Waves change according to their environment.
And soon, the waves would change the environment.
At the fortress of the Aqua Empire, Levian was gazing far out toward the horizon.
“Oh no…… This is serious.”
In a trembling voice, he reported to Empress Nereia.
“Your Majesty, Terra has…… summoned a dragon again.”
Nereia’s eyes wavered as well.
Without a word, she approached the edge of the fortress and looked south.
“Montanus……?”
“Yes. After it fell that one time, it had remained quiet for a while, but they have just summoned it again at last.”
The colossal being that had once roamed the land and threatened Aqua had returned to the world once more.
Naus and Sian also approached them.
Naus asked,
“Has the Yellow Dragon returned? Surely it isn’t trying to attack our sea?”
Levian continued watching Terra as he answered.
“We do not know yet. We will have to observe its movements further. It seems their previous approach toward us was not some meaningless ploy.”
Sian spoke with strength in his voice.
“But the situation is different from back then. We have Marinus. It may be weaker than Terra’s dragon, but we will not simply suffer helplessly as we did then.”
Levian nodded.
“And we have even prepared sufficient slime forces.”
Nereia and her retainers silently watched Montanus’s movements.
Some time passed.
They looked toward the land without saying a word, but aside from the current indicating that Montanus had appeared, they could sense no other particular signs.
Sian quietly opened his mouth.
“Are they not taking action for the moment? When it first appeared, I understand that it did not come straight for us either, but walked slowly…….”
Naus picked up his words.
“Dragons do not obey anyone’s orders by nature. Even if Terra summoned the dragon with the purpose of attacking us, that dragon will not necessarily move as they expect.”
However, Montanus not only remained within the territory of the Terra Empire, but, contrary to Aqua’s concerns, it was looking south.
The empire located to the south of Terra was Ignis.
Nereia’s voice rang out softly.
“Why is Montanus facing Ignis?”
No one could answer her question.
For no one in Aqua could yet grasp Terra’s situation.
Levian watched Nereia’s expression and spoke.
“In truth, we cannot yet be certain that they summoned the dragon with the intention of attacking us in the first place. However, it is also obvious that a situation in which that dragon is conscious of Ignis cannot be good for us. By some means, it seems we need to prepare for that dragon.”
A chill of tension filled the fortress, and at the same time, it was swept by unease toward an unknowable future.
For what purpose had Terramont summoned the Yellow Dragon Montanus?
And what thoughts did Montanus now harbor?
From Aqua’s standpoint, they could not yet know.
Nereia and her retainers gathered in the central hall to discuss future preparations regarding Montanus.
Nereia carefully recalled the past before speaking.
“You all know of that situation. The fact that Terramont himself came all the way to the very edge of our deep sea and faced Marinus.”
The retainers bowed their heads.
“Yes, we know.”
Nereia looked around at them and asked,
“When Marinus was facing Terramont…… what do you think happened? What do you think Terramont said?”
The atmosphere in the hall sank heavily.
No one knew what conversation had taken place in that unexpected meeting.
Since Marinus could not convey to anyone what it had heard from Terramont, Nereia and her retainers had no choice but to infer those words from Marinus’s actions.
Yet Marinus’s attitude was somehow meaningful.
Even now, with Montanus having appeared, it showed no sign of agitation whatsoever.
Levian shook his head slightly and answered.
“There is no way Marinus would remain that quiet for no reason. Terramont must have said something to Marinus. Or perhaps they reached some kind of agreement?”
“An agreement……”
Nereia furrowed her brow slightly.
“What kind of agreement? Could it have been a one-sided declaration of ceasefire, asking that they not attack each other?”
Sian spoke cautiously.
“Since they could not face us, their enemy nation, perhaps they approached Marinus instead. But if they truly came seeking a ceasefire, how should I put it…… does that not fail to preserve their dignity? It would be no different from begging us for their lives.”
Naus shook his head.
“We must not make hasty judgments. If we rashly conclude that our opponent appears weak, we may be repaid in an entirely unexpected direction. We need to take Terramont’s approach at that time seriously.”
Marinus had always been a being that represented the will of the deep sea.
As it showed no movement, Aqua’s deep sea, too, was as calm as if asleep.
Nereia’s voice rang out again.
“What is clear is that we must continue to watch Terra. Terramont met Marinus, returned to his empire, and not long after, summoned Montanus…… These cannot be seen as separate incidents. Terra is carrying out some plan of their own.”
With her words, the central hall fell into silence.
