Alex thought it was funny that Zain actually tried to keep up with him under the water instead of taking his time. The fact Zain was red in the face as he swam was due to this stubborn streak of his that didn't like being challenged. Despite his effort however it was clear that he was out of his league as Alex was far ahead of him while only swimming leisurely. Zain quickly realized this and dialed his efforts backs so he didn't accidentally cause problems during the actual fight with the laventis.
Alex was the first to see the monster thanks to his telescopic sight and he immediately slowed down to let Zain catch up. Zain was all business when he did catch up since he knew that any slip up might mean his or Alex's death. Competitiveness had it's place and he had learned the hard way that in the middle of a team hunt was not it. He felt the long ugly scar on his chest tingle slightly at this thought but he ignored it to focus on the job ahead. Alex found a sandy spot on the reef and dove down to it and waved Zain over.
Zain was confused at this but understood when Alex started to write in the sand while being careful not to stir up the water. "We should try and capture the monster so the scholars can get as much information as possible , if this is impossible distract it so I can kill it instantly with a surprise attack." he wrote on the sand carefully. Zain looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding at Alex , giving him a thumbs up and then swimming to the surface again to fill his lungs and prepare. 'Let's see what you've got red' Alex thought looking at the monster in the distance with narrowed eyes.
Alex and Zain approached the area that the monster was sitting still on the top of the corals in what was a poor attempt to blend in. Alex signaled Zain to flank the monster and started to swim directly towards it's head so it would pay attention to him instead of Zain. This worked too as the monsters eyes locked on to Alex when he got close enough for it to be clear that he wasn't just passing through. "FRRRRR!" A low growl reverberated through the water from the monster as it warned Alex in an attempt to scare him away.
"RAAAAAWWWW!"
Alex unfurled his wings and roared at the monster as loud as he could which also startled Zain as he FELT the sound waves hit him from it. Alex was surprised to see the monster recoil fearfully from him and lower it's head submissively at his show of force. Zain and Alex shared a look at this that had the same question in it "what do we do now?". Alex had never actually tried to make a monster submit to him so he wasn't prepared at all for his target to figuratively roll over and ask for mercy.
It was honestly kind of a buzz kill for both Zain and Alex to be honest since they had gotten ready for this big conflict only for the enemy to be a wimp. Alex swam over to the monster and besides shivering in place it didn't do anything. Disappointed Alex carefully drugged the monster to a sleep that it did not dare to resist before picking it up and swimming back to astera with it. Alex didn't realize it but the reason that he had made the monster submit was because of his striking resemblance to a normal elder dragon.
Every monster in the world had a sort of instinct about elder dragons that made them usually submit or flee from them. Even though Alex lacked the aura of an elder dragon his appearance had tricked the monster into thinking he was and submitting. Still since no one knew this it was simply attributed to Alex's prestige as an elder dragon and pushed aside for the most part. The scholars were thrilled to receive the monster in mint condition however as they immediately started taking samples and notes on it's biology.
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