Chapter 94
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 94
When the first explosion erupted, no one on the battlefield understood what Turan had done.
They had seen him use the Soul of Fire for emergency evasions several times already, so they merely wondered, 'Why detonate it now when he isn't even under attack?'
The realization hit the moment they sensed the shift in the air. A stone—propelled by centrifugal force and explosive power to several times the speed of sound—pierced the Great Sea Serpent’s vital spot with unerring precision.
It struck an ancient wound, a scar left by a god in ages past that had undoubtedly been intended to end the beast's life.
The stone buried itself into that vulnerable point, tearing through storm-battered flesh and erupting out through the scales on the opposite side.
The blow was so devastating that the Great Sea Serpent couldn't even scream. It simply hung its maw open, its entire body writhing in silent agony.
"Get—back—!"
The Mermaid King’s voice, bolstered by the massive lung capacity unique to his kind, thundered through the raging storm.
Watching his children retreat in haste, the King recalled the terrifying attack he had just witnessed.
‘What on earth was that…?’
Though he spent his life moving between the abyss and the surface, the Mermaid King possessed insight far superior to ordinary merfolk, thanks to his long life and the wisdom inherited from his ancestors.
To his eyes, the slinging attack Turan had just displayed was not something that should have come from a mage of his rank. It was a power one would expect from the mighty Mage Lords of the humans—those known as the Heads of the Great Families.
Considering that Turan’s power until moments ago had not been at that level, this was an abnormal surge of firepower.
‘As I thought, he must be one of the immortal races…’
The King, who had harbored doubts because Turan’s strength seemed weaker than expected, found his faith reaffirmed. He swallowed his private thoughts and moved to protect his children from the aftershocks of the thrashing serpent.
[□-------■-------!]
The wake created by the struggles of a monster over a hundred meters long was immense.
Every time that massive bulk churned the air and water, tsunamis rose. From the wound opened by Turan’s attack, an incredible volume of wind poured out, fueling a magical storm. A giant octopus, its body alone over eight meters wide, was caught in the chaos while floating near the surface and blown hundreds of meters away.
"Gah—!"
"Get in my mouth! Hurry!"
After watching Solif, who had been attacking from atop a sea turtle’s shell, dive into the turtle’s mouth for safety, Turan used tracking magic to confirm Bije’s location.
The tsunamis and storms sweeping the area had reached the island, leveling the beach already ravaged by water spouts and smashing into the forest beyond. Fortunately, the destruction didn't seem to have reached the inner area where Bije was.
"Phew…"
Exhaling a sigh of relief, Turan tossed aside his sling, which had been shredded by the aftermath of the explosion. Normally, he protected the sling with mana when throwing stones, but it hadn't been enough to withstand the force of that last blast.
‘Now that I look, my hand is injured too.’
His fingers stung, and blisters were forming; he’d suffered burns from the explosion's heat. Considering he hadn't even activated his Guardian Magic Tool to minimize mana consumption, he was lucky to have escaped with only this.
As he contemplated taking a recovery potion, Meisa approached him.
"How did you do that just now?"
"I used the Soul of Fire… I’ll explain the details later."
In truth, he had realized the idea on the fly and thought there was a high chance of failure. Yet, for some reason, he had been able to coordinate the timing perfectly on the first try, as if he had practiced it hundreds of times.
He had felt this sensation a few times before while throwing stones—a conviction that only came in crucial moments. The absolute certainty that he would hit his target.
It might have been the result of the mastery and intuition Turan had built through countless hours of practice since childhood. Especially since he hadn't even been able to use magic to guide the stone this time, as he was busy maintaining the Wind Path.
‘More importantly, if I research this technique further, it could be very useful…’
Several applications immediately sprang to mind. He could fill a large pouch with hundreds of pebbles and a Soul of Fire, then throw it into the middle of enemies and detonate it. Or, like the dwarves of the past, he could place metal shards in a long, thin tube with a Soul of Fire at the back to fire them out.
While he was lost in thought, the Great Sea Serpent’s thrashing began to subside.
Was its life finally at its end?
Turan wasn't the only one thinking this. The giant octopus that had been blown away earlier returned and raised its tentacles toward the serpent. At that moment, Turan saw a change occurring within the half-dead monster.
"Get back!"
Turan shouted urgently, but the two were already too close.
The serpent, which had been wheezing as if its breath were failing, suddenly snapped its eyes open. A green radiance erupted from its body. The storm spirit that had been housed within its body until moments ago had departed, and the beast had fully transformed into a specter.
Though its body was still crushed and on the verge of death, it had gained a final burst of strength. It unhinged its jaw toward the octopus and gathered mana in its throat.
What erupted from its maw was—
"Aaaaaagh!"
With a flash of golden light, the giant octopus’s body melted away like butter under a hot knife.
Judgment Light.
Turan was momentarily speechless as he watched the secret magic that the Sun Bloodline of Baraha took such pride in pour from the serpent’s mouth.
How on earth could that thing…?
As if mocking his confusion, the Great Sea Serpent began to discharge massive amounts of lightning from its entire body, targeting not only the nearby mermaid royalty but also Turan and Meisa in the sky.
