G.o.d —The Beginning of the End— Volume 2: Elf, Nanny, Thunderous Anger
Original novel in Chinese by: 御 我 (Yu Wo)
Chapter 7: Overlord of the Seas VS Sovereign of the Skies, Part Two—translated by Jia Ling (proofread by Trespa.s.serby & Minthe; C/E edited by lucathia)
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Shooting Star was furious. He turned his head to shout at Alan, "Go save Dan!"
Upon hearing these words, Alan hesitated for a bit. However, Shooting Star did not even bother to explain. He also threw the elf"s hands aside and then jumped onto the deck. Because the body of the ship was shaking so terribly, he slid across the deck. Upon seeing a chance, he grabbed a thick rope that was waving in the wind. Then, using the rope, he pulled himself to the side of the boat.
Standing on top of the side of the boat, he yelled loudly, "Bones! Where the h.e.l.l are you? Hurry up and come out!"
His shout was so loud that even the sounds coming from the battle between dragon and serpent were unable to drown him out.
"Kiki—"
A small, gray skeletal creature scampered to and fro across the boat, seemingly unaffected by the swaying of the boat. It scampered onto Shooting Star"s shoulders.
Shooting Star pointed at the surging waves and commanded, "Xiao Bai fell in there. Go find him and pull him out!"
"Ki!" Bones made a noise of agreement, immediately diving into the sea.
In that moment, Alan flew Dan over. He reached out to grab Shooting Star, who was swaying in the wind. Alan was worried that one misstep would cause the latter to fall into the sea.
"Saya, Saya…"
Dan looked at the sea, his chest in so much pain that he felt as if it were cracking. He did not expect to feel this much pain. He was only a half demon, not a full demon. He thought he would be able to escape the fate of having a checkmate. With regards to Bai Saya, he could only do everything in his ability to help him. However, if he really were unable to help, letting go was also an option…
At that moment, he could only think about letting go of himself.
Alan noted the demon"s expression of indescribable pain. He firmly believed that if Bai Saya could not be saved, Dan would also jump down.
This was the characteristic of a "checkmate" of the demon race. Not every demon would meet that person. However, once they did, they would do everything they could to protect that person. The person could be a relative, a lover, or a friend. They could also have no relationship at all. They were just one thing—a checkmate.
Upon seeing how much pain Dan was in, the elf reconsidered his view of the demon race for the first time. In certain ways, perhaps the demons" heartlessness was because they put all of their pa.s.sion into things that they truly cared about?
The three of them looked at the sea with hearts full of expectation. They did not even notice that the battle between dragon and serpent beside them had already drawn to an end. Under the repeated heavy blows from the sovereign of the skies, the electric eel serpent was severed into two. The overlord of the seas was forever buried in the water. It could be said that it was restored to its rightful place.
At that moment, a small dark shadow slowly floated to the surface from the depths of the sea. Just as all three people got their hopes up, Bones"s large, gray head popped out from the surface of the water in one go. However, there was no one else to be seen. All three persons" spirits sank back down…
"Kiki!"
Bones used its small, skeletal hand to pull out another creature. Black hair floated about on the surface of the water. Bai Saya coughed nonstop in discomfort and pain.
"Xiao Bai!" Shooting Star shouted.
"Saya… Thank goodness, thank goodness." The cracking pain that Dan felt in his chest finally subsided. His whole body trembled uncontrollably. He was nearly incapable of speech.
Bai Saya raised his head just in time to see Shooting Star, Alan, and Dan. The fact that all three of them were fine made his worries recede, and he revealed a weak smile toward them.
"Kiki!" Bones suddenly started to call out loudly.
"What?" Shooting Star exclaimed. He was the only one who could understand what Bones was saying. He immediately turned to look behind him, and what he saw made his jaw drop.
Since he left home, this was the first time he truly felt helpless, like they were done for.
The dragon that had just defeated the electric eel serpent was watching them.
"W-what in the world do you want?" Shooting Star was so nervous that he could not even speak properly. That was a dragon! Eight to nine out of ten people who had ever been noticed by a dragon all suffered terrible ends! All that stuff about dragon knights was just tricks to fool children. Who could ride something so huge? You could even build a house on top of a dragon to live in. How could you ride that?
