At first, my eyes couldn't make sense of what they were seeing. An agglomeration of an immeasurable quantity of qi attempt to manifest in physical form to exist in the material world. It was almost as if a higher dimensional being had deigned to descend into our lower dimension, and my senses couldn't comprehend its shape.
"The Deep Sea King…" Myria murmured as she retreated from her clash with the Merfolk Monarch. The peak Earth ranked demon crowed and turned its back on the stunned royal guard of Atlantis, floating toward the emerging entity with its arms spread in exultation.
"Oh! Finally! You are free!"
I could understand its overflowing emotions. The Deep Sea King was akin to a god. Before such an overwhelming existence, I felt as if I was little more than an ant, just waiting to be crushed underfoot by a being that didn't even notice me.
Still staring upward, my jaw hanging open and my mind going blank at the sheer terror – the sheer impotency that I felt, the figure of the Deep Sea King gradually began to take solid shape. He was a gargantuan dragon that could barely fit into the abyssal vault, his length seeming to stretch for hundreds of meters. Like a serpent, his body was coiled and winding through the enormous space behind the gateway. He reminded me of sea dragon gods from ancient east Asian mythology, serpentine deities capable of causing tempests and manipulating the weather. The true ruler of the ocean, a monarch reigning over all marine life in his dragon palace at the bottom of the sea. Onyx black scales gleamed like gemstones, though I had no doubt each was harder than diamond. Gigantic claws crunched down on the stone, leaving craters in the floor despite the whole place being flooded with water and displacing his weight.
That alone gave a hint of the sheer scale of his bulk.
Even when just standing on four claws, his front legs bent and his immense horned head lowered, the dragon-like form of the Deep Sea King reached over a hundred meters in height. His length had to reach over five hundred meters by my estimation. Maybe six or seven hundred.
The word behemoth didn't even begin to describe him.
"What do we do?" One of the Atlanteans whimpered in despair.
"Stand your ground!" MerArthur ordered, though his voice carried a taut thread of tension that sounded like it was going to break anytime. "We will hold unto death, if necessary! Nobody breaks and runs! Is that understood?"
Nobody replied. Nobody broke and fled either, but that was because everyone was mesmerized by the godlike existence before them.
Was this Heaven ranked? I had never encountered a Heaven ranked spirit beast or cultivator before. It was a rank of mythical proportions, something that was often discussed about but never actually witnessed in reality. A Heaven ranked cultivator would quite literally be a god among humans, with vast power that was near incomprehensible to the common person. The strongest person or spirit beast I had met was the Merfolk Monarch, and even it was a peak Earth ranked creature.
Despite that, the difference between the Merfolk Monarch and the Heaven ranked Deep Sea King was vast. An abyssal gulf…almost as if we originated from two different universes.
The Deep Sea King took another step forward, causing an underwater tremor and sending bubbles coursing everywhere. Ripples with the power of shockwaves burst from his movement, battering everyone and washing them away in colossal tidal waves.
And that was just the gargantuan sea beast taking a single step, without intentionally setting out to destroy anything.
"My king!"
Undeterred and being the few powerful exponents strong enough to remain unaffected by the violent ripples and tremors that shook the underwater cavern of the tomb, the Merfolk Monarch brushed past the waves to swim toward the Deep Sea King's draconic face. It prostrated itself before the godlike entity in midwater, lowering its head as much as it could while still turning its beady eyes toward the king it had just freed.
"My tribe and I were the ones who freed you from your millennia long slumber! We are here to serve! Please make full use of my undersea tribe! We swear undying loyalty to you, and at your command, we are prepared to annihilate the surface and subjugate this world! All for you, of course, my king!"
Despite its loud, enthusiastic proclamations, the Merfolk Monarch seemingly failed to capture the attention of the Deep Sea King. The draconic entity was glancing elsewhere, his massive inky black eyes turned skyward. Giant bubbles the size of boulders billowed from his cavernous nostrils.
"My king?" The Merfolk Monarch tried again, its tone unsure this time. It reached out with a claw, flaring its qi aura brightly so as to attract the attention of its supposed abyssal liege.
There was a slight twitch, subtle, but because of his incredible mass, it was visible to me. Then there was a slight movement, as if the Deep Sea King had dipped his head. Then…nothing.
The Merfolk Monarch was gone.
I wasn't sure what had happened. The peak Earth ranked sea beast's qi aura had been snuffed out instantly, like someone blowing out a candle. One moment it was there, and the next, it was gone just like that.
"What…just happened?"
I saw the blood dripping from the Deep Sea King's jaws. A mist of red that rolled away from the gap between two of his pillar-sized fangs.
The fuck? Did the Deep Sea King just eat the Merfolk Monarch? He killed a peak Earth ranked demon with a single bite? Just like that?
A dreadful silence befell the surviving merfolk. Not just them, but also the Atlanteans. Nobody dared to make a move, immobilized by fear and disbelief. Even the peak Earth ranked Merfolk Monarch was killed in a single, almost casual, move. It was…mocking. It was beyond belief.
