Read Novel Full Chapter 370: Losing Battle
Chapter 370: Losing Battle
Some sea people were born with less than others. Those with weaker mana possessed fish traits such as tails, webbed fingers, scales on other parts of their bodies, and, for a few, razor-sharp teeth.
But a few, those born higher, had arms and feet and possessed greater mana control. They could swim faster as the ocean favoured them, allowing them to manipulate the water to their advantage.
Most of them could tame monsters. By bonding themselves to these sea creatures, they had powerful guardians which were much stronger than them and were a sign of status.
Ariel’s gaze softened as she watched Ella swim around the school of fish, trying to see if she could tame at least one by offering them food.
Unfortunately, to the fish, she was a nuisance.
"Ella. Come on." Ariel approached her sister, drew her into her embrace, and lightly pinched her cheeks.
"What are you doing this far away from town?" Ariel, who looked like she was almost seventeen, asked with a feigned frown.
Ella pouted. "I’m not far away. It’s not... that far." She tilted her cute head over her sister’s shoulder and discovered the town wasn’t in her sight any longer.
She had just kept following this school of fish. Or was it the same school of fish? She couldn’t tell anymore.
The little girl scratched her head.
Ariel looked back, then back at her baby sister. "Not that far?!" She glared at Ella, who lowered her head.
She expected scolding, but her sister suddenly pulled her into her embrace and shot in the direction of the town.
Ella lost her breath for a moment. She could hear her sister’s pounding heart. What just happened? How did everything spiral into this?
Were they the targets of a predator? That was the only explanation Ella could make up. She eventually managed to turn her neck so she could see what her sister ran away from.
What she saw made her breath hitch. Orcs! With tusks and huge armoured bodies, charging toward them.
They weren’t as fast as her sister, but the water did not affect them. Leading them was the dreaded orc they had in paintings, the one called Conquest, a man more dreadful than the creatures of the dark seas.
Ariel grabbed the coral attached to a rope around her neck and blew into it. Her cheeks inflated, and she blew once more.
At that moment, Conquest swung his trident, and the water burst upward in a constant current that formed a wall before the sisters. Ariel tried moving through it but couldn’t; her bones were almost crushed in her attempts.
Her heart pounded heavily. She turned to face the orcs.
’Ella, stay behind me,’ Ariel whispered as she positioned herself in front of her. The orcs enclosed her, but at that moment, a huge orca tore through the water wall, slammed into a few orcs, and chomped an orc into two.
"Ceto!" Ariel’s eyes brightened. She grabbed the orca’s pectoral fin and mounted the beast with her sister.
It swiftly created a great distance, leaving the orcs behind. Ariel looked back and saw Conquest frowning.
Right then, Conquest stretched his hand and manipulated the water, pulling her younger sister right into his large palm.
Ariel’s head snapped backward, her eyes widening to the limit as Conquest crushed her little sister’s head like a fruit.
She froze.
There was a sudden explosion, and Conquest appeared before her. Ceto, the orca, lunged, aiming to chomp off his arm, but Conquest carved open a massive wound, killing the creature in one blow.
He grabbed Ariel’s neck, tightening his grip.
"You will be my messenger. Tell them, let them know of me," he spoke slowly, then let go when she was almost unconscious.
She would live with that pain, that hate, and would be unable to do a thing about it because, in this ocean, he wasn’t just a demigod, he was the one being with a relic from a generation-zero ancient god!
He would be back to conquer this region. No one had conquered this world filled with water; there were few dungeons too, but this relic completely changed everything.
It proved even the ocean could be taken from its natives.
***
News flew fast; the town fell. This was a losing battle.
Three people sat on huge stone chairs with a few meters’ gap between them. There were rocks around them, and the ocean was above them. There were lots of glowing schools of fish, and rows of guards were in the water above.
From outside, this was nothing different from another huge rock that didn’t even reach the ocean’s surface but covered a large area.
The woman with purple hair looked at the other two, who were men. Both the younger and older had blue hair, but one looked to be in his early forties, while the other might be in his sixties, yet his skin refused to wrinkle and sag.
"He hasn’t returned," she said regretfully.
"So he’s dead then," the younger man said, and the older one glanced at him with a slight frown.
"Prince Jace. Your brother hasn’t returned, and this is all you can say?"
Jace glanced at the two pillars of the ocean like what he said were facts they should have known by now. "My brother is dead. He tamed the greatest myth of the ocean; he was the greatest king. I know all of this, but that’s all in the past, and he’s dead. What came back with that human is a puppet, a remnant, and I’m much better than a remnant."
"We are losing. People are dying, and this is what you care about?" the woman asked.
Jace rose to his feet. "He said it himself. He wants that human to rule us, and then that human said if he wasn’t back, that meant he was dead! If he’s dead, what are we doing here other than to crown me and let me wage war against these orcs?"
He looked around. "Where’s the water spirit? I am a worthy champion. Give me the crown, and I shall prove it."
Where was it?!
***
Unbeknownst to him, for several days now, a glowing blue water, illuminating the darkness, encircled Percival, protecting his corpse from becoming bloated or being eaten.