Island God: Going From Level 1 To World Ruler-Chapter 45: Water Drake

The two fell through the air like dust particles in the wind. After flipping over several times, they both plunged into an enormous lake at the very center of the realm below.

Despite the massive fall, their plunge sounded like a single plop of a water droplet.

This chamber was different from the original one that they had landed in.

It wasn’t filled with walls and ledges. Instead, it was mostly flat on the ground apart from the lake in the center.

The walls rounded upwards, converging together at the very middle of the ceiling.

Several large tunnels, resembling man-made hallways, were scattered across the walls.

Midas opened his eyes under the water. Looking below him, he was shocked to find what looked to be an ocean of bones lying at the bottom of the lake.

He followed Gool to shore, the two quickly running toward one of the massive, naturally forming pillars that kept the cavern from collapsing in on itself.

They walked around the pillar, Gool walking forward and facing the right side of the room.

His eyes were wide with awe, yet his gaze remained stern.

"There he is..." Gool muttered under his breath in a whispery tone, "That, right there, is Sergalas, the elder Water Drake."

Midas walked up behind him. "Water Drake? So it’s a drake!? Is it similar to a dragon?" He stopped, facing what lay before him.

A mountain of bones covered the entire right side of the cavern. Hundreds of square feet were drowned with hills and valleys made of nothing but decaying bones.

His eyes widened with shock, ’So many bones... I guess it makes sense. This snake, wherever it is, has been feasting inside this chamber for decades.’ He thought to himself.

"No, it’s not like a dragon. A drake is a serpent with a mystical ability. One that has ties with the bloodline of a dragon. However, Sergalas is nothing more than a slithering viper. No wings, nor limbs. His ability to breathe water is what gives him the title of drake." Gool replied, not taking a step closer. His eyes remained locked onto the pile of bones.

Midas took a few steps forward, "So where is he? Where is Sergalas?" He asked.

"He’s right there... beneath the pile of bones," Gool said, his gaze unwavering.

On hearing this, Midas furrowed his brows with shock. He slowly turned, facing the mountain of bones once again.

Light, crumbling, and cracking noises began sounding from deep within the heart of the bone mountain.

The center of the mass began to slowly rise, thousands of bones falling to the side and rolling down the hill.

Out from the center rose the head of a beastly serpent, its eyes as large as refrigerators.

The skull alone was enormous. Long, angular, and crowned with ridges of dark violet scale that shimmered faintly beneath the cavern’s pale light. Its snout pushed through the bones slowly, deliberately, as if the creature were rising from a grave it had carved for itself over centuries.

Bones slid from its face and clattered against stone as the head lifted higher... and higher... until it hovered far above Midas, casting a shadow that swallowed hundreds of square feet.

Then the bones beneath it shifted again.

The pile trembled.

A massive section of the bone mountain collapsed inward as a thick coil emerged from beneath, wider than the pillar Midas stood beside. The serpent’s body followed, uncoiling in slow, grinding movements that sent vibrations through the ground. Each shift of its scales produced a deep, echoing scrape, as stone dragged across stone.

More of it revealed itself.

And then more.

What Midas had first mistaken for separate hills of bones were, in truth, draped across a body so vast that it vanished into the darkness beyond the lake. Coil after coil surfaced, each one thicker than a house, stretching backward into the cavern tunnels themselves — tunnels that now seemed less like passages and more like scars left behind by its movement.

In terms of size estimation, Midas mused it was no smaller than three hundred feet (91 meters) in length.

The serpent’s body filled the chamber not by force, but by presence.

It did not need to spread.

It already owned the space.

Midas felt small.

Not metaphorically.

Physically.

The creature’s head alone was the size of a massive wagon, its jaw lined with curved fangs longer than swords. When it exhaled through its nostrils, the lake rippled outward in concentric waves, the water trembling.

Then its eyes shifted.

Two vast, luminous slit pupils focused on Midas.

The pressure was immediate and overwhelming.

It felt as if the air itself had thickened, pressing down on his chest, crawling along his spine.

As he stared at this living statue, his instincts screamed. Not to run, not to fight. But to kneel. To submit. To become part of the bones beneath its coils.

The serpent slowly opened its mouth.

A long, forked tongue slid free, each half as thick as a man’s arm. It unfurled lazily, tasting the air, dripping water and bone dust as it hissed. The sound was low and vast, not sharp, but layered, as if dozens of breaths echoed within a single exhale.

The hiss rolled through the chamber like a living thing.

Bones rattled.

Loose stones fell from the ceiling.

The serpent’s head lowered just slightly, enough for Midas to see the countless scars etched along its scales.

Midas was completely taken aback.

It was beautiful.

Terrifyingly so.

A living relic.

An elder thing that had watched generations rise, fall, and rot into the floor beneath it.

The serpent’s mouth closed.

The cavern fell silent.

Then, slowly, deliberately, the massive head tilted, and the beast finally began to speak.

"Who dares enter my abode unwelcomed?" The serpent’s voice was deep and guttural. It sounded ancient, echoing across the cavern walls.

From where Midas stood, he needed to tilt his head completely up to face the serpent--and still could only face its lower jaw.

"Answer me, human!" The beast suddenly roared so loud that the entire realm shook. Midas felt the ground beneath his feet become unstable for a few seconds.

He gulped, exhaling to relieve himself of as much stress as he could.

Finally, he opened his mouth to say something...