The merfolk and their monstrous allies coiled before surging forward like a tidal wave, leaving streams of bubbles in their wake. Jaws, tentacles and even razor-sharp fins bore down on us, complemented by the claws of the smaller undersea tribesmen.
In response, the Atlanteans launched their own counterattack, countless tridents leveling and pointing toward the incoming armada. They weren't without allies of their own. Shoals of fish and whales gathered around the dome, taking up defensive positions. The whales, in particular, used their immense bulks to form a blockade while the fish swarmed about in numbers beyond counting, outnumbering the enormous armada that was approaching.
Turtles joined the wheels, gliding gracefully and using their shells as shields to protect the massed ranks of Atlanteans. Jellyfish drifted inconspicuously among the swimming merfolk and their monstrous allies, their transparent bodies almost invisible until they exploded with qi and venom. Several merfolks tumbled away, their bodies turning green from the potent neurotoxins that flowed through their systems.
Even the larger beasts were not immune to the jellyfish poisons, with many of them slowing down, their nervous signals impaired from the toxins. For a moment, it seemed that the momentum of the enemy's charge had faltered. Several of the more aggressive whales seized the advantage to venture out and tear into their ranks, ripping apart the reeling mosasaurs and giant squids with their teeth or pulverizing great sharks with their bulk. Merfolk tumbled away, helplessly caught in the clash between titans, their bodies crumpled to bloody smears from the sheer violence.
But there were so many more. And they kept coming.
"Brace!" Myria shouted as she prepared her spear. Unlike most of her brethren, she had chosen to wield a single-bladed spear instead of a trident. I'm not sure why, but apparently that weapon was something passed down from royalty.
Then they hit.
I had stayed at the back, not wanting to get caught in the intense struggle between colossal sea creatures. Here, I could maximize my skills to their fullest advantage, launching volleys of azure arrows from a safe distance to cut down merfolk by the dozens. Like torpedoes, the aquatic projectiles swerved and homed in, almost resembling living bullets, and detonating against the stunned members of the undersea tribe.
"Don't falter!" Myria shouted as the two lines collided, the undersea tribe crashing against the dome and trying to break the barrier. In response, the Atlanteans stepped up and thrust their tridents. In the first exchange, dozens of merfolk drifted away, their corpses impaled and torn apart by the deadly three-pointed weapons.
The Atlanteans withdrew before delivering a second barrage to the next line of merfolk. However, this was only the first of many waves, and after the initial assault, the real, heavy hard hitters of the undersea tribe struck.
The Megalodons were the first to hit, the mega sharks being swifter than most of the other sea monsters in the undersea tribe army. Then the mosasaurs, pliosaurs and plesiosaurs. A flurry of jaws and mass smashed into the buckling barrier, despite the giant turtles and whales' best attempts to stop them. The shoals of fish, while numerous and relentlessly tearing into the greater monsters' flesh with needle-like teeth, had little impact. They were no more than ticks trying to stave off apex predators, ignored like the bugs they were.
"Careful!" Myria yelled when she realized the dome was breaking. "The barrier is going to give way!"
And it did. The next second, the dome shattered and the undersea tribe was through. Undaunted, the Atlanteans met the incoming rush with grit and aquatic steel, their tridents forged of alloys that would never rust underwater and strong enough to withstand the immense pressures at this depth. A sea of blood billowed out, the once clear waters of the ocean now darkened with an immeasurable volume of blood.
The undersea tribe wasn't getting one-sidedly slaughtered, though. The moment their sea monsters broke through the first line of defenses, the tides turned against the Atlanteans. A giant squid lashed out with its tentacles and seized a few of the Atlanteans, and despite them frantically stabbing the flexible appendages with their tridents, they were either crushed to death or flung at ravenous mega sharks that swallowed them whole.
Whales desperately smashed into the mega sharks and giant squids, tearing with their teeth and pummeling with their sheer mass, but the squids fought back, wrapping their tentacles around the bloated bodies and suffocating them. Most didn't succeed, but their suckers left angry welts on the whales' skin, leaving them vulnerable to the mega sharks that counterattacked, biting and tearing off blubber and flesh with huge bites.
Powerful jaws clamped down on the impervious shells of the giant turtles, as the indomitable aquatic reptiles formed a bulwark against the multitude of plesiosaurs, mosasaurs and pliosaurs that assaulted Atlantis. Not just giant turtles, but stingrays, killer whales, dolphins and other sea mammals joined the fight, one side using brute force and overwhelming strength and the other wielding intelligence and cunning to their advantage.
I pulled my gaze away from the dizzying sight and focused on the foes before me. Yanking my bowstring back, I unleashed another volley of azure arrows, which split into torpedo-like projectiles and buried themselves deep within the bodies of merfolk and detonated. Shifting my aim, I shot down a couple of merfolks that were closing in on Orin while he was engaging a merfolk chief in combat.
My arrows would have little effect on the more powerful merfolk chiefs and much larger sea monsters, but they were decimating the foot soldiers of the undersea tribe.
Orin glanced at me with a scowl, but his expression softened when he caught sight of the floating corpses behind him. I had expected him to say something along the lines of not needing my help, but thankfully, he kept his silence.
"I'll take care of the small fries," I said, more to myself than to him. Then I took aim again.
My long-range support didn't last much longer. Realizing the threat that I was posing to the common infantry, an entire swarm of merfolk broke off and swam toward me, brushing off the casualties I was dealing. With snarls, they descended upon my position and slashed from multiple directions. I was forced to keep my bow and defend myself when they reached me, their claws arcing toward my soft-looking body.
