Aqua
I spend a few hours just slaughtering the snakes and eels before running out of the creatures to kill. Yet I never run into whatever made the tunnel. So I’m not really sure what happened anymore.
Did it actually get killed by the shark? Or maybe it left the caves?
Then again, it could just be asleep.
Regardless, I continue to search the cavern despite not seeing any snakes or eels left alive. All the way until I reach the very back of the cavern.
But there still isn’t anything here.
Huh.
Very weird.
Did it really leave?
Or just plain die?
I look around a bit longer, but right when I’m about to leave, I notice something rather strange. That being how the wall is a slightly different shade here than the rest of the cavern.
So I take a closer look at the wall, even narrowing my eyes.
Then I notice something that makes my heart metaphorically drop to my stomach in anxiety and a touch of fear.
Please tell me I’m wrong…
I slowly and very carefully back away to take a better look at this wall. And as I do, I finally begin to notice the difference in texture between the wall and the rest of the cavern.
Then the wall begins to move.
I watch in more than a little terror as the wall moves further in, revealing more cavern as the monster heads deeper through. But I just float here frozen in place.
After the ‘wall’ stops moving deeper inside again, I take a moment to identify the wall.
And the result has me breaking out into a cold sweat.
[Serpial Deel – Level 51]
The moment I see that identify result, everything clicks in my mind.
The shark’s flee of terror. The rubble around the entrance to this tunnel. The rubble in the tunnel.
Everything fits together.
And…
My gaze slowly turns towards an exit I see in the caves that this massive snake just revealed.
…this monster came from outside of the caves and made its own home here.
I can see the chat flashing by so quickly that I can’t read any of the comments left there, but I don’t care. I just slowly begin to swim away from the massive snake. One the size of this entire cavern and clearly capable of eating stone since it’s the one who dug said cavern.
Come to think of it, what was with all the snakes and eels?
Please don’t tell me they were…
The snake begins moving again, making its head finally appear. Revealing its big serpentine, slit eyes in all their glory.
And when it notices the dead snakes and eels behind me, I swear those eyes go red in anger.
Then they lock onto me in an instant.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“Fuck,” I mutter out loud before immediately swimming away in the direction of the massive cavern on the other end of this one. And just a second later, the cavern around me begins to tremble as the serpent starts chasing after me. Not bothering with turning as it destroys the cavern while moving.

Within the Orcayne Manor
General Orcayne, otherwise known as Seravos Orcayne, the patriarch of the Orcayne family, taps his cane on the ground as he walks despite not needing the cane himself. But it is a convenient place to hide a sword, so he uses it anyways.
All the servants who he passes in the hall immediately stop to bow to him before continuing with their work. And when he finally arrives at his destination, the servants outside the guest room open the door for him to pass through without him even pausing.
Revealing the man on the other side of the room.
Rhettfelt Hydrignis, a member of the Hydra Bloodline.
The Bloodline isn’t exactly an ally of the Abyssal Orca’s Orcayne family, but they aren’t necessarily an enemy either. So placing the girl in his hands was an acceptable solution for the issue.
Seravos steps into the room as his cane taps the floor ahead of his every step. Making Rhettfelt stand up from the couch and reach out a hand.
The general shows a brief flash of surprise before deciding to accept the handshake. Then the two of them both sit down and Rhettfelt says, “She has agreed to meet with you, General Orcayne.”
Seravos grunts in agreement without saying a word, briefly snapping his finger to call a servant to bring tea.
“She’ll be surprised to meet you, you know that, right?” Rhettfelt asks a clearly rhetorical question.
“Regardless of her feelings on the matter, the documents are already being filed,” Seravos says, his slightly gravelly voice echoing through the room. The one sign of his age visible despite his otherwise young appearance.
Rhettfelt looks a little surprised at that before tilting his head and asking, “You didn’t think to ask her first?”
The general doesn’t answer. He just leans both hands on his cane, tapping it on the floor in front of him.
“She won’t like this,” Rhettfelt says with a dark look in his eyes, surprising Seravos in the process.
Enough that Seravos asks, “When did you grow to like her?”
His words don’t even seem to surprise Rhettfelt as the Hydra Bloodliner answers, “I’m not sure. But I think I’ve grown to see her like a little sister in a way.”
Silence fills the guest room. A tense one that has Rhettfelt trying hard not to break eye-contact with the most powerful Bloodliner in the Alliance.
“Regardless of your or her feelings on the matter, the girl needs protection,” Seravos eventually breaks the tense silence. “This is nothing more than a formality. She can fight it if she wants, but she won’t get anywhere.”
The man in front of Seravos – a mere boy in the general’s eyes – grits his teeth. But he holds his tongue.
Because he knows Seravos is correct.
No one in the Alliance holds as much influence as General Orcayne of the Alliance’s military other than the Grand Chancellor himself.
“What are you even planning on saying when you meet with her anyways?” Rhettfelt grounds out through gritted teeth.
Seravos sips his tea as he answers, “That I filed the documents detailing our connection and she needs to prepare for the changes it will bring.”
The moment he finishes speaking, a spark of rage flashes through Rhettfelt’s eyes as he almost shouts, “Your ‘connection’!? Why don’t you just call it like it is?! You’re her-”
His words are cut off when a loud alarm blares from both of their phones. Making the two of them share a glance before checking their phones.
And what they see on it instantly has them both going tense.
Without a word, Seravos taps his cane on the floor again, ordering the screen in the guest room to lower. Following which it turns on to show Aqua’s livestream.
As she is swimming for her life away from a massive serpent that’s destroying the cavern behind her it’s so large.
Seravos narrows his eyes as his grip on his cane clenches ever so slightly. Which isn’t missed by Rhettfelt, making the younger Bloodliner almost want to smile a little at the sight of the general worried.
But now isn’t the time to smile as he worriedly watches Aqua repeatedly swimming around one pillar after another in her attempt to get away from the snake. One that seems enraged at her for some reason, making the two watching wonder just what she did to it.
And the chase continues all the way back to the main cavern of the caves, where she enters before the snake follows behind her. Bursting partially through the wall in the process, sending more rubble flying to join the rest of the rubble there.
Neither of the two watching, nor Aqua herself, show any relief at her managing to reach the cavern. Because now that the snake is out in the open, they all finally get a look at the snake’s entire body.
Showing its length of fifty entire meters, with a height of four meters.
And its two enormous and slit, glowing green eyes glare directly at Aqua with absolute rage.
“This is bad,” Rhettfelt states as he watches the battle, clenching his fists at his sides while an overwhelming sense of helplessness fills him.
Seravos sees this in the corner of his eyes, but he can’t help but keep his eyes on the screen as a face flashes across his mind.
Despite that, he tries as hard as he can to hold it all in. To not show even an ounce of emotion.
But the sight of Aqua swimming through the cavern and eventually making it into the tunnel leading towards the exit just makes him clench his cane even harder.
Until the head of his cane finally shatters under his grip.