The dragon suddenly flew over, skimming across the water"s surface quickly. The tremendous winds made Alan unable to hold on any further, throwing all three directly across the deck. They tumbled about haphazardly, but this was not the time to be dizzy and lost. Each one pushed themselves to get up. Even if they were to die, they still had to put up a fight first.
As per the well-known fact, the dragon was not interested in them. That pair of strong claws dipped into the seawater and plucked out a person. Then, with a boost, it instantly flew far away.
The sovereign of the skies" superior flying ability meant that this process was over in an instant. The three people on the deck could not respond at all. They dumbly watched the dragon carry Bai Saya away. The last thing they saw was Bai Saya hurriedly reaching out his hands, wanting to grab onto his companions…
What a group of people, followed by disaster after disaster.
While Shooting Star and Dan were in a daze, Alan, who had spent relatively less time with them and thus did not have as strong of an attachment as they did, was the first to react.
He gazed at the other two"s heavy expressions, the thought of being "plagued by misfortunes" coming to his mind subconsciously.
Since the elf joined Bai Saya and Shooting Star"s two-person team, they first met the threat of a thousand-year old demon. After that, it was the electric eel serpent, and after that was the battle between the dragon and the electric eel serpent. Finally, they had held on until the dragon killed the serpent. Everything should have been all right then. However, a member of the dragon race, who normally ignored humans, actually went out of its way to kidnap Bai Saya!
"That"s too bad!"
After Alan blurted those words out, he showed an odd expression. He had actually used such a crude, ungrammatical expression, incomplete in meaning. He felt that he had indeed been influenced by Shooting Star. They had only been acquainted for such a short time, but…
"That accursed dragon!" Shooting Star"s furious howls pulled Alan"s train of thought, which had been running wild, back.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Don"t you know that Xiao Bai is a pet that I spent so much effort to capture! No one is allowed to s.n.a.t.c.h him away, not even a dragon!"
Then, he jumped onto Alan"s back. Before the latter could resist or protest, Shooting Star tapped him on the shoulder and shouted with all his might, "Hurry up! Fly now and give chase! I want to s.n.a.t.c.h my pet back!"
Alan rolled his eyes at him. Am I a horse now instead of a dog?
This time, the elf was not angry. Instead, he resigned himself to using the Spell of Flight and lifted Shooting Star into the air.
"Wait a moment! Bring me along." At that moment, Dan"s mind returned to him. He said urgently, "I want to save Saya!"
Shooting Star only made a face at him and said, "You"re too heavy. Alan can"t carry two people. Find your own way of catching up."
Then, an elf and a human flew off in the direction the dragon had left in.
"Hm! The dragon seems to have taken a turn."
Shooting Star frowned, his finger pointing in a vague direction uncertainly.
"Seems?" Alan did not like this very vague word. It meant that he was very likely going to have to waste his magic to fly in the wrong direction. He also did not know if he had enough strength to fly back and start all over.
Since Bones had also been taken by the dragon, his master Shooting Star was naturally able to detect which direction it was taken. However, as the distance grew larger, his ability to sense it grew weaker. As a result, Shooting Star could only do his best to detect where exactly Bones was, give Alan a general direction, and pray that it was not the exact opposite direction.
If Alan were to hear Shooting Star"s prayers, he would definitely be so angry that he would send multiple lightning bolts to burn Shooting Star to a crisp.
"Maybe… Should be, perhaps, no, no, it definitely is this direction!"
Upon seeing Alan about to use a new technique of shooting lightning bolts with his eyes, Shooting Star started furiously nodding his head. Even though he felt a bit bad, he felt wronged, too. He was also doing his best to save Bai Saya, but this distance really was getting larger and larger.
Alan"s doubt in Shooting Star was almost a hundred percent. Still, he thought that since Bai Saya was captured and his life was in danger, Shooting Star would not be fooling around as usual? Thus, he flew in the direction that Shooting Star indicated.
As a result, the two turned ninety degrees and flew toward an unknown territory for almost a day.
