Chapter 348

(348)

Bang!

A lance of water came flying and struck my body.

“Screeeech! Screeecch! Screeeech!”

The parabolic trajectories originating from all around Gorii Lake were far from just a few.

Even dodging would have been difficult, but right now, I was helplessly tied up on the sandbar, unable to move.

“These wretched ones dare to-.”

I struggled wildly, attempting to break the chains of water.

Sssss! Sssss!

“That’s our king, the one who tried to make us slaves again!”

“I summoned the sea!”

“We will surely sink you!”

The Merfolk shouted and sang, reinforcing the chains of water and firing more lances.

Though my body was tightly wrapped by semi-transparent, dark-red scales under my uniform, the mere touch of the power of water was problematic.

Bang!

Sssss!

Another lance struck me.

“Destroy Solletarass!”

“Drag her to the deepest depths and make her a slave forever!”

Each strike with the lance made my body feel like it was burning, and then freezing cold.

The mana I had barely gathered dispersed, and the strength left my body.

Sssss!

“Gah!”

It wasn’t an illusion.

Until just a moment ago, I could have easily pulled over a dozen merfolk with effort, but now, they hardly moved at all.

“Slowly…we’re sinking…”

“Drifting off to sleep…”

I glanced behind me and saw a blue short-haired mermaid clinging to Schub Ardelra.

“Damn it.”

She was lifting a faint blue aura, gradually unraveling the spell binding Schub Ardelra.

Sssss!

Thanks to her overwhelming advantage in elemental power, smoke rose from the short-haired mermaid’s hands, but she didn’t back down despite the pain, and Schub Ardelra was slowly regaining her freedom.

If she fully frees herself and can cast the rituals she’s practiced for a thousand years, both Lady Trentia and I are finished.

“RaRaRa, RaRaRa, RaRaRaRa-.”

The merfolk sang louder.

Mysterious and enchanting voices echoed through the cavern.

The fact that it sounds enchanting shows my mind is being gradually eroded.

Swish!

Swish!

Swollen corpses rose from the Gorii Lake.

“Wooaaaahhhh…”

“Wooaaahhhh…”

Corals grew on their backs, while barnacles and clams clung to their bodies.

These were essentially the same coral soldiers that Karlon had previously resurrected.

They must have revived all the sailors who have died at sea over the years.

The sheer number was overwhelming — easily over eight hundred.

Screee!

Bang!

A lance of water struck my chest directly.

“Gahgh!”

I coughed, bending over as another one struck my forehead.

Bang!

Swish!

It felt like oil had been poured and set alight, burning and prickling my skin.

“Grah…”

Sea water sharpened by the power of the merfolk dripped down, and my silver hair fell limp before my eyes.

A mocking laugh echoed.

“Hey, you fish-faced bastards!”

I faintly saw Lady Trentia down below, fiercely combating.

A massive shark-headed Undersea People warrior was cornering her.

I muttered as if in a dream.

“No, this won’t do…”

* * *

When performing the Dragon Enhancement ritual, one can wield dragon power, but overusing it can transform you entirely into a dragon.

I’ve been taking blue pills to stop that transformation, but the side effects have been destroying my body gradually. Az’s decision resolved the pill’s side effects.

That said, the side effects of Dragon Enhancement itself still remain.

Now I can freely manifest and use my eyes and scales, but starting from the horns onward, things get complicated.

That complication was necessary.

Crack!

A massive pair of horns spiraled and burst forth from my temples.

Zzzzz!

My vision turned red, savage power surged through me, and my scales hardened, becoming twice as tough.

Sssss!

Az’s crystal resonated within my body, dispersing the effects of mutation.

It wasn’t perfect, but it would be a great help.

“Siik!”

“Solutarass!”

The merfolk’s voices were tinged with tension.

Bang!

Yet another lance of water flew toward me.

“Hmph.”

A numbing shock hit me, but there was no burning or prickling pain.

On the contrary, my mind became even clearer.

