Chapter 135: Dragon’s Battle

"Haha, you’re absolutely right. I completely agree with you there, Warren."

"That’s why I came along this time thinking I’d show him what I could really do. I wanted to overwrite that other guy’s existence with my own, at least enough to make him recognize me as my own person. But then I ended up like this..." Warren continued speaking quietly, still facing away from Qiu Nuoya. Of course, he had his own worries and struggles that he had been dealing with in his own way.

In this life, despite all the problems he had encountered, Qiu Nuoya had been living a relatively carefree life without thinking too deeply about things. Somehow, that made him feel a little guilty.

"I think Warren is always doing his best."

"Haha... Yeah. Just hearing you say that makes me feel a little better. Thanks, Nuoya." 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

They continued their peaceful conversation, but beside them, Long had been lying on the beach in full relaxation mode. Suddenly, he lifted his head and slowly looked around as though he were searching for something.

"Long, what’s wrong?"

[ Something is coming. ]

"What is?"

[ Who knows? It’s long, like a snake... A sea serpent, perhaps? But it is very large. ]

"Could it be..."

Long rose to his feet, clearly on guard, and stared intently at one particular spot in the ocean.

Qiu Nuoya followed his gaze, but he could not see anything unusual. If anything, the only thing he noticed was that the waves seemed to be rippling slightly more than before.

"Nuoya, what’s going on?"

"Long says something is coming."

"Something? Is it a monster!?" Warren sprang to his feet and drew his sword, facing the direction they had been watching. However, the monster still had not revealed itself.

[ Master, would it be all right if I went to take a look? ]

"It’s fine, but are you sure you can handle it alone?"

[ It should not be a problem. ]

With that, Long spread his enormous wings, kicked up the sand, and took off.

His figure rapidly grew smaller as he flew farther away. Just before he reached the ripples that Qiu Nuoya could barely make out, the waves suddenly erupted into a towering column of water.

The column appeared even larger than Long’s body.

Just as Qiu Nuoya thought Long was about to be swallowed by it, Long swiftly dodged and banked to the side.

However, the column of water moved along with him.

That was when Qiu Nuoya realized it was not a column of water at all.

"Is that..."

"Nuoya, we have to run! There is no way we can handle something like that by ourselves!" Warren grabbed Qiu Nuoya’s arm. But Qiu Nuoya could not move. Long had gone over there. Long was his tamed monster. There was no way Qiu Nuoya could simply run away while leaving his own familiar behind.

"We have to save Long!"

"Idiot! If you die, then what’s the point!? The first thing we need to do is protect ourselves!"

"But..."

Long circled repeatedly through the air, trying to evade the column of water. Yet the monster that looked like a pillar of water relentlessly pursued him.

At first, the monster had appeared wrapped in water, but now it had raised half of its body above the surface and was chasing Long. Put simply, it looked like a gigantic serpent.

Long climbed higher, well beyond the reach of the serpent’s raised head, then began circling around it again as though deliberately provoking it.

The serpent raised its head even higher, stretching its long neck as it lunged toward Long. Its body was probably more than three times Long’s length.

"Long!" The moment Qiu Nuoya shouted, a tremendous roar thundered through the area.

The roar was so powerful that it made the air itself vibrate, creating a shockwave that sent ripples across the surface of the sea.

Qiu Nuoya had no idea what had happened. He and Warren simply stood there in stunned silence, overwhelmed by the sheer force of the roar.

After a while, the enormous serpent’s body toppled sideways and crashed into the ocean.

The impact sent a massive wave surging toward them.

Wait. Is that a tsunami!?

The approaching wave towered far above Qiu Nuoya’s head and was already rushing toward them.

"Mochi, slime barrier!"

[ Got it~ ]

Just before the wave swallowed them, Qiu Nuoya and Warren were completely enclosed inside Mochi.

They were swept away by the wave while remaining inside the slime. Fortunately, Mochi was remarkably sturdy. It was waterproof and floated on the water, so the two of them somehow managed to avoid serious trouble.

"That dragon’s roar was Dragon Breath, right? Amazing... So that’s what it looks like when you actually see it in person."

"Dragon Breath?"

"Yeah. It’s one of a dragon’s techniques. I’ve read about it in books, but I never thought I’d actually get to see it with my own eyes."

Ah, so that’s how it works. Wait, then does that mean Long just attacked the monster? Did his attack actually hit it? The shockwave reached all the way to them, so surely it must have. And then the monster collapsed...?

"Could it be that Long defeated that monster for us?"

"I don’t know if he defeated it, but he definitely seemed to damage it."

Qiu Nuoya and Warren were still being tossed around inside Mochi, so they could not get a proper grasp of the situation. Neither Long nor the monster was anywhere to be seen, and even the island looked as though much of its landmass had been swallowed by the waves.

Wait. Doesn’t that mean Igor and Viktor, who went into the island to explore, must be in serious trouble too...?

The color drained from Qiu Nuoya’s face. He was worried about Long’s safety, but he was equally concerned about Igor and Viktor, who had probably been caught in the tsunami. Hopefully, they had noticed the danger in time and managed to escape.

"Mochi, head toward the land for now."

[ Got it~ ]