Chapter 780: Devil’s Island at Sea

Acheronides faced off against the dragon turtle, with time ticking away minute by minute.

This confused Liszt completely. In battles, he had always been quick-tempered—preferring action after just a few words. Since this world revered strength as the ultimate authority, showing strength was the best way to communicate. Once strength was displayed, everyone would know how to speak accordingly.

Yet, half an hour passed, and Acheronides still hadn’t acted.

Then, the dragon turtle began to move. It slowly submerged, its shell gradually sinking beneath the water, allowing the stranded Opportunity to return to the sea.

In the next moment, a current buoyed the Opportunity and swiftly carried it away to safety.

"So, that’s it? Problem solved?" Liszt gazed at the calm sea, feeling oddly dissatisfied. Truthfully, beyond rescuing the Opportunity, he had hoped to hunt the dragon turtle—after all, it was a Supreme Dragon Beast. Its shell’s transformative properties could greatly aid his cultivation.

Back then, the Flame Dragonbird’s tail feathers had hinted at the connection between the soul and magic power, but they hadn't shown more detailed insights, leaving him deeply regretful.

As if to dispel Liszt’s lingering thoughts, once the Opportunity was safe, the dragon turtle resurfaced. And there, standing atop its shell, was Acheronides, wearing her magic cloak.

She waved at Liszt in the sky, gesturing for him to come down.

Trusting Acheronides and confident in his own strength, Liszt leaped down from the sky, landing on the dragon turtle’s massive shell. The nearly hundred-meter-wide shell was covered in coral reefs, making it look strange. It was hard to imagine how this dragon turtle lived its life.

If it were some lazy shellfish, coral growth wouldn’t be surprising. But for a turtle to have coral on its shell suggested it barely moved at all.

"Brother."

"What’s the deal with this turtle?"

"The great turtle isn’t a threat. Acheronides sensed its peaceful nature, so I communicated with it for a while. It’s agreed to come home with me." Acheronides smiled brightly, clearly pleased with having tamed a Supreme Dragon Beast. "Brother, please don’t kill it, okay?"

"It can really understand you?"

"Mhm. When Acheronides lived in the sea, I saw many turtles. They communicate through vibrations in the water. So, I tried different vibrations, and this big turtle understood. Though its thoughts seem a bit slow."

"That’s a thing?" Liszt believed her—Acheronides was, after all, a spirit of the sea. Controlling sea creatures should be easy. "So, what do you plan to do with it? Guard the territory, use it as transport, or study it? Does it actually obey commands?"

"Brother, the great turtle might be slow, but it’s lived a very, very long time. It says it knows many islands!"

"Islands?"

Liszt's face lit up. "Good, very good! If it can lead us to islands, it'll have done us a huge favor. Once my kingdom is established, perhaps I can keep it as a guardian beast." Compared to the value of discovering islands, a turtle shell wasn't so important.

After all, he still had Little Yellow, Little Red, and Little Purple to study whenever he wished.

"The big turtle can for sure find islands. It says it used to return to its birthplace every year to breed."

"How many offspring has it had?"

Acheronides replied, "The great turtle says there are many like it on its birth island—so many it lost count. But none have grown as large as it. Since becoming too big, it rarely returns, just drifting around the ocean instead."

"Then let’s head to its birth island first!" Liszt decided immediately.

...

Ordering the expedition fleet to protect the Flame and fix up the damaged Opportunity, Liszt and Acheronides set off atop the dragon turtle toward its birthplace.

"This great turtle is a thunder-attributed dragon. There’s no record of its legendary name, so following our naming rules, we’ll call it the Thunder Dragon Turtle," Liszt said as they set out. "Its speed doesn’t seem very fast."

The Thunder Dragon Turtle moved at a steady pace of about thirty to forty kilometers per hour.

Though faster than a sailboat, Liszt, used to the speed and excitement brought by Acheronides, found this pace unbearable.

"Brother, don't worry."

Acheronides lifted a hand, apparently guiding the currents to communicate with the Thunder Dragon Turtle. After a moment, she said, "The Thunder Dragon Turtle is sensing the direction. Once it picks its birthplace's direction, I'll steer the currents to help it speed up."

Ten minutes later.

The Thunder Dragon Turtle finally settled on a heading—east-southeast. On this bearing, it seemed to be heading toward the Devil Sea beyond the Sapphire Sea.

According to the Sapphire Duchy's maritime records, the Sapphire Islands were surrounded by the Sapphire Sea, and beyond that lay the Devil Sea, with no other named seas. Strictly speaking, the expedition fleet had already left the Sapphire Sea, where Sapphire ships usually sailed, and was now navigating unmapped waters.

Nevertheless, these new waters still belonged to the Legendary Continent's coastal waters—where Liszt hoped to establish his nation.

Sailing further east would take them farther from the Legendary Continent.

That unknown expanse was collectively referred to as the Devil Sea.

Acheronides took control of the currents, guiding the Thunder Dragon Turtle along the flow she controlled. Its speed suddenly surged to around two hundred kilometers per hour. They traveled continuously for five hours, logging over 1,000 km, until a crescent moon rose. Finally, the Thunder Dragon Turtle became agitated.

It sensed the aura of its birthplace—or rather, it felt an innate familiarity with the waters surrounding the island.

After another half-hour of swimming, under the moonlight, Liszt and Acheronides spotted an island's silhouette. The island wasn’t large, likely much smaller than Black Horse Island. Yet, within Liszt’s Magic Eye, flickers of purple-white light glimmered across its surface.

Those were likely the Thunder Dragon Turtle’s kin.

"Jackpot!"

The thought flashed through his mind, but as they drew closer, his excitement waned. The Thunder Dragon Turtles in his vision emitted far weaker magical auras compared to the one beneath his feet. Most importantly, their shells lacked the same radiant glow.

They were also much smaller in size, with the largest one no more than twenty meters across. "Are they juveniles, or are they not Thunder Dragon Turtles at all?" He suddenly recalled the information Kenley Truth had shared about unicorns—how they lived among herds of pegasi.

Clearly, pegasi and unicorns were fundamentally different, hardly the same species.

Perhaps this Thunder Dragon Turtle and the island’s turtles had also diverged in essence—though whether this difference was innate or a result of later growth remained unclear.

Flame Dragonbirds and their fledglings, unicorns and pegasi, Thunder Dragon Turtles and ordinary thunder turtles… Information about these Supreme Dragon Beasts flickered rapidly in his mind as he tried to discern patterns or clues.

At that moment.

The Thunder Dragon Turtle reached the shore and started hauling itself ashore.