Do you want to duel Lady Feeny?

"Swish!"

The moment he opened his eyes, a large fish landed in front of him.

His claw pinned it down instinctively.

"You're awake."

"Mm."

His claw sank into the fish's head, and the flopping fish instantly went still.

He held its head and started eating.

Beside him, Agatha watched Chaos eat without rushing him. Only when nothing remained but the tail did she speak.

"The water level's risen again. How are your preparations going? Are you confident?"

At the older girl's words, Chaos turned his head to check the waterline. A rock that had still been above water yesterday was now half submerged. It really had risen again.

But there was still time.

"I don't do things unless I'm confident. Go gather the hatchlings first."

"All right."

As brisk and decisive as ever, Agatha turned and walked toward the Dragon Group.

He stuffed the last of the fish tail into Dragon Jaws. Just then, he felt movement on top of his head.

The little figure lying on his emerald scales sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"What's wrong, Chaos?"

"I have something to do. Feeny, could you help me out in a bit?"

Feeny's eyes lit up at the words "help me."

"Of course! I'm very capable, you know."

"Mm, thanks."

"Hehe!"

Feeny giggled foolishly.

Chaos looked toward White Chubby, who was pawing at something a short distance away.

"White Chubby."

He called out to her.

"Hm-da?"

The pit-digging figure paused, then turned around. White Chubby fixed her sparkling eyes on Chaos, and a moment later, she took off toward him.

She ran faster and faster.

Wait, isn't White Chubby going to slow down?

Watching White Chubby charge at him like a cannonball of flesh, Chaos quietly shifted to the left.

Round little White Chubby overshot him, giving Chaos a puzzled look with her sparkling slit pupils as she hurtled past.

When she realized what had happened and tried to brake, White Chubby's poor balance betrayed her. Her chubby feet tangled, and she lost her footing, sliding face-first across the ground.

Sitting on Chaos's head, Feeny immediately pointed at the sliding White Chubby and burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! She's so stupid, Chaos!"

Apparently hearing this, White Chubby sprang up from the ground.

She turned around, crouched low, and bared her large white teeth. Her white pupils narrowed into vertical lines, locking onto the little thing on Chaos's head.

No one could challenge a Giant Dragon Species' dignity!

The sparkle in her white slit pupils had been completely replaced by the urge to hunt.

Feeling the White Hatchling's threatening gaze, Feeny stood up in annoyance, both hands on her hips.

"Do you want to duel Lady Feeny?!"

"Hm-da!"

White Chubby answered by baring her teeth.

Amusing as this was, now wasn't the time to let these two fight. Especially Feeny-he would need her help shortly.

"That's enough, White Chubby. Feeny is a friend, not food or an enemy."

"Hm-da!"

White Chubby kept up her threatening stance.

At the sight, Chaos's emerald slit pupils narrowed.

"Are you going to stop listening to me?"

Her narrowed white pupils immediately widened, the ferocity in them vanishing and giving way to innocent clarity.

"Hm-da..."

This time, her cry sounded a little aggrieved. White Chubby dropped her attacking stance and turned her back on them.

"Chaos, you don't have to stop us. I'm not afraid of her."

"This is the perfect chance to show you what I can do."

"All right, quiet down, Feeny. I have something important to do in a bit."

Hearing the sternness in Chaos's voice, Feeny obediently sat down.

"Oh..."

He walked over to White Chubby.

Chaos stretched out his head and gently nuzzled White Chubby's head.

He knew White Chubby was sulking a little.

"All right. I'll take you hunting for something big in a bit."

"Hm-da!"

Her voice was lively again, and her round white head eagerly nuzzled Chaos's.

"Hey, hey, hey! Nuzzle him all you like, but could you stop squashing me?"

"Hm-da, hm-da!"

"Aaah! Now I'm angry!"

Compared with the lively scene around Chaos, the atmosphere on Agatha's side was rather tense.

The hatchlings formed a circle. At its center, a Red Hatchling roughly twice their size sat quietly on her haunches.

Agatha swept her gaze over the hatchlings.

"So you intend to defy me?"

"Agatha, this isn't defiance. You and Chaos are strong, yes, but Chromatic Dragons are free. We've never let anyone order us around."

The speaker was a Green Hatchling with a childish voice.

Translated, that meant hatchlings could be beaten, but no one should expect them to learn obedience.

Agatha looked around at all the hatchlings. None of the others spoke, but their narrowed slit pupils conveyed much the same sentiment as the Green Hatchling's words.

Itchy. Her claws were itching.

The rock beneath Agatha's claws creaked under the strain.

Her crimson claws sank deep into the rock, as though it were a slab of tofu instead of stone.

Should she give these brats a beating?

But that would affect Chaos's plan.

At the rate the water was rising, they didn't have much time left.

If Chaos wanted to deal with Bamokangla using a magic formation, he needed a patch of dry land to set it up on. He also needed the Dragon Group to hold off Bamokangla's tentacles.

She definitely couldn't stop them all on her own.

Bamokangla had a lot of tentacles.

They were running out of time, too. If the riverbank at the end of the Underground River flooded, their group of hatchlings might truly have no choice but to fight Bamokangla head-on.

A head-on battle was the worst option. Not only might some hatchlings die, but they would also lose their home-ground advantage.

As long as Bamokangla refused to leave the water, even she had only a fifty-percent chance of winning.

But if Chaos really could use the Water Snake Formation, things would be different. They wouldn't have to enter the water. They could keep harassing Bamokangla underwater with the Water Snake Formation, and if it dared come ashore, her chances of winning would immediately rise to eighty percent.

[Shuffle, shuffle...]

Feeling the heat radiating from Agatha grow steadily more intense,

all thirteen hatchlings lowered their bodies in unison.

They edged backward slightly.

This wasn't fear. They were merely positioning themselves for a righteous group beating.

Under normal circumstances, the Giant Dragon Species opened their battles by scouring the ground with a volley of dragon breath.

The hatchlings crouched low. They had been fed up with Agatha for a while now. They could let the first time slide, but why did Chaos get to take all the Magic Cores the second time too? He hadn't even joined the hunt, just stood on the riverbank the whole time.

As for Agatha's claim that Chaos was the only male dragon left,

how could that be possible? Dragons were born a superior species. How could such a powerful race have only one male left?

Just as all the hatchlings braced for battle, the heat radiating from Agatha gradually subsided.

Her crimson slit pupils swept coldly over every hatchling.

She would find an opportunity to deal with this bunch of hatchlings, but not now.

"Bamokangla."