A Turn-Based Game-My Turn, My Turn

"Since everything's ready, let's begin."

With that, mana gathered in the air into a ball of blue light and sank into the formation's main core before his claws. As mana poured in, the transparent Magic Core lit up blue and floated right up in front of Chaos's head.

Blue threads extended from the Magic Core, connecting to the other Magic Cores placed on the fish bones as cores.

As the threads connected, the Water Snake Formation fully activated.

Seeing that Chaos had activated the magic formation, Agatha reluctantly turned to face the riverbank.

As for the Black Hatchling An... forget it. With her size, she probably wouldn't be much help anyway.

Putting her stray thoughts aside, Agatha looked toward the riverbank. Her crimson slit pupils quickly focused as she entered a state of concentration.

All the hatchlings lined up in front of the magic formation.

Looking at their backs, Chaos closed his eyes in relief and sank his entire consciousness into the formation.

[Splash~!]

With the sound of breaking water, a giant transparent serpent emerged from the magic formation.

The giant serpent's head rose high on its thick body.

Chaos glanced at himself standing in the magic formation below.

Hmm, this feels pretty weird.

My viewpoint suddenly got so much higher.

Hmm?

In front of the rock wall behind them, the little Black Dragon with her round body had stopped working. She squatted on the ground, staring longingly at the giant transparent serpent emerging from the magic formation.

Well, well. That little lump of coal actually dared to slack off.

Take this.

The serpent's jaws opened.

Ptooey~

The open jaws spat out a ball of water, looking as casual as spitting.

But Chaos had clearly forgotten how large he was at the moment.

The water ball slammed into the Black Hatchling like a wave. In an instant, she was smashed against the rock wall, and a web of cracks immediately appeared across it.

Ah... it's that powerful?

Chaos was a little dumbfounded, and a faint sense of regret began to creep into his heart.

That might've been a bit much.

The little Black Dragon lying on the ground slowly pushed herself up. She neither roared nor vented her anger, but silently turned around and resumed digging at the rock with her little claws.

She looks like she's fine...

Ugh, how annoying.

Why am I agonizing over this? It was revenge in the first place.

Right, exactly. This was revenge!

Now he and that little lump of coal were even.

The serpent's head turned toward the calm water. Its body surged forward, plunging straight toward the surface.

"Splash~!"

As the giant transparent serpent plunged in, an enormous spray erupted from the calm surface.

He dove headfirst into the water.

The space underwater was far larger than it had looked from above.

Quiet. Exceptionally quiet.

This elemental body wasn't his real body and lacked a True Dragon's eyesight. Underwater, he could only see a dozen or so meters.

After scanning the surroundings and finding no sign of Bamokangla, he looked farther down.

It was pitch-black. The water was as deep as a dark abyss, with no bottom in sight.

The serpent's body twisted, and Chaos chose to venture deeper.

He swam downward for several minutes.

Along the way, he saw neither fish nor even a single tiny aquatic creature.

It really ate everything.

He continued diving.

[Splash!]

A pitch-black tentacle shot out from the rock wall beside him like lightning. It was so fast that Chaos didn't even have time to react.

Yet despite the tentacle piercing straight through the serpent's head, no blood flowed out.

He raised his head and looked toward the rock wall.

A pitch-black, soft-bodied creature as large as a small hill, its entire body covered in tentacles, clung to the wall. All four pairs of black slit pupils on its head were fixed on him.

Found you!

Chaos grew excited and opened his serpentine jaws.

[Squish!]

The black tentacle piercing the serpent's head was instantly bitten off.

Glug, glug, glug!

As though pain had stirred its anger, the feelers around Bamokangla's mouth writhed, releasing an endless stream of bubbles.

Countless tentacles immediately surged toward Chaos.

The tentacles spread out in every direction, blocking every escape route like an open cage.

Chaos didn't move, letting the tentacles pierce his serpentine body.

Feeling stupid now? I'm immune to physical attacks.

Bamokangla was a magical beast that relied purely on its body. It knew a little magic, but that amounted to spitting small water arrows and the like.

What a hospitable magical beast, delivering meat right to my mouth.

Then don't mind if I do. Chaos opened his serpentine jaws and bit down, instantly severing the two tentacles caught between them.

Glug, glug, glug~

Having lost two more tentacles, Bamokangla blew bubbles even more frantically.

Seemingly realizing what was happening, it raised the feelers in front of its mouth and aimed them at the water serpent.

A dense barrage of water arrows immediately shot out like a torrential downpour.

This attack worked, punching small holes through the giant serpent's body.

But those holes repaired themselves at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Chaos glanced at the minor wounds, which had practically healed in an instant, and felt completely at ease.

A turn-based game. My turn, my turn.

Seeing the giant serpent raise its head to look at it again, Bamokangla seemed to understand. Without hesitation, it pushed off with all its tentacles and swam deeper.

Damn it, I thought this was turn-based. You're cheating, huh?

You really can't take a loss.

With a flick of his serpentine tail, Chaos followed.

Bamokangla wasn't very fast, and Chaos soon caught up. His serpentine body coiled around it, his open jaws filled with serrated, transparent fangs.

He lunged to bite Bamokangla's head.

He missed. Instead, a tentacle shoved its way into his mouth.

This time, the tentacle didn't pass through him. It firmly wrapped around his open jaws.

Delivering yourself right to my mouth?

Chomp!

The moment Chaos bit down, he realized the texture was wrong.

He couldn't bite through it.

The tentacle in his mouth had suddenly become tough and resilient, though it wasn't entirely impossible to bite through. He could manage a little, like chewing a stubborn lump of malt candy.

Chaos glanced at the tentacle in his mouth.

Water currents. A layer of invisible currents wound around the tentacle's skin.

Did it enchant this?

But that's fine. This dragon will wear you down today.

Slow grinding breaks even the toughest block.

I'll gnaw through it bit by bit.

Only after nearly three minutes of gnawing did he finally bite through the tentacle in his jaws.

Throughout that time, Bamokangla's tentacles had kept attacking him, which was incredibly unfair.

This was supposed to be turn-based, but this guy won't follow the rules. What a cheat.

Ptooey~!

He spat out the severed tentacle.

His serpentine jaws opened, and he lunged to bite Bamokangla's head again.

Once again, he missed. Another clearly enchanted tentacle shoved its way into his mouth.

Fine, fine, fine. Let's see how many tentacles you've got to stuff in there today.

Persisting stubbornly, he worked his serpentine jaws and continued slowly grinding through the tentacle.

His entire serpentine body remained tightly coiled around Bamokangla.

Got this. It's in the bag.

Next, he only needed to slowly wear this creature down until it died.

Time passed, second by second.

The two giant beasts continued grappling underwater. The surface had long since lost its calm, constantly churning and rolling.

From time to time, a black tentacle broke the surface and whipped up an enormous splash.

Underwater.

Whenever the giant serpent ground through a tentacle, Bamokangla immediately shoved another into its mouth to stop it from biting its head.