Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Ailuka heard it too—that strange sound.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

It was getting closer and closer, and now she could hear it clearly.

It was a heartbeat.

Loud and deep, like the beat of war drums.

“A heartbeat...”

Her pupils contracted.

Her hearing was sharper than most people’s—even sharper than Rode’s, who was a trained warrior.

But this was a stormy lake.

For a heartbeat to be audible over the howling wind and crashing rain, it had to be impossibly powerful.

And the creature behind that heartbeat... had to be immense.

“...No good.”

“Run!”

Ailuka looked toward Rode and Tia, still standing atop the Lake Master's corpse, and screamed at the top of her lungs:

“Watch ou—!”

The final “—ut” was drowned out by the boom of a wave exploding upward.

In the blink of an eye, the mist blanketing the lake was torn apart. A massive black monstrosity erupted from the water, its blood-red eyes blazing with fury. Jagged scales and bone spines flashed with blinding lightning.

“The Lake Master...”

“Another one...”

“How’s that even possible?!”

They stared at the colossal black fish—even larger than the one before—in utter disbelief.

But there was no time for shock.

Rode instantly gripped his sword, aura surging around the blade. Without hesitation, he activated his combat skill—Lion’s Roar—and charged ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) straight at it, the shockwave from the roar visibly warping the air.

They were surrounded by water. Escape wasn’t an option.

Their only chance was to face it head-on.

The shockwave collided with the lightning—an instant later, a towering tsunami surged upward!

“Damn it... this thing’s strong...”

Rode was pushed back step by step, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

In just a few exchanges, he was completely overwhelmed.

Of course he was—he’d been ambushed.

And the one ambushing him was a behemoth nearly thirty meters long.

“I’ve got you!”

Thankfully, Tia wasn’t just a pretty face—she was a genuine Tier 3 mage.

“Burn—Crimson Flame Magic!”

Once again, she skipped the chant and instant-cast a powerful spell. A massive pillar of fire erupted with searing heat, rushing straight toward the Lake Master, who had dropped its guard.

If it hit—even if it didn’t injure it severely—it would surely drive it back.

But...

In that creature’s inhuman eyes, something human flickered—mockery.

To Tia’s horror, the Lake Master raised its wide tail and slammed it down hard on the lake’s surface!

A towering wall of water surged up like a shield of despair and smashed into the incoming flames.

Hiss—

Steam exploded. The water evaporated in an instant, extinguishing the flame. Mist swirled and thickened all around them, reducing visibility to nearly zero.

The new Lake Master sank beneath the surface again, vanishing into the fog.

“I was gonna say—this is exactly why you don’t use fire spells in this kind of environment!”

Ailuka, who hadn’t landed on the old Lake Master's corpse but had been floating in the air, was still safe for now. She used wind magic to disperse the steam, grumbling as she did so:

“You’re just making things worse for us!”

“Shut up, would you?”

Tia snapped back coldly.

“You’re not the one down here in danger. How the hell would you know what the optimal spell is in that situation?”

“Using fire spells on a lake was the mistake from the beginning.”

“And wasn’t it my fire spell that helped kill the first one?! What exactly have you done, huh? Nothing but whine and judge me!”

“I was just pointing out the mistake—”

“I didn’t make a mistake!”

“All right, all right, both of you cut it out.”

Rode stepped between them, trying to keep things civil with the most diplomatic tone he could manage.

“Save your energy. We’re still in the middle of a fight.”

“Hmph.”

Tia scoffed and crossed her arms.

“Fine. For Rode’s sake, I won’t bother arguing with this hick.”

Hick...?

Crack.

That was the second time today Ailuka nearly snapped her staff in two.

Just because she’s a little prettier and a little more stacked, she thinks she can call me a hick?

Does she even realize that the Rode she’s been clinging to so desperately is from the same village as the “hick” she’s mocking?

“I knew I never should’ve agreed to let her join our party...”

The only reason she had was because Rode looked so worn out.

Otherwise, she would never have let anyone disrupt their two-person world.

...

God, she was annoying.

...

Still, they were in combat, and her character was supposed to be the soft, sweet, and kind-hearted girl.

Now wasn’t the time to let her temper flare.

Ailuka reined herself in and shifted her focus back to scanning the lake.

“Dominant-class magical beasts don’t share territory.”

“Unless... they’re a mating pair.”

Her eyes drifted toward the corpse beneath Rode’s feet.

“Judging by appearances, the one attacking us now is the female.”

In most magical species, females tended to be significantly larger than males.

And size, in this world, meant power.

“Dominant-class beasts are highly intelligent... So what would it do now?”

Ailuka’s gaze slowly locked on the corpse.

Rode was still standing on it. As a warrior, he preferred solid footing—hovering in the air weakened his techniques.

“If it were me, what would I do right now...?”

As she thought this, her eyes suddenly widened.

If she were the Lake Master, right now, she would—

“RODE!”

“TIA!”

“DON’T MOVE!”

Three years of experience had trained Ailuka to act faster than she could think.

Before she even realized it, her staff was already raised, casting a double Float spell on Rode and Tia.

“Wha—Hey! What the hell are you doing?!”

There was a clear difference between floating by your own spell and being force-lifted by someone else. The sudden feeling of being picked up was deeply uncomfortable.

Tia immediately assumed Ailuka was retaliating—and was already preparing to complain to Rode.

But the words caught in her throat.

Because she saw it.

The corpse of the Lake Master—where she and Rode had just been standing—suddenly sank into the water!

So abruptly that the resulting splash nearly knocked them out of the air.

As expected, Ailuka thought grimly. The first thing it would do is retrieve its mate’s corpse. A magical beast would never allow its partner to be stomped on by humans.

“And next, the second thing it’ll do is...”

The once-violent surface of the lake suddenly fell still.

As smooth as a mirror, it reflected the dark clouds above and the two floating figures.

Ripples spread.

A whirlpool began to form—small at first, then quickly growing.

As if some invisible hand was stirring the water.

At the center of that whirlpool... the Lake Master rose again.

Lightning gathered at its monstrous horn, flickering dangerously.

Its furious gaze locked onto the two humans who had dared to stand atop its partner.

“Just as I thought—it’s about to go all-out for revenge.”

“But...”

Ailuka stared, momentarily stunned, at the lightning building on its horn.

“...A long-range attack?”