I sheathed Tengu-kaze and unsheathed Inazuma with my right hand. The second spell should be more suitable for Inazuma as it's supposed to have more affinity with lightning. I raised my left hand high up and another bolt of lightning slammed onto the gauntlets. I doubt I can ever get used to having a lightning bolt slamming directly onto my hand. I gripped my left hand on the blade of Inazuma and ran it across the blade all the way to the edge. Lightning was streaking across Inazuma now. Blade fortification is done, I shall call this spell 'Lightning Charge' then. This might be the same spell as the Elemental guild where they fortify their weapons with lightning but I doubt any of them are able to call upon a lightning bolt to coat their weapons with it.
Rose was staring at me with her mouth agape. She must be surprised that I had such a hidden secret that she didn't know about. I should be prepared for the inevitable interrogation from all of them when this is done.
"Let's go," I told her.
Rose snapped herself by clapping her cheeks. The two of us ran towards the Underwater Dragon King where he was fighting with the other guild members. The lot of them were hopeless against those ridiculously strong scales of the Underwater Dragon King. Nothing was making a dent on him whether it was physical or spells. The Underwater Dragon King was certainly having fun pushing humans around. Did he forget about his purpose for attacking us? So glad that he's not killing humans for kicks this time around. Hang on, then why did he use his breath attack on me earlier? What if I couldn't dodge it in time? I would have been split in half!
Feeling a little pissed, I reached towards my hip pocket and took out my +1 stats potion. It was not significant, but every stat counts. Rose will be supporting me with her spells as well. We headed towards a cliff where I would be able to leap off and strike the Underwater Dragon King from above. Rose hung back and began chanting. I removed the potion's cork with my teeth and quickly drank it. I almost forgot that I was underwater when some of the potion's liquid flew out the moment I removed the cork. I quickly swallowed its contents before more of it spilled out. I should had drank enough for it to actually boost my stats.
Almost at the end of the cliff now. I hope Rose timed her spells right. I jumped off the cliff and heard Rose shouting "Light Blessing". My stats should be boosted by at least plus six now. Time to see what Lightning Charge and Shadow Strike combo can do.
Wait! The Underwater Dragon King was expecting me! His jaws had opened from where I leaped! Shit, I need to dodge it!
I spun my body as quickly as I could to avoid getting bitten by the Underwater Dragon King as he slammed his mouth shut. Those fangs of his were extremely long and sharp. Damn it, it seems like he's only serious with me. My bad for taunting him earlier about facing me seriously. Guess I will have to be serious as well then. I swung Inazuma as hard as I could two-handed. I felt some of the scales shatter as blood enveloped my vision.
I reached the seabed and looked up to see where I struck the Underwater Dragon King. I had certainly wounded him. It would seem that my combo works. Loud cheers can be heard all around as we successfully draw first blood on him. Finally, we're able to wound him. If it bleeds, I can kill it.
The Underwater Dragon King was shocked that I somehow managed to wound him. He even made a disbelief remark, "W— what?! My beautiful scales!". That's what you get for getting cocky earlier.
I should press the attack while all my buffs are still active. I got ready to attack again, but the Underwater Dragon King was extremely wary now. He started charging up his breath attack again as I ran towards him. He released his breath, and I heard Rose cast her spell "Accelerate", which buffed my speed. Nice timing, Rose.
With my speed doubled, I reached the Underwater Dragon King in no time while dodging his breath attacks along the way. I swung Inazuma again, but before it made contact, the Underwater Dragon King roared loudly, and I was pushed away from the shockwave.
He cast his spell to summon some giant water cyclones above him. Water tornados started forming around him and swirled to protect him. From my point of view, it looked as though it was the end of the world. But no time to dilly-dally; my Lightning Charge buff will not last forever.
John, Lily, and Rose regrouped with me. Is that—a crab on John's shoulder? The other guild members came along as well. Are they trying to support me so I can put the hurt on the Underwater Dragon King?
John placed his hand on my shoulder and said, "Go, we'll cover you! Sock that bastard for me." I nodded to him in agreement.
