The first major hurdle in subjugating the monster ravaging the fishing village was simply tracking it down.
The ocean was vast. Finding a creature that could be lurking anywhere on the deep seabed was a daunting task. No matter how gargantuan the beast was or how effective Rest’s [Life Search] magic might be, locating it in the open ocean was no easy feat.
Therefore, Rest decided on a different approach: he would intercept the monster the moment it approached the village.
Fortunately, he had a clue—the destroyed oyster farm.
Surprisingly, the creature seemed to grasp the subtleties of human sentiment. It had targeted the farm specifically because it knew how vital the facility was to the villagers.
Once he realized the monster possessed such a spiteful temperament, its next move became easy to predict. It would go for the only other aquaculture site in the village: the pearl farm.
Technically, the pearl farm was still in an experimental phase and hadn't seen much success, but the monster wouldn't know that. Rest decided to lie in wait near the facility.
(Still... there’s no guarantee it’ll strike here. I need to get under its skin to make sure it shows up.)
He had instructed the villagers to hold a raucous banquet on the beach, making sure they were clearly visible from the water. To a creature with such a malicious disposition, the sight of humans celebrating must have been an unbearable eyesore.
Just as he'd expected, the monster moved in to harass them. It sought to vent its frustrations by destroying the farm the villagers had worked so hard to build.
(My only real concern was the possibility that it might bypass the farm to attack the banquet directly, but...)
If that happened, he planned to detect it with [Life Search] and signal the villagers to evacuate. The fact that it went out of its way to target the uninhabited farm rather than the crowded beach suggested that the monster was as cowardly as it was cruel.
(It’s happy to bully those weaker than itself, but it doesn’t want to risk a direct confrontation. The creature is a textbook coward!)
"That’s the fourth one!"
"GYAAAAAAAGHHHH!"
As a sharp harpoon drove deep into its tail, a high-pitched scream rang out.
The projectiles Rest fired into the beast weren't the Divine Harpoons of some legendary fisherman; they were simple tools borrowed from the villagers. They were high-quality goods the Queen Dowager had purchased for the village using her own funds, but they weren't inherently magical.
The only thing that made them special was that Rest had reinforced them and coated them in magically synthesized poison. Using wind magic, he launched the poison-slicked harpoons at the speed of bullets, pinning the monster’s tail.
"Gyaa! Gyaa!"
"Oh no, you don't. You're not going anywhere."
Sensing danger, the monster immediately tried to flee. However, it was held fast by the ropes attached to the harpoons. The other ends were lashed to tree trunks, and since Rest had reinforced the lines with magic, they weren't going to snap easily.
"I'll take this chance to close off your escape route."
Rest used magic to lift himself into the air, flying over the monster.
"[Earth Shield]."
He unleashed his magic from mid-air, aiming straight for the water. The ground on the seabed surged upward, forming a small wall. Of course, a single small wall wasn't nearly enough to contain a monster of this scale.
"[Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield] [Earth Shield]"
From that point on, it was a display of pure brute force.
Leveraging his infinite mana, Rest activated the spell in rapid-fire succession, effectively reclaiming a portion of the sea. Fortunately, the water around the farm wasn't particularly deep. By sheer magical pressure, he completely enclosed the area with earth.
"GYAAAAAAAGHHHH!"
The monster thrashed its tail violently, finally managing to tear out the harpoons. Despite being riddled with poison, it seemed relatively unaffected; its enraged roars were as vigorous as ever.
"Well, it looks like that bought me enough time. Construction is complete."
Rest’s work was done. A massive mound of earth now surrounded the farm in a broad arc, cutting off the monster’s path to the open sea.
"Now what? Planning on running for the hills?"
"GYAAAAAAAUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!"
The monster let out a deafening roar, thrusting its head high above the surface. It had a long, serpentine body covered in deep blue scales, and its gaping maw was filled with rows of shark-like teeth.
"Just as I thought... it's a Sea Serpent!"
The enemy was exactly what he'd anticipated. A Sea Serpent—the Tyrant of the Sea. The draconic leviathan lunged forward, charging straight at Rest.