If not for the naturally magically gifted elf, whose basic magical abilities were truly tremendous, the two would have long changed from flying to swimming.
Just as Alan lost all faith in Shooting Star and was about to use his remaining magic to murder him to prevent this demonic child from harming anyone else, the pair who had been flying like birds for a whole day finally saw land.
Since Alan"s strength had been used beyond his limit, they practically slid and crashed onto the land. Shooting Star bounced and rolled a few times, using the rolls to lessen the impact of the fall. This was clearly not the first time he had made full-body contact with the ground.
Alan, who had exhausted all of his magic, directly fell onto the ground. The delicate elf mage gasped and nearly fainted dead away. Clearly, this was the first time that the dexterous and elegant elf had hit the ground so hard that he was eating dirt.
"Ha ha ha! I knew it must have been this direction!" Shooting Star got up and started laughing loudly. He had not had to put in an ounce of effort, only responsible for sleeping on the elf"s back. Thus, he was in wonderful spirits at that moment.
Alan lay on the ground. He only had enough energy to throw a glare at Shooting Star. His chest was still heaving up and down as he struggled to get his breath back.
"Hm!"
Shooting Star crossed his arms and frowned as he studied the environment around them.
Since they were currently in a region near the sea, they were just surrounded by a beach. The area closer inland had yellowish green reeds. He squinted his eyes and peered into the distance. All that he could see were gra.s.slands, which were filled with short shrubs and yellowing gra.s.s fields.
Regardless of how you looked at it, this did not seem like a place where dragons would haunt.
This is terrible!
Shooting Star"s brow creased together. Actually, when he had caught sight of land from afar, he was already unable to detect where Bones was anymore. He could only make a plan that was better than drowning in the sea, which was landing on land first before deciding on what to do.
After landing, he had the feeling that this place was completely wrong. In order to avoid humans who loved to kill them and those who were naturally inclined toward plundering, most dragons lived in places that were hard to reach. These included the tops of mountains or the depths of valleys, which required a lot of trouble to reach. However, all that was in front of their eyes were gra.s.slands. Even if he peered into the distance, he would still be unable to see a single mountain. Dragons didn"t live in places like this. It seemed like their mistake with the direction was not a small one.
Shooting Star couldn"t suppress his disappointment. Will Bai Saya already be a lump of dragon dung by the time I find him?
"Were you wrong?" The elf"s melodious voice floated by. He had gotten his breath back, but still sat on the floor because he did not have enough energy left to move.
Alan"s sentence was so simple this time! Just as he was about to praise him, Shooting Star suddenly remembered that every time Alan"s words were short, it was because the elf was so angry that he did not want to speak and was ready to use his lightning bolts to strike someone!
Turning his head, Shooting Star saw that Alan was still sitting on the ground, but there was no electricity crackling. He immediately let out a sigh of relief and said, "Whew~~ Thank goodness, I thought you were going to use electric bolts to strike me to death!"
"No energy." Alan replied coldly.
That means that if you had magic left, you would strike? Shooting Star had on an expression of defeat.
"Don"t be like that. Little old me didn"t do it on purpose. This concerns whether or not I can get my little pet Xiao Bai back! I wouldn"t say the wrong direction intentionally!" Shooting Star felt wronged. That dragon had flown so fast that they had grown far apart in an instant. Once the distance got too large, he was unable to sense Bones"s location.
Alan struggled up and asked, "What do we do now? If we do not hurry, there is a high chance that Bai Saya will be eaten by the dragon."
"He won"t."
Shooting Star saw Alan"s look of suspicion and explained impatiently, "Please, Xiao Bai is a tiny speck for the dragon! The size difference is akin to the difference in size between us and a caterpillar. Would you go out of your way to catch a caterpillar to eat? Plus, he had just killed that huge electric eel serpent. Wouldn"t it have been better to eat that?"
When he heard that, Alan considered Shooting Star"s words and was forced to admit that he was right.
"That dragon must have captured Xiao Bai for some other reason. It definitely isn"t to eat him or to kill him."
