CHAPTER 464: 464. DRAGON PRINCESS

"Hahaha... Die, trash! You fake pieces of garbage!" Carlos Beckman roared with manic delight, his voice echoing unnaturally through the water via sound transmission.

Tyler’s eyes narrowed behind his mask. His voice dropped into a low, resonant growl. "What do you mean, fake? You’re the illusion. You’re the fake here."

Carlos didn’t even register the words, too consumed by his own fury. But Fred Beckman’s gaze flickered, his face briefly losing its composure. He hesitated before muttering, "Fake...? Are we fake? Like... a character in a story?"

Lily blinked, cocking her head. "Wait— is he trying to break the fourth wall right now?"

Before anyone could answer, the Wyvern they were riding unleashed a deafening roar. Its massive jaws opened, releasing a barrage of glowing white orbs. They drifted lazily in the water—beautiful, almost serene. But the illusion was deadly. The instant one touched the seabed, the world seemed to implode, pulverizing everything around it into dust within seconds.

Lily’s eyes lit up, fascinated rather than afraid. "Is that... a lightning ball? Oh, that’s definitely going into my notes."

"If those things go wild and rupture this cavern, the underwater lava will spill out," Myrtle snapped, her tone sharpening. "This entire section of the Nest could collapse."

Meanwhile, Tyler darted through the water, weaving between the deadly spheres. He was fast, but each near miss made the hair on his neck stand on end. He clenched his teeth. He didn’t want to use his Chess Domain here—especially not while he was operating under his Phantom Blackwood persona. The self-imposed restrictions were making this a lot harder than it should have been.

Looks like I need to soak the Abyssal Trident in abyssal energy again, he thought. It’s overdue for an upgrade.

"Trash, trash, trash!" Carlos kept screaming, almost foaming at the mouth.

Lily cracked a grin. "You know something? A wise bully once told me, ’Speak up—I can’t hear you with all that pity trash in your mouth.’"

Carlos barely had time to frown before her whip lashed out through the water, crackling with electricity. It coiled around his leg and yanked him off balance. His eyes went wide—then his body convulsed violently as thousands of volts ripped through him.

A moment later, there was nothing left but ash and the fading shimmer of a dissolving illusion.

"Grandson!" Fred bellowed in grief. His rage burned hotter—until the Abyssal Trident came hurtling toward him like a spear of death. He twisted at the last moment, the weapon grazing past him. But instead of vanishing, it embedded itself deep into the Wyvern’s back, wedged between its scales.

"Another wise man once told me," Tyler’s voice rumbled from behind him, "A chicken has a family too... that’s why I always order the family bucket."

Fred spun around—too late. Tyler was already there, Trident in hand. One of the weapon’s more dangerous abilities had just been triggered: when thrown, the wielder could instantly teleport to its location with a simple grabbing gesture.

The Abyssal Trident drove clean through Fred Beckman’s back.

For a moment, Fred’s eyes lost all emotion, his voice turning flat and mechanical. "Trial completed. Congratulations on surviving against the Beckman family."

Then he froze, as if waiting.

Tyler glanced sideways at Myrtle, his tone awkward. "Sooo... do we talk about the Beckman family now, or wait for the flashback?"

Fred’s voice returned, but it was strangely hollow, like a recording left to play on loop. "The Beckman family was once a Saint Clan, guardians of the Wyvern Nest. But when the Gods vanished, the saints followed. The Beckmans... had made too many enemies. Their arrogance caught up to them. The Nest was raided. Some of us tried to flee, but we were caught in the Trials—our memories... preserved. Our bodies... long gone."

Lily crossed her arms. "So you’re... ghost NPCs."

Fred continued without acknowledging her. "The Trial repeats forever. We are not truly trapped here—only fragments of what the real Beckmans once were. And now... the next phase of the Trial begins."

With that, Fred’s body broke apart into glowing particles, scattering into the dark water.

But the Wyvern remained—and it was angrier than ever.

Tyler glanced at Myrtle. "So... do we deal with that thing too? Or are you gonna step in?"

Myrtle exhaled through her nose, almost annoyed. "No need."

She moved aside with a casual wave of her hand.

The water behind her shimmered, heat distorting the view. Then—like a crack in the world—a massive shadow emerged. Scales black as obsidian covered its body, each etched with glowing red fissures like molten lava veins. The moment it appeared, the temperature in the cavern spiked.

The dragon roared, the sound shaking the very water.

