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Early Evening - Late Summer : Off the Coast of the Western Sirathan Mountains

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-What is he...- Using my aura to see what exactly he was doing, my eyes shot open. "IS THAT CUBANE?!"

Glancing up at me while carving one of the countless runes on the newly created artifact, he looked puzzled. "Cubane?"

"That chemical you're making! Where did you learn about that?!" It was essentially octanitrocubane, an unbelievably explosive chemical I knew from Earth and something I had made a modified version of in the past. -But I never taught him, let alone anyone else about it... There is no way he just..-

"I made it myself."

-WHAT?!-

"When you were talking about displacement, the first thing I thought about was an explosion, and I wondered if I could use that idea to create an explosive chemical.

" He spoke like he created it on a whim.

"Like you've hinted at when teaching Zachari, Krystallo, and Madam Monachikós, I used carbon as the base, and in order to make it all combustible, I tacked on some nitrogen and oxygen. .. I'm not sure it will work, but-"

"IT WILL! Now be gentle with it, or it'll blow your hands off.

" Taking it with my aura, I held it just in front of him.

"This chemical is insanely volatile to temperature because of how tense the carbon's bonds between each other are.

" Giving a small helping hand, I quickly applied a few additional runes before handing it back to him.

The artifact was simple but, in all honesty, quite vicious, taking advantage of mana's innate ability to stabilize and strengthen unstable molecules with countless mana accumulation runes on the outside of the mythril sphere to temporarily lessen the strain on the carbon atoms before detonating the cubane with some heat, and forcing the cubic atomic structures to jolt into a more relaxed state.

-And with the nitrogen and oxygen, it'll just add fuel to the fire... Literally...- But I was there for it. Although it was an odd feeling, I was pretty excited to see how it would perform.

And then, before I knew it, he finished. "Alright. This should be good."

Having slowed down significantly, I tilted my paw and dropped him so he could change to his draconic form.

By then, we were essentially straight over the Mole at the center of the fleet, but with several layers of light magic and with me keeping the regular mana part of my aura over a kilometer off the ground, we stayed undetected.

-I'm curious how much damage this artifact will do. ..-

If it were something I had made, I would certainly call it weak since I knew it couldn't contend with antimatter, but Father was not a monster like I was. At least not then.

*fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh* Hovering just beneath me, Father quickly made a few final adjustments to the artifact before finally looking down.

The Mole was colossal, but from over a dozen kilometers in the air, it was quite far. "Do you want to fly a bit lower?"

But Father's serious expression didn't waver for an instant.

"No, this height is fine." Finally lifting his gaze off the ship, he glanced to his left before casually tossing the artifact, using a tiny bit of aura to make a tiny adjustment as it fell.

"You see that tall knight? The one with the big hammer?

" An eager look slowly crept onto his face as he spoke. "I'm gonna hit him in the head."

"Pfffft-" I almost burst out laughing instantly.

"What are you laughing for? You think I won't?" He spoke confidently.

Holding back laughter, I tried to wave him off. "No, no. It's not that I don't think you could." Looking down at his target only made me want to laugh more. "I just think you could have chosen a better target."

"Huh?" Looking back down, he didn't seem to understand, but after a moment, the knight looked up and casually set his gaze on the falling artifact

"Hmph." He let out a scoff as he pulled his hammer off his back. "We have company! Everyone get to your positions!" His voice was heavy and coarse.

But even though Father couldn't hear him, he knew exactly what happened. "He saw it?!"

"PFt-Hahaha!" My laughter finally escaped seeing Father finally get flustered.

"Of course he did. Any ancient would be able to feel that thing's mana signature when it entered their aura.

Did you see how many mana accumulation runes you put?

!" Seeing him getting a little embarrassed, I eased up my pestering a bit.

"But don't worry, it'll just make it more enjoyable to watch. "

He tilted his head slightly as everyone below frantically ran around, trying to prepare for enemies. "What do you mean?"

My smile widened as I finally looked down. "Well, what do you think will happen when that big ole' hammer of his hits it?"

Following my gaze downward, we both fell silent.

But eventually, the artifact neared the ground.

"Captain! Be careful!" One of the human crewmates yelled out from the entrance of one of the metal structures on the mole before running inside.

But the knight didn't care. "As if an artifact like that could even singe my hair. I just want to see who. Would. DARE!-" *FWOOSH* His massive mythril hammer, easily weighing several tons, whipped around his body in an instant before slamming into the artifact.

Had the artifact survived the impact, it would have been launched over the horizon well past the speed of sound.

However, at that time, his strength didn't work in his favor. *DING-crackle* The moment after his hammer hit it, the hollow sphere shattered, and the pressurized cubane inside simply.. popped.

*tink* *FWO-BOOOOOM* In an instantaneous flash, a massive cone of light engulfed a large section of the Mole along with several ships in the direction he swung his hammer, their wooden hulls being reduced to less than ash before anyone could even react.

*CLUNG-FWOOOSH* The knight's hammer, absorbing much of the recoil of the blast, was instantly blasted out of the knight's hand before bouncing off the smooth ocean surface and slamming into one of the other ships behind him.

*CRRRRACKLEE* It bored through the ship's hull and lower decks with ease, eviscerating everything in its path before exiting the opposite side of the hull below the water level and creating a massive blast of water that showered surrounding ships like rain.

The whole time, the ancient stage knight was too unprepared to even react, and before he knew it, he had destroyed several ships with only his helmet melting to reveal his dumbfounded expression.

"HAHAHA!" His reaction, combined with the artifact's success, made Father burst out laughing instantly. "I didn't know such shameless dragons could make that expression!"

