Without any hesitation, I ran out of the lab and toward the sea. There wasn't much I could see from this distance, but I tapped on my glasses and magnified the view on the lenses. After a while, I located where Myria was.
It wasn't that difficult, even though I didn't know where to begin. The sea was vast and she could be anywhere, to be honest. However, I could sense faint emanations of qi from somebody battling out there in sea. Furthermore, I saw an explosion in the distance, as well as a gigantic geyser of water spurting into the air.
"Uh oh…"
Myria didn't need land because she was an Atlantean, so I wouldn't be surprised if she was fighting underwater. That was why it was difficult to track her by sight. that said, the amount of qi she was emanating was powerful enough to allow me to home in on her location, and her attacks were visibly throwing large quantities of water into the air.
"What is she fighting?" I wondered out loud.
"Marine spirit beasts," the staff member replied. She was a short, prim looking lady in an office dress and her hair tied into a neat bun. For some reason, she was also holding onto a clipboard, though I couldn't make out the words typed onto the document attached, but it wasn't my business. Plus, it would be lots of scientific jargon anyway.
More importantly, I needed to help her, but I decided to gather a bit more information first. Myria was strong and skilled, plus she was at home in the sea, so she could hang in there for a while. On the other hand, it would be difficult for me to simply dive in and help when I wasn't exactly that good in water. Despite the breathing technique that Myria had imparted to me, and my affinity with the water element, I was nowhere as adept at fighting underwater as, say, Myria was.
Or the spirit beasts she was combating at the moment.
"They include Kraken, Murder Whales, Torpedo Sharks and Goliath Octopuses. But besides that, I'm not sure. There are rumors of something bigger involved, but…" The staff member shook her head. "We have no confirmation."
"We should help sis-in-law," Jun Hai said, already moving out. He had summoned his Swamp Stomper, which didn't surprise me because that was a water and earth spirit beast that could use Surf. Ahem, I mean, allow him to ride on him to surf across the ocean.
But what surprised me was the second water spirit beast he had summoned. A beautiful sea serpent with a cream-colored body, with dazzling pink and blue fins that extended from its head, and a fan-like tail that was covered in jewel-like scales that gleamed in the sunlight before extending into tail fins reminiscent of a mermaid.
A Venus Serpent, if I wasn't mistaken. Well, calling it a Venus de Milo Serpent would be too long of a name, so people just called it a Venus Serpent. Though, Jun Hai informed me that his particular Milo Serpent was female.
"I evolved her from a Feeble Bass," my brother explained with a grin. "It took a lot of effort, time and berries to max out her beauty stat, and then she evolved into a Venus Serpent. But totally worth all that trouble!"
"We are so going to get sued for copyright," I muttered. Then I snapped out of it. Intellectual property infringement was the least of our worries right now. "Anyway, let's go help Myria!"
"Right behind you," Sylvie said, she and her sister already moving to follow us. We left the lab, actually Jun Hai summoned his spirit beasts on the beach outside the lab, and rushed into the sea. I also summoned Xiao Ke and jumped onto my Shell Loch. I was half expecting Sylvie and Silvia to join me, but they dismissed the spell used to conceal their wings and took off to the air.
"If you don't mind, I would like to join the battle too."
Long Wang materialized next to me before he transformed to his dragon form and dove in with a tremendous splash. I didn't even get a chance to ask him about the situation, which I had a feeling he knew more about than I did.
We reached Myria's position fairly swiftly, and she poked her head out of the surface to glare at us.
"What are you doing here?"
"To help."
"This is the sea. It's my domain. You guys won't be able to help much."
As she said that, I saw swarms of aquatic spirit beasts converging upon our positions once more. Myria cursed and swung her Deep Sea Sword, creating a tsunami that washed them away. She shook her head and plunged her glowing blade into the water, sending more deadly geysers that pierced through bloated bodies and severed appendages such as tentacles and fins.
The once clear blue sea was stained red with blood, but they kept coming. I watched as not only Krakens, but also Murder Whales and Torpedo Sharks and Goliath Octopuses swam toward us, accompanied by Prickly Piranhas and Sea Dragons.
That was a lot. The Krakens were gigantic sea squids with a pair of tentacles almost the length of a fishing boat, maybe thirty meters. Claw-filled suckers whirred and clicked as they lashed out with their unusually long tentacles, while the other shorter ones flailed about to seize prey. Prey being us.
