"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Beneath the moonlit sky, the Sea Serpent—the Tyrant of the Sea—let out a deafening roar and lunged for Rest. Using fangs more massive and ferocious than any shark's, the beast sought to crush Rest’s body between his jaws.
"It’s scary... and yet, I wonder why?"
Rest evaded the attack easily in mid-air. Looking down at the Sea Serpent from his vantage point in the sky, his lips curled into a dry, ironic smile.
"I can feel the fear, but I’m not terrified. Not even a shred of me feels like I can't win, or that I need to run away."
He wasn't trying to be provocative; it was his honest, heartfelt assessment of the situation. Even though he was facing a legendary monster like the Sea Serpent, Rest’s heart remained composed, his calm far outweighing any lingering trace of dread.
In the end, experience was everything. He had faced the roar of the Magical Beast Subnock and the overwhelming scale of the Elder Worm. Having survived life-and-death struggles against such foes, Rest had finally grown accustomed to the pressure. He understood that the Sea Serpent was a formidable monster, but even so, the thought of losing never even crossed his mind.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The Sea Serpent snapped his jaws and lashed his tail, desperate to strike the boy. Rest parried the blows with magic, weaving through the air with the grace of a bird.
The monster's aggression was more intense than before. Perhaps he had finally snapped after his tail was repeatedly struck by harpoons, or perhaps this was simply the final struggle of a cornered rat. Now that his path back to the open ocean was blocked by a wall of earth, the beast likely realized he had no choice but to fight his way out.
"Either way, he's acting out of desperation. It’s easy enough to dodge attacks from an enemy who's lost his cool," Rest murmured as he danced through the sky.
He wasn't just playing around, however. Even as he focused on evasion, he was quietly completing the preparations necessary to end the fight.
"It should be just about ready now."
In Rest’s hand sat a small barrier. Inside that tiny space, a massive amount of magic had been compressed to its absolute limit.
"Last time, I caused an explosion by compressing a Fireball... but this time will be different."
A massive blast like the one he had used against his previous enemies would destroy the pearl farm and likely catch the village in the collateral damage. Fire was out of the question.
"Wind Sphere."
The magic he was currently packing into the barrier was a simple, entry-level wind spell. He had cast dozens of Wind Spheres while evading the Sea Serpent’s initial assault, and by now, the barrier was thrumming with concentrated power.
"Now, all that’s left is to..."
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Ah, perfect timing."
The Sea Serpent lunged forward, opening his massive maw to swallow the boy whole. As they crossed paths, Rest tossed the barrier containing the compressed wind magic directly into the monster's throat.
"There."
Once he confirmed the Sea Serpent had swallowed the magic, Rest surged upward, gaining as much altitude as possible. He glanced toward the beach; the villagers had already evacuated. He had signaled them the moment the Sea Serpent fell into the trap, ensuring they were well out of harm's way.
"It’s over... Susanoo!"
Inside the Sea Serpent’s body, the barrier dissolved, and the trapped magic was unleashed all at once.
"GYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!?"
The atmosphere inside the beast’s gut expanded tenfold, then a hundredfold. The sudden, violent pressure surged against the Sea Serpent’s stomach walls, causing him to burst like a balloon overfilled with air. The expanding gale didn't stop at the stomach; it tore through the monster's internal organs and muscle, eating through him from the inside out.
"Whoa...!"
"GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!?"
With a sickening spray of blood and viscera, the massive body of the Sea Serpent split clean in two. As the creature ruptured, the pent-up wind magic exploded outward, buffeting the area in every direction. A storm-like gale lashed against Rest and the surrounding coast, violently rattling the trees and nearby structures.
"............Is it finished?"
The wind eventually died down, and that was that. Aside from the Sea Serpent, who had taken the full force of the spell internally, the damage to Rest and the environment was negligible. It seemed his calculations—adjusting the density of the magic based on his past failures—had been a success.
"Gyu... i..."
The two halves of the Sea Serpent lay bobbing in the water. The monster let out one last, faint whimper before life finally left his eyes.
The battle had ended far more simply than Rest had anticipated.