Conquering The Game's World

At the same time, deep inside the large ocean, a frantic chase and run was in process. A small turbo submarine was being chased by a giant sea serpent about 30 meters long. Inside the submarine, Frank and Rover were under deep pressure as they looked back at the giant beast chasing after them.

"Damn it! Why won't it let go?!" Frank controlled the launcher and shot another torpedo.

The torpedo was fast. The sea serpent couldn't dodge and was hit. However, Frank wasn't happy. Sure enough, the torpedo wasn't enough to hurt the sea serpent. At most, it was pushed back a little, helping them to delay it for a few seconds.

"What should we do, Rover?! If this continues, it won't be long before we get caught!" Frank said through gritted teeth.

Rover put down the communicator in his hand and said, "The support team can't be contacted. I just received instructions from headquarters. According to the leader, if we can't bring back the person. We must at least take the tissue and blood samples."

"Damn it!" Frank looked at the unconscious Alex with fierce eyes. "How the heck were we found so fast?! First, those two B-Rank awakeners! As if they were waiting for us! Then this S-Rank monster! Why weren't they distracted by the bait we set?!"

Not only him, Rover, had the same doubt in his mind.

With all the preparations they had made, this mission should have been completed without trouble. However, everything seemed to go astray.

The support team went missing. The bait didn't work. Two B-Rank awakeners appeared out of nowhere and dragged them until this S-Rank monster found them.

If this continues, it won't be long before they get caught.

"Tell me, Rover, do you have any solution?" Frank asked.

Rover thought for a moment, then sighed and nodded. "It seems we can only choose the second option."

---

The sea serpent's massive body sliced through the deep-blue water with frightening speed. His sleek scales glint faintly in the filtered sunlight from above. His maw could tear through steel, and his coils could crush warships, yet his golden eyes carried no hunger, no malice—only intense human worry.

That was because this was no ordinary beast.

This was Professor Darrin, who had transformed into his aquatic S-Rank form: Serpionox!

The moment Sera's urgent message reached him. He rushed out of the control room. 'Alex has been taken!'

'I should have been faster…' This thought gnawed at him as he surged forward, tail strokes pounding against the water. 'If anything happens to him…'

He remembered Sera's crying voice begging him, making his heart wrench. 'Please, Professor! Save him!'

Every powerful sweep of his tail propelled him closer to the fleeing submarine. The submarine ahead fired again. Torpedoes hissed through the water, detonating with muffled, bone-shaking booms. The shockwaves pushed him back a few meters, but not a single scale was scratched. Darrin barely noticed this; his mind was locked on Alex's safety. At this speed, he would have them within his coils in minutes.

But then… something changed.

The submarine's turret shifted, no longer locked on him. It swivelled to face an entirely different direction.

A flicker of suspicion passed through Darrin's eyes. 'What are they planning…?'

Then his heart sank.

It wasn't a torpedo that was launched next; it was Alex!

The unconscious figure was hurled from the submarine, propelled violently into the open water. The boy's limp body spun helplessly through the cold depths, bubbles spiralling away from him. Darrin's heart clenched. 'Cowards!'

In his human form, he would have cursed out loud. Even if the pressure from the ejection didn't kill him outright, the impact and deep-sea environment would leave him gravely injured, and in his unconscious state, he would drown within moments.

Before Darrin could rush forward, another flash erupted from the turret. A second torpedo shot out, not at him, but directly toward Alex's drifting body.

Rage and fear surged within him.

Abandoning the chase, he tore through the water with explosive force, his massive form cutting a vortex behind him. The torpedo closed in on Alex, its wake churning the sea into chaos.

Cold fury and panic crashed through him. His massive tail lashed, driving him forward at a speed that tore the water into vortices. 'Move, Darrin! Don't think—MOVE!'

Too slow. I'm too damn slow!

The torpedo reached Alex's position.

BOOM!

The explosion swallowed Alex in a bubble of white foam and light. The shockwave rocked even Darrin's enormous frame.

The blast churned the ocean into a white maelstrom. Darrin slammed his body into the wave of force, wrapping Alex within his coils, taking the brunt of the impact himself. His hide absorbed the shrapnel-like spray of pressure, but the boy's fragile body remained untouched.

When the water stilled, Darrin uncurled slightly, glancing down at the pale, unconscious face pressed against his scales. 'You're safe now… I won't let go.'

But as he looked up, the submarine was gone. Slipped into the deep ocean, leaving only fading trails of bubbles. In Alex's current state, it would be difficult for him to catch up with them.

His gaze hardened. Intense fury emerged in his cold eyes. 'Don't think you've escaped. I won't let you go.'

And yet, even as his mind burned with the promise of pursuit, he felt a twist of shame. 'If I'd been faster… none of this would've happened.'

The cold-faced professor had self-blame in his heart at this moment. Here, in the quiet depths of the ocean, he was only a man terrified of losing his students once again.

***

[Monster Information:]

[Twin-Headed Snakes (E): Serpents stretching up to 2 meters long with two venomous heads. Their pale, frosty scales blend perfectly with the snowy terrain. They coordinate attacks with eerie synchronicity, striking from both ends.]

[Masked Ninjas (D): Humanoid assassins around 5 feet tall, clad in frost-dusted black robes.

They wear blank white masks and move with supernatural silence. Often hide in trees or shadows, striking with chilling precision.]

[Drill Moles (F): Stubby creatures roughly 1 meter long with conical steel-like claws. Covered in shaggy white fur, they burrow silently under the snow. They erupt from the ground beneath prey to deliver fatal surprise blows.]

***