Mysterious points of light rising from the seabed illuminated a vast stretch of the ocean.
Drawn by the glow, a staggering number of fish gathered in the water, darting through the waves like flocks of birds as they chased the drifting phosphorescence.
Everyone aboard the Knowledge Seeker gazed at the sea, which seemed to have transformed into a starry sky, and briefly lost themselves in the sight.
"What is that?!" Isis gaped.
The same question was on the mind of everyone aboard.
Some Scriveners even thought that since Nakarkos had vanished and the Knowledge Seeker could not dive to the seafloor to search for it anyway, the ship might as well descend closer to the surface.
They wanted to collect samples while they still could!
The Professor flatly rejected the suggestion from his younger colleagues.
Adjusting his glasses, he fixed his gaze on the shimmering sea. The sight reminded him of reports he had read years earlier.
"Maintain an altitude of at least two hundred meters and stay alert!" the Professor called to the helmsman.
Disappointed that they could not descend to the surface and collect samples, the Scriveners had no choice but to take out their portable cameras and photograph the phenomenon.
The Professor also warned them that flash photography was strictly prohibited, forcing the Scriveners to find ways to steady their cameras and extend the exposure time.
"Professor, could this be a trap set by Nakarkos?" Altaïr approached him and asked in a low voice.
Nakarkos had submerged and vanished into the ocean depths at the same moment that strange points of light began rising to the surface.
Perhaps Nakarkos had detected the Knowledge Seeker high above. It could be creating the strange glow to lure the ship lower before bursting from the sea in a surprise attack.
The reasoning seemed perfectly sound to Altaïr.
The points of light were not difficult to explain either. Nakarkos's bodily fluid contained faintly luminescent substances, as evidenced by the glittering bones scattered throughout its nest.
Moreover, using light to attract prey was common among marine creatures, so it would hardly be surprising if Nakarkos possessed a similar ability.
The Professor, however, shook his head.
"If my guess is correct, this isn't a trap laid by Nakarkos. It is a sign that another... Elder Dragon is about to appear."
Altaïr froze. "Another Elder Dragon?"
"A giant of light wandering the deep sea..." Beside him, Francesca gazed at the sea scattered with starlight and murmured softly.
"A giant of light?" Isis looked even more confused. "A person? There are people in the sea?"
Just as Francesca was about to explain, Sajji shouted from the crow's nest above, "Something's coming up from the seabed, meow!"
Everyone hurriedly looked toward the brightly illuminated surface.
Sure enough, a massive shadow was rising from the ocean depths. It was Nakarkos, which had vanished not long before.
The Monster was now entangled with another creature.
That creature was no small thing. Roughly twenty meters long, it had an elongated, streamlined body that glowed in the same hue as the points of light illuminating the sea.
A pair of crescent-shaped horns rose from its head. It repeatedly rammed Nakarkos and appeared to be in terrible pain.
Far larger than its opponent, Nakarkos had wrapped its long, powerful tentacle arms tightly around the creature as if determined to crush it to death.
The few Scriveners traveling aboard the Knowledge Seeker clutched their cameras, nearly delirious with excitement.
"That's the Giant of Light?" Isis looked at Francesca in confusion. "It isn't that big, and it doesn't look much like a person either."
Even the Professor could no longer restrain himself. He pulled out his portable sketchpad and charcoal pencil, drawing and writing at astonishing speed. "That is indeed a Ceadeus, the 'Giant of Light' Miss Sterling mentioned.
"Those points of light come from symbiotic luminescent algae and can be regarded as a sign of a Ceadeus's presence.
"Judging by its size, that one is probably a juvenile.
"We once found the skeleton of a juvenile Ceadeus in Nakarkos's nest. At the time, we could not determine whether Nakarkos truly preyed on Ceadeus calves or had merely happened upon a carcass.
"Now it appears to be the former.
"Preying on an Elder Dragon, even a juvenile, is exceedingly rare..."
"Ah." Isis watched the strange creature struggle and keen in Nakarkos's crushing grip for several seconds. "So it's a juvenile. I almost feel sorry for it."