Lily’s jaw dropped. "Okay... that’s not a little help."

Before anyone could comment further, a voice boomed directly into their minds— a voice deep, ancient, and brimming with amusement. ’Hahaha... Something better to play with.’

The Red-Veined Obsidian Dragon lunged at the Lightning Water Wyvern. The impact was like a quake underwater. Shockwaves rippled out, tearing through the currents.

The Wyvern responded with a blast of lightning orbs, the cavern lighting up like a storm. The dragon’s lava veins flared brighter, the water sizzling against its heat. It slammed the Wyvern into the cavern wall, sending chunks of white volcanic stone drifting like shattered glass.

Tyler grabbed Lily’s wrist, pulling her back from a collapsing ledge. He muttered "As expected... I was right."

Mana floated above them, her usual calm expression tinged with interest. "Oh oh... It’s like two titans of the Seas are fighting.... Fight Fight.."

Chunks of debris swirled in the current as the two titans tore into each other. The place shook again, this time harder— enough for Myrtle to glance up, a slight crease forming in her brow.

"If this fight keeps up," she said evenly, "the lava veins beneath this corridor will rupture."

Lily tilted her head. "You say that like it’s a bad thing."

Myrtle didn’t smile. "It is."

Another crash, another shockwave. The Wyvern’s lightning ripped into the dragon’s shoulder, searing flesh— but the dragon only laughed in their minds again, hurling the Wyvern deep into the Wyvern Nest.

"So this Wyvern is not a part of the trial." Tyler said.

"The trial actually won’t continue... Though it is an active trial, it has become a broken one probably half a million years ago..." Lily replied.

"Should we help the Dragon Princess?" Tyler asked.

"No... Let her have the fun..." Myrtle sighed like she was used to it.

The Water Wyvern sent a pressured water , but it didn’t affect the Dragon Princess. She grabbed it’s head and smashed it towards the ground making shockwaves in the water.

"I see..." Myrtle’s eyes narrowed, her voice carrying a strange mix of admiration and dread. "The Dragon Princess is going to finish her goal like this."

Tyler glanced at her. "What goal?"

"To eradicate the Wyvern Nest," she replied without hesitation.

The water beneath them trembled. Cracks split open along the seafloor, releasing blinding flashes of molten red. The lava, long trapped beneath the seabed, burst upward. An intense heat surged through the depths, warping the water. White smoke and drifting ash began to rise from below like underwater clouds.

"Time to leave," Tyler said flatly.

All around them, Immortal Practitioners—those who had accompanied Myrtle— reacted instantly to her shouted orders. In a coordinated rush, they began swimming for the outer tunnels. Myrtle herself shot forward in a streak of light, her body glowing as she accelerated.

She glanced sideways mid-stroke... and nearly frowned. Tyler was keeping up with her—easily— without showing any visible strain.

They were halfway out when a voice cut through the chaos.

"Hello, beauties! I am Carlos Beckman—"

A young man floated ahead of them, protected by a shimmering bubble. His smile was wide, confident.

They didn’t slow. They didn’t even look at him.

"How dare you ignore me! Don’t you know who I am?!" Carlos shouted after them, his words trailing uselessly into the boiling currents.

No one answered.

The tunnels roared behind them, the sound of molten rock tearing through stone. But after a relentless push, they finally broke free —emerging from the Wyvern Nest’s main exit just as the eruption reached critical force.

They rose into cooler waters, the crushing heat fading. Tyler, the girls, Myrtle, her guards, and dozens of other survivors came out of the Wyvern Nest. Many were gasping; others simply stared back at the sea in stunned silence.

From the depths, white smoke continued to billow, never pausing. It spread outward like an endless plume, churning the water until visibility dropped to nothing.

Then they felt it.

A deep, slow shift—l ike the ocean floor itself had moved. The Wyvern Nest was rising a little, its ancient structure pushing slightly upward, disturbing the currents for miles around.

Above them, the sea erupted into giant waves. The tremors below sent towering walls of water rolling outward in every direction.

From the collapsing Wyvern Nest , titans stirred. Massive silhouettes emerged—ancient sea creatures long dormant in the Nest. They fled the upheaval in frantic bursts of speed.

Schools of Water Wyverns scattered into the open ocean, their sleek forms slicing through the waves. A hulking Freshwater Bull charged past, bellowing into the current. A Giant Toad— its skin mottled with coral— kicked away into the dark. Countless other creatures, some too strange to name, streamed from the ruin.