Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: The Tenth Trial
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Content: Help the Mermaid Kingdom.
- Zone 166 Participants: 10,000
“They've merged.”
After entering the arena for the tenth trial, Hae-jin commented upon seeing the zone and survivor count.
The original zone Hae-jin had been in, Zone 33,333, had changed to Zone 166, and instead of the 50 survivors there should have been, there were now 10,000 participants.
It was inevitable.
The initial arena had divided participants into a total of 50,000 zones, and now that 200 zones had merged, the number of zones had drastically decreased.
From 50,000 zones down to 200—it was fair to say they'd shrunk considerably.
Anyway.
Hae-jin simply waited quietly on the beach while observing this.
Again, it was inevitable.
The location Hae-jin was in now was an uninhabited island.
The tenth trial's arena was set on uninhabited islands, and as the content indicated, the backdrop would soon shift to the Mermaid Kingdom.
Mermaids.
They were a different race, mortal enemies with the 'mermen' that Hae-jin had captured for his hidden trial.
A demi-human species with human upper bodies and fish tails for lower halves.
Currently, players had to wait on the islands they'd spawned on until the mermaids arrived.
Of course, only Hae-jin and his party members knew this fact.
‘Anyone else who's sharp would probably have figured out we're heading to the Mermaid Kingdom.’
Just from reading the content, anyone with keen instincts would know the next stage was the Mermaid Kingdom.
It wasn't long before Hae-jin saw it.
Whoooosh—!
The intensity of the waves crashing against the island suddenly changed.
Right away, the waves began to grow larger.
As if a tsunami were rising.
But it wasn't a tsunami.
Atop the massive waves that soon formed stood a man dressed in battle-ready attire, poised as if heading into combat at any moment.
Seeing the man, Hae-jin smirked.
‘As expected, they've sent a prince this way.’
They'd sent a prince.
After the tenth trial arena opened, mermaids would come to the islands to pick up survivors from the ninth trial. By the system's design, one mermaid of the same gender as each player would arrive, request their help, and escort them away.
For ordinary players, it would be regular mermaid soldiers who came, but for Hae-jin, a Mermaid Prince had shown up personally.
Inevitably so.
There was a condition for a prince or princess to come guide you personally.
That condition was possessing the 'Pendant of the Mermaid Royal Family.'
‘During the battle with mermaids and mermen, after kidnapping the princess or prince, the fugitive mermen had separately taken the pendant of the Mermaid Royal Family, and we'd tracked its energy—that was the setup.’
In the previous trial arena, if you captured a merman while holding the Mermaid Royal Family's pendant, a royal family member rather than a regular soldier would come to greet you.
In any case, Hae-jin looked at the Mermaid Prince who had arrived riding waves right in front of him and thought.
‘I wonder which one this is?’
The Mermaid King and Queen had quite a few princes and princesses between them.
So, there was no way to know which prince would come to Hae-jin.
Everything had changed since Joo-hyuk disappeared.
In any case, each Mermaid Prince or Princess had different personalities.
Some were friendly toward humans, others were not.
What Hae-jin hoped for was.
‘Please don't be the friendly type.’
Hae-jin hoped not for a Mermaid Prince friendly to humans, but one who wasn't.
Normally, you'd think friendliness was preferable.
But from Hae-jin's experience, that wasn't the case.
A non-friendly Mermaid Prince was far more convenient than a friendly one.
The reason would soon become clear.
“Human, are you the one holding our royal family's pendant?”
His speech was rude from the get-go.
Seeing this, a smile crept onto Hae-jin's lips.
‘Not the friendly type. This'll be easy to handle.’
Hae-jin was pleased at the arrogant attitude of what seemed like a non-friendly Mermaid Prince, thinking he'd be easy to manage.
With that in mind, Hae-jin replied.
“Yeah, I've got it.”
Hae-jin spoke to the Mermaid Prince in informal speech.
The Mermaid Prince furrowed his brow.
“...You're awfully casual for a mere human?”
“You're casual too.”
“I'm a prince.”
He pointed a thumb at himself, boasting smugly.
As a prince, it was fine for him to be casual.
In response, Hae-jin provoked the Mermaid Prince.
“Doesn't change that you're just a fish brat.”
“What?!”
At Hae-jin's taunt calling him a fish brat, the Mermaid Prince surged with energy.
Whoooosh—!
Drawing on the power of the deep blue sea, the Mermaid Prince aimed his spear at Hae-jin.
“My father ordered me to fetch the humans summoned as heroes, so I was going to guide you politely, but you dare insult me?”
“Insult? I was just calling it like I see it—you're a rude fish brat.”
“You scum!”
Whoooosh—!
The furious Mermaid Prince transferred the energy he'd gathered straight into the sea.
The waters around him rose like serpents, writhing menacingly.
Poised to strike Hae-jin at any moment.
Hae-jin extended his hand.
“Hold up.”
“What? Scared all of a sudden?”
Seeing Hae-jin suddenly tell him to stop just as he was about to attack, the Mermaid Prince flashed a very pleased smile.
He thought Hae-jin had realized the gap in their power upon witnessing his might.
He figured Hae-jin would grovel now.
But Hae-jin had no such intention.