The truth hidden behind their confrontation with Terra was gradually eroding Aqua with unease.
Sian said,
“Whatever Terra is plotting, there is no harm in making preparations. Since our water is naturally weak against earth, it would be best to utilize the power of slime. Silva has created Bio-Absorbers, so I wonder if we should introduce them as well.”
Levian and Naus looked at him.
The fourth-tier unit of the slime core, the Bio-Absorber.
A being bizarre even in its form, one that fearsomely sucked up the nutrients of the land.
As of now, the Bio-Absorber was also the first fourth-tier unit among all dual-attribute cores.
Sian continued.
“We do not even need to go out of our way to obtain another empire’s core. We are already producing slime cores intensively together with Silva.”
Levian and Naus watched Nereia’s expression.
Would there truly be no side effects to creating such a being?
After a moment, Nereia answered.
“If Terra dares try to harm us, then we, too, will have no choice but to make a bold choice. I have heard that the land where Bio-Absorbers pass dries up. If Terra attempts any scheme, then that will be the price they pay.”
Nereia’s words were as good as consent to deepen the slime barracks.
The retainers raised no objection to her statement.
Sian bowed his head.
“Understood, Your Majesty. I will deepen the slime barracks by one stage.”
Nereia added,
“I am not saying to summon Bio-Absorbers immediately. Make preparations so that they can be dispatched at once if a crisis arises.”
“Yes, understood.”
At that moment, Levian asked in a curious tone,
“But if the Bio-Absorber is a fourth-tier unit, does that mean it can still be deepened one stage further from there? We, and of course the other empires as well, can summon dragons if we develop each of our unit types to the final stage. Is it the same for dual-attribute cores such as slime?”
Sian paused briefly before answering.
“That…… we will only know once we reach that stage. In truth, we cannot even be certain it will be a dragon, because its appearance is impossible to predict. Even the Bio-Absorber already has such a form, so what would a unit even more powerful than that be……?”
Naus spoke in a trembling voice.
“There is already talk that Silva themselves were thrown into confusion after producing the Bio-Absorbers. They, too, never imagined such monsters would be born. For now…… they are on our side, so they will obey our commands, but I cannot help but be cautious as to whether we will truly suffer no harm.”
“Wait……”
At that moment, Levian’s complexion changed.
“Even dragons do not obey our commands, do they? Then would that something not be the same?”
Then Nereia, too, spoke in a low voice.
“Most likely. If it cannot be controlled, it may harm us instead.”
Nereia closed her eyes for a moment.
Aqua’s deep sea was calm, but within that stillness, unease still lurked.
“Slime, no, the final stage of dual-attribute units……”
Nereia spoke as if whispering.
“Are we prepared for that?”
Levian changed the subject.
“Ah, and on another note, what Metallum said has been bothering me somewhat.”
Nereia opened her closed eyes and looked at him.
Levian continued.
“Metallum is openly showing signs of trying to create wave cores in a lake where our water energy lingers. Seeing their lack of respect for other empires is certainly infuriating, but they did say that they would not mind if we, like them, found land where metal energy lingers and did the same. What do you think of considering it? If we truly were to harvest other cores outside the deep sea as well……?”
Sian responded with interest.
“That could become one current as well. Now that Metallum’s present course of action has become known to us, our assumption is that Ignis has already begun that work one step ahead of them. I do not think we can confine ourselves only to defending the deep sea.”
They did not yet know that Ignis had gone beyond occupying the ownerless forest and had already begun producing life cores.
But they had guessed as much.
Then Naus, too, reluctantly spoke.
“I also agree. We were the ones who, together with Silva, had been stably and steadily producing dual-attribute cores in this world. If the other empires move in that manner, our unique advantage will no longer be effective. We must prepare not only for Terra, but also for Metallum and Ignis.”
Nereia let out a deep breath.
At last, she said,
“If that is how the world flows……”
Her voice was calm like a wave, but within it lay resolve.
“Then we, too, will not be able to avoid change. We of Aqua cannot remain only in this deep sea. We must flow onward in search of new waves.”
Nereia rose from her seat.
She declared,
“For now, we create a current according to the world, but before long, we will be the ones who create the current of the world.”
Aqua was not the only one making movements to adapt to the world.
Silva, whose proposal had effectively been rejected by Ignis, was also searching for a direction for its future growth.
“Where will the roots of our forest turn? Downward, or toward the center?”
Drian, Empress of the Silva Empire, sat in the Chamber of Life with her eyes closed, lost in thought.