: Exit Portal

A magic portal appeared in the center of the room, offering a blurred and distorted view of the outside world beyond the Sea Monkey's [Treasure Stomach] ability.

Through the warped image, Mei saw a bare-chested man with medium-length hair flowing around his head like brown seaweed. He was in the middle of casting a spell that looked suspiciously similar to Frieza's Death Ball attack.

“Adam!” Mei shouted.

There was no reaction.

Judging by his lack of response, she quickly realized he couldn't hear or see her through the portal.

Still, seeing him alive and fighting brought a wave of relief. She let out a quiet sigh, though her eyes narrowed slightly when she noticed the pale complexion on his face. Even from a distance, she could tell something was wrong. He looked exhausted, like he was forcing himself to continue.

Mei didn't waste any time.

She shoved all the sparkling loot into her inventory, including the Treasure Warden's statue-like carcass, which had transformed into a valuable treasure itself. Then, without hesitation, she leapt through the portal.

— — —

Adam was preparing to cast another of his newly coined [Einstein Particle Shield] spell when a beautiful woman wearing a blood-soaked Hawaiian shirt and a strange Egyptian-themed pirate hat suddenly leapt out of the Sea Monkey's mouth with a radiant smile.

His expression brightened.

Before he could say anything, however, his instincts reacted faster than his thoughts.

The spell forming at his fingertip was released.

The [Einstein Particle Shield] curved around Mei at a speed impossible for any method of observation, magical or otherwise, to track, bypassing her completely before striking the Sea Monkey.

The Legendary creature didn't even have time to react before it was deleted from existence. 

It didn’t die with an explosion or any parting words.

The Sea Monkey simply ceased to exist.

Not a single tuft of fur, scale, or piece of flesh remained.

Adam smiled at Mei, finally opening his mouth to speak, but the moment he did, his vision began to distort.

The world spun.

His eyelids grew heavy.

Then his eyes rolled backward, and his body collapsed.

Gloves of Everhealing Chaos full effect retracted.

With the death of the Legendary-class sea creature, the gloves could no longer maintain their full effect. Adam's enhanced stats dropped below the requirements needed to use their power, cutting off the endless stream of magic that had been sustaining his body.

The exhaustion and mana strain that had been suppressed until now crashed down on him all at once.

His body had reached its limit.

Before he could say a single word to Mei, his consciousness slipped away and he passed out under the sea.

— — —

Mei reached out to catch Adam as he passed out, worried that the fall would hurt him.

Then she realized something important.

They were underwater.

Her eyes widened as the reality of their situation finally registered. She couldn't breathe.

A second later, she began choking as salty seawater filled her lungs. She kicked and flailed instinctively, trying to figure out how she had somehow forgotten one of the most basic rules of being underwater.

Luckily, before things could get worse, a massive shadow moved beneath them.

A dragon's head the size of an island emerged from the depths, lifting both of them above the water's surface with the top of its snout.

Mei coughed violently, spluttering out a mouthful of fishy-tasting seawater as she laid against the enormous dragon's scales. She glanced gratefully toward the massive eye staring back at her.

She couldn't see both of its eyes because of its sheer size. Only one was visible from where she rested, but she couldn't help imagining that the dragon was probably going cross-eyed, similar to a human staring at the tip of their own nose.

“Did you happen to see an ocean-blue pearl while you were inside the Treasure Stomach vault?” the dragon asked.

Mei blinked.

The voice was much higher pitched than she expected, but unmistakably male.

For a creature large enough to carry islands on its head, she had expected something deeper and more intimidating, like the rumbling of an ocean volcano.

Instead, the dragon sounded almost cheerfully friendly.

Mei frowned for a moment before quickly shrugging it off. There was no reason to judge a dragon's voice based on its size.

Instead, she reached into her inventory and pulled out an ocean-blue pearl roughly the size of a beach ball.

“Yes! Yes, that's my Sea Dragon Pearl!” the dragon shouted excitedly.

The sudden movement caused the massive dragon head to shift, nearly sending Mei tumbling back into the ocean.

She quickly steadied herself and moved closer to Adam while holding the pearl.

“So this is yours?” Mei asked. “It's pretty. Kind of big for my tastes, though.”

She crouched beside Adam and carefully checked his body for injuries.