It wasn't hard to guess that this was a reflection of the lightning storm Meisa had been relentlessly battering it with.
Unlike Turan, who avoided the lightning by detonating a Soul of Fire to propel himself away, Meisa was struck. She screamed and plummeted into the sea.
Turan started to go after her but stopped when he realized the serpent was glaring at him. Unlike him, Meisa had fully awakened her Storm Bloodline and possessed high electrical resistance; he had to trust she would be alright.
‘A mimic…’
That was the first word that came to mind as he dodged the successive bolts of lightning. Nowhere in the ancient records about the Great Sea Serpent he had obtained from the Librarian was there any mention of such an ability.
It didn't seem to be stealing the power of those it killed, like his own holy relic; rather, it seemed to be copying the abilities it was hit with. Was it because it was in contact with the Mimic God, its specter intertwined with his?
Seeing as it used Solif’s power once and didn't use it again, there were likely limitations. Even so, the situation was far from optimistic. Meisa, aided by the storm clouds since the beginning of the battle, had been unleashing massive lightning storms that one would only expect from the Head of the Arabion family.
If the beast vomited all that power back out, it would be enough to kill everyone here twice over.
As he dodged the incoming bolts and racked his brain, Turan realized the storm around them was finally ceasing. It seemed that with the storm spirit gone, the serpent had lost its ability to control the weather.
Furthermore, the mermaid royalty who had fled the lightning, as well as Meisa and Solif who had fallen into the sea, were now approaching through the water to draw its attention. They were likely hoping the lightning would disperse in the water and lose its potency, but considering that a single hit from that overwhelming physical form meant instant death, it was an act bordering on recklessness.
‘In that case…’
He couldn't let the precious opportunity his comrades had bought him go to waste.
Regrettably, his large sling had been torn by the explosion, making it difficult to use the same technique again. However, since the storm had stopped, he could simply use a tactic he had previously discarded.
Turan’s body, hovering in the sky, vanished as if by magic.
*
‘Damn it…’
Inhaling through a breathing tube made of manipulated water, Solif cursed at the majesty of the mythical monster before him.
Moments ago, the beast had swished its body as if brushing off an annoying fly, and the resulting wake had sent him tumbling dozens of meters back. If the Great Sea Serpent had actually targeted him, he wouldn't have lasted long. His proficiency in fluid manipulation magic was still lacking, and he couldn't move very nimbly underwater.
Swallowing his fear, Solif formed a spear of light beneath the water and hurled it toward the serpent’s underbelly. The spearmanship he had practiced for decades as the heir of Baraha served him well, even underwater.
"Ugh."
The attack, packed with a significant amount of mana, must have stung, as the serpent glared at him with eyes now completely dyed green. But that was all it was—a sting.
He knew from experience that his specialty, Judgment Light, was enough to split scales and tear flesh, but approaching to that range would surely cost him his life. Moreover, for reasons unknown, the creature had copied his technique earlier, making him even more hesitant to try.
The moment he scrambled to the side to prepare for a counterattack, a massive tail whipped through the spot where he had just been, creating a violent vortex.
"Gurgle—!"
The breathing passage he had maintained to the surface vanished, and seawater instantly filled his mouth. Gulping down salt water instead of air, Solif swam desperately toward the shore, using every ounce of his magic and physical strength.
Fortunately, Rowina passed by and grabbed him with her pincer, pulling him up and allowing him to reach the surface much faster.
"Cough, hack… thanks…"
"Where did your leader go? He was there a moment ago, and now he is gone."
Solif, gasping for air as he broke the surface, looked up at the sky at Rowina’s words. Just as she said, Turan, who had been drawing attention in the sky, was nowhere to be seen.
Had he finally been shot down by the lightning? Or had he taken refuge underwater like them because it was too hard to dodge?
He looked to see if Turan was with Meisa, but that wasn't the case either. Meisa, like Solif, was submerged near the serpent, continuously firing arrows of light. Perhaps because she was much more adept at moving her body, she seemed to be getting dangerously close.
‘Should I tell her to back off? I don't think she'll see my hand signals from here.’
Just as he thought that, Solif’s eyes widened as he saw an explosion erupt from the top of the Great Sea Serpent’s head.
*
[■■■■■■■■■■■■■■--------!]
‘This is definitely the weak spot.’
Turan, having absorbed the mana of the Sun Bloodline from the Baraha nobles—specifically the power of the strongest among them—approached the vital spot on the crown of the serpent’s head while hidden by stealth magic.
Normally, no matter how good the Zahar stealth magic was, he wouldn't have dared to do this for fear of being accidentally struck by the constantly moving head. It was an approach made possible only because the creature was exhausted and sluggish, and its attention was divided by the enemies attacking from underwater.
In that position, Turan poured a massive amount of the Soul of Fire into the hole where the Drowned God’s arm had once been—now widened by the stone—and then backed away to ignite it.
The hole was now wide enough for a person to pass through.
He dove inside and activated Judgment Light, lashing out with whips of light to burn away the essence of the specter. The Great Sea Serpent let out a deathly roar and writhed violently. Since he was essentially gouging out its brain, the reaction was only natural.
