As Choi Han watched the water snakes growing stronger and stronger, he could no longer even grasp how they were supposed to endure this.

Shaa—

The sound of the waves was growing more and more distant.

The waves were not moving away.

It was because he was sinking deeper underwater that the sound was receding.

Even though there was clearly only forest around them.

Choi Han felt his body getting wet.

What in the world—

What exactly was the third Emperor’s individuality?

What kind of water was this?

To call it simply water itself felt wrong somehow.

Then, suddenly, Choi Han remembered something the highest-ranking holy knight had said.

“The Dragon King. So the third Emperor really has come.”

Dragon King.

A being he had heard of in old folktales as a child.

The Dragon King who ruled the sea.

The blue dragon opened its mouth once more.

KRAAAAAA—

At that roar, everything around them swayed.

This was no illusion.

Blue droplets of water began to form, then tremble.

Centered on the blue dragon, bands of blue water took shape, and those bands slowly began to multiply and grow larger.

As if the world around them were about to be drowned in water.

The blue dragon looked at those rings of water and smiled arrogantly.

Then it charged Eruhaben again.

With the utmost arrogance.

CRAAAAASH!

And then—

“Ugh!”

Eruhaben had to retreat.

The dust swept toward the water dragon, but—

It got eaten!

The water suspended in the air around the water dragon devoured the dust.

The dust that had been swallowed by water lost its will.

It no longer obeyed Eruhaben.

And—

Even when it hits the water dragon’s body, the noise is huge, but there’s no sense of actually striking anything.

More and more, that body only seemed to ripple, as if he were colliding with water, without ever feeling the touch of a solid form.

And yet that dragon clearly existed.

A frown deepened between Eruhaben’s brows.

After watching this, Choi Han lowered his gaze to his sword. The black dragon had vanished, leaving only a faint black aura clinging to the blade.

Then he lifted his head and looked at the radiant blue dragon.

“...Dragon King.”

The instant Choi Han let the word slip out—

“Mm.”

Someone high in the distance looked down at him.

Grin.

The third Emperor smiled.

“Did you call for me?”

“...!”

Choi Han flinched.

Even while the blue dragon and Eruhaben were crashing into each other, each trying to tear the other apart somehow, the third Emperor remained seated cross-legged between the blue dragon’s two horns, utterly relaxed.

He had reacted to Choi Han’s words.

To the term Dragon King.

“Ah.”

Choi Han hesitated, unable to say anything.

Because the Dragon King he had meant was the blue dragon that had reminded him of the ruler of the sea.

But something about the third Emperor made that answer feel wrong.

No. Different.

Blue...!

His eyes had turned blue at some point.

No, that was the color of water.

The moment those eyes became something that could not be described so simply—

“Heh heh.”

Chuckling under his breath, he rose from his seat.

“You must have called this child the Dragon King.”

He stroked one of the blue dragon’s horns, then turned his gaze to Cale.

While everyone else had been focused on the blue dragon, that human’s eyes had been fixed wholly on him alone.

The third Emperor’s smile deepened as he looked at those eyes, taut with tension.

“The Dragon King is me.”

He gave a light clap.

Clap!

Every being who had not yet escaped this place felt, for an instant, not merely a chill but a cool freshness.

Like the refreshing sensation of diving into the sea, or plunging into a mountain stream.

“In your world as well, was the Dragon King the ruler of the sea?”

Amused, he asked Choi Han that question with another glance, then turned his head away without any lingering interest.

Looking at Cale, he said,

“Well, I’m also the Dragon King because I happen to handle dragons well.”

The ancient dragon’s face stiffened.

Whether that happened or not, the Dragon King, the third Emperor, casually flicked his hand.

Drip. Drip.

Rain began to fall.

But it was not ordinary rain.

It’s salty.

Salt rain was falling.

And on top of that—

Drip. Drip.

Each time that rain struck the gray shield, the shield trembled.

And then—

Shaa—

With the sound of waves,

Splash. Splash.

Choi Han, who had come down into the forest to fight the water snakes, saw water rise in an instant to his ankles.

