"What do you need?" Myria asked without hesitation. I didn't know why she trusted me so much, but then I recalled that I had turned the tide of war in Atlantis's favor during the undersea tribe's invasion. She was hoping that I could produce a second miracle.
After all, there were no other options.
"First, let's wipe out the undersea tribe." I jerked my head toward the surviving merfolk. "I don't like the sight of those merfolk priests doing something. I hope they are not conducting some ceremony that might control the Deep Sea King…or influence him the way they did to the Megalodons, pliosaurs, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, giant squids and other marine life that they got to ally with them when they attacked Atlantis."
"That's right! We don't know what they're up to, but we can't risk leaving them to their own devices!" MerArthur agreed. "Men! Form up around me!"
The remnants of the 4th battalion swam around the admiral's location, their formation resembling a mailed fist ready to drive itself into the heart of the enemy. The royal guard also took up their positions around Myria without her saying anything, but preparing to move out at her word. MerArthur turned to Myria, patiently awaiting her order.
The only Atlanteans that didn't join in were the battered survivors of House Maroma. Orin's private militia were bereft of leadership after the duke's son had died at the hands of the Merfolk Monarch, but MerArthur was having none of it.
"You! You are all citizens of Atlantis, are you not? Then answer the call of duty! Even if your loyalty is sworn to the Dukedom of Maroma, that doesn't mean you are not obligated to fight for Atlantis as a whole! Avenge Duke Maroma's son! Is vengeance not what you should vow to do, now that you have already failed your responsibility of protecting him as you were sworn to do?"
The guy talked too much and was too longwinded. He could just tell them to take revenge on the undersea tribe and they would still respond positively. Already, they were joining the 4th battalion, though they constituted the rearguard instead of the vanguard. So much for avenging their young master.
Well, every position counted. And I was the last person who could criticize anyone for taking the rear when I was offering long range support all the way in the back.
Still, I was gambling a great deal. I had no idea if this would work. If this was a web novel or manhua, I might be lucky like Shun Tian and obtain some treasure that would allow me to restrain the Deep Sea King and force him into a contract. But I wasn't sure if that would happen, given that the system had never given me physical rewards before.
Whatever. Let's complete the mission first and worry about the Deep Sea King later. One step at a time, as they all said. If I couldn't even defeat the regular merfolk of the undersea tribe, then what chances did I have of dealing with the Deep Sea King?
"Attack!" Myria ordered, swinging the sword that she had just retrieved from the ruins of the Abyssal Tomb. With her other hand, she wielded her spear, and right after the command left her mouth, she jetted forward, followed closely by her royal guard. A millisecond later, MerArthur and his naval soldiers were hot on their bubbling trails.
Not to be outdone, I unleashed my azure arrows from afar, the projectiles streaking over and past my Atlantean allies to bombard the merfolk positions. Bodies were blown apart and sent drifting away in the churning waters, even as they fought to protect the chanting priests.
The merfolk chiefs surged forward to meet the surviving Atlanteans in combat. Even with their numbers decimated in not just the earlier fighting but also the catastrophic shockwaves of the Deep Sea King's departure, there was still so many of them. They clashed in a violent maelstrom of raging whirlpools, tridents and claws meeting.
A merfolk chief swung its claws at Myria and destroyed her spear, but her sword left an angry wound on its chest. The Earth ranked spirit beast remained undaunted and pummeled her, sending her hurtling away from the thunderous impacts. Before it could finish her off, the royal guard descended upon their princess's assailant, cutting it apart from various angles.
I continued to rain arrows down on them, doing my best to assassinate the priests. However, a merfolk chief noticed me and broke off, leading a swarm. MerArthur and his surviving men were hard pressed by the last merfolk chief, and normally the admiral would have dispatched it after some time, but he was wounded by the Merfolk Monarch and not at full fighting capacity.
That was fine. I had to learn to rely on myself.
Hydro torrent and freezing beam lanced forward, impeding the merfolk chief's path, but it smashed through the pressurized jet and ice to reach my position. Da Hai intercepted its charge, only to be swatted away by a contemptuous swipe of its muscular arm.
I wasn't sure why it was intent on eliminating me, but I supposed it recognized my arrows as a threat. Was it that afraid that I would snipe the priests? Just what were they planning on doing, right after breaking the seal? Drawing my sword, I parried its claws with whatever strength I could muster, only to be blown aside.
"Damn it!"
The chipped blade had reached the limits of its endurance and finally shattered from that vicious blow. I watched in disbelief as the metallic shards crumpled and drifted around me, almost resembling gleaming fish, before the merfolk chief bore down on me. Cursing, I whipped my bow out and fired an arrow right into its face, the qi projectile detonating with a satisfying thump.
But being beginner Earth rank, the merfolk chief shrugged off the arrow and punched me. I parried its fist with my bow, but the impact behind the strike sent me hurtling through the water. I coughed, my breath exiting in a stream of bubbles, and even as I righted myself, I could see Da Hai and Xiao Ke descending on the merfolk chief from opposite flanks to stop it.
They failed. The merfolk chief conjured twin tsunamis to wash them away before it charged straight at me. Gritting my teeth, I braced myself with my bow, even as my arrows futilely chipped away at its blurry form. The punch came at my face, this time with enough power to destroy my bow and obliterate my head.
