There was a momentary silence for a few seconds.
Badump. Badump. Badump.
His heart thumped loudly and he was sure others could hear the sound of his heart beating.
A bead of sweat rolled down from his temple along his forehead to his cheekbones to his chin.
Kai wasn't afraid of death but that didn't necessarily mean that he wanted to die being shredded to pieces.
He steadied his sporadically beating heart and calmed his nerves, waiting to see what the monster would do next.
He watched like a predator waiting for his prey to make a move to counterattack the monster.
He inhaled sharply as he watched the sea dragon lower its head. Soon their gazes collided for the first time.
Time seemed to stop. He felt a throbbing and suffocating pain in his chest the moment the sea dragon's eyes came to rest on his eyes.
He gasped as the pain became unbearable to suffer silently, but he still didn't withdraw his gaze.
Something deep within him stirred that went beyond his body and mind. It felt like a calling for his soul. As if he recognized the existence in front of him.
It was the same feeling he had when he first saw Arad.
At that time, he thought he was sad because of the scene at the cave, so he discarded the sensation thinking it was mere sadness.
As the stifling sadness and pain dulled from an enormous ocean to a slow trickle of water, Kai became aware of his surroundings.
The sea dragon had coiled around him during the time he fell into a trance and when he met eyes with it, its eyes were full of fondness and boundless joy.
As if it was looking at a long-lost treasured person. But Kai was sure he hadn't used much force when he entered the mind of the sea dragon.
He had merely used aa smidgen of strength to nudge him to show the sea imugi and its chaos energy towards the sea dragon.
It was its own will and decision to attack it after he transmitted an image of the sea imugi attacking them.
'No. To be precise, it was an image of the imugi attacking him.'
Kai realized as his mind became clear.
But he didn't have time to ponder such matters. In his peripheral, he saw movements.
When he slightly turned his head to see what was going on, he was met with the sight of the other three preparing to attack the monster and rescue him.
When both him and the sea dragon was stuck in a daze, Ruwel had sneakily reached where they were.
Seeing that he had turned towards him, Ruwel extended his hand towards him as if he couldn't wait to reach out and grab him.
The sea dragon turned its head to see what Kai was distracted with. When the others entered its field of vision, it snarled viciously and menacingly glared down at them.
The sea dragon hid Kai behind it protectively between its coiled body and reared its enormous head as if it would attack them any moment.
Being stared down by the sea dragon, they felt like they were standing on pins and needles. Any wrong action and they would drown in a blood bath.
If they were to fall into a fight with this monster, they would surely lose.
Even if all three of them fought together against this monster, it was inevitable.
All of them were exhausted from the fight with all the monsters they slain and their most vicious attacks had no effect on the sea imugi.
But for them to fight against a monster who could very easily defeat the sea imugi without wasting much effort, they felt they were on the precipice of death.
Even still, they wanted to try. For their country. For the strange but lovable youth trapped between the coils of the monster.
This moment was the calm before the storm. Both sides were preparing for battle. The atmosphere was taut with tension and unbridled aggressiveness.
But this tense air shattered the moment a voice interrupted them.
"Wait!"
It was a melodic voice that could soothe even the cruelest of beings.
At that moment, it revealed a hint of uneasiness and strength. It was as if the person behind the voice would stop the fight breaking out between them no matter what.
Slightly reluctant but puzzled, three of them along turned to him.
Kai didn't want to fight.
He hadn't used any trick or ability on the sea dragon to tame it. Its mind bore no resistance towards his intrusion. It shouldn't be so docile towards him.
There was something strange going on. He didn't want to make rash decisions without any clue.
To figure out the deeply hidden intricate machinations, he had to keep the sea dragon with him.
More than that, when he thought about attacking and hurting the sea dragon, his emotions swelled.
He became upset and unwilling to hurt the sea dragon. It was an instinctual reaction.
Michael had a puzzled and bewildered expression on his face as he questioned him.
"Why are you asking us to wait ?"
Kai couldn't reply just yet.