The Murder Whales were black and white, each the size of a small boat. Their maws were filled with dagger-like teeth, but their deadliness was emphasized in their speed and high intelligence. They were also able to launch supersonic attacks, turning their echolocations into sonic bursts that ripped through the water and forcing us to scatter.
The Torpedo Sharks were dark and water type spirit beasts that evolved from Prickly Piranhas. No longer as brightly colored, they were black and white like the Murder Whales, but a lot more menacing in appearance. They had much larger jaws and longer teeth, and their torpedo-shaped bodies allowed them to move at incredible speeds, streaking through the sea along jet streams of bubbles to close in on us. They were escorted by fleets of Prickly Piranhas, each swarm capable of tearing a human or bigger preys apart in seconds. It was strange to see the Prickly Piranhas here because they were more commonly found in freshwater rivers, but I supposed they were like salmon in a way. Salmons were usually found in the sea, but they often returned to rivers every year to lay eggs and breed, even swimming against waterfalls in order to do so. So it wouldn't be a surprise that Prickly Piranhas often swam out to the sea to evolve, or perhaps Torpedo Sharks returned to freshwater rivers to reproduce.
The Goliath Octopuses were similar in shape to the Krakens, but they were bright orange with poison rings. Their eight tentacles were lined with suction cups, but they were also able to excrete toxins that would paralyze their prey before they tore them apart or swallowed them whole. Apparently they evolved from smaller fish type spirit beasts, but I wasn't sure about that. I mean, why would fishes evolve into octopuses? And why were those fishes hanging from under the wings of manta rays?
The most dangerous were the Sea Dragons, which were enormous serpentine drakes that reminded me of oriental dragons. They possessed sapphire scales that were as hard as diamonds, and murderous fangs capable of crushing boulders with each bite. They had an intimidating appearance, looking almost like deities that controlled the seas. A more vicious and violent counterpart to the benevolent and beautiful looking Venus Serpent that Jun Hai had as his summoned spirit beast.
If I wasn't mistaken, these were the evolved forms of the carps that swam up the waterfall and through the Dragon's Gate that we had just destroyed because it was corrupted. No wonder. I didn't expect to see them here because they were often affiliated with oriental dragons, but the ocean was a vast place, and it was not impossible for them to migrate to this place.
I wanted one for myself.
At that moment, I received a mission update from the system.
-New quest issued. Naval Warfare: Defeat the armada of sea spirit beasts that have come to invade the shores of Scandinavia. Completion of this mission will grant the appropriate rewards. –
"Yeah!" Hopefully, this would give me a chance to bind one of those Earth ranked Sea Dragons to a spirit contract. Then Hei Ba would have a friend. The two of them could compete and keep each other in check.
They didn't seem a match for Long Wang, though, whose sleek, titanic form glided through the waters before he burst out of the surface and coiled upward to glare at the Sea Dragons.
"Leave those to me."
"Sure. We'll take care of the rest of them." I raised my hand and summoned my aquatic armada. My Armored Carid had the opportunity to fight underwater for the first time, but he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by a literal navy of Little Anglers, Lantern Fishes and Lantern Sharks. Da Hai also swam through the waters, using his shell to bulldoze his way through the Torpedo Sharks before engaging the Goliath Octopuses. Accompanying him were the Colossal Crabs and my single King Crab, who hammered away at the Krakens who were trying to swarm us. The Crabs caught the tentacles with their pincers and yanked them over to crush them in close combat, where their sheer strength overpowered the soft bodies of the cephalopods.
My Mud Fishes, Marsh Striders and Swamp Stomper also formed a wall further behind. They were more at home in lakes, ponds, marshes and swamps, and the sea wasn't exactly their home ground, so it was better for them to form the rearguard and prevent any of the sea spirit beasts from reaching the surface.
"Why are they even trying to get to the surface anyway?" I wondered, puzzled.
"Ragnarök," Myria replied before she sliced away at a Murder Whale and stabbed a Torpedo Shark.
"Excuse me? The war between gods to end the world or something? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Have you heard of Jörmungandr?"
"The World Serpent that encircles the Earth and bites its own tail?"
"That's a bit of an exaggeration, but yes. He's awakening and plans to invade the surface world with his army of sea spirit beasts. If that happens, then nothing can stop him. This is merely the first of many waves."