None of us dared to even breathe. Most likely, the Deep Sea King could kill us with just a look. He had deemed the Merfolk Monarch a pest and crushed it with hardly a conscious thought. I suspected it didn't even intend to eat the thing, and only ended its life in reflex upon feeling the tinniest twinge of annoyance.
Against a being that could easily squash us like bugs, there was nothing we could do.
Doesn't that mean I failed the quest?
Swallowing, I surreptitiously glanced around for a notification window. There was nothing. I frowned and tried to call up the super summoning system. Even if I didn't dare to speak out loud, I was sure the system could hear my thoughts.
This is a mission failure, right? What do I do now?
Before I could think of anything, the Deep Sea King coiled its length before shooting upward in a flurry of tidal waves. Titanic ripples battered everyone in the vicinity, obliterating pillars and outright crushing the weaker warriors from the sheer shockwaves and colliding pressures. The dragon deity smashed through the ceiling of the Abyssal Tomb and destroyed the top section of the structure with a single charge, almost as if he was tearing through nothing more than fabric. Rubble slowly floated and drifted, washed away by the ensuing underwater tidal waves that were left in the wake of the sheer violence.
I was sent tumbling haplessly through the water, and for a second, I almost forgot the underwater breathing technique and began drowning. My survival instincts kicked in and I righted myself, closing my eyes and stabilizing both my breathing and qi. Bubbles swirled around me, but I managed to calm myself down. It helped that Da Hai caught me before I could crash into a wall.
"Thanks, Da Hai."
My War Turtle nodded, looking a little worse for the wear after riding out the brutal tides. Exhaling wearily, I ignored the bruises and aches to take stock of my surroundings. I checked on my Atlantean allies, in particular, concerned for their wellbeing.
The Deep Sea King had all but destroyed the Abyssal Tomb when he launched himself out of it. And now he was swimming toward the surface world. But now that he was gone, it appeared that everyone was snapping out of their stupor.
The surviving merfolks gathered around what remained of their chiefs, maybe two or three left. MerArthur rallied his living soldiers and formed ranks, keeping one eye on the undersea tribe and the other above, where the titanic form of the Deep Sea King was still visible.
For some reason, the gargantuan dragon had slowed to a stop, probably feasting on some whales or sea behemoths on the way. He had been sealed for a few thousand years and was probably ravenous. Devouring a few spirit beasts would allow him to replenish his strength, though considering his immense size, he probably would have to eat more than just "a few."
"What do we do now, your highness? The Deep Sea King has broken out of his seal."
MerAtrhur and his command staff swam toward Myria, fighting to suppress their panic.
"We are too late." Myria sighed. She picked up the ancient sword that had been used to seal the Deep Sea King. "Now that the entity has been freed, there is nothing we can do. But…"
She turned toward me, her gaze hopeful. I shook my head.
"What exactly do you expect me to do? I can't even defeat the Merfolk Monarch. There's nothing I can do against a monster of such…colossal magnitude."
"You've performed miracles before," Myria replied, tightening her fist around the hilt of her sword. "I was hoping you'll be able to create another one."
Did she think I was some web novel protagonist with a get out of jail card or something? That I would have some trump card like Lin Huang from Monster Paradise, or all those manhua protagonists who happened to have a lottery system that would give them a cheat card that could nuke the Deep Sea King in one shot?
Reality wasn't that convenient. Then again, a few hundred years ago, nobody would have claimed that an undersea deity sleeping for millennia, sealed away in an abyssal tomb, was realistic.
What can I do?
I gritted my teeth when I realized that the offshore marine laboratory run by my mom's organization wasn't far away from here. And if the Deep Sea King reached the continent, there was no telling what sort of damage he could cause. If I recalled, the number of Heaven ranked cultivators in the world could be counted on one hand. Would they be able to defeat the Deep Sea King? Even if they were, would they be able to stop him in time before he razed entire cities to the ground?
The tragic fate of Atlantis weighed heavily on my mind. Would the nation of Hua Xia suffer similarly?
Just what on earth can I do against something that's essentially a god?
There were a few bubbles and shrieks, and my focus was diverted back toward the swarm of surviving merfolk. The merfolk priests had gathered, still murmuring prayers under their breaths. A few of their number had been lost in the brutal exit of the Deep Sea King, but there was still quite the congregation.
And they were being protected by their brethren. The couple of remaining merfolk chiefs and the ordinary warriors. But why? Hadn't they already broken the seal? What other roles could they have?
That was when the system's notification window popped up. To my surprise, it wasn't an announcement that I had failed the mission, but a flashing reminder of my objective.
-Mission objective: Annihilate the undersea tribe's forces in the Abyssal Tomb. Completion of the mission will grant the appropriate rewards. –
I blinked, rereading the text on the flashing window to ensure I wasn't mistaking anything. A grin crept over my face when I realized what the system was trying to tell me. Turning to Myria, I took a deep breath and steeled myself.
"Actually, you're right. There might still be some hope of rectifying the situation…but I'm going to need your help."