All of us ran together as we started spreading out. I am sure the Underwater Dragon King is more wary of me than the others. He must be getting serious now. I saw something black approaching closer to us. What the hell—is that? Are those fish? Predatory fish too! We need to take cover!
"GO! We'll cover you!" shouted Lily to me. All the elemental members followed after her. Their lightning spells will be extremely effective against those fishes for sure. We continued running towards the Underwater Dragon King as we dodged the bites from those predatory fishes. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of them, which was making things difficult for me to proceed.
John roared, which somehow triggered the fishes to start attacking him. Was that—Taunt? I thought only Demons were capable of using that? I thought of helping him, but his guild and the elemental members were helping him immediately after he cast it. He made himself the tank of the group while the other members attacked the fishes. Some of the other Viking guild members followed John's example and started using Taunt themselves. Most of the fishes had stopped attacking me and Rose now and focused solely on them instead.
Rose pulled my arm, telling me to charge ahead at the Underwater Dragon King. I shouldn't be wasting my time turning those fishes into sashimi. I obliged and followed after Rose. It was just the two of us now. We were close to the Underwater Dragon King now, and I'm sure that he still had some tricks up his sleeves. As we ran closer, Rose asked me for my cloak. I found it odd that she was requesting it out of nowhere, but I gave no thought and passed it to her.
I swapped Inazuma to my left hand. I am going to use Lightning Strike on the Underwater Dragon King before I reach him. It would ensure that he won't be able to dodge my attack for a while after getting struck. Hang on, why is his body shining? Is he about to use some spell?
Light rays spewed out from the Underwater Dragon King's body. I was caught completely off guard. He is trying to kill me for sure. I was expecting fish to attack me instead of this. Both Rose and I were completely caught unaware by this sudden spell. It was not something that I could dodge without anticipating such an attack. Shit, am I going to get fried by the light rays?!
Rose rushed in front of me and the beam struck her instead. Shit, Rose! But I noticed that she was covering herself with my cloak before getting struck by the beam. Will she be fine? As I wanted to check on Rose, she pushed me away and told me to keep going. She told me that she's fine and the cloak mitigated most of the damage. Did she anticipate something like this to happen? Her battle instincts are even better than mine now.
I decided to follow her request and continued heading towards the Underwater Dragon King. This fight had gone on for far too long. I saw another cliff nearby and proceeded to rush up. I got ready to charge my gauntlets and got ready to use Lightning Strike for the second time. As I leapt off the cliff, things went into slow motion. The lightning bolt struck my right hand with a strong force after I leapt, which charged my gauntlet. I got ready to swing my right hand towards the Underwater Dragon King, but I noticed there were plenty of fish protecting him. Not that it matters, your little meat shield would not stop my lightning from reaching you. My lightning strike arcs from targets until it hits the intended main target.
I swung my right hand, and Lightning Strike was released. All the fish that were protecting the Underwater Dragon King were burnt to a crisp upon getting shocked by my lightning. Mmm, crispy critters.
Too bad the Underwater Dragon King was hit by it too. As he was convulsing, I made sure to avoid getting hit by the water tornadoes that were swirling around protecting him and swung Inazuma towards his body once again. I kept swinging with all my might and stabbed Inazuma on his tail when I reached the seabed ground. I was actually surprised that I was able to stab through such strong scales easily. Seems like Lightning Charge did not just fortify Inazuma with lightning but enhances its attack powers significantly as well.
I looked up and saw that the Underwater Dragon King was bleeding throughout his entire body. I quickly pulled Inazuma out from his tail and got ready for his counterattack.
"Alright, enough," said the Underwater Dragon King.
Huh? What did he mean by 'enough'? Is he planning to eliminate all of us now? I should prepare another round of Lightning Strike before he decides to kill all of us.
The Underwater Dragon King swam to the sacred ceremonial site and waited there.
"Come, all of you," said the Underwater Dragon King. Is this some trickery of his?
We all cautiously walked closer to the sacred ceremonial site while still being wary of him. This seemed to annoy the Underwater Dragon King. He started saying "No more fighting, just— come,". He sounded like a father who had lost a fight with his children.
