Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 1370: Chapter 1369: Calm After the Storm

In the eyes of most members of the Cecil Clan who have come into contact with the sea demons, these allies from the deep sea are seen as gentle, harmless, and very interesting friends. They are friendly and peaceful, with a strong curiosity about land affairs, and possess many exotic secrets and advanced technologies unknown to land-dwelling races. They have fascinating living habits and life forms, and occasionally show behaviors that seem quite bizarre to outsiders—people often say that things from the sea are somewhat eccentric, a saying frequently repeated by those "professionals" who have dealt extensively with the sea over the past two years.

The above is the impression sea demons leave on most land-dwelling races, or strictly speaking, the impression they leave on their "friends." Few people on this world take a stance of opposition against these creatures from the deep sea, maybe because this race’s character is overly friendly and gentle, making it nearly impossible for anyone to truly become their enemy.

Thus, over the centuries, only the Sons of the Storm have truly experienced the side of these ocean rulers that is overflowing with martial virtue—and now, those honored to witness this aspect have expanded to include the dark priests dwelling in the wastelands.

Like ten thousand thunderclaps exploding beside me, immense force crushed the ancient fortress’s high platform, conjuring images of some deep-sea monster’s massive tentacles crashing down, shattering the enduring artificial rock face into fragments. The Sea Demon, proud to call itself the "Master of Deep-Sea Warfare," needed no weapons or equipment and nearly demolished the entire platform with its astounding "body" alone. Rain surged outside the fortress, defying gravity, forming a "mountain" of water on the plains, where countless tentacles danced beneath the waves, their mesmerizing patterns flashing and flowing across their surfaces, like tsunamis in Bannor’s mind, disrupting his thoughts.

Through long-term research and consumption of the Storm God’s remnants, the sea demons gained mastery over the ocean’s power, and the runes on their bodies are extensions of this authority. For those mightier sea demons, these runes are not merely passive patterns but can be actively controlled as offensive tactics—by rearranging rune placements and enhancing certain nodes’ effects, they can transform runes with healing effects into "Mind-Shattering Matrices" that can destroy an enemy’s intellect. As the most formidable warfare master in the deep sea, General Vanessa is well-versed in this art.

Her enormous Sea Demon Form is one of Antawen’s most powerful weapons.

In the water now nearly overflowing the platform, Bannor struggled to maintain his position; his body had transformed into something else entirely through continuous battle—larger, bloated, more bizarre, twisted. To survive, he pushed his dark Divine Arts to the limit, turning himself into a mix of twisted roots, flesh, and bone—a composite being standing amid torrential rain like a figure stitched together, resembling a human form. This amalgamated giant towers over even the largest "monsters," yet seems as insignificant as a sardine beside Vanessa’s Sea Demon Form.

Looking up, Bannor gazed at the massive figure with the upper half of a woman but a lower half transformed into a Sea Demon form—the "Master of Deep-Sea Warfare"—and unleashed an angry roar unrecognizable as human. He knew then he was never returning; even if the sea demons retreated from the battlefield, his uncontrollable body would disintegrate within the next half-month. The fear of death had already transformed into towering flames of rage and hatred, and dark red energy coursed between his flesh, instantly coalescing into dozens of thick beams of light, piercing the tentacles spreading from the water.

He didn’t attempt to attack weaknesses like the head or heart on the human body of his foe, even though the raised torso seemed an inviting target. This kind of attack had proven useless; the bewitching, strange "human body" was a mere mimicry with no real vulnerabilities—instead of a brain, the skull held only water, and would regrow in seconds. However, surrounding tentacles, although they could regenerate, suffered true damage when their rune structures were destroyed, definitely affecting this "warfare master."

Some tentacles dodged the beams, but several struck Vanessa’s body, the powerful decaying force causing those tentacles to instantly wither and fall off, becoming part of the surrounding rising waves. Yet Vanessa seemed unfazed by the pain, curiously observing Bannor’s now-transformed form: "You can transform too? Can you change into something else?"

