An Unforeseen Crisis

Thump.

Elka heard the strange, heavy sound too.

Thump.

The sound grew closer, louder, until it was a clear, thunderous rhythm.

It was a heartbeat, as powerful and steady as a war drum echoing from the depths of the abyss.

A heartbeat…

Elka’s pupils shrank to pinpricks. Her hearing was exceptionally sharp, far keener than even Rod’s. But they were on a lake in the middle of a raging, deafening storm. For her to be able to hear a heartbeat so clearly, so powerfully… how impossibly strong must it be?

And how colossal must its owner be?

“This is bad…”

“RUN!”

She looked at Rod and Tia, who were still standing triumphantly on the slain monster’s corpse, and screamed at the top of her lungs, “WATCH OUT, UNDER—!”

Her final word was completely obliterated by the sound of the lake exploding.

The thick steam covering the water was instantly torn asunder as a colossal, dark monster leaped from the depths. Its crimson eyes blazed with a furious, vengeful light, and arcs of blinding lightning crackled over its menacing scales and bone spikes.

“The Lake Lord…”

“Another one…”

“How is that even possible…”

Looking at this new black fish, which was even larger and more terrifying than the first, Rod and Tia couldn’t help but stare, their eyes wide with disbelief.

But there was no time to be stunned.

Rod immediately gripped his longsword, his battle aura flaring to life like a second skin. He unleashed his signature martial art, “Lion’s Roar,” and a visible, concussive shockwave shot out as he charged forward to meet the beast head-on. Trapped in the middle of the lake, with nowhere to run, their only option was to fight!

The shockwave and the lightning collided, instantly creating a monstrous, churning wave that threatened to swallow them whole!

“Damn it… this one is so strong…”

Rod was forced back, step by agonizing step, by the sheer, overwhelming power of the beast. A trickle of fresh blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. In just a brief, brutal exchange, he was already at a complete disadvantage. It was a surprise attack, after all, and a surprise attack from a nearly thirty-meter-long monster at that.

“I’ll help you!”

Fortunately, Tia was no mere damsel in distress. She was a genuine, and powerful, third-rank mage.

“Burn! Crimson Flame Magic!”

Once again, it was an instant-cast spell that bypassed the need for an incantation. A massive pillar of fire, radiating an almost unbearable heat, shot toward the unsuspecting Lake Lord. If it hit, even if it didn’t seriously injure the beast, it would surely force it to retreat.

But…

A flicker of cold, calculating, and disturbingly human-like mockery appeared in the beast’s inhuman eyes.

Before Tia’s horrified gaze, it suddenly raised its massive tail and slammed it down on the surface of the lake. A towering, thirty-foot wall of water rose up, a barrier of pure despair that crashed into the pillar of fire in an instant.

Hissssss…

The intense heat vaporized the lake water, and as the pillar of fire was extinguished, an even thicker, more impenetrable cloud of steam was generated. The visibility around them dropped to almost zero, as if they were trapped in a dense, suffocating fog.

The new Lake Lord sank back into the murky water and vanished without a trace.

“I was just about to say, in this kind of environment, you really shouldn’t be using fire magic!”

Elka, who had been floating safely in the air, couldn’t help but snap as she used wind magic to disperse the steam. “Aren’t you just making things harder for us?!”

“Y-you… just shut up!” Tia retorted, her cheeks flushed with anger. “You’re not down here in the danger zone! How would you know what the best spell to use was at that moment?!”

“Using fire magic on a lake is a fundamentally bad idea!”

“But wasn’t it my fire magic that killed the last one?! And besides, you haven’t done a single thing, Elka! What right do you have to criticize me?!”

“I was just pointing out a tactical error…”

“I didn’t make an error!”

“Alright, alright, that’s enough, you two,” Rod interjected, his tone that of a weary peacekeeper. “Save your energy. We’re still in the middle of a fight, remember?”

“Hmph.” Tia snorted and crossed her arms, shooting Elka a venomous glare. “For Rod’s sake, I won’t lower myself to argue with this country bumpkin.”

“Country bumpkin…”

Crack.

For the second time that day, Elka nearly snapped her precious magic wand in two.

Just because you’re a little prettier than me, and your chest is a little bigger than me, you get to call me a country bumpkin? Does she not know that the very same Rod she’s always fawning over is from the exact same tiny, backwater village as this ‘country bumpkin’?!

I knew it. I never should have agreed to let her join our party…

If it weren’t for the fact that Rod was working so hard, she never would have let anyone disturb their perfect world for two.

…

So annoying.

…

But they were still in the middle of a battle, and her carefully cultivated persona was that of a sweet, kind, and gentle girl. Now was not the time for a catfight.

Elka pushed her feelings aside and forced her mind to focus on finding the hidden Lake Lord.

“Due to their territorial nature, two Dominator-class magical beasts shouldn’t be in the same place.”

“Unless… they’re a mated pair.”

Elka looked at the corpse of the Lake Lord beneath Rod’s feet. “From the looks of it, the one that just attacked us is the female.” For most magical beasts, the female was often much larger, and therefore stronger, than the male.

“A Dominator-class beast has a high level of intelligence. In this situation, what would its first move be?”

As she thought, her gaze settled on the floating corpse. Rod was still standing on it; for a warrior like him, having solid ground beneath his feet was always better than floating in the air.

“If I were that Lake Lord,” she thought, her mind racing, “what would I do?”

And then her eyes suddenly widened in horror.

If she were that Lake Lord, the very first thing she would do now would be…

“Rod!”

“Tia!”

“DON’T MOVE!”

Three years of brutal, life-or-death experience as an adventurer had made Elka’s actions faster than her thoughts. By the time she had processed her own terrifying realization, she had already waved her wand and cast a powerful, continuous levitation spell on both Rod and Tia, yanking them into the air.

“Hey! What are you doing all of a sudden?!”

Having a levitation spell cast on you by someone else was a completely different, and much more uncomfortable, sensation than casting it on yourself. It felt like being lifted up by an invisible, giant hand.

Tia, thinking Elka was retaliating for the “country bumpkin” comment, was about to complain to Rod. But the words caught in her throat.

Because she watched, in stunned silence, as the massive corpse of the Lake Lord they had just been standing on was suddenly, violently, dragged beneath the waves. It sank so abruptly that it created a powerful wave that nearly knocked them out of the air.

“I knew it,” Elka breathed, her heart pounding. “The first thing it would do is retrieve its mate’s body. For a magical beast, how could it possibly allow a human to stand on its partner’s corpse?”

“And the second thing it will do is…”

The turbulent lake surface suddenly became eerily calm. It was as still and placid as a mirror, perfectly reflecting the dark, stormy clouds and the two of them. And then, a single, tiny ripple appeared. A vortex began to form, expanding rapidly outward, as if an invisible, vengeful hand were stirring the water from below.

The Lake Lord’s head emerged from the center of the churning vortex.

A blinding, terrifying lightning began to gather and crackle on its menacing horn.

Its furious, hate-filled gaze was fixed on the two humans who had just desecrated its mate’s body.

“Just as I thought. Its next move will be an all-out attack to avenge its partner.”

“But…”

Looking at the storm of raw, elemental power gathering on the Lake Lord’s horn, Elka couldn’t help but mutter in disbelief.

“A ranged attack?”