His gut feeling told him the method he was going to coax the sea dragon would work. But he wasn't sure how to explain it to them.
"Please give me some time."
Without waiting for a reply, he turned towards the sea dragon.
He raised his hand and lowered it towards the coiled body of the sea dragon.
He gently rubbed the black scales and the hard flesh. He softly caressed the sea dragon.
A long-buried name rolled between his lipa and slipped out as he called the sea dragon affectionately.
"Sasha."
Previously aggressively sneering sea dragon turned towards him, his menace washing away and giving into fondness and maternal tenderness.
Kai even suspected he was having visionary hallucinations because he was sure he saw pink bubbles and flowers appear behind the sea dragon when Sasha turned to him.
Sasha tilted his head adorably like a big dog who was asking for head pats from its owner.
Seeing this behavior, everyone was stupefied and stunned. Kai was also not an exception.
He quickly hid his expression and composed himself again. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough to escape the eyes of Michael and Ruwel.
"Please don't fight, Sasha."
Gururururuuuu...
Sasha purred like a kitten asking for milk and lowered her giant head and nestles into his arms.
She closed her eyes and rested her head on his right shoulder.
Behind her head, the three power houses stared blankly at the scene unfolding before them.
Across Sasha's giant head, they crossed their gazes with the bewildered youth and all their drifted towards the end of the sea dragon's body.
Just like the sea imugi, Sasha also had a mermaid like enormous tail.
That tail had broken through the surface of the water and kept slapping the water.
No. To be clear...
'Is that huge monster waging its tail like a dog ?'
They all stared stupidly at the monster receiving gentle head pats.
*****
"So that's what happened."
Oliver exclaimed in shock.
The ship was stopped at the ring of black rock beddings, known as 'the valley of the wailing.'
Jack had maneuvered the ship to stop at the outer layer of the valley instead of sailing inside.
After the tumultuous incident, they all should have a good rest. Currently, Michael was in the bedroom he had rented in the ship.
He was resting on the bed leaning his upper body on the headboard of the bed. He had removed his luxurious red coat and changed his clothes into a loose white shirt and a tight-fitting black pants.
The plain wooden bed looked like a luxurious throne rather than a sleeping furniture.
The simple action of half lying down on the bed looked rather like a dignified and elegant maneuver of a dancer in the face of the overwhelming handsomeness of Michael.
He was just finishing his recount of the battle after the ship had escaped from the monsters.
The battle between the monsters and them was definitely awe inspiring.
For Michael, Ruwel, Enzo and Kai, the battle might have just been a hard-won battle.
But to normal people, it was a truly terrifying battle that they would not be able to walk away unscathed or alive.
Sritch. Scitch.
Oliver was recording the details of the battle and noting them down a leather-bound book.
Since becoming the secretary of the first imperial prince, he had done a careful job.
He was meticulous and hard working. He was never distracted from doing his duty well.
The pen that was frantically going up and down on the paper suddenly stopped.
An uncertain expression crossed his face as he raised his head hesitantly like he wasn't sure whether to inquire about it or not.
"Your highness... Should I add the fact that the monsters are escorting us at the valley of the wailing ? What about the fact that the huge monster is being controlled by Keith ?"
The imperial prince had closed his eyes after he finished his recount of the events. At the mention of Keith, he eyes sprang open.
The peaceful and ruddy expression on his face changed to an extremely focused expression.
Oliver was startled at his unrestrained expression. He had never seen that kind of an expression on his face.
"Where is he now ?"
"It was reported that he's in the main deck."
Despite his earlier surprise, he answered back dutifully.
As a person who was in a high position and sub-ordinate of an even more high-profile person, he managed the information network directly.
The thorough information network focused on gathering information on enemies, neutral parties and variables. It didn't spare allies either.
At this moment, Keith was a variable.
"I see."
Michael replied with an expressionless face and immediately stood up.
"You can go and rest after leaving the report."
After wearing a black coat, he left the room.
Oliver stared at the sturdy back of the person with complex emotions.