"I know him," Long Wang said as his tail flicked out and swatted one of the Sea Dragons aside. "He's an old rival. A Heaven ranked spirit beast like me…we used to fight over dominion of the ocean before I was sealed. I believe even that old Whale Lord has a feud with him. But he was dormant way before I was sealed, and I'm surprised to hear that he will be awakening so soon. I thought there would be a long time before he wakes up."
"Oh no!" Jun Hai was still riding on his Swamp Stomper, which stomped on a Torpedo Shark before tearing the tentacles off a hapless Goliath Octopus. "That doesn't sound good. We can't fight a Heaven ranked spirit beast!"
"Not yet. I was hoping my lord would reach Heaven rank before that bastard wakes up, but it seems we're out of time."
"Hang on." Myria dodged the tentacles from a Kraken. "I didn't say Jormungandr is awake yet. He's still in the process of awakening – that's a long, arduous process that may take anything between a few years to a few decades – but his minions obviously don't want to wait that long. they are launching probing attacks to investigate the strength of humans on the surface, to see how much power they need to build up for an eventual all-out invasion. And they plan to form a base here, from which they can drown the shores and expand the territory of the ocean. We have to stop them or we'll lose a vital foothold here."
"That's convenient," I muttered, though I felt relieved that we didn't have to fight Jormungandr just yet. We simply weren't prepared for that kind of enemy at the moment. "I guess you can say that they're testing the waters."
"Are you seriously making a joke like that now?" Sylvie asked with a sigh, even as she rained spirit swords down from the heavens, impaling a horde of Prickly Piranhas and a few Torpedo Sharks.
"As expected of big bro," Silvia giggled while she coordinated with my Little Anglers, Lantern Fishes and Lantern Sharks to launch an electrical storm that electrocuted the enemy spirit beasts swimming toward us. Most of them drifted motionlessly on the sparking tides, smoke rising from their scorched bodies.
"Excellent." Jun Hai sighed a breath of relief. "So we only need to deal with this wave for now."
"Yeah, but easier said than done," I replied, still atop Xiao Ke as he froze the Prickly Piranhas and I protected him from Torpedo Sharks and Murder Whales with my arrows. "Right now, there's too many of them."
…and unlike the spirit beasts I could bring to bear on land, most of my aquatic spirit beasts weren't as strong. Only Hei Ba and Long Wang were Earth ranked. Xiao Ke, the Colossal Crabs and Lantern Fishes were Yellow ranked, and Da Hai, the Lantern Sharks and my single King Crab were Mystic ranked. Even if I included my Marsh Striders and Swamp Stompers, they were only Yellow ranked and Mystic ranked respectively.
In contrast, with the exception of the ordinary ranked Prickly Piranhas, all the other spirit beasts were Mystic ranked at the minimum. And though I had summoned Hei Ba to assist Long Wang to fight against the Sea Dragons, they were two Earth ranked (three if we included Jun Hai's Venus Serpent) against an entire horde of Sea Dragons. Worse, I could see a much larger Kraken swimming toward us, commanding all of the other Krakens. The Kraken Lord, which was Earth ranked. Uh oh. Unlike his already larger subordinates, the Kraken Lord's two superlong tentacles were as long as an oil tanker, about three hundred meters in length. He looked like he had just come out of a kaiju movie or something. Not only that, he had a majestic crest, almost to emphasize his royalty or that he ruled over the seas. Like an oil tanker, he glided over the surface of the sea inexorably, his sheer size defying belief. Even the Sea Dragons were giving him a wide berth, despite being similar ranked. They might control the weather and manipulate the elements, but in terms of mass and strength, the Kraken Lord was superior. I could sense the mana crackling along the lengths of the tentacles as they flailed about before they unleashed sapphire beams that sliced through the air, forcing all of us to scatter in panic. A few of the Krakens and Goliath Octopuses that were too slow to swim out of the way were neatly sliced apart, but the Kraken Lord showed no remorse, indicating that they were acceptable collateral damage.
That wasn't good.
At least the Venus Serpent was Earth ranked, and I noticed Jun Hai doing something to upgrade his formerly Mystic ranked Swamp Stomper.
"Don't worry, big bro," he said with a grin. "We've got this."
Then an evolution light engulfed his Swamp Stomper, churning the waters around them and sending the enemy spirit beasts splashing backward.