Arjun stared at the Giant Cocoon at the center of the lake. A scorching light blazed in his Golden Eyes—a look that mixed extreme danger with curiosity and the urge to investigate. His fingers unconsciously rubbed the hilt of his blade.
Mai Sakatoku immediately caught this dangerous intent. Her voice suddenly turned cold as she warned him:
"Hey! Don't tell me you're thinking of touching that thing? If you want to die, don't drag me down with you! That thing is obviously the core of this place.
"Touching it would be no different from tearing out the Feathered Serpent God's heart and liver! I have no desire to face an enraged Second Generation Dragon with its complete dragon body!"
Arjun took a deep breath, suppressing some of his bolder thoughts and regaining the composure expected of the Executive Department's trump card.
He looked away and asked the most crucial question. "Where's the exit?"
"Water is the most common 'gate' in a Nibelungen." Mai Sakatoku slightly raised her chin and pointed into the depths of the shadows. "Take that boat and follow the current. We should be able to leave."
Everyone looked in the direction she indicated and only then noticed an ancient wooden skiff moored beneath the rock wall on the calm, dark-red water. Its hull was long and narrow, barely large enough for several people, and a badly worn oar lay across its bottom.
A gloomy waterway extended from beside the boat and disappeared into endless darkness, its destination unknown.
"This boat... looks like it was prepared for people?" Finn muttered, his face full of suspicion.
"Would a dragon really be so kind as to leave humans a safe way out of its own nest?"
"It's a 'god'... the Feathered Serpent God."
Mai Sakatoku's voice carried a trace of