Chapter 163: An Unexpected Attack
“What the—!?”
It seemed he was about to yell at the man who barged in without knocking, but the report caused both Dogesha and Wolfram to change their expressions drastically.
“What happened?!”
Dogesha shouted, demanding further details, but we were equally concerned about the Sea Emperor Turtle, which had begun to stir.
“Y-Yes! The Sea Emperor Turtle has revealed its face above the surface!”
“And?”
“Well, it appears to be a two-headed Sea Emperor Turtle, as it has two heads.”
“Hmm…”
I had a nagging feeling of dread. I hoped it wouldn’t unleash that blinding flash attack it had used before. That had quite a bit of power behind it. Still, a two-headed Sea Emperor Turtle… I couldn’t tell if it was a natural occurrence or a mutation, but when it had fired that flash from the depths before, it had targeted both me and Rio simultaneously. If it truly has two heads, that would explain it, and we might be looking at its breath attack.
“It’s possible that the flash we encountered during the previous counterattack might come our way.”
“What? The counterattack mentioned in Linford’s report?”
Wolfram reacted immediately to my words. Though he warned us not to intervene, it seemed he was willing to heed our advice.
“There’s a possibility it will attack. Fortify the base’s defenses!”
“Yes, sir!”
As Dogesha issued the command, Wendy saluted and promptly exited the room.
“We should go as well.”
He glanced at us as he stood up from the sofa.
“Ah, good work. You all can head back now.”
With just those words, he left the room.
“…”
Left behind, we found ourselves momentarily speechless. When I exchanged glances with Rio, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Now that we’re the only ones in this room, I wonder if the security is alright.”
I looked around, but there were no documents or anything of the sort in sight.
“It might just be a regular conference room.”
“Could be… Well, let’s get going.”
“Yeah.”
We had no idea when the Sea Emperor Turtle might unleash its breath attack. We hurried out of the building and made our way to the coastline where the Sea Emperor Turtle was visible. Speaking of which, Nil was in the stable, right? I had a sense that there was a connection with my Tamed Monster, so I knew the general direction, but… I wondered if calling through that connection would summon him.
—Nil, come here!
“Woof!”
Nil came bounding out of the building, wagging his tail joyfully.
“Oh, there he is.”
He arrived in no time at all. This could prove to be quite convenient. But I pushed that thought aside for now; the Sea Emperor Turtle was our priority.
“It really does have two heads…”
“Oh, it turned this way.”
From our position, we were still over a kilometer away from the Sea Emperor Turtle. I wasn’t sure how far its breath could reach, but we should remain vigilant. I pulled out the Ancient Red Dragon shield from the Dimensional Box after quite some time.
“Do you think the Spatial Isolation Barrier can block it?”
“It should be able to. But I think it would be better to use it to deflect the attack rather than face it head-on.”
“Agreed.”
As we braced ourselves, I saw the Sea Emperor Turtle open its mouth. A faint surge of Magic Power hinted at an impending breath attack. Just moments after I caught a glimpse of light, a deafening explosion echoed through the air.
“That was fast…”
“…Did you see it?”
Rio asked, her gaze fixed on the Sea Emperor Turtle.
“Yeah, if I know it’s coming, I can handle it.”
“I might barely manage…”
“Be ready to cast the barrier at any moment.”
“Okay.”
The Sea Emperor Turtle’s attack destroyed a ship docked at the harbor. I hadn’t expected it to attack when it hadn’t even reduced our HP, but this turtle was unpredictable. There was no point in overthinking it.
The destruction of the ship sent the military harbor into chaos. According to the Record from 150 Years Ago, the Sea Emperor Turtle had passed by without retaliating when attacked. It was completely unexpected for it to attack on its own. I was taken aback as well.
“I was told to go back, but it feels wrong to leave like this.”
“Haha, yeah, that would be a bit much…”
“Woof!”
Nil was eager to join in.
“This is bad; at this rate, we could face total annihilation… We need to deploy! We must deploy now!”
I heard Dogesha shouting near the coast, close to the burning ship. Nearby, Wolfram was issuing detailed commands to those around him. If we were going to be targeted like this, it might be better to push ourselves to deploy.
“Ugh, you lot… Don’t interfere unnecessarily!”
As I approached, Dogesha spotted us and glared. Just as I thought about how ridiculous that was, the familiar tingling sensation returned to the back of my mind.
“Rio! It’s coming!”
“What is?” Dogesha and the others looked puzzled, but I ignored them and leaped into the sea to shield the two of us.
The Sea Emperor Turtle’s mouth glimmered, and a beam of light surged toward us. I activated the Spatial Isolation Barrier and raised the shield just in case. A thunderous crash echoed as the beam was deflected, narrowly missing the upper part of the building we had just vacated. It seemed the Spatial Isolation Barrier alone was sufficient to redirect the attack.
I glanced back at Rio, who had expanded the barrier to encompass Dogesha and the others. Dogesha’s face had turned pale, while Wolfram had fallen on his rear.
“Sorry, did I overstep my bounds?”
The two could only shake their heads vigorously in response to my question.