Will was ready to bolt once he activated the stone. But when he saw no movement from the dragon turtle’s shell, which was half-submerged in the lava pool, he stopped himself.

‘Huh? Is it not working?’ He wondered. But he did hear the voice of the seal, which was similar to the seal from the real world but oddly melodious and much more soothing.

‘Is it because I’m not close enough?’ He thought.

He looked back at the exit and then again at the shell in the lava pool. He gulped and stepped forward. He enjoyed braving dangers. He was an extreme sports enthusiast in real life, doing lots of crazy stunts himself, but this didn’t mean he was devoid of fear. Fear was instead what drove him to do those crazy stunts. He enjoyed the feeling of conquering those fear. Experiencing a brush with death let him feel much more alive than anything. But now, with every step he took, he felt like he was heading to a certain death instead of just a brush.

‘Damn it! Get ahold of yourself!!” Will slapped his cheeks with his two hands to give him motivation.

One of his hands was holding the Underwater Propeller Scroll, the other one was holding the stone that emit the giant glacier seal’s voice. When he slapped his face, it also caused an impact on the stone he was holding. As a result, the seal’s voice suddenly became louder.

‘What the… This stone has a function like this?’ Will thought in consternation.

At the same time, he heard rumbles from the front. He looked forward and saw the giant shell emerge from the lava pool. A large head with horns appeared. The dragon turtle’s two eyes, two large blue orbs, stared straight at Will, who was now frozen in place.

The two just stayed still and stared at each other for a beat. Will was the one who acted first. He turned and used the magic scroll in his hand. He felt the water around him push him forward. He shot at high speed towards the exit. The cloak made of the giant glacier seal’s fur flapped behind him. The cloak was large enough that it covered his entire body if seen from the back.

The dragon turtle continued to stare at the strange creature that was now moving further away. It was confused at first. The voice that the creature emitted was its favorite prey, the tasty and nutritious giant glacier seal. But the creature looked nothing like the seal. However, now that the creature was moving away, it did resemble the seal.

The dragon turtle burst out from the lava pool. If it could catch this giant glacier seal, it would help its offspring to grow faster. This prey was not available around this water. It didn’t know why this one appeared here, but it would not let this prey go now that it saw one.

The powerful tail of the dragon turtle swung with great force. The force of the swinging propelled the dragon turtle forward. It was now chasing Will who was swimming away with all his might.

John and the others were watching from one of the small holes in the wall. They had seen Will lure the turtle away. They remained still even after the dragon turtle vacated this cave hall. They were going to wait until they received a signal from Bowler’s team before taking action.

*

‘F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!’ Will wanted to curse out loud but couldn’t. He regretted not having asked for the Underwater Communication Potion from John, even if it was only so he could hear himself curse underwater.

He looked back. The dragon turtle was on his tail. Because the dragon turtle was swimming at top speed, it had trouble controlling its direction. Its huge body sometimes scraped the tunnel wall. The speed granted by the Underwater Propeller Scroll allowed Will to keep his distance from the dragon turtle. They were roughly swimming at the same speed.

Because Will was still looking back, he noticed the dragon turtle open its mouth, and water started swirling around that opened mouth.

‘Shit! F*ck…!’ Will cursed inside and looked back to the front. He found that he was already at the cavemouth. He immediately banked to the right. He couldn’t make a sharp turn due to being under the effect of the Underwater Propeller Scroll, but the turn was enough for him to escape as a torrent of steaming gas passed his side.

The steaming gas column went on for quite a distance. He saw the gas column come after him, but it disappeared before hitting him. He looked back and saw that the steaming gas breath had been blocked by the wall of the cave. The dragon turtle had shifted its steam breath to follow Will who swam to the side. But since it was still inside the cave, its breath hit the cave wall instead.

The dragon turtle soon burst out of the cave as well. It looked to the side where Will had disappeared and its sight at once locked onto the glaring white cloak that Will was wearing.

