Continuing from Water Dragon Yena's Perspective "What are these things?"
Nobody told me they were this strong.
The Nightmare Remnants I was exchanging blows with were far more powerful than I had imagined.
Despite the surging water, they spun threads across the floor and walls, latched onto them, and attacked me from those positions.
Even my water currents couldn't push the threads away. Not an inch.
And once those threads latched onto you, you were immobilized in an instant.
One by one, my subordinates were falling to them.
You'd better think of each one as being on par with an inferior dragon.
And there were swarms of them.
For mere Monsters to have grown this strong — honestly, it's impressive.
Monsters have a hard time getting stronger.
That's by design, of course — Monsters exist to be defeated by humanity.
The entire System is built around tempering humanity and reclaiming the energy that tempering produces.
Monsters are sacrificial lambs for that purpose.
Sure, sometimes humans lose to Monsters and die. But Monsters can't be allowed to grow powerful enough to wipe out humanity.
That's why the Experience Points and Proficiency Monsters earn are set lower compared to humans.
The exception would be someone like the White One — one of the masterminds behind this — who reincarnated as a Monster. The shackles didn't apply to her.
Otherwise, for a Monster born only a few years ago to surpass the likes of us — beings who survived across eons — would simply be impossible under normal circumstances.
If that was the case, then perhaps these Nightmare Remnants, seemingly her kin, were also free of those shackles.
Even so, growing this strong is no ordinary feat.
But still...
"You really think power on the level of an inferior dragon can stop me?"
I slammed a torrent of water at them.
The threads won't come off the floor or walls? Fine — then I'll just wash the floor and walls away along with them.
Swallow everything in water. Submerge it all.
And once it's underwater, there's no fighting back.
I'll funnel my water into their bodies and burst them from the inside.
If they have a mouth, that's the entry point.
If they breathe, I'll go through their airways.
As long as they're living creatures, they cannot withstand the intrusion of my water.
You know, I've been called the cruelest among the Ancient Dragons?
The Nightmare Remnants seemed to realize they were at a disadvantage and began to retreat.
You think I'll let you run?
More than half of the Upper Layer is already submerged.
And the collapses, too.
At this rate, the Upper Layer itself will give way, and the water pooled in the Middle Layer will come crashing down. It's only a matter of time.
Water and magma.
An extreme temperature differential.
A nasty premonition prickled at me.
The collapse of the Upper Layer — that likely meant the collapse of the entire Great Ello Dungeon.
If that happened, would they seriously try to excavate it all?
Well, whatever
Danger Sense triggered.
I twisted my body out of the way in a split second.
A blade passed through the space where my neck had been just moments before.
I didn't have time to leisurely examine it.
I hurled a mass of water at the wielder.
But the water froze in an instant.
"Tch!"
Our tsk's overlapped.
Water against ice.
The outcome was clear — the water was freezing solid.
All the water in the area was rapidly turning to ice.
I immediately shifted my lower body back into a humanoid form and launched myself clear of the water.
Moments later, the water froze completely.
If I'd stayed in there, I'd be a popsicle by now.
Keeping clear of the ice, I hovered in the air and locked eyes with the enemy who had appeared.
A girl wielding a greatsword.
One of
Ariel must have been pushed hard enough to deploy one of her trump cards this early.
"That was almost a hit, I'll give you that."
"To think you believed that would finish me — you've underestimated me."
We exchanged words without missing a single movement from the other.
Even as we spoke, more water poured into the Upper Layer — and froze.
Those pillars of ice were holding the Upper Layer's collapse in place.
Ah, so that's it.
This is what Dustin had foreseen.
Now that it was happening, it made perfect sense.
For Ariel, if the Great Ello Dungeon was going to collapse, she had no choice but to stop it.
Dustin had said the System Core housing the Goddess Saliel would be safe, but there were no guarantees.
And to stop this, either Ariel herself or Sophia would have to be sent.
In other words, my opponent was to be Sophia.
My chances of winning looked... nonexistent.
While facing me, she was gradually — but surely — freezing the water that had been flooding the Upper Layer.
At this point, the gap in our power was unmistakable.
I was being completely overwhelmed.
That said, performing something at this scale had to be taking a significant toll on her.
So my best move from here was...
"I'm putting an end to this right now!"
"Don't say that — dance with me!"
A stalling tactic.
The seabed and the Upper Layer were already connected. Water was pouring in whether I did anything or not.
To prevent the Upper Layer's collapse, Sophia had to keep freezing it.
She'd probably have to freeze the entire Upper Layer to stop it entirely.
I'd play defense and drag this out, wearing her down in the process.
Even if I couldn't win.
Keeping Sophia — this level of firepower — pinned down here mattered.
Draining her energy mattered.
"Dance with me! Forever and ever!"
"Shut up!"
You'll be keeping me company until I'm spent, won't you?
Nightmare Remnants Average Status around 3,000 There are a lot of them.
They might not seem that strong on paper, but Melazofis, who trained just as hard and ground out Experience Points in PvP on top of that, only sits around 5,000. And according to Yena, there's a Monster reverse-penalty factor at play too, so these guys are actually putting up a pretty impressive showing.