Shooting Star considered it seriously. If it"s not to eat, why would a dragon capture a human? Could it be that it wants him to help catch the fleas on its back?
"Then, what should we do now? Even if we know that Bai Saya is not in life-threatening danger for now, we still have no way of locating him."
Alan, who had lived in the depths of the forest for many years and only left when he was captured, knew that his inexperienced self could not come up with any concrete solutions. He could only count on Shooting Star, even though he knew that out of ten of his plans, eight of them were trash!
"Let"s first get more information before we decide on what to do. Regardless of how secretive a dragon"s lair is, its departure and arrival must have been seen by someone. The people living near it must know of its presence. I definitely only need to get close to where the dragon lives to be able to detect Bones and find Xiao Bai."
This time, Shooting Star was serious and came up with a good plan. Since the person that was captured was his most important pet, he definitely had to get him back! Even though Alan was also his pet, he was nowhere as important as Xiao Bai!
This was because the elf would not help him wash his underwear, put his socks out to dry, hunt for food, or clean his room. As a result, he would not have clean underwear to wear, nor dry socks to put on. He would also not have already skinned game for him to roast or even a clean room to stay in!
If that happened, Shooting Star would become a stinky and starving fellow. He absolutely refused to have such a thing happen. Thus, he sought to find Xiao Bai in the shortest amount of time possible!
"Let"s first find a place where there are people to gather information."
"All right."
Alan nodded. He had not slept for a day and a night and had exhausted his magic. He desperately needed rest and sleep. Despite that, he did not say half a word about needing rest. Bai Saya was the one who had saved him from being sold into slavery. Now that he had a chance to repay him, the elf was not going to complain about being tired.
Even though Shooting Star also was one of the people who had saved him, he automatically discounted this. Just agreeing to go on adventures with the two for two hundred years was a significant loss for him. In the few days since he had agreed to accompany them, not only were they threatened by a thousand-year old demon, they had met the sovereigns of the skies and the seas simultaneously. Furthermore, his companion had been stolen away by a dragon, a creature that one might not even see over the course of an entire lifetime.
The elf sincerely doubted whether or not he would be able to live past these two hundred years.
"Alan, little elf, back to earth!"
Shooting Star waved his hands in front of Alan"s face. He was quite happy that Alan was in a daze, because he took advantage while the elf was in a daze to comb his golden hair quite a few times. However, compared to combing hair, Xiao Bai was more important.
Alan reached out and grabbed… Not the hand that was waving in front of his face, but the other hand that was sneakily combing his hair.
The elf sincerely suspected that, if he were to become bald, there a was chance that Shooting Star might let him go home straight away.
Under the dangerous gaze of the elf, Shooting Star retracted his hands without a change in his expression. He spoke very properly, "Look! There"s a clan over there. Let"s go collect some information."
Alan nodded.
The two of them thus walked carelessly into the clan. This was a small clan, anyway. Shooting Star felt that there was nothing much to be wary of. However, in the following moments, he would deeply regret and hate his own stupid actions. He had momentarily forgotten that Alan was an elf, who was rarely seen everywhere.
An entire clan of minotaurs with eyes that flashed gold coins in them chased them around with the intent to kill the two of them. To be more accurate, it was to kill Shooting Star and then capture Alan.
What a joke! He had spent such a tremendous amount of effort to capture two pets. One was already s.n.a.t.c.hed by a dragon, and now you want to s.n.a.t.c.h away the other one. Is there no justice?
While lamenting his terrible fate with tears in his eyes, Shooting Star carried an exhausted pet elf, escaping a whole chain of minotaurs.
The two of them fled for some time before they were finally able to lose the minotaurs behind them. Shooting Star was so out of breath that he could barely talk. The elf he was carrying was originally already spent. Now, he was in a state where one could not tell if he had fallen asleep or fainted away.
After catching his breath, Shooting Star raised his head to consider his surroundings. The view before his eyes was actually an azure blue sea and pure white sand. This sight was of utmost familiarity—there was no difference between it and the place where they had landed earlier. It might even be the same!?
Oh my G.o.d!
Shooting Star covered his face and cried in despair. Where in the world is my little pet!