Before him stretched the endless blue — the ocean glinting under the sun, waves lapping against a stone-strewn tidal flat.
A few Tetranadons lazed there in the shallows, sunning their bloated bellies.
Bai Chen unfolded his map.
This was it — the spot where the scouts had first sighted the Sea Dragon.
To save time, with no witnesses around, Bai Chen had asked Nergigante to carry him straight here by air.
Even at full speed, it had taken four hours to reach the coast.
He dismounted, landing softly on the wet stone.
Nergigante, obedient and calm, shrank her body and climbed to his shoulder, curling her wings around herself like a vigilant pet hawk.
Activating Super Perception, Bai Chen's mind spread outward — a silent pulse rippling across five hundred meters of terrain.
Every living thing within range appeared in his senses like echoes of light and motion.
But… nothing.
No traces of the Sea Wyvern. Not a single remnant of its passage.
"The scout's report wasn't false," Bai Chen murmured. "It's just that this beach wasn't part of the creature's regular route."
He frowned, gazing toward the horizon.
If the Sea Wyvern hadn't returned in a month, that meant this area had only been a temporary stopover — the sort of place a beast passed through once and never again.
Like a traveler resting at a highway station.
Which meant tracking it would be… nightmarish.
He stepped to the edge of the shore, feeling out into the waves with his perception.
Schools of fish. Coral clusters. Small marine wyverns are gliding under the surface.
But nothing even remotely like the Leviathan he was searching for.
He turned, preparing to move inland — and froze.
Two hundred meters behind him stood a figure.
Small. Barely a meter tall.
Wrapped entirely in a rough straw cloak that obscured its face and frame.
It hadn't made a sound.
It hadn't disturbed the air.
It hadn't even appeared in his Super Perception.
"How—?"
The figure didn't move. It simply stood there, a quiet presence in the mist.
But Bai Chen quickly recognized it.
An Ancient Wyverian.
The true natives of the New World — descendants of a forgotten age, living symbiotically with nature long before the Hunter's Guild had set foot on these lands.
He could sense no hostility from it.- Only… curiosity.
"Is it because of Nergigante?" Bai Chen guessed inwardly.
Still, he made no hostile gesture.
The Ancient Wyverians rarely interfered with outsiders, and the Research Commission respected that silence.
Their relationship was one of mutual distance — peaceful isolation.
He turned to leave, but then —
"You're searching for someone… or something?"
The voice was light, ageless, and calm, like wind through reeds.
Bai Chen stopped, slightly surprised.
Wyverians rarely initiated contact, much less conversation.
He hesitated, then replied plainly:
"I'm tracking a Leviathan — a Sea Wyvern. I don't suppose you've seen one recently, have you, elder?"
The cloaked figure tilted its head.
"If it is a blue-scaled lord of the sea you seek… then yes. Travel west for sixty kilometers. You'll find its nesting ground there."
Bai Chen turned his gaze westward.
Dense forest. Rugged cliffs. And monsters far stronger than those near the outpost.
But a lead like that couldn't be ignored.
The Sea Wyvern's electric organs were vital — a perfect reference for Zinogre's next stage of evolution.
Bai Chen reached into his pouch, pulled out a pink crystal — a thumb-sized Basarios Tear — and gently tossed it toward the Wyverian.
The gem clinked softly on the stones. The old one made no move to catch it.
Perhaps he didn't value such treasures. Maybe he didn't need to.
Still, Bai Chen bowed deeply.
"Thank you, elder. I'll remember your guidance. Until we meet again."
He patted Nergigante's neck.
With a low rumble, she expanded to full size, wings unfolding like blades of black steel, and took to the air.
The Wyverian watched in silence.
Perhaps he'd never before seen one of the Destruction Dragons — creatures said to bring calamity — so calmly carrying a human.
When Bai Chen and his partner vanished beyond the horizon, the old one finally crouched down, fingertips brushing the gem.
He picked up the gleaming tear and gazed at its faint glow for a long while before slowly turning back toward his village.
High above the forest, Bai Chen followed the directions westward.
He patted Nergigante's scaled neck.
"Lower altitude. Spread your Dominion Aura — scare off anything nearby."
She roared softly in response, her body cloaking in waves of red-black energy.
The effect was immediate.
Small monsters scattered in panic.
Even large wyverns below broke formation and fled deeper into the trees.
The pressure of an Elder Dragon's presence swept through the air like a storm.
Bai Chen joined her, releasing his own Apex Aura.
Dragon blood pulsed through his veins — a pressure equal to that of any true ancient beast.
Their combined energies intertwined, warping the air itself.
The forest fell silent.
Even the wind dared not howl.
"This is outside the Commander's territory," Bai Chen muttered. "No unnecessary fights. Stay alert and low."
Nergigante descended, skimming just above the treetops.
Bai Chen's Super Perception pulsed again, scanning the terrain.
Then, he caught something.
Far ahead, on the continent's edge, lay a stretch of sand mixed with dark rock — an empty shoreline, untouched and still.
"There. Let's take a look."
Nergigante banked and soared over the surf.
They hadn't been circling long when a deafening roar split the sea.
The waves exploded outward as a massive shape rose from the water.
A 29-meter-long leviathan, scales glistening like wet sapphire, lifted its head and bellowed a challenge.
Bai Chen's eyes lit up.
"There you are… so the Wyverian was telling the truth after all."
He didn't hesitate.
"We're not fighting here. Fall back, three kilometers — now."
Nergigante obeyed instantly, wings cutting through the wind as they retreated to a safe distance.
When they landed again, Bai Chen and Nergigante simultaneously withdrew their auras — concealing their presence from the sea's apex predator.
The battle to come would be their first true clash with a Map Ruler-class monster.
And Bai Chen wasn't about to make a single careless move.
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