Clark looked down into the depths, but saw nothing. Just as he was about to speak, a violent tremor shook the bottom of the warship.
The enemy was lurking underwater!
Clark's face instantly turned pale. Right now, the warship had no explosives or torpedoes to deal with the underwater enemy, so they had to send someone down to investigate. However, judging from the sound, the enemy was obviously huge, and the dispatched sailors would almost certainly not return.
But what else could they do? Just watch the enemy destroy the ship? If the ship sank, hundreds of people would end up in the water immediately.
"Release the water ghosts," Clark ordered firmly.
"It's useless," Theodore responded. "The enemy is a dragon. Let my people handle it."
"A dragon?" Clark wasn't particularly surprised since he had encountered a dragon before. "Is it the same one as before?"
"No," Theodore replied.
While they talked, over a dozen priests had already changed into tight suits, grabbed their scepters, and jumped into the sea, diving towards the bottom of the ship.
Meanwhile, Linley was desperately clawing at the bottom of the ship. The bottom was covered in thick shipworms and barnacles. Though these creatures slowed the ship, they also provided a layer of protection. Linley was still getting used to his dragon form and couldn't exert his full strength underwater. Just as he figured out some tricks and broke through a layer of shells, revealing the real bottom of the ship, he saw the priests.
The priests raised their scepters, casting a strong holy light that illuminated the area around the bottom of the ship. Linley was fully exposed, and the holy light suppressed the divine power in his body. Fortunately, the dragon transformation was a skill of the dragon skin armor and didn't rely on divine power, or he would have reverted to his original form immediately.
Under the holy light, Linley felt extremely uncomfortable and instinctively lunged at one of the priests, snapping his jaws. The priest showed no fear and struck Linley's nose hard with the scepter.
The scepter looked like ordinary wood and had resistance in the water, but the strike made Linley's nose ache, causing him to sneeze loudly.
The priest took the opportunity to swim away, while the other priests used their scepters to emit holy light, enveloping Linley.
The holy light made Linley extremely uncomfortable, and he became agitated, only wanting to leave quickly. He swung his tail violently and dived into the deep sea, escaping the range of the holy light, and suddenly his mind cleared. In fact, the holy light hadn't caused him any substantial harm, so why did he flee?
Linley swam quickly in the deep sea, reaching the bottom of another ship, and rammed it hard again. Shells scattered, and he extended his claws to grip the bottom of the ship, biting the planks and shaking them desperately, soon breaking through a layer of wood. However, the bottom of the ship was thick and hadn't been breached yet. At this time, more than a dozen priests jumped into the water, holding scepters emitting holy light.
Linley greatly disliked the holy light, but this time he endured it and continued gnawing at the bottom of the ship. Seeing that he was unmoved, the priests approached with their scepters. Linley resisted the urge to devour them and kept biting the planks.
The priests got closer, and one of them swung the scepter, trying to hit Linley's head. Linley pounced, grabbed the scepter with one claw, pulled the priest close, and bit off half of him.
Blood oozed out, tinting the seawater red. The priest's body emitted a strong light, even the half in Linley's mouth. Linley couldn't stand the intense holy light flavor and quickly spat out the half of the priest's body.
The priest's body was quickly burned away by the holy light, and immediately after, an angel appeared, brandishing a sword at Linley. Linley nimbly sidestepped to dodge it. The angel swung the sword again, and he successfully dodged once more.
The massive dragon's body seemed awkward in the seawater, and its movements were even slower due to the holy light suppressing its divine power. The angel's sword grazed the dragon's skin, leaving a visible mark but causing no real damage. The dragon's tough skin was resilient enough to withstand such an attack.
The priests raised their scepters, releasing an even stronger holy light, making Linley extremely uncomfortable. However, he understood that killing these priests might provoke the arrival of more angels, which would be unwise.
Linley turned and swam towards the deep sea, with the angel chasing closely behind. The remaining priests, unable to keep up, surfaced. Linley quickly turned around, pulled out a slingshot, loaded a dragon tooth, infused it with divine power, and fired at the angel.
The angel was shocked; a dragon using a slingshot? It was not unusual for dragons, as intelligent beings, to master magic. Some dragons even equipped themselves with armor, but a dragon using a slingshot was unheard of.
The angel barely dodged the first dragon tooth but was hit by the second one. Immediately, there was a sharp pain in his back; the first dragon tooth had circled back with the water current and hit him as well.
Dragons have lots of sharp teeth that keep growing throughout their lives, unlike humans who can't eat if they lose their teeth. Given the long lifespan of dragons, having only one set of teeth would be insufficient for such a long time.
Dragon teeth are magical and, when used as bullets, have a homing ability. They burrowed into the angel's body, following the energy flow towards the heart. The angel hurriedly clutched his heart, trying with all his might to expel the dragon teeth.
At that moment, Linley fired more dragon teeth, and the angel, unable to dodge, was immediately riddled with holes. When the dragon teeth finally reached the heart, the angel's entire body burst into flames, even boiling the seawater.
The priests jumped back into the sea, and their scepters emitted holy light, immediately suppressing the divine power within Linley. If he used dragon teeth to shoot now, the effect would be greatly diminished.
The holy light was really irritating. Was there any way to counter it?
Seeing the angel vanish, the priests instantly realized what had happened and gasped in shock. They hadn't expected that in such a short time, the angel would be defeated by this dragon.
This dragon didn't look old, not an ancient dragon or an adult dragon, just an ordinary dragon around a hundred years old, comparable to a regular angel. How could it defeat an angel so quickly?
"What's your name?" a priest asked.
Linley didn't answer, just tilted his head and looked at him. This guy could actually talk underwater without opening his mouth, clearly using a spell to speak. Under the suppression of the holy light, Linley couldn't use his divine power, but they could cast spells. This was too unfair.
On the Roman flagship, the cardinal watched the seabed and suddenly said, "No, that's not a dragon."
"Not a dragon?" Clark was somewhat incredulous. "You mean we all saw it wrong?"
"No, someone used a spell to turn into a dragon," the cardinal explained.