My magically-enhanced resistance pushed its limits and defended me against even the merfolk’s magic.

Whoosh!

I summoned flames at my feet.

The greedy flames wrapped around my ankles, wrists, and entire body, boiling the water chains into steam and breaking them.

Ting! Ting!

“May Solletarass drown a thousand times!”

The merfolk cursed me in shock, while Lady Trentia cheered.

“Prince Valencianus, huzzah!”

She was just about to be crushed by a shark warrior.

“Let go!”

She tilted her head far back and rammed into the shark warrior’s nose.

Thud!

“Gack!”

Attacking his weak point caused the shark warrior’s grip to loosen, and she quickly drew a dagger from her waist, impaling his palate.

Thud!

Lady Trentia fell to the ground and spun around, deflecting cutlasses and tridents from the Undersea People warriors with her sword.

As Lady Trentia regained her freedom, I floated twenty-four lances of flame into the air.

This was the chance, before the merfolk could dispel it.

“!”

“!”

One of the merfolk pointed at me and shouted, but I completed my incantation and launched the flames faster.

“Burn them all!”

The lances of flame flew in all directions, exploding.

Booooom!

The flames surged across the sandbar like waves and didn’t extinguish on the sand. They rose higher than a man and blazed fiercely.

“Shiiiiiik!”

“Keiiiiik!”

The fish guardians and foreign sea dragons twisted their bodies in confusion.

In contrast, Lady Trentia, cloaked in a fire-resistant mantle, raged even more freely.

“I will deliver a righteous punishment to these scale-covered cannibals!”

She swung her sword, cutting off the sea dragon’s leg and cleaving more than half its body.

I handed over the sandbar side to her and turned back to Schub Ardelra.

* * *

The merfolk watched as Solletarass, hated as ever, stepped toward her master.

“No.”

“Not again.”

“This time, it’s forever.”

Schub Ardelra had spent a thousand years bound by a ritual, unable to die, while the regular merfolk were exceptions.

They spent their lives assisting their princess, who served the wicked royals, growing old and dying.

And they commanded their children to continue this endless devotion.

The ritual binding the princess wasn’t just about her individually but the fate of the entire race.

“Let’s go,”

“Drag her underwater.”

“Ra, RaRaRa. Ra, RaRaRa.”

Merfolk from around the Gorii Lake chanted their spells without hesitation.

Water magic was no longer enough to break this bandit’s body.

What they needed was overwhelming force, not an elemental advantage.

Swish!

The water depth slightly shallowed, and eight towering water hands rose, nearly touching the ceiling.

“Ra, RaRaRa. Ra, RaRaRa.”

A charming voice laced with fascination and disintegration followed.

Even a distinguished Sword Expert could lose their mind under the magic of that song.

Prince Valencianus looked up at Schub Ardelra.

“I bet you’re proud to have such many loyal followers who’ve kept you locked up for a thousand years.”

She was nearly free from the spell with the help of Eri.

Swish!

The water hands behind the dais looked both threatening and majestic.

The merfolk’s enchanting song continued to cloud the mind.

Just a while ago, I almost forgot to keep feeding mana into the flames, nearly cutting off the magic.

Had I done that, even Valencianus would’ve suffered a mana overload and fainted.

‘No way out. Good thinking.’

To fight these hands, I’d have to rely on instincts, risking losing myself to the enchanting melody.

Yet Valencianus laughed arrogantly as a bandit.

“Come on!”

As the eight arms shot down toward him and the song pierced his mind, he looked up and unleashed another mental shockwave.

“Aaaaagh-!”

A blazing red wave rippled outward in a circle.

Roar-!

It was far stronger than when he faced the blue-haired royal.

“!”

Schub Ardelra and Eri’s eyes widened, and the massive hands that were about to crush Valencianus crumbled.

Crash!

Bang! Bang!

Fountains of water sprayed into the air, and it seemed as if a hole had been torn into the sky, pouring down water.

Swish!