Despite what she said, Isis only almost felt sorry for the creature.
It was like choosing between an adult Mosswine and a Mosswine piglet. Killing the adult would certainly weigh less on her conscience, but that did not stop her from loving roast suckling pig.
The thought of rushing to the creature's rescue never crossed her mind.
"Professor, should we attack while we have the chance?" Morgan suggested without a hint of mercy. "Blanket them with cannon fire."
The Professor stopped drawing. He scanned the surface, his brow gradually furrowing.
"The area covered by the luminescent algae is clearly expanding. Something isn't right..."
"It isn't just the area. The points of light, I mean the density and brightness of the luminescent algae, are increasing too," Altaïr said, nodding as he studied the sea below, now almost entirely blanketed by the glowing algae.
The Professor's face drained of color as realization struck.
He threw aside his sketchpad and shouted to the Airship's helmsman, "Climb! Climb now!"
Amid the mechanical roar of the accelerating engines, the Knowledge Seeker tilted slightly and began spiraling upward.
The Hunters hurried to the ship's rail and continued watching the sea of stars below grow ever brighter.
Beneath the waters where Nakarkos and the juvenile Ceadeus were entangled and biting at each other, a golden glow emerged from the deepest reaches of the ocean.
With a thunderous crash of surging water, a pair of crescent-shaped golden horns burst through the waves and launched Nakarkos clear of the sea, even as the Elder Dragon refused to release the juvenile Ceadeus.
"BRRRROOOOOOOOMMMM!!" A roar so deep that it made every chest tighten resounded across the sea and sky.
The golden gargantuan beast stretched its body through the night sky, broad pectoral fins spreading like the outstretched arms of a giant.
"Look! The last one was too small! This is the real Giant of Light!" Francesca gripped the ship's rail with both hands and shouted in excitement.
The impact hurled Nakarkos nearly a hundred meters above the surface. Its tentacle arms, still wrapped tenaciously around the juvenile, convulsed and released their grip.
The golden Ceadeus and Nakarkos crashed back into the ocean together, throwing up tsunami-like waves.
"That's no ordinary Ceadeus! It's the subspecies, a Goldbeard Ceadeus!"
"Is that thing nearly a hundred meters long?"
"At least eighty! This could be the largest Ceadeus specimen ever observed!"
The scholars aboard the Knowledge Seeker were beside themselves with excitement, especially those clutching cameras. They did not care whether any film remained; their fingers never left the shutter releases.
Nakarkos knew it was no match for the monstrously large Goldbeard Ceadeus. It pulled in its tentacle arms and limbs, trying to dive into the deep sea and escape.
That escape route might have worked against the Knowledge Seeker in the air, but it was useless against a Goldbeard Ceadeus that also came from the deep.
The golden supergiant Sea Beast dove even faster. The surface briefly grew calm, but barely a dozen seconds later, Nakarkos burst from the waves once more, lifted on the Goldbeard Ceadeus's enormous curved horns...
Clearly, the Goldbeard intended to batter the giant squid to death for daring to harm its calf!
Realizing it could not escape, Nakarkos, itself an apex predator of the ocean, was finally driven into a frenzy.
Its two bone-dragon tentacle arms and the short, thick tentacles around its mouthparts seized the Goldbeard Ceadeus by the chest and neck, just as they had seized the calf earlier.
But the adult Goldbeard Ceadeus was far stronger than the calf. It coiled its long tail around Nakarkos's main body and tried to crush the Monster until it burst.
Although Nakarkos wore armor made of bones, the repeated bombardment of cannon fire and Barrel Bombs had already riddled the plates with cracks. As the Goldbeard Ceadeus tightened its enormous tail with all its strength, the once-solid bone armor began to shatter.
Amid the crunch and crack of breaking bone, a torrent of foul green blood mixed with fragments of internal organs was forced from Nakarkos's mouthparts.
With death closing in, Nakarkos roared soundlessly. Countless dazzling red points of light rose from within its body, flickering faster and faster.
Tremendous energy gathered in its mouth before finally erupting as a crimson beam several meters across, illuminating the sea and the night sky.