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Aedan dropped the gleaming stone into the water after giving it a whisper. The stone was no larger than his palm but the moment it hit the waters, a large ripple was formed.

The creatures in the waters stopped in their tracks when they felt the ripple. All of their gazes turned towards the gleaming stone that was sinking into the depths.

“Aedan, what was that?” Aera asked, peeking over the taffrails into the waters.

“It’s an egg… of sorts.”

“What kind of egg?”

Aedan smirked. “You’ll know soon enough, very soon.”

The Nagas that were attacking the ship began to flee as the gleaming sank out of their sight.

Another large ripple was formed and this time, the creatures shrieked and hurriedly made their retreat without lingering around for even one more second.

Then, a radiant glow burst forth from the depths, turning the river into a sea of blinding light.

“Aedan, what the hell did you do?” Erin asked with her voice raised.

“Patience, my dear. All will be revealed in a short while.”

More and more ripples were formed and finally, a large creature, nearly as large as the ship, burst to the surface from the waters, instantly devouring a few of the unfortunate smaller creatures.

“A serpent?” Erin mused. It was the first thing that came to mind. However, Erin soon doubted her guess. The creature only resembled that of a serpent in the aspect of its snake-like body shape, but the rest of its features bore no semblance to any serpents she had seen before.

“A Dragon, is it?” Amyra made her guess. “A Demi Dragon or a Sub-dragon?”

“No,” said Siv. “That’s a… Leviathan.”

Erin’s eyes went wide. She turned her gaze to Aedan who was grinning from ear to ear. When their gazes met, his grin widened some more as he nodded. Seeing his smug face, Erin wanted to just slam her palm into his face but now wasn’t the time for that.

The ordeal wasn’t over yet.

“A Leviathan?!” Nivia blurted out loudly from atop the mast. As an Elf, her acute hearing allowed her to pick up Siv’s words. “Aedan, how in the name of the Spirits did you obtain a Leviathan?”

“It was a long time ago.” A tinge of sorrow crossed his face at his remembrance. “It was an offering from one of my followers during a time when I was still… frivolous about many worldly matters.”

“Ah… I see.” Even Nivia wasn’t so boorish or dimwitted as to pursue this inquiry.

“I expected a Leviathan to be bigger than this” Amyra said, lowering her sword, as she watched the Leviathan wreaking havoc on the creatures that came to attack them.

“It’s still just an infant,” Aedan responded.

“Not a child, but an infant!?” Erin exclaimed inwardly. She could only imagine how large it would become if it became an adult. She shuddered at that thought.

“U-um… What’s a Leviathan?” Aera asked hesitantly.

“A creature with half the blood of a Dragon but possesses the same strength as a full-fledged Dragon,” Aedan answered. “And it lives in the deep seas. Well, lived. I don’t believe there are any Leviathans left in this world except this one. Not to my knowledge, of course.”

“W-what happened to them?”

“Demons.”

“Demons?”

“They tried to use the Leviathans in their machinations but… it only caused the Leviathans’ extinction.”

“Ah… That’s… awful.”

Aedan smiled wryly. “It certainly is.” He gazed at the Leviathan with a distant look. The larval Dragon was rampaging in the waters with reckless abandon but it seemed to take great care in avoiding damaging the ship.

“This Leviathan… it’s tamed, isn’t it?” Siv asked.

“I won’t call it tamed. It’s merely… obedient. An infant it may be, its intelligence is on par with a young human adult.”

“So, it listens to you… but why?”

“It knows what’s good for itself.”

“Was that stone an egg?” Erin questioned just as the ship swayed heavily from the Leviathan’s rampage.

“A cage. A receptacle, if you will.”

“You mean a prison.”

“How rude. It’s not a prisoner in that stone. I did not force it into the stone. It inhabits the stone voluntarily.”

“And why would it volunteer to let itself be caged?”

“It’s an infant Leviathan, sweetheart. Probably the last Leviathan in this world. What do you think will happen if people come to learn about its existence?”

Immediately, everyone on the ship understood Aedan’s reason for encaging the Leviathan. It was the same reason as to why Olivia wasn’t just wandering around in her true form. Dragon kinds were considered superpowers in this world. If it was known, people would go to great lengths to obtain them.

“How many more… beings do you have in hand that share the same circumstances as this Leviathan?”

Aedan chuckled. “More than a dozen.”

Erin raised an eyebrow in amazement and mild disbelief.

“It’s the only way they can continue… living. It's much better than becoming a tool of war. And of course, this is just between me and all of you here. Don’t tell anyone else, alright?”

“Of course, we won’t, Your Grace,” Amyra said with a deep bow. “I will see to my death before I let it be known.”

“That’s a little bit extreme but I’m grateful, Amyra.”

“Your wishes are my honour, pride, and command, Your Grace.”

“Don’t they need any sustenance?” Erin asked.

“They do,” Aedan answered. “They are beings of magic. They sustain themselves by absorbing the Mana flowing in the air. Being in these receptacles, they need only a quarter of their usual sustenance. They won’t die as long as no harm comes to the receptacles.”

Erin sighed. “Just when I thought I had seen it all… Something new just appears before me.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you ain’t seen half of the wonder this world has to offer, what I have to offer.”

“I have no doubt about that, Aedan.”

“Is it over now?” Lyra shouted as the Leviathan’s rampage gradually came to a stop. It swam back to the ship and lingered around.