Will knew he couldn’t hide. It would defeat the whole purpose of luring the dragon turtle. Not to mention the stone in his hand was still blaring loudly with the glacier seal’s voice. He just tried his best to steer his propelling state toward the destination that John had shown him.

All the regular monsters in the vicinity ran away once they spotted the dragon turtle, so Will did not worry about other monsters attacking him.

He looked back again, fearing the dragon turtle would use its steaming breath again. It did not. Looked like that breath was like any other skill in this world, it had a cooldown time.

However, another thing happened. He saw the water around the dragon turtle start shimmering. Four watery orbs appeared around the turtle. Gel-like tentacles shot out from those four orbs. It extended a very long distance, almost reaching him.

‘Shit! Shit!’ He cursed anxiously. The tips of the tentacles were slashing just a few feet behind his legs, and they seemed to be closing in the distance! The dragon turtle’s swimming speed was apparently slightly faster than Will’s propelling state, even though it was just barely.

Will knew he had to do something. If the tentacles touched him, he was sure it was game over for him.

He took a sharp dive. The tentacles chased after him. The ground on the sea bed was not flat. There were many coral reefs, rocks, plants, and valleys. He slipped into one of these valleys just as the tentacles were about to reach him. The tentacles slapped the rocky ground instead.

Will swam irregularly, making a slight zig-zag as he went in and out of the plants that filled the sea bed. He tried his best to use any large rock for covers. This caused the dragon turtle to have difficulty aiming its watery tentacles to catch him.

Will also played his music as he swam. He was a bard, and his music coincidentally have the effect that increase his overall speed, which included his movement speed. His propelling motion became even faster once the music was played. He was grateful that this game world system allowed his music to still be magically playable underwater.

With the increased speed, he slowly distanced himself from the dragon turtle again.

The dragon turtle roared furiously. He didn’t appreciate his prey escaping him. Not when it was a rare prey that was not normally acquirable around this water.

‘A little bit more!’ Will thought hopefully. John had brought him to see the place on their way back to the ship yesterday, to familiarize himself with the place. He could see the large opening in the distance now.

Something hit and shattered the rock nearby him. With surprise, he looked back and saw the dragon turtle conjuring lots of water pellets that were now speeding toward him.

‘Poseidon’s arse…!’ He cursed and made a turn. The area around him was soon battered by uncountable water pellets.

Due to turning, he had moved away from the direct path to his destination, but he had no choice. The water pellets were still coming, it continued to rain in the area he passed through. A small rock hill was nearby, he immediately swam to its back to take cover. The remaining water pellets pummel the rock hill and produced many holes in it.

Will had made a sideway detour. If he wanted to swim back toward the destination, it would shorten the distance between him and the dragon turtle that was still approaching.𝒩𝒐𝗏𝓮𝑳𝑵𝑬xt.𝕔𝒐𝓂

He couldn’t stop and hide behind the hill because he was still under the effect of getting propelled forward. Not that hiding would do any good anyway. Also, this propeller effect didn’t last forever, only around three minutes left from its ten minutes duration. He still had a second scroll but he was not keen on playing cat and mouse with this dragon turtle for another ten minutes.

So, he continued to let himself get propelled forward and came out from the other side of the rock hill. He saw the dragon turtle now, its distance from him was now only half compared to when it started chasing him. Will didn’t let this frighten him too much, he headed straight for the large opening that was nearby.

The dragon turtle which was speeding at the rock hill immediately turned direction once Will came into view again. But because it was at top speed and it was too heavy, it couldn’t immediately turn. Its body slammed into the rock hill instead, causing it to crumble and make a loud noise.

Will looked back due to the sound and saw the dragon turtle oddly have its four limbs retracted into its shell. Those four limbs then recoiled back out at a blinding speed, at the same time, a shockwave reverberated from the dragon turtle. This shockwave sped toward him at an incredible speed.

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