‘Yeah, it hurts, doesn't it?’
Turan wedged his feet into a relatively narrow groove inside the skull, swaying as he swung his whips. Every time the green radiance of the specter was scorched by the light, the screams and thrashing grew more intense.
—No!
Then, a human voice echoed from somewhere. Turan could instinctively tell it belonged to the being fused with the serpent—the Mimic God.
—Die.
Who was supposed to die? Turan, the one threatening its life? The answer came immediately.
—Monster, die. For the people, snake, die…
That was the intent held by the Mimic God’s specter—the obsession he must have craved until the moment of his death. How tragic it was that the specter of a god who had fought the Great Sea Serpent for the sake of humanity had ended up in league with its arch-enemy.
To end that misguided devotion, Turan squeezed out his remaining mana, using Judgment Light to erase the green radiance filling the brain cavity over and over again.
For several minutes, the acrid smell of burning spectral essence filled his nose as his body was slammed against the shaking walls of the skull. Finally, the tremors inside the skull ceased, and it began a free fall.
He could feel that the entity formed by the entanglement of the serpent and the god’s specter had been completely destroyed. The mana that had controlled the massive snake was now converging into a single point.
—Thank you…
At the faint voice, Turan bowed his head slightly.
"Rest in peace. I owe you much."
The god likely wouldn't hear him, but this was the best respect Turan could offer.
A moment later, with a loud splash, water began to fill the skull. Turan dove into the water and swam out. The senses of his holy relic, which had been temporarily blocked while he was inside, reactivated, illuminating the living beings nearby.
The Mermaid King and his kin, Solif, and Meisa…
Turan saw two figures atop a sea turtle’s shell and hurriedly used flight magic to reach them.
"Turan! Recovery potion, quickly!" Solif shouted with a frantic face.
Beneath him lay Meisa, her face deathly pale. Her body below the waist was nowhere to be seen.
Her lower half was gone—a catastrophic injury that would have killed anyone who wasn't a top-tier noble long ago. Turan hurriedly pulled out the recovery potion artifact, handed it to Solif, and turned away.
"Where are you going!?"
"To get her body!"
Fortunately, Meisa’s severed half had barely remained within the range of the Mimic Relic’s senses. He quickly dove to retrieve the lower half. Meanwhile, he observed the state of the mermaid royalty.
‘They’re all badly injured, and a few are dead… but if I exhaust all my mana here, it’ll be dangerous.’
No matter how bad their condition was, it wouldn't be hard for them to kill a noble who had been neutralized by mana exhaustion. After all, as long as they could transform, they were massive sea creatures, while he was just a human who was helpless without mana.
Realistically, only one of them should use mana for healing while the other preserved what little strength remained. The problem was that if they did that, there was a high probability Meisa would die. Recovery potion artifacts weren't very efficient for mages of their caliber, and it was uncertain if she would survive even if both of them poured all their mana into her.
After a very brief moment of deliberation, Turan approached Solif, who was frantically administering the potion.
"Lift her upper body. I’m going to align them."
"Can you reattach it?"
"At least the wound isn't burned or melted like yours was. But how did this happen?"
"I think she got caught on something during its final struggle. I thought she was too close, but…"
Unlike Solif’s severed arm, which had been melted by Judgment Light and couldn't be reattached, Meisa’s body had been torn relatively cleanly. He wasn't sure whether to be horrified by the beast’s physical power, which had shattered several high-level magic tools, or grateful for Meisa’s durability, which had kept her from being pulverized.
After asking the sea turtle to head for land, Turan and Solif took turns creating recovery potions to treat Meisa. They even urgently summoned Bije from the island. After exhausting all their mana, the crisis finally passed about twenty minutes later.
"It’s done. Now she just needs time to recover."
"She’s alive…"
Solif, already half-exhausted, collapsed on the spot upon hearing the news.
Turan checked to make sure Bije’s wings hadn't been reattached incorrectly, then examined Meisa’s condition. She was still unconscious and pale, but blood was circulating warmly through her reattached lower half.
According to his holy relic’s senses, his calculation had been correct: if Turan and Bije hadn't poured in all their mana, the body wouldn't have bonded properly, and she would have certainly died.
"Phew…"
As he sighed in relief, several shadows fell over Turan and Solif.
The Mermaid King and a few of his followers. Their numbers reduced since the start of the fight, they looked down at Turan’s group with strange expressions.
The Mermaid King spoke with an observant air. "It seems you are badly injured."
"Regrettably. Fortunately, the worst is over," Turan replied in a calm tone, as if it were no big deal, while surreptitiously watching the merfolk’s expressions.
If they showed hostility now, his group would die without being able to resist. The mana left in his body was at a level where he would struggle to deal with even Armani if he turned into a shark and attacked.
After a few seconds of tense standoff, the Mermaid King spoke softly.
"If you need help, let us know. I wish to recover the carcass quickly, so as soon as that woman wakes, have her absorb the power. For now, I shall bring it to the beach."
Watching the merfolk leave, Turan lay back on the sand, just as Solif had done moments before.