"Right?! It's so satisfying seeing their arrogance disappear like that." I wore a satisfied smile as I looked down over the fleet, each ships crewmates running around in panic. "In any case, I'll head down first, I haven't been able to properly stretch my legs since I woke up."

"Haha, alright! Go beat 'em up, but save some for me!"

-Save some for him, huh...- Quickly scanning over the fleet, I almost immediately found a section of ships that seemed to be for cargo, carrying many supplies like food, gunpowder, and extra weapons for the other ships.

"You see those 20 ships circled up over there?

I'll leave them for you. If you need help, just holler at me! "

But he simply smiled confidently before pulling out another small mythril sphere.

-Haha, why is he carrying those?- I honestly wondered, but at the same time, it just meant I didn't have to worry much about him.

Finally turning back to the fleet, I undid the light magic around me, released control of my aura, and started falling to the ground. *VWOOOOM* My aura fell onto the fleet as if the sky was falling, and before long, I had the attention of every dragon in the fleet focused on me.

It was honestly more than I initially thought, but at the same time, my draconic form would have been another level of overkill for them. -So, why don't I stretch the legs of my humanoid form some... I haven't even had the chance to use my sword yet...-

*flash* Changing forms on a whim, the attention of most of the humans finally turned up to me, but with Father still flying above me, most of them got the wrong idea.

"It's a dragon rider!" Somehow, it seemed like most of the humans couldn't even sense my aura.

But that wasn't my problem.

*FWOOOOSH* Ripping through the air with ever-increasing speed, I spread out my weight distribution magic over nearly two dozen kilometers of water before finally activating it and coming to a stop, instantaneously transforming the glassy ocean into a field of ice. *FWOOOOM*

Finally landing on the edge of the Mole, I continued to spread out my weight over the water, but even still, the barge listed to the point that the side of the ship dipped below the water line.

*creaaaak-splash* "How you guys doing?" I spoke casually, overlooking the expressions of fear on the crew's faces.

But among everyone, the knight Father tossed his artifact to looked surprisingly aggressive. "To not use your draconic form... You must be confident..." He seemed on edge but surprisingly didn't shy away.

Though, it's not like he would know it was just arrogance fueled by naivety. "I'm just curious about some things." Glancing to the side, I watching him hastily pull his hammer out of the water like Thor before taking up a stance.

Seemingly forged out of pure high grade mythril, it survived the blast without as much of a scratch. "Were you the one that dropped that artifact?"

But I quickly waved his question away with my hand. "No, no. If I dropped one this fleet wouldn't be here."

"Tch..." He clicked his tongue as if sensing that I wasn't lying. "Then what do you want..?"

-Hoh? He has more brains than I thought.

- "Well, I want to figure out what exactly you guys are planning, then I'll just-" Cutting my words short, I jerked my head to the side before sticking out my arm and catching a massive, cannonball-sized metal bullet spinning as if it was fired from a cannon with rifling.

For a moment, I was so impressed at how much they had improved the cannon that I didn't care about them interrupting me.

But after a moment of awe, I casually tossed the massive shell to the side, aending it hurtling through a nearby ship before reaching for my sword.

But the knight never let me grab it. *FWOOSH* Darting at me at full speed, he pulled his hammer back before Slamming it forward with every fiber of muscle in his body.

He knew it was his best shot at beating me, but unfortunately for him, it was far from enough.

*CLING-WHAAMMM* Catching the head of the hammer with one hand, an immense shockwave ripped through the water behind me, and my fingers sank into the mythril like it was soft clay.

"And here I thought you at least had some survival instincts."

He immediately tried to pull back his hammer, now with a bent shaft and the imprint of a hand on its head, but it didn't budge.

"Give me that." *pat* Casually ripping it from his hands, I tossed it into the air and grabbed its handle before creating a network of mana to spread the impact I would make with the hammer, over the ship that shot at me. -Ignorant bastards.- "Hyup!"

Putting my weight into it, I slammed the hammer down on the network of mana with enough force to shatter the mythril. *crackle*

And in an instant, the ship simply.. disappeared... *WHAAAAMMMM* The debris-filled plume of water that followed stretched hundreds of meters into the air as if a nuke was detonated, spreading shards of metal, wood, and fragments of bone over the surrounding ships like a scene from hell.

The Ancient I stole the hammer from instantly turned a ghastly pale, finally realizing the kind of being that stood in front of him.

I simply wasn't a being in his league.

But thankfully for him, he didn't need to be. *crackle-BOOOM* As a massive explosion erupted from the cargo ships behind us, I slowly turned around to him. "So, why don't you get to explaining what you guys are doing here."

But the moment he went to speak, I felt a tinge of a god's presence appear behind me, and heard a young man's voice boom outward.

"Gentlemen! Fear not!" He was a young man who could have only been in his early 20s, wearing noble white and gold clothes with an extravagant white and gold sword.

"As a grand priest of Lord Baldurs Church of Light, I shall-" *THWAAACK*

With a wave of my hand, I sent him flying through his ship, slamming through several deck levels before punching through the bottom. "Who is that dumbass?" -A grand priest? He's dressed like some noble brat...-

"H-He is the leader of this expedition!" The Ancient yelled out immediately, as if trying to suck up to me. "He was assigned to watch over us until we arrived at our destination!"

-Hm?- "Which is?"

"S-Siratha's western mythril mine! The one on the Grand Mythril Vein!"

-Huh? Why on earth...- "You aren't headed toward The Dungeon of the Colossus?"

He immediately shook his head. "Another fleet was assigned to head there! They should have already arrived!"

-Huh?!- My gaze instantly turned to the southern horizon. -That.. is really bad...-

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