The blue dragon—

No, water began pouring out at terrifying speed from the Dragon King, spreading outward and swallowing the surroundings.

And that water was unbearably salty.

“It’s a pity there isn’t even a river here.”

The Dragon King, the third Emperor, spread both arms.

At the sweep of his hands, the waters began to surge wildly.

Seawater shot out in every direction.

Incredibly fast.

In overwhelming volume—

Splash.

Before he knew it, the water had risen to Choi Han’s knees.

The waters crossed the forest and rapidly began to wrap around Moraka Castle as they rose.

Shaa—

Now the waves had visible form.

The salt rain no longer fell in scattered drops. It poured down in such quantities that it became hard to see ahead.

And when the sounds and even the sight around them had begun to blur,

through all of it, the Dragon King’s voice could still be heard clearly.

It’s a pity there isn’t even a river here.

“I am the sea, and the sea is me. What is there to fear?”

The Dragon King, the third Emperor—

He said that he himself was the sea. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Cale’s face hardened.

—Human!

Cale looked down below the castle wall.

Water seeped easily into the ground.

—The water’s coming in!

Seawater had begun to enter the inside of the castle from below the wall, through the ground.

Saltwater.

—Water’s getting into the ground! But the ground soaked in seawater reacts slowly to mana!

The moment Raon shouted that, Cale’s face grew even grimmer.

His gaze turned toward the third Emperor.

Seeing that expression, the third Emperor smiled and said,

“The ground soaked in my water is also my domain.”

Five-Colored-grade individuality.

It possessed a power that far exceeded anything Cale had imagined.

It was nothing like the ancient powers he had known.

—Human, the water’s rising! It’s coming toward the teleportation circle!

The seawater that had soaked into the ground was now surging upward from below.

Splash. Splash.

The shoes and legs of the people running toward the teleportation circle Raon had drawn were beginning to get wet.

“How many are left!”

Cale shouted without realizing he had raised his voice, and Raon, somehow understanding him perfectly, answered back.

—One!

Just one more activation of the teleportation circle, and everyone would escape.

That meant they only had to hold out a little longer.

But Cale was uneasy.

That bastard knows it too.

The third Emperor, watching from above.

He had to know that as well.

And yet he was far too relaxed.

—And then one more after that, just ours!

The moment Cale heard Raon’s next words, he understood.

“Ah.”

The third Emperor had said he would catch the obstacles.

That did not mean the demons of Moraka Castle.

Only Cale’s group.

From the start, he had not cared whether the others escaped or not.

“A trap only needs to catch the prey.”

The third Emperor smiled as he said it.

“Bail out the water from the floor!”

“Don’t let the water reach the teleportation circle!”

Myaaaao!

Myao!

As On and Hong’s cries and many other voices rang out, Cale felt the air inside the gray shield growing heavier too.

Breathing was becoming harder and harder, as if even his lungs were slowly getting soaked.

Below the castle wall.

The seawater that had entered the castle by soaking through the ground spread into the air as well, swallowing and taking control of everything.

—Human! The mana in the air has slowed down! It’s not listening to me well! No, it is listening, but it’s slow! If I want to use it normally again, I need time to adapt!

Shaa—

The gray shield, barely enduring the pouring rain.

As if to make even that meaningless,

the third Emperor was effortlessly shaping his domain.

Using the earth and the sky.

Using every domain there was.

Is this really an ancient power?

Cale thought he was beginning to understand the true worth of individuality.

No—he thought he was beginning to understand just how powerful Five-Colored-grade individuality really was.

Now he understood what it meant when they said it was close to a god.

And if this was so, then what about actual gods?

To face beings like these, how much stronger would he need to become?

Would that battle not become something beyond imagination itself?

And above all—

What do I do?

Two teleportations.

No. One teleportation now, soon to unfold.

After that it would be their turn, so if they could just hold on until then—

Can we?

If even the air was being swallowed by the third Emperor, could they really escape?

Even as that thought crossed his mind, Cale’s eyes stayed fixed on the third Emperor.

