Ermina—
At such a close distance, the city's residents naturally saw the giant eye.
Besides the murmuring residents below, a young man with long blue curly hair, horns on his head, a tattoo near his right eye, and hair covering one eye also looked up at the sky from a rooftop. He was the Water Dragon God Mercphobia, worshiped as a deity by humans.
He quickly noticed that the ship was heading towards Ermina.
"Is it a new assassin sent by the Law Dragon? But... I'm not afraid."
Although his views had somewhat changed in recent years, he was still the Water Dragon God known as the "Calamity." He feared no challenge.
Beside him was a little girl of about five or six years old with short blonde hair, clinging to his sleeve and looking up with fearful eyes.
"Water...Water God...sir."
Mercphobia's eyes moved as he muttered to himself, "Let me think, I should smile, right?"
He used his fingers to awkwardly pull his lips into a smile. "Are you scared of that big eye, Karamiru (Karameel)?"
Unfortunately, the little girl didn't quite understand his words. She just looked at his eyes and repeated, "Water... God...sir."
Mercphobia patted Karamiru's head gently, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
Five years ago, he had saved this little girl on a whim. Her genuine smile at the time had prompted him to keep her and give her a name, Karamiru.
The first name this little girl learned wasn't Karamiru, but the endearing "Water God Sir," a title she called with heartfelt affection.
...
This guild, the oldest in the world 'Magia Dragon', was now guarded solely by its guild master, the Dragon Mage Elefseria.
He waited for someone who could fulfill his commission, which had gone unfulfilled for a hundred years—sealing the Five Dragon Gods.
When he killed the Earth Dragon Dogramag, he gave up the "Heart of the Dragon Mage." Now, he was no longer capable of slaying dragons; he could only silently await someone fated to undertake the task.
He didn't have much interest in Irene, who suddenly appeared with immense magical power. He only glanced at her briefly, as long as she wasn't a dragon, that was enough for him.
With his current abilities, persuading Irene to undertake the hundred-year task was like a fool's dream; he had no significant offering to make.
On the deck of the "Great Red"—
Irene looked meaningfully into the distance. "It seems... we're being watched, from different directions."
"..."
Aegon's silence was deafening. He could only sense differences when someone exhibited immense magic, not from distant gazes.
At this moment, he realized the value of auxiliary magic. However, he was too lazy to learn; he had Irene now, and he could learn later when they settled down.
Mera was puzzled. "But... why don't I feel being watched at all?"
Irene disregarded Mina's questioning. "You're still weaker."
Although Mera's strength was sufficient to serve as one of Ishgar's top ten holy mages, the gap between her and the Five Dragon Gods was too vast.
After all, Irene's initial purpose in attaching herself to Mera was not for combat, but simply to have her serve Aegon.
Ermina—
The residents gazed towards the ocean as the port city welcomed special guests.
"What a strange ship."
"Look, there seem to be several beautiful women on the bow!"
"What a pity... there are men too."
Aegon and Irene immediately noticed something different about this city.
With their vision, even from a distance, they could clearly see the moss on the city buildings.
Irene frowned; she didn't like the somewhat dirty appearance of the city, and the smell in the air made her uncomfortable.
Soon, they learned that the seawater at the port was rising at a visible rate, quickly flooding the city streets and rising past the residents' ankles and shins.
Irene ordered calmly, "Mera, ascend."
"Yes!" Under Mera's control, the "Great Red" quickly rose into the air.
To Aegon and Irene's surprise, the residents here remained calm, some even joking about going out on dates...
And soon, the seawater rose above the residents' heads.
Before Aegon and Irene's eyes, the residents transformed into fish.
Soon, the entire city was submerged in seawater.
Watching the various fish swimming in the water, Aegon couldn't help but quip, "Even sharks are here... What's going on?"
Irene quickly realized, "So that's why there's so much moss on the city walls and garbage on the streets."
Juliet leaned over the railing excitedly, observing below, "So these humans are actually fish? So... this is a city of fish!"
Irene shook her head. "No, they're humans, just enchanted by magic."
Aegon added, "And if you look closely, you can still see human features."
Aegon also noticed they were humans; no magic was needed, just his nose to smell, and the scent was indeed human.
And most of the fish the residents turned into had human faces atop fish bodies.
Human-faced fish? It looked eerie no matter how you sliced it.
And he also caught a whiff of dragon scent, albeit very faint. Outside of a place like Elmina, it was almost impossible to catch that kind of scent.
Suddenly, the seawater below seemed to be neatly cut into fan-shaped blades.
Juliet and Mera's pupils contracted.
"Eh! The sea is..."
Even the usually calm Heine couldn't help but exclaim, "Cut?!"
A blue water ball, vaguely enveloping a figure, flew out from the split seawater!
The water on both sides surged several meters high, like two giant waterfalls, crashing down!
The blue water ball then came in front of the ship and burst with a "bang."
A figure with wet blue hair, Mercphobia, stood on a water mirror, facing Irene and Aegon.
Mercphobia's expression was somewhat gloomy. "Guests from afar, are you sent by Elefseria to kill me?"
Irene furrowed her brows slightly. "Elefseria? Who's that?"
Seeing Irene's genuine confusion, Aegon, standing beside her, also seemed unfamiliar with the name of the Dragon Mage.
Mercphobia chuckled unexpectedly, "I thought you were sent by Elefseria."
For nearly a hundred years, mages who accepted Elefseria's commission came one after another to assassinate Mercphobia, making him somewhat numb to it.
"If there's nothing urgent, please leave. This place isn't suitable for living or sightseeing."
With that, Mercphobia intended to turn and leave.
Irene's lips parted slightly. "No, there is something."
"Oh?"
With a smile on her face, Irene said leisurely:
"Please... leave your life behind."
As soon as the words fell, Irene, still smiling, transformed directly into a red dragon with white scales on her belly, red scales covering her back, and wings—the Dragon of Wisdom, Belserion!
Irene's initial contract dragon—the Dragon of Wisdom, Belserion!
The death threat from Irene just now had seemed like a joke to Mercphobia.
With his extensive experience in the survival of the fittest, he had been through numerous battles. However, the immense magical power emanating from Irene made Merukhovia somewhat surprised.
"Although I have no intention of fighting you, I won't surrender either!"
Mercphobia also revealed his true form as a water dragon.
A giant serpent-like dragon with five horns on its head, more prominent on its nose and cheeks, with double wings on its back, larger than Belserion's form, appeared before everyone.
Aegon raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing the Water Dragon. It looked more like a sea serpent and seemed even larger than the original Black Dragon, possessing the power to control the ocean—no wonder it was called a dragon god.
However, the original Black Dragon, as he evolved, had been growing in size along with his level. Moreover, a dragon's size was a manifestation of strength, but not everything. There were dragons with small bodies but great power. In his memories, he had killed a dragon less than ten meters long with tiger-like stripes on its body.
The two dragons confronted each other in the sky.
"Gurgle—"
Mercphobia emitted a low growl, resembling a twelve-cylinder engine, full of threats and intimidation.
Juliet and the others couldn't help but tremble, just like Mercphobia's reaction.
However, Aegon's response was completely different from what they expected. He seemed overly indifferent.