Kill It!

Then he would kill that thing!

But how? He needed to think this through.

He lay down on the spot, soaking his belly in the cool water of the Underground River. The chill helped his thoughts move faster.

A head-on fight was out of the question.

The fourth-circle Bamokangla could crush their entire group of dragon hatchlings.

Newly hatched dragons were all first-circle.

With spell enhancements, he could fight on par with a second-circle opponent. Hera, a little stat monster, counted as second-circle too. Agatha could sever one of the Bamokangla's tentacles single-handedly without suffering a scratch, so she counted as third-circle combat strength.

Even so, the gap in strength was still enormous.

That left only a few little tricks.

He closed his eyes.

His consciousness arrived above a pristine white sea of clouds, where shelves crammed with books joined together into a vast, magnificent ocean of bookshelves.

This was the True Dragon Inheritance space.

Any True Dragon could enter with their consciousness and browse whatever they wanted.

Chromatic Dragons rarely came here. The reason, naturally, was this ocean of bookshelves.

There were too many. Chromatic Dragons lacked the patience.

Sitting before the shelves, Chaos raised his head to look out over them and willed a thought into being.

[Fourth-Circle Water Magic Array.]

[Clack, clack!]

The bookshelves floating above the clouds started moving like trains, slipping into space and vanishing.

More than half the ocean of shelves disappeared, but plenty still remained.

[Severing.]

[Clack, clack, clack!]

The shelves moved again.

[High mana consumption.]

[Clack, clack, clack!]

[Basic array structure can be built using fish bones.]

[Clack, clack, clack.]

[Array mana nodes can use water-element magic cores.]

[Clack, clack, clack!]

[Severing property.]

[Clack, clack, clack.]

The shelves dwindled again. This time, only one remained before him, holding just two grimoires.

Looking at the shelf, Chaos willed them forward and watched the two grimoires fly down to float before him.

Each grimoire had its name printed on it.

"Water Serpent Magic Array"

"High-Speed Water Blade Magic Array"

He reached out a claw and opened the first book, Water Serpent Magic Array. The Magic Runes on its pages seemed both familiar and unfamiliar, yet he understood them completely at a glance. After quickly leafing through the whole book, he immediately opened the second.

By the time he finished the second book, Chaos had reached his conclusions.

The first, Water Serpent Magic Array, summoned water serpents formed from water through an array. Its magical properties were shared vision, enhanced bite, severing, physical immunity, and agility.

The second controlled water currents to unleash water blades. Its magical properties were advanced cutting enhancement and advanced severing.

Both magic arrays had their own strengths.

Looking at the two books floating before him, Chaos reached straight for Water Serpent Magic Array without hesitation.

Although High-Speed Water Blade Magic Array possessed two advanced properties, its practical applications were clearly less versatile than those of Water Serpent Magic Array. All he needed was a severing property anyway.

And Water Serpent Magic Array had exactly that.

He rested his claw on the thick cover of Water Serpent Magic Array and opened the first page.

He opened his eyes.

Agatha's enormous figure filled his vision. She held two two-meter-long shrimp in her mouth.

"Eat."

Agatha opened her Dragon Jaws, dropping the shrimp onto the shallows before him.

What a big little girl.

Chaos did not stand on ceremony with her. He scooped up both shrimp with his claws but, rather than eating right away, looked at her.

Under his gaze, Agatha did not hurry away. She felt as though Chaos had something to discuss with her.

"Agatha, let's talk about something."

"All right."

Agatha lay down beside Chaos and turned her head toward him. He was a head shorter than her.

She seemed to have grown again. She was almost five meters long now.

After looking her up and down, Chaos got down to business.

"I had another dream."

"A premonition?"

"More or less. Agatha, have you noticed? The water level in the Underground River is rising."

Agatha lowered her head to look at the Underground River beneath her. Clear water covered her claws. Yesterday, this spot had been dry.

She raised her head toward Chaos and gave a slight nod.

"Yes. Does that have something to do with your premonition?"

Chaos was not surprised by her perceptiveness. She possessed nearly every quality of a leader, including that keen insight.

"Yes. This premonition told me what that thing underwater is."

"A Bamokangla. A high-level magical beast."

Chaos deliberately paused, wanting to see whether her expression would change at all.

Reality proved disappointing as ever. The big little girl before him simply watched him quietly.

There was no change in the emotions reflected in her crimson slit pupils.

Fine, you win, big girl. Chaos continued.

"In my dream, the water kept rising until it submerged everything. That Bamokanla started hunting too. It would eat everything, while we could only stay trapped in the cavern with it blocking our way out."

"That's everything I dreamed. Tell me what you think."

Chaos stopped speaking and quietly watched Agatha with his head tilted up, waiting for her reply.

Under Chaos's gaze, Agatha remained silent. She seemed to be thinking, her deep crimson slit pupils narrowing further and further until they were almost nothing but thin black lines.

At last, she spoke.

"I've already fought the Bamokangla once. It doesn't seem to be very far along in its development. Its tentacles weren't as fast as they should have been. It seems to be in a weakened state."

"You're right," Chaos picked up. "That Bamokangla is only at the juvenile stage."

The two hatchlings looked at each other without another word.

After a moment of silence, both hatchlings spread their Dragon Jaws at the same time, baring sharp, snow-white teeth like serrated blades.

"Kill it!" ×2!

Their young voices rang out in unison.

"Looks like we're thinking the same thing."

"You seem to have a way to deal with that Bamokangla?" Rather than responding, Agatha asked a question of her own.

Though it was a question, her tone sounded certain.

She really guessed it. Chaos felt a little surprised, but that surprise quickly faded.

Under her confident gaze, he gave a slight nod.

"A fourth-circle Water Serpent Magic Array. I'm going to use it to kill that Bamokangla. I still need some materials to build the array, and either Kashi or Xielali can provide them."

Agatha's slit pupils narrowed. The materials Chaos mentioned were no problem. The question was whether he could really control a fourth-circle array.

Chaos was only a hatchling who had broken out of his shell not long ago.

Controlling a fourth-circle magic array at the first circle was not something talent alone could accomplish.

"Gathering the materials won't be a problem, but can you really run a fourth-circle magic array?"

Patting the thick scales over his chest with a claw, Chaos confidently flashed Agatha his big white teeth.

"Count on it!"

He would never attempt something he was not confident about.

"All right. Go summon Perceptive Vines as bait. I'll gather the others."