And the third Emperor, as if delighted by that unyielding gaze, gave a hearty laugh and opened his mouth.

“It is domain.”

Then the third Emperor’s voice reached Cale’s ear.

“Individuality, that power, is ‘definition’ and ‘domain.’”

The third Emperor gave Cale a lesson.

“The moment you define your power, and determine for yourself the domain of that definition, everything becomes possible.”

Surely it would be all right to teach one thing to the being who had made this amusing situation, this entertainment.

Since he would soon be in his hands.

Since he would soon die.

Ancient powers have clear limits.

Cale Henituse was a being who could never possess Five-Colored-grade individuality.

And so the third Emperor taught him about what his opponent could never have.

“I am the sea.”

He had defined himself as the sea.

“And because I am the sea, wherever I am is the sea.”

Because he was the sea.

Then naturally, this place too was the sea.

Why? Because he was here.

The third Emperor smiled.

“In front of the sea, nothing is of any use.”

Whether forest. Castle. Ground.

What use could any of it be?

“All it needs to do is be swept away and submerged.”

The Dragon King spread both arms wide.

“Follow the way of the sea.”

In other words, follow his way.

“Sink.”

The instant he said that—

SHAA—

An enormous quantity of water burst forth from the water dragon.

Sky and earth.

Seawater rose rapidly from everywhere.

Especially where the Dragon King stood, the speed was monstrous.

By now, a vast mass of water had formed and was crashing in waves.

No, it was becoming something closer to a tidal wave.

It’s coming.

The height of that tidal wave kept rising, until it grew as tall as Moraka Castle itself.

The water snakes climbed atop it.

SHAA—

And then, together with the tidal wave, they came surging toward the walls of Moraka Castle, toward the castle itself.

Splash. Splash.

Inside the castle, in the places nearest the wall, water had already risen from the ground to knee height.

Soon the rear garden, where Raon was, would also be swallowed by water.

And then that place too would become the Dragon King’s domain.

There would be no using mana above that water.

—Cale.

The gluttonous priestess spoke in a trembling voice.

The gray shield was definitely weak.

Even Eruhaben-nim has slowed down.

The enormous ancient dragon stepping forward to meet the tidal wave head-on.

Beacrox and Ron were nowhere even to be seen.

Choi Han was desperately trying to chase down the water snakes.

Everyone looked short of breath.

What should he do here?

“Right. So it’s the sea.”

Cale reached out his hand.

Something other than the gray shield brushed against his fingers.

Cold.

Rough.

What touched his hand was the castle wall.

One side had collapsed, but thanks to Eruhaben, it had not all fallen and was still holding.

A wall that would soon have to endure not only the tidal wave, but Eruhaben being driven into it by that same tidal wave.

Right.

Stone.

This was stone.

Cale’s gaze turned toward the inside of the castle.

The seawater had entered through underground paths, yes—

but that was through the places where the floor was dirt.

Not stone.

Cale opened his mouth.

“How about it?”

There was one being who answered him.

As always, whenever they had to stand against overwhelming power—

this one had always stepped forward first.

—Cale.

The Ancient Tree spoke.

—Stone is everywhere.

Right.

The wall was stone. The castle was stone.

There was a great deal of stone here.

Cale’s eyes shone as he looked at the rough, dreary gray stone.

—No matter how fierce the sea may be, no matter how many raging waves it sends—

The Ancient Tree began to move in accordance with Cale’s will.

—there are always rocks that survive for thousands of years, even after being battered and worn down by those waves.

The stones of the wall, all the stones around Cale, began to vibrate.

Those gray things had not yet been worn away by the waves.

—So you’re saying we can’t hold out for a few measly minutes?

That was right.

At the Ancient Tree’s words, Cale smiled.

Then he opened his mouth.

As his companions fought on, breathing hard with exhaustion, he shouted to them.

“Get behind me, all of you!”

RUMBLE—

The ground being submerged in seawater trembled.

That tremor started from a place far below, then shook everything, from the earth itself to the castle wall standing above it.

Craaack.

The stone moved.

To create a gray shield that would endure the sea.