“No,” answered Erin. “The real threat has yet to show itself.”

“The tentacle monster, aye?”

Erin nodded at Amyra’s guess.

Perhaps sensing the impending threat that was larger than itself, the Leviathan turned into a ball of light and flew into Aedan’s open palm. It had transformed back into the gleaming stone.

“That’s… so convenient,” Erin couldn’t help but remark. “Is it possible for me to learn such things?”

“If you can live as long as I can, I don’t see why not. These tricks are not tailored specifically to me. It simply requires patience and time.”

“Well… I don’t know about patience but we certainly don’t have the time now.”

Just then, two giant tentacles erupted from the river, the barnacles pulsating violently. The girls shivered at those throbbing suckles, Amyra included. A single tentacle was thrice the size of the infant Leviathan. An attack from one of the tentacles alone was enough to destroy the entire ship and the people onboard.

Erin wasted no time to quickly prevent that notion from turning true. She changed her weapon into a single-edged greatsword that was more efficient for slashing and leapt towards the tentacles. She clad herself in all the defensive spells she knew. A vivid violet glow enshrouded her sword, Mystic Blade.

“Ah… there she goes again,” Amyra sighed.

“Erin, you idiot!” Lyra yelled.

“Mistress, that’s careless of you!”

Erin had no time to care or think about all those. The tentacles could slam down on them at any given moment. She might be able to survive due to her Revenant skill but the same couldn’t be said for the others.

She increased her speed with Lightning Rush as she streaked through the air. Once she was within her range, she swung her sword in a wide arc, a half moon, bisecting the tentacles with ease.

However, that was not all of it. The water surface directly beneath her began to bubble.

“Of course,” Erin mused in her heart. Instead of retreating back to the ship at once, she went higher into the sky by using Warp. She teleported just outside the range of the tentacle that just broke through the water's surface and shot towards her.

Erin let gravity drag her back down as she also swung her sword down in tandem at the newly emerged tentacle. She split the tentacle vertically in half and the water suffered the shockwave of her immense blow. The waters parted for a brief second before pouring back to fill the gap.

Once the third tentacle was dealt with, Erin teleported back on the ship using Warp.

“Whoa!” Erin gasped as a wave of nausea struck her head. Using three Warps in a row was very tasking to her mind and not to mention, her Mana expenditure cost a third of her total Mana pool. She rapidly recovered all the Mana she expended by using Mana Harvest but the strain on her mind remained.

“Erin, haven’t we already talked about your reckless behaviour?!” Lyra chided her lover as she jumped down from atop the mast. “Are we going to have another discussion?”

In response, Erin smiled wryly. “That thing would have collapsed upon us at any moment. I only did what was needed in the most efficient way possible.”

“Damn it, Erin. That’s not what we—”

“Lyra, stop it. I can’t die. You know that. We all know that. However, the same can’t be said for you and everyone else here.”

“...E-Erin, I—”

“Save the quarrel for later,” Aedan said, hopping down from the quarterdeck. “We are not out of danger yet.”

As if eager to prove Aedan’s words right, more tentacles emerged from the waters, surrounding the ship.

Lyra sighed and looked at Erin with a resolute gaze. “Do what you have to, Erin. I won’t stop you… I believe you.”

“Thank you,” Erin said and leapt into the air, reaching the height of the ship’s mast. Once again, she brought her sword around in a wide arc, cutting down all the tentacles in front of her.

Amyra leapt towards one of the tentacles and drove her sword into it. She plunged her blade deep before unleashing her Fire Magic, burning the tentacle from within.

Before the others could make their move, the tentacles slammed down— but they were repelled by a cyan-glowing barrier that covered the entire ship. The barrier shattered immediately after deflecting the tentacles.

“Excellent, Lilian!” Nivia cheered.

“Don’t celebrate just yet!” Aedan shouted. “Remember, that spell can’t be used in quick succession.”

More tentacles emerged, replacing the ones that were destroyed. Half of the newly emerged tentacles went after the hull of the ship but they let go when giant thorns sprouted from the exteriors of the ship. The tentacles writhed, bleeding blue blood as if they were in agony.

Then, the waters began to tremble and the ship trembled along with it. The water level rose and the ship rose with it, tilting to one side.

“What’s happening!?” Aera screamed as she hastily grabbed onto the nearest thing for support, which was the wheel.

“Sorry about this, captain!” Amyra said and stabbed her sword into the floor. She held onto her sword when the whole ship slanted in an angle that sent every object sliding off the ship.

The others also hurriedly grabbed onto whatever support they could. Erin held her ground by stabbing her tails into the floor planks. She caught Nivia who nearly fell off the ship.

“Thank you…” Nivia said with her cheeks flushed due to her being princess-carried.

Erin tittered. “You’re welcome.”

The ship slipped down the rising waves and eventually, it drifted back to the even waves, but that didn’t mean everything was fine. Quite the contrary, the waves stirred and rough ripples swept past the ship.

“This isn’t good,” Erin muttered as she stared at the centre of the ripples.

The rest of her companions shared her dreaded reaction.

The ripples stemmed from the gigantic creature that had just emerged from the depths, a creature that bore the resemblance of an octopus but only its lower half. The upper half was that of a person, a woman, to be precise, though its pale black skin and dark eyes detracted its semblance of a human.

“What is that…?” Lyra gasped.

“... A Scylla,” Siv answered.