Manowa

 Chapter 425 – Let's Dive in the Sea

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Huge turtles called Island Turtles existed.

The turtles boasted of bodies as large as small islands, and they were mild-mannered monsters that lived by eating things like plankton as they moved in the waters near the Philon Continent.
The backs of their shells were just like normal islands, with soil, trees, and even filtered water.
The Island Turtles maintained their bodies by coexisting and co-prospering with the people who lived on them.

And the people who coexisted and co-prospered with them were a race called the Turtlemen; they had reptilian faces, just like the Lizardmen they were closely related to, and shells on their backs.
They were a race that peddled wares as they traveled with the Island Turtles.

One such Island Turtle was floating in the sea near Tsuvara Kingdom's Auriol Beach.
There was something like a shift system for Island Turtles, and they often stayed near a designated town until another Island Turtle arrived.
It seemed Auriol Town was one of those designated towns.

The Island Turtle had a simple port at the tip of its shell, and there was a huge white whale lying there; it was brought down that morning.

「Whoa.
What is that?」

『Ho, it's the monster we saw yesterday.』

Lyle witnessed it while flying towards the port with fluttering white wings, and Gieve's Spear answered with its identity.

It looked like the Leviathan they encountered yesterday.
There were many wounds covering its entire body, but the largest were the three large holes going through its flanks.

Thinking those were definitely fatal injuries, Lyle started descending toward the port.

When the Turtlemen noticed Lyle's figure and started making noise, a human man came forward and greeted Lyle.
Needless to say, it was Jinrai.

「Hmm.
Isn't that Lyle? Is something wrong?」

「Yo.
It's been since yesterday, grandfather.
Or rather, you asked me why, but it feels like that's my question?」

Lyle had a surprised expression as he looked at the already defeated monster in front of him.

「Grandpa…
did you defeat this?」

「Yeah.
Together with these Turtlemen warriors.」

When Jinrai turned back, Turtlemen males, who looked similar to Lizardmen, were standing with harpoons in hand.
They looked vigilant, but they had lowered their harpoons when they saw Jinrai talking familiarly.

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「It's awfully wounded, but is this the guy from yesterday?」

「It doesn't have any characteristic features, so I'm not entirely sure it's the same individual as yesterday, but it probably is? It was quite weakened from the beginning.」

Jinrai said.
The Leviathan they encountered yesterday started battling with the Kraken after Kazane and the others fled.
That being the case, that could be inferred to be the cause of its injuries.

「The Turtlemen discovered that this guy was in the sea last night.
It seems they don't usually come into the sea around this area, so they started discussing whether they should defeat it or run away.
Well, because of that, I fired『Cindy』, then approached to finish it off.」

Jinrai displayed his prosthetic arm『Cindy』to Lyle.
Lyle knew he cherished it and often polished it.

「Aah, I understand the Thunder God Cannon, but you said you approached…
this is the sea?」

As a spear user, the only means Jinrai had to attack while at sea were throwing attacks.
Jinrai had said that himself yesterday, but after Lyle spoke, Jinrai meaningfully grinned.

「I didn't know either, but it seems Shippuu can run on the sea's surface.」

That aforementioned Shippuu was in the middle of eating Leviathan meat.
No particular changes to his body could be seen, other than the fact that his tail was now bifurcated.

「Seriously?」

「Mhmm.
It seems he can't stop moving, but with his Wind and Lightning powers, he can hop on the surface of the water.
Well, since he just ate Leviathan, his abilities related to Water may have improved.」

Jinrai said.
Lyle replied「Huh」in a voice of mixed admiration and befuddlement.
It seemed Shippuu was truly a companion who covered Jinrai's weak points.

「So then, what about you? Did you also want to enjoy swimming over here, but through the air instead?」

「Well, that was fun in its own way, but…」

Lyle had the power of Wind's Divine Protection.
Due to that, he could fly faster than other people, and since they judged he could probably reach the Island Turtle, Kazane gave Lyle the『Angel Bracelet』so he could use Angelization to fly to the Island Turtle.

『Since you haven't grown wings to fly by your own power yet.』

「So they'll grow someday?」

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After Gieve's Spear spoke, Lyle groaned.
I don't want to become too inhuman…
Lyle thought.
In particular, seeing Yumika's transformation made him think that way even more.
He wholeheartedly thought that that would be unpleasant.

And as his grandson suddenly started groaning to himself, Jinrai silently waited for the conversation to continue.
Lyle noticed his gaze and immediately returned to the subject.

「Ah, er, actually, Kazane and the others talked about coming to see this Island Turtle, but along the way, we discovered ruins.」

「Ruins?」

Jinrai tilted his head.
It seemed Jinrai didn't know about the Tour Undersea Ruins either.

「There's a city that sank to the bottom of the sea long ago.
And so, since Kazane and the others are currently diving to explore it, I came to report to grandfather.」

By the way, the main reason for reporting was because they thought he would sulk if they didn't.
Then Jinrai said「So that's how it is…」and called out to one of the turtles.
It seemed he was asking if it was okay to entrust the Leviathan dismantling to them.
Apparently, Jinrai's Thunder God Cannon had practically defeated the Leviathan alone, so the Turtlemen readily accepted.

Then, 10 minutes later, Jinrai's preparations were finished, and he, Lyle, and Shippu started heading for the crystal ship『Kazanemaru』.

Meanwhile, Kazane and the others…

◎ Auriol Sea, Tour Undersea Ruins

『…
This way?』

As dragon Kazane held an Indestructible Crystal Lamp in her left hand to illuminate the dim seabed, the Infinite Key she was holding in her right hand swung as she did Dowsing; they were advancing little by little as it stopped to point in the direction of a discovery.

