Water Dragon Yena's Perspective (First Appearance) Along with the massive volume of rushing water, I—having taken on my mermaid form—advanced through the upper layer of the Great Ello Dungeon.
Truly, how did things end up like this?
Recalling the sequence of events that led us here makes my head ache.
"Let's use a flooding strategy."
During the planning meeting, the atmosphere in the room froze solid at
Even I—who had not been in contact with humans for so long—could sense that atmosphere, so everyone present must have been of one mind.
Namely: "What is this guy talking about?"
"Ah, well, you see..."
Perhaps sensing the mood, Fire Dragon Guen spoke up haltingly.
Guen is a show-off who's secretly a coward, but I'll give him credit for trying to take the lead in moments like this.
"Dustin, are you planning to destroy the Great Ello Dungeon?"
And with that, Guen gave voice to what everyone was thinking.
The Great Ello Dungeon is an underground labyrinth that connects one continent to another.
Naturally, a sea lies between the two continents, and the labyrinth passes even beneath that seabed.
Considering the scale of the Great Ello Dungeon, Dustin's flooding strategy could only mean one thing: punching a hole in the seabed and letting seawater pour straight in.
Indeed, indeed!
If all we needed to do was attack the enemy, it would be an effective move.
If all we needed to do was attack!
But the Great Ello Dungeon exists in a delicate balance.
A great labyrinth built over the lifetime of the first Sloth Ruler.
In other words, it was artificial.
Punch a massive hole in something that is not natural and pour in enormous quantities of water.
And the representative of the Human race—who is supposed to be brilliant—doesn't know what the result would be?
Has he been worked so hard for so many years that maggots have finally infested his brain?
"Have you forgotten our purpose? We need to deliver a Skill-wielding Ruler to the deepest part of the lowest layer of the Great Ello Dungeon! If the Great Ello Dungeon itself collapses, that won't be possible!"
Guen sighed while crossing his arms.
If a hole were punched in the ceiling of the Great Ello Dungeon, it wouldn't be surprising if a chain reaction of collapses followed.
After all, an enormous cavern already exists beneath the seabed.
If the upper layer collapsed, the middle layer, the lower layer, and even the lowest layer—our destination—could crumble and be buried.
"If it collapses, then we'll deal with it when the time comes. We can simply dig our way through."
"Dig our way through... Easy for you to say..."
"You can do it, can't you?"
"Hmph."
Dustin's curtly decisive declaration.
As Guen's hesitation suggested, with the power of us Ancient Dragons, it wouldn't be impossible.
Though the work would be difficult without Gakia, the Earth Dragon.
"Our enemy is that Lady
Guen fell silent without even a groan.
Because he had nothing left to argue.
"Lady Ariel is a reasonable person, for all her faults. She'd never expect us to resort to something as reckless as a flooding strategy. That's precisely why we do it."
He's always been the type who doesn't pick and choose his methods, but isn't this taking it a bit too far?
Shameless doesn't even begin to cover it.
"The System's core, where Lady
At this point, a dreadful premonition was creeping up on me.
Yes, because if this plan were to be executed, it would fall under my jurisdiction.
"So then, Water Dragon Yena. I leave this to you."
And that is how we arrived at the present situation.
Sweeping away the feral Monsters that infest the upper layer, along with the spider Monsters believed to be Ariel's minions.
Riding that current, I and my kin—water dragons—charged forward.
Through the water, a tremendous vibration reached us.
It seemed something had collapsed somewhere.
For now, the amount of water flowing in is still limited, but if left unchecked, it would only continue to grow.
After all, it's coming straight from the ocean.
The rushing water erodes the pillars and walls of the Great Ello Dungeon, stripping them of their support.
Well now—will the upper layer flood first, or collapse first?
What an unpleasant game of chicken.
Honestly, that good-for-nothing is something else.
To calmly order humans and their kind to "die" like that.
Setting me aside, very few of my kin would survive being buried alive.
Moreover, they must know that they need to stop this or face dire consequences.
In other words, Ariel will certainly make some move to stop me.
That good-for-nothing may talk a big game, but she can't actually believe the Great Ello Dungeon will collapse.
She's probably thinking I'll be stopped by Ariel.
Truly, it's making me sick.
My role is to preempt the enemy and see how they respond.
And to reduce the enemy's fighting strength as much as possible.
Our survival is not part of the equation.
What a cruel arrangement.
Well, Master Gyurie told me to follow Dustin's lead, so there's nothing I can do about it.
Besides, we dragons aren't even sure we could survive in a world without the System anyway.
The same goes for Monsters—there are countless creatures that would be unable to live in the environments they once thrived in without Skills.
And since Taboo was never distributed to us, we don't fall under the category of the Human race.
If the System is a device meant to sustain humanity and this world, then we—who were never included in that category—won't be shown any consideration.
If we're going to lose our lives when that time comes anyway, we might as well stake them here.
The other Ancient Dragons must feel the same way.
...Though Lazy's foolish little sister,
Well now.
It seems our welcoming party has arrived.
Unlike the Taratect species we'd been sweeping away with little resistance, these were white spider Monsters.
Something about the remnants of nightmares, was it?
It seems they'll be the ones keeping me company.
However.
"Did you really think this would be enough to stop me? How insulting."
You'd best acquaint yourselves with the power of the supreme ruler of the seas.
Water Dragon Yena A blunt-spoken Ancient Dragon who normally resides in the sea, managing things so that humans never accidentally reach the collapsed landmass beyond the ocean. Her true form is an Eastern-style dragon stretching two hundred meters in length. Even she can't maintain that form inside the Great Ello Dungeon, so she's participating in mermaid form. She'll probably never get to show off her true form.