The mana-infused gush returned to Gorii Lake, and with it, the water path Valencianus had created on the sandbar dissipated.

But Valencianus had already dispersed the water hands with a single strike and stepped toward the shell-adorned platform.

The mermaid officer with a blue bob and green eyes, Eri, barred his way, gritting her teeth.

“You said you’d use Princess forever.”

Valencianus slightly revealed his elongated canines and shook his head.

“It’s not about using her. It’s about coexisting in this world. Eliminating the possibility of one side unilaterally causing significant harm to the other. Forever.”

“Don’t you remember: ‘Do not oppose the royals’?”

“Hmph, huh.”

The Bandit Duke gave a wry smile, and Eri, one of the top enchantresses of her race, unleashed the full power of the water element without thinking of tomorrow.

“I’ll drown you a thousand times!”

Blue streams wove through the air, and water lances shot upward once more.

Swish!

A three-meter-long lance of water soared toward him. Sharp blades erupted from the sandy ground in an instant, and deep pits were dug beneath Valencianus’s feet.

Swish!

Boiling water healed the Undersea People warriors’ wounds, spinning water shields charged at Valencianus, and smaller but threatening ‘Water Hands of Fury’ shot upward.

“RaRaRaRaRaRa-.”

The merfolk of Gorii Lake also didn’t stay idle.

They aimed not at direct attacks, but at Valencianus’s mind, blessing the Undersea People soldiers battling Lady Trentia, and hindering Valencianus’s mental shocks.

“Aaaaagh… Damn!”

Still, Valencianus was a powerful warrior even without mental shocks.

Whooooosh!

He conjured and launched lances of flames in mid-air, raised waves of fire to blind or attack directly, shattered defenses with storms of fire, and unleashed internal heating spells to unleash a barrage of attacks.

Whooshh!

With the ferocity to boil the entire Gorii Lake, he summoned fire spirits to intimidate the merfolk, shot heat beams powered by Az’s strength, and infused his magic sword “Typhoon” with mana to use the core of the Flame Typhoon.

Eri and Valencianus, the closest confidants standing atop their respective races, clashed with all their might.

The rough grunts escaping from between their gritted teeth faded into the thunderous sounds.

!

!

This was a battlefield for those who held someone dearer than their own lives, a stage for those who had pushed themselves to their limits to become monsters for the sake of someone else.

Splash!

The water shield Eri created blocked Valencianus’s heat beams, and her water lance finally broke through his defenses, burying the Bandit Duke’s legs deep into a pit.

!

Valencianus’s summoned elementals shattered the water hands, his waves of flame targeted Schub Ardelra, and Eri’s body temperature soared from receiving the “Natural Ignition Gaze,” roasting her alive on her feet.

!

At the end of that fierce battle, the one standing was Bandit Duke Valencianus.

“Huff, huff!”

He, too, was not unscathed.

His head pounded like it would split, blood streamed from his ears and eyes, deep wounds bled continuously, and a thick crack ran along one of his grand horns.

But he had successfully grasped Eri’s neck with his scaly hand.

“Grah.”

Eri tried to push her dagger deeper into Valencianus’s armpit but couldn’t move her arms.

She pleaded half-heartedly.

“A thousand years is enough, isn’t it?”

Valencianus roughly shoved her aside and approached Schub Ardelra, his vertically slit pupils filled with an urgency unworthy of a Bandit Duke.

“You can’t live in a house that might collapse at any moment, neither can I. A place that could blow up anytime is enough, and I can’t risk a rebellion of the heterogeneous races either!”

“That obsession of yours will strangle you and your siblings!”

“I know that already! Let it be! If I know it, I’ll find a way to handle it!”

The Bandit Duke simultaneously pulled the dagger out and tripped Eri.

“Please…!”

She clung to Valencianus’ ankle, who dragged her along as he approached Schub Ardelra.

“What I want to say is—”

Above the shared sky of the cavern, the full moon was rising.

Saaah—

The gentle moonlight bathed the dragon-blood royal and the mermaid princess.