Kazane was currently a dragon, but with the magic『Water's Divine Protection』, the same type of magic as『Wind's Divine Protection』, air was being created even underwater, so she was able to move without any issues.

Due to her Skill Level increasing, Kazane became able to set one Skill she could use beyond the Skills she obtained from defeating dragons (which were indicated with「Dragon」).
Hence, her set Skill was currently the『Intuition』Skill, and she was using it together with the Infinite Key's Dowsing to see if there were any rare items.

In the past, Skills were continuously active when she was in her Dragonization state, so there were insufficient resources to use any Skills other than the 「Dragon」Skills, which shared the same roots.
However, now that the『Dragonization』Skill had grown, there were surplus resources, and the『Dragonization』Skill had changed to allow a single Skill to be set in an activation standby state for usage.

Louise was riding on the back of dragon Kazane while surrounded by a thin membrane of water, and behind them were Tatsuo; Yumika, who was using her Complete Dragon Transformation (Blue Dragon version); and Yui's summoned Water Knight.

In addition, Yumika's current appearance was a dragon wearing a swimsuit.
It was a questionably pitiful appearance, like a pet forced to wear a swimsuit, but no one was able to point that out to Yumika, so without particularly caring about that, Yumika dove with that figure.

「Hmm.
Is the naval port in this direction?」

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After Louise's mutter, Kazane answered『So it seems』.
By the way, that conversation wasn't with sound, but was done through Yuuko-nee's『Information Link』Skill.

『Nevertheless, you got a good catch from the beginning.』

Yumika said while swimming beside Kazane.
Yumika was using Kazane's Dragon Spirit for her Complete Dragon Transformation, so she also had『Water's Divine Protection』and was able to swim underwater without any problems.
By the way, Yuuko-nee's Dragonized form was left behind because she had the Sun Attribute and couldn't adapt to being underwater.

Then Yumika's gaze turned to the large number of boxes piled up in front of Louise on dragon Kazane's back.
The contents were all gold coins.

『Mother is amazing!』

『She truly found them right away.』

Tatsuo proudly said, and Yui looked at them with surprised eyes.

She discovered that mountain of gold coins merely 20 minutes after they started diving.
They were in a hidden room inside a large collapsed mansion.
They were completely buried in the sand, and they wouldn't have noticed them at all if dragon Kazane hadn't pointed them out, so it couldn't be helped that they hadn't been found up until now.

『That was probably the house of an aristocrat or wealthy person.
Is it okay to just keep this kind of thing?』

「As you'd expect, there's no way to return them to their owner.
Even if they survived, they would have reached the end of their lifespan.
They aren't under Tsuvara's control either, so there's no problem.」

After Kazane's words, Louise answered.
If a city was destroyed by monsters, the objects inside were essentially treated as ownerless regardless of the number of days.
And when it happened 600 years ago, the situation went without saying.

『Is that so? Mm, there seems to be something over here.』

Informed by『Intuition』instead of Dowsing, Kazane moved down to a building below.
It looked like some kind of workshop.
Kazane made an『Eiya!』noise as she kicked the entrance of the workshop and destroyed it.
Then Yumika and Tatsuo, who were holding Indestructible Crystal Lamps, went inside through the opened entrance, and Yui's Water Knight followed them.

『Aah, this is amazing.』

『Nn, was there something?』

Kazane had been standing by at the entrance, and after Yumika spoke, she peered inside.

『It's brimming with ingots.
There may be quite a lot.』

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『Hoho.
Do you know what kind of ingots they are?』

After Kazane's question, Yumika replied『It seems to be useless』.

『Even the Window display only shows them as Unappraised Ingots, so we won't know unless they're Appraised.』

After Yumika's words, Kazane groaned.
And she pondered what they should do.

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Dragon and Beast Ruling Tenma Monarch (Apprentice)

Title: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King, Liberator, Guardian

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Draghorn Tonfa x2, Dragon Eating Ogre Army Armor (True), Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, White Magic Accumulator (Revised) ×2, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring, Angel Bracelet

Level : 40

Health: 156+20

Magic Power: 378+520

Strength: 81+45

Agility: 83+39

Endurance: 45+20

Wisdom : 75

Dexterity : 53

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』『Rabbit Speed』『Flare Mirage』

Skill : 『Apprenticeship Cancellation』『Nil Principle』『Skill Hand (１)』『Halo』『Evolution Hand (１)』『Kick Devil』『Kick Decapitation Wave』『Warrior's Memory: Lv2』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog's Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv4』『Aegis Shield』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition: Lv2』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link: Lv2』『Optical Camouflage』『High Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv3「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Hand Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『Sturdier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Devil King's Intimidation』『Stone Minotaur: Lv2』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『Space Expansion』『Pseudo-Silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』『Arms Creation: Black Flame』『Ingredient Connoisseur: Lv3』『Dragon Pheromone「Dragon」』『Boost』『Monkey's Strong Arm』『Two-sword Style』『Boobies Plus』『Living Armor』『Alarm』『Six-sword Style』『Mental Attack Complete Protection』『Spider Web』『Wire Cutter』『Flexible』『Magic Power Absorption』『Red Body Transformation』『Friendship Tag-team』

Yumika:「Exploring ancient ruins and finding treasure.
That's precisely what an adventure is, isn't it?!」

Kazane:「That's right.
It's a search with three dragons of sizes large, medium and small, though…
Well, such minor details are unimportant, right?」