However, if they thought I was vulnerable in close combat, they were sadly mistaken.
Drawing my sword, I spun around and hacked with my blade. Shrieks of pain bubbled through the water as the merfolks were forced away, clutching at their severed limbs. Most of them had their claws amputated at the wrists and were recoiling in pain and shock. Not missing the opportunity to capitalize on my advantage while they were taken by surprise, I kicked off in the water and surged in, my blade following the currents and slicing through them.
Flowing River Clear Sword.
Using the technique that dad taught me, it didn't matter if it was close combat, I could cut apart hundreds of these small fries if I needed to. Taking a deep breath, I plunged back into the fray, supporting the struggling Atlanteans. While I avoided the big bosses that could easily squash me like a bug, I cut a swathe of red through the common infantry, reducing the undersea tribe's numbers by a lot.
Or so I hoped.
I had to believe that my actions were contributing to the total war effort, otherwise everything I did here would be meaningless.
After scything through another squad of merfolk, I then spun around and switched to my bow, unleashing a volley of azure arrows through the sea depths. Good. As long as I kept this up, I should be able to reduce the undersea tribe's numbers…the Atlanteans could take care of the stronger foes.
Unfortunately, reality always never went as planned.
"Ugh!"
Right after I sent a barrage of arrows at a charging squad of merfolk that were targeting an Atlantean struggling against a merfolk chief, I sensed movement behind me. Not just movement, but a maneuver from something massive.
I turned around just in time to see a massive neck flip toward me. Though I managed to parry the blade like fangs with my bow, I was still sent hurtling across the abyssal depths and into a coral reef that broke when I crashed into it. Winded from the impact, I tried to suck in a lungful of air from the water around me, using the method that Myria taught me through a kiss.
Then a dark shadow appeared over me, the looming shape of a plesiosaur growing bigger as it jetted forward. Its serpentine neck whipped forward, its fangs gleaming in the faint light of the sea. Pressing my feet against the broken coral, I launched myself forward and met the teeth with my sword. An explosion of qi sent us tumbling apart and I righted myself in the water before turning just in time to deflect the next strike from the enemy.
"Huff…"
Peak Yellow rank? I frowned, trying to recognize it. The Las Loch? That was it.
In any event, I didn't have time to search my memory. Jun Hai might have identified it for me because of his vast marine biology knowledge, but neither he nor mom was here right now. And I had more pressing concerns at the moment. Taking a deep breath, I dodged the darting jaws and swam underneath its snaking neck to plunge my sword into a vulnerable area in its chest. The Las Loch shrieked and thrashed about, its huge flippers swatting me away.
Even as I was flung aside, I kept my grip on my sword, which tore a ragged hole through the Las Loch's chest. A fog of blood expanded, turning the murky waters a deep red.
The wounded Las Loch turned vengefully in my direction and streaked forward like a torpedo. With a groan, I sat up and sheathed my sword. Gritting my teeth, I drew my bow and conjured the most powerful arrow I could. Instead of distributing my qi into several azure arrows, I coalesced all of them into a single powerful one.
Keeping the breath in my mouth instead of exhaling, I unleashed the arrow at the injured but furious Las Loch. My aim was true, the arrow slamming into the ragged wound in its chest and burrowing deep inside before exploding forcefully. The Las Loch wailed as its momentum was halted and it vanished into a mess of blood and guts.
"Phew…"
I was about to swim upward and return to the outer reach of Atlantis when I noticed a flurry of movement to the side. A shoal of fishes were swimming desperately away from a gargantuan predator, their biological angler lanterns swaying in front of them. I recalled them as the abyssal Lantern Fishes that I found cute earlier, the ones who were dual water and electric type Poke…ahem, I mean spirit beasts. They were trying to flee a Megalodon, whose jaws were wide open and massive enough to swallow the entire shoal whole.
The only thing between them was a giant turtle with claw tipped flippers. A brown shell with blue scales on its main body, the War Turtle slashed desperately at the pursuing Megalodon, only to be forced to withdraw into its shell when the Megalodon's sword-like teeth clamped down on it. There was a thunderous clang and the mega shark spat out the poor War Turtle. Despite having withstood what would have been a fatal blow, the shelled spirit beast was injured. Crawling out of its shell, it swam toward the Megalodon once more, but I could see it wincing and slowing down.
It wouldn't reach the Lantern Fishes in time to stop the Megalodon from devouring them.
"Leave it to me!"
Taking a deep breath, I conjured the same mighty arrow that I did earlier. Kicking off and allowing myself to drift along the currents, I did several calculations and waited for me to float to a precise location before I unleashed the arrow.
The azure projectile streaked into the Megalodon's wide open jaws, flying past its teeth and tongue, down its throat and gullet before detonating violently in its guts. For a moment, the Megalodon continued swimming onward, only to thrash about as its inner organs were ruptured from the explosion. To ensure its death, I fired off a second arrow at the formidable sea beast and sent it reeling.
Not to be denied its revenge, the War Turtle surged forward and slammed both claws into the belly of the flailing Megalodon while it was dazed by the pain and shockwaves. With a triumphant bellow, it eviscerated the mega shark and sent its corpse tumbling away into the depths.
"Phew."
I exhaled wearily and allowed myself to sink back into the coral. After I closed my eyes and stabilized my breathing, I opened them, only to see the shoal of Lantern Fishes surrounding me, illuminating the darkness with bioluminescence. Not only that, the War Turtle had swum over to glower at me, its clawed flippers cutting through the water as it approached.
Dread began to flood my chest when I realized that these spirit beasts might not recognize me as an Atlantean.