Reborn as a DRAGON

Chapter 177: Sea monster

Swimming above the deep dark chasm, I waited patiently to see how the presence lurking below would react. Both of us were already aware of each other's presence, so now it was only a matter of who would make the first move.

'Come on, don't make me go down there,' I inwardly mumbled.

After what seemed like a few minutes, the unknown lurker finally made its move. A sudden loud reverberation shook my scales causing a frown to make its way to my face as I prepared myself. I felt the mana steer with some of the elements closest to me retreating to surround me in an almost subconscious reaction.

Soon, the unidentified presence finally appeared. Its body easily dwarfed my own by a large margin making me grin wildly. My blood boiled in excitement as I studied the unfamiliar creature glaring at me. It almost looked like a massive lizard, with a fishtail attached to it.

Its face was akin to that of a serpent but with huge sharp teeth giving off an intimidating aura. The creature had bright white scales that almost shined underwater. Its red eyes were bloodshot as it glared at me with a venomous gaze.

The creature's massive body was still halfway inside the deep chasm, which only served to show tell its absurd size. "Well, well, well. This should be interesting," My grin extended across my face as I began to summon the water elements in my surroundings.

To my immediate surprise, the serpent-like creature began to do the same in an attempt to wrest control over the water mana from me. This reminded me of my brief confrontation against Alat back during my naming ceremony.

"Aren't you one tough bastard," I cursed, finding it harder to keep up with the monster.

Its control over water mana was shockingly high, almost as high as my own. This quickly brought us into a stalemate. Water element clashed against water element, sending blasts underwater. Still, I stayed defiant while glaring at the monster with a wide grin.

This must have irritated it since it suddenly shot towards me with its mouth wide open. I swiftly dodged, moving upwards, my claw ripping through the left side of the monster's face, drawing blood.

A scream of pain followed by an immediate attack using its tail. It moved it with surprising grace, not giving me enough time to retreat. I hastily summoned the water elements I could to shield me from the blast, as the tail swatted me down towards the sea bed.

Sand rose as I hit the ground, and masked my body. The monster didn't seem to have any intentions of stopping as I quickly used its tail to launch another attack. This time, however, I was prepared. With the elements ready, I managed to somewhat stop its tail, before attacking it with my claw, drawing blood once again.

Before I could relax, the monster's face suddenly descended upon me with its mouth open in another attempt at swallowing me whole. "Ah, damn it. Just give it a break already!"

Flapping my wings, I instantly dashed forward under its belly, not forgetting to run my claws all across it. This further enraged the monster as it abruptly dropped trying to squash me with its body weight.

Seeing that It was too late to dodge, I hastily summoned a shield with the help of the elements, preventing the monster from making contact. Glancing at the elements barely holding on, I audibly clicked my tongue and summoned every I once of water mana I could manage, before sending it outwards in a blast.

This sent the massive monster away, giving me time to breathe. The beast's scarlet eyes glared daggers at me as It once again tried to wrest control over the water mana. This only ended up nullifying its effect for both of us, meaning a physical fight was unavoidable.

"Come on then, you big bastard!"

Both of moved at the same time, the monster used its massive right limb to thwart me away. Still, I was faster and managed to dodge to its left continuing my approach towards Its face. My goal is the serpent's scarlet eyes.

It must have sensed the danger since it unexpectedly pulled Its head back, but it was too late. My grin never quite left my face as I pushed with my wings, and instantly passed the monster's left eye. My tail shot towards it in passing, blinding the monster from one eye as I continued moving past It.

The beast's tail quickly moved to intercept me, yet I coated my claw with water mana, the effect now boosted with me being underground. My claw collided with Its tail sending a shockwave in all directions.

Both of us were blasted away from one another. The monster let out an enraged roar, yet I didn't give it time to recuperate. Moving from its now blinded side, I hurried to its flanks and closed in on Its head once again.

The beast had a terrifying intuition and still managed to avoid my attack. My cut ended up being too shallow and was a few paces above its remaining eye. Seeing how I missed it, I shot towards Its head and landed above it before I began to hammer at it with my claws and tail.

The serpent-like monster thrashed about in pain and continued to roar in defiance. Yet I kept my grip steady while taking care not to get flung off. I bit and clawed at Its head drawing more blood, as the surrounding waters turned red.

Feeling a disturbance in the water, I quickly dodged the monster's sudden tail strike. This didn't work out for the best for It, as it ended up further injuring itself. Seizing the opportunity, I opened my mouth and launched my dragon breath at Its now exposed skull.

The monster had no time to dodge, the water elements moved in sync to make way for my dragon breath. The second it connected to the beast's head, an explosion pushed all the water away and forced me backward.

Soon, a loud thud followed as the monster's body collapsed to the seafloor. The water turned deep red. I glanced in satisfaction at the dead beast below, who was now missing a large chunk of Its head.

"Well, that was fun."