Thankfully, he seemed fine.

He was just unconscious.

Mei wasn't completely sure, but she suspected he had suffered from mana strain, similar to what happened to her the first time she used her legendary class's innate ability.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could do except wait for him to recover naturally.

She had been told that the higher someone's Magic stat was, the faster they recovered from the effects of mana strain. Considering Adam's high Magic stat, he would probably wake up soon, hopefully.

The dragon suddenly spoke again.

“Could you do me a favor?”

“Hm?”

Mei glanced back toward the giant eye.

“What favor?”

“Do you see the depression in my forehead?”

Mei looked around and spotted a beach-ball-sized indentation in the dragon's scales between its eyebrows.

Or, more accurately, between its eye ridges.

“Yeah. You want me to place the pearl there?”

“Yes, please!”

“Okay.”

Mei agreed easily and stood up, preparing to place the pearl into the depression.

However, an urgent chat message stopped her.

Long_Aotian: DO NOT GIVE THAT PEARL TO THE FLOOD DRAGON!!1!

Mei froze.

“Huh? Why?”

Long_Aotian: If you give it to him, he'll evolve into an evil dragon and kill both of you. You must have realized the boss battle hasn't ended, otherwise the livestream would have ended already. That's because the dragon isn't an ally. Also, you haven't checked your loot.

Mei frowned.

“So… I kill him, or…?”

The sea dragon's massive eye narrowed slightly.

It didn't understand who or what she was talking about, but it understood enough to realize something suspicious was happening.

Long_Aotian: No. Don't kill him. Instead, recite this mantra while placing the pearl into his forehead depression. 'Om Mani Padme Hum'

“A Buddhist chant?” Mei tilted her head. “Okay.”

She continued walking toward the dragon while under its increasingly suspicious gaze.

The sea dragon watched carefully as she approached, unaware of the strange ritual she was preparing.

Then Mei kneeled down and placed the pearl into the depression in its forehead while chanting the mantra given by the guy in chat with a name that sounded like it belonged to a xianxia protagonist.

The sea dragon didn't even have a chance to react.

By the time it realized something was happening, the chant was already complete.

Purifying Sea Dragon Pearl...

Purification successful!

Evolution criteria achieved for Blessed Dragon path.

The sea dragon's enormous eyes widened.

“Y-you…”

Its voice trembled with disbelief.

“Who are you? How do you know a dragon's evolution pathway?”

Mei shrugged.

“Dunno.”

She pointed toward the chat window, invisible to the sea dragon.

“Chat told me.”

The sea dragon didn't have time to respond before its body abruptly began shrinking.

Its enormous form rapidly condensed, scales folding and compressing as its island-sized body became smaller and smaller. When the transformation finally finished, it was still massive, but it was now only large enough to comfortably hold both Mei and Adam on its head.

Still gigantic by normal standards, but no longer a creature that made an entire ocean seem small.

Its appearance had completely changed as well.

Before, its body had been covered in black scales darker than the deepest parts of the ocean. After its evolution, those scales transformed into a color somewhere between pure white and brilliant gold, with flickers of rainbow light constantly shimmering across their surface.

The majestic transformation was slightly ruined by the fact that the newly evolved dragon immediately entered a deep slumber.

Occasional snores escaped from its mouth as it floated peacefully through the ocean.

With no one to accompany her besides the chat, Mei decided to check the loot she had collected from the various treasure rooms and the Treasure Warden at the end.

The first thing she noticed when she opened her inventory was a strange icon.

It was a picture of a large sniper rifle.

The name beside it read: Anti-antimatter Rifle.

“I know what antimatter is,” Mei muttered. “But what's anti-antimatter...?”

xYzXyZ (mod): Isn't that just normal matter?

GodGamerKyle: Pull it out!

“Okay.”

Mei shrugged and reached into her inventory.

A massive rifle appeared in her hands.

The weapon was enormous, far larger than any normal sniper rifle. Its barrel alone looked like it belonged on some kind of futuristic cannon rather than something a person was expected to carry.

“Oh wow, it's huge!” Mei said, struggling to keep a grip on the weapon. “I don't think something this big will fit... in my hands.”

She stared at the rifle, then at her own hands.

For once, Mei seemed to realize that a weapon might actually be too large for her to casually use.