Instead, he brought up something that would crush the Mermaid Prince's pride.
“Not that. I was just gonna fight you on your terms.”
“On my terms?”
“Yeah, on the ocean.”
“Hah! You're saying you'll fight a mermaid on the sea?”
What kind of race were mermaids?
Aside from the monstrous sea-dwellers, dragons, and their rivals the mermen, there was virtually no one who could stand against them.
Yet this guy claimed he'd fight one of them in the ocean.
From the Mermaid Prince's perspective, it was absurd.
To drive the nail home into the dumbfounded Mermaid Prince, Hae-jin crushed his pride further.
“Still, I think you'll win.”
“Hahaha! Unbelievable. Fine, let's see if that lofty confidence lets you beat me at sea, you human scum!”
“Guess calling you a fish brat really got under your skin.”
Hae-jin smirked and leaped up.
Thud!
He lightly jumped onto the surface of the sea.
The Mermaid Prince flinched in shock at the sight.
“Wha... how...?”
The Mermaid Prince was stunned to see Hae-jin walk across the ocean as naturally as if it were solid ground.
Hae-jin replied.
“You'd better not be surprised by this much.”
In truth, there were several ways to make the Mermaid Prince tremble in fear.
One was simply to beat him senseless.
Overwhelm him with sheer force until he cowered.
Another was to summon Q.
Q was a 'Sea Serpent.'
In the ocean, if you named the strongest beings after dragons, there were five.
Two of them were this arrogant Mermaid Prince's father, the Mermaid King, and his mother, the Mermaid Queen.
The next two spots went to the merman rivals: the Merman King and Merman Queen.
And the final one occupying that rank was the Sea Serpent.
So, if Hae-jin summoned Q the Sea Serpent and let it revert to its true form, he could make this arrogant Mermaid Prince wet himself.
Thus, Hae-jin pondered.
‘What should I do?’
After some thought, Hae-jin called out to the Mermaid Prince.
“Hey, fish brat.”
“And this human scum?!”
“Just one question.”
“What is it, human scum?”
“Are humans scarier, or Sea Serpents?”
“Why are you, a mere human, putting yourself on the same level as a Sea Serpent?”
It was clear he found Sea Serpents scarier.
Unaware it was a bad choice of answer, the Mermaid Prince dismissed humans.
Hae-jin grinned at the response.
“I see. Got it. I'll spare your life for now since you still have to guide us.”
“What?”
The Mermaid Prince stared at Hae-jin in bewilderment at the claim he'd spare his life.
Right then—
Flash!
Hae-jin moved.
So fast that an afterimage lingered where he'd stood.
He closed in on the Mermaid Prince in an instant and grabbed him by the throat.
Crack!
“Guhk!”
The Mermaid Prince tried to swing the spear he'd been holding at Hae-jin, who had approached and seized his neck in a flash.
He figured attacking was his only way to break free.
But that depended on the opponent.
Seeing the Mermaid Prince try to stab him, Hae-jin clicked his tongue.
“Tsk, if you'd stayed still, it'd be over after a few hits. You're making it worse.”
With that, Hae-jin kicked the hand gripping the spear that was thrusting toward him.
Crack!
“Urk!”
The Mermaid Prince's strength drained from his properly struck hand.
He dropped the spear he was holding.
To the now-disarmed Mermaid Prince, Hae-jin said.
“From now on, make sure to properly gauge if your opponent is stronger or weaker than you before rushing in.”
Wracked with pain in his neck and arm from Hae-jin's words, the Mermaid Prince hurriedly replied.
“G-Got... got it.”
The Mermaid Prince answered as if he'd understood, but unsatisfied with the response, Hae-jin frowned.
“Got it?”
“G-Got it! Understood! Please let go now!”
Realizing his mistake too late, the Mermaid Prince switched to polite speech.
He begged for release from his throat.
The mere pressure felt like it would snap his neck bones.
But Hae-jin wasn't done educating the Mermaid Prince yet.
“What're you talking about?”
“Pardon?”
“We haven't even started. Why should I let go?”
“What do you...”
“My friend said it. From tons of experience, real manners only come after a good beating.”
As Hae-jin spoke, it felt like Joo-hyuk was chiming in agreement.
『That's right, that's right.』
Afterward, Hae-jin beat the Mermaid Prince like a dog on the hottest day of summer.
To crush his spirit so he'd never dare rise again.
Thanks to that, the bruised-up Mermaid Prince, blue and purple all over, raised both hands atop the waves in surrender.
To the Mermaid Prince standing there with hands held high, Hae-jin asked.
“What are humans?”
“Gods!”
“What am I?”
“God!”
“And what are you?”
“A retard!”
“Right, retard. Don't ever crawl back up again, fish brat. Got it?”
“Yes, my god!”
“Now guide us already.”
“Yessir!”
The Mermaid Prince, utterly disciplined on the surface, escorted Hae-jin to the Mermaid Kingdom.
But inwardly, the Mermaid Prince harbored other thoughts despite his outward compliance.
Namely.
‘Damn it, just wait till we get back to the palace. Father will...’
That was when Hae-jin spoke.
“By the way, don't think your father will help you. I'm stronger than him.”
“......”