I sheathed Inazuma as the Lightning Charge buff ended. Glad I did not need to use another round of it. I certainly need to find a way to recover the spell charges for my gauntlets after this.
All of us gathered at the site. The Underwater Dragon King closed his eyes and—huh? Wait a minute, he's—shrinking? What's going on? He's turning—into a human? A pretty and handsome human male too. White robe with long black hair. And his wounds had already fully healed by now.
"How long has it been since someone was able to wound me like this? Never before had I seen a combination of lightning and darkness used together in such harmony. Not to mention your weapon being so compatible with lightning infusion in the first place. Let me see—" the Underwater Dragon King inspected Inazuma with his eyes.
"Ah, it's you, Kirin. How long has it been? And I see you have Byakko with you. Very interesting indeed. What is your name, young one?" asked the Underwater Dragon King.
"Zen, is my name," I said to him while keeping my last name a secret. Too many ears here for me to spill that bean.
"I—see. And you're friends with the Viking Lord, am I right? You have a lot of potential in you, Zen. Not many beings are able to wound me in my domain. I commend you for that," the Underwater Dragon King bowed a little to me.
I was deeply surprised by his modest gesture that I forgot to return the bow. What is with the sudden 180 change in his demeanour? What the hell is going on?
"And you, John Gladiolus. I can see much potential in you. You displayed some amount of leadership during the course of this battle, but I hadn't expected you to be able to achieve in using a Higher State of Mind on your own. That is commendable on its own. Very few beings were able to achieve such a state throughout their entire lives," explained the Underwater Dragon King.
What? John is able to use Higher State of Mind already? Which one though? I'm certain it should be the aggression path, which would mean using Bloodlust. Oh, no wonder there were steam coming out of him. Damn it, John, you beat me to it once again!
But John seems to be unaware of it. His confused face shows it all. Perhaps he will need more time to learn how to use it properly. I accidentally used it unknowingly too when I was young, and I didn't know how to activate it again after that incident.
"I hereby declare John Gladiolus as the next Viking Lord. I hope to see more of your potential in five years' time. And I hope that you can change the Viking guild's prospect towards a more productive and hardworking one," said the Underwater Dragon King.
No one cheered. We were all probably still in disbelief. The Underwater Dragon King suddenly shape-shifted into his human form and changed his demeanour completely. Only a few of his guild members patted John on the back or his shoulder.
"Hm, I was expecting a little more reaction from you humans. But no matter, you may go. Take heed of my warning. There will be a war coming to all of you, so better be prepared. Crab, come back here and stop sitting on his shoulder," said the Underwater Dragon King.
John stood forward and knelt before the Underwater Dragon King. All the other members followed suit, along with the Elemental guild members. Only Rose and I continued to stand as we didn't know what to do. The crab was grumbling as he swam back to the Underwater Dragon King. Please don't tell me this whole fiasco was due to that crab.
All of the members proceeded to walk back, but I remembered something. The time limit for the potion is about to run out. I shouted to everyone that they should start wearing their bubble helmets again as I don't have enough leftover potion for everyone.
As I was searching for my helmet, the Underwater Dragon King came up to me, which made me shriek in surprise. He told me that the elves are going to be very interested in knowing about the potion's existence. I can profit from it easily should I wish to turn it into a business. He also told me not to assume that I had defeated him. In his dragon form, while his spell casting is stronger, he was more vulnerable to attacks. Should he decide to fight in his human form, I would not stand a chance as he is much stronger and faster in everything else.
I bowed to him and thanked him for not taking the fight seriously. But in my head, I was thinking about how arrogant he is for taking me so lightly. But he told me something that gained my attention. He warned me that I would need to prepare myself for what is about to come. He did not give any hints on what it is but just a warning. I took it with a grain of salt.
I followed the group in returning to the City of Underwater Marrydia. I am certain the Elemental and Viking guilds will be having a grand celebration as there were no casualties this time around, and John is officially the Viking Lord. Finally, I can enjoy myself in this city without rushing for anything. A relaxing time is about to come.