Chapter 139: Giant Sea Serpent

Qiu Nuoya took out the dragon flute and blew into it once. As always, it made no sound that they could hear, but he had been told that a single note was enough, so he decided to wait and see what happened.

After a while, Qiu Nuoya spotted something coming toward them from across the sea, kicking up waves as it approached.

Naturally, he assumed it was Long.

But as the creature drew closer, Qiu Nuoya realized that it was not Long.

It was the enormous sea serpent they had thought Long had defeated.

"Wait, no way..."

"What exactly is that?"

"How would I know!? More importantly, where’s Long!?"

The sea serpent came toward them at an incredible speed. But when Qiu Nuoya looked more closely, something about it seemed strange.

There was no doubt that it was rushing toward them with tremendous force, yet its head was swinging wildly from side to side.

While Qiu Nuoya stood there staring at the sea serpent in bewilderment, Viktor sensed the danger. He immediately cast a defensive barrier around them, drew his staff, and pointed it toward the sea serpent.

Then, suddenly, a voice echoed inside Qiu Nuoya’s head.

It was Long’s carefree voice.

[ Master, I found you. It’s food, food. ]

"Wait, what do you mean, food!?"

[ Food is food. It’s quite a large one, so there’ll be plenty to eat. ]

At the same time as Long’s voice, the enormous sea serpent was suddenly thrown down right in front of them.

The serpent was so gigantic that Qiu Nuoya had not even realized Long had been carrying it.

It was only after the sea serpent was tossed to the ground and another tremor shook the area that Qiu Nuoya finally noticed Long’s figure behind it.

The sea serpent had seemed to be about three times the length of Long, but when Qiu Nuoya and the others had first seen it, apparently about half of its body had still been submerged in the sea. Now that it was fully exposed, it looked even larger.

How can something be several times bigger than Long, who is already enormous...?

The sheer size of the creature left Qiu Nuoya completely speechless.

[ Master, what is the matter? ]

"Hey, Long, can this thing be eaten?"

[ I took a bite, and it was delicious! ]

Long’s voice sounded cheerful and pleased.

Oh, really? So he already took a bite...

When Qiu Nuoya looked at it more closely, he could indeed see that a considerable chunk of flesh had been torn away from around the sea serpent’s dangling neck.

"Nuoya, what did Long say?"

"He said he took a bite and it tasted good."

"..."

Both Viktor and Warren wore complicated expressions and said nothing.

Well, Qiu Nuoya could understand their reaction.

Still, if it tasted good, then that was fortunate.

[ Master, don’t hold back. Eat as much as you like! Hmm? Come to think of it, where is that cheerful man who is always around? What happened to him? ]

"Ah! That’s right. Igor is trapped inside a cave! Apparently, the entrance collapsed, so I was hoping you could dig him out!"

When Qiu Nuoya told him what had happened, Long immediately responded.

[ That sounds troublesome. ]

He then headed off to rescue Igor.

At first, Qiu Nuoya had wondered how things would turn out, but surprisingly, Long seemed to have fit in with the group rather smoothly.

Well, what he did was still completely unpredictable, but at least he had become quite comfortable around them.

About half an hour after Long left to rescue him, Igor returned riding on Long’s back.

According to Igor, the entrance had collapsed during the first tremor. Then, during the second tremor, even the rock wall farther inside the cave where he had taken shelter came crashing down.

He looked completely exhausted as he described it, saying that he had genuinely thought he was going to die.

"If Long hadn’t come to rescue me, I might have actually died. I really escaped death by a hair. Thank you." Igor thanked Long while gently stroking his neck.

Qiu Nuoya found himself unable to tell Igor that the cause of both tremors had actually been Long himself.

Now that everyone had finally regrouped, they decided to spend the night on the island.

Qiu Nuoya decided to cook some of the sea serpent that Long had recommended, insisting that it was delicious and worth trying. After all, Qiu Nuoya was still a little afraid of eating it raw.

"I believe this might actually be the dungeon boss of this floor..." Viktor crossed his arms thoughtfully as he stared at the sea serpent.

"This sea serpent?" Qiu Nuoya tilted his head as he sliced off some of the meat.

"It’s not exactly a sea serpent. I believe this is an Imoogi."

"Imo... what? Who exactly is that?"

Viktor gave a wry smile at Qiu Nuoya’s confused reaction.

"Imoogi." He gently corrected Qiu Nuoya’s pronunciation. "The Imoogi is a legendary creature said to be one of the strongest species of aquatic monsters. It is feared as a calamity, just like dragons."

"So you’re saying it’s incredibly powerful?"

"Normally, if you encounter one, surviving and making it back alive is extremely difficult. That’s why creatures like this become legends."

Wait, but Long defeated this thing in a single attack. Surely it can’t be that...

"Now that I look at it more closely, it does resemble the Imoogi described in the old legends. I’ve seen pictures of one in a bestiary before."

"Me too..." Even Igor and Warren agreed with Viktor, so Qiu Nuoya looked once again at the enormous sea serpent lying before them.

Come to think of it, Qiu Nuoya had been eagerly cutting up the Imoogi’s meat this whole time, fully intending to grill and eat it.

But is it really okay to eat this thing?

"Would it be better if we didn’t eat it?"

"I think it’s perfectly fine to eat it. In any case, I doubt we could eat the whole thing. However, it might be a good idea to collect the remaining bones and hide as well."