I was suddenly reminded of Orin before he was killed by the Merfolk Monarch. Was I going to suffer the same ignominious fate here?
The merfolk chief's fist never reached me.
"Your opponent is me," MerArthur said, catching the fist. There was a shockwave as an unstoppable force collided with an immovable object, and I was flung across the depths of the ruined tomb once more. Coughing, I found myself caught by Da Hai and Xiao Ke, both of them looking battered from the merfolk chief's attacks. The admiral nodded at me as he exchanged a couple of heavy blows with the frustrated spirit beast. "Leave this guy to me. I'll be relying on you to take out the rest."
"Thanks."
Once I orientated myself, I prepared a few arrows and notched them back.
Azure Rain Celestial Arrows, Fourth Form: Rain of Light.
Though similar to most of the archery techniques I had done before, this time my bow expanded and turned into an almost web-like weapon. Hundreds of azure arrows streaked from its glowing core, turning into a tempestuous rain of light that pulverized the merfolk priests' location. Even though each arrow wasn't as powerful as a single concentrated qi arrow, the sheer volume of them hammered relentlessly into the shuddering bodies of the merfolk priests and all but explosively tore them to shreds.
While the injured MerArthur was distracting the merfolk chief, I directed Da Hai and Xiao Ke to help him. Water and ice smashed into the furious merfolk chief from behind, causing it to barrel over. with a roar, MerArthur grabbed its head and snapped its neck. To ensure it was dead, he hammered his trident into its still twitching body, ripping out its heart.
"Finally." He wiped the blood from his lips and nodded to me and my summoned spirit beasts. "Thanks, you saved me."
"You were the one who saved me, admiral."
"Ah, just doing my job. Even though you're an outsider, you offered to help Atlantis with our own problems…I feel like we shouldn't be dragging you into this."
I had my own reasons for joining the war – not just because the system assigned the mission to me, but also because I recognized the threat to the surface if the Deep Sea King was to get loose. Also, it wasn't in my personality to sit back and do nothing when other people were in danger. I had to help.
It might be childish, but it was my dream from young to be a hero. And I had never let go of that ideal, even now. Sure, I could hear voices from beyond the fourth dimension calling me a pathetic, lame pushover because they only wanted ruthless, selfish protagonists, but they could go fuck themselves.
"Sir! We have rounded up the last of them!" One of the Atlantean soldiers swam up to report. MerArthur nodded before making a slicing motion across his throat.
"No mercy, no respite. Purge the unclean."
I looked away as the Atlantean soldiers stabbed their tridents into the merfolk who had their heads bowed in surrender, and the latter's shrieks echoed throughout the broken cavernous space.
"So what now?" Myria asked, floating toward me. Her royal guard had eliminated the rest of the undersea tribe after dispatching the last merfolk chief, and they had taken casualties. With every battle, our numbers dwindled further.
Against an enemy like the Deep Sea King, numbers didn't matter…but it was still pretty daunting.
Exhaling, I pushed my glasses up my nose and checked the surroundings to ensure that we hadn't missed anything. Floating over to the merfolk priests, I saw the destroyed ornaments that drifted around, the arcane lights in the gemstones having faded away.
"We stopped their ritual, at least." I was pondering whether I should admit that I was at a loss as to how to proceed from here, but the system came to life.
-Congratulations to the user. Quest completed. User has received a single Divine level spirit contract. –
"Divine level spirit contract? What the hell is that?" I tried to stop myself from blurting out but failed. Fortunately, I kept my murmur to a whisper, so Myria and the other Atlanteans didn't overhear my outburst.
-A Divine level spirit contract allows the user to forcibly bind even a Heaven ranked spirit beast to become your summoned spirit beast. Restrictions apply. –
"What sort of restrictions?"
-The user will be informed if the spirit contract is successfully forged. –
"So there's a chance of failure?"
That made sense. There was no way I would conveniently get a get out of jail card from the system. Reality wasn't going to make it so easy for me. Initially, I thought I had received a master ball type of item, but I was stupid for getting my hopes up. I should have known the system wasn't going to hand me a super cheat on a silver platter. If I wanted something, I was going to have to work hard for it.
-Correct. Success of forging the contract will depend entirely on the user's willpower and skill. However, this at least allows you a chance at resolving the situation, even if the odds are astronomical. –
Hah. Of course. But isn't that what we heroes live for? Overcoming even the most impossible odds and prevailing over the most formidable of foes?
Taking a deep breath, I steeled my resolve and looked upward. Myria was still watching me anxiously and I nodded at her.
"I think I might have a plan." Then I dropped my voice to a whisper to speak to the system. "So how do I use this Divine level spirit contract?"
-The user will have to make physical contact with the target Heaven ranked spirit beast. Doing so will initiate a prompt from this system. –
"Understood." I returned my attention to Myria. "You guys stay here. I'm going after the Deep Sea King."
"Huh? What are you planning to do? Hey!"
Ignoring the heated protests from the Atlantean princess, I kicked off and propelled myself upward in a burst of qi, streaking toward the distant gargantuan figure of the Deep Sea King like a torpedo.
Like Samuel L. Jackson once said while wielding a violet light saber, I am going to end this once and for all.