The recent strike had drained an astonishing amount of Magic Power, driving the near-uncontrolled body to the brink of fragmentation from the violent shock of magical backlash. Rampant power surged internally, suppression almost exhausting him, but the mental damage from Magic Power overuse was even harder for Bannor to bear. He watched the surrounding waves, already flooding the entire fortress—the waves no longer rainwater, but a salty scent warned him this place was becoming a "sea." Amid the turbulent waves and endless storms, the priest cult he brought and the surviving aberration Legion no longer existed.

The only survivors were scattered dark priests, huddling on the few exposed walls or floating planks and logs, shivering in the storm, surrounded by sea demons armed with tridents or particle assault rifles, circling like sharks. These dark priests had abandoned resistance, with nowhere to escape—beneath their feet, deep in the waves, lurked countless larger and more terrifying shadows...

Bannor withdrew his gaze, overwhelming despair finally flooded his mind, feeling his internal Magic Power losing control, the unstable physique he barely suppressed beginning an uncontrollable collapse. Raising his head, he saw the massive female form gazing down, though a mere curious glance in his eyes seemed filled with unspeakable contempt and insult—and coupled with the mind-rending screams launched by runes flashing underwater, something had thoroughly snapped in his mind.

He extended his "arms" that had entirely lost their shape, gathering the most potent magic power he had ever amassed in his life. Countless tiny specks of light drifted from his body, from the corpses of those already dead dark priests in the surrounding seawater, and even from the bodies of his living followers nearby. Amidst the rising cries and wails of his former comrades, a black-red sphere of light, compressed to the extreme, appeared in front of Bannor’s chest. The light around the sphere twisted, even reflecting the scene behind it in an abnormal way.

"Die!!!" Bannor shouted, not attempting to "launch" the orb because merely maintaining its existence had already exhausted all his strength, so he chose to detonate it on the spot.

A blinding flash accompanied by countless frenzied and chaotic thunderbolts erupted from Bannor as the center. At this moment, General Vanessa felt the deadly power and was shocked: "...Surprised!!"

Then, numerous tendrils instantly emerged from the nearby waves, with each tendril end tightly coiled around a large force field stabilizing device. In this critical moment, the warlord used her tendrils to surround the explosion point. The force field generators operated at full power, and a shell-like layer formed in the blink of an eye—the core of this shell being all the magic power released by Bannor.

A deep rumbling sound shook the nearby seawater. A small amount of magic power leaked through the barrier gaps evaporated large patches of water on the already fragmented platform, and even the falling rain in the sky seemed to pause for a moment. Then everything settled down.

The explosion at the center of the protective force field came and went quickly. After the rapid burst, nothing remained there—General Vanessa slowly lowered her surrounding tendrils, throwing aside the force field generators that had been damaged in the overload, staring absentmindedly at the empty platform—then the swiftly surging waves around soon submerged everything.

"Truly a person who does what he says...."

Then she looked around, seeing a few scattered dark priests bobbing up and down in the water, almost drained of life by Bannor’s magic absorption, yet they were all still alive, but too weakened even to move a branch.

Nearby, soldiers of the sea demons swarmed and captured all of these prisoners.

General Vanessa contemplated, slowly retracting the tendrils clinging to the fortress. Her body began to shrink amidst the rain, and the downpour gradually ceased. The surging waves on the plains calmed, steamed, reentered the sky, or seeped into the ground. In this process, group after group of "pure water" precipitated from the waves, transforming into "engineer sea demons" without any armaments.

During the entire battle before, these "engineer" sea demons maintained the rainfall, the accumulation of water, and the "marinization" of the whole area. Their next task was to dry out the plain, restoring it to its original state.

This is how sea demons fight on dry land. Their battlefield consists of three main roles: a general, a soldier, and the battlefield itself—an experience they learned on this "dry and water-scarce" planet.

General Vanessa gathered her power, transforming back into the serpent-tailed sea demon form. She strolled through the fortress ruins almost entirely dismantled by herself, commanding her soldiers to clean the battlefield and gather prisoners. Just then, she heard Cassandra’s voice suddenly come through: "General, are you alright over there? I just sensed a massive energy burst from your side..."

