*kkkkkkk*
Ithil woke up to something clicking. It sounded weirdly organic in his mind. Staying completely still, he slowly looked around. In the distance, he thought he spotted something blinking, but it disappeared as soon as he saw it.
*KKKKKKK*
After a while of waiting, the sound came again. This time louder, as if close by. Ithil took a defensive position.
*kkkkkkk*
The sound came again, this time quieter. But it still sounded close. Ithil froze. He didn’t freeze because of the sound, but because of where it came from. Above him.
He felt the water currents spreading out from above, and quickly dodged to the side. He heard a click from where he stood and looked back. There, just above where he had previously stood, was a creature similar to a centipede.
The problem was that it was giant. The 20 meter long, bony centipede charged at him. It opened its interlocking mouth, revealing rows upon rows of long teeth. Its many fin like legs started moving in a fast rhythm, causing it to shoot forward. Before it could reach him, Ithil opened his mouth as well.
An extremely loud sound of very low frequency made the platform vibrate. The sound waves even made the water close to his mouth boil. When the sound waves hit the centipede, who had now arrived in front of Ithil, it was pushed back. The vibrations in the centipedes body caused the weaker parts of its armor to crack.
*KIIIIIIIII*
It screamed out in pain and rage, before attacking again.
Ithil barely managed to dodge to the side, the water pressure making it much harder, but the centipede’s razor-sharp legs still managed to cut into his side. Ithil gritted his teeth and prepared another dragon breath.
Just as the centipede was turning around, sound waves hit it again. This time, the weaker parts of its armor broke completely causing bony shards to embed in its soft interior.
Before it could attack again, Ithil shot forward and used his claws to attack one of the exposed soft parts on its underside. He felt his claws tear into flesh and a green liquid spread out. To Ithil’s surprise, the centipede’s blood was actually corrosive and started attacking his scales. Ithil quickly drew back.
The centipede moved very sluggishly, seemingly on the verge of death. Ithil quickly used another dragon breath to finish it.
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Ithil pushed the centipede’s dead body over the side of the platform and let out a sigh of relief.
‘That was way to close for me.’
Since its blood was corrosive, he didn’t want to try eating it. He probably could, it would just taste horribly.
The fight had made him realize that he was way to slow. He had good technique, but not the body to support it underwater. He wasn’t that far down and he was already so sluggish.
He needed to start his training quickly before something even more dangerous came, something his dragon breath wasn’t very effective against. If he had not used his dragon breath on the centipede he might have died, he relied to much on it.
‘This may become much harder than I first anticipated…’
He went back to his training. It was quiet hard since he didn’t have someone to spar with. But he planned to use the sea creatures for that when he felt safe doing so. The flying became more swimming with only his wings. It was the most effective method since increased wing strength would be very useful while fighting in the sky.
After a couple of weeks, he hadn’t been attacked once. He was unsure if that was a good or bad sign. Either the centipede had been the apex predator, or there was something even more powerful lurking out there.
He had no longer any problem moving at that depth, and was almost as fast as while flying. He was very surprised at his development, but he was l a long way from done.
After an extra long training session, he took a nap and started descending again. He had been on the platform for some time and had grown an attachment to it. But if he wanted to become strong, he had to continue. And it was every dragon’s goal to become as strong as possible.
Ithil had been told legends by his parents of how some ancient dragons had managed to ascend another step and become a dragon god. Ithil doubted this since no dragon god currently existed and it was extremely difficult to kill a god.
Gods were separated from their bodies and didn’t need one to survive. The only way to kill one was by destroying its soul, and very few attacks could do that. Those attack that could were generally slow and easy to avoid.
As Ithil descended even further, the feeling of being slow and sluggish once again swept over him. He didn’t like it one bit. He really wanted to head back, but kept going because of his stubbornness and desire to grow strong.
This time, he found a suitable resting place quickly. It was a large sandy area covered in small coral reefs and other plant life. There were even plants similar to palm trees. How things could grow in such darkness, especially the corals, Ithil didn’t know. He suspected it had something to do with magic.
He swam around and explored the whole platform. There were some larger rock. He turned most of them over in search for danger, but some were too heavy. Under one he found a two meter wide sea crab. He made quick work of it. Such an opponent wasn’t really any challenge for him, even under the water pressure of a couple hundred meters.
Other than the crab, he found no inhabitants on the area. He eventually found the edge. Below he could only see more darkness. He was getting suspicious at how deep it was. The cave seemed very unnatural, as if something had dug it out. If something that big existed it would be a natural disaster, even for the dragons.
If it found him, he would not be able to escape.
Contemplating whether to leave or continue, Ithil went to sleep hidden under one of the underwater trees. He choose it has his sleeping spot not because it was safe, but because he felt safe for some reason. It was easier to have a good rest when feeling safe.