Damien's eyes widened in shock when he saw the beast's visage. Unexpectedly, he actually knew this beast's identity!
After all, he'd faced a variation of its species long ago when he first arrived in the Cloud Plane.
It was none other than a Sea Dragon.
However, compared to the one he saw before, this one was far more terrifying. While the first Sea Dragon had a degree of intelligence that allowed it to speak the universal language fluently, Damien didn't doubt that the survival instincts of a Sea Dragon that grew up in the Emperor Bone Sea far outstripped such measly intelligence.
"Block with everything you can!" He shouted.
A Dimensional Cage sprang up, isolating the duo from the world. The Space-Time River manifested with Damien's domain, putting the surrounding space under Damien's complete control. At the same time, Zara formed a massive wall of material shadows. A murky black color began to permeate the atmosphere.
Zara's domain stacked on top of Damien's, and with their two domains and strongest defensive skills combined, they confronted the Sea Dragon!
BOOOOM!
The Sea Dragon's massive body crashed into their barriers with the force of the entire ocean behind it. Even though these were the two's strongest defenses, they couldn't last more than a second against the Sea Dragon's terrifying power.
The barriers shattered one after another, and the explosive force that destroyed them rapidly traveled through the waters and arrived at Damien and Zara's position. However, the two didn't panic.
They pushed their mana fiercely, using it to redirect the shockwave's force and shoot themselves far away from the Sea Dragon!
"Now!" Damien commanded. Zara turned immaterial and sunk into Damien's shadow. The second she did so, he teleported hundreds of kilometers away.
But the Sea Dragon couldn't be underestimated either.
While Damien was forcefully transporting himself through space even while being heavily suppressed by the surrounding sea, the Sea Dragon was completely in its element. Blue mana converged from the sea as the Sea Dragon snaked through it, actively aiding its movements.
The Sea Dragon caught up to Damien rapidly. Its sheer speed allowed it to cross hundreds of kilometers in an instant. Its mouth opened wide when it saw Damien's body and snapped down with immense force!
Damien's eyes hardened. Escaping the Sea Dragon couldn't be easy. Most likely, it was tracking him through his dragon aura. This was also the most likely reason for it to be hell-bent on chasing him.
When two dragon descendants met, there were only two paths for them to take; either they befriended each other or they devoured each other. The Sea Dragon had obviously chosen the latter.
Damien's body twisted at an impossible angle, narrowly dodging the Sea Dragon's jaws. As he rapidly propelled himself backwards, his spatial mana raged, setting up a chain of Dimensional Cages between him and the Sea Dragon.
He turned tail and ran soon after. His goal was to go as deep into the Emperor Bone Sea as possible.
If there was one thing he learned from observing the Emperor Bone Sea's native species, it was that the sea itself was the greatest weapon. Almost every species he'd seen had biologically adapted to utilize the sea's natural environment to their own advantage, the Sea Dragon included.
Its two fin-like wings flapped furiously. The sea around it raged into a terrifying whirlpool that attacked Damien's stacked Dimensional Cages and rapidly shattered them.
The Sea Dragon didn't even wait for this task to complete before charging its next attack. It absolutely couldn't lose Damien.
From Damien, it sensed a powerful dragon bloodline on par with its own. Because they were equal, neither could use Dragon Pressure to make the other submit. But if the Sea Dragon managed to kill Damien regardless, consuming his bloodline might be the key to its evolution.
It wouldn't miss this opportunity.
The Sea Dragon's jaw unhinged once more. A swirling vortex of blue mana formed in its mouth, creating a vacuum that sucked in the surrounding seawater.
The water mixed into the mana and was compressed several times over. These terrifyingly powerful water bullets were then shot out with immense precision!
Despite being hundreds of kilometers away already, Damien could clearly feel the scent of death approaching him. His body immediately turned ethereal, vanishing and reappearing randomly in the surrounding 100-kilometer range.
At the same time, the water bullets reached Damien's general location and began exploding. Massive air pockets formed and imploded on themselves constantly, painting the black sea in white.
Damien gritted his teeth and continued dodging. In this chase, the only advantage he had was teleportation. And he was no longer one to ignore his advantages.
His teleportation became less random with time. At some point, he even began circling and taunting the Sea Dragon, enraging it into pursuing him with extreme speed and mania.
Like this, the chase continued. Damien watched the environment around him shift countless times. When they started this cat-and-mouse game, they were only around 2,000 kilometers into the Emperor Bone Sea.
Now, however, they'd already descended close to the 4,000 mark.
The Sea Dragon never gave up on Damien. Using its insanity-inducing speed and control over the sea, it pressured him heavily with every move.
Mirroring what it saw earlier, it began exerting control over the surroundings to a greater degree, forming the elementary form of what would one day become a domain.
Damien shuddered when he saw this. If the Sea Dragon was allowed to form that domain, his spatial advantages would no longer exist.
Thankfully, it was too slow in realizing this solution.
At the 4,000-kilometer range, the Sea Dragon was no longer in its element. Its control abilities were weakened and the sea's suppression severely limited its speed to a point where even Damien could escape it.
He let out a sigh of relief realizing that his guess had been validated.
Previously, he'd chosen to descend deeper into the sea with this exact gamble in mind. He had a thought: with the Sea Dragon's power, why would it decide to stay so close to the Emperor Bone Sea's shore?
After some thought, he guessed that the 2,000-kilometer range was the Sea Dragon's dominion, an environment that perfectly complimented its abilities.
However, as they went deeper into the sea, the environment began to change.
Not only was the Sea Dragon affected by the change in environment, but it was also being struck by another suppressive force.
Damien could feel it too. His half-dragon side was shivering in fear of the strange aura that permeated the sea. The aura only got stronger as they went deeper.
Luckily, Damien was born a human and his human side was dominant. This terrifying bestial aura wasn't able to affect him the same way it did aquatic beasts.
Damien continued teleporting as he submerged himself in thought. Even if the Sea Dragon was slowly fading into the distance, he didn't want to die from carelessness.
As he slowly passed the 5,000-kilometer mark, Damien let out another sigh.
The sea itself truly was the best weapon. If he had to escape the Sea Dragon with his own power, it would've been a terrifying chase that cost him at least a few limbs.
But with the sea inadvertently aiding him, he was able to get by after dodging the Sea Dragon's attacks and fleeing as fast as he could.
Once again, the Emperor Bone Sea made him marvel.
But now wasn't the time to do so. Zara soon exited Damien's shadow, and together, under the Sea Dragon's grudge-filled and unresigned glare, they began their exploration once more.