"I’m fine here. The battle is over, with little damage, and we also captured several prisoners. General Byron might be interested in the secrets inside these dark priests’ minds... if they really still have a ’brain’ structure."

"Alright, I’ll pass this message to General Byron," Cassandra’s voice sounded relieved, "but the energy burst from your side just now was..."

"Encountered a worthy and trustworthy opponent," General Vanessa sighed softly, looking back at the castle high platform ravaged by the battle. The already broken and precarious platform had lost the buoyancy support of water and was now collapsing right before her eyes with a crash, "Fought a good battle, a brave general..."

"Trustworthy opponent? Brave general?" Cassandra was momentarily unable to follow General Vanessa’s train of thought, "What are you talking about?"

"It must have been the highest commander of this place. He fought me for half a day, then suddenly shouted the word ’death’ loudly at me, and then died on the spot," Vanessa’s gaze turned afar, the clouds cleared in the sky, and the slanting sunlight at dusk shone on her gleaming scales and long hair. This warlord from the deep-sea reflected thoughtfully on the opponent she faced today, "Not vague at all..."

"...General Vanessa?"

"Ah?"

"I think you might have misunderstood something... but never mind, it’s not an important matter," Cassandra’s voice sounded peculiar, as if holding back something, but quickly she changed the topic, "General Byron’s land troops have just cleared the aberrations hovering near the landing site and repaired the Magic Web Nexus near the Aldo River. We’ve now restored direct communication with the Highmountain Kingdom and the Silver Empire—thus, the communication of the northern and southern battlefields of the Loren Continent is now functioning normally."

"Oh, that’s good news," Vanessa immediately smiled. As a professional soldier, she knew the significance of restored communication, "I’ll have my people quickly organize the battlefield reports. Our Cecil friends need to know the situation here as soon as possible."

"Yes," replied Cassandra, "there’s also another matter: we are not far from Fort Greta of the Highmountain Kingdom. We just learned that King Audris of the Highmountain is personally stationed in that fortress. General Byron plans to meet with the allies there, and hopes you can join—do you see any convenience?"

Vanessa lifted her head, looking in the direction of Fort Greta—a human fortress she had seen before landing from the sky, naturally knowing its position.

"The King of the Highmountain Kingdom...? No problem, it’s necessary to meet allies at times like this. I’ll return to the Abyssal Pacifier and join you soon..."

Cassandra’s voice came through: "Alright, when will you probably arrive? I can coordinate with General Byron."

Vanessa pondered for a moment, then rolled up a usable Light-Wave Warblade from the ground with her tail, casually aiming it at her head while replying: "Should be there in about a minute..."

"...No need to rush! Just come back using normal means!"

...

In the southern battlefield, the towering Fort Greta still stood between the mountains, and in front of the fortress, the "storm" that had shocked everyone finally ended.

Audris and Lorraine stood on the fortress’s lookout platform, watching the water recede at incredible speed on the plains, unable to regain their composure for a long time.

The downpour and the rolling waves surging across the plains were deeply imprinted in their minds till this moment.

At the closest point, the boundary of this "water world" was even just over ten meters from the walls of Fort Greta. Audris had personally seen a wall of water rise from the ground, with its edge as neatly cut as by a blade, and even after the battle, the outer wall of Fort Greta remained dry.

"...Truly terrifying power," Lorraine finally whispered after a long silence.

"It’s said that they were once a civilization capable of traversing the Star Sea, only falling to our backward planet due to an accident," Audris sighed softly, "Be grateful, the Cecil Empire found a way to turn this race into friends."

Lorraine nodded, looking back at the open ground behind the lookout platform, where several sea demons were laughing and chatting loudly, seemingly carefree.

The young prince hesitated to speak: "These young ladies..."

"Treat them well, when General Byron and that sea demon general arrive, just leave them to them," Audris said in a deep voice, then couldn’t help looking again at the area covered by the "storm," recalling the scenes of several sea demons dropping from the sky, clinging to the fortress towers and flagpoles, causing the human king’s expression to turn peculiar, "How can they miss..."

The latter half of the sentence he was too embarrassed to utter:

